Long ago, beneath a canopy of stars, by the flickering light of a sacred fire, the Grandmaster sat draped in robes that shimmered like the edge of dawn and dusk—a perfect blend of light and shadow.
Around him sat the seekers, eyes wide with longing, hearts heavy with questions. They had come from every direction of the Earth, drawn by a single burning desire—to know the Mystery of Life and the Truth behind all change and stillness.
The Grandmaster smiled, the kind of smile that’s older than time.
“Welcome,” he began, “to the world of duality. This is the stage where existence dances. Everything here comes in pairs, like eternal companions locked in a cosmic embrace—light and dark, love and hate, joy and sorrow, life and death, the subject and the object. They are not enemies, but reflections. Not opposites, but complements. Like two sides of the same ancient coin.”
He held up a silver coin and flipped it into the air. It spun, catching both moonlight and shadow, before landing silently in his palm.
“You may think you can choose a side. You may say, ‘I choose happiness! I renounce misery!’ But listen carefully: embracing and rejecting the other is like clinging to one side of the coin while pretending the other does not exist. The moment joy has danced with you, sorrow will extend its hand. This is the rhythm of the dance of duality. It is not cruelty; it is lawful.”
The seekers shifted uncomfortably.
“Many of you,” he said, “like most of the world, try to manipulate this dance. You chase pleasure and flee pain. You embrace birth and fear death. You run toward gain and tremble before loss. But you cannot split the coin. If you keep it, you must keep both sides. If you throw it away, truly throw it away—only then do you transcend.”
A silence fell like sacred snow.
“To transcend does not mean to destroy the world,” he whispered. “It means to see beyond its illusions. To awaken from the dream of separation and remember who you truly are—not the traveler wandering through the carnival of Maya, but the Presence watching it all. The Witness. The One who was never born and who will never die.”
He stood and pointed to the heavens.
“This journey—this long, aching journey—is not about collecting more coins. It is not about better moments or safer emotions. It is about coming home. Home to the Self. Home to the silence that was never touched by joy or sorrow. The peace that passes all understanding. The bliss that does not depend on pleasure.”
The fire crackled. A breeze stirred the leaves. Something ancient moved in the hearts of the seekers.
“So,” the Grandmaster said with a glimmer in his eye, “do you still wish to ride the rails of duality? Or are you ready to dissolve the tracks, abandon the train, and step into the eternal Now?”
And with that, he tossed the coin into the fire. It vanished without a sound.
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