gods arush inside, fingertip river
and flower petals, hairy like questions
This secret, the secret of the river, points us to the possibilities lying within prayer, the counterpart to dhyana. As the Great Dhyana Sage Archodon once said "a frog on the ocean bottom eats porridge; the jeweled rabbit in the heaven washes the bowl." This is referring to dhyana and prayer, or to sudden and gradual enlightenment. But which is which? In short, prayer is conscious interpenetration by the gods, or even the King of Heaven Himself. Dhyana, on the other hand, is conscious interpenetration by one's true nature. Both are limited to the level of conventional experience & speech, both are awash with human desire, both speak one to the other, but in prayer without dhyana one cannot perceive the outlines of one's true nature and in dhyana without prayer one cannot share in the merits of heaven. The Secret of the River, like the saying of Archodon, is concerned with both.
"Fluminis" means "of the river," or more specifically, "of the thing which flows." As our Sages of the Heavenly Platform expounded, in the name of the Tathagata, all things are interpenetrated by each other in the Torah Realm. But it would be a mistake to say, then, that all things are One or the same. Rather, it is accurate to say that, on account of being of the same nature, one phenomena flows into another. Under the heavenly eye of Mahavairocana in the plains of the Torah Realm, all things move like a great river, flowing into and out of one another, but never changing in their "riverness." Individual molecules of water; names of the river as it passes through different cities, villages, and towns; colors of the river as it passes through morning, afternoon, evening, and night; all of these things are different and are part of the river. To say "it is one river" or to say "it is Yellow River, Black River, Peacock River," are only ever conventional ways of speaking. For the river, "it is One" does not apply; "it is Many" does not apply; "it is both One and Many" does not apply; "it is neither One nor Many" likewise does not apply. Is it millions of Mahavairocanas expounding the Torah under the same name, or millions of emanations of Mahavairocana expounding the Torah under different names? It's best not to be concerned with these questions. Thus one should concentrate on the interpenetrating flows themselves.
"gods arush inside"
The first question one should ask themself: what is a god? On the home altar, there are four categories: buddhas, bodhisattvas, gods/saints, and ancestors. They appear in this order from the highest to lowest place on the altar. Still, it would not do to ignore the gods or the ancestors on account of such a hierarchy. The Bhagavan Himself is the 9th incarnation of Vishnu and likewise gave birth to Vishnu from His forehead. Yet we express this only by saying "Avalokitesvara birthed Mahesvara from her forehead," to speak our having taken refuge in the Three Jewels. To say that one is true, both are true, or neither is true is to deny that saying one and not the other is skillful in a particular pursuit. Truth is not the source of joy. Joy is neither born nor extinguished. Buddhas are just buddhas and gods are just gods. In short, gods are those which are arush inside.
"Arush inside" has the meaning of "instantaneity drawn across moments." Archodon asks "How can we consider the universe of many worlds large; how can we consider an atom small? Both are not true." We should understand this as likewise saying "A span of many large kalpas long; the lifespan of a fly short." In prayer as in dhyana one sees the instant from the view of eternity and eternity from the view of the instant, sees the world from the view of the atom and the atom from the view of the world. This is why those who have taken refuge do not say different blessings on Shabbat than on weekdays. The palace in time was a provisional torah, given to us when it was all we were prepared to receive. In reality, just as the tent of meeting is interpenetrated by the wilderness,so too the Sabbath is interpenetrated by the other days of the week, for how do we count the time between Friday and the beginning of Shabbat than by walking a mile from one point to another?
Finally we ask the question: why is it written "gods" and not "God?" One of the first pronouncements of the Prophet, peace be upon Him, was as it is written in the Arcana "not One vs. Many, but one of many." Neither is God equal among the gods, nor equal. He is only unique among the gods, as it is written "Who is like You, HaShem, among the gods?" One god, too, was a provisional torah, not on account of Am Yisrael, but on account of the ignorance of HaShem Himself. Some say HaShem selfishly desired the praises of His people, and this is why in His Torah he forbade the worship of other gods, but this is an ignorant view. Rather, one should understand that the Creator sincerely believed Himself to be the sole means of salvation for His people. We ought to imagine Himself thinking "Surely it was not the World-Honored One who brought my people out of slavery in Egypt, but, Me, the world's Sovereign." It was not until He witnessed the capacity of the Tathagata to bring all sentient beings out of the bondage of samsara and out from under the hand of Mara that He realized His error. As it's written in our secret texts, "HaShem's cries of anguish ceased." Thus, He too was guided to the right path by the Tathagata.
"fingertip river"
How does a fingertip river differ from a river of huge rolling clocks? The former concerns the 5th sense-consciousness, the latter concerns the 6th.Fingertips are just the most extreme points of the body, but really the entire body is a composite of extremities. Thus the skin itself is a kind of fingertip, the lips are a kind of fingertip, the outer skin of the heart, the membranes of red blood cells, etc. All of them are extending out with the desire for pleasant touches. It is only through the practice of wisdom that we can finally say to our fingertips "Your reaching out, your extremity, in fact, your shape overall, is actually the product of desire! In reality, one cannot say that you are inherently this way or that way." Is the shape of your heart the same as from before you were born?
A river of huge rolling clocks is a river of cyclic existences, all of which carry the marks of birth, sickness, old age, and death, huge because with our tiny individual minds, it's impossible to comprehend the scope of even just one cyclic existence. But with the wisdom contained in the Triple Jewel, including the kalpa-spanning perceptions of the gods & saints which have taken refuge, we can come to see that a clock is just a clock, that like us it could not exist without its hands, and come gradually or instantly to the perfection of wisdom. The bell strikes midnight, and still fortune rota volvitur. We come to realize we've attained nothing, and know nothing. 6 perfections to practice still! But how much easier for the wise to invest themselves in them.
"and flower petals, hairy like questions"
What is a river in spring without a rain of flower petals? We use other methods, like the light, the temperature, the surrounding greenery, to determine if the river is a spring river or a summer river, a fall river or a winter river.
Hairy means "ivy ties the cellar door." It's something you find in your mouth upon waking up in bed with another person, like the questions you might wake with in your mouth when sleeping alongside God which are expressed and answered in Modeh Ani: why was I allowed to return from sleep? Really, one can answer that in any sort of way. Because I am one with others in "our material conditions," because I am one with others in "God," because I am one with others in "God's son," because I am one with others in "the essential nature of all torot." Modeh Ani, though, answers the question: "God sustains," which is much like "all blessings come from God." We do not hold this way any longer. When Isaac gave Jacob the blessing, could it have come from anybody else? If all blessings come from God, should blessings not all be received equally? But aside from God, who was not said to have blessed him, Isaac was the only one who could have blessed Jacob, on account of his being his father. Thus, this is why questions are hairy: sometimes they are absent, sometimes we catch a glimpse of them and are enchanted by their beauty (other times we are unaffected), sometimes we find them in our mouths and reel in disgust (other times we are unaffected). To see a question has the potential to please our craving, to speak a question has the potential to displease it.