Where the Mat Refused to Go

Matri Vey was invited to teach stillness at a gathering that had allotted it twelve minutes.

There would be a welcome, an explanation of the welcome, and a short demonstration of inner peace. Questions were to be submitted beforehand so that uncertainty could be accommodated without delaying the next speaker.

A platform had been built in the sun.

The living mat stopped at the edge of the shade.

Matri Vey waited. The mat spread a little further beneath him and did not advance.

At first the organisers assumed this was part of the instruction. They lowered their voices. One began taking notes.

When the allotted time was half gone, someone asked whether enlightenment could proceed on the platform.

Matri Vey rested his hand-fronds together.

“The mat needs shade.”

This was received as a metaphor. A particularly good one, judging by the notes.

Someone explained that all the seats faced the platform.

The mat remained where it was.

In later tellings it grows roots through the paving and overturns the whole arrangement. In the tale itself, nothing so convenient happens. The platform stays. The chairs stay. People become hot.

Matri Vey asks for water.

They bring him a cup. He wets the living surface beneath him.

Only then does the person holding the jug look properly at the mat.

A chair is carried into the shade. Then another. Those nearest the back move first, having less invested in the view. The gathering loses its rows and becomes an untidy crescent beneath the leaves.

Matri Vey begins.

No one agrees what he taught. Some remember breathing. Some remember being permitted to stop. One remembers that the person beside them cried without being asked to explain.

The twelve minutes pass.

For once, nobody announces it.

Afterwards, the platform is described as unused. This is inaccurate: it holds the empty jug, the notes, and several coats nobody needs in the shade.

The saying attached to the tale concerns the wisdom of refusing to move.

The mat, which has been watered and allowed to rest, carries Matri Vey to his next appointment.