I must pray, he thought. I shall pray. I shall pray like Papa. He tried to clear his mind, to practice perfect attention, but the complete emptiness, the total void, instead of making it easier allowed thousands of thoughts to slip loose of their moorings and cascade into his consciousness. The rapid bombardment of images horrified him. A thought stuck and he leaped for it. Bodies are made of water, earth, wind and fire. He chanted it within his mind. Water earth wind and fire. Water earth wind and fire. He chanted it silently again and again. In thought he offered the Enlightened One his own body, his own water earth wind and fire. For hours he repeated the chant and offer into the constant cool black void.
He slept again. Woke again to nothingness, to total sensory deprivation. No pain.
