Past Life Story

You were not an ordinary tiger. You were a white tiger, born of a white tiger. Once in a thousand years, white tigers were born. You were the white tiger of that age. From your earliest days, you were different. White-haired, blue-eyed, with a particular dignity in every movement. In your first year, your mother told you a great secret. The white tiger was no mere tiger. The white tiger was the divine being of the western direction—the guardian of the west. The white tiger had the power to drive away evil spirits. From your earliest days you knew. Your work was not merely to live, but to defend something. In your second year, you came to know your home. The deepest peak of Mt. Baekdu. There you sat. The clouds passed beneath your eyes, and the sky was upon your head. You watched all things. The mountain spirits, the wandering souls, the human travelers. You guarded all of them. In your third year, you saw the spirit of the mountain for the first time. He had aged greatly. He bowed to you. "White tiger, you have come at last. Now I may rest." He had come to you to give you the work of guarding the mountain. From that day, you were the spirit of Mt. Baekdu. In your fifth year, you defended the mountain from evil spirits. Whenever an evil spirit attempted to enter the mountain, your roar echoed. The evil spirit fled in terror at your roar. You did not have to fight. Your existence itself was the bulwark. In your tenth year, you encountered a person for the first time. A wise old shaman had come up the mountain to meet you. He stayed three days at the mountain peak and met you. He bowed before you. "White tiger, please give us a sign of grace." You did not speak. But you gave him a single sign. A white feather. The shaman accepted it and carried it back to his village. The villagers were healed by that feather. In your hundredth year, your name spread to the entire peninsula. Tales of the white tiger of Mt. Baekdu spread to all villages. People who climbed the mountain wished to see you. But you were not easily seen. You showed yourself only to those of pure heart. In your three hundredth year, you came to understand the truth of the white tiger. The work of the white tiger is not merely to defend. The work of the white tiger is also to mediate between people and the mountain. Through you, the mountain spoke to people, and through you, people approached the mountain. You were the bridge. In your five hundredth year, you encountered a sage who came up the mountain. He was the wise sage of his time. You met him. He gave you one teaching. "The white tiger has dignity, but pride is illusion." You spent a thousand years understanding those words. In your nine hundred ninetieth year, your time was nearing its end. You sensed it. The white tiger lives a thousand years. After a thousand years, the white tiger ascends to heaven. Your time was approaching. In your one thousandth year, you climbed to the highest peak of Mt. Baekdu. There you closed your eyes once. When you opened your eyes again, you saw the world from above. You had ascended to heaven. From above heaven, you watched the mountain. Mt. Baekdu was peaceful. A new white tiger had been born. The white tiger guards the mountain, and the mountain guards the people—that was your eternity. You were not merely a beast. You were the foundation of the order between earth and heaven. Your spirit, even now upon some peak of Mt. Baekdu, may be sitting. White as ever, dignified as ever. If sometime in your life you encounter a moment when courage is needed and a strange dignity rises within you—that, perhaps, may be the divine essence of the white tiger living within you.