Invasions

 Irusu the little dog usually enjoys pottering around the garden in the morning, sniffing at everything and looking at the birds and squirrels, soaking up the sunshine. Not this morning.

Today she left it as late as she could manage to go outside at all, then she just hid behind a shrub to do what all dogs have to, and positively ran back to the house, like a person urgently needing the safety of a hiding place.

She sits in the corner of the sofa, staring moodily across the room to the bright spring day outside, trembling.

"What's the matter Irusu? Come and have a cup of tea with us," says Danshari, who has been discussing some of the finer points of Buddhist philosophy with Hanafubuki.

Wretchedly, her tail between her legs and her ears down, her whole being drooping, still looking shaky, Irusu comes to join them.

"What's up, Ru?" Danshari says.

Irusu gazes at him, her eyes two pools of dread and despair.

"Yūgen says President Putin has invaded England," she says, her voice wobbly.

Danshari frowns, puzzled. "What? England? No, he hasn't. He's invaded Ukraine. In fact, some of the people from Ukraine — not as many as we'd like or as fast as we wanted, but that's another conversation — are coming here to live in England where they can be safe. I think you must have got the wrong end of the stick."

"I doubt it," says Hanafubuki. "Irusu is usually very clear on matters of personal security. What did Yūgen say to you, Ru? Tell us exactly."

"Well," quavers Irusu, "I'd seen all the tanks and explosions on the news, and the people at the railway station trying to get away to somewhere safe; and I said to Yūgen that I was scared.  I was frightened that President Putin would come here and ruin our lives and spoil our home and everything would be terrifying and our peace would be gone and nothing would be nice any more, not ever again. And Yūgen said, 'He already has.' And then she got up and went out of the room."

"Oh, I see!" Danshari's face clears. "I think, Ru darling, Yūgen was talking about attitude. I'll have to check, of course — though I'm certain President Putin hasn't invaded England — but I think what Yūgen meant is about responsibility. You know, to hold our light steady and practice cheerfulness, and keep a calm centre of peace. You know? To breathe in to our hearts, be kind to one another. Not that we ignore what's happening in Ukraine, not at all. If you have any money to help the people who are having to start again, I can help you find the most helpful place to donate it. But if you haven't got any money, you can still close your eyes and go into the quiet place in your heart, and send them waves of love and hope out of the fountain of light inside you."

"Unicorn light," chips in Hanafubuki. "That's the best sort. Sparkly white, with little rainbow crystal glints in it. Send them that. It's very transformative."

"So . . . President Putin hasn't invaded our country? Everything's going to be okay?"

Danshari looks at her. That's a tricky question, he thinks.

"We . . . we live in turbulent times," he says. "But if my guess about what Yūgen meant is right, then I think the 'Everything's going to be okay' part has to come from us. It has to come from the inside, not the outside. That's what she meant. Not to let your heart, the living core of you, be invaded by the sorrows of the world. Even the ones in England."

"See my horn?" Hanafubuki lowers it a bit to bring its sparkle down to where Irusu can't help seeing it because it's right there. "You have to kind of imagine you have one too. Unicorn horns are made of light."

"BUT I'M NOT A UNICORN!" wails Irusu.

"I said, imagine. Is that hard to do?"

"When I walk along the road," says Danshari softly, "I say quietly, over and over — provided there's no one else right there — that thing you just said, Ru: 'Everything is going to be okay.' Over and over I say it. For myself, for Ukraine, for the whole aching world. I say it because I am part of God (and so are you), and when God said, 'Let there be light,' there was light. So I'm experimenting with 'Everything is going to be okay'."

Irusu stares at him. "Is it working? Is everything going to be okay?" she wants to know.

Danshari hesitates. "In the end," he says. "But in the meantime, do you feel a little bit better?"

Irusu considers. She feels comforted by Danshari's kind face across the table, and Hanafubuki sitting just there next to her. "Yes," she admits.

"Well maybe," says Danshari, "that's the first step to being okay. Maybe that will have to do for now."

He makes a mental note to have a word with Yūgen.