I'm writing this partially for myself and partially for the joy of sharing.

I'm used to having these daily long walks where I listen to music and talks from different spiritual speakers on my mp3 player. These walks calm my system and the mind becomes calm and clear by itself as I'm walking. I've been fed up with the way my life has been going job wise but I haven't had much energy to do anything about any of the stuff related to everyday living. The last few months I've been living off my savings and the only things that I do are surfing the net and walking. It's your average depression I guess.
So today I had left late in the morning and had arrived at this one beautiful little beach maybe 10 kilometers from my home. The weather was overcast and calm. A bit wet with ocassional snowy patches and some slush. There's still a thin layer of ice covering the sea. You rarely see people walking on the ice anymore because it has already gotten so thin.

I stood at the beach looking at these tall, old pines with birds hopping from one tree to the other. There was also a huge woodpecker and it was yelling to its mate some distance away. I just stood, watched and listened. At some point I shifted my gaze to the sea and noticed a man pulling a sled on the ice very far from the shore. I was a bit surprised to see anyone so far off, especially when I knew that this area had currents that keep the ice thin and treacherous. He was coming towards the beach where I was and as he eventually made it to the shore he casually started a conversation by saying that he had no luck with the fish. He had caught a few but let them go because they were too small and not the fish he was looking for.

He had all the necessary gear including the auger and a backpack with a foldable stool on it, winter boots with attacheable anti-skid pieces for the boots etc. Full on fisherman, I thought.

We started talking about the thickness of the ice and the weather in general. He said to me that I shouldn't go walking over there but for some reason he seemed to be more concerned that I slip than for the fact that the ice was already probably way too thin. So as we were talking about weather in general and about how people let their mindstates be influenced by different kinds of weather I started to have this very peculiar feeling that I'm listening to a Dharma talk about the nature of suffering. On top of this I started to notice the absolute openness and immovability of his gaze. And there started to be an immense sense of power when I looked at the form of the man. He was probably already over 70 years old but seemed to have sharp intelligence and deep wisdom that could be heard in his words.

He had this peculiar habit to get me excited on a subject and just as I am about to add something out of my personal experience he would cut me off by simply starting to talk over whatever I was saying. I noticed that he was deliberately tickling the ego and just as it arose as some personal concept he would "cut off it's head". I didn't get irritated since I had already noticed that I'm in the presence of something great and auspicious. I felt open and finally when he finished the head cutting he let me finish my sentences. At times I had to look away from his eyes so that I wouldn't explode into laughter. The laughter I was holding in was the laughter of recognition. He also noticed this several times and started smiling. Paradoxically there was only oneness as I was speaking with him.

He talked about how black woodpeckers make a new home every year (in detail) and how kids are in tune with the things that go unnoticed for the adults. Small things like insects. He also explained how the sawfly, for example, lays it's eggs inside a caterpillar and how it hides it in the earth. This was also explained in detail and in all these things that he said there was the sense that Dharma was being spoken. The sawfly thing has to do with unnoticed tendencies (so-called vasanas in hinduism) for example. It was clear to me.

He changed the subject to a larger scale and started explaining how people like "extreme activities" and how some people seek thrills by traveling abroad. He used the Himalayas in this example. He said that sometimes people die when they go hiking over there, they don't return. And he explained something about endogenous tribes who use psychedelics to "get visions" (he said this in a joking manner). He asked if I'm currently working or not, in a way that felt like he already knew the anwer. I'm not. He said that maybe I can combine my walks and nature photography... And he said that sometimes life is flat and it's just a seasonal thing etc etc.

I hadn't mentioned anything about myself but so far he seemed to have described my last trip, which was to the Indian Himalayas and I happened to be at a sacred site, without prior knowledge, at the exact date of Buddha's 2600th anniversary of enlightenment. I also smoked mountain hash over there for the first time in my life and had a "death experience" aka some kind of an awakening experience which has since come and gone. Have done my share of other psychedelics as well and this man seemed to mention that as well in the metaphor about the tribal peoples. He seemed to know that I do have a dslr and have shot semi-seriously. This all is already getting pretty deep for me... It was like he was digging things up that are closest to "my person". Things, concepts and memories that I think about or value the most.

He talked about life and how it all should be welcomed without resistance and that we grow from all experiences. He said that he too had had some difficult time with his job at one point in his life but it was just a matter of letting things resolve themselves. I asked what his job had been and he said that he used to fix industrial cranes outdoors and he also had to work no matter the weather. No matter if it was freezing temperatures in the North or sweltering heat in Abu Dhabi. He mentioned this early on as we were talking about weather.

A couple of dog walkers started approaching and as they got closer the dogs started howling and screaming. They walked past pretty quick and it was another indication that there is something to what I am sensing. I had been staring at this figure pretty intensely and after we parted and as I was walking back home I realized one thing I hadn't noticed when I was talking with him. All his clothes were dry and looked as if they had just been put on for the first time, including the boots. The plastic sled looked shiny new and the auger had no marks of use on it either whatsoever...

Oh, and one more thing that I later noticed:

aBU DHAbi

What interpretation are you making right here? if any at all I am unclear. Just a question mark.

It is nice that you took the time to write this out, and I'm glad I took the time in reading it. Very relaxed and smooth.

I have had encounters of similar nature with different kinds of people and to lesser extent 'mysterious', if you would use that word -I'm not so sure of it myself. But have also come to meet, within the last 5 years, a couple of others I am in loose contact with who are more or less on the same level as the person you have described there at the beach. Right off they knew how to provoke me and in such a way that I had trouble assimilating at first. Talking, but not only in the way of words..and I don't know how else to put that. But that one immediately had a sense they were vastly intelligent, and surrendered to their knowing without second thought, and quite naturally.

Ah, yes and the laughter!! Nearly insupressible.

May I ask approximately where you are located? Imagery of an iced over sea is pleasurable, that I ask with no particular reason.