The great sage Chungus was stuck on a tropical island with no one around, no technology, only sticks and stones and sand. But like MacGyver, he contrived a way to build a working time machine by fashioning a set of sandcastles and connecting them to each other. He used these castles as a base for a fire he kindled from sticks and twigs. All he needed was a fuel source; one night he was able to light the fire using a piece of flint that came to hand. What a coincidence to find flint on that island! He used this device to time travel thousands of years. (I don't remember how this contraption works but there are more details in the books by Chungus.)

In the story, he travels to a time before the human race. He meets many different kinds of pre-human creatures. When he returns to his own time, he observes these beings and records his findings on some tablets. After a few days, he realizes he has been in two places at the same time. This means his mind is not confined to the confines of his body. For him, time travel was not the result of a freak accident. It is not impossible. It is just not possible to do it at will.

His experience makes him reflect on what he has been doing on this planet. The message I got from the story was: When you are doing something that can be achieved by a machine (like making a stone-age man a fire to keep warm), do it with the machine. When you are doing something that cannot be achieved by a machine (like finding a way to travel to other planets and other times), do it with your mind.

I was reading the story when I was on the airplane to Tokyo. I was sitting in my seat watching the movie. I watched the movie and then the story. What is the big deal about the time machine and the future, anyway? I have read many of Chungus's books and watched the video and DVDs but I don't understand his meaning. So what if he is only a philosopher and a mystic and he is trying to impress upon you that you can do time travel? What is the big deal about that? I have my way of doing it. Just thinking about it makes me tired. I got to my destination and the stewardesses were taking off my shoes and socks. I am glad Chungus doesn't live on that plane!

The story of Chungus is very beautiful and interesting, but how does this get to do with the time machine? Does he mean that if you use the mind, you can travel to the future, or can you travel to the past or to the present? What does he mean when he talks about time machines?

I was thinking about this again when I was riding on a train to a town called Yubari, a small town on the Japanese side of the mountain dividing Honshu from Hokkaido. The train was packed. I am on my way back to Tokyo after four days and two nights in my beloved Hokkaido.

I had a wonderful time in Hokkaido. It is so beautiful there. I went to Sapporo, Asahikawa, Hakodate, Hakodate, Otaru, Obihiro, Obihiro, Noboribetsu, Akan, and Shiretoko. I went all over the island and on my way back I made a detour through Shiretoko, the land of the tigers and wolves. The mountains and waters are so beautiful there. But Hokkaido has been a good neighbor for the past six years. I want to give it a chance. My mind knows the story of Chungus but I don't know how it affects me. What is Chungus doing to me? Maybe I don't want to know.