To
follow thy handmaiden.' The lady followed her (in her dream), and soon
perceived a lake of immeasurable expanse, overspread with innumerable red
and white lotus flowers, of various sizes, some blooming, some fading. She
asked what those flowers might signify? The maiden replied: 'These are all
human beings on the earth whose thoughts are turned to the Land of
Enlightenment. The very first longing after the Paradise of Amita produces
a flower in the Celestial Lake, and this becomes daily larger and more
glorious, as the self-improvement of the person whom it represents
advances; in the contrary case, it loses in glory and fades away.'[2] The
matron desired to know the name of an enlightened one who reposed on one
of the flowers, clad in a waving and wondrously glistening raiment. Her
whilom maiden answered: 'That is Yangkie.' Then asked she the name of
another, and was answered: 'That is Mahu.' The lady then said: 'At what
place shall I hereafter come into existence?' Then the Blessed Soul led
her a space further, and showed her a hill that gleamed with gold and
azure. 'Here,' said she, 'is your future abode. You will belong to the
first order of the blessed.' When the matron awoke she sent to enquire for
Yangkie and Mahu. The first was already departed; the other still alive
and well. And thus the lady learned that the soul of one who advances in
holiness and never turns back, may be already a dweller in the Land of
Enlightenment, even though the body still sojourn in this transitory
world" (pp. 55-56).
What a singular counterpart the striking conclusion here forms to Dante's
tremendous assault on a still living villain, - or enemy!
- "che per sua opra
In anima in Cocito gia si bagna,
Ed in corpo par vivo ancor di sopra."
- Infern. xxxiii. 155.
Again: "I knew a man who during his life had killed many living beings,
and was at last struck with an apoplexy. The sorrows in store for his
sin-laden soul pained me to the heart; I visited him, and exhorted him to
call on the Amita; but he obstinately refused, and spoke only of
indifferent matters. His illness clouded his understanding; in consequence
of his misdeeds he had become hardened. What was before such a man when
once his eyes were closed? Wherefore let men be converted while there is
yet time! In this life the night followeth the day, and the winter
followeth the summer; that, all men are aware of. But that life is followed
by death, no man will consider. Oh, what blindness and obduracy is this!"
(p. 93).
Again: "Hoang-ta-tie, of T'ancheu (Changshu-fu in Honan), who lived under
the Sung, followed the craft of a blacksmith. Whenever he was at his work
he used to call without intermission on the name of Amita Buddha. One day
he handed to his neighbours the following verses of his own composing to
be spread about: -
'Ding dong! The hammer-strokes fall long and fast,
Until the Iron turns to steel at last!
Now shall the long long Day of Rest begin,
The Land of Bliss Eternal calls me in.'
Thereupon he died. But his verses spread all over Honan, and many learned
to call upon Buddha" (103).
Once more: "In my own town there lived a physician by name Chang-yan-ming.
He was a man who never took payment for his treatment from any one in poor
or indifferent circumstances; nay, he would often make presents to such
persons of money or corn to lighten their lot. If a rich man would have
his advice and paid him a fee, he never looked to see whether it were much
or little. If a patient lay so dangerously ill that Yanming despaired of
his recovery, he would still give him good medicine to comfort his heart,
but never took payment for it. I knew this man for many a year, and I
never heard the word Money pass his lips! One day a fire broke out in
the town, and laid the whole of the houses in ashes; only that of the
physician was spared. His sons and grandsons reached high dignities" (p.
110).
Of such as this physician the apostle said: "Of a truth I perceive that
God is no respecter of persons; But in every nation he that feareth Him,
and worketh righteousness, is accepted with Him."
["By the 'Most High and Heavenly God,' worshipped by the Chinese, as Marco
Polo reports, evidently the Chinese T'ien, 'Heaven' is meant, Lao t'ien
ye in the common language. Regarding 'the God of things terrestrial,'
whose figure the Chinese, according to M. Polo, 'placed below on the
ground,' there can also be no doubt that he understands the T'u-ti, the
local 'Lar' of the Chinese, to which they present sacrifices on the floor,
near the wall under the table.
"M. Polo reports, that the Chinese worship their God offering incense,
raising their hands aloft, and gnashing their teeth. Of course he means
that they placed the hands together, or held kindled joss-stick bundles in
their hands, according to the Chinese custom. The statement of M. Polo
sbattendo i denti is very remarkable. It seems to me, that very few of
the Chinese are aware of the fact, that this custom still exists among the
Taouists. In the rituals of the Taouists the K'ow-ch'i (Ko'w = 'to
knock against,'ch'i = 'teeth') is prescribed as a comminatory and
propitiatory act. It is effected by the four upper and lower foreteeth.
The Taouists are obliged before the service begins to perform a certain
number of 'K'ow-ch'i, turning their heads alternately to the left and to
the right, in order to drive away mundane thoughts and aggressions of bad
spirits.
