“I can but trust that good shall fall
At last-far off-at last, to all.”

Has not each of us a light within him, whatever degrees of lustre there may be?  Was Washington in the wrong when he said:  “Labour to keep alive in your heart that little spark of celestial fire called conscience.”

We are sure that we can realize the celestial bliss in this very world, if we keep alive the Enlightened Consciousness, of which Bodhidharma and his followers showed the example.  ’All the worlds in ten directions are Buddha’s Holy Lands!’ That Land of Bliss and Glory exists above us, under us, around us, within us, without us, if we open our eyes to see.  ‘Nirvana is in life itself,’ if we enjoy it with admiration and love.  “Life and death are the life of Buddha,” says Do-gen.  Everywhere the Elysian gates stand open, if we do not shut them up by ourselves.  Shall we starve ourselves refusing to accept the rich bounty which the Blessed Life offers to us?  Shall we perish in the darkness of scepticism, shutting our eyes to the light of Tathagata?  Shall we suffer from innumerable pains in the self-created hell where remorse, jealousy, and hatred feed the fire of anger?  Let us pray to Buddha, not in word only, but in the deed of generosity and tolerance, in the character noble and loving, and in the personality sublime and good.  Let us pray to Buddha to save us from the hell of greed and folly, to deliver us from the thraldom of temptation.  Let us ’enter the Holy of Holies in admiration and wonder.’

CHAPTER VII

LIFE

1.  Epicureanism and Life.

There are a good many people always buoyant in spirit and mirthful in appearance as if born optimists.  There are also no fewer persons constantly crestfallen and gloomy as if born pessimists.  The former, however, may lose their buoyancy and sink deep in despair if they are in adverse circumstances.  The latter, too, may regain their brightness and grow exultant if they are under prosperous conditions.  As there is no evil however small but may cause him to groan under it, who has his heart undisciplined, so there is no calamity however great but may cause him to despair, who has his feelings in control.  A laughing child would cry, a crying child would laugh, without a sufficient cause.  ‘It can be teased or tickled into anything.’  A grown-up child is he who cannot hold sway over his passions.

He should die a slave to his heart, which is wayward and blind, if he be indulgent to it.  It is of capital importance for us to discipline the heart,[FN#209] otherwise it will discipline us.  Passions are like legs.  They should be guided by the eye of reason.  No wise serpent is led by its tail, so no wise man is led by his passion.  Passions that come first are often treacherous and lead us astray.  We must guard ourselves against them.  In order to gratify them there arise mean desires-the desires