Let, then, your heart be so pure that you may not be unworthy of the sunshine beaming upon you the light of Universal Spirit.  Let your thought be so noble that you may deserve fair flowers blooming before you, reminding you of merciful Buddha.  Let your life be so good that you may not be ashamed of yourself in the presence of the Blessed One.  This is the piety of Mahayanists, especially of Zenists.

[FN#176] Lust, anger, and folly.

19.  The World is in the Making.

Our assertion is far from assuming that life is now complete, and is in its best state.  On the contrary, it is full of defects and shortcomings.  We must not be puffed up with modern civilization, however great victory it has scored for its side.  Beyond all doubt man is still in his cradle.  He often stretches forth his hands to get at his higher ideal, yet is still satisfied with worthless playthings.  It is too glaring a fact to be overlooked by us that faith in religion is dying out in the educated circles of society, that insincerity, cowardice, and double-tongue are found holding high positions in almost ever community, that Lucrese and Ezzeling are looking down upon the starving multitude from their luxurious palace, that Mammon and Bacchus are sometimes preying on their living victims, that even religion often sides with Contention and piety takes part in Cruelty, that Anarchy is ever ready to spring on the crowned beings, that philosophy is disposed to turn the deaf ear to the petition of peace, while science provides fuel for the fire of strife.

Was the golden age of man, then, over in the remote past?  Is the doomsday coming instead?  Do you bear the trumpet call?  Do you feel the earth tremble?  No, absolutely no, the golden age is not passed.  It is yet to come.  There are not a few who think that the world is in completion, and the Creator has finished His work.  We witness, however, that He is still working and working, for actually we hear His hammer-strokes resounding through heaven above and earth beneath.  Does He not show us new materials for His building?  Does He not give new forms to His design?  Does He not surprise us with novelties, extraordinaries, and mysteries?  In a word, the world is in progress, not in retrogression.

A stream does not run in a straight line.  It now turns to the right, now to the left, now leaps down a precipice, now waters rich fields, now runs back towards its source; but it is destined to find its outlet in the ocean.  So it is with the stream of life.  It now leaps down the precipice of revolution.  Now it enriches the fertile field of civilization.  Now it expands itself into a glassy lake of peace.  Now it forms the dangerous whirlpool of strife.  But its course is always toward the ocean of Enlightenment, in which the gems of equality and freedom, jewels of truth and beauty, and treasures of wisdom and bliss can be had.

20.  The Progress and Hope of Life.