| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Tao Teh King by Lao-tze: 3. They who know me are few, and I am on that account (the more) to be
prized. It is thus that the sage wears (a poor garb of) hair cloth,
while he carries his (signet of) jade in his bosom.
71. 1. To know and yet (think) we do not know is the highest
(attainment); not to know (and yet think) we do know is a disease.
2. It is simply by being pained at (the thought of) having this
disease that we are preserved from it. The sage has not the disease.
He knows the pain that would be inseparable from it, and therefore he
does not have it.
72. 1. When the people do not fear what they ought to fear, that which
is their great dread will come on them.
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Kwaidan by Lafcadio Hearn: room, and see what can be done. You must give orders that no person shall
enter the room while I am watching, unless I call."
After sundown, Daigen Osho went to the house, and found the room made
ready for him. He remained there alone, reading the sutras; and nothing
appeared until after the Hour of the Rat. [1] Then the figure of O-Sono
suddenly outlined itself in front of the tansu. Her face had a wistful
look; and she kept her eyes fixed upon the tansu.
The priest uttered the holy formula prescribed in such cases, and then,
addressing the figure by the kaimyo [2] of O-Sono, said: -- "I have come
here in order to help you. Perhaps in that tansu there is something about
which you have reason to feel anxious. Shall I try to find it for you?" The
Kwaidan |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Talisman by Walter Scott: "Yonder," he said, "are my comrades in arms--the men in whose
society I have vowed to fight or fall. On their banner gleams
the sign of our most blessed redemption--I cannot fly from the
Cross in company with the Crescent."
"Fool!" said the Hakim; "their first action would be to do thee
to death, were it only to conceal their breach of the truce."
"Of that I must take my chance," replied Sir Kenneth; "but I wear
not the bonds of the infidels an instant longer than I can cast
them from me."
"Then will I compel thee to follow me," said El Hakim.
"Compel!" answered Sir Kenneth angrily. "Wert thou not my
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