Josef Maria von der Ewigen Weisheit – Werke: TIAN JING

BY TORSTEN SCHWANKE / SHI TUO-TANG

FIRST PART

(This part is assigned to the springtime and deals with the True Book of the Southern Flowerland by Chuang Tse).

The Master said to his disciple A-Ji, Chuang Tse says, The supreme man is free from the ego, the spiritual man is free from works, the chosen saint is free from his name. - What is the ego? There is a double ego, the first and good ego is a mirror of heaven, filled with heavenly peace, immortal and pure, the second ego turns to the red dust, is earthly minded and transient and does not love virtue. Of the latter the sage is free; he has given it up to death. But his personality, as breathed by the breath of heaven, rightly endures. Many have longed for the permanence of the being, both the rulers of ancient and modern times, but one does not attain long duration by magical or virtuous works or from the hand of the Gui-spirits, but heaven alone confers duration, since it is itself eternal. In heaven the path begins, there is the source of long life everlasting, and he who walks on this right path turns to immortality. This is the meaning and goal of the wise man, the saint, called from heaven, therefore he does not long for an earthly and even transient name of honour, as fools do, but he is free from his own name. Is he therefore nameless? Far be it from that! But he is called by the name of heaven (I call it Dao). Then A-Ji raised his fine brows, which were like sleeping silkworms, and said, Master, where did you get this? Whereupon the Master said, I listened to a sound stone, and the music carried me on wings to the Invisible World of Heavenly Spirits.

The Master saw in a vision two disasters; one had happened in the past, a great flood, and the other will happen in the near future, a great fire. Then he thought to himself, Who can stand? Only those who put their trust in heaven. How right Chuang Tse is when he says of the believer, A deluge that reaches to heaven cannot drown him. Embers of heat, in which metals and stones melt and the earth and mountains wither, cannot burn him. In times past, Heaven saved a man we call Da Yü in a boat (an eight-man boat); in times to come, He will save the Sons of Heaven, the Dao disciples, through His love.

The Masters favourite disciple, A-Ji, came to the Masters hermitage from Honan with a bamboo flute. He heard the sweet flute playing and said, Chuang Tse is talking about the organ playing of heaven. What does he mean by that? There are different organ pipes, one is long and the other short, one gives a low tone and the other a high tone, but all are equally important to produce perfect music. But it is not the pipes alone that make the music, but the wind, which is the breath of heaven. Chuang Tse says, Behind all this there is a driving force which makes those sounds end and makes them rise. Have you noticed, my dear son, that the sage first addresses the end of the sounds and then that they rise? Thus the breath of heaven makes our last sigh, but it also makes us rise (to speak with the poets) on a yellow crane into the realm of immortality. Is this breath of heaven also the spirit of your music? Then it shall please me. - Thereupon the Master began to sing, Zhi dao wan dai.

When a young seeker of truth came to the masters hermitage, wanting the master to be his teacher, the master put some rice and green tea in front of the person with the beautiful eyes and asked, What is your name, beautiful person? And the truth seeker said in a melodious voice, My father called me Liang-Yi, but if you want to give me another name? Then the Master smiled and said, I recognise the name your father gave you. And you seek a teacher in wisdom? Do you know what Chuang Tse said? He said, One must accept a true teacher, although we are not able to grasp any external trace of him. One can act according to ones faith in him. That is a word worth considering. But which teacher is worthy of being believed in? Let the Dao be our common teacher; it is the word of wisdom and is older than the moon and lotuses. Yes, even in the beginning the Dao was with heaven like a child, playing before the jade throne of heaven, receiving from the breath of heaven all the knowledge of eternity. Take the Dao as your teacher, and even if you do not see it with your fleshly eyes (which are beautiful like those of a princess), you can still recognise in faith that the Dao is, so to speak, a Heavenly Person, and since the Dao is the Word that is the Way, follow it and you will be on the right path, the path of Heaven, since the Breath of Heaven will drive you into eternity in an invigorating way. Do not doubt, Liang-Yi, believe!

And Liang-Yi, who had come from Nanking to the Masters lonely mountain hut on Taishan, became a disciple of the Master, striving to grasp his teaching of the truth of heaven. Then Liang-Yi asked a question, Dear Master, when you first saw me, you spoke of my eyes, which you did not disdain to call beautiful. What do you call beautiful? Then the Master was silent for a moment and reflected inwardly, as he discussed with the spirit, and thereupon he answered, Tschuang Tse says, The one who is called looks at things in the light of eternity. So I looked at your eyes, and there I saw that your eyes look up to the sky like the flying birds, I realised, This person has phoenix eyes that look up. All good things come from above, from the heaven of the heavens, and he who looks much there, his eyes are enlightened by the light of heaven. You, my dear, have eyes that shine as if you had eaten honey, but your eyes do not shine from honey, but from the enlightenment that dwells within you. What do you actually seek from me, since you already have a heaven in your heart? Then Liang-Yi lowered his eyelashes humbly ashamed and said, Oh Master, you really know more about myself than I do. How much more do the heavens know me, who have prepared my eyes as artfully as the stars of the weaver or the shepherd.

The Master got up early one morning (he always used to get up early, with the birds and the morning star) and walked across the Taishan; at his side walked his two disciples, A-Ji with the silkworm brows and Liang-Yi with the honey eyes. The master sat down on a rock and raised his voice, My dear children, what do you think of the following saying? To know the Dao is to possess heavens treasure house. Isnt that a most glorious word? Then A-Ji said, It seems to me that there is a wonderful world in heaven, even if there is a treasure house there. It should look like a house made of light green jade and red gems, and decorated on the outside with rainbow or emerald colours. Then the Master smiled and said, The light green jade is green like life, which lasts, and bright like the light of heaven; the red nephrite is red like the heart of heaven, which means love, and the rainbow-coloured around it, that is the variety of the sons of heaven. Then Liang-Yi raised his arms to heaven and said, O what a reward to know the Dao, so rich in love and light and life! To strive after this realisation all your earthly life, that is a precious life, yes, that has meaning. Then the Master rejoiced over his disciples and said, Therefore we are not ashamed of our earthly poverty, because we have treasures in heaven, and where our treasure is, there is our heart.

The Master slept little; when he lay down on his bamboo mat, it was not without talking to heaven. Often he would wake up in the night and say, Heaven has spoken to me, I love my disciple! When he got up after such a nights vigil, he looked at the rising sun gilding the Taishan, then put on water for his tea, woke the two disciples who were resting in an adjoining chamber, and said, I am thinking about a word of the philosopher. He said, There must be a great awakening, and after that we shall realise this great dream.- What kind of awakening will that be? I mean, we will rejoice like larks when they soar to the light of heaven. And if here we think only in dark riddles and many things seem mysterious and unfathomable to us, then we will have clarity there and see the truth in full beauty and goodness. We will shake off the oppressive dreams and gladly remember the prophetic dreams. The bright morning of eternity will burn all the shadows of night with its holy fire. But with peony arms, white and rosy, immortal life will embrace us. O my children, I cannot say it, I think I must be a poet!

Shortly after the New Year was celebrated with demonic magic in the towns and villages of the world, a young man came to the Master with his two disciples in the silence of the holy solitude. He wore a simple peasants dress, he had only a little ginseng in his bag, and in his hand he held a gnarled knotted stick. But this poor appearance was enriched by a heavenly smile in his eyes and all over his face. He bowed reverently when he saw the Master and said, A Heavenly Messenger commanded me in a dream to seek you out to read from your lips words of life. Behold, here I am. Then the Master was glad that the young man had come, for he had been expecting him. The Master clapped his hands and cried, A-Dar, A-Dar, I have a word from the philosopher for you, rise into the limitless! And dwell in the Limitless! A-Dar thought and asked, Master, interpret the word for me. And the Master said, Boundless is the heaven of heavens, there is gathered all power that no mountain can stop, that can run over water from one end of the sky to the other, from one corner of the sea to the other. There has the Dao a city of jade, and that city itself shall be thy dwelling place. To him who binds his heart to eternity, human life on earth seems the existence of a mayfly, but that does not grieve him, for after his last sigh he is at home!

A-Dar and A-Ji were talking about the birds of the mountain, one said that the he-sparrow was more beautiful, the other that the she-sparrow was more beautiful, one said that a woman should wear her hair long and open, the other that she should wear it knotted. They had strayed into the garden of idleness, into the grove of nothingness. The master listened patiently for a while and then said, You talk like poets. When will you become wise? Do you not know that I rely entirely on the spirit and no longer on sight, that I have given up the knowledge of the senses and act only according to the impulses of the spirit? Do you not know that you are spirits of the spirit, that your breath is the outflow of the heavenly breath? What else do you think a woman is? Ask not whether she wears a phoenix ornament or a kingfisher feather ornament in her hair, but whether her spirit has confidence in heaven. To be lovely, to have rosy cheeks is nothing, is as quickly faded! But a heaven in the heart, that is lovely. Then A-Dar and A-Ji were ashamed that they were no wiser than visitors in the alleys of bewitching blossoms.

The following day, the two disciples were still ashamed, and they no longer dared to go under the Masters eyes, so they poured out their hearts to Liang-Yi. He came to the master and told him everything. Then the master said with a voice full of mercy, What happened to the two is today a general misanthropy. The philosopher calls it a deviation from the heavenly way of being, so that one forgets the entrusted gifts of God. That is why the heavenly Dao became an earthly virtue, so that one can go this way. Repentance is good, tell them, but let them not be angry, but rely on the goodness of heaven. Tell them this, Repent! Heaven is near!

Liang-Yi wanted to wander out into the world for a time; he felt called to be a wandering philosopher. He approached the master about it, and he told him, Do not go to the wise men in the solitudes. For one thing, my teaching seems foolishness and folly to them, and for another, they are already in search of immortality. Rather, go to the students and melon sellers, to the flower girls and concubines, go to officials and bigwigs, go to the beggars. Yes, are they not all beggars for spirit? They are sick of soul, because they have left the heavenly nature. That is why the philosopher says, A kingdom in confusion must be sought. At the door of the physician are many sick. I tell thee, the sick have need of the physician. So go in peace, but return at new moon, for I have yet some words for thee, which are good for thee to hear.

A-Ji asked the Master if he could cook him some peeled rice, and he asked if he would also like some melon tea. Then the Master realised that A-Ji wanted to serve him. Far from being haughty, the Master took this as an opportunity to instruct his favourite disciple, My son, in the Scriptures, about which I have often preached, the following is written about service, He who is a servant of Heaven knows that the Son of Heaven and he himself are regarded in the same way by Heaven as children. How much more, then, would it be just for me to serve you! This A-Ji understood, and he understood it thus, the children of Heaven are to serve one another, so they also serve the Heavenly Father. Then A-Ji said, How beautiful is the sound of washing rice! That is why I want to serve you, my Master! You already serve me enough with your words!

The hut was not big and magnificent like the imperial palace of Chang-an, but it was a wonderful place to live in this harmony and unanimity. A-Dar felt something wonderful, but he could not put it into words. The master, however, saw through his disciple and said, My friend, when you go into your chamber, you do not forget the Dao, you keep it in your heart and trust in heaven. That is right and the true virtue. Whoever lives in this way, the word from the philosophical scripture applies to him, To such a one the invisible ones come to take up their abode with him. Yes, I tell you, heaven and its Dao come to your chamber, the breath of heaven whispers in your dwelling, and this is the actual cause of the inexpressible sense of well-being. O my friend, is not this quite wonderful? Heaven is the house-father in our hut, that is even more beautiful than when even the Emperor Wu-Di visited us in all his splendour!

Over the Taishan flew a train of wild geese, white and orderly; A-Dar watched them, and as he followed the birds of the sky, he thought about the sky and what else is above the blue of the ether. The Master saw his line of sight and spoke graciously, People see their father in the sky, says Chuang Tse, and love him personally. A-Dar beamed at the Master and asked, Is it not so, O Master, that we children of heaven are much more than the wild geese migrating south? And if they already reach the blue dome, how much higher will we go! To the Father, into His loving presence! A-ya!

The Master said, It is written in the book that the Dao exists from eternity, that it gives spirit to the spirits and that it created the material world of above and below. Yes, Chuang Tse says, the Dao is older than antiquity and yet always young. I mean, such a Dao is worthy of receiving worship and praise. Oh, if only it were among us as a human being! I would kiss this godman on the mouth!

A-Ji and A-Dar walked across the mountain meadows and looked at the beautiful flowers, all so artistically crafted, they were exquisitely modelled, more beautiful even than the great statues on the soul paths. Then A-Ji said, Nature is a great furnace, the Creator is the great caster. And A-Dar joined in the praise, Whithersoever he sends me, it shall be well with me. And as with one accord they praised the Creator with the words of the sage, a voice sounded from heaven, It is done! (I fall asleep, and quietly I shall awake.)

When the two disciples returned from the mountain top, having heard the voice of the Dao, they came to the hut which stood in the shade of evergreen pines, they entered and saw the Master lying on the ground with his forehead on the planks. He had already noticed them, looked up for a moment, all patience and kindly smiling, he quoted a word from the old man, I am just about to consort with the Creator. The two disciples humbly withdrew, and the Master again fell on his face weeping.

As the Master prayed, he heard the gentle voice with which the breath of heaven breathed on him from within, sweeter than honey, They all die; I alone am! Then the Master felt this ineffable grace, that this I Am condescended from his majestic heavenly throne and spoke so mercifully to his least servant on earth. O Lord!

After his silent time, the Master called his two disciples (Liang-Yi was wandering until the coming new moon) and said, I will teach you humility and order. It is said that the superior man must banish all his own striving from his heart towards the Dao. Can you do that? Set out on the path! Overcome yourselves! Man is the greatest dragon to himself! But Heaven gives its disciples a sword to judge this dragon, it is the same sword with which the great Tang drove out the last tyrant of the Xia dynasty and established the pious godly kingship of the Shang. Renounce the ways of evil passions, let yourselves be filled with the breath of heaven, which is the true master and leads you on the path of heaven, which the Dao as the Son of Heaven has paved for all men between the four seas to the Father Heaven! Up, up!

When the new moon was in the sky, the night was so dark, Liang-Yi returned like a shining lamp to his master, who received him joyfully. Liang-Yi said, How wrong I was when I left you, my master! Then the master gave a word of wisdom, When one realises his folly, he is not yet completely infatuated. My son, how happy I am that we now want to listen to heaven together again in silence. And even if it is completely dark around us, the Dao in us makes us lights in the world, more glorious than the moon and the celestial stream!

The following morning, when the air was so clear and fresh on Taishan, Liang-Yi came back from his early morning prayer in the rosy dawn to drink tea with his brothers, saying, What peace between us! The Master nodded, Peace with man, that is human peace; peace with heaven, O that is heavenly peace! Surely, that moved into your heart, Liang-yi, I see it by the radiance on your face.

My children, said the Master, my dear children, how I love heaven and the Dao and the breath of heaven! He has blessed me in this morning hour; he has touched and moved my sensibilities. See and seek if you can feel the Godhead! As the lover of wisdom says, Inexpressible infinite feelings rose up in me. O vastness upon vastness, glory upon glory! Eternity, eternity, children! Then I saw the Jade City of the Most High and the Dao like a Son of Heaven with outstretched arms welcoming me! Myriad spirits praised him with venerable sonorities! Children, I say to you, righteousness, this is the Lamb over us! A-ya!

A-yi thought much, and he found many principles that his mind became confused with philosophy. Then the Master saw him perplexed, recognised his thoughts and said, Do not be confused by philosophy. I will tell you what matters in the last things. We have the ancients as a model, and as Chuang Tse says, The highest people of the ancient times took love as their path. It is love!

Liang-Yi had a voice more beautiful than musical stone and cult chimes, but he did not sing foolish songs, he sang praises, and so he sang this song of the sage:

He who of the Word pure kind

Inwardly keeps in the spirit

And loses in no adversity,

He will be one with God!

When the Master heard his disciple sing like this, he said, Where did you get this, that you can sing like this? I believe it is a heavenly gift. Therefore give thanks! For thus I learn again how beautiful the songs of the immortals will be in the realms of eternity, up in the Heavenly Garden!

A-Ji, A-Dar and Liang-Yi had discussed among themselves, they had further deepened the masters teaching and shared their insights with each other. In the process, they had come across a question that stood very vividly before their senses and urged them on. So A-Ji, as the eldest of the three, raised his voice, melodious in sound, and he said to the Master, Venerable Master, there is one thing we think we have not yet fully understood. You often speak of the breath of heaven. What do you mean by that? And the Master piously folded his hands in front of his chest, opened his eyes to the sky and breathed, The spirit, it is said, arises from the Dao. The breath of heaven is the spirit of the Heavenly Father, blowing like a wind, so invisible, so urgent from one end of the earth to the other. The ancients taught that this spirit blew over the flood of the beginning, that out of it the earth emerged. Some poets compare it to a bird that flies from one end of the sky to the other. I mean, it is a singing bird, a truly heavenly singing bird, it sings more beautifully than the goose of heaven or the phoenix, it sings not only beautifully, but (what is really beautiful) perfect truth. When the breath sings, so sweetly, or whispers like an evening breeze in the paradisiacal groves, then man of clay only truly begins to live, he is breathed upon with life and full of the joy to which heaven has created him. Yes, Heaven has created man, as the ancients say, from clay and breathed into him the fragrant breath of Heaven, the spirit of His Spirit, life from the source of life. Alas, alas for mankind, that it has gone so far astray from the way of the Dao and fallen into the lusts of the red dust! But the breath of heaven does not leave us, but as a spirit of joy it is a comfort to us in our affliction, in the midst of chaos, sighing so sweetly and blissfully for bliss. Oh, children, if I could tell you with what heavenly consolation I was comforted in my affliction, which seized me over the nothingness of the world! Reason and blessedness, ardour and spirit, peace and joy were breathed into me by the holy breath of heaven. Surely this breath is a divinity, equal to the Father Heaven and the Dao and one with both, in short, my Lord!

SECOND PART

(This section is assigned to the summer and deals with the talks of Kung Fu Tse, the Lun Yu).

A-Ji and Liang-Yi were walking in brotherly harmony across the Taishan through the mysterious pine grove, just as the sun was rising and gilding the clearing. Then the bird Fong flew by and sang from the skies, Let one young man pour out his love on all! Then A-Ji said, If I am rightly instructed, that is one of Kung Fu Tses words; and Liang-Yi said, That is one of our masters favourite words.

A-Dar doubted the truth of the Dao, this doubt had been blown into him by a Gui spirit, and he had not known how to defend himself. But the Master saw A-Dars inner turmoil in his torn expression and said, Keep this word of Kungs, Make loyalty and faith your main thing - believe in the truth of the Dao and believe that the Daos love is loyal and seeks your loyalty. It is like a love relationship, because trust and faithfulness are so important.

When A-Ji and Liang-Yi returned from their walk, the first took the bamboo flute to play an old song of praise, but Liang-Yi bowed before his master. The latter looked closely at his two disciples, as if he were looking straight into their hearts with charcoal eyes, and then said, Kiu said, A person without human love, what good is form to him? A man without love of man, what good is music? Praise and humility, they are both worth nothing without love.

One evening, the storm shaking the door of the hut, there was a knock and a poor man entered, kowtowed to the Master and said, A burden of sin is gnawing at my soul, I hope to find peace here. Then the Master saw the poor mans contrition and said, He who sinned against heaven has no one to pray to; so says Kiu. But one prays for us, that is the Dao that resounds before the Jade Throne of Heaven and intercedes for you, dear Yun. This Dao is your righteousness, the Lamb above you, it washes you clean and clothes you in lotus-white hemp. Be confident and of good cheer. Then Yun stretched out his arms to heaven and cried, O heaven, O heaven, O dear Father! I thank thee that thou hast promised me forgiveness through the Master, and I beseech thee that I may become his disciple! Outside it thundered, the storm roared mightily like a host over the hut. Yun was now the fourth disciple of the Master.

Yun introduced himself to the other three disciples and said, The world has long been without the Word of God, now Heaven uses your Master as a bell. He was referring to a bronze bell from the ancient times when people played sacrificial songs to God on bells. The bell rang loudly so that the sleeping people would wake up from their sleep and become aware of the sacrifice. This is a word from God, spoken from heaven, that the Lamb was sacrificed to reconcile the world with heaven.

Many people in Shandong were superstitious and turned to spirits, magic and sorcery, so a superstitious family went up Taishan to worship the Jade Emperor, the Taoist idol. The parents had their children with them, who saw the master sitting with his disciples under a crippled pine tree eating a peach, so they ran over. The disciples wanted to send them away, but the Master said, Do you not know the word of Kius, I would love the little ones? Such trust as the little ones have in their father and mother, so unreservedly devoted, such trust shall you have in heaven, which is a dear Father to you. He gave the little ones some peaches and called out to them, Sheng ling shi ai!

Yun raised his arms to heaven and prayed, Alas that men have forsaken the Way and live in iniquity! What can be done? If one were to come and give mercy to the people, even if one were to come who could redeem all mankind, what could be said to him? And then Heaven, by the command of a Heavenly Messenger, sent the Master to Yun, and the Master said, Dschung Ni said about the Redeemer, Divine would he be called. Did not Yao, Shun and Yu already await this Saviour, was he not promised to them by Yarrow and Tortoise, It is good to look to the True Man? I mean, he has already come, a True God-Man. A-ya!

A-Ji and A-Dar had asked Yun where he came from, so the fourth disciple said, I come from the world of dust, but with heaven in my heart. Because I spoke words of truth, unjust officials persecuted me. But I always said to myself with a word from the conversations, God has begotten the spirit in me, what can Huan Tui do to me? When my mother conceived me in lusts and the Creator prepared me in the womb, God breathed on me with the breath of heaven, thats when I conceived my spirit. My mother later told me that whenever heaven was mentioned, I leapt for joy in her womb. Heaven is my canopy, how could the ten suns sting me there?

Whenever Liang-Yi heard an oriole chirping, he thought of the Masters word that the Saviour had already come, which gave him no peace, so he asked the Master if he had seen the Supreme Saint with his own eyes. Then the Master said in one word of Kiu, I was not granted to see the God-Man. I have the revelation that the Dao walked on earth in red dust, but in perfect virtue. Is it comprehensible that the eternal Dao met us in human form? That is more than gods and spirits can do! For this is the expression of love for man (ren).

At the time when the people of the world were celebrating the Dragon Boat Festival, a young man came to the Taishan, stood before the Master, who was sitting in a circle of his disciples by a mulberry tree, and confessed to him that he had lived with flower girls according to the laws of the Kamasutra, as he put it. The disciples were indignant and said that such a man of iniquity had no place in their sacred circle. But the Master, seeing the blush of shame on the young mans cheeks and seeing the silver tear on his silken eyelash, said with a word from the Father of the Teaching, If a man purifies himself to come to me, I approve his purification without holding his past deeds against him. Since you feel shame at your disgrace, may you put away your old life and the red dust of the world from you by a ritual purification, an ablution and the putting on of a pure white robe, as the Shang held. The young man, whose name was To-To, rejoiced.

To-To, purified and sanctified, came before the eyes of the Master and asked what he should now consider and what words he should now adhere to. Then the Master gave him a word from the scripture of the Father of Teachings for his new beginning, Until death be faithful to the right path! This you shall keep, for whoever does not deviate from the path of truth until death will enter the heavenly city of jade at the end, he will walk in the heavenly garden among peonies with blessed genii!

And To-To asked the Master if he, To-To, should accept office, he knew the classics and the canon, indeed a great part of the odes by heart, so would be fit to assist in the government of the empire. Then the master looked serious and said, The realm of Dao is not of this world of red dust. Do you not know the word of Kiu, Do you think I want to die in the arms of ministers and not rather in the arms of my faithful disciples? Of what spirit are the politically powerful? Do you want to serve the cruel Qin Shihuangdi or the loving Dao of Heaven? The slave driver or the mother of ten thousand beings? An office, that is vanity.

Yun asked how one could tell if one really had and practised trust and devotion towards heaven within oneself, or if one was adulating oneself with religious feelings. Then the Master said, The sage said, When the year becomes cold, only then do you realise that trees of life are evergreen. Behold, it is only when you are in distress, affliction and persecution that you realise whether you trust in heaven. If you lie in silk on velvet and brocade on a kang of jade with rice wine and boiled salmon with rice from the Yangtze, you may be content with your life. But thank heaven all the more when you are punished with the nine-tailed whip, when the ankle press is applied to you and you are thrown into a dark hole with the rats. Then shouting Yes! to heaven and having grateful love for the dear Heavenly Father, thats what I call faith, which can be called faith.

Liang-Yi said, In the Dao the ether and the middle realm were created, it is inexhaustible and mysterious. And this now, do you think, take care of me? I think it is inaccessible and distant according to my sensibilities. Then the Master looked understandingly into Liang-Yis black eyes, which gleamed, and said, My example said in the face of death, Woe, God has forsaken me! Woe, God has forsaken me! But how wrong he was! God does not abandon us, he is the reliable one. He is unapproachable, but so close to us. Perhaps Kiu felt the abyss of vice with all its depravity. But if I also flee to the Yellow Springs, behold, God would be there too. So worry not, fear not, weep no longer, O Liang-Yi. God is with you!

A-Ji thought a lot about the ethics of antiquity, about moral teachings, the concept of virtue and piety, the understanding of filial love and filial duty. He had formed an opinion that these virtues also had meaning for the disciples of his master of the Taishan. He told this to his brother To-To, who was older in the natural and younger in the spiritual, and who knew nothing else to say but one Kung word, Let the Father be Father, and let the Son be Son. He probably meant that Heaven is Father and A-Ji is Son, and just as Heaven is truly Father in everything, loving and exemplary, educating and providing, so A-Ji should also be a son, a joy of his Father, living in filial love, obedient and following the Father‘s way. To-To also referred to himself in the same way.

A-Dar was suddenly seen one evening at the top of Taishan throwing himself flat on the ground, not only kneeling, not only bowing his forehead to the ground, but lying down on the ground and pressing his face to the hard rock. There he praised heaven in a tongue that was neither Mandarin nor Cantonese. To-To, who came over, was amazed, silent, paused, and only when A-Dar stood up did To-To ask what it all meant. A-Dar said with a conversational word, The essence of the ruler is the wind, the essence of the lowly is the grass. The grass, when the wind passes over it, must bend. A-ya! The Ruler is heaven, and when he met me, I prostrated myself before him. A-ya! The Ruler Heaven is like wind, like breath, and since he breathed on me and poured out his love in my heart, therefore I praise him with the language of the Heavenly Messengers. Then To-To naively said, I could not understand your tongue, but it seemed to me that you kept saying, Peace! Peace!

When in summer, in gossamer summer gauze, fluid and lovely as dragonfly wings, maidens walked over the Taishan by the mulberry fields, they stirred To-Tos heart, and he looked within and found lust in his soul disturbing and confusing the peace of his virtuous mind. He confessed this to the chaste A-Ji, the Master‘s favourite disciple, who said, What does it say in the Book of Wise Conversations? To fight ones own sins and not to fight the sins of others, will not the secret faults be improved thereby? What shall I say now? When I look inside myself, I see shortcomings in virtue. If I want to help you fraternally, I say, Overcome! Then To-To sighed and said, Oh how far and distant is perfect virtue to me! I am more a worm than a man! But A-Ji began to sing an ancient song of praise from the Shijing, praising the God of the Old Covenant, Shangdi. This finally helped the young To-To.

It was a glorious summers day, the orchids in the valleys shone, the fleecy clouds in the blue sky above Taishan shone, the eyes of Yin-Ko, the youth, gleamed as he walked up the mountain to the masters hut. He met the master, immediately gained confidence and said, I had fallen in love with a seventeen-year-old virgin, but she was already promised to another. I decided to flee from the world into solitude to seek the spirit of heaven. But what shall I say now, since my heart is still full of youthful foolish rapture? The Master smiled, he bowed his head to one side and from an oblique angle looked at Yin-Ko and said, The one word of Kiu hold before you when your fate seems adverse, I do not murmur against God. Yes, what he assigns you from heaven, your path, see it as a counsel and path of heavenly love, care and goodness. And if you do not know your own best, if you no longer understand yourself in the entanglement of your feelings, then say this to yourself with the old Confucius, He who knows me is God. Yes, what more could you want? With that, you already have everything. Yin-Ko sighed and said, The Dao has heard my sigh and sent me a comforter.

To-To saw Yin-Ko and befriended him, for he felt that they were of one spirit, indeed, both knew that the other was also breathed upon by the breath of heaven, that he had made himself one with the Dao and recognised the rule of heaven. Praise and glory to the community that heaven has established. Then the Master saw their community and said, Blessed are those who let the power of the Spirit work on them. This spirit is a spirit of unanimity, of brotherhood, of peace, of harmony and love of man, of virtue and the right way. You, my children, you know the power of the spirit. Kiu said, There are few who know the power of the spirit. They are the ones chosen by Heaven, whose covenant is lasting and firm. Praiseworthy indeed is this love between you!

To-To and Yin-Ko spoke from one mouth, of one mind and spirit, as if To-To were upper lip and Yin-Ko lower lip, and the one could not speak without the other joining in. Then, a wonder from heaven it was, To-To said (using a word from the conversations), Is there a word... and Yin-Ko added, ...by which one can act all ones life? The Master was so pleased, so glad of their unanimity and like-mindedness, that he saw in the two of them the answer, Charity.

Once, when it was dark night and the moon was eclipsed by the earth, gruesome demons, black warriors, besieged the soul of A-Ji, who begged heaven to help him, save him and protect him. He was no longer afraid of the demons at that moment, but he felt a great trembling awe of the most holy God. He expressed this to Liang-Yi the next morning in the following words, Kung said, The superior man has a holy awe of the will of God. I have experienced that this is reality and truth, since this shyness has been given to me for protection. Truly, he who has a holy fear of God, who loves him with humility and a childlike heart, is protected, is at home in the castle of heaven, and no longer needs to fear the demons of superstition. This fear of the will of God is the beginning of enlightenment and wisdom beyond knowledge. A-ya!

After meditating with the Master, early in the morning, they had meditated on a sacred word expressing the love of the Most High, after this meditation, the celestial Yun left the Masters hut. He went to the representatives of a philosophical school who tried to grasp the Dao with mental speculation. They were preparing for political office, they wanted to found an ideal model state in the Middle Kingdom according to the principles of the Dao. Yun had a different insight. He said to a representative of these philosophers, You study the words of Kung and yet you do not understand them. Yes, you do not even understand the words of Dsi Jang. If you do not even understand the disciples explanations, how do you think you can understand the Master himself? If you do not love the disciples, how can you love the Master? Yes, see within yourselves if you have love. Without love for the truth, how can you establish anything true? Do you not know this word of Dsi Dschang, He who agrees to the truth in his mind without it becoming a power in his life is neither cold nor warm. Yes, I tell you, heaven will spit out such lukewarm people! I am sure that the heart of heaven is full of the fire of love, and I want to be melted into it, I want this fire of love to purify and refine my heart like gold. My goal is truth, but a truth of love, I do not recognise any other. What is truth? you philosophers ask. I ask, Who is truth? The God-man is truth, who is the Dao, who is the love of heaven! But what am I saying to closed ears? Your mind has made your heart hard and deaf. Ah, you are like serpents who do not hear the summoner! You are a burden and an ache to my heart and a constant plea to heaven! When the philosophers heard this, they laughed at Yun and chased him away with clubs.

Yin-Ko asked the master who was a saint and what knowledge identified him as such. The Master said, I know a word of Kung that says, He who has both beginning and end is a saint. Who then is the beginning and the end? It is the Dao, because the world was created in the Dao and it will end in the Dao. You can call it the beginning or the end, it is simply true, it is truth and reality. The beginning, which is the Dao, is a mighty beginning, not only the beginning of time, but also a powerful event. Such an event takes place in the saint when the beginning of his wisdom comes to him, the turning point of his life back to the origin, that is so inexpressibly sublime, mighty and powerful and glorious, O Yin-Ko, there I see the power of love that meets me in the Dao, yes, that heaven has acted on me in this way! I hold this beginning as I long for the end, the end which is a working glorious and great and brings me home into the mystery of mysteries. Yin-Ko looked at the Master with wide eyes.

To-To, of one mind with Yin-Ko, came to the Master and said, Master, you have told Yin-Ko who is a saint, you have said who possesses beginning and end is holy, sanctified by the Dao, which is beginning and end and word of life. Isnt the saint the one who always looks at the Dao? What do you say about the Dao? I mean, you have a word about it on your heart that is more wonderful than the talk of the philosophers. Then the master laughed heartily and said, Not that I dont honour the ancients, I like to take a word from old Kung. One of his words is particularly dear to me, he puts it into the mouth of Saint Shun, who said, If the ten thousand regions have sin, let sin remain on my body. Consider this, my son. You must know that Shun did not want to glorify himself, but spoke as a prophet of antiquity, and what he apparently referred to himself, he referred to a God-man. Now who is this? I mean, as he is God and man, the God-man, so he is Dao and red dust at the same time. Yes, he is the Word of Life in a virtuous form. If I had been granted the grace of earlier birth, I would have wandered into the West to see him, over the mountains and across the three rivers, Euphrates and Tigris and Jordan, into the exotic land I would have gone to kiss the feet of the God-Man. But now I speak of him what my heart tells me. He is the one who saw that the people of the ten thousand regions sinned against God by despising the Heavenly Father and putting themselves in his place, loving their ancestors or gods and spirits more than the Most High and living without virtue. Then the Dao became unworthy dust and took upon itself the sin of all until a death worthy of cursing and threw itself with it to death. Where is my sin now? Behold, gone for ever, and taken from me, it is gone! A-ya! But the God-man, behold, at the right hand of the Heavenly Father He stands, speaking, the Dao, with the breath of heaven, I come again!

THIRD PART

(This division is assigned to Autumn and deals with the Li Ji, the Book of Rites and Customs).

The Master gathered his disciples around him, as there were, A-Ji, A-Dar, Liang-Yi, Yun, To-To and Yin-Ko. He said to them, We want to talk about custom, that is, we want to talk about what is good and what is evil. Since our ancestors sinned, we have knowledge of good and evil. But who is good but God? God is the Dao of heaven. The Li Ji therefore says, What heaven has ordained for man is his nature; what guides this nature to good is the way. The Way must not be abandoned; if it were abandoned, it would not be the Way! Long speech with deep meaning! Children, your essence has been assigned to you by Heaven; it has created you so that you may walk in the way of life. Therefore, everyone has the urge to seek immortality. He who has found the way of life already has a share in immortality. That is not only long life of a hundred years, that is long life forever, long life of ten thousand years! You have the way, but do not turn to the right or to the left! On the right hand is the fornication of the body, on the left hand is the pride of the spirit. Be humble before Heaven, sincere towards the Dao, and do not grieve the breath of Heaven within you. Know that the Dao is the only way that leads to heaven, to the Father on His throne of jade!

Then Yun, who had been in the world and knew men, said with a Li-ji word, Alas that the way be not trodden! He had a burden on his heart, a pity for those who were not yet on the way of life, therefore were on the way of death, poor souls!

To-To went into raptures, enthusiasm and exuberant rejoicing. He thought it unparalleled praise to sing of the Dao, O Way of Life, you are great and mysterious, you are so distant and incomprehensible, you were there before all universes, before chaos, before light and darkness, before spirit and soul and body, in inexhaustible unfathomability you are at home, one could call you the primordial principle of life, too holy for me to approach you! Then A-Ji had to rebuke him, he held up to his brother in the Dao a saying from the book of morals, To-To, I have a word for you which reads, The Way is not far from man. When men remove the Way from man, that cannot any longer be called the Way. Behold, my dear brother, remember what you have heard. Wisdom comes from hearing, right teaching from the Word (Dao). This Dao, as our Master taught us, was a servant in the red dust, blameless in virtue, but despised and hated by the world. How thinkest thou then that it is unapproachable, when it is as human as it is divine, yea, when the God-man stretcheth forth one hand to the Father, yet the other to thee to grasp thy hand? To-To said, I believe heaven will help my unbelief. Hast thou then seen the Dao of heaven in the form of a servant? Then A-Ji said, I saw Dao, and behold, the eyes glowed, the robe was white as snow. To-To wondered, The robe was white? Was he in mourning? A-Ji said, It was white because it was made of light.

To-To had considered A-Ji‘s words and came to Yin-Ko with his reflections, to whom he said, If Dao lives as a God-man and wants to come close to me, how must I live? And Yin-Ko said, The same, my dear, I asked the Master yesterday. We are truly kindred spirits. Behold, he said with a word from the rites, Upwards he does not resent the sky, downwards he does not resent men. Yes, in this he is like the Dao, who is the model and foremost of all saints. For, my dear, the God-man had perfect peace with heaven, a heavenly peace filled his heart, and he had love and mercy for men, oh the poor souls, whom their unrighteousness draws down to the Yellow Springs, but He, He draws them up to heaven‘s Jade and Phoenix City! He who is so has found rest in the shadow of the Most High, into whom Heavenly Love has been poured. That is the good way. I am so grateful, my brother spirit, that we are both on this path of life, guided by the Word of Love to the goal of the pilgrimage, heavenly harmony with God!

The Master stood before his disciples and said, This is how far the revelation of the Mysterious One goes, I saw the Dao, I saw him who is Dao, his eyes looked into my heart full of the glow of love, his heart was made of glow, his hair was light like the hair of the wise. Above he was like light and fire, but below like brass or copper. This was a God-man. Yes, so far goes the revelation of the mysterious, as the Li Ji calls it.

Yun was seen walking to the top of Taishan in the morning, to a beautiful spot where pines of eternal life stood, praying to heaven. Of course, not to what the world calls sky, to the stars and clouds, no, he was not praying to the constellation of the dragon. The heaven he prayed to was the one they called I am in far-off Ju-te-a, a spirit, person-like. He prayed like the ancients in reverence and humility, and as he worshipped, he received power from heaven, moral guidance and comprehensive human love (ren). The Master knew of this, and he said of Yun in a word from the Book of Morals, From heaven he receives it daily.

Liang-Yi looked over the jasmine tea cup at A-Ji and said, Brother in Dao, how do I know you? How do I know you? What does it mean to know a person? The Li Ji says, Whoever wants to know man must not refrain from knowing heaven. It is like this, We are created by heaven, we are heaven‘s species, yes, boldly I confess, we are sons of heaven, children of the Father. Behold, as it is said in a song, we have heaven in our hearts. I know the heaven in your heart and see it is the same as the heaven in my heart. So we are one and of one accord and of one mind. This heartfelt bond, created by heaven, is what I call true recognition. This is how I want to know heaven, so that I am one with it, I in heaven and heaven in my heart. Brother, I want to give you my heaven! Do we call this ai or ren?

The Master taught, In the Book it says, To have the truth is heaven‘s way; to seek the truth is man‘s way. Yes, children, heaven has truth, is true, is not only true, that is, has not only truth in itself, but I say, the Dao of heaven is Truth. This was not revealed to me by flesh, it was revealed to me by heaven, since the Dao said, I am the Truth. Dao is not merely the correctness of a thought, but is the only true thing, the only really substantial and essential thing. Everything that wants to call itself true must be one with the Dao, otherwise its truthfulness is only a subjective fallacy, a self-deceiving illusion. Therefore, man attains truth, the truth about God and mans destiny, by seeking truth, that is, by seeking that being which revealed from heaven that it is the truth in being, that is, by seeking the Dao. This says to the people of the world, Seek the truth, set out on the path! Yes, does no one desire truth any more?

The Master taught, Once again I will preach to you about the truth. For this I refer to a word from the Scriptures, Truth is the end and beginning of all things. Without truth there is no thing. Therefore the superior man holds truth to be worthy. How then, beloved? Do we not worship heaven as our Creator? Are we not sons of heaven? But are not the God of heaven and the Dao of heaven identical, and did not the Dao say of itself that it is identical with truth, and further did not the Dao also say that its spirit is a spirit of truth, that this spirit of truth is the breath of heaven? Who wants to separate these? This I call the true Three Treasures (in truth, One Treasure, my heart‘s treasure and darling). Then To-To looked quite ecstatic, because he heard that God was a darling, because there was now perfect and findable what he had always longed for and sought! Now the Master continued, This Spirit of Truth, the Spirit of Dao, in Him we are born. It was above chaos in the beginning. In the Dao, everything is created, through the Dao (Let there be) and towards the Dao. And since the Dao is the truth, creation was created from the truth, through the truth and for the truth. We then, as creatures likewise, how should we not honour our Creator and pay homage to Truth as our Lord?

The Master wanted to know what the creed and confession of his disciples was, so A-Ji said, The Supreme Saint is, as Li Ji says, like a deep spring that gives water in its time. I mean, this water that the Supreme Saint, that the God-Man gives, that is the water of life from heaven. What is the water of life? It is the refreshment of the inner life, of the spirit, therefore it must itself be spirit, for only spirit refreshes the spirit. The spirit which the Most High and Holy One gives must be the Most High Holy Spirit. Let it become a fountain in me and spring up; daily I will ask the God-Man (Dao) that his Spirit of Life, his Heavenly Breath, may be alive in me and fill my spirit and the whole man with sweetness!

Yun then confessed, As it says in the Book of Rites, when the Supreme Holy One reveals Himself, His people honour Him; when He speaks, His people believe Him; when He acts, His people rejoice. A-ya, He revealed Himself in His day, He continues to reveal Himself daily through His Spirit (shen), He will finally reveal Himself fully by coming again, He, the God-Man, who is the Dao of God. I thank Heaven that I am counted among His people, being the Heavenly Father‘s child, thus I believe the God-Man, thus I rejoice in the Dao, thus I honour the Supreme Holy One.

Then To-To testified to his faith, It is written, All that has breath, honour and love Him! He is assigned to heaven! A-ya! With odes and poems, praise and cult songs, hymns and love verses, great psalms (Da Ya) and small psalms (Siau Ya), praise all that has breath, the Lord of the Heavenly Messengers, the Lord who is like jade and nephrite on the Throne, my Lord! A-ya! Praise the Lord!

And Liang-Yi confessed, I believe in the Ones dual nature, real is His humanity, radiant is his heavenliness (Li Ji). That is why we call him God-Man. He was the best of men, lived in perfect virtue (his birth was sacred) and fulfilled all the commandments of human love to the full. But not that alone, but from heaven high he came, in the heaven of heavens he was at home from the beginning, radiant, as it is said, shining with heavenly light, since he was and is and will be the light itself, the light that enlightened me, a sweet light, so sweet, ah!

And A-Ji conferred with Liang-Yi, the favourite disciple with the beautiful disciple, early in the morning, before sunrise, and they agreed on one thing, which A-Ji then formulated according to the words of the Rites Book, Our way is to love people and set the goal in the highest good. Then Liang-Yi said, How? Is it not the case that only he who loves people, the children of heaven, can also love heaven? Who has ever seen the face of the Heavenly Lord? He who does not love his children, who are visible, how can he love the Father, who is invisible? Therefore, let us love with mind and spirit, soul, heart, hun and po and all our strength! And A-Ji added, Yes, my dear beloved! And our goal, that is in the highest good; and who is this? This is Heaven, the Lord of Heaven, the Father, He alone is good! He is the source of all good, for all good comes from above. How do we get there, having so much sacrilege in our bodily soul (po), so much sacrilege and joy-maidenhood, ah, Liang-yi, you know we are not thoroughly good and pure and holy. How will that be? Then the Master heard their conversation and discussion and took pity on them both and gave them a word of wisdom, The Dao is your righteousness, your righteousness is the Lamb over you (as the character makes clear). In ancient times the priestly shepherds prepared a lamb for sacrifice to Shang-Di, which the Son of Heaven offered as High Priest, this lamb, pure and spotless, was to bear the iniquities of the people. This has now become the Dao itself, your righteousness, if you surrender your heart to him and follow him!

Yun, who was also called the Song of Heaven because every morning he sang a psalm in his heart towards heaven, pondered one morning in his quiet time the following word from the book, He always had the clear destiny of heaven before his eyes. Then Yun consulted with the Master, Master, what is my destiny from Heaven? The Master said, The Son of Heaven is the Dao, the perfect image of Heaven, one and identical are Heaven and Dao, like-minded as father and son in love. Be like this Son. This is the destiny of heaven. Yun asked, How can this become? Then the Master said, The breath of heaven, breathed into you from heaven in your renewal of the whole man from the Dao, that works on you, that works within you as your life-breath shaping, that will transform you and make you like the Dao, the firstborn Son of Heaven!

To-To said, Master, I suffer from pride, I mean, I, I am now a disciple of the Dao, the people of the world of red dust are all vain fools. How now? I suffer from it. Then the Master spoke gently, What does Heaven want you to do with the children of the world? What does the Li Ji say, Only love for ones neighbour is delicious for him. Do you not want to be delicious to him, a fragrance and pleasant to his tongue, so that he does not spit you out? Then let yourself be filled with the love that the Creator has for all his creatures out of chaos. If he loves the kingfisher and the stone martin, how much more the flower girl whom he wants to ransom! So go, pay no attention to her lines, look into her eyes, which are mirrors of the soul, and see in this soul the soul loved effusively by heaven!

As their morning communion Liang-Yi, the Beautiful, and A-Ji, the Favourite Disciple, had before Heaven on top of Taishan in praise of the Three Treasures, Heaven, Dao, and Breath of Heaven; then the Master saw it, and thus appraised their doings with a Li-yi word, This is to inherit the blessings of Heaven! Yes, heaven wants to be praised enthusiastically and truly, and whoever does so is truly blessed.

To-To, after a terrible dream of a three-metre-long rat, trembled terribly one morning, when the Master saw him trembling and quaking, and sang to him for comfort and edification, Trust the Dao, for, as it is written, in this way the saint has a sure shelter in which to shelter his personality. Then To-To sighed heavily and deeply and long and devotedly and said, Yes, my master, I believe the Dao is a place of refuge, is a hermitage on top of the highest mountains, where no foreign devil can reach, is like a ten thousand li long wall around the kingdom, so that no cruel barbarian can penetrate. Yes, he who finds refuge under the canopy of heaven can say to the Most High, With you I find rest, you are as safe as a palace city. My Lord, in you I trust, you Dao of God!

The Master said to A-Dar one evening, It is written in the Li Ji, The Great Ones revelation is called destiny, his work is in heaven. Then A-Dar said, That is something completely beyond my comprehension, that Heaven has determined everything that happens in advance, but that the perpetrator of his deed has the free decision out of his free will and thus the full responsibility. But it is equally wondrous to me that the Dao (from which the firmament and the kingdom of the middle arose, and which is eternal) should have walked in the red dust in the contemptible form of a servant, and died the death of a criminal in Ju-te-a, and yet is still the full whole Dao, which may also be called God? Yes, truly wondrous is the way of heaven.

Yun had received a revelation in his early morning devotion in the mountains peak solitude, which he shared, It is written, Love is the root of righteousness. Yes, for if heaven did not have a heart of love, it would perhaps tolerate hatred, for to tolerate hatred is also to hate. But love everywhere wants only love and nothing but love, wants love for all people, masters as well as servants, men as well as women, first lady as well as flower girls, old people as well as children, Chinese as well as barbarians, everything the same, love for all creatures! heaven does not do anything less. How should he tolerate the evil of the wicked, hatred? He will eradicate hatred, evil, unkindness for ever! Blessed be the love that is heaven for us, the heaven that is love for us!

And Yin-Ko, the lovely one among the disciples, decided to leave the Master, not because he loved the world, but because his heart burned for the lost ones down in the valleys, the wretched creeping in the red dust of futile existence, and he, Yin-Ko, took leave. The master blessed, Love! Love! that is our saying to you, Yin-Ko! Behold, even when the misery of the world oppresses you, the heavy black clouds of gloom beset you, the sighing airs of melancholy breathe upon you, grief envelops you, remember the Li-ji word, Happiness finally arises when great spiritual power works in communion with heaven. Yes, that this is so, I have experienced it myself in pain and hardship, that there is a joy which one could also call sorrow, for it does not resemble the cheerful pleasures or the great and lasting happiness, but is so painful and sweet, so longingly blissful, so great with the golden glow of happiness and at the same time interspersed with the black ebony of anguish, deeply felt life, ah. You, Yin-Ko, you with heaven! Its going well anyway, even if its hard for you, its going to end well. And so I will say this and that to you, it is all pure good and love to you, I will say it with a Li-Ji word, Early and late they bless him; this penetrates upwards and is heard by the highest spirit of the sublime heaven, and he is full of joy. Yes, my beloved, my beautiful one, my friend, this is true, the spirit of heaven rejoices in blessing, for he who blesses, blesses in the spirit of heaven, and so I bless you, I beseech the Spirit of Heaven to bless thee fully, O lovable one! Let the Spirit of Heaven, the most holy one, look upon you with his dove eyes, let him be full of compassion and mercy towards you, let him breathe upon you, Tsing an! Peace to you, O Yin-Ko, peace in time and peace in eternity! And this I will give you as the last word on your mission, your journey through the valleys of the shadow of death, a Li-Ji word, interpreted with truth, The Lord who sacrifices to heaven is called the Son of Heaven; when he is buried, he becomes the divine ruler (Di). Yes, now how is this to be understood? The Lord, he is the one who is also called the sacrifice with which he took away the sin of mankind, this is valid for you, so you are reconciled with heaven and live in peace and heavenly harmony; this Lord now, he was buried, although he was so heavenly, but he was raised to the great glory where he is enthroned on the jade chair of heaven with Shang-Di, he himself is Di, divine Lord, he be with you, yes, Yin-Ko, the Lord be with you! The Master said this and kissed Yin-Ko with a brotherly kiss of love.

FOURTH PART

(This department is assigned to winter and deals with Mo-Ti.)

The Master took all his three souls together, spirit-soul, mind-soul and body-soul, for after Yin-Ko had left for the mission of the Death Valleys, his soul was wistful like the cold damp streaks of mist around the Taishan peak. The mulberry trees stared ghostly like skeletons in the pale and pallid twilight. Then the master remembered his spirit, in which the breath of heaven dwelt, and let himself be comforted by the heavenly lisp of the spirit, which sighed out its soul, which brought all its sadness before the Jade Throne of the Most High, from where a task returned. So the Master turned again to philosophising and spiritual speculation. He called his favourite disciple A-Ji to him, walked with him through the sighing mist that hung in the bare trees, but there their speech was blossoming life, yes, the Master‘s words about Mo-Ti were like peonies blossoming in the winter snow. The Master said, Mo-Ti said of the Sons of Heaven that they instructed the people of the kingdom to serve Shang-Di by farming. Yes, my dear, that is what we too want to do, to teach the people true worship, to this end we ourselves want to work as servants of the Most High (Shang-Di), namely first pulling up the weeds, then ploughing up the soil, then sowing the seed. Pulling out the weeds means eradicating erroneous ideas about the Most High, such as that He is a cruel Lord, strict and merciless, no, but we want to tell the people that He is Love! May the Spirit work it! may this then stir up their souls and reverse the concepts of good and evil and of right and wrong, for hitherto they have thought evil good and wrong right, but we, we sow right into it, and what is our seed? The Word of God! The Dao of Shang-Di, that is the seed we sow, not mortal seed like the disciples of lust, but immortal seed from the bosom of the eternal Father, the Son (Dao) we want to lower into the souls of men. May the Spirit give it, the breath of the Holy One, so that the Gui demons do not come and immediately steal the good Word again, or that the thorns and thistles of the worries of this world strangle it, but may this Word rest in the good, fertile ground of the human spirit in the heart, so that it may sprout and the peaches of eternal life ripen! This is service to the great Shang-Di, the Lord and God!

To-To came to the Master with a wistful sigh, since his favourite brother Yin-Ko was gone, the Master saw the shadows of sorrow darken under To-Tos eyes and the tear bead on his silken eyelash, he said, What does Mo-Ti say? Men are the property of Heaven. Behold, thus Yin-Ko walks with Heaven, Heaven is for blessing above Yin-Ko, Heaven walks as friend and brother beside Yin-Ko, Heaven walks as driving force for good behind Yin-Ko, Heaven is even as a rock beneath his feet, yea, Heaven comes to meet his bridal soul as Bridegroom, yea, as Bridegroom in the Lamb of Righteousness, in the Dao of God, Shang-Di is Love! Then, from his heart, To-To sighed once more and placed all his brotherly love for Yin-Ko in Heaven‘s Father‘s hands, Babba! preserve Yin-Ko into immortality, into the Heavenly Garden!

But Yin-Ko was walking down from Taishan, through the bare paper mulberry forest, with the mission in his heart to befriend the people of the valleys with heaven in the Dao, when Yin-Ko thought of a Mo-Ti word, When the king had fulfilled the promise of God, then the Dao became like the flesh of a sacrificial animal, like a slave, then the God-man, once joy itself in pure glory, was all at once dismayed and even grieved to the point of death... Lord! This one, who humbled himself to humanity out of his supremely sublime divine Godhead, was the one she wanted to bring to the people of Shandong, who were superstitious and magic-believing and followed the magician-priests.

And Yin-Ko (eyes shining like the love that is a flame of God) met three old women, toothless grandmothers of more than a dozen grandchildren, chattering and gossiping about the latest unimportant thing of their village of Penglai, situated on the coast to the cold Bo-Hai, sitting amidst many clucking chickens on three-legged stools and scrubbing fish. Then Yin-Ko joined them and said, Peace to you! Venerable grandmothers, I will tell you about Shang-Di. You have become a blessing because you have given offspring and made the Chinese people great. God loves the Chinese! Behold, Mo-Ti also says, If the population decreases, there will not be enough people to serve Shang-Di. Yes, now it must be that you really serve Shang-Di! But what does he want us to do? you ask. He doesnt want offerings of jade and nephrite, trivets and clay bowls, silk and bamboo, incense sticks and soul tablets, he wants your heart and your love! Behold, his Dao, the Word of God‘s love, has become God-man in far-off Ju-te-a, beyond the Euphrates, whom we shall love! But what is he called? you ask? Behold, I dreamed a dream tonight, a Heavenly Messenger told me the name of the God-Man whom you are to love dearly, YE-SU!

And Yin-Ko went on and found two men who were shadow-boxing on the pier in the morning, she called out to them, Peace to you! you men, with your fists you will not overcome the shadows of calamity! But with what then? you ask? Behold, with the Word of God, the Word of the Most High Shang-Di, with the Dao of Love! YE-SU is his name! The one in your mouth will work miracles. But if you, as Mo-Ti says, prevent the services to Shang-Di, then Shang-Di will intervene from above. Yes, now how will you, you shadow boxers, protect yourselves from the coming wrath of Shang-Di? Then I say to you with all my love, YE-SU is your advocate, your protection, in whom you trust, and you have escaped the terrible wrath of the Most High!

And Yin-Ko met a woman wearing a red dress with a blue silk cloak and an almost naked infant in her arms, walking with bare feet, who addressed Yin-Ko thus, Peace to you and to your child! Dear woman, how do you think you will escape the wrath of the Most High? Behold, Mo-Ti says, Shang-Di will send down punishments, bring disaster to these people, chastise and reject them. O woman, is this not terrible and horrifying? I see you are horrified. Very well. But take heart, if you decide to love the Son of Shang-Di, the God-Man YE-SU in your heart (for he is truly lovable), you may be chastised, but out of love Shang-Di will do this as a dear father to bring you back to him and to YE-SU; but thou shalt never be rejected, but shalt be accepted for time and eternity, yea, thou shalt be blessed with true life, lasting into immortality, which shall dwell in the heavenly garden and in the jade city of heaven, the city of the Lamb of righteousness and of the Most High, Shang-Di and his divine Son YE-SU!

And Yin-Ko met a family‘s son who was sitting over the writings on filial piety, the love of sons, and pondered over the question of the effort one had to make at funerals in order to be considered virtuous in the eyes of heaven. Yin-Ko saw this and said, As Mo-Ti says, If one seeks the favour of Shang-Di and his spirit through pompous funerals and long mourning periods, one would only gain misfortune, yes, this is not the right way to be considered virtuous in the eyes of the Most High in heaven. But which way do I know? do you ask me? Behold, there is only one way of truth that leads to life, which is imperishable, and that way is the Dao of God, that is, the God-man, who came to us from heaven into the lowliness of the earthly realm, who walked among us in the red dust of the world, and yet was not of the world, but of God, who died for our sins as the sacrifice of heaven, the lamb of the shepherd priest, go to this God-man, who was revived by Shang-Di, who now sits in heaven on the jade throne and desires your love, YE-SU is his lovely name!

To-To now (since his beloved brother Yin-Ko was no longer on Taishan in the Master‘s bamboo hut) also took leave of the circle of disciples and their master, leaving with the Teacher‘s blessing. He went through forests and valleys, over mountainsides and through small villages, but he took his longing for Yin-Ko with him, thinking this, If my fervent heart full of brotherly love is known to heaven, should not all sin in my thoughts, even in my dreams and in my subconscious be known to heaven? Thats what good Mo-Ti said, Before heaven there is no forest, no valley, no hidden deserted places, no matter how dark, but its light sees everything. Yes, therefore, heaven (Shang-Di) is the All-Knowing, its Dao (YE-SU) is the Wisdom of God. To-To thought this and calmed down.

To-To met a young Indian who was walking through the plain in his penitential robe like an ascetic, lamenting forlornly and depressively like a bird that had fallen from its nest. Then he cried out for a human child, but he had already died and could no longer hear. So To-To said to the depressed Indian, Even the Son of Heaven (says Mo-Ti) must not decide what is right, but Heaven does it for him. How should even a simple human child know what is right, who at the age of eighty said, I am still seeking the truth? No, but I tell you, Heaven, Shang-Di Himself, He told the Son of Heaven, I mean this time the Dao, the Son of God, He told Him what to do, yes, the Son came from the Father and brought His Word to men on earth, the true Son of Man, He has the mission from Heaven, to the Heavenly Father He was subject in everything, even to death on the cursed wood, therefore He was also exalted and crowned with majesty, He is the Lamb over us, our righteousness. Turn to him, he will help you.

Then the Indian, more curious than sincerely seeking, asked, What shall a man do who turns to the Son of the Heavenly Father? And what will he be given? To which To-To was not embarrassed, and with power of the Spirit said, With a word from the Book of Mo-Ti I tell thee, behold, it is written, If he submits to the views of heaven, loves all men and helps them, he will receive reward. Yes, dont you see? Join in the sacred fugue that is YE-SU, stand at his heart, at his bleeding side (a bleeding love is His), and you may begin to love men; not only your beloved, as all barbarians hold, but also your needy neighbours, nay, soon even your enemies, love them with a love with which Shang-Di loves you through the Dao with the kiss of his lovely heavenly breath. Yes, you may hope, as did the fathers in Ju-te-a, who looked to a heavenly reward, you may dare to hope that the Son of Heaven will lead you into the Heavenly Garden, into the Heavenly City of Jade, into the presence of Shang-Di, the Most High, who wants to love you with a heartfelt love. A-ya!

At the word love, the Indian reacted cautiously; he seemed to confuse it with lust. To-To saw his questioning face and said, Heaven said (as He spoke through Mo-Ti), These saints love all those whom I also love, and they serve all those whom I also serve. Their love for mankind is all-embracing, their help for mankind is great. Then the Indian was amazed that God was speaking. To-To, however, gave a hermeneutic, more poetic than philosophical, Love is the phoenix in the sky above, gloriously glowing, but it has become a sparrow in my hand. Love is a queen, shimmering like the starry-eyed lady, yes, much more glorious even than that, but to me she became a begging brother. Love is the heavenly garden with bamboo groves of poetry and pine groves of long life and peach groves of immortality, but to me it has become a torture wood, stretching me and distorting my limbs. Love is like a heavenly messenger to me, sighing the balm of sweetest consolation, but to me it has been a night of abysmal loneliness, when in great desolation it has appeared to me from heaven, it, Love, with long hair, in a brown robe, spreading its arms to receive me at a table of rice wine and mantou, oh my dear! I give thanks to Love and love Love, I am in love with Love, if I may say so, enraptured with Love, Love... what is it? It is a flame of God! It dwells forever in Him, in YE-SU!

And A-Ji left the Master, blessed for the mission, and went to the coast and took a boat in the harbour, a seaworthy junk, and sailed across to Taiwan, where he went in the mountains to the wild, pagan people of the Paiwan tribe, who believed in totemic sorcery, which is a stench and abomination to heaven. But A-Ji had love for the lost souls who sat there in shadows and the darkness of death. He said before the assembled people in the marketplace, Do not think so highly of your serpent gods and spirits of the dead! Behold, Mo-Ti says, Only heaven is good, only heaven is wise! It is true, heaven is very exalted, it is the creator of the ether and the Middle Kingdom with the islands, it is the one who made these mountains and the Pacific Ocean. Ye people, the heavens have put on beauty and splendour for a holy adornment, morning stars are the gems in his diadem, mighty sons of God serve Him, the Exalted, Him, the mighty Ruler, Him, the Almighty, Him, the Most High, Shang-di is his name in our tongue! Behold, the Wisdom of Heaven, the Wisdom of God, that is the Dao of God which He uttered in eternity, that has now become man for the sake of your transgressions. Do you not know that you offend the holy heaven, the Lord, when you worship serpent gods and spirits of the dead? He alone, Heaven, is worthy of worship, God! You offend and insult his holy heart! But in his Wisdom he is aware of all this and also of the way to your salvation, for your offence will inevitably bring you eternal death! eternal torment in the dark realm under the Yellow Springs, where in nine regions the fires of hell are stoked eternally by the servants of darkness, ghastly-greedy demons of death; but God in his Wisdom knows the salvation and tells you today, Trust the Dao of God who became man, and his name is YE-SU! He is the Wisdom of God, he is the Noble One who made himself low for our sake, for your sake and for mine, he is the most beautiful of all the heavenly ones, he who became the ugliest son of man because of all the weals and wounds on the cursed wood when he died, he whom God (Heavenly Father) raised from death and from the dead, so that he, YE-SU, now reigns in heaven, my Lord and my God, as the holy man To-Ma called him. Believe in Him, the Lord! Then many Paiwanese in the mountains converted, threw their wooden snake idols into the fire and worshipped God!

Yin-Ko went on a ship and travelled to Japan, for the mission took on unimagined proportions, so he spoke, As the Chinese sage Mo-Ti spoke, There are those who love their fellow men and help them, who obey the will of heaven and receive heavens reward, so also I will say to you, Listen to the will of heaven! What is the Will of Heaven? It is the Will of Heaven that you love and trust the eternal Son of Heaven, the Dao of God, the God-Man YE-SU, and give yourselves to him with all the love he will pour into you, only believe that he died for your transgressions all on the cursed wood, on the cross of the Latins, that he did not remain among the Yellow Springs, nor did he remain in the region of the nine fires of hell, but was called up from Father Heaven, his God and my God, his Father and my Father, and was called to sit down beside God, from whence he shall come again to judge the living and the dead. Yes, believe in YE-SU, then you can thus also believe in eternal life in communion with God, the God of heaven. To Him and to His Son and to His Spirit be praise and glory and honour and adoration and wisdom and all love for ever and ever! Amen!

Josef Maria von der Ewigen Weisheit – Werke

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TIAN JING – THE BOOK OF HEAVEN

BY TORSTEN SCHWANKE / SHI TUO-TANG

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