I have my Anglican moments; and as I sat there that Sunday
afternoon, in the Palladian interior of the London Church, and
listened to the unexpressive voices chanting the correct service,
I felt a comfortable assurance that we were in no danger of
being betrayed into any unseemly manifestations of religious
fervour. We had not gathered together at that performance
to abase ourselves with furious hosannas before any dark
Creator of an untamed Universe, no Deity of freaks and miracles
and sinister hocus-pocus; but to pay our duty to a highly
respected Anglican First Cause--undemonstrative, gentlemanly
and conscientious--whom, without loss of self-respect, we
could sincerely and decorously praise.
_Misgiving_
We were talking of people, and a name familiar to us all was
mentioned. We paused and looked at each other; then soon, by
means of anecdotes and clever touches, that personality was
reconstructed, and seemed to appear before us, large, pink, and
life-like, and gave a comic sketch of itself with appropriate
poses.
"Of course," I said to myself, "this sort of thing never happens
to me." For the notion was quite unthinkable, the notion I mean
of my own dear image, called up like this without my knowledge,
to turn my discreet way of life into a cake-walk.
_Sanctuaries_
She said, "How small the world is after all!"
I thought of China, of a holy mountain in the West of China,
full of legends and sacred trees and demon-haunted caves. It
is always enveloped in mountain mists; and in that white thick
air I heard the faint sound of bells, and the muffled footsteps
of innumerable pilgrims, and the reiterated mantra, _Nam-Mo,
O-mi-to-Fo_, which they murmur as they climb its slopes. High
up among its temples and monasteries marched processions of
monks, with intoned services, and many prostrations, and lighted
candles that glimmer through the fog. There in their solemn
shrines stood the statues of the Arahats, and there, seated
on his white elephant, loomed immense and dim, the image of
Amitabha, the Lord of the Western Heavens.
She said "Life is so complicated!" Climbing inaccessible cliffs
of rock and ice, I shut myself within a Tibetan monastery beyond
the Himalayan ramparts. I join with choirs of monks, intoning
their deep sonorous dirges and unintelligible prayers; I beat
drums, I clash cymbals, and blow at dawn from the Lamasery roofs
conches, and loud discordant trumpets. And wandering through
those vast and shadowy halls, as I tend the butter-lamps of the
golden Buddhas, and watch the storms that blow across the barren
mountains, I taste an imaginary bliss, and then pass on to other
scenes and incarnations along the endless road that leads me to
Nirvana.
"But I do wish you would tell me what you really think?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account