Owari

“ No more remarkable set of deities, and no more surprising contrast to those of their nearest neighbors, the light-hearted Ojibways, could well be imagined than these extraordinary beings—the Oon-ktay-he, or gods of "vital energy"; the Takoo-shkan-shkan, or "moving god," who is "too subtile to be perceived by the senses," who "is everywhere present," who "exerts a controlling influence over instinct, intellect, and passion" ”

“ Rabbi Aba opened and said: “And he who is doomed said to his wife, ‘We shall die, for I have seen the Creator.’ Even though he was not aware of his actions, as it is written, ‘He did not know that it was an angel’; however, since it is written, ‘Man shall not see Me and live,’ we know that he has died. And we have merited this great Light to accompany us, and the world exists because the Creator Himself sent him to us, to reveal the secrets of His Supernal wisdom to us. How joyous is our share!” ”

“ Their creed was simple enough. Ahura Mazda—Ormuzd, as he has been called since—was the one eternal Creator, the source of all light and life and good. He spake his word, and it accomplished the creation of heaven, before the water, before the earth, before the cow, before the tree, before the fire, before man the truthful, before the Devas and beasts of prey, before the whole existing universe; before every good thing created by Ahura Mazda and springing from Truth. ”

“ Be not afraid, Oman, that this religion will take from thee all thy delights. Our lives, free from care, free from dread of the morrow, of any concern for to-day, free from loneliness or the burdens of poverty, want, and suffering, are almost wholly without pain; and this was the great wish of the Buddha. We are taught to look charitably and kindly on all living things, allowing each its place. And if, in our hearts, we have cherished any evil thought toward any man, we are allowed the relief of confessing it before the assembled Samgha. ”

“ Nature alone and unaided does not reveal Christ the Saviour. Since the fall, and the entrance of sin with all of its attendant miseries into this once glorious world of ours, the study of nature, with all her vagaries, without the light of revelation to clear up her mysteries, is more apt to drive men from God than to draw them to him.
So Oowikapun found out, especially one night, after tossing about on his bed of balsam boughs in his little tent. ”

“ When Passion folds his wearied wings Sleep should be follower, never Thought. "Ay, let us sleep. The window pane Grows pale against the purple sky. The dawn is with us once again, The dawn; which always means good-bye." Within her little trellised room, beside the palm-fringed sea, She wakeful in the scented gloom, spoke of her youth to me.
Ojira, to Her Lover I am waiting in the desert, looking out towards the sunset, And counting every moment till we meet. I am waiting by the marshes and I tremble and I listen Till the soft sands thrill beneath your coming feet. ”

“ And when, after many of the church of that most reverend prelate had been taken out of the flesh, his hour also drew near wherein he was to pass out of this world to our Lord, it happened one day that he was in the aforesaid dwelling, with only one brother, called Owini, his other companions being upon some reasonable occasion returned to the church. Now Owini was a monk of great merit, having forsaken the world with the pure intention of obtaining the heavenly reward ”

“ Among the townsfolk, in the evening, the great subject of gossip was always: “The Child of Gokarna—called Oman.” “He has given up the life of the Snataka.” “No more does he study the sacred books.” “Yet the ceremony of the cessation of study has not taken place.” “Ah, yes, something is wrong. It is very strange.”
Oman still wore the sacred cord of the Brahman. How should he, knowing so much of the holy Vedas, remove it? But he moved through his native town a wanderer, an outcast, addressing none of the townspeople, who would scarcely have answered him for fear of defiling their caste. ”

“ Among other beings of ancient Zuñi mythology we have the marvelous example of Oohe pololon, or "the god of the north wind," whose breath sends the cold winds from the north region and drives the sands of the southwestern deserts, which have been stirred up by the will of the gods of the mountain. Dark and gloomy, like the clouds of the north-land home, ferocious with his shining teeth and glaring pendant eyeballs, wild with his iron-gray halo of ever-waving hair and beard, Oohe pololon is one of the most terrific of Zuñi demon-gods. ”

“ The writer has learned enough of the religion of the Ojibways to strengthen his belief of the analogy with the Hebrews. They assert that the Me-da-we rite was granted them by the Great Spirit in a time of trouble and death, through the intercession of Man-ab-osho, the universal uncle of the An-ish-in-aub-ag. Certain rules to guide their course in life were given them at the same time, and are represented in hieroglyphics. ”

“ Then he besought the Great Spirit to bless Oowikapun, and not only heal his wounds, but take the darkness from his mind and make him his child. He always ended his prayers by asking the Great Spirit to do all these things for the sake of his Son Jesus.
All this was very strange and even startling to Oowikapun. He had lived all his life in a land dark with superstition and paganism. The Gospel had as yet never been proclaimed there. ”

“ And so, for many minutes, they talked in an undertone; and then Li Hung turned and walked away, through the outer door, the length of the corridor, the inner door—back into the silence and the darkness; while Li Ping went up-stairs, where he bowed deeply before the altar of the Buddha of the Paradise of the West.
"O Buddha!" he prayed. "O World-honored One! Permit my brother to fix his soul unceasingly, by day and night, upon Thy Most Excellent Law! O Buddha! Grant Thou to him the blessed wakefulness of Perfect Contemplation! ”

“ Walking straight to the fountain, Onrai mounted the dais and glancing about him for a moment at the hushed, bewildered Onians, said:
“It has pleased our great God to give us a warning; this warning admonishes us to be careful, watchful and diligent. If any among you have sinned or are sinning, this fearful storm tells you to turn from the evil of your ways; if you have intentions of sinning, it speaks to you a warning, but I cannot believe that my people are sinning. I look among you to-day and see not one guilty face. You are bewildered, in wonderment, 146but this is not guilt. ”

“ Nor is there the same appearance in the heavens, when all things in their weariness lie in the midst of repose, and when Lucifer is coming forth on his white steed; and, again, there is another appearance, when Aurora, the daughter of Pallas, preceding the day, tints the world about to be delivered to Phœbus. The disk itself of that God, when it is rising from beneath the earth, is of ruddy colour in the morning, and when it is hiding beneath the earth it is of a ruddy colour. ”

“ The leading idea is that of monotheism, but the one God has far fewer anthropomorphic attributes, and is relegated much farther back into the vague and infinite, than the god of any other monotheistic religion. Ahura-Mazda, of which the more familiar appellation Ormuzd is an abbreviation, means the ‘All-knowing Lord;’ he is said sometimes to dwell in the infinite luminous space, and sometimes to be identical with it. He is, in fact, not unlike the inscrutable First Cause, whom we may regard with awe and reverence, with love and hope, but whom we cannot [202] pretend to define or to understand. ”

“ If every monastery were to crumble into dust, if the very memory of Buddhism were to be swept utterly away from the minds of men, Omei would still remain what it was before the first Buddhist recluse had built there his lonely hermitage—it would still be a home of portent and mystery, the abode of nameless spirits of mountain and flood, the source of inspiration to poet and artist, the resort of pilgrims from many lands, each of whom—whatever his faith—would find, as he gazed from the edge of the Golden Summit into the white abyss below, a manifestation of the Glory of his own God. ”

“ A Min once asked Rabbi Akiva, "Who created this world?" "The Holy One—blessed be He!"—was the reply. "Give me positive proof of this," begged the other. "Come to-morrow," answered the Rabbi. On coming the next day, the Rabbi asked, "What are you dressed in?" "In a garment," was the reply. "Who made it?" asked the Rabbi. "A weaver," said the other. "I don't believe thee," said the Rabbi; "give me a positive proof of this." {255} "I need not demonstrate this," said the Min; "it stands to reason that a weaver made it." "And so thou mayest know that God created the world," observed the Rabbi. ”

“ From first to last, it was this passion which gave him his impenetrable armor of resolution; which, during the years of toil, never once let him falter on the road toward his grail, though youth slipped by and then robust manhood, though today he was old and fat and just a little tired with life.
Finally, it was this same passion for justice which scotched his natural gentleness.
"O Buddha!" he prayed often when, during the years of toil, he went over his plans step by step, "do not permit me to stay my hand! Harden my heart, O Buddha!"
"O Buddha! Harden my heart!" ”

“ Chesed, Gevurah, Tiferet, Netzach, Hod, Yesod and Malchut. And then the soul is acknowledged as the offspring of Zeir Anpin and the Nukva. Then the soul departs from the filth of the serpent and enters to the holy work. And so it is written, "when he departed out of Charan" from the wrath and aggression of the Satan, who until now had ruled over the body by deceiving it.
The Orlah (lit. 'foreskin') rules over the tree for three years. In the human being, the first thirteen years are called the "Orlah years." After the body has lived these years, the soul is aroused to fulfill its holy task. ”

“ Roughly, I forced the Brahman to swing himself out of the den and into the temple. I followed.
“Look!” I said, pointing at the idol of Shiva Natarajah, straddling the door; and the Brahman turned as pale as a sheet. “You are not afraid of death,” I went on, “and that’s the truth. But you are afraid of losing caste; you are afraid of losing your priestly influence, aren’t you?” He did not reply, just stood there, staring dumbly, despairingly at the statue, and I continued: “You see, I discovered how you work your little miracles, and I worked them myself—every last one of them. ”

“ During this interview she told him how she and her aunt had tried ever since her uncle’s death to live in the way of the book of heaven; but that they knew so little, and there were so many mysteries and perplexities all around them, that they were at times much discouraged. Yet there was one thing that they had resolved upon, and that was never to go back to the old pagan religion of their forefathers, for they were happier in their minds now, with the glimmering light of the white man’s way, than ever they had been in their lives before.
Oowikapun listened and was encouraged. ”

“ Have we treated lightly our teachings? No; but our God is great. He sees all things, and goes deep into the hearts of his people, and he knows even if they contemplate doing wrong. Oh!——” Onrai raises his hand to his forehead, and pressing it tightly against his throbbing temples, he staggers and almost falls.
“Can this thing be?” he gasped. “Is this a warning to me, the King of the Land of On? Is this to show me that God knows my sinful thoughts and would check them before it is forever too late? Oh, 109my God, spare me!” he cries, and sinks into one of the onyx chairs near him. ”

“ We have already alluded in the Zuñi creation-myth to the native deity Awonawilona. This god stands out as one of the most perfect examples of deity in its constructive aspect to be found in the mythologies of America. He seems in some measure to be identified with the sun, and from the remote allusions regarding him and the manner in which he is spoken of as an architect of the universe we gather that he was not exactly in close touch with mankind. ”

“ Hushka gazed at him inquiringly, and Oman came up, but stood silent and a little confused before him.
“Is there any service that I can perform for thee?” asked Hushka, after regarding him for a moment attentively.
Oman again gazed deep into the large, gentle eyes; and with the look, a thrill of joy ran through him. “Tell me, if you will, O Bhikkhu, if your order practises this Dharma? Are all Buddhist brethren free from desire and from the pain of discontent?”
“It is our endeavor thus to free ourselves. We follow the teachings of the great Master.” ”

“ ODIN The Father of Gods and Men ODIN, Wuotan, or Woden was the highest and holiest god of the Northern races. He was the all-pervading spirit of the universe, the personification of the air, the god of universal wisdom and victory, and the leader and protector of princes and heroes. ”

“ The first point relating to the Jews which is fitted to excite wonder, is that they should worship the heaven and the angels who dwell therein, and yet pass by and neglect its most venerable and powerful parts, as the sun, the moon, and the other heavenly bodies, both fixed stars and planets, as if it were possible that ‘the whole’ could be God, and yet its parts not divine ”