Path of Freedom [Vimuttimagga]

In Memoriamstart of beings enmeshed in ignorance and fettered by craving, running on,speeding on through interminable births and deaths. Nor can it be said'of therunning on and the speeding on of ignorant and craving beings that they aretending to an end. And in this interminable process, for long have you allexperienced grief bitter and sharp and made the graveyards bigger and bigger.Because of that you should turn away from the formations (sankhdras), cutthem off, and become free of them"—S. II, 190 (Soma Thefa's translation).This is no poetic fancy, as at first sight it may appear to be. This is the wordof the Supremely Enlightened One who has done with poetic fancy. His is thevision of things as they are (yathdhhutahdandassana): And this vision hedescribes without exaggeration; for exaggeration the Buddhas do not indulgein.In the late twenties, Victor and I had heard from the late Mr. WongMow Lam, the Chinese scholar, who was in Ceylon for sometime, that therewere great possibilities for spreading the Theravdda in his country and thatthere was much that could be translated from the Mahay ana literature ofChina. So when we went to Burma in 1934, remembering the words of ourscholar friend, we decided after careful thought to go to the Far East andreturn later to Burma for ordination. We began our journey to China by wayof Kawkerik, over the misty Dawna Mountains and across the border for fourdays on foot to Raehaeng in Thailand, and thence by bus, river boat andtrain through Svankaloke (Svargaloka—heaven world), Pisaloke (Visnuloka —Visnu's world), we arrived in Krum Teb (Deva Nagara — the city of thegods) which is Bangkok. Then again, after travelling by train to Penang,and by ship to Singapore and Hong Kong, we arrived in Shanghai. Findingthere no facilities for study we proceeded to Tokyo. There we met Prof.Nichiki Kimura of Rissho University, who invited us to attend his Englishlectures on Mahay ana. Towards the end of 1935, through his good offices,we were invited to Jozaiji, the Nichiren temple in Kawatana-Machi, Nagasakiken.The head of that temple, the Rev. N. R. M. Ehara, had been a lecturer atRissho for sometime. He was the perfect host—a most understanding, patient,pleasant, witty character with abundant laughter, and he was young. He dideverything within his power to make our stay as comfortable as possible.an earlier life, thus;"As when with downcast eyes we muse and brood,And ebb into a former life, or seemTo lapse far back in some confused dreamTo states of mystical similitude;If one but speaks or hems or stirs his chair,Ever the wonder waxeth more and more,So that we say, 'All this hath been before,All this hath been, I know not when or where*.So, friend, when first I looked upon your face,Our thought gave answer each to each, so true—Opposed mirrors each reflecting each—77zaT tho" 1 1 knew not in what time or place,Methought that I had often met with you,And either lived in either's heart and speech".XIII