future time could Tong venture to ask his wife the name of her family,
or of the place whence she came, and he could not answer any of the
curious questions which his fellow-laborers put to him concerning her;
and she, moreover, never uttered a word about herself, except to say
that her name was Tchi. But although Tong had such awe of her that while
her eyes were upon him he was as one having no will of his own, he loved
her unspeakably; and the thought of his serfdom ceased to weigh upon him
from the hour of his marriage. As through magic the little dwelling had
become transformed: its misery was masked with charming paper
devices,--with dainty decorations created out of nothing by that pretty
jugglery of which woman only knows the secret.
Each morning at dawn the young husband found a well-prepared and ample
repast awaiting him, and each evening also upon his return; but the wife
all day sat at her loom, weaving silk after a fashion unlike anything
which had ever been seen before in that province. For as she wove, the
silk flowed from the loom like a slow current of glossy gold, bearing
upon its undulations strange forms of violet and crimson and
jewel-green: shapes of ghostly horsemen riding upon horses, and of
phantom chariots dragon-drawn, and of standards of trailing cloud. In
every dragon's beard glimmered the mystic pearl; in every rider's helmet
sparkled the gem of rank. And each day Tchi would weave a great piece
of such figured silk; and the fame of her weaving spread abroad. From
far and near people thronged to see the marvellous work; and the
silk-merchants of great cities heard of it, and they sent messengers to
Tchi, asking her that she should weave for them and teach them her
secret. Then she wove for them, as they desired, in return for the
silver cubes which they brought her; but when they prayed her to teach
them, she laughed and said, "Assuredly I could never teach you, for no
one among you has fingers like mine." And indeed no man could discern
her fingers when she wove, any more than he might behold the wings of a
bee vibrating in swift flight.
* * * * *
The seasons passed, and Tong never knew want, so well did his beautiful
wife fulfil her promise,--"_I will provide_"; and the cubes of bright
silver brought by the silk-merchants were piled up higher and higher in
the great carven chest which Tchi had bought for the storage of the
household goods.
One morning, at last, when Tong, having finished his repast, was about
to depart to the fields, Tchi unexpectedly bade him remain; and opening
the great chest, she took out of it and gave him a document written in
the official characters called _li-shu_. And Tong, looking at it, cried
out and leaped in his joy, for it was the certificate of his
manumission. Tchi had secretly purchased her husband's freedom with the
price of her wondrous silks!
"Thou shalt labor no more for any master," she said, "but for thine own
sake only. And I have also bought this dwelling, with all which is
therein, and the tea-fields to the south, and the mulberry groves hard
by,--all of which are thine."
Then Tong, beside himself for gratefulness, would have prostrated
himself in worship before her, but that she would not suffer it.
* * * * *
Thus he was made free; and prosperity came to him with his freedom; and
whatsoever he gave to the sacred earth was returned to him centupled;
and his servants loved him and blessed the beautiful Tchi, so silent and
yet so kindly to all about her. But the silk-loom soon remained
untouched, for Tchi gave birth to a son,--a boy so beautiful that Tong
wept with delight when he looked upon him. And thereafter the wife
devoted herself wholly to the care of the child.
Now it soon became manifest that the boy was not less wonderful than his
wonderful mother. In the third month of his age he could speak; in the
seventh month he could repeat by heart the proverbs of the sages, and
recite the holy prayers; before the eleventh month he could use the
writing-brush with skill, and copy in shapely characters the precepts of
Lao-tseu. And the priests of the temples came to behold him and to
converse with him, and they marvelled at the charm of the child and the
wisdom of what he said; and they blessed Tong, saying: "Surely this son
of thine is a gift from the Master of Heaven, a sign that the immortals
love thee. May thine eyes behold a hundred happy summers!"
* * * * *
It was in the Period of the Eleventh Moon: the flowers had passed away,
the perfume of the summer had flown, the winds were growing chill, and
in Tong's home the evening fires were lighted. Long the husband and wife
sat in the mellow glow,--he speaking much of his hopes and joys, and of
his son that was to be so grand a man, and of many paternal projects;
while she, speaking little, listened to his words, and often turned her
wonderful eyes upon him with an answering smile. Never had she seemed so
beautiful before; and Tong, watching her face, marked not how the night
waned, nor how the fire sank low, nor how the wind sang in the leafless
trees without.
All suddenly Tchi arose without speaking, and took his hand in hers and
led him, gently as on that strange wedding-morning, to the cradle where
their boy slumbered, faintly smiling in his dreams. And in that moment
there came upon Tong the same strange fear that he knew when Tchi's eyes
had first met his own,--the vague fear that love and trust had calmed,
but never wholly cast out, like unto the fear of the gods. And all
unknowingly, like one yielding to the pressure of mighty invisible
hands, he bowed himself low before her, kneeling as to a divinity. Now,
when he lifted his eyes again to her face, he closed them forthwith in
awe; for she towered before him taller than any mortal woman, and there
was a glow about her as of sunbeams, and the light of her limbs shone
through her garments. But her sweet voice came to him with all the
tenderness of other hours, saying: "_Lo! my beloved, the moment has come
in which I must forsake thee; for I was never of mortal born, and the
Invisible may incarnate themselves for a time only. Yet I leave with
thee the pledge of our love,--this fair son, who shall ever be to thee
as faithful and as fond as thou thyself hast been. Know, my beloved,
that I was sent to thee even by the Master of Heaven, in reward of thy
filial piety, and that I must now return to the glory of His house:
I AM THE GODDESS TCHI-NIU._"
Even as she ceased to speak, the great glow faded; and Tong, re-opening
his eyes, knew that she had passed away forever,--mysteriously as pass
the winds of heaven, irrevocably as the light of a flame blown out. Yet
all the doors were barred, all the windows unopened. Still the child
slept, smiling in his sleep. Outside, the darkness was breaking; the sky
was brightening swiftly; the night was past. With splendid majesty the
East threw open high gates of gold for the coming of the sun; and,
illuminated by the glory of his coming, the vapors of morning wrought
themselves into marvellous shapes of shifting color,--into forms weirdly
beautiful as the silken dreams woven in the loom of Tchi-Niu.
[Illustration: Chinese calligraphy]
The Return of Yen-Tchin-King
_Before me ran, as a herald runneth, the Leader of the Moon;
And the Spirit of the Wind followed after me,--quickening his flight._
LI-SAO.
THE RETURN OF YEN-TCHIN-KING
In the thirty-eighth chapter of the holy book, _Kan-ing-p'ien_, wherein
the Recompense of Immortality is considered, may be found the legend of
Yen-Tchin-King. A thousand years have passed since the passing of the
good Tchin-King; for it was in the period of the greatness of Thang that
he lived and died.
Now, in those days when Yen-Tchin-King was Supreme Judge of one of the
Six August Tribunals, one Li-hi-lié, a soldier mighty for evil, lifted
the black banner of revolt, and drew after him, as a tide of
destruction, the millions of the northern provinces. And learning of
these things, and knowing also that Hi-lié was the most ferocious of
men, who respected nothing on earth save fearlessness, the Son of Heaven
commanded Tchin-King that he should visit Hi-lié and strive to recall
the rebel to duty, and read unto the people who followed after him in
revolt the Emperor's letter of reproof and warning. For Tchin-King was
famed throughout the provinces for his wisdom, his rectitude, and his
fearlessness; and the Son of Heaven believed that if Hi-lié would listen
to the words of any living man steadfast in loyalty and virtue, he would
listen to the words of Tchin-King. So Tchin-King arrayed himself in his
robes of office, and set his house in order; and, having embraced his
wife and his children, mounted his horse and rode away alone to the
roaring camp of the rebels, bearing the Emperor's letter in his bosom.
"I shall return; fear not!" were his last words to the gray servant who
watched him from the terrace as he rode.
* * * * *
And Tchin-King at last descended from his horse, and entered into the
rebel camp, and, passing through that huge gathering of war, stood in
the presence of Hi-lié. High sat the rebel among his chiefs, encircled
by the wave-lightning of swords and the thunders of ten thousand gongs:
above him undulated the silken folds of the Black Dragon, while a vast
fire rose bickering before him. Also Tchin-King saw that the tongues of
that fire were licking human bones, and that skulls of men lay
blackening among the ashes. Yet he was not afraid to look upon the fire,
nor into the eyes of Hi-lié; but drawing from his bosom the roll of
perfumed yellow silk upon which the words of the Emperor were written,
and kissing it, he made ready to read, while the multitude became
silent. Then, in a strong, clear voice he began:--
"_The words of the Celestial and August, the Son of Heaven, the Divine
Ko-Tsu-Tchin-Yao-ti, unto the rebel Li-Hi-lié and those that follow
him._"
And a roar went up like the roar of the sea,--a roar of rage, and the
hideous battle-moan, like the moan of a forest in storm,--"_Hoo!
hoo-oo-oo-oo!_"--and the sword-lightnings brake loose, and the thunder
of the gongs moved the ground beneath the messenger's feet. But Hi-lié
waved his gilded wand, and again there was silence. "Nay!" spake the
rebel chief; "let the dog bark!" So Tchin-King spake on:--
"_Knowest thou not, O most rash and foolish of men, that thou leadest
the people only into the mouth of the Dragon of Destruction? Knowest
thou not, also, that the people of my kingdom are the first-born of the
Master of Heaven? So it hath been written that he who doth needlessly
subject the people to wounds and death shall not be suffered by Heaven
to live! Thou who wouldst subvert those laws founded by the
wise,--those laws in obedience to which may happiness and prosperity
alone be found,--thou art committing the greatest of all
crimes,--the crime that is never forgiven!_
"_O my people, think not that I your Emperor, I your Father, seek your
destruction. I desire only your happiness, your prosperity, your
greatness; let not your folly provoke the severity of your Celestial
Parent. Follow not after madness and blind rage; hearken rather to the
wise words of my messenger._"
"_Hoo! hoo-oo-oo-oo-oo!_" roared the people, gathering fury. "_Hoo!
hoo-oo-oo-oo!_"--till the mountains rolled back the cry like the rolling
of a typhoon; and once more the pealing of the gongs paralyzed voice and
hearing. Then Tchin-King, looking at Hi-lié, saw that he laughed, and
that the words of the letter would not again be listened to. Therefore
he read on to the end without looking about him, resolved to perform his
mission in so far as lay in his power. And having read all, he would
have given the letter to Hi-lié; but Hi-lié would not extend his hand to
take it. Therefore Tchin-King replaced it in his bosom, and folding his
arms, looked Hi-lié calmly in the face, and waited. Again Hi-lié waved
his gilded wand; and the roaring ceased, and the booming of the gongs,
until nothing save the fluttering of the Dragon-banner could be heard.
Then spake Hi-lié, with an evil smile,--
"Tchin-King, O son of a dog! if thou dost not now take the oath of
fealty, and bow thyself before me, and salute me with the salutation of
Emperors,--even with the _luh-kao_, the triple prostration,--into that
fire thou shalt be thrown."
But Tchin-King, turning his back upon the usurper, bowed himself a
moment in worship to Heaven and Earth; and then rising suddenly, ere any
man could lay hand upon him, he leaped into the towering flame, and
stood there, with folded arms, like a God.
Then Hi-lié leaped to his feet in amazement, and shouted to his men; and
they snatched Tchin-King from the fire, and wrung the flames from his
robes with their naked hands, and extolled him, and praised him to his
face. And even Hi-lié himself descended from his seat, and spoke fair
words to him, saying: "O Tchin-King, I see thou art indeed a brave man
and true, and worthy of all honor; be seated among us, I pray thee, and
partake of whatever it is in our power to bestow!"
But Tchin-King, looking upon him unswervingly, replied in a voice clear
as the voice of a great bell,--
"Never, O Hi-lié, shall I accept aught from thy hand, save death, so
long as thou shalt continue in the path of wrath and folly. And never
shall it be said that Tchin-King sat him down among rebels and traitors,
among murderers and robbers."
Then Hi-lié in sudden fury, smote him with his sword; and Tchin-King
fell to the earth and died, striving even in his death to bow his head
toward the South,--toward the place of the Emperor's palace,--toward the
presence of his beloved Master.
* * * * *
Even at the same hour the Son of Heaven, alone in the inner chamber of
his palace, became aware of a Shape prostrate before his feet; and when
he spake, the Shape arose and stood before him, and he saw that it was
Tchin-King. And the Emperor would have questioned him; yet ere he could
question, the familiar voice spake, saying:
"Son of Heaven, the mission confided to me I have performed; and thy
command hath been accomplished to the extent of thy humble servant's
feeble power. But even now must I depart, that I may enter the service
of another Master."
And looking, the Emperor perceived that the Golden Tigers upon the wall
were visible through the form of Tchin-King; and a strange coldness,
like a winter wind, passed through the chamber; and the figure faded
out. Then the Emperor knew that the Master of whom his faithful servant
had spoken was none other than the Master of Heaven.
Also at the same hour the gray servant of Tchin-King's house beheld him
passing through the apartments, smiling as he was wont to smile when he
saw that all things were as he desired. "Is it well with thee, my lord?"
questioned the aged man. And a voice answered him: "It is well"; but the
presence of Tchin-King had passed away before the answer came.
* * * * *
So the armies of the Son of Heaven strove with the rebels. But the land
was soaked with blood and blackened with fire; and the corpses of whole
populations were carried by the rivers to feed the fishes of the sea;
and still the war prevailed through many a long red year. Then came to
aid the Son of Heaven the hordes that dwell in the desolations of the
West and North,--horsemen born, a nation of wild archers, each mighty to
bend a two-hundred-pound bow until the ears should meet. And as a
whirlwind they came against rebellion, raining raven-feathered arrows in
a storm of death; and they prevailed against Hi-lié and his people. Then
those that survived destruction and defeat submitted, and promised
allegiance; and once more was the law of righteousness restored. But
Tchin-King had been dead for many summers.
And the Son of Heaven sent word to his victorious generals that they
should bring back with them the bones of his faithful servant, to be
laid with honor in a mausoleum erected by imperial decree. So the
generals of the Celestial and August sought after the nameless grave and
found it, and had the earth taken up, and made ready to remove the
coffin.
But the coffin crumbled into dust before their eyes; for the worms had
gnawed it, and the hungry earth had devoured its substance, leaving only
a phantom shell that vanished at touch of the light. And lo! as it
vanished, all beheld lying there the perfect form and features of the
good Tchin-King. Corruption had not touched him, nor had the worms
disturbed his rest, nor had the bloom of life departed from his face.
And he seemed to dream only,--comely to see as upon the morning of his
bridal, and smiling as the holy images smile, with eyelids closed, in
the twilight of the great pagodas.
Then spoke a priest, standing by the grave: "O my children, this is
indeed a Sign from the Master of Heaven; in such wise do the Powers
Celestial preserve them that are chosen to be numbered with the
Immortals. Death may not prevail over them, neither may corruption come
nigh them. Verily the blessed Tchin-King hath taken his place among the
divinities of Heaven!"
Then they bore Tchin-King back to his native place, and laid him with
highest honors in the mausoleum which the Emperor had commanded; and
there he sleeps, incorruptible forever, arrayed in his robes of state.
Upon his tomb are sculptured the emblems of his greatness and his wisdom
and his virtue, and the signs of his office, and the Four Precious
Things: and the monsters which are holy symbols mount giant guard in
stone about it; and the weird Dogs of Fo keep watch before it, as before
the temples of the gods.
[Illustration: Chinese calligraphy]
The Tradition of the Tea-Plant
SANG A CHINESE HEART FOURTEEN HUNDRED YEARS AGO:--
_There is Somebody of whom I am thinking.
Far away there is Somebody of whom I am thinking.
A hundred leagues of mountains lie between us:--
Yet the same Moon shines upon us, and the passing Wind
breathes upon us both._
THE TRADITION OF THE TEA-PLANT
"Good is the continence of the eye;
Good is the continence of the ear;
Good is the continence of the nostrils;
Good is the continence of the tongue;
Good is the continence of the body;
Good is the continence of speech;
Good is all...."
Again the Vulture of Temptation soared to the highest heaven of his
contemplation, bringing his soul down, down, reeling and fluttering,
back to the World of Illusion. Again the memory made dizzy his thought,
like the perfume of some venomous flower. Yet he had seen the bayadere
for an instant only, when passing through Kasí upon his way to
China,--to the vast empire of souls that thirsted after the refreshment
of Buddha's law, as sun-parched fields thirst for the life-giving rain.
When she called him, and dropped her little gift into his mendicant's
bowl, he had indeed lifted his fan before his face, yet not quickly
enough; and the penally of that fault had followed him a thousand
leagues,--pursued after him even into the strange land to which he had
come to hear the words of the Universal Teacher. Accursed beauty! surely
framed by the Tempter of tempters, by Mara himself, for the perdition of
the just! Wisely had Bhagavat warned his disciples: "O ye Çramanas,
women are not to be looked upon! And if ye chance to meet women, ye must
not suffer your eyes to dwell upon them; but, maintaining holy reserve,
speak not to them at all. Then fail not to whisper unto your own
hearts, 'Lo, we are Çramanas, whose duty it is to remain uncontaminated
by the corruptions of this world, even as the Lotos, which suffereth no
vileness to cling unto its leaves, though it blossom amid the refuse of
the wayside ditch.'" Then also came to his memory, but with a new and
terrible meaning, the words of the Twentieth-and-Third of the
Admonitions:--
"Of all attachments unto objects of desire, the strongest indeed is the
attachment to form. Happily, this passion is unique; for were there any
other like unto it, then to enter the Perfect Way were impossible."
How, indeed, thus haunted by the illusion of form, was he to fulfil the
vow that he had made to pass a night and a day in perfect and unbroken
meditation? Already the night was beginning! Assuredly, for sickness of
the soul, for fever of the spirit, there was no physic save prayer. The
sunset was swiftly fading out. He strove to pray:--
"_O the Jewel in the Lotos!_
"Even as the tortoise withdraweth its extremities into its shell, let
me, O Blessed One, withdraw my senses wholly into meditation!
"_O the Jewel in the Lotos!_
"For even as rain penetrateth the broken roof of a dwelling long
uninhabited, so may passion enter the soul uninhabited by meditation.
"_O the Jewel in the Lotos!_
"Even as still water that hath deposited all its slime, so let my soul,
O Tathâgata, be made pure! Give me strong power to rise above the
world, O Master, even as the wild bird rises from its marsh to follow
the pathway of the Sun!
"_O the Jewel in the Lotos!_
"By day shineth the sun, by night shineth the moon; shineth also the
warrior in harness of war; shineth likewise in meditations the Çramana.
But the Buddha at all times, by night or by day, shineth ever the same,
illuminating the world.
"_O the Jewel in the Lotos!_
"Let me cease, O thou Perfectly Awakened, to remain as an Ape in the
World-forest, forever ascending and descending in search of the fruits
of folly. Swift as the twining of serpents, vast as the growth of lianas
in a forest, are the all-encircling growths of the Plant of Desire.
"_O the Jewel in the Lotos!_"
Vain his prayer, alas! vain also his invocation! The mystic meaning of
the holy text--the sense of the Lotos, the sense of the Jewel--had
evaporated from the words, and their monotonous utterance now served
only to lend more dangerous definition to the memory that tempted and
tortured him. _O the jewel in her ear!_ What lotos-bud more dainty than
the folded flower of flesh, with its dripping of diamond-fire! Again he
saw it, and the curve of the cheek beyond, luscious to look upon as
beautiful brown fruit. How true the Two Hundred and Eighty-Fourth verse
of the Admonitions!--"So long as a man shall not have torn from his
heart even the smallest rootlet of that liana of desire which draweth
his thought toward women, even so long shall his soul remain fettered."
And there came to his mind also the Three Hundred and Forty-Fifth verse
of the same blessed book, regarding fetters:
"In bonds of rope, wise teachers have said, there is no strength; nor in
fetters of wood, nor yet in fetters of iron. Much stronger than any of
these is the fetter of _concern for the jewelled earrings of women_."
"Omniscient Gotama!" he cried,--"all-seeing Tathâgata! How multiform the
Consolation of Thy Word! how marvellous Thy understanding of the human
heart! Was this also one of Thy temptations?--one of the myriad
illusions marshalled before Thee by Mara in that night when the earth
rocked as a chariot, and the sacred trembling passed from sun to sun,
from system to system, from universe to universe, from eternity to
eternity?"
_O the jewel in her ear!_ The vision would not go! Nay, each time it
hovered before his thought it seemed to take a warmer life, a fonder
look, a fairer form; to develop with his weakness; to gain force from
his enervation. He saw the eyes, large, limpid, soft, and black as a
deer's; the pearls in the dark hair, and the pearls in the pink mouth;
the lips curling to a kiss, a flower-kiss; and a fragrance seemed to
float to his senses, sweet, strange, soporific,--a perfume of youth, an
odor of woman. Rising to his feet, with strong resolve he pronounced
again the sacred invocation; and he recited the holy words of the
_Chapter of Impermanency_:
"Gazing upon the heavens and upon the earth ye must say, _These are not
permanent_. Gazing upon the mountains and the rivers, ye must say,
_These are not permanent_. Gazing upon the forms and upon the faces
of exterior beings, and beholding their growth and their development, ye
must say, _These are not permanent_."
And nevertheless! how sweet illusion! The illusion of the great sun; the
illusion of the shadow-casting hills; the illusion of waters, formless
and multiform; the illusion of--Nay, nay I what impious fancy! Accursed
girl! yet, yet! why should he curse her? Had she ever done aught to
merit the malediction of an ascetic? Never, never! Only her form, the
memory of her, the beautiful phantom of her, the accursed phantom of
her! What was she? An illusion creating illusions, a mockery, a dream, a
shadow, a vanity, a vexation of spirit! The fault, the sin, was in
himself, in his rebellious thought, in his untamed memory. Though
mobile as water, intangible as vapor, Thought, nevertheless, may be
tamed by the Will, may be harnessed to the chariot of Wisdom--must
be!--that happiness be found. And he recited the blessed verses of the
"Book of the Way of the Law":--