The Praises of Amida.
I.
Salvation.
There is no rest in the three worlds. They are like a burning house. They are full of all manner of Confusion, Pain, and Suffering. Life and Old Age, Sickness, and Death, are ever in them, and these things burn like a fire which nothing can quench.
The Tathägata has left the Conflagration of the Three Worlds, and is dwelling at peace in the tranquility of his Forest Abode (Paradise). "All the three Worlds," saith He, "are my possession. All the Living Beings that are in them are my Children. The World is full of much tribulation, but I, by Myself, will work out salvation."
1. Suppose I were staying at an Inn, and should turn to one of my fellow guests, and ask him where he came from and whither he was going, and suppose the man should reply that he had not the slightest idea, and could not tell. Should we not all hold up our hands at the folly of the man? And yet is it not an even more astonishing thought that we, the majority of the men that live in the world should be guilty of similar folly?
