Mr. Xue
Paul FraserThe Principle for Being a Human
Chapter 28, Volume I of The Path of Life
“Take kindness and benevolence as basis;
take frankness and friendliness to heart.”
After listening with deep emotion to these two solemnly spoken lines, they suddenly seemed quite familiar, as if I had heard them on a previous occasion.
“Now Emperor Pangu the Great bestows on you these two lines, which will be presented to all peoples through you. They are a precious crystallization, tempered by Emperor Pangu the Great over a long, long time and represent not only the principle for being a human but also a golden key that will guide you together with the rest of humanity to finish your own agonizing tempering.”
“Oh—isn’t the meaning very similar to the ‘benevolence, righteousness, courtesy, resourcefulness, trustworthiness’ advocated by the doctrine of Confucius and Mencius that is currently being criticized in one of the big campaigns?”
“Yes. The reason that the splendid ancient Chinese culture is worthy of praise and the people’s pride is the content running through it of friendliness and love. But it is not as deep and detailed as the two lines above. The fundamental principle proposed by communists is also kindness. A communist society is one in which there is no exploitation of person by person, no bullying. Don’t you think this is the most equitable, the freest, kindest, and happiest society? Doesn’t the act of caring for each other, loving each other, and helping each other embody benevolence and love? This was all definitely arranged previously by Emperor Pangu the Great—but we won’t discuss it at present.”
“No: now that you’ve mentioned it, I will bring it up. The benevolence and kindness spoken of by us communists in our class theory are for one class only; there is no benevolence to speak of between two opposing classes.”
“Yes. The theory of classes and class struggle is correct, but it applies only for a certain historical period. I will explain in detail later. What I want to expound upon to you now is that future mankind will live according to the principles in these two lines I have spoken. There will be no more so-called ‘class struggles’. People’s thoughts will serve to make lives better and happier. Now we should begin tempering ourselves in accordance with these two lines. Are you ready? Let’s begin: one, two, three!
“Take kindness and benevolence as basis…”
“…kindness and benevolence as basis…” I followed him conscientiously and solemnly, but no matter how hard I tried I still lagged behind. Nevertheless I did my best simply to speak with a strong determination and without the least bit of disappointment, thus making a little progress every day. How happy I was for that!
I wish to stress, however, that it is, comparatively speaking, a rather facile matter now to tell the story as I am doing without being able to pour out the bitterness of my sufferings of those ten days. What I can say is that I did acquire rare chances to take a breath of fresh air outside the cowshed, when I would take advantage of such opportunities to talk slowly with my chin up and chest out. Though I made no sounds with my mouth, the most strained and serious struggles were proceeding within me.
With the cold wind blowing I often had my veins standing out from my skin seemingly without reason as I dripped with sweat. Sometimes a kindhearted cowboy would ask me what was going on, but I dared not answer with even half a sentence; instead I went on with the holy test for fear that a slight carelessness would bring to humanity an unnecessary disaster. Now, when recalling that time, I truly see it as a miserable, pitiful, and ridiculous period. But who can make a judgment about the merits and sins of the past thousands of years? We had better leave it all to be explained by the reality of the future world.
It was not until the ninth night that I really made surprising progress, exhausted as I was. Often a word sounded in my heavenly heart first, with the same word then sounding in my earthly heart. For that result, I felt a sense of sacredness and honor. I knew I had given everything I had to this experiment.
At eight o’clock on the tenth night we finally sounded the two sacred lines in unison. It seemed as if a torch full of hope and vitality suddenly was ignited in my dying life. I felt holy and pure as well as free, a feeling I had never had, as if some never-before-experienced happiness were about to befall me. Eagerly I looked forward to it.
Now he laughed, also with satisfaction: “Look, no difficulties can prevent you from tempering yourself—nor can any obstacles in the universe hinder Emperor Pangu the Great’s firm determination to create an eternal future world. I congratulate you for that. Soon you will be free.”
