God's Book of Eskra

CHAPTER 31 Eskra

Birth of Ka'yu, otherwise Confucius

28/31.1. Thoanactus, Chief of the million loo'is sent by God down to the earth, to Chine'ya, to raise up an heir capable of the voice of God, sent word to God in Paradise, saying:

28/31.2. Greeting to you, O God, in the name of Jehovih. Your Son is born! And his name is Ka'yu. |1144| He is son of Heih, who is sub‑king [governor --Ed.] of Te'sow. Behold, your son Ka'yu is k'te'sune |1145| in the borders, whose mother, Ching‑tsae, is not yet fifteen years old. And Heih was father to twelve children previously.

1144  see note below

1145  The term, k'te'sune, in Chinese is the same as, et'e'su, or, iesu, in English. That is, a person of no sexual desires. Confucius' father was a very old man and his wife merely a young girl. Passionless children are said to result from such marriages. To be in the borders of k'te'sune is to be next‑door neighbor to being no sex at all. --Ed.

1144  The name, Confucius, as used in English has no phonetic synonym in Chinese. [Actually it does, more on this shortly.] Some English authors spell it, K'ew, but there is perhaps no English word nearer the mark, than, Ka'yu. Chung'ne was a name he received afterward. Many Chinese scholars merely call him, Ne! Again he is called, K'ung K'ew. But I have not heard a Chinaman call him any name that sounded like, Confucius. --Ed.

[That Newbrough (the recipient of Oahspe and chief 1882 editor) did not understand how Ka'yu became Confucius only underscores for the critics that this work Oahspe did not come from his mind, but from the Es realms.

We now know that Ka'yu's family name was K'ung or Kung, and that his first name was Ka'yu, or K'ew, usually rendered into English nowadays as Ch'iu, which is phonetically equivalent to Ka'yu, and in any event refers to the same person, that is, Ch = Ka, + i + u = K'i'u. Since the Chinese place the surname first, his name was K'ung Ka'yu, or K'ung K'ew.

Since Ka'yu headed the Council of Ts'Sin'Ne (28/37.25) and his last name was Kung (Chung), we can see the origin of the names Chung'ne and Ne as mentioned in the 1882 editor's footnote.

Now the word Fu-tse or Fu-dz or Fuzi or Fu-tzu (all of which are phonetic renderings of the same word) was a form of address bestowed upon another person. For example in the west some people receive the title of Sir SoAndSo, or is addressed as The Right Honorable SoAndSo. In India they sometimes attach the word 'Maha' to a name, meaning 'great' as in Mahatma Gandhi (literally: Great Soul Gandhi) or Maharishi (great sage). In China it was no different, and Fu-tse was such an honorific attached to the surname. Hence K'ung Ka'yu became known as K'ung Fu-tse meaning something akin to 'the honored master K'ung.' The western ear heard K'ung Fu-tse as Kun-fu-t'se's, which ultimately became Confucius.]

28/31.3. Let us rejoice before Jehovih, Who has quickened into life this tree of universal knowledge.

28/31.4. Also my hosts have brought about more than three thousand births, who shall become his disciples in time to come.

28/31.5. God returned answer to Thoanactus, saying: In Jehovih's name all praise to you and your hosts. Your words have been proclaimed in Paradise! There is great joy in heaven. Send the grades of mortal resurrection in Chine'ya, with doctrines and rites and ceremonies and the dominion of the spirits of the dead.

28/31.6. Thoanactus then applied to the angels who had charge of the numerating and appraising of mortals as to their grades and spiritual intercourse; and having obtained the reports, he made selections, and reported as follows:

28/31.7. Thoanactus sends greeting to God, Son of Jehovih: Ling, sun king of Chine'ya, with twelve sub‑kingdoms, one to represent every month of the year. Four hundred and six million mortals; two billion seven hundred million angels, not fettered by angel tyrants. Of the angel emissaries of the Triune God, one and a half billion.

28/31.8. Mortal grade, eight; maximum, eighty; minimum, nothing. Of fifties, one to seven. Of twenty‑fives, one to three; of tens, one to one; but of seventy‑fives, one to forty, mostly guardian births.

28/31.9. The rise in the eleventh year, two; in the thirty‑third, five; in the hundredth, twelve.

28/31.10. Of rites and ceremonies, seventy-two; of sacrifice without compunction, thirty‑five.

28/31.11. Funeral rites, ninety‑eight; observances in full, forty‑five.

28/31.12. Perception in su'is, one to three hundred and sixty‑two; in sar'gis, one to six thousand two hundred and eight.

28/31.13. Of spirits in sar'gis, one to thirty‑three thousand; of first and second resurrections, mostly ashars.

28/31.14. Thoanactus says: Because Chine instituted reverence for the dead, the funeral rites have become worshipful.

28/31.15. After the body is put away, either buried or burnt, mortals read prayers on three succeeding days, at sunset, chanting the virtue and love of the dead; and often the spirit returns to them in the house, taking on sar'gis, appearing like a mortal, and talking to their mortal kin.

28/31.16. Of drujas, who have not attained to live alone, seven hundred million. Of these, thirty percent are in declension, and seventy in ascension.

28/31.17. Of mortals in druk, sixteen percent; of mortals in idleness, including druks, twenty percent.

28/31.18. Of those who are addicted to secret evils and pollution, seventy percent; of abortionists, one‑half of one percent.

28/31.19. Thoanactus says: Owing to the veneration for, and to, the rites to the dead, speug's increase is attributed.

28/31.20. Furthermore, your servant sends to you with this report, for the libraries of heaven, a full record of the cities and country places of Chine'ya; and the grade and rate of every mortal.

CHAPTER 32 Eskra

28/32.1. Ka'yu grew up to be a man, in every way adapted to the work for which the loo'is had him born into the world by command of God. |1146|

1146  see image i118

i118 Ka'yu, also called Confucius (in the western world), living some twenty‑six hundred years before kosmon. He was one of the most learned men that ever lived. He taught the doctrine of one Great Spirit, and to worship Him only. He abridged eighteen thousand books of the ancients, taking the cream of all of them, and condensed them into twenty books.

(see image only)

28/32.2. And it also came to pass, that disciples were also born, and duly prepared by the angels of God to become co‑workers with Ka'yu. Of these disciples, seventy‑two were called chief disciples, that is, six from each of the twelve kingdoms and sub‑kingdoms of Chine'ya.

28/32.3. God had said: Do not let Ka'yu and his chief disciples know they are instruments in my hands. Neither let them know that my angels inspire them, nor allow them to know that they come from their respective kingdoms by my voice through my angels.

28/32.4. In one age, to say a matter comes by inspiration or by the angels, is to render the matter potent; and yet, in another age, to not profess inspiration or angel‑presence, is to render the matter potent.

28/32.5. The latter condition is now upon Chine'ya. Let my angels heed this. ||

28/32.6. When Ka'yu was ready for the work of God, seventy-two men and women of great learning, having heard of Ka'yu's wisdom, came to him from the twelve provinces of Chine'ya. None of these knew they had been inspired to come.

28/32.7. Ka'yu said to them: Why have you come? Some gave one reason, and some another.

28/32.8. Ka'yu said: These great happenings are the work of the Ever Present.

28/32.9. Let us conduct ourselves as Gods; the Great Spirit will then answer us.

28/32.10. Therefore let us sit in crescent, like Gods do.

CHAPTER 33 Eskra

28/33.1. God established a line of light from his throne in heaven down to Ka'yu; |1147| he maintained this light of heaven with mortals by the presence of half a billion angels.

28/33.2. That which was inspired of God, came to the soul of Ka'yu; what God spoke, that Ka'yu spoke.

28/33.3. And God spoke through Ka'yu in such a way that man would not know it was God speaking; for he desired to inspire men to self‑culture, instead of relying on Gods and angels as previously. ||

28/33.4. In the language of Ka'yu, the Great Spirit was called, Shang Te; but the word, Te, was God; the words, the Shang Te, were the Gods.

28/33.5. Ka'yu said: Behold, man has blockaded the road to wisdom. In one place he has heaped up thousands of books of the ancients; in another place, he wastes time in rites and ceremonies.

28/33.6. Our labor is to remodel the whole, by choosing from all the past that which is the best. Te will guide us in this.

28/33.7. We must, therefore, make one book, acknowledging the Ever Present Great Spirit, and His one Shang Te [True God --Ed.]. And this book must contain all the glory and beauty now contained in the seven hundred sacred books of the empire.

28/33.8. And since there are four hundred and eighty‑six books on the intermediate world [atmospherea --Ed.], which no man can learn, we must take from them all their soundest parts, and make one book of these.

28/33.9. And in the same way, there being twelve hundred and seventy books on the spirits of the dead, and their testimonies of the lower and the higher heavens, we must make one book of this.

28/33.10. And of the two thousand two hundred books on magic, and on conjuring spirits, and on second sight and second hearing, we must make one book out of these.

28/33.11. Of books of families, |1148| there are more than four thousand, which shall also be condensed into one book. |1149|

28/33.12. Of histories, there are more than four thousand books, which shall be condensed into one book.

28/33.13. Of law books, there are more than twelve thousand books, and of the precedents of judges' decrees, there are more than thirty thousand books. All of these shall be condensed into one book.

28/33.14. Of provinces, and of the empire, and of their governors and emperors, there are two thousand seven hundred books, all of which shall be condensed into one book.

28/33.15. And of government, there are seven hundred books, which shall be condensed into one.

28/33.16. Of caste, there are four hundred and ninety books, and of proprieties, |1150| three hundred and twenty, and all of these shall be condensed into one book. ||

28/33.17. Ka'yu, continuing, said: My work is to bring confusion to a termination. Of doctrines, laws, rites and ceremonies, and philosophies of both heaven and earth, we have had enough.

28/33.18. In a dark age, Shang Te (True God) gives his commandments in injunctions; |1151| he shows the people what is right, and what is wrong. In my day, the people know these things, but they do not practice them.

28/33.19. Even the preachers and conductors of ceremonies in the temples, who proclaim righteousness, charity and good works, do not practice what they preach. They live in ease and luxury, but tell us to go give to the poor. Yes, and they threaten us with hell, if we do not do it.

28/33.20. Of these different doctrines, there are seven hundred kinds in the sacred books; and they all condemn the followers of the others. Concerning which, to escape the damnation of hell, a man would need to do sacrifice more than four thousand days every year! This is not possible to any man. For there are only three hundred and sixty‑five days in a year!

28/33.21. Nor is it possible for any man to learn all the books; no, a thousand years would not suffice.

28/33.22. God (Te) forbid that I add more to the burden we have already. And I know he will preserve, in our abridgment, all that is good in the whole of them.

28/33.23. Since we cannot live according to the multitude of doctrines and philosophies, we must abridge them within the scope of man. Neither must we cut any of them off entirely, or we lead their followers into rebellion.

28/33.24. Since we have so many law books and so many judges' decrees, all of which, before he can become a judge of the court a man must learn, which is impossible, we must cut them down into a few simples, but sufficient to cover the rules of discretion in judgment. It is better to throw the judge of the court partly on his own judgment and responsibility, than for him to be a blank as to judgment, simply reading the decree of a preceding judge.

28/33.25. And as to the religion of this man, or that man; behold, it has come to pass, that each, in his own order, performs his rites and ceremonies, sacrifices and prayers, like a trained horse in a showman's circle, going round and round, and not knowing its meaning.

28/33.26. For it has come about, that the religions have made machines of the worshippers; the law books have made machines of the courts; the books of government have made machines of governors and emperors.

28/33.27. I am sent into the world to make men of men, and women of women.

28/33.28. There is no religion to suit me, therefore I make one. There is no government of the empire to suit me, therefore I devise one. There is no system in society, therefore I make one.

28/33.29. I am not sent into the world to destroy what is, or what has been; there are enough evil men to do that. I am sent to cull the harvest, and to gather choice seed from what now is, and what has been.

28/33.30. For the seed I plant is selected not to be planted in the ocean, nor on the moon, nor in a far‑off country; but to be planted in Chine'ya, and in Chine'ya I will plant it.

1147  see image i030 (with text) for a depiction

1148  The term, families, here means, communities. At the present time in China, there are a number of surnames, or family names, which were in the ancient times the names of communities [communities were given the name of the founding (or a later pivotal) Rab'bah or patriarch]. Among the Hebrews the term, house, answers to the term, family, among the Chinese. Each family was a patriarchal community, but what we, in America and in England, now call a family, that is, husband, wife and children, was not by the ancient Hebrews or ancient Chinese called a family or a house. There was no collective name for such. --Ed.

[Note too, that the Native Americans also had a similar system of family or house in the sense spoken of here, as did, for example, the Scottish with their clan system. Hence in such situations, a person would have as part of one's immediate social life, many elders, uncles, aunts, cousins, nephews and nieces.]

1149  The Book of Families referred to here would be the equivalent of a book of genealogies. Considering there were 4000 books, they probably contained the genealogy of the chiefs and other heads of nearly all, if not all, families (communities) in China.

1150  These 'standards of polite behavior' or etiquette also included appropriate behavior between castes.

1151  authoritative commands

CHAPTER 34 Eskra

Doctrines of the base

28/34.1. What were the old foundations?

28/34.2. To dwell in families (communities), with a father to each and every one.

28/34.3. And what of the ancient states?

28/34.4. The fathers of the families had chief fathers over them.

28/34.5. What of the empire?

28/34.6. The chief fathers elected one over them, and he was called, the Sun Father. Because, as the sun is the glory and beauty of the phalanx ruling over the planets, so was the emperor the sun of mortals.

28/34.7. What was the scope of responsibility?

28/34.8. As a father is responsible for the behavior of his own child, so was the rab'bah responsible for the behavior of his family; so was the chief rab'bah responsible for the behavior of his family of rab'bahs; so was the emperor responsible for the behavior of his empire.

28/34.9. What was the responsibility of a child to its natural father; of a man to the rab'bah; of the rab'bahs to the chief rab'bahs; of all the people to the emperor?

28/34.10. The child shall be taught to love, revere and obey its own father (and its mother, who is its vice‑father); the man to love and revere the rab'bah; the rab'bahs to love and revere the chief rab'bahs; the whole people to love and revere the emperor.

28/34.11. Why this order?

28/34.12. It is the doctrine of the ancients, handed down from generation to generation, and has proved to be a good doctrine for an empire.

28/34.13. How did the ancients know these principles?

28/34.14. The Creator taught them. The Creator sent His high angel, Te, who has charge of the intermediate world, down to mortals to teach them.

28/34.15. How is this proved?

28/34.16. By the sacred books of the ancients.

28/34.17. Who wrote the ancient sacred books?

28/34.18. Men inspired by the angel of the Creator.

28/34.19. How is this proved?

28/34.20. It is proved negatively, because men cannot write so beautiful nor in the style.

28/34.21. What were the fundamental doctrines of the ancient sacred books?

28/34.22. To worship none but the Creator.

28/34.23. To have no images or idols.

28/34.24. To keep the day of the change of the moon as a sacred day, and to do no work on that day, but to practice rites, processions and ceremonies, for the glory of the Creator.

28/34.25. To love the Creator above all else.

28/34.26. To love one's parents next to Him.

28/34.27. To kill no living creature maliciously or for food.

28/34.28. To tell no lies; neither to steal, nor to covet anything that is another's.

28/34.29. Do not do to others what we would not have them do to us.

28/34.30. To return good for evil.

28/34.31. To feed and clothe the stranger, the sick and helpless.

28/34.32. To not be idle, but industrious.

28/34.33. To speak no ill of any man, woman or child.

28/34.34: To practice the highest wisdom one has.

28/34.35. To respect all people, as we desire to be respected.

CHAPTER 35 Eskra

28/35.1. || What were the ascetics |1152| of the ancients?

28/35.2. That heaven and earth are warring elements, one against the other.

28/35.3. That all men must choose to serve one or the other, and at once engage in the battle.

28/35.4. If a man desires everlasting life and bliss in heaven, then he must battle his earthly parts with great vigor.

28/35.5. He shall torture his flesh, by fastings, by lying naked on sharp stones, by flagellations, and otherwise, showing before the Gods how displeased he is with his corporeal body.

28/35.6. He must live alone, deny himself all pleasures, not sleep in a house, nor eat cooked food. ||

28/35.7. What is the extreme of great learning?

28/35.8. To devote one's whole life to learning what is in the books. To cultivate the memory so that one may repeat all the words in four thousand books, is great learning. But it is greater learning to be capable of repeating eight thousand books, word for word.

28/35.9. What is the extreme of loyalty?

28/35.10. To love the emperor, so one cannot see his faults; to love the rab'bahs, so one cannot see their faults. To love discipline, so that one has no time for anything else; and, on the contrary, to have no time for discipline, rites or ceremonies.

28/35.11. What is the law of life?

28/35.12. The spirit of man is the man; to live for the growth of the spirit, this is the highest of living.

28/35.13. What are the kinds of spirit communion?

28/35.14. The spirit of one person can commune with the spirit of another, if they are not encumbered with grossness. The spirits of the dead can commune with the spirits of the living, even without one's knowing it.

28/35.15. What is the destination of the souls of men?

28/35.16. When man dies, his spirit is born into the air of the earth, which is the intermediate world, where it sojourns until sufficiently purified, and is reverential to the Creator; and then it is taken up by His angels to dwell in the higher heavens forever.

28/35.17. What shall mortal man do for the benefit of his own spirit?

28/35.18. He shall love the Creator with all his soul, and strive to emulate Him in good works, gentleness and love.

28/35.19. But if he does not do this, what then?

28/35.20. His spirit will be bound in hell after death; he will become a victim for the delight of demons.

1152  spiritual teachings, rigors, and austerities of those who renounced corporeal comforts and other self-denials for sake of supposed spiritual attainment

CHAPTER 36 Eskra

28/36.1. Ka'yu said: Such is the base the ancients have given into our hands, but who could follow them into detail?

28/36.2. I was not born into the world for this; but to choose from each and all of them, what all of them |1153| will accept.

28/36.3. In the ancient days our country was sparsely settled; families were a good convenience. But, behold, the land is full of people. I do not have just a few scattered barbarians to deal with.

28/36.4. I have to deal with a learned people, who have scarcely room to stand. I am only one man; and you, only seventy‑two.

28/36.5. By ourselves, we can do nothing. Shang Te has shaped the times to our hands. Whether we live to see it, it matters little. The time will surely come, when the emperor will be obliged to destroy the books of the ancients.

28/36.6. Let us therefore take the cream of them, and provide for their preservation while we may. ||

28/36.7. Ka'yu then divided up the labor among his seventy‑two disciples; apportioning the books of the ancients justly among them.

28/36.8. And so great was the wisdom and scholarship of Ka'yu, that in twelve days' time some of his disciples were ready with their reports to begin. And from these reports Ka'yu dictated, and the scribes wrote down his words.

28/36.9. And it came to pass, that when a committee presented a revision before Ka'yu that he even knew it before it was read in the Council. And he dictated on its contents, making the necessary alterations. After which, the subject was given to the scribes to do the full rewrite.

28/36.10. Now the whole time of the first sitting of the Council was eight and a half years, at which time they had been over all the work.

28/36.11. But so great was the wisdom and memory of Ka'yu, that he called out from the errors of his disciples enough material to require two years' more deliberation.

28/36.12. And thus from the lips of Ka'yu, twenty books were produced containing the digest of more than eighteen thousand books. Nor had any man in all the world ever done even one‑tenth of so great a feat of learning.

28/36.13. The scribes wrote six copies for every one of the disciples; and when they were thus provided, and were ready to depart, Ka'yu spoke to them, saying:

28/36.14. What, in your opinion, is the highest, best satisfaction? And after the disciples had answered, some one thing, and some another, the master said:

28/36.15. To know that one has done the highest thing within his power, this is the highest, best satisfaction. For what is any man at most, but an agent of the Most High?

28/36.16. To be true to one's own highest idea, is this not serving the Father? To be neglectful in such conviction, is this not the sickness of all the learned?

28/36.17. What honor, in your opinion, does any man have? The disciples answered, some one thing, and some another. After a while, the master said:

28/36.18. If those beneath him honor him, then it is no honor to him. If those above him honor him, then it is a reproof of his other deeds. |1154| But if he honors himself, he has great honor indeed. But who can honor himself, except he who is perfect in his own sight? He cannot do this, therefore he has no honor in extreme. To choose little honor, to choose a medium line, is this not the highest any man can attain to?

28/36.19. To grieve over one's own self, because of imperfection, this is great folly. To eat fruit, herbs and rice, these are the purest diet, but only a fool would starve rather than eat flesh. |1155| Rites and ceremonies are useful, but a man had better dispense with even these, than to go to war for them.

28/36.20. To rest on the ancients only, this is great folly. To honor the ancients only, and to believe that they alone received revelation, these are the extremes of a foolish understanding.

28/36.21. To remember that the Creator is Ever Present, and with as much power, love and wisdom today as in the ancient days, this is wisdom.

28/36.22. To try to find some good thing one can do, this is creditable. But to do nothing good, because one cannot do it in his own way, this is execrable.

28/36.23. He who finds a good work to do, and does it, has much satisfaction. But he should not exult in it, for he has only done his duty. I have no honor |1156| in these twenty books.

28/36.24. Two kinds of men I have found; those who are predestined by the Gods to accomplish a certain work, and those who are born with no predestination. The first are erroneously called the highest, because they are at the head of great undertakings; but they are nevertheless only instruments in the hands of the Gods. The others, who are born without a predestined work, never can understand the former.

28/36.25. To be born near enough to the (es) Light to see it, and believe in it, and have faith in it, this is a great delight. To be so far from the Creator that one cannot believe in His Person and Presence, this is pitiable.

28/36.26. I divorced my wife because I discovered she could not bring forth heirs to belief or faith. No man should be bound to a woman whose desires lie in the corporeal self. And women should have the same privilege.

28/36.27. He who is wed to the Great Spirit, how can he dwell with one who is wed to the earth?

28/36.28. To one man, celibacy is the highest life, because he has joy in his Heavenly Father. But to one who does not have this joy, celibacy is a great punishment. The society must admit both conditions.

28/36.29. There is no mean between these two; therefore, both must be provided for.

28/36.30. Those who desire celibacy approach the termination of the race; those whose desires are the other way are of a breed not so far along.

28/36.31. There need be no quarrel between them. The destiny of both must be completed some time.

28/36.32. When a country is sparsely settled, those of extremes can go and live aside; it is nothing to govern such a state, or to proclaim extreme doctrines before them. But when a country is full of people, the two extremes and the mean must dwell in proximity. It is not an easy matter to govern them wisely. |1157|

28/36.33. Whatever people can dwell together in great numbers on the smallest piece of ground, and yet have peace and plenty, such a people are the highest of all peoples.

28/36.34. Where an extreme doctrine cannot be carried out, it is better to have a less extreme doctrine. People, like a drove of sheep, are much inclined to follow a leader. In which case, politicians, lawyers and judges run the state into war.

28/36.35. To legislate in such a way, that leaders cannot lead the multitude into evil, this is wisdom. Were all leaders dead, the people themselves would not be very bad. Yet it is wrong to take any man's life; for life is something man has no property in. Life rests with Jehovih only; it is His.

28/36.36. Before the ignorant, and before fools, we speak by commandment. Chine'ya has passed that age; our books must go persuasively, yes, in the mean (balance between the extremes).

28/36.37. To dictate to the learned, is to cast one's treasures into the fire. By asking them questions, we can often lead them.

28/36.38. Coaxing, with effect, is greater than dictation not obeyed. We preach to the rich man, that he should give all he has to the poor, and he walks away, giving nothing. When we say to him: Give a little, he does it. In this case the higher doctrine is the lower, and the lower doctrine is the higher, because it has potency.

28/36.39. The ancients said, the first best thing was to love the Creator; I think so too. But when a philosopher asks me to prove that the Creator is a Person, and is worth loving, I am puzzled. To accept Him as a Person, and as All Good, without criticism, this I find gives the greatest happiness.

28/36.40. I have seen men who would pull the Creator to pieces and weigh His parts to know His worth, but such men end in disbelief in Him. I have not found one such man who accomplished any good in the world. In the presence of goodly men he is like a fly that delights in breeding maggots---pretty enough in himself, but a breeder of vermin in the state.

28/36.41. Yet he who says: Let the evil practice evil, because the Creator created them, is of a narrow mind. Or, if he says: Jehovih sent the rainstorm to destroy the harvest; or, Jehovih sends fevers to the dirty city: such a man lacks discretion in words and judgment.

28/36.42. But he who perceives that man is part of the creation, in which he must do a part of the work himself, or fevers will result, such a man has his understanding open in regard to the Father.

28/36.43. Between the too much casting of all things in Jehovih's face, and too little belief in Him, lies the mean, which works (develops) the perfection of man.

28/36.44. To try to find the Creator with love and adoration, instead of with a dissecting knife; this leads man on the highest road. To trust in Him, while we strive to do our best; this is good philosophy. To lie about idly, and not plant our fields, blindly trusting in Him to provide; this is great darkness.

28/36.45. A wise man, perceiving the defects of the society, will not censure it, but turn to work and find a remedy. It is for such purpose the angels of the higher heavens raise up great men in the world.

28/36.46. I have seen many people in many different kinds of worship, and they go through their parts in the sacrifice without perceiving the spiritual idea of the founders, and they are neither better nor worse for it. The infidel, with little discretion, seeing this, abuses all the doctrines, but a wise man goes between them to find the good which others lose sight of.

28/36.47. To find all the beauties in a man or woman, or in their behavior---this is Godlike. To find their faults and speak of them---this is devilish. Yet, consider reverently the man who does not speak of persons. Who knows, may not all men be as automatons, |1158| some in the hands of Gods, and some in the hands of devils?

28/36.48. Such a doctrine would make us less severe with those who err, or who do evil. We hope for this.

28/36.49. I have seen the criminals being whipped, and I have said to myself: Only by a mere circumstance of birth, the wrong ones are being lashed. Otherwise, they would have been governors of the states.

28/36.50. I once helped a bad man to elude his pursuers, and he escaped whipping, and he reformed himself. Since then, I have been a convert to great leniency.

28/36.51. The time will come when bad men will be neither whipped nor tortured, but appropriated to benefit the province; to shape our laws for such interpretation, is the beginning of wisdom in the government.

28/36.52. To appropriate all men to the best use; this is the wisest governing. To punish a bad man for vengeance' sake; this is devilish.

28/36.53. If a man slays my sister, I raise my sword up before him, so that he may run against it, but I do not strike him. To reform a man is better than to kill him; to lock up a bad man where he can do no harm, is sufficient for the state.

28/36.54. I have watched the soldiers in drill, and I said: This is a beautiful sight! For, I saw the colors of their clothes, and the poetry of their maneuvers.

28/36.55. But I watched them again, and I said: This is wicked! For, I looked into the object of the drill, and I saw blood and death. The state uses power by violent means, but the soul within us desires to accomplish peacefully.

28/36.56. The standard of a wise man, to judge wisely, requires of him to imagine he is a God, high up in heaven, and that all men are his children. He should consider them as a whole, and beneficially.

28/36.57. This I perceive: There were a few wise men among the ancients, as wise as the wisest of this day. But, today, there are more wise men than in the ancient times. Does this not lead us to believe that a time will come, when all people will be wise?

28/36.58. I would like to see this; it would settle many vexing questions. The seers tell us the soul of man is immortal; moreover, that they have seen the spirits of the dead. I tried for many years to ascertain if this were true, but I could not discover.

28/36.59. Nevertheless, I said: It is a good doctrine; I will appropriate it. The Creator must have perceived it also. It is reasonable, then, that He created man immortal.

28/36.60. The priests have appropriated this doctrine also. Moreover, the ancients say, the good are rewarded in heaven, and the evil punished in hell. The people have been told this, and yet they will not be good.

28/36.61. Chine said: To deny one's self and to labor for others with all our wisdom and strength; this is the highest doctrine. || I saw a man on a mountain, calling to his flocks in the valleys, but they did not understand him, and did not come. Then he came halfway down the mountain, and called, and the flocks heard him and understood, and they went up to him.

28/36.62. It is easy to plan out high doctrines, but not so easy to give an efficient doctrine. He who is mid‑way, is the most potent. I have observed that all peoples have higher doctrines than they live up to. Yes, the boast of one religion over another is of its relatively superior height in the doctrines enunciated. And yet, they, who boast thus, practice neither virtue nor sincerity, for they do not live up to even the commonest doctrines.

28/36.63. On the other hand, the boast of a government is not of its virtue and goodness, and its fatherly care of the helpless, but of its strength in arms, and its power to kill. And these are the lowest of attributes.

28/36.64. I was born into the world to reach the government, and make it virtuous and fatherly. This can only be done through the family, then to the hamlet, then to the province, and then to the empire.

28/36.65. But I could not do this without sincere men, who would faithfully practice my doctrines.

28/36.66. That you are sincere, is proved in your being with me; that you are virtuous and discreet, with propriety, is proved in your listening to my words. Yet, regarding this work, how can I be sincere? I say, my words, when in truth I feel that no words I utter before the Council, are my words in fact.

28/36.67. Is this not true of all good men, in that they are mouthpieces for the Gods, or for the circumstances surrounding them? We open our mouth and speak, but where do our ideas come from?

28/36.68. When the sun shines on the field, the herbs come forth; is it not the Creator's light falling upon us, that causes our ideas to come forth? And if we keep away the grass and the weeds, we receive a profitable harvest.

28/36.69. I wish that all men would write a book on the Creator. Thought, directed in this way, will not go far from the right road.

28/36.70. To feel that He is with us, hearing all our words, seeing all our deeds: Is this not the surest foundation to teach our children? What is so potent as faith in the Creator, and in His Son, Shang Te, in making our children sincere, and to behave with propriety?

1153  all schools, religious orders, beliefs, persuasions, factions, sects, creeds, etc.

1154  Reproof means disapproval and therefore subtle criticism; for if one is honored for that deed which is exemplary, that means other deeds not honored were less than exemplary, and therefore, how can one feel honored for one's labor. And as for those beneath him, since they are beneath him and he above them insofar as labor is concerned, he is expected to perform better; therefore he has gained no honor simply by being who he is.

1155  Recall from other places in Oahspe, that Faithists would suffer death rather than eat flesh foods. || Later in this book it says Ka'yu, on his own, committed some blunders. This statement appears to be one of them.

1156  i.e., special mark of distinction, pride, individual recognition, credit, glory, fame. In this we can see that by not preempting himself over the glory of the work itself, Ka'yu allows for the work to stand on its own merits.

1157  That is, opposing points of view plus the mean (neutral view or center or middle ground between them)---all must live in harmony in order for society to exist in health.

1158  a robot, a puppet, a machine, a pawn

CHAPTER 37 Eskra

28/37.1. The following are the books of Ka'yu, namely:

28/37.2. Of the Creator, the Great Spirit, Eolin, and His Creation.

28/37.3. Of the Plan of Corporeal Worlds, the sun, earth, moon and stars, and their sizes and motions, and their power to hold themselves in their places, by the velocity of rotation.

28/37.4. Of Light and Heat and thunder and lightning.

28/37.5. Of the Unseen Worlds; the upper and lower heavens; the habitations of the Gods.

28/37.6. Of the Intermediate World, or lower heaven, which rests on the earth.

28/37.7. Of Te [Shang Te, or True God --Ed.], who has charge of this world and her heavens.

28/37.8. Of False Gods, and their kingdoms in the lower heavens; and their power to catch the souls of men after death.

28/37.9. Of Hell, where the spirits of bad men are tortured for a long season.

28/37.10. Of the Highest Heavens, the Orian worlds, where the spirits of good mortals dwell in everlasting bliss.

28/37.11. Of the Administration of Gods and drujas over mortals; how nations are built up, or destroyed by the Gods.

28/37.12. And these ten were those that in later years were recorded as the Books of Great Learning, and were made by the Sun Emperor The Standard of the empire.

28/37.13. The following books of Ka'yu were those that were called, The Lesser Scholarships, namely:

28/37.14. Axioms [texts, or Ch'un'Ts'en --Ed.], being the simples of problems.

28/37.15. The Perfect Man (Tae), or Highest Representative.

28/37.16. The Mean Man [that is, moderate --ed.]. |1159|

28/37.17. Purification; to purify the flesh; and to purify the spirit (or soul).

28/37.18. Divination; consultation of spirits; legerdemain; sar'gis; su'is; power of the spirits to give man dreams and visions.

28/37.19. Maxims, propriety, sincerity, rites and ceremonies, reverence to age, respect to the dead.

28/37.20. Love; to love the Great Spirit; to love the parents; to love discipline and industry; marriage; marriage for earthly sake being wicked; marriage for spiritual redemption of the world by generations of holier men and women.

28/37.21. Book of Histories, of Gods and Saviors, of kings and emperors, of wise men, of lawgivers, of the rise and fall of nations.

28/37.22. Book of Holies, in six parts: Omnipotence, Worship, Jehovih's (Eolin's) Judgments, Progression, Reverence to the priests, and Obedience to the sacred commandment.

28/37.23. Book of Gems, also in six parts: Proverbs; Poetry; Morning and Evening Devotion; Association: in the family, the community, the state and the empire; Confession of Sins; and Praise and Rejoicing in Eolin, the Great Spirit.

28/37.24. Such were the twenty books of Ka'yu, which were the pith and cream of the eighteen thousand books of the ancients, together with all the light of the latter days added to them. And in not many years, these also became the standard books of the Chine'ya empire.

28/37.25. And the Council of Ts'Sin'Ne came to a close, and the disciples of Ka'yu departed for their respective provinces, taking copies of the books with them.

28/37.26. God had said to his inspiring angels: Do not let Ka'yu know he receives light from heaven, for he shall be an example to men, to inspire them to perfect the talents created with them.

28/37.27. And it was so; and during all these years of labor, Ka'yu did not know that he was inspired.

28/37.28. And God looked upon the empire of Chine'ya, and he said. Behold, my son shall write other books, but less profound.

28/37.29. And God inspired Ka'yu to write:

28/37.30. A Book of Family Sayings;

28/37.31. A Book of Analects; |1160|

28/37.32. A BOOK ON GOVERNMENT;

28/37.33. A Book on Life;

28/37.34. A BOOK ON PUNISHMENT;

28/37.35. And a Book on Inventions. And these were all the books Ka'yu wrote.

28/37.36. Nevertheless, his fame became so great that many men followed him about, even when he traveled into distant provinces, and they watched for the words he spoke, and they wrote them down, and these were also made into books.

28/37.37. Because of the presence of God and his angels, Ka'yu saw clearly and heard clearly; nevertheless, his inspiration was God by proxy, and not like the inspiration of Chine, to whom God came in person, dwelling with him. Thus, on many occasions, Ka'yu did things of his own accord, and committed some blunders.

END OF THE HISTORY OF KA'YU

1159  The moderate person is a centrist, one who finds the middle course, one who seeks or has found the middle way, the golden mean; being a conciliatory man, being one who settles for a halfway measure, a compromise---perceiving that if a whole loaf of bread cannot be had, then half a loaf is better than none at all; or that one moderate step up is better than no step up, and surely better---so he would maintain---than a likely failed attempt at too large a step up.

1160  collection of excerpts taken from literary works; or perhaps a compilation/distillation of his teachings