Page:The Praises of Amida, 1907.djvu/31

Rh is now bright with a streak of light. Thanks to the rope of salvation which has been thrown to us, hope has come bubbling up in our hearts, and we have entered into a rest which is beyond description. This happiness can be obtained even now, at the present moment. The Present, which was once so full of dangers, is now se cure from peril.

But Present and Future are impossible with out a Past: and our Past, we can see, has been the staircase by which we have mounted to the happiness of the Present and the Future. The Past which once was so meaningless has now come to be full of most precious significance. In a word, this human life, and this whole Universe, have become transfigured with glory all through the merits of that One Name only.

12. And now we can for the first time begin to make true progress. "The Tathagata has left the burning mansion of the world and has entered into rest in the peaceful abode of his forest home" (i.e., the Paradise which is our