Page:The Praises of Amida, 1907.djvu/45

 prison cell. Just as the general, besieged in an isolated fortress, is able, by means of a balloon, to communicate with his friends outside, so, by means of the dolls, this lad was enabled to fly to his parents' side, to be warmed and comforted by their tender love, and to forget for a while the pains of the cheerless dungeon. We men, living in the prison of human life, have likewise a need of similar dolls. We need "dolls" to act as flying machines to enable our hearts to soar to the place where dwells the true Father of us all, to the Presence of the Hotoke. In other words, we need to have some representation of the Tathāgata which can be apprehended by the senses. The lad of our story,—he was only a lad,—got his pleasure from the reverence he paid to the dolls which symbolized his earthly parents: and we,—poor prisoners, fretting and chafing in the dungeon of human life,—need as aids to our perfect comfort, case, and spiritual strength, some symbolic representation of our true Father, the Tathāgata.