Page:The Praises of Amida, 1907.djvu/50

 anything that merely represents oneself, is the truest and best of all gifts. And the best way to give oneself is to give oneself wholly and not in part. When a shepherd gives one of the sheep that he has reared, he gives a part of himself: when the young girl makes a present of a handkerchief which she herself has embroidered, she is giving a part of herself. But when the Tathāgata revealed to us His Name, what He gave us was the Whole of Himself. The shepherd can go on living without his sheep, and the maiden can survive the loss of her handkerchief: but the Tathāgata cannot live without His Name, for It contains the whole of His Divine Heart, and the whole of His Boundless, Ineffable, Mercy. It was the Tathāgata's desire to give us Himself wholly, and for that purpose He revealed His Sacred Name, the revelation of His Divine Heart, and gave it to us. There can be no representation of the Tathāgata more direct than this, for Rennyo Shōnin spoke the truth when He said that a picture was better than an image, but that the Divine Name was