Page:The Praises of Amida, 1907.djvu/53

 pains of ours have been the motive cause which procured for us access to this great joy? If so, the prison-house is more than just a prison: it is a place full of meaning and import, it is the vestibule of Paradise. Much more, if we consider that whenever the Divine Name comes to us, it is the Coming of the Tathāgata Himself, then the Prison becomes changed to the immediate Presence of the Tathāgata. There is now therefore no reason why we should desire to leave our prison-house. When the friends of Socrates advised him to escape from the gaol at Athens, he declined to follow their counsel, but waited quietly for the execution of the death-sentence. In like manner, we can rest tranquilly in our wretched prison-house, and wait for the right moment when the Tathāgata shall come to summon us to our rest. 13. Two poor little dolls brought peace to the lad in the Echizen prison. One leaf of the sendan-flower can affect a whole grove of the poisonous iran-tree. The One Name of the Tathāgata can bring peace to us in the