Page:The Praises of Amida, 1907.djvu/97

 such inexcusable behaviour. If you are going to be troubled by remorse for such things, again you have enough matter for remorse to last you all your life. But what is the good of all this worry and remorse? If my worry or remorse are going to give me the strength to correct some error, or make amends for some wrong, there would be some use in it; but my flesh is too weak to make atonement for the past,—and besides, the saving labours of the Tathāgata have rendered it unnecessary, And therefore, seeing that we of ourselves are too weak to help ourselves, what folly it is to give way to remorse or worry! 5. Moreover, this 'heavenward' journey which we are now taking is not one of our own devising. In our distant birth-place, we found ourselves encompassed on all sides by the sins inherent to our condition, so that we were utterly unable to move a foot to advance or retreat. When our helplessness was most patent, the Tathāgata, designing to save us, stood and called us by means of His Sacred Name, and