Lectionary Readings for Monday, June 24th, 2019

Book of the Arc of Bon Chapters 21 and 22

Chapter 21

HISTORY OF CHINE (TSCHIN’E), OF JAFFETH, FOUNDER OF CHINA.
1. These are the generations of the seven antecedents of Chine, the chosen of the Great
Spirit, Ormazd, otherwise, in Fonecean, Eloih; that is to say:

2. Tse’wong begat Hi-gan, who begat Ah So, who begat T-soo Yong, who begat Ah
Paing, who begat T-chook Lee, who begat Tschine Loo, who begat Ah Sho’e, who begat
Tschin’e (Chine), gifted in su’is and sar’gis of six generations.

3. Of these, T-soo Yong and Ah So were prophets of Jehovih (Ormazd), and Ah Sho’e
was a seer; but the six generations could hear the Voice, and they walked upright, keeping
the commandments of Jehovih as revealed in the Zarathustrian laws.

4. Ah Sho’e was a basket-maker, and after the manner of the man, Zarathustra; and Chine,
his son, was the fourth birth of Ah Sho’e’s wife, Song Heng. Like Moses, Chine was of
copper color, and very large, but his hair was red, like a fox, and he was bashful and of
few words.

5. Ah Sho’e, i.e., Chine’s father, said: I have had other sons; my words are wise and true;
Chine was unlike any child born in the world; for boy child, or girl child, no physician
could tell which, but rather to the boy kind was he. The angel of Jehovih (Ormazd) came
to me before the birth and said: The child shall be called Chine, signifying no sex; as it is
written among the ancients, i-e-su, having no earthly desires. For he shall restore the
chosen people of Jehovih.

6. Whereof I told the physicians before the birth, but they would not believe.
Nevertheless, by command of Jehovih, I sent for seven physicians to witness the birth,
lest it be said afterward the surgeons have dealt wrongly with the child at its birth.

7. These physicians came to wit: Em Gha, Tse Thah, Ah Em Fae, Te Gow, T’si, Du Jon,
Foh Chaing, and Ah Kaon, and they beheld the child born, whereto they made oath, and a
record thereof, touching the strangeness of such a birth, and of the prophecy of its coming
into the world; this record was put in the Ha Ta’e King (library) of record belonging to the
Sun King.

8. Being now in my old age, I, Ah Sho’e, put these things on record, of which hundreds
have come to ask me concerning the youth of Chine.

9. First, that he was the laziest of all children, and dull past belief. For his brothers and
sisters mocked him, concerning my prophecy, as to becoming a great man.

10. Second, he ate less than a small bird (Fa’ak), and grew so thin we were ashamed of
him in his childhood; verily was he nothing but skin and bone, with a large head.

11. Third, when he walked about, the stools and tables moved out of his way; and yet no
hand touched them.

12. Fourth, the angels of Jehovih oft carried him about the hut, and would lift him up to
pick fruit from the trees.

13. Fifth, he never laughed, but was serious and pleasant, like an old man that had
abandoned the world. But he spoke so little no man knew whether he was wise or stupid.

14. When he was three years old his mother weaned him, or rather he weaned
himself. And from that time forth he never ate but fruit and nuts and grains of rice.
When he was sixteen years old he began to grow suddenly large and strong, and of
deep color. Whereat I procured a teacher for him; but lo, and behold, he could learn a
whole book in a day. He learned by hearing once; neither forgot he anything he learnt.

15. In his twenty-second year he began to talk, and the angels of heaven spake through
him also. And great was his speech.

16. From sunrise in the morning until late at night his tongue ceased not to speak. And his
mouth moved as if it were the mouth-piece of heaven. For when one angel had discoursed
before the audience for a while, then came another and another, and so on; and when
none came, then spake Chine himself.

17. And there came before him men of great learning, and philosophers, to try him as to
his knowledge; but they all went away confounded, as if they were fools. Neither was it
possible to ask him a question he could not answer correctly. Whether it was to read a
tablet or to reveal the size and build of a temple he never saw; or the sickness of a man
who was far away; for all things were to him as an open book.

18. For four years this great wisdom remained in him, and his fame spread from the east
to the west, and from the north to the south; no man knew how far. When he was asked
how far he could see and hear, he said: Over all my land. And he marked with his finger,
saying: On this tablet, Chine land!

19. Thus was the country named Chine (China), which it beareth to this day.

20. Ah Sho’e said: Suddenly Chine’s abundant speech ceased, and he answered only
yea and nay to all things. And he was silent for seven years and eighty days. And
then the angels from the second heaven came to him. After that he spake not as man
(save in private), but he spake as the All Light, whereof the world knoweth the rest.

Chapter 22

1. Chine said: I am a man only. I am the All Light. My voice is that that liveth forever.
Worship not Me; worship not man; worship All Light. I am Jehovih (Ormazd) Ever
Present. Because of My abundance in man, man openeth the mouth; maketh words.

2. To know Me is to know all things; he who striveth to Me is My chosen. He who
knoweth not Me proveth not Me; he who knoweth Me can not prove Me. To every self
am I THE SELF of that self. To perfect that self which is in all selfs; such a man is one with
Me. To travel on such a road; that is the right road.

3. Hear Me, O man! I come every three thousand years; I newly light up the world. My
voice cometh upon the souls of men; thy All Highest is Me; thy all lowest is sin. Two
things only set I before thee, O man; the Self that is Myself, and the self that is thyself.
Which wilt thou serve? For hereon hangeth either thy resurrection or thy hell.

4. In the time of the first of ancients I asked the same questions. Whoso said: I will serve
Thee, Ormazd, Thou All Self, he was My chosen. Whoso answered: I will serve the self
of myself, was satan’s. The latter went on the wrong road. Their trail was blood and death;
war, their glory.

5. They fell upon My chosen; like tigers have they pursued them. I called out in the
ancient days: Why persecute ye My chosen and destroy them? And they answered: They
will not war; they serve not our king; they serve the King of kings; they practice peace;
they uphold not our God.

6. But I stretched forth My hand from the second heaven; I bowed down to My virgin
daughter, the troubled earth, Ma-lah. And I took My chosen and put them in Brahma’s
hand; and they were shapely and fleet-footed, valiant in love and good works. And I sent
great learning unto the sons of men, and wisdom and peace and great rejoicing.

7. And Ma-lah blossomed and was fragrant as new honey, and cleanly and full of virtue.
Her daughters hid the thigh and ankle; their full breasts were concealed and their words
were of modesty.

8. Her sons were early to rise; producing abundance, and with songs of rejoicing, and
with dancing. For My beloved shaped the ways of man; their progeny were as the sweet
blossoms of an orchard; as the fragrance of red clover. I said unto them: Fear not; thy
sons and thy daughters are a great glory to thee. Count thou the days of thy wife; and
rejoice when the birth draweth near; for it is fruit of Me and of thee.

9. And they taught the little ones to clap their hands and rejoice; I made them for
this. Sing, O earth! Hold up thy head. I said to My beloved, for Mine is a place of
glory and sweet love, sparkling with good delights. None could restrain them; like
young colts, and young lambs at play; their capers were unceasing and most tender.

10. This was My good creation; the bliss of My chosen; this was My shapely earth in the
days of peace; in the times of My chosen. Nor war, nor weeping was there; nor hunger
nor thirst; nor famine; nor fields lying waste; nor sickness, nor evil diseases; nor cursing,
nor swearing; nor lying; nor deceit; nor hardships and sore toil, nor any evil thing under
the sun.

11. I, the All Light, Jehovih, have spoken. Will they hear My words? How will man judge
Me, the Creator? Hath he gone amongst My beloved; and My upraised who obey My
commandments? Hath he seen the beauty of the earth in the hands of My chosen?

12. O man! Thou fool! Thou goest into a dark corner and sayest: How dark! Thou
goest before my enemies and sayest: What a vain creation! Or searchest amongst them
that serve not Me, and sayest: Miserable world! Amongst them that hat Me, and
sayest: How wickedly they kill one another. O that Jehovih had made a better creation!

13. Thou criest out: There is no happiness on the earth; all is misery and sorrow and pain
and death! And this is thy standard, O man, to judge thy Creator! Thou sayest: There is no
peace, nor delight, nor love, nor harmony on the earth!

14. Stubborn man! And contrary, and of narrow judgment! O that thou woulst stand in a
clean place and high, and then judge! Hast thou measured My chosen, who have faith in
My Person! Why hast thou treasured thyself? And put thyself uppermost of all things?
Who hast thou found that denied My Person, but dwelt in lust and self-conceit?

15. Where is thy standard, save the All High? What is thy dispute about the all low? If I
call Myself the All High art thou better pleased? If satan calleth himself the all low, wilt
thou be satisfied? Or shall a man not speak of the All High? nor of the all low? Are there
not such things? And shall they not have names?

16. Thy wicked hand riseth up against My chosen, to lay them in death. And when
thou hast trailed the earth over in blood; and thy hand is wearied with destruction, and
thy little ones have not wherewith to eat, thou prayest: O Father, help Thy little ones!

17. I have spoken.