THE VOICE OF THE SILENCE
appears on the surface. The words “bud” and “worm”
form a clue.
49. Thou canst not travel on the path before thou hast
become that Path itself.
Compare the scene in Parsifal, where the scenery comes
to the knight instead of the knight going to the scenery. But
there is also implied the doctrine of the Tao, and only one
who is an accomplished Taoist can hope to understand this
verse. (See “The Hermit of Esopus Island,” part of the
Magical Record of 666, to be published in THE Equinox,
Vol. III.)
50. Let thy Soul lend its ear to every cry of pain like as the
lotus bares its heart to drink the morning sun.
51. Let not the fierce sun dry one tear of pain before thy-
self hast wiped it from the sufferer’s eye.
52. But let each burning human tear drop on thy heart
and there remain; nor ever brush it off, until the pain that
caused it is removed.
This is a counsel never to forget the original stimulus
which has driven you to the Path, the ‘first noble truth.’
Everything is now “good.” This is why verse 53 says that
these tears are the streams that irrigate the fields of charity
immortal. (Tears, by the way. Think!)
53. These tears, O thou of heart most merciful, these are
the streams that irrigate the fields of charity immortal. ’Tis
on such soil that grows the midnight blossom of Buddha,
more difficult to find, more rare to view, than is the flower of
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