' I thought they were pretty near right there, but I
didn't see any advantage in it. I thought it was an all-round
discouragin' statement. It was the oneness of things that was
tiresome. I strolled around and thought it over. Then I says: 'Lend
me one of them robes.' 'But,' says they, 'it is the garment of the
phongyee. You are not a holy one.' 'Think not?' I says. 'Right again.
Any kind of a blanket will do.'
"They gave me a blue cotton sheet, and recommended I go and sit
three or four weeks in the pagoda, and consider that 'All things are
one.' I says, 'All right,' I squatted every day before them bronze or
wooden individuals, and remarked to each one some fifty times a day,
'All things are one,' till it seemed to me every one of 'em was
thinking that identical thing too, and every one of 'em had the same
identical and balmy smile over it. 'Take it on the whole,' I says,
'that's a singular coincidence, ain't it?' After three or four weeks
I says, 'All things are one,' and felt about it the same way as they
looked. There was no getting away from the amiableness of 'em. Then I
says: 'How's this? Is monotony a benefit? Is enterprise a mistake? Is
the Caucasian followin' up a blind trail? What's up?' I says.
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