Twelfth Tale Of a Master of Prayer #2
They had sent people out in search of such heights.
When they had at last discovered exceptionally high mountains, the entire country went to live atop them.
They settled there in clusters, forming cities on various mountain peaks.
They built great fortifications around each peak and a deep ditch around the ramparts.
Now it would surely be unthinkable for anyone to discover them, 147 especially since there was but one hidden path that led to their heights, assuring that no outsider could find their way to them.
Just so, they fortified all the other peaks and stationed guards at a distance from the mountain so that no one could reach them.
They settled atop the peaks and continued their ways as before, with their many gods all determined according to their wealth.
However, since money was the principal thing for them, they lived in perpetual fear of murder and plunder.
Why would a person not become a killer or a bandit if he could become a god with the money he stole?
Yet, they held, whosoever had enough money to be a god possessed divine protection against murder and plunder.
To that end, they initiated rituals and sacrifices in which they made offerings and prayers to the gods for even more money.
They would also offer human sacrifices, rendering their fellow countrymen up to the gods so the offerands might be subsumed and become rich in their next incarnation.
Indeed, the utmost essence of their faith was money, and they practised these rituals and sacrifices and made burnt offerings to serve their gods—that is, to serve those among them who had great wealth.
And yet, the country was utterly full of murder and plunder, as those who did not practise such rituals became killers and bandits in order to acquire more wealth.
Money was, after all, the most important thing.
Money could buy everything—food and clothes—thus, it was the sine qua non of man’s existence.
Money was the central tenet of their faith and, just so, constituted their entire foolish, deluded worldview.
They took the greatest care never to lose any money, since it was the essence of their faith and their supreme ruler.
Rather, they saw to it that additional wealth would be brought into their 148 country from elsewhere.
To that end, some set off to become merchants and conducted business abroad to earn money in order to infuse their nation with even more wealth.
Giving charity was not allowed among them. Who, after all, would dare to give away wealth that was divinely bestowed? Since the most important thing for them was to have money, how could it simply be given away? For this reason, charity was strictly forbidden.
Official assessors were appointed who saw to it that everyone truly had as much money as claimed.
Each person was forever obligated to prove his wealth in order to maintain the rank and honours his wealth afforded.
That is, all the wealthiest—those who were considered to be gods and stars and angels and the like—were frequently audited to verify whether they had the requisite amount of money and that they were not erroneously considered a god.
Such officials were appointed to look after this regularly and, on occasion, a beast might have to be made a man or a man a beast. For if a rich countryman had lost his money, he was no longer reckoned a man, but rather a beast. And conversely with the beast whose wealth increased—he would then be considered a man.
So it was with all the other ranks that were determined according to the sum of money possessed.
From time to time it also happened that one ceased to be a god because of the loss of his fortune.
For those who remained gods, however, portraits and icons were made of them, which the people would embrace and kiss.
Indeed, money was the central object of their veneration and basis of their faith. 149
The group of the Master’s devotees who visited the nation returned to their place in the countryside.
They told the Master all about the nation’s follies: how the people there were so bamboozled and had gone so far astray in their love of money; how they were to leave their own land for another where they could extract materials to make more money; and how they appointed themselves stars and constellations.
The Master responded that he was afraid they would only go further and further astray.
After hearing how they had made gods of themselves, the Master exclaimed, This is exactly what I feared most!
Pitying them, the Master decided that he would go to the nation himself. Perhaps he could lead them away from their folly.
So the Master went. He came to the guards who had been stationed around each peak.
These guards were presumably of more humble rank since they had to stand below in the foul air of the earth.
Anyone who had a higher rank would never deign to associate with the rest of the world lest they be contaminated, nor would they ever converse with those below, lest they be polluted by the noxious vapours emanating from their lowly mouths.
Thus the guards who were stationed below the city were most certainly of the humble folk.
Yet they still clung to the icons of their gods and were always embracing and kissing them, since they, too, maintained that the essence of their faith was money.
The Master approached one of the guards and began to discuss the purpose of life with him—how the true point of living is to devote oneself to divine worship, the Holy Law, prayer and virtuous deeds.
Money is pure folly, he said, and not 150 the purpose of life.
The guard did not heed him at all. It had been firmly established long ago that the most important thing in life was money.
When the Master came to another guard and began speaking with him, this guard would not listen either.
And it was much the same with all the rest of the guards; they all refused to hear the Master’s words.
So the Master decided to go into the city, which was located atop the mountain peak.
How he was able to enter the city was a source of wonderment, and the people there asked him, How did you get here?
No outsider has ever been able to set foot here!
He answered, Why ask? After all, I got here, did I not?
The Master then began to discuss the purpose of life with one of the city’s denizens, saying that money was in no way life’s purpose, as he had said before to the guards.
The man paid no heed to the Master, nor did anyone else, as they all were so deluded in their folly that they would listen to no one.
But the people were all astonished by the arrival of a stranger in their city who had been able to enter and who spoke to them in a fashion so counter to their faith.
They suspected that this man must be the Master of Prayer.
News of someone called the pious Master of Prayer had been widespread throughout the world.
But no one was ever able to apprehend him because each time he appeared in a different guise: to one he might appear to be a merchant and to another a pauper.
Then, he promptly absconded from the city.
And it came to pass…
151 There was a mighty and valiant Warrior who had gathered together a number of other warriors.
This Warrior, together with his fellow warriors, set out conquering countries.
The Warrior only wished for countries to submit to his rule.
If they simply surrendered to him, then he would leave them in peace.
But if they did not, he would bring that country to ruin.
So he went about, conquering various countries.
He had no desire for wealth; his only wish was submission.
The Warrior’s custom was to remain at a distance of fifty miles and dispatch his warriors into a country to demand its surrender.
Just so, he conquered more and more countries.
The merchants of the Nation of Wealth who conducted their business abroad returned home and told what they had heard of the mighty Warrior.
A great panic ensued. Even though they would have readily surrendered, they had heard that he abhorred money and wanted none of it, which was obviously sheer blasphemy.
So they could not simply surrender to him, for that would be tantamount to abandoning their faith.
Yet they were terribly afraid of the Warrior.
So they turned to their rituals of worship, making sacrifices to their gods—that is, to their countrymen who had the most money.
They would take a beast—one of those having less money, whom they considered subhuman—and offer him as a sacrifice to their gods.