Story
Space
(Taken from
the book, 'Taoism, The Quest For Immortality',
written by John Blofeld.)
THE
END
With the
coming of the red tide, the recluses were driven
from their hermitages back into the world of
dust to earn their living as best they could.
Rather than describe what little I know from
hearsay of this tragic dispersal of the Yellow
Emperor's progeny after well nigh five thousand
years, I shall relate a curious little story
which reveals that, for two of them, the end was
happy. It was told me by a young lady in
Singapore who had returned there from her
university in China at the time when the
communists were completing their takeover of the
southern provinces.
The
university, as you know, lies at no great
distance from some hills where there are many
temples. While on a sightseeing trip there, I
fell under the spell of a very old Taoist and
often used to visit him at weekends. The red
cadres who descended on the province just before
I left made no secret of what was in store for
the hermits and for Buddhist monks and
nuns.
"What will you
do, Master?" I asked, weeping a little at the
thought of that poor old man being driven from
where he had lived happily almost half of his
life.
"You are sorry
for me, Yi," he answered. "Why? Wouldn't it be
laughable if a lifelong disciple of Lord Lao
were to be afraid of change? I am too old to be
put to work and these people care too much for
the look of things to let me starve in a
neighborhood where so many poor folk have come
to love me."
"How will you
live, Master?"
Continued..
