Djansha throws fat into the lighted brazier as an offering "...to Tleps, the fire god." (p. 107) When, shortly afterwards, she adds that:
"'Shible shall have the worth of an ox...'" (ibid.) (see the above link and previous posts)
- Lucas warns her again that:
"'...heathen sacrifices are forbidden here...'" (p. 108)
She responds by proposing to offer to Keristi, instead.
How much better it is to live in a society where no one cares about Djansha's offerings to Tleps, to Shible or to anyone else and where, indeed, it would be illegal to interfere with these harmless practices which some people might even find interesting.
Someone was surprised at a reference to "the Queen" in a Buddhist ceremony. It was explained that this indeed meant not some mythological being or the mother of the Buddha but the Queen of England. The monarch personifies the state and we express gratitude that that state allows, even protects, our practice of Buddhism. At Mount Shasta, the equivalent reference is to the President. So Djansha would be much better placed here or in the US than in medieval Europe - and all liturgies can make some reference to the head of state.
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
My first thought was to wonder how much it cost buy an ox in early 1300's Constantinople.
My second thought was that Djansha was showing herself as naive a pagan as was that Christian Catalan soldier Lucas had a conversation with, a man he couldn't help liking.
I emphatically disagree with paganism and I deny there are many gods. Rather there is only one God and now others can exist or will exist. That said, I would leave pagans alone so long as their rites did no harm to others. I had to add that "no harm" because there were times pagans sank into obscene and bloody rites, including human sacrifices (Syro/Phoenicians, Scandinavians, Mayans, Aztecs, etc.).
And I recall how both St. Paul and St. Peter exhorted the early Christians to be loyal to the Emperor and pray for his well being. And Christ declared we should render to Caesar what belongs to Caesar. Yes, at Mass, prayers are offered for the well being of the US President or the British Queen.
Ad astra! Sean
The reason for contemporary religious tolerance isn't enlightenment, but indifference.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
And that "indifference" is changing to HOSTILITY to religious believers, at least in the US. Some of the more fanatically left wing Democrats are starting to openly demand that churches who refuse to be Politically Correct and "marry" homosexuals should be stripped of tax exempt status and otherwise harassed and persecuted.
Ad astra! Sean
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