How would you start a dialogue with a person who has never been exposed to Christianity—How would you imagine the conversation would take place? Would you initiate it or wait for a query on what you believe? I have chosen a character out of the past and share a little of his writings. During class, I’d like to ask each of the two groups to use last week’s scriptures, Peterson’s Free to Explore, and the questions from last week to develop a dialogue they would like to have had with this person and present the dialogue to the class—one person as Bai Juyi; the other a Christian.
Bai Juyi (772-846), wrote over 2000 poems that depicted life in China during the Tang dynasty. Of the 200 poems I have read (in English translation!), only one of his last poems made reference to his religion. Bai lived about 200 years after Islam’s Mohammed and 800 years after the birth of Jesus, but he makes no reference to either.
Year’s End
A wretched year
Comes to an end; for the last
Ten days there have been but dull grey skies
With wind and frost cutting across people’s
Faces; going out by cart, wheels break
In the snow and ice; yet a such a time,
I feel not the smallest discomfort; my
Morning meal is never a problem as
My store is full of grain;
For the evening cold there is plenty
Of fuel; a heavy padded cap
Comes down over my ears, while
Two thicknesses of fur enwrap
My body; I sit and drink
A cup of wine at leisure—
To me it’s as warm as spring;
But most of the lesser gentry
And common folk of Luoyang
Are poor and hungry, one house
Hard against the next, with
No smoke rising from any
Of their hearths, too often their
Family cooking pots thick
With dust; those like myself who
Are well fed and clothed
Number less than one
In a hundred; how can I
But be ashamed of myself?
I write this poem
to state the matter clearly.
Satisfaction
When I was younger, I traveled everywhere,
Learning about how the world worked; when
I became an official, I gained an
Understanding of life in the court;
Without work, life was hard,
But when in office, it was even harder,
Determined and confident as I was;
Everything I did brought troubles to me;
I would take no part in intrigues; after long years
Of this, I no longer felt free, yet on
Returning to the countryside, I
Felt at once a sense of relief;
Court life was a long way off, and I determined
To keep clear of it in the days to come.
Returning Home at Night
Now I am half way to being
A hundred, but when will I
Have some time for myself?
In the morning, I leave
The house by candle light, returning
Home when the evening drum sounds; not
That my wine jar is
Empty, or that I have
No mountain view over my wall,
But just that I have no time
To enjoy these things; day after day,
Coming home so tired, I fall right into my bed;
Will there ever be happiness
I can call my own?
Someone said…
A man came from across
The seas and reported:
Deep in the Mountainous Isles
There stands a Fairy Palace, and
In it a vacant room
Reserved for Bai Letain.
I replied…
I have studied Buddhism, not Taoism;
What you say is
Untrue; I will find no
Resting place in the Fairy Isles;
When I die, it will be
A Buddhist heaven to which I go.
A Poem about Myself
Red cheeks, grey beard; this
Is me after drinking wine; after all
The years have passed,
All seems empty now;
I am old, sick and thin, yet
Still with a passion for poetry;
I am amused to hear that a
Kindly gentleman is having my picture
Painted on a screen.
Last week’s questions:
What is faith?
John 6:28-29; Hebrews 11:1, 6, 13-15
How does one get faith?
I Cor 2:1-5, 12:9; Mark 9:20-24; Rom 8:26-27, 34; Heb 3:12-13
John 6:65, Eph. 1:17-18; Luke 24:45; John 1:7; 10:37-38; Deut. 30:11-13
Why don’t we believe?
John 8:44-45; 6:39-40; 10:26; Mark 16:14; Acts 19:9; II Cor 4:4;
Matt 27:42-43; Luke 8:12-13