Note 2 — 欲所不能欲者
Reading edition
“A man with wings.” This can not be translated into the word angel.
This story from the “Chinese History,” or life stories from the actual lives of the people, was taken from a district of China where Buddhism prevails. Tsing-Ching’s idea of a man spirit with wings after death was based on the belief taught by the Buddhist priests that man might live again, but that no one could attain again a state of consciousness if he killed, spilled blood, or ate flesh. Meat-eaters were consequently barred from ever wearing wings.
The idea of wings was not general, as the Buddhist spirit was never pictured as having wings, though being able to float through the air.
The hope of a future life was a little brighter for the Buddhist, however, than for the follower of Confucius. That great and good man’s law of life gave three hundred and fifty precepts, and man by following them might hope for eternal consciousness; but though they were a good basis for a moral character, they were the despair of those who tried to keep all three hundred and fifty of them in the hope of winning eternal life. ↑