This time, let's look at the koan "The Blue Cliff Record Case 29: DaSui and the Kalpa Fire," Jesus' doomsday prophecy, and the origins of anti-Semitism.

Once upon a time, a monk asked Zen Master DaSui FaZhen (大隋法真:834-915), "When the conflagration at the end of the eon is inflamed, the whole universe will be destroyed. I wonder if this one will also be destroyed or not."

The monk asked on the cosmology of ancient India, which describes the end of world as everything is burnt up by the great kalpa fire (conflagration), if 'this one', that is, 'the original face' in terms of Zen Buddhism or 'the spirit of truth', in other words, 'the Holy Spirit' in terms of Christianity, is also destroyed at the end of this world.

It may be mentioned here that Zen Master DaSui from YanDing county of DongChuan prefecture in SiChuan province had called on more than sixty men of knowledge nationwide including WeiShan LingYou(潙山霊祐771-853) during the later period of the Tang Dynasty and the five dynasties and ten kingdoms period in China and eventually received the Dharma Mind Seal from Master ZhangQing DaAn (長慶大安), a disciple of BaiZhang HuaiHai (百丈懐海) and served as the abbot of a temple of Mount DaSui in SiChuan province.

In ancient Indians are said to have thought that this world is consisting of three thousand large worlds each composed of a thousand small worlds and it is destined to pass through four great epochs, that is, ①Krita Yuga (epoch of creation), ②Treta Yuga (epoch of preservation), ③Dwapara Yuga (epoch of destruction) and ④Kali Yuga (epoch of emptiness) and everything is finally burned up by Kalpa Fire (the conflagration at the end of the age).

Brandishing the cosmology of ancient India, the monk asked DaSui, if 'the original face', the fundamental philosophy of Zen Buddhism, will also be destroyed.

However, Sui answered simply, "Destroyed."

The monk said, "If so, then will it go with the other?" It means, if it will disappear together with this worlds.

Sui said, "You are right. It will go along with the other."

By the way, during the Northern Song era (960-1127) another monk made the same question to Master SuiZhou XiuShanZhu(隋州修山主), a disciple of Master DanXia ZiChun (丹霞子淳1064-1117),

ShanZhu answered, "It's not destroyed."

The monk said, "Why isn't it destroyed?"

ShanZhu said, "Because it's the same as the universe."

From the general common sense, ShanZhu's answer is logically inconsistent. Any way, DaSui said, "It will be destroyed like the universe." But ShanZhu said, "It will not be destroyed because it's the same as the universe."

Since the monk didn't understand what DaSui said, he inevitably had this matter on his mind and went all the way to Mount Touzi of Tongcheng prefecture at Shuzhou in Henan province to visit Master TouZi DaTong (投子大同:805-914) who was a disciple of Master CuiWei WuXue (翠微無学禅師).

TouZi asked him, "Where did you come here from?"

The monk said, "From DaSui in western Sichuan."

TouZi said, "What did DaSui have to say?"

The monk then recounted the former conversation.

TouZi burned incense and bowed and said, "A living buddha has appeared in western Sichuan. As for you, hurry back to him!"

The monk hurried back to DaSui but Sui had already passed on. What an embarrassment for this monk!

Hence XueDou ChongXian (雪竇重顕:980-1052), the commentator of "The Blue Cliff Record" in which this Koan (Koans are subjects which Zen masters give their students in the meditation hall) is recorded, made following his verse.

In the light of the conflagration at the end of the eon he poses his question

The patchrobed monk is blocked by the double barrier.

What a pity for him bounded to a single phrase, "it follows the other,"

Eagerly he travelled out and back solitarily for ten thousand miles.

XueDou pitys on the monk who was blocked by the double barrier of words, 'be destroyed' and 'not be destroyed' and was bewildered by a single phrase, 'it follows the other' and travelled out and back alone for ten thousand miles but he also seems to pity Zen priest in general.

As Jesus was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him, "Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!" "Do you see all these great buildings?" replied Jesus. "Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down." As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John and Andrew asked him privately, "Tell us, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are all about to be fulfilled?" Then Jesus said to them: (Mark 13:1-5)

Because those will be days of distress unequaled from the beginning, when God created the world, until now? and never to be equaled again.(Mark 13:19)...... Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. "No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.(Mark 13:31-32)

Mark 13:14, which says, "When you see 'the abomination that causes desolation' standing where it does not belong?let the reader understand?then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.," is thought to be a prophecy of the outbreak of the Jewish War, with Daniel 9:27 in mind: "The abomination of desolation will appear on its wings, until the appointed end comes upon the desolator."

After suppressing three revolts in the Jewish province(the First Jewish-Roman War AD 66-73, the Second Jewish-Roman War AD 115-117, and the Third Jewish-Roman War AD 132-135), the Roman Empire changed the name of Jerusalem to Palestine, banned circumcision, and prohibited Jews from entering the city, which led to the Jews being dispersed throughout the world.

It is clear that the high priestly family and the Sanhedrin were closely involved in. Jesus' debut in the religious world through the testimony of John the Baptist at Bethany, the cleansing of the temple at the Passover festival, which was modeled after the Hanukkah tradition, and the founding of the Jerusalem church one and a half months after the Crucifixion. However, after the First Jewish War, Rabbi Gamaliel, a member of the Sanhedrin and a Jewish elder, excluded the Gospels from the Bible scriptures, declared Jesus' teachings heresy and broke up the relation with Jerusalem Church, and relations between Jews and the early Christian church rapidly deteriorated.

It is not surprising that the Holy Gospels, compiled during this period, contain content hostile to Jews and Jewish believers.

The Jews who were driven out of Judea and Jerusalem were scattered all over the world, but what is interesting is that while the Jews who headed west maintained their ethnic and religious identity, the Jews who headed east assimilated and integrated beautifully into the customs and culture of China, Southeast Asia, and Japan.

After the Second World War, Jules Isaac (1877–1963), the French Jewish historian, who survived the Holocaust, but lost his wife and daughter in Auschwitz, set himself to discover the roots of anti-Semitism, tracing it back to the early history of the Church. Isaac charted the tendency of early Christian texts to blame Jews collectively for the death of Jesus and to see Judaism as a failed relationship between God and humanity. He called this "the teaching of contempt."

St. Paul focused on the theme of the failed relationship between God and humanity in Old Testament and introduced the story saying 'Jesus was crucified to restore this relationship' in his epistles. And the story became the main theme of all the gospels afterwards. However, from the description of the Apostolic Acts, such faith seems to have been fostered long ago among Hellenic believers such as Stephen (perhaps from before the birth of Jesus). However, without Paul, it would not have been fruited.

After the Jewish War, because the followers of the primitive church, who had escaped from Jerusalem city just before siege by Roman army, were boycotted from the Jewish community as traitors, the honeymoon between the primitive church and Judaism was over. This too seems to have fostered the tendency of the Gospels compiled after the War to blame Jews collectively for the death of Jesus.

On the other hand, the conflict between Hellenists (non-circumcision believers) and Hebraists (circumcision believers) in the Gentile Church persisted after the death of Paul and disappearance of the Jerusalem Church. Perhaps as a result of this, neither James nor Paul, but Peter was canonized as the first Pope of Roman Church.

On the way to the hill of Golgotha carrying the cross, Jesus exhausted and stopped by the door of a Jewish cobbler called Ahasverus and asked him a cup of water. But the Jew drove him along wickedly with these words: "Go, go you tempter." Then Jesus kept his eyes on Ahasverus for a while and answered him, "I will go but you must walk around the earth and never rest until my second coming in the Last Judgement." It is said that Ahasverus, who had been exiled from his native country, was witnessed all over Europe until the 18th century, which was even after one thousand and some hundreds of years later from it.

According to a paper recorded in the 'KeiO Associated Repository of Academic resources,' which was published in 1968 by Mr. Hidenao Arai (荒井秀直1933-), who also served as an honorary professor at Keio University (慶応義塾大学), under the background of Jewish persecution by the Crusaders in the early 11th century, similar fables based on the "Wandering Jew" appeared in various parts of Europe from the early 13th century. After a German church issued a pamphlet entitled 'A Jew, named Ahasverus' in 1602, the story of 'Wandering Ahasverus' seems to have spread not only in Germany but also in the whole world. And the feature of this story is that there is a lack of 'salvation' as a fundamental idea of Christianity, according to the article.

A Rabbinic delegation visited the Vatican on August 31, 2017, and presented Pope Francis with Jewish response to 1965 'the Declaration on the Relation of the Church with Non-Christian Religions (Nostra Aetate).'

The 9-page response, titled "Between Jerusalem and Rome: Reflections on 50 Years of Nostra Aetate," which is signed by the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, the Conference of European Rabbis and the Rabbinical Council of America, was made to commemorate Decree among other things exonerating Jews as a whole for Christ's death, however, it took two years for them to complete the response.

According to Mr. Jonathan Henry Sacks, Professor of Law, Ethics and the Bible at King's College London, who served as the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth from 1991 to 2013, 'Nostra Aetate' transformed relations between the two faiths, so that today, after centuries of estrangement and hostility, Jews and Catholics meet not as enemies but as cherished and respected friends. It was the result of the meeting of two remarkable men. One was the French Jewish historian Jules Isaac, who survived the Holocaust, but lost his wife and daughter in Auschwitz. And another was Pope John XXIII, a man of courage who during the war had saved thousands of Jewish lives.

After the Second World War, Isaac set himself to discover the roots of anti-Semitism, tracing it back to the early history of the Church. Isaac charted the tendency of early Christian texts to blame Jews collectively for the death of Jesus and to see Judaism as a failed relationship between God and humanity. He called this "the teaching of contempt."

Isaac's work was read by Pope John XXIII. In June 1960 the two men met, and the Pope resolved to re-examine the Church's attitude to other faiths, Judaism in particular. He convened The Second Vatican Council (1962-65) in 1962. Thus began the process that led to Nostra Aetate, though John, who died in 1963, didn't live to see its completion.

According to a report titled "The history of the dialogue between Christianity and Judaism: From The Second Vatican Council to the end of the 20th century" written by Mr. Mikio Wada, Chief Priest of Church of the Twenty-Six Martyrs of Japan (Sekime Church) of Archdiocese of Osaka, The Nostra Aetate declaration was largely responsible for the efforts of three prominent people, Pope John XXIII who convened the Second Vatican Council, Pope Paul VI who closed the Vatican Council and Cardinal Augustin Bea who worked hard to prepare the Judaism clause, the chapter 4 of Nostra Aetate.

The dialogue efforts between the Catholic Church and Judaism continued even after the Second Vatican Council and was further promoted especially by the appearance of Pope John Paul II from Poland who had experienced the terror of Nazi. At a press conference on March 16, 1998, 'the Holy See's Commission For Religious Relations With the Jews' presented for publication the document, 'We Remember: A Reflection On The Shoah,' under the approval of Pope John Paul II. This is called The Shoah document. Pope John Paul II also admitted the past crimes committed by Church, confessed especially the crimes committed against Judaism and delivered a sweeping apology during a public Mass of Pardons on the 12th of March 2000.

Professor Sacks says, "Rarely has this been more important than now, when religiously-motivated violence is bringing chaos and destruction to great swathes of the Middle East, sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. Christians are suffering; so are Muslims; and so are Jews. What we need now is a new and broader Nostra Aetate, bringing together all the great faiths in a covenant of mutual respect and responsibility. We need leaders from every religion publicly to declare that much of what's being done today in the name of faith is in fact a desecration of faith and a violation of its most sacred principles. It took the Holocaust to bring about Nostra Aetate. Let's not wait for another crime against humanity and God to bring us to our senses. For though we are different, we are each in God's image. (Gen 1:26) We honour Him by honouring all humankind."

A monk asked DaSui, "When the great kalpa fire is inflamed, the whole universe will be destroyed. I wonder if this one will also be destroyed or not."

DaSui said, "Destroyed."

Themonk said, "If so, will it be gone with the other?"

DaSui said, "Gone with the other."

Patchrobed monks especially mean Zen priests.

Once upon a time, Shakyamuni left the palace, went to the graveyard, took some discarded burial shrouds, sewed them together, steeped them in saffron for hygiene purposes and wore that as clothing the rest of his life. Then, in accord with that tradition, Buddhist monks have till now sewn strips of cloth together, steeped them in saffron and worn them. These robes for fully ordained Buddhist monks and nuns are also called kasaya named after pronunciation of saffron dye in Sanskrit.

According to the dialectic of the Gospel of John,

How then can a man possess eternal life?

When he said, "You are Huichao," Zen Master Fayan thrusted vivid Self in Huichao in front of his eyes.