` The Keeper of the Images in the Wonder House acquired merit by giving me these a year since , ' he said , following Kim 's eye . ` When one is far from one 's own land such things carry remembrance ; and we must reverence the Lord for that He showed the Way . See ! ' He pointed to a curiously-built mound of coloured rice crowned with a fantastic metal ornament . ` When I was Abbot in my own place -- before I came to better knowledge I made that offering daily . It is the Sacrifice of the Universe to the Lord . Thus do we of Bhotiyal offer all the world daily to the Excellent Law . And I do it even now , though I know that the Excellent One is beyond all pinchings and pattings . ' He snuffed from his gourd . ` It is well done , Holy One , ' Kim murmured , sinking at ease on the cushions , very happy and rather tired . ` And also , ' the old man chuckled , ' I write pictures of the Wheel of Life . Three days to a picture . I was busied on it -- or it may be I shut my eyes a little -- when they brought word of thee . It is good to have thee here : I will show thee my art -- not for pride 's sake , but because thou must learn . The Sahibs have not all this world 's wisdom . ' He drew from under the table a sheet of strangely scented yellow Chinese paper , the brushes , and slab of Indian ink . In cleanest , severest outline he had traced the Great Wheel with its six spokes , whose centre is the conjoined Hog , Snake , and Dove -LRB- Ignorance , Anger , and Lust -RRB- , and whose compartments are all the Heavens and Hells , and all the chances of human life . Men say that the Bodhisat Himself first drew it with grains of rice upon dust , to teach His disciples the cause of things . Many ages have crystallized it into a most wonderful convention crowded with hundreds of little figures whose every line carries a meaning . Few can translate the picture-parable ; there are not twenty in all the world who can draw it surely without a copy : of those who can both draw and expound are but three . '
I have a little learned to draw , ' said XXXXX .
Abbot Chinese Hells Kim Law Sahibs centre daily days first