who lived in Japan in the early part of the nineteenth century. This woman
was very poor and obscure, making her frugal living by braiding mats. So
intense was her consciousness of unity with all that is, that on seeing a
flower growing by the wayside, she would "enter into its spirit," as she
said, with an ecstacy of enjoyment, that would cause her to become
momentarily entranced.

She was known to the country people around her as _Sho-Nin_, meaning
literally "above man in consciousness."

It is said that the wild animals of the wood, were wont to come to her
door, and she talked to them, as though they were humans. An injured hare
came limping to her door in the early morning hours and "spoke" to her.

Upon which, she arose and dressed, and opened the door of her dwelling with
words of greeting, as she would use to a neighbor.

She washed the soil from the injured foot, and "loved" it back to
wholeness, so that when the hare departed there was no trace of injury.

She declared that she spoke to and was answered by, the birds and the
flowers, and the animals, just as she was by persons.

Indeed, among the high priests of the Jains, and the Zens (sects which may
be classed as highly developed Occultists), entering into animal
consciousness, is a power possessed by all initiates.

Passing along a highway near a Zen temple, the driver of a cart was stopped
by a priest, who gently said: "My good man, with some of the money you have
in your purse please buy your faithful horse a bucket of oats. He tells me