Dvorjankino romanje v tempelj Kiyomizu

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Dvorjankino romanje v tempelj Kiyomizu

Long ago, when Shin no Myōbu was young, she often went to worship at Kiyomizu. Her spiritual guide there was a monk of pure conduct, eighty years of age, who had recited the Lotus Sutra eighty-four thousand times. Yet the sight of this lady stirred desire in him, and he fell ill, until at last he was near death. His disciples, puzzled, questioned him. “This illness does not seem an ordinary one. Is something weighing on your mind? Nothing can be gained by keeping it from us.” Then he confessed, “The truth is that I longed to become intimate with a lady who comes from the capital to worship at the hall, and to speak my heart to her. For three years now I have been unable to eat, and I am on the verge of falling into the realm of serpents. What a wretched fate!” One of his disciples went to Shin no Myōbu and told her what had happened. Before long, she came to him. The sick man had spent years without shaving his head, and his hair and beard stood out like silver needles, giving him the look of a demon. Yet the lady showed no sign of fear. “My devotion to you through all these years has been far from shallow,” she said. “Whatever you might ask, how could I refuse you? Why did you not tell me before your health gave way?” The monk was helped to sit up. Taking his prayer beads and rubbing his hands together, he said, “How glad I am that you have come! To you I offer the foremost passage of the Lotus Sutra, which I have recited more than eighty thousand times. If you bear a son destined for worldly life, may he become a chancellor or regent. If you bear a daughter, may she become an imperial consort or empress. If you bear a son destined for the priesthood, may he become a great archbishop and head of the Buddhist clergy.” With these words, he died. Afterward, this lady won the love of the Lord of Uji, and, just as the monk had foretold, she bore the Great Lord of Kyōgoku, the Empress of Shijō, and Kakuen, abbot of Mii Temple.