Prevod

There was once a holy man called Naiki Shōnin Jakushin, whose devotion to the Buddhist path was unwavering. Believing that building a hall or erecting a pagoda was the highest of good works, he went about soliciting donations. He traveled to Harima Province to procure timber. There he happened upon a monk who practiced the arts of yin and yang, wearing a paper cap as he performed a purification rite. Jakushin hastily dismounted, ran over to him, and asked, “What are you doing, reverend sir?” “Performing a purification,” the man replied. “And why are you wearing a paper cap?” “The deities of purification shun Buddhist monks, so I wear it just for the duration of the rite.” At this, Jakushin began to weep aloud and clutched at the diviner. Bewildered and alarmed, the man broke off his rite and cried, “What is the matter?” The person who had commissioned the purification also sat there dumbfounded. Jakushin snatched off the cap, tore it to pieces, and wept without restraint. “How can you, a disciple of the Buddha, say that the deities of purification detest you? Do not, even for a moment, do what the Buddha abhors and create the karma that leads to the hell of unremitting torment. This is truly grievous. Kill me instead!” Clinging to the diviner, he sobbed bitterly. The man replied, “What you say is entirely right. But it is hard to make a living, and I cannot simply do nothing, so this is how I earn my bread. Otherwise, what work could I do to support my wife and children and keep myself alive? I have no true devotion and cannot become a holy man. Though I wear a monk’s robes, I live like a layman, and it grieves me to think what awaits me in the next life. Yet this is the way of the world, and so I go on as you see.” Jakushin said, “Be that as it may, how can you place a cap upon the heads of the Buddhas of past, present, and future? If hardship has driven you to this, I will give you everything I have collected toward building the hall. To lead a single person toward enlightenment is a greater act of merit than building halls and temples.” He sent his disciples to bring all the donations he had gathered for the purchase of timber and gave them to the diviner. Then he himself returned to the capital.