Menih sreča nočni sprevod stotih demonov

Besedilo

Menih sreča nočni sprevod stotih demonov

Long ago, a wandering ascetic journeyed as far as Settsu Province. Night overtook him, and he came upon a great, dilapidated temple called Ryūsenji, where not a soul was to be found. Though it was no place for anyone to spend the night, there was nowhere else nearby to lodge. Wondering what else he could do, he lowered the pack from his back, went inside, and sat down. He was chanting the mantra of Fudō, the Immovable One, when, at what he thought must be about midnight, he heard a multitude of voices approaching. Peering out, he saw some hundred figures, each carrying a light, crowd into the hall. When he looked more closely, he found that some had only a single eye, while others had horns, and their heads were hideous beyond description. They were not human beings at all, but creatures of appalling appearance. Terrified though he was, there was nothing he could do but remain where he sat. They all took their places, save one who could find no room to sit. This creature swung its light about and scrutinized the ascetic. “Why, a new Lord Fudō has taken my seat!” it said. “Be so good as to stay outside for tonight.” Then it pulled him away with one hand and set him beneath the eaves of the hall. Before long, the creatures cried out that dawn had come, and all departed in a clamour. “What a dreadful, terrifying place this is!” the ascetic thought. “If only daylight would come quickly, so I could leave!” At last the night gave way to day. But when he looked around, the temple was gone. A vast expanse of open country stretched before him, with no sign of the way he had come, nor even a path trodden by human feet. With no idea which way to go, he sat in bewilderment, until at length some men on horseback appeared with a large company of attendants. Overjoyed, he asked, “What is this place called?” “Why do you ask such a question? This is Hizen Province,” they replied. Astonished, he told them in detail what had happened. “What an extraordinary affair,” said one of the mounted men. “Even within Hizen, this is one of the outlying districts. We are on our way to the governor’s residence.” Delighted, the ascetic said, “I do not know the way at all. May I go with you, then, at least as far as the road?” He accompanied them, and they told him how to make his way from there to the capital. Finding a boat, he returned to Kyoto. Once there, he told people his story: “The most astonishing thing happened to me. I had taken shelter at a temple called Ryūsenji in Settsu Province when a host of demons came. They said there was not enough room, and one of them told me, ‘New Lord Fudō, be so good as to stay under the eaves awhile.’ It picked me up in its arms, and I thought it had merely set me down beneath the eaves—but there I was in a remote district of Hizen Province! Such was the extraordinary adventure that befell me.” So he is said to have related after his return to the capital.