Predstojnik templja Jakušidži

Besedilo

Predstojnik templja Jakušidži

Nevertheless, he took particular care not to use anything belonging to the temple, and longed to be born in the Pure Land. When he was old, he fell ill, and as death drew near, he recited the Buddha’s name and seemed about to breathe his last. Just when it appeared that the end had come, he rallied a little and called his disciples to him. “As you can see, I have been reciting the Buddha’s name with an undivided mind. Since I am dying, I have been waiting for those who will welcome me to the Pure Land. Yet no such welcome has appeared. Instead, a chariot of fire has drawn up. ‘What is this? This is not what I expected. For what sin have the messengers of hell come to fetch me?’ I asked. The demons attending the chariot replied, ‘One year you borrowed five measures of rice belonging to this temple and have not yet repaid it. It is for that sin that we have come to fetch you.’ I told them, ‘Surely so small a sin cannot condemn me to hell. I will repay what I borrowed.’ Now they have drawn the fiery chariot aside and are waiting. Hurry, then, hurry! Give a full koku of rice as an offering for sutra recitations.” His disciples bustled about and arranged the recitations as he had instructed. When the bell sounded for the service, the fiery chariot withdrew. A little while later, he said, “The chariot of fire has gone, and now those who will welcome me to the Pure Land have arrived.” Rubbing his hands together in joy, he died. His residence stood beside the north side of the great gate of Yakushiji, and traces of it remain to this day. If a fiery chariot came to fetch a man for using even so small an amount of temple property, one can well imagine the welcome from hell awaiting the chief administrators of the various temples, who use temple property just as they please.