The high-priest Ryōseki was a learned and a holy man. By spiritual
vision he was able to know the secret of any sorrow, and the nature of
the karma that had caused it. He heard unmoved the story of Shinzaburō,
and said to him:—
“A very great danger now threatens you, because of an error committed
in one of your former states of existence. The karma that binds you to
the dead is very strong; but if I tried to explain its character, you
would not be able to understand. I shall therefore tell you only
this,—that the dead person has no desire to injure you out of hate,
feels no enmity towards you: she is influenced, on the contrary, by the
most passionate affection for you. Probably the girl has been in love
with you from a time long preceding your present life,—from a time of
not less than three or four past existences; and it would seem that,
although necessarily changing her form and condition at each succeeding
birth, she has not been able to cease from following after you.
Therefore it will not be an easy thing to escape from her influence….
But now I am going to lend you this powerful _mamori_.[10] It is a pure
gold image of that Buddha called the Sea-Sounding
Tathâgata—_Kai-On-Nyōrai_,—because his preaching of the Law sounds
through the world like the sound of the sea. And this little image is
especially a _shiryō-yoké_,[11]—which protects the living from the
dead. This you must wear, in its covering, next to your body,—under the
girdle…. Besides, I shall presently perform in the temple, a
_segaki_-service[12] for the repose of the troubled spirit…. And here
is a holy sutra, called _Ubō-Darani-Kyō_, or “Treasure-Raining
Sûtra”[13] you must be careful to recite it every night in your
house—without fail…. Furthermore I shall give you this package of
_o-fuda_;[14]—you must paste one of them over every opening of your
house,—no matter how small. If you do this, the power of the holy texts
will prevent the dead from entering. But—whatever may happen—do not
fail to recite the sutra.”
[10] The Japanese word _mamori_ has significations at least as
numerous as those attaching to our own term “amulet.” It would be
impossible, in a mere footnote, even to suggest the variety of
Japanese religious objects to which the name is given. In this
instance, the _mamori_ is a very small image, probably enclosed in a
miniature shrine of lacquer-work or metal, over which a silk cover is
drawn. Such little images were often worn by _samurai_ on the person.
I was recently shown a miniature figure of Kwannon, in an iron case,
which had been carried by an officer through the Satsuma war. He
observed, with good reason, that it had probably saved his life; for
it had stopped a bullet of which the dent was plainly visible.
[11] From _shiryō_, a ghost, and _yokeru_, to exclude. The Japanese
have, two kinds of ghosts proper in their folk-lore: the spirits of
the dead, _shiryō_; and the spirits of the living, _ikiryō_. A house
or a person may be haunted by an _ikiryō_ as well as by a _shiryō_.
[12] A special service,—accompanying offerings of food, etc., to those
dead having no living relatives or friends to care for them,—is thus
termed. In this case, however, the service would be of a particular
and exceptional kind.
[13] The name would be more correctly written _Ubō-Darani-Kyō_. It is
the Japanese pronunciation of the title of a very short sutra
translated out of Sanscrit into Chinese by the Indian priest
Amoghavajra, probably during the eighth century. The Chinese text
contains transliterations of some mysterious Sanscrit
words,—apparently talismanic words,—like those to be seen in Kern’s
translation of the Saddharma-Pundarîka, ch. xxvi.
[14] _O-fuda_ is the general name given to religious texts used as
charms or talismans. They are sometimes stamped or burned upon wood,
but more commonly written or printed upon narrow strips of paper.
_O-fuda_ are pasted above house-entrances, on the walls of rooms, upon
tablets placed in household shrines, etc., etc. Some kinds are worn
about the person;—others are made into pellets, and swallowed as
spiritual medicine. The text of the larger _o-fuda_ is often
accompanied by curious pictures or symbolic illustrations.
Shinzaburō humbly thanked the high-priest; and then, taking with him
the image, the sutra, and the bundle of sacred texts, he made all haste
to reach his home before the hour of sunset.