Ages Ago: Thirty-Seven Tales from the <i>Konjaku Monogatari</i> Collection [Reprint 2014 ed.] 9780674181366, 9780674181359

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AGES AGO

AGES AGO THIRTY-SEVEN TALES FROM THE KONJAKU

MONOGATARI

Aa

COLLECTION TRANSLATED BY

S. W. JONES

HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS Cambridge, Massachusetts 1959

© Copyright 1959 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College Distributed in Great Britain by Oxford University Press, London

Publication of this book has been aided by a grant from the Harvard-Yenching Institute

Library of Congress Catalogue Card Number 59-11510 Printed in the United States of America

CONTENTS Foreword

ix

TALES OF INDIA 1. Vakkula's Good Deed 2. King Prasenajit's Daughter Vajra the Deformed 3. How Preceptor Bodhidharma Toured India Observing the Acts of Monks 4. How a Poor Woman in India Got the Lotus Sutra Copied 5. How Three Beasts Practiced the Bodhisattva Discipline and the Hare Roasted Itself 6. How Lion's Pity for Monkey's Young Made Him Cut a Chunk Off Himself for Eagle 7. How in India a Fox Passed for Beast King and Died of Riding a Lion 8. How Tortoise, Heedless of Crane's Warning, Fell to Earth and Got a Cracked Shell 9. How Tortoise Was Outwitted by Monkey 10. Where Persons Over Seventy Were Deported

3 5 8 12 15 18 21 24 26 28

TALES OF CHINA 11. How Under Emperor Ming of the Later-Han Dynasty Buddhism Crossed to China 12. How Under Emperor Wu of the Liang Dynasty Bodhidharma Crossed to China 13. How Chinese Meng Tsung's Filial Piety Got His Old Mother Bamboo Shoots in Winter

35 39 42

CONTENTS

14. How Chinese Han Po-yii When Beaten by His Mother Wept for Grief 15. How T'ang Emperor Hsiian-tsung's Yang Kuei-fei Was Killed by His Majesty's Favor 16. How Knight Confucius While Traveling Met Boys Who Quizzed Him 17. When Chuang-tzu Observed the Doings of Animals and Took to His Heels 18. How a Woman of Ch'ang-an Changed Pillows with Her Husband and Was Killed by His Enemy

44 45 49 51 53

TALES OF JAPAN 19. The Might of Assistant High Priest Jitsu-in of Hieizan 20. Wrestler Umi Tsuneyo's Match with a Snake 21. How Wrestler Kisaichi Munehira Tossed a Blue Shark 22. How a Man Bounced His Sword-Sheath Rod on a Fingernail and a Woman Her Needle 23. When Kudara Kawanari and Hida Takumi Competed 24. How a Lady Went to a Master of Medicine, Was Cured of a Boil, and Slipped Off 25. How a Man's Wife Became a Vengeful Ghost and How Her Malignity Was Diverted by a Master of Divination 26. When Emperor Murakami and Sugawara Fumitoki Each Composed a Chinese Poem 27. How Taira Koremochi Had a Retainer Killed on Him 28. How an East-Bound Traveler Fathered a Child by a Turnip 29. How in Mimasaka Province a God Was Trapped by a Hunter and Living Sacrifice Stopped 30. How Mikawa Province Originated Dog's-Head Silk 31. How the Reizei-in Water Spirit Assumed Human Form and Was Caught 32. How Ki Tosuke's Meeting with a Ghost-Woman in Mino Province Ended in His Death 33. How Ex-Emperor En-yu's Rat-Day Was Attended by Sone Yoshitada

57 60 62 64 65 68

72 74 76 80 83 88 91 93 96

CONTENTS

34. When Chikuzen-Governor Fujiwara Akiie's Samurai Forgot Himself 35. How in Mutsu Province a Dog-and-Mountain Dog Bit to Death a Big Snake 36. Tsunekiyo Yasunaga's Fuha-Barrier Dream about His Wife at the Capital 37. Two Brothers Plant Day-Lilies and Asters

99 101 104 106

Background Points

111

Sources and Related Texts

145

Bibliography

156

Index

165

FOREWORD So far as can be discovered, this is the first translation into a Western language of any tale from Kotijaku monogatari, possibly the greatest of all medieval story collections. Great in size, its thousand items outnumbering even Gesta Romanorum; great in territory and time span covered: India, China, Japan, a march of a millennium and a half. Great also as a typical product of Japan's eleventh century, era of Lady Murasaki's Tale of Genji and Sei Shonagon's Pillow Book. Completed in 1075, Konjaku holds something the place in Japanese letters that Chaucer's Canterbury Tales came to hold three centuries later in English letters. It assembled plot materials long reused in Japanese literature and set a pattern followed in the next age even by continuous works. It sponsored a language hybrid of Chinese and Japanese comparable to Chaucer's hybrid of Norman-French and Anglo-Saxon and launched it under the same favorable auspices, namely, gifted use on a large scale. Of Japan's own story (monogatari) collections, Konjaku is not only the earliest, largest, most distinguished, and best arranged, but the liveliest — vigorous in tempo, not a word wasted, slyly humorous. As to title, " Konjaku " is a Chinese pronunciation of the two characters with which each tale begins, Japanese " Ima mukashi," i.e., " Ages ago." Traditionally this was how Buddha had begun his birth-stories (the Jataka-tales). It is also how Japanese fairy-tales begin. Not to mention the " mukashi" openings of Ise monogatari, a collection of short-lengths centering in poems by Japan's most distinguished lover, Ariwara Narihira. Each Konjaku tale but one likewise has a stylized ending, after the manner of an Aesop " moral" except that the point made is not necessarily edifying. In one way or another, the tales still manage to speak to the reader across nine centuries. The India stories weigh ix

FOREWORD

problems still with us, such as baby-sitting and what to do with old people. They face common predicaments. Which of us, for example, has not ridden an elephant only to make the mistake of trying to ride a lion? Or resolved to be more religious only to find that she could scrape up nothing for the contribution box? The Japan tales meet us on big-city terms. Their Kyoto is new, exciting, still growing at top speed. One tale even shows a small-house development where people are already sleeping on their porches before the water spirit has had time to vacate his pool. There are parades and there are crowds. When an ex-emperor sets out for a poem-meeting in the hills the route is lined with spectators. The ex-imperial retinue of poets, courtiers, and officials in pleasingly dyed court-rank robes and caps must have been a fine sight. Both tales specify streets and avenues. Those they name are all on your guidebook map. The tales also have their secondary aspects. Where no source survives, a story may itself acquire document status. This happens with Tale 3, sole vestige of a conjectural preZen continuity about Bodhidharma, titular founder of Zen Buddhism. Other tales yield data of value to historian or social scientist, thanks to the compiler's instinct for anecdote and his matter-of-fact approach even in ghost stories. To say nothing of the total collection's being both landmark and case-book in the evolution of narrative techniques. That such a work should have thus far escaped translation when English versions of older and even more difficult texts appeared back in the 1880's and 1890's has, in part at least, its practical reason. Chiefly remembered nowadays because their work sparked the Meiji revolution, Japan's mid-century scholars did nonetheless leave Chamberlain and Aston a textual legacy, whereas no work comparable to theirs was done on Konjaku until almost our own day. But whatever the cause, the effect has been a serious gap in our picture of eleventh-century Japanese literature and of medieval literature as a whole. Across this gap it is hoped that the present book may throw some sort of temporary footbridge by giving comx

FOREWORD

plete and literal translations of a reasonable number of representative tales. May these samples lead to the translation of Haga Yaichi's monumental Kosho Konjaku monogatari (Tokyo, 1913,1914, and 1921; 3 vols., 2,700 pages) in full! Text and

Commentary

This work was originally undertaken with students in mind. Up to now the nearest thing to a translation of any Konjaku item has been S. Ballard's rendering (TAS/, 1900) of the phonetic transcription of Tale 29 in the thirteenthcentury Uji-shui collection. Aston's History of Japanese Literature (1899) gives paragraph digests from " Uji Monogatari," as Aston calls it, a work in "60 slim volumes." Florenz's Geschichte der japanischen Litteratur (1906) does little more. T h e Kokusai Bunka Shinkokai Introduction to Classical Japanese Literature (Tokyo, 1948) describes the collection, giving incidental summaries of typical stories from the three sections. From all of which the student, while getting some idea about content, could get none regarding form or style. As the tales emerged from behind their wall of half-obsolete characters it became apparent, however, that interest in them might conceivably extend beyond concentrators on comparative literature to Genji enthusiasts, to tourists familiar with Kyoto and its environs, and perhaps to the general reader. A special attempt has therefore been made to keep supplementary material readable. That the tales are well able to speak for themselves even in English has already been indicated. Left entirely to themselves, however, they would lack the periphery of fact and association needed for full appreciation. This the "Background Points" section aims to supply. Commentary on India, it will be noted, bulks larger than that on China and Japan put together. W i t h related material scattered through the whole range of Buddhist literature in Pali, Sanskrit, Chinese, and Tibetan, and most of it available only in nineteenth-century translations now rare if not out of print, there seemed no choice but to make the India continuities xi

FOREWORD

self-contained. For China this was not the case, in view of what Arthur Waley has done; nor for Japan, where, in addition to accessible translations of other eleventh-century texts in whole or in part, we have two recent scholarly works which are above nobody's head, namely, Early Japanese History by Robert Karl Reischauer (2 vols.; Princeton, 1937), and Translations from Early Japanese Literature by Edwin O. Reischauer and Joseph K. Yamagiwa (Cambridge, 1951). Theme and Organization Here as in Genji, wonderful Kyoto, T'ang-style capital of a T'ang-style bureaucracy, is both theme and frame. But what we get in Konjaku is no longer a strictly palace-eye view, glimpses through some slit in one's gorgeous ox-cart or obtained when visiting one's old wet nurse on a back street near the fullers' quarter, but a wide-lens panorama built up of short-lengths where persons of every calling and from every part of town have their moment equally with emperors and ex-emperors. And if these stories are careful to specify locations, they are likewise careful to assign characters their place in the bureaucracy. The physician in one story is director of the bureau of medicine. The diviner in another holds the bureau of divination's title of " master." And back of the bureaucracy stand its soldiers, pushing Kyoto rule farther and farther into the provinces. One tale happens when the palace guard is changed at dead of night. Others show castle rule by governor and samurai in Kazusa or Chikuzen. And if the Japan tales have the effect of further opening to us the outer world of Lady Murasaki and Sei Shonagon, of showing what made it tick, the India and China stories have the effect of presenting some of the furniture of the court ladies' inner world as fashionable Buddhists with a smattering of continental philosophies and a passion for T'ang poetry. The organization is systematic, the three divisions by country being further broken up into 31 scrolls and the material arranged in orderly sequences either chronological xii

FOREWORD

or topical. The India section, 5 scrolls, 171 stories, opens with the legendary life of Buddha, in short-lengths, and continues with items about disciples and a selection from the Buddha rebirth parables. China, 5 scrolls, one now lost, 182 stories, begins with the introduction of Buddhism and proceeds to native schools of thought. Japan, 21 scrolls, two now lost, 710 stories, a few toward the last known only by title, likewise opens Buddhistically, giving incidents from the life of Prince Shotoku, official first patron. Scroll numbers and tale numbers within the scrolls will be found in the " Sources and Related Texts" section. Choice of Tales No thirty-seven tales could represent a thousand, and selection was therefore made with limited objectives. For the India scrolls, one such objective was to show Konjaku as easternmost terminus of medieval story-routes out of India. To show how beast-fables reaching Europe through the secular Panchatantra collection and Aesop will look after journeying as far as possible in the opposite direction with advancing Buddhism. How themes and motifs known to the West through Hebrew legend or Grimm can be regimented into exemplifying the Buddhist principle of cause and effect, of compensation-rebirth. In Tale 1, Jonah and the wicked stepmother both occur within a single disciple legend. In Tale 2, the deformed-transformed theme is embodied in a princess out of Indian history, with Buddha himself as wonder-worker. Tale 10, on the other hand, demonstrates a pre-Buddhic phase of story migration, when India was itself the eastern terminus of routes then originating in ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, or Greece. Earlier in the Konjaku century, Sei Shonagon had got hold of an alternate version and retold it as of the emperors of Japan and China. Tale 3 has already been mentioned as belonging to the category of items which are documents. Back in 1925 Sakai Kohei pointed out its evident significance in his Konjaku monogatari shin-kenkyu (New Study of the Konjaku Monogatari). Two years previously, material which would tend xiii

FOREWORD

to substantiate this claim had been published by Paul Pelliot. In " Background Points," a juxtaposition of Tale 3 with the only known lifetime references to Bodhidharma as found by Pelliot in the Lo-yang Monastery Records is attempted, apparently for the first time. For China it seemed natural to give the official account of Buddhism's introduction in A.D. 69; the Bodhidharma interview with Emperor Wu of the Liang dynasty in the 520's, which set the pattern of brusqueness so vigorously followed by later Zen masters; anecdotes about Confucius and Chuang-tzu; tall tales about one of the 24 saints of filial piety and about another very filial son not of the 24; a retelling of the T'ang ballad which runs like a refrain through Genji and which gave the West its willow-pattern porcelain; then, finally, a Chinese Alcestis-story of the first century B.C., which was yet to have its true-life sequel in Japan's Gempei Seisuiki account of Kesa Gozen. In Konjaku, however, tales are never quite the old familiar faces that an enumeration suggests. If Emperor Ming's dream of a golden man is often quoted, not so the resulting contest of skill between one Buddhist priest and the whole Taoist hierarchy in the front palace garden. Nor do we hear elsewhere that a disciple had preceded Bodhidharma to China. Certain of the Japan tales chosen will recall Genji's celebrated definition of the story-writing art in terms of the art of painting. Some of them have actually gone over into paintings, Tsuneyo's match with the snake, for example, and the unburied wife. In one tale an artist is the hero. Certain other choices were made with the social sciences in view, and Tale 36 because it reads like psychiatric casebook material: an older husband's anxiety dream about a young wife when finally returning to her from an interminable assignment on a prince royal's estate in the provinces. In the main, however, the criterion has been narrative technique. If previous sections have shown the Japanese short story's apprenticeship to India and China, in the Japan scrolls we get masterpieces typically Japanese. These range from the genre sketch of a well-curb episode to Tale xiv

FOREWORD

27, where, during the Kazusa-governor's back-pounding by a page, a career-man son arrives under fine military escort, and where, between then and deep night, in a torchlighted courtyard bristling with patrols, a murder is motivated, conceived, and so committed that each of the dead man's retainers suspects the next. The narrative is all action, the background itself in constant motion, and yet the impression left is psychological. Antecedents and Title Previous to Konjaku there had been two distinct prose styles, the Chinese or man style, using ideographs alone, in Chinese word order, and the Japanese or woman style, where, thanks to a somewhat recent invention, the syllabary, thoughts could ripple themselves out through a writing-brush phonetically and naturally. In combining the two, Konjaku used Chinese characters for word-stems, syllabary for Japanese grammatical elements. By the Kamakura period (1192-1333) this had become standard practice. Chinese-style forerunners of Konjaku were the religious miscellanies Nihon reiiki (Japanese Miracle Records), 3 scrolls, produced between 810 and 823; Minamoto Tamenori's Sambo eshi (Three-Treasures Picture-Tales), 983; Nihon djogokurakki (Japanese Rebirth-in-Paradise Records), 985-986; and the Dainihon hoke-kengi (Great-Japan Lotus-Efficacy Records), 1041. In other words, such forerunners as are also cited for Europe's Gesta Romanorum. On the Japanese side there was the eighth-century poem collection Manydshu as a model for the arrangement of a large body of kaleidoscopic material, and there were the ninth- and tenth-century poem monogatari, Ise and Yamato, where prose anecdote is used to set the stage for individual poems. For the first century or so, Konjaku appears to have been called the Uji-, Uji-dainagon-, or Uji-dainagon-Takakunimonogatari, after its traditional compiler Minamoto Takakuni, whose villa was at Uji and whose court title was gondainagon. By similar coinage, his cousin Fujiwara xv

FOREWORD

Yorimichi, the most powerful man in Japan, was known as Ujidono. Later on, however, a Kamakura period work, the Ujishui (Uji Gleanings), 15 scrolls, more or less appropriated the Uji label and became confounded with the 31-scroll Heian period work. Thus the Honchdshoseki mokuroku (Japanese Literature Index), 1455, gives "Uji-shui monogatari," 20 volumes (error for 30) as by Minamoto Takakuni, while another authority quotes as from it a tale which occurs only in Konjaku. Of the 196 stories given in Ujishui, 85 are direct transcriptions into syllabary of Konjaku tales, though no longer classified by countries, while others plainly date themselves as Kamakura. According to the Uji-shui preface, written more than a century and a quarter after Takakuni's death, it had been his custom to spend the hot months, fifth to eighth, at Uji. He would sit in his south spring-house, convenient to the scriptural library of the Byodo-in, a big round fan in his hand, barbered more for coolness than for dignity, and would round up passers-by and get them to tell him old stories. The Byodo-in had been converted from manor to monastery in 1052 by the above-mentioned Fujiwara Yorimichi, or Uji-dono. The surviving Phoenix Hall is regarded as an outstanding example of eleventh-century Japanese architecture. One small collection later than Uji-shui, and deriving from it, uses the old title " Uji dainagon-monogatari," but the prevailing title among existing manuscripts and imprints is Konjaku monogatari, sometimes with the character for " collection " added. Final proof of the identity of the historical Uji monogatari and the Konjaku monogatari which we now have is, however, believed by Japanese scholars to be a problem requiring further investigation, particularly into the chain of external evidence. Traditional Compiler Pending contrary settlement of the identity question, Minamoto Takakuni would appear to be the only active xvi

FOREWORD

candidate for the distinction of compiler. His dates, 10041077, disposition, connections, accomplishments, and lifeexperience tend to support the evidence of tradition rather than otherwise. As to connections, Takakuni's ancestry on both sides included unforgotten names. His grandfather was Takaaki, a younger brother of Emperor Murakami, who had taken the clan name Minamoto. Takaaki was commonly called Nishi-Omiya, minister of the left, after his town house. He was the author of a work entitled Nishi-Omiya Chronicle. A daughter of minister-of-the-right Fujiwara Morosuke had been given him in marriage. Takakuni's father was Minamoto Toshikata, one of the storied " four-dainagons" of Emperor Ichijo's court who appear in O-kagami, Gukansho, Jikkinsho, and other historical works. His mother's three sisters had, like herself, all married notables of Murasaki Shikibu's day. At court, Takakuni enjoyed some reputation as a poet and was included in the emperor-sponsored anthologies. He was also known for his independent behavior and his wit. A famous anecdote of the day, preserved in Kojidati, shows him riding a pony through dictator Yorimichi's gate and up to the door, when the custom was to hitch horses outside, as is seen in Tale 24. When challenged, Takakuni is said to have explained that he had been using the pony for clogs and had simply left it where he would have left clogs. With his cousin Yorimichi, the powerful head of state, Takakuni was on the best of terms. He could even claim the special favor of the emperor himself, a claim which Kojidan tells us was resented by the crown prince, who later became Emperor Go-Sanjo. By the age of forty-two, Takakuni was of senior second rank, gon-chunagon and lord steward to the empress. At fifty-five, he was made gondainagon. Off and on, however, an underlying Buddhist bent had asserted itself. First, when twenty-three, i.e., in 1027, death year both of his father and of his older kinsman Fujiwara Michinaga. Again in 1036, when an older brother, Akimoto, xvii

FOREWORD

the " Yokogawa chunagon," favorite of Emperor Go-ichi-jo, had retired to Hieizan following his emperor's death. This brother Akimoto's story, a title only, appears as no. 16 of scroll 19. Finally in his seventieth year, when bereavements crowded close: deaths in the imperial family, among his associates, and even among his own ten sons, and the retirement and death of Yorimichi. In 1075 Takakuni left public life. A letter written four months before his death shows him piously despondent. At the last, twenty days before his death on the thirty-first of the seventh month of 1077, he became a Buddhist priest. Text and Transmission The earliest printing, according to Sakai Kohei, would appear to be a thirty-volume edition, of which fifteen volumes were published in 1720 and fifteen in 1732. Only two known manuscripts are earlier than that date: ( 1 ) a twovolume copy in a Kyoto library which covers nine scrolls — 2, 5, 7, 9, 10, 12, 16 (the usual scroll 1 7 ) , 24, and 29 — and includes nine stories not given in the " Red Crane " edition, 1847; and (2) a post-Kamakura single scroll of excerpts. Picture-scrolls of separate stories include a copy of Tale 29 in the Imperial Library. Missing material includes whole stories reduced to their titles and such lacunae within stories as will here and there be noted. Lacunae Dr. Sakai classifies into those due to wormholes or crumbling paper or copyist's difficulties, and those apparently left by the compiler himself, typically a matter of place or personal names. Dr. Sakai describes twenty-two principal texts and eight derivatives, classifying them into four families, of which the central and most numerous is that which culminates in the Haga Yaichi edition (see page xi). First in this family is the Tokyo University manuscript copy in twentynine volumes, used by Dr. Haga as master text; then come two twenty-eight-volume manuscript copies, four derivative texts, and finally the Library-of-the-Cabinet manuscript copy with the preface date 1802. Other families are those of the " R e d Crane," 1847, and of a twenty-seven-volume xviii

FOREWORD

manuscript copy of 1794. T h e fourth family, deriving from the thirty-scroll edition of 1720 and 1732, is of interest as containing the sixty-volume Edo period edition cited both by Aston and Robert Karl Reischauer, where each of the original thirty breaks up into two " slim " volumes. Scroll 31, as Dr. Haga has it, was contributed by a thirty-volume manuscript copy which lacked scrolls 18 and 21. T h e Haga Yaichi Kosho Konjaku monogatari presents not only an outstanding example of scientific text-building but apparatus of a type which would only be possible in the character-languages, namely the reproduction in full of sources and other related documents. Dr. Haga describes his basic text as a manuscript book of obvious age though uncertain provenance, twelve inches by ten, written on " thin wild-goose skin." This he collated with texts of all families and revised to the extent of standardizing syllabic elements. T h e result is a text which is as critical and complete as materials permit and at the same time easy to use. T h e special apparatus above mentioned is represented in our appendix " Sources and Related Texts." Here titles and scroll references are given for Chinese and Japanese works, together with references to Western translations where such exist, or brief summaries where they do not. Acknowledgment Grateful acknowledgment is hereby made to Serge Eliss6eff, who chose the tales, examined the completed translation, and was once a student of Haga Yaichi's, to Edwin O. Reischauer, to Elizabeth McKinnon Carr and Denzel Carr, to William Winship, Jr., and to Bernice Brown Cronkhite. S. W . J. Cambridge, Massachusetts February 1959

xix

TALES OF INDIA

TALE 1

Vakkula's Good Deed AGES AGO, in India, there was among the disciples of Buddha one called the venerable Vakkula. In a previous rebirth, back in the ninety-first cycle, after buddha Vipacin's entrance into Nirvana, there had been a monk whose head always pained him. Vakkula, at that time a poor man, saw and pitied this monk and gave him a haritaka fruit to take. As soon as the monk took it, his head stopped aching. For having given medicine to a suffering monk, Vakkula passed the next ninety-one cycles among heavenly beings, joyous and calm, free from all bodily pain. In his last rebirth he became the son of a Brahman. His mother died, and his father married again. Once, when very young, Vakkula saw his stepmother making rice cake and begged for some. His stepmother, hating Vakkula, took and tossed him upon the griddle. The griddle was piping hot, but Vakkula did not get burned. No, just then his father came home, looked about for Vakkula, and there he was on the griddle. Seeing which, his father, all of a tremble, clasped him close and helped him down. Another time, his stepmother, angrier still, got the cauldron boiling and popped Vakkula in, but Vakkula did not get scalded. No, just then his father missed him, looked about but could see him nowhere, and anxiously called, " Vakkula!" When his answer seemed to come from inside the cauldron, his father at once searched there and got him out in a hurry. Yes, Vakkula recovered and looked the same as before. Still another time, his stepmother, angry enough to burst, walked Vakkula along the river to where it was deep and sud-

3

TALES OF INDIA

denly pushed him in. Down at the bottom just then was a very large fish and it swallowed Vakkula down whole, but he, his luck still holding, did not die in the fish's belly. No, at the river's edge just then was a fisherman angling for fish and this was the one he caught. "Good!" he shouted. " A big oneI" and took it straight to market to sell. But no buyer could he find. Night was coming on. The £sh seemed likely to spoil, fust then Vakkula's father happened by, looked at the fish and bought it and took it home to his wife. But when he grasped the knife to slit its belly he seemed to hear a voice from inside the £sh: " Please, father, do not hurt me." All of a tremble, he opened the Gsh. He looked. Yes, there was Vakkula. Gently he lifted him out. Not a mark did he have on him. But Vakkula got his growth in spite of it all and went where Buddha was. He became a monk, attained arhatship, acquired the three jewels and the six perfections, became a revered disciple, lived to be 160 without having so much as an ailment. That Buddha taught that all this was because in a previous rebirth he had bestowed medicine is the tale that has been handed down.

4

TALE 2

King Prasenajit's Daughter Vajra the Deformed AGES AGO, in India, in the kingdom of Sravasti, there was a king called King Piasenajit. His queen was called the lady Mallika. For perfect beauty of face and form this queen had no rival in all the sixteen great kingdoms. But she bore a daughter who had skin like a venomous snake's, an odor so foul that nobody could go near her, and coarse hair that curled to the left like a demon's. She did not seem human at all. Only three persons ever knew how this daughter looked, the great king, the queen, and the wet nurse. Not another soul was allowed to know a thing. The great king said to the queen, " Madam, your child is Vajra the Deformed. She is exceedingly dreadful and must be housed at a distance and apart." Then two leagues to the north of the palace he built a ten-foot-square hut, shut her up there with the wet nurse and one woman attendant, and gave strict orders that there should be no going or coming. But when Vajra the Deformed reached the age of twelve or thirteen, the kings of all sixteen great kingdoms, relying upon the perfect beauty of the lady Mallika her mother, each sued to make her his queen. To avoid complications, the great king her father then took a nobody, promoted him straight to ministerial rank, designated him prince-by-marriage, and married him to this Vajra the Deformed. The new state minister was beside himself, and bewailed his frightful lot day and night without letup. But a great king's will is hard to disobey, and in her hut he was. Meanwhile, in observance of an old vow, the king was piously holding religious services. These the princess Va/ra's deformity

5

TALES OF INDIA

prevented her attending although she was eldest princess. And in the view of the fact that all of them had been kept in ignorance as to Va/ra the Defoimed's appearance, her absence from the services aroused the other ministers' suspicions. They put their heads together, got her state minister husband good and drunk, secretly took the key of the hut from his hip, and sent an under-official out to the hut to investigate. But before he could get there, Va/ra the Deformed, all alone in the hut, was sadly praying: " Shakkamuni Buddha, please turn me beautiful fast and let me attend father's services." Then Shakka Buddha made himself manifest in the garden and Va/ra the Deformed, devoutly gazing on Buddha's face, was Riled with joy and because she felt joy the buddha-look was at once transferred to her. If she could only get word right away to her minister husband! Meanwhile the under-official had stolen up and was peeping in through a erack. Yes, there in the hut was a woman. A woman whose beauty was perfect as Buddha's own. When he returned, this messenger told his superiors, " To the best of my poor knowledge, sirs, never did I see such a perfectly beautiful woman." Sobering up, her minister husband went to the hut to look. He saw there a beautiful woman whom he did not so much as recognize. Drawing no nearer, he said uncertainly, " This is my hut. Who may you be, madam? " " I am your wife," the woman said. " I am princess Va/ra." " You can't be! " the husband said. And she answered, " Let's hurry and get to father's services. I have had a Shakka manifestation. That is what changed me." Upon hearing this, the state minister hurried back to inform the great king. The king and queen, amazed, had palanquins brought at once and proceeded to the hut. At a glance they could see that her beauty was indeed perfect. It was matchless. It was indescribable. So they greeted the princess and took her along to the palace. First she attended the service as she had wanted to. Then the great king took his daughter where Buddha was and inquired into the matter point by point. " To be exact," Buddha said, " this girl in the far past was a cook in what was then your household. To your house a sage came and received alms. Being devout, you had set aside a bale

6

KING PRASENAflT'S

DAUGHTER

VA/RA

of rice for your servants both upper and lower to give to the monks as alms. But in the very act of giving alms, this woman mocked at the monk for his ugly face. The monk then went into the king's presence, performed the miraculous transformations, rose to the sky, entered nirvana, and the woman saw him. In tears, she repented her sin of ill-speaking. " For having given alms to the monk, she was this time reborn the great king's daughter, but for having reviled the monk was given a demon form. Yet for having also repented she has this day received enlightenment from me, has exchanged her demon form for one of perfection, and has permanently entered upon the buddha-way." Therefore never revile a monk, and if conscious of having done wrong be sure to repent. That the master taught that repentance is primary to the way of merit is the tale that has been handed down.

7

TALE 3

How Preceptor Bodhidharma Toured India Observing the Acts of Monks AGES AGO, in India, there was a sage called preceptor Bodhidharma. In all the five Indies there was no place that this man did not get to. He was a man who went about observing the acts of various monks and passing them on. At one monastery where he called to see how things were he found a great many monks in residence. In one cell, flowers and incense were oSered to Buddha. In another, there were monks reciting sutras. The variety of devotional techniques appeared unlimited. But among the cells he noticed one that gave every evidence of being unoccupied. Deep the weeds, the rubbish deeply piled. When he went and looked in, there sat two eightyyear-old monks playing Go. Not a buddha in the place, not a sutra to be seen. Under the impression that these must be just habitual Go players, he withdrew. Meeting a monk, he said, " In the course of entering various cells, I found one with two old monks in it playing Go and apparently having no concern outside of that." To which the monk replied, " Those two old men have from their youth had no concern outside of playing Go. They ignore Buddhist discipline, so that our own monks scorn and avoid them. They eat the leavings from memorial masses and just go on playing Go, spend all their time at it. Virtually it amounts to heresy. Best have nothing more to do with them, sir." " These two must at least be men with minds of their own," thought preceptor Bodhidharma. He went back to the Goplaying cell, stepped in, squatted down by the two old men, and 8

HOW PRECEPTOR BODHIDHARMA TOURED INDIA

watched them play. When they finished the board, one old man was gone. Only one old man remained. Then this man vanished as if erased. Next, while the preceptor watched amazed, both appeared, vanished again, reappeared h'lce a Bash. From these supernatural acts he knew them to be adepts. " Because these reverend monks did nothing but play Go," he thought, " all the other monks here have despised and rejected them. What an error of judgment! When actually they are devout sages! But I must question them as to the circumstances." And then preceptor fiodhidharma questioned the two ancients. " Good sirs," he said, " I was told that you had made Go playing your liiework, but upon diligent observation of your acts I End you to be possessed of enlightenment. Would you kindly give me the facts? " And the two old men replied: " It is true that for years we have done nothing but play Go. However, when black won we thought of it as a sign that our temporal attachments were rising to the surface, that when white won enlightenment had got them to the bottom again, and that when the black of temporal attachments had completely settled out, the white of supreme enlightenment would prevail. When we thus gained a grasp of impermanence the efficacy of our method was at once apparent. Enlightenment was ours." Upon hearing their story, the preceptor's tears fell like rain. Touched beyond measure, he said, " To think that for years you have been hiding your powers like this, never giving anyone the slightest inkling, letting the other monks even suppose you to be worthless spongers/" Then, assuring them of his own sincere respect, and thanking them again and again, he left their cell and met other monks. When he related what he had learned, all the monks as they listened were awed beyond measure. Everybody thought, " How could we have been so foolish all these years as not to know them for enlightened arhats? How could we have held them in contempt? " and they all repented. Leaving that monastery, preceptor Bodhidharma went down to the village at the foot of the mountain and lodged there for the night.

9

TALES OF INDIA

As he heard the dawn-hour strike, there came a piercing cry of " Help! Thieves! Murder/ I'm being robbed of all my longhoarded treasures/ Villagers/ Save me!" When the villagers heard it, out they all rushed with pine-torches. Somebody asked where the cry seemed to come from and somebody else answered, " From the east forest, over by the sage's place, that's where it came from, no doubt of it. That's where to go." And torchlighted they went howling o f f , every man armed with bow and arrows. Since, to ;udge from the talk, a sage was being murdered, it seemed such a pity that the preceptor went along too. In the forest he saw a grass cell about the size of a farmer's big straw hat. When the brushwood door was pushed open, he saw an eighty-year-old monk inside. Apart from his patched stole he wore no robe. No furniture did he have except his armrest. Not a particle of anything that thieves could take was visible. Not a thief was visible either. Yet even when he saw that help had come, his outcries did not cease. When asked, " Why ever did your reverence call out? There is nothing in your cell that thieves could take," the ancient answered, " Well, this is why. For years the robber sleep has never got inside my hut for one wink, and here tonight at the dawn-hour in he comes. Stored in my godown are the seven treasures of wisdom, and when I saw myself about to be robbed of them I grappled hard to prevent it and cried out." Then his outcries continued as before. " Everyone dozes sometimes," thought preceptor Bodhidharma, " but here this sage goes sleepless for years and when he finally catches himself dropping o f f , just see how it grieves him!" Then, after exchanging profound assurances of mutual understanding, Bodhidharma started back. The villagers all went back too. Again, after passing through another village, the preceptor saw another forest-dwelling monk. When this monk perceived that he was seated, he got up, that he was up, he ran, that he was running, he turned around, that he was turning, he dropped down on his hands and knees, that he was down, he sat up. He faced east, then south, then west, then north. When he per10

HOW PRECEPTOR BODHIDHARMA TOURED INDIA

ceived that he was laughing, he got angry, that he was angry, he wept. Though aware that this appeared to be a madman, the preceptor approached him and asked, "Good sir, what on earth are you doing? " The mad monk replied: " In the human order, no sooner do we perceive ourselves born in heaven than we are reborn as men, born as men than we sink to hell, in hell than we sink to the realm of famished demons, as demons than we become raging asuras, asuras than we sink to the animal realm and run on all fours. Roughly my behavior exemplifies the impermanence of the three worlds. Any sane person, I thought, if thus shown the destinations of rebirth will thereby be enabled to grasp the impermanence of the three worlds. I have therefore made it my act to keep repeating this round." Upon hearing his story the preceptor thought, " This can have been no ordinary man," and thanked him and left. That in a generaJ way this was how this preceptor traveled about observing the acts of devout monks is the tale that has been handed down.

li

TALE 4

How a Poor Woman in India Got the Lotus Sutra Copied AGES

AGO,

in India, there was a poor woman. She had no

riches at all, not even children. " If only I could have one child," this poor woman thought fortune."

in her heart, " I should count it a

Her Buddha-prayer was answered. She at once

con-

ceived and in due course bore a daughter whose beauty was perfect beyond compare. Slowly but surely this daughter got her growth and in no time was over ten years old. But although

the

mother spared no efforts, and although

the

nobody

to whom

girl was shown ever failed to praise her, still, when you are as poor as that family was you can hardly hope to secure a husband the very first thing. Then the mother got thinking, " This life is already half gone. Nothing

left of it to speak of. I ought to be giving alms to have

the Lotus Sutra copied and make some provision for my next life."

But not a penny did she have for sutra-copying

either.

From nearby, her daughter heard her grieving, " No merit laid up! And however long we may live, there is nobody who does not die in the end. And when we die, dust we become." mother,"

the daughter said. " I at least have a little

something.

It is mine and I could sell it. I have my hair. That would at least enough to get the Lotus Sutra copied."

fetch

" It would be a

pity to spoil your looks," said her mother, weeping All the same, the girl started out, determined

" But

bitterly.

to sell her hair.

A t house after house she stopped, calling, " Hair! Who will buy my hair? " Everywhere she was asked to come in and show it, and everybody exclaimed over her matchless beauty, but not a 12

POOR WOMAN AND LOTUS SUTRA

soul made any proposal to buy and cut the hair. After awhile the girl concluded that in private houses there was no market tor her hair, and she thought, " By going to the king's palace I might sell it." And that was where she next went. But at the very entrance to the palace she met a slaughterer of animals. He looked terrible. His expression was completely inhuman. " It's the king's orders," he said. " I've been watching for you all day and now I've got you. I'm to slaughter you at once." " But I wasn't trespassing," the girl said. " Out of filial piety I had planned to sell my hair. I was entering the king's palace with that in mind. Is this any reason for slaughtering me? " " No," said the slaughterer. " The king's crown prince is the reason. He is going on thirteen years, and since birth not a word has he spoken. They asked the doctor, and the doctor said, ' Get the liver of a long-haired woman of matchless beauty; that ought to cure him.' You St the description exactly. They could search the country over and do no better. I must get your liver at once." " No, you must spare me," said the girl, her eyes brimming with tears. " If I let you o f f , I shall be held responsible," the slaughterer said. " No, I can't possibly let you off," and he made ready to split her chest with his cleaver. Then the girl said this: " If you yourself may not spare me, at least refer the matter to the king." The slaughterer did, and the king admitted her plea and had her brought before him. When, upon inspection, her beauty indeed proved to be both perfect and matchless the king declared, " This is the very remedy prescribed." " Your majesty," the girl then said, " for myself I have no regrets. I shall be glad to give my life for the crown prince. But what about my poor mother at home? She wanted to get the Lotus Sutra copied but had no money and I started out intending to sell my hair. If she hears that this has cost me my life, her grief will be past bearing. And so, if I may, I should like to go home and tell her about it myself and then come straight back. Provided this is in no way contrary to the great king's wishes." But the king replied, " Though your request is amply justi-

TALES OF INDIA

Bed, it cannot be granted, since I now desire to hear my crown prince start speaking as soon as possible." The girl then thought in her heart, " I started out from motives of filial piety and here I am about to lose my life. O Buddhas of the ten cardinal points please save me!" As she tearfully made this prayer, the crown prince looked out at her from inside his bamboo blinds and was so greatly moved by compassion that he spoke his first words, which were these: " Great king, cause not this woman to be slaughtered." At the sound of the crown prince's voice, everyone from the great king on down through the queen and ministers to the palace officials felt joy without measure. The king of the country then made this invocation: " In my folly I thought to slaughter a dutiful child. O Buddhas of the ten cardinal points I beg that this wrong be canceled out," and to the girl he said, " My crown prince's speaking I owe to your virtue," and with riches past counting he sent her home. The girl told her mother all that had happened and they rejoiced together. Now they could give alms and have the Lotus Sutra copied in proper form. That such is the wonder-working power of the Lotus is the tale that has been handed down.

»4

TALE 5

How Three Beasts Practiced the Bodhisattva Discipline and the Hare Roasted Itself AGES AGO, in India, there were three beasts, a hare, a fox, and a monkey, who had all truly resolved to practice the bodhisattva discipline. Each had thought to itself: " It is for grave demerit in past existences that I have been born as a lower animal. No doubt in past existences I failed to show compassion for living things and hoarded my wealth instead of giving to others. Such faults became of such gravity that I sank to hell, was long subjected to its torments, and am now reborn like this to work off the remainder. Now this time I mean to forget self, honor my elders as parents, respect my seniors as elder brothers, set aside my own interests, and put those of others first." Indra, ruler of heaven, took a look at them and thought: " Though beasts in form, these creatures seem well-meaning. But when some who have human bodies kill living things or steal what belongs to others, or murder father and mother, or regard older and younger brothers as enemies, or beneath a smile harbor malice, or under a show of affection cherish anger, how can I be certain that beasts such as these are sincere? I had better test them." And quick as a Bash he took the form of a helpless and hopeless old man, hobbled up to where the three beasts were, and said, " Here am I, old and decrepit, with no means of making my living. Three beasts, please provide for me. I have no son, my family is destitute, I myself am unequal to getting food. From what I hear, you three beasts are the soul of compassion."

TALES OF INDIA

" Yes, we aim to be," the three beasts responded, and the monkey added, " I'll get you something right away." Then up into the trees the monkey climbed and brought down such things as chestnuts, persimmons, pears, dates, mandarin oranges, hazelnuts, acorns, and akebia berries. After that he went to the village and brought away such things as melon, eggplant, soybeans, pea beans, cowpeas, millet, deccan grass, and panic, and let the old man eat what agreed with him. Next, the fox trotted off toward the graveyard, came back with an offering of cooked rice that had been left there, then brought sea-ear, bonito, and various other kinds of fish and let him eat what he chose. By then, the old man had eaten a plenty. This went on for some days. Then the old man said, " Two of you beasts are certainly sincere. Yes, you are already bodhisattvas." His remark put the hare on its mettle. It blinked and sniffed, and with ears straight up, eyes staring, front legs short, hind legs bandy, east, west, south, north it hopped searching, but nothing at all could it find. Then both monkey and fox and the old man shamed and derided it by turns to spur it on. But unable to do more the hare reflected: " I might, of course, go up hill and down dale after food for the old man, but dale and hill are beset with danger and I am timorous. I have no mind to be killed by men or eaten by animals to no purpose. Merely to lose my life would get me nowhere. But if instead I now sacrifice my own flesh to feed the old man I shall be through with this birth once and for all." So minded, the hare then went to the old man's place and said: " I'm going now, and I mean to fetch you something sweet and fine. Gather some sticks and make a bed of coals. Then wait" But when the monkey had gathered sticks and the fox had brought a brand and got them glowing and the two were waiting and wondering, suddenly they noticed that they had been rejoined by the hare and that it had, so to speak, returned emptyhanded. " We might have guessed what you would bring," they said. " Tricking people with false promises and getting them to 16

THREE BEASTS PRACTICE THE

DISCIPLINE

gather wood and make a fire for you to warm yourself at! How simply hateful!" To which the hare replied, " I haven't the strength to fetch and carry food. All I can do is roast my own flesh and let him eat that." And so into the fire the hare hopped and died roasting itself. Then quick as a flash Indra the ruler of heaven resumed his natural shape. He transferred the form of the fire-hopping hare to the moon, and framed it in the moon for all living creatures everywhere to see. The cloudlike wisp that you see on the face of the moon is smoke from this hare roasting, and what is called hare-in-the-moon is this hare's form. Every time you look at the moon you should remember about this hare. [Terminal locution missing.]

TALE 6

How Lions Pity for Monkey's Young Made Him Cut a Chunk Off Himself for Eagle AGES AGO, in India, in a cave deep in the mountains, there lived a lion. This lion thought to himself: " Here am I, the king of all beasts." And he made up his mind to protect and pity all beasts. Also living in those mountains were two monkeys, mates, who had recently had twins and were rearing them. Slowly but surely the children were getting big and strong, but the trouble was this: while small they could be carried, one front and one back, on trips to mountain and moor to pick fruits and berries and thus be kept fed, but since they had grown bigger they could not. Now the monkeys knew that unless trips were made to mountain and moor to pick fruits and berries they could never feed their children, let alone keep themselves alive. But they also knew that if they went off and left their children in the nest, some bird flying down from the sky might take a notion to make a meal of them in passing, or some animal scrambling up from the ground might take a notion to make off with them. Meanwhile, the longer they gave way to such fears and did not go, the weaker they became, until they were on the verge of starvation. While they were debating what to do, it occurred to the monkeys that there was a lion living in a cave in their mountain, and that if they first spoke to this lion about their children they might then get away to mountain and moor and pick enough fruits and berries to both feed their two young and keep alive 18

LION'S PITY FOR MONKEY'S YOUNG themselves. And so to the lion's cave they went and said to the lion: "O lion, you are the Icing of ail beasts. As such, you will naturally pity all beasts. Now we are of the animal kingdom, we are among those who may claim your pity. The thing is this: we have recently had twins. While they were small we would carry them, one front and one back, when we went to mountain and moor to pick fruits and berries, and in this way we could both feed the children and keep alive ourselves. But since the children have got too big to carry like that we can't get away to mountain and moor, with the result that both the children and we ourselves are already on the verge of starvation. Yes, we don't dare to go off and leave the children on account of various animals, and the longer we delay the weaker we shall get until finally we shall die. And so, while we go to mountain and moor to pick fruits and berries, might we entrust our children to you, 0 lion? That is, if it won't be too much bother." The lion replied, " Your plea is right and proper. Get the children at once and bring them before me. Until you return 1 shall act as guardian." Thus he decreed. Gladly the monkeys set their children before the lion and with minds at ease hurried off to mountain and moor and started picking fruits and berries. As for the lion with whom the monkey babies had been left, he never took his eyes off them. But while on guard, the lion did doze for a moment. And while he dozed an eagle came and hid in a tree in front of the cave. And while the eagle was thinking that if there was the slightest lapse of vigilance he would make off with those little monkeys, he noticed the lion dozing, and over he flew, grabbed both the monkey children by their two legs, perched on his tree again and prepared to eat them. Meanwhile the lion roused, missed the monkey children, and in alarm stepped out of the cave to look. There, on the tree opposite, he saw the eagle perched, still holding by both legs the two monkey children that he had seized at one fell swoop and already preparing to eat them. Distracted, the lion stepped to the foot of the tree and called to the eagle: " You are the king of birds, I am the king of beasts. Let us attempt to arrive at an understanding. Now my situation is this.

TALES OF INDIA

Some monkeys who live near my cave came and represented to me that they needed to pick huits and berries both to feed their children and to keep themselves alive but feared for their children's safety. While they went to mountain and moor, would I act as guardian of their two children? And they entrusted them to me and went. But while I dozed you seized them. I now ask you to kindly return them. Having given my word, you can see for yourself how it would place me to lose them. In view of the facts, you can hardly refuse me. If I should get angry and roar, you would come to terms soon enough." To which the eagle replied, " There is certainly reason in what you say. None the less, these two monkey children constitute my food for the day and if I return them my day's sustenance is gone. Much as I appreciate your contention, lion, I have my living to think of. Hence I can and must refuse to return them, in the interest of self-preservation." Then the lion said, " There is reason in your contention also. Consequently in exchange for these monkey children I will give you lion meat, my own, in equal amount. Pray subsist on that for today." And with claws for knife he cut from his own thigh a chunk about the size of both monkey children and gave it to the eagle. When he then demanded the monkey children, the eagle said, " I now have no grounds for refusing," and returned them. Having got the two monkey children, the now bleeding lion retired once more into his cave. fust then the monkey mother returned from gathering fruits and berries. When the lion told her what had happened, her tears fell like rain. But the lion said, " You personally were not my chief concern. Once a promise has been given, it is inexcusable to break it. My compassion for all animals is, however, most genuine." That in our day the lion was reborn as Shakkamuni Buddha, the male monkey as the venerable Kagapa, the female monkey as nun Yasodhara, the monkey twins as Ananda and Rahuia, and the eagle as Devadatta is the tale that has been handed down.

20

TALE 7

How in India a Fox Passed for Beast King and Died of Riding a Lion AGES

AGO,

in India, there was an old temple.

There was a

monk living in one of the cells who always chanted There

sutias.

was a fox who heard his sutras. The

sutras said that

anyone, man or beast, who sets his thoughts

high becomes a

sort of king. When

the fox heard this, he decided

to set his

thoughts high and become beast king. As he was leaving the temple, he met a fox. He lifted his chin high to humble

this fox. When

the second

fox noticed

the

lofty air of the first fox, he did obeisance. Whereupon the first fox bade him approach and then climbed

on his back. As they

were going along, they met another fox. Supposing

from his

lofty air that the fox riding on a fox was some notable,

the

third fox paid him homage. T h e mounted fox then summoned this fox and signaled him to follow. In like manner he mustered all the foxes he met and marshaled them into a right guard and a left. Next,

as he was going along with ten million

foxes in his

train, he met a dog. The dog looked at him and thought, " This is some king. I had better do him homage," and he did. Whereupon he called the dog as he had called the foxes. When had collected

he

all the dogs, he rode a dog and used dogs to do

his rounding up. Then

he collected

tigers and bears and rode

them. W h e n he had thus collected all sorts of animals and they were trooping along the road in a body, he met an With

elephant.

a trace of hesitation, the elephant likewise stepped aside

and did obeisance.

Whereupon

the fox summoned 21

and rode

TALES

OF

INDIA

him. Thus he collected many elephants. And with all the beasts from fox to elephant subject to him, he ostensibly became king of them. Then he met a lion. When the lion saw that the fox mounted on an elephant had managed to muster ten million animals, he took him to be some notable, crooked his knee by the roadside, and did obeisance. This elated the fox extremely. Because he had subdued so many other beasts, he now hoped to become king of the lions. Planning ahead, he bade the lion approach. The lion did so. The fox then said to the lion, " I wish to ride you. Let me mount at once." The lion replied, " Now that you have become king of all the beasts, I have nothing to say. I hasten to accommodate." As he mounted the lion, the fox thought, " That I, a fox, should even have become king of the elephants was surprising enough. But to become king of the lions seems beyond belief." Holding his head higher than ever, pointing his ears, sniffing irascibly, he made plain his contempt for all the world. Riding on the lion, scornfully herding the elephants to right and left, he now started across a broad moor with the idea of collecting many lions. At this point, all the animals from the elephants on down were thinking, " If the lion lets out so much as a wheeze, we animals will all lose our wits, burst our livers, and halfway die. And besides, for our master to associate with his majesty like this, actually mix with him, is unheard-of behavior." Now lions invariably roar at one time of day. And as it got on for noon, sure enough, the lion suddenly lifted his head, sniffed impatiently, cast an annoyed glance up, down, around, surveyed the scene. All the animals from the elephant on down watched him, wondered what would happen, felt half dead; their bodies went cold as ice. When the fox on the lion's back first saw his mane bristling and his ears pointing, he thought he was going to roll o f f . But he set his thoughts high, imagined himself king of the lions, and crouched tight. Meanwhile the lion let out a sound like a clap of thunder, lifted his paw, and gave a far-echoing roar. Whereupon the fox who was riding him flopped flat, toppled off head first, and dropped down dead. And at the same time all the 22

HOW A FOX PASSED FOR BEAST KING

countless animals he had herded, from the elephants on down, also rolled over dead. Then the lion thought, "How can I have supposed this mounted fox to be king of the beasts? How can I have let him ride me? No sooner do I let out a mere nothing of a sound, a tiny bark, than he rolls off unconscious. At this rate, if I had really roared, clawing the earth with my front paw and letting out my full voice, I don't believe he could have stood it." And wondering how he had been tricked by a low-down menial into letting him ride, he slouched off toward the mountains and disappeared. All the beasts who were only half dead then revived, and, still pretty groggy, began to stagger back. Their riding fox-king, however, was wholly dead. Some of the other beasts were too. Which shows that it was all very well to ride everything up to and including the elephant, but that riding the lion was going too far. That people also should stop before passing the bounds of propriety is the tale that has been handed down.

23

TALE 8

How Tortoise, Heedless of Crane's Warning, Fell to Earth and Got a Cracked Shell AGES

A G O , in India, there was a time when the whole land

suffered from drought. Throughout the country, streams dried up. There was no longer a blade of green grass anywhere. A t that time there was a pond. In the pond there lived a tortoise. When

the pond waters gave out, the tortoise

die. A crane came to this pond to feed. The tortoise went up to the crane, started a conversation,

would

emerged,

and said:

" Between you and me there is a bond from past existences. The crane-tortoise pair was made famous by Buddha's

teaching.

Sutras and precepts even use crane-tortoise as a figure of speech for all nature. You can see how the whole land is now suffering from drought. W h e n these pond waters go, it will be the end of me. You must save me." " There are no two sides to that," the crane replied. " I recognize the justice of your plea. Actually

you cannot last beyond

tomorrow and I feel extremely sorry for you. Take me, now, I can fly over the whole land, high or low, as I please. In spring, when grass and trees all over the country put forth all manner of leaf and flower, I see their beauty. In summer when all the different sorts of farm crops grow and abound I see their endless variety. In autumn I see the delicate pattern of red leaves in mountain

wilds. In winter, when the

waters freeze over in mountain

frost-and-snow-chilled

streams and great rivers, I see

them shining like mirrors. I see all the splendors

of nature,

up to and including the seven jewel-lakes of paradise. A s for you, why you can't even know what there is in just this one 24

HOW TORTOISE GOT A CRACKED SHELL

small pond. When I saw you I tiuly ielt sorry for you. Yes, even before you spoke I thought of taking you to some waterside. " However, I can't very well get you up on my back, nor are my talons strong enough to carry you, or my beak large enough to contain you. I believe the only possible way would be to get you to grip one end of a stick in your teeth while I hold the second end in my beak. The only trouble is this. You are by nature a very talkative creature. You might ask me something, and if I forgot myself too and spoke, if we both opened our mouths, you would fall and hurt yourself. Well, how about it? " "If you will agree to take me," the tortoise answered, "I promise to stitch up my mouth and not say another thing. Who in this world does not value his own life? " The crane said, " Settled habits are not something you can get away from. I still have doubts about you." " Honest to goodness I promise not to speak," the tortoise said. " Anyhow, take me." Whereupon the crane had the tortoise grip one end of a stick in its teeth while holding the second end in its own beak, and away they went. Needless to say, when the pond-bred tortoise saw all the strange and unaccustomed beauty of mountains and rivers, peaks and valleys, its feelings were too much for it. " Where are we? " the tortoise said. And the crane forgot too and said, " You mean right here? " But the moment the tortoise opened its mouth, it had of course already fallen and forfeited its life. Showing how inveterate talkers may indeed fail to value their own lives. That the saying: " Guard your mouth, govern your thought, keep your body from evil" is what Buddha intended this to illustrate, and that when people say: " The heedless tortoise cracked its shell" this is what they mean, is the tale that has been handed down.

25

TALE 9

How Tortoise Was Outwitted by Monkey AGES AGO, in India, there was a mountain by the sea, and there was a monkey who subsisted on its fruits. In the adjacent sea were two tortoises who were mates. The female said to the male, " You have got me pregnant, and from the way my stomach is troubling me I am sure to have a hard birth. But if you would give me a dose of medicine the spawning of your young could be easy." " Whatever sort of medicine would that be? " asked the male. The female said, "From what I hear, monkey liver is the number-one medicine for stomach trouble." Then her mate went ashore and, meeting the monkey, said, " Over here where you nest, is nature bountiful or not? " The monkey replied, " Usually it is poor picking." The tortoise said, " Well, well. Over in the vicinity of our nest there are extensive forests with a constant supply of fruits in all four seasons. Too bad I can't take you there and feed you up." Unaware of any catch, the monkey said, " I should be only too glad to go." And the tortoise said, "In that case, climb aboard." Later, while swimming along with the monkey on his back, the tortoise remarked, " You may not know this, but as a matter of fact my mate is pregnant and has heard that monkey liver is a cure for stomach trouble. It was for the sake of getting your liver that I talked you into coming." " How extremely unfortunate," said the monkey, " that you should have kept your purpose from me. Did you never hear that we monkey people are not made with livers inside us? We

26

HOW TORTOISE WAS OUTWITTED BY MONKEY just leave our livers hanging on nearby trees. Had you spoken

while we were there, I might have given you my liver and other monkeys' livers besides. Suppose you had killed me, expecting to find a liver inside and get the good of it, just think what a disappointment it would have

been!"

Accepting the monkey's statement as gospel truth, the tortoise said, " In that case, I will take you back, and you can get the livers." "Easiest thing in the world," the monkey said. "Just take me back to where you found me, and it will be no trouble at all." Then, with the monkey on his back as before, the tortoise swam back to the place they had started from and landed his passenger. But no sooner had the monkey set foot to earth than he ran and climbed straight up to the top of a tree, looked down from there and called to the tortoise, "Hey, tortoise, one on you! How could my liver be separate from my body? " And the tortoise down there soon saw he had been outwitted. Not a thing to be done about it. No use talking to a monkey up a tree. Cocking his eye aloft he merely said, "Hey, monkey, you're another.' How about fruits growing down under the sea? "

With which remark, he submerged. In the olden days beasts could be as foolish as that! And that men can now be as foolish as beasts were then is the tale that has been handed down.

27

TALE 10

Where Persons Over Seventy Were Deported AGES AGO, in India, there was a country which deported persons over seventy. In that country there was a minister of state who had an aged mother. Morning and evening he saw his mother and his devotion to her knew no bounds. W h e n in course of time his mother got to be over seventy, this Glial minister reflected, " Even when I see her in the morning but do not see her at night I can hardly bear it. At this rate, if she were deported to a distant country and I found myself permanently deprived of seeing her, how could I bear it at all? " And he secretly dug a cellar and hid her in a corner of his house. Even the family servants knew nothing of this, much less the world at large. Some years had thus gone by when suddenly two identical mares were sent by an adjacent country with this message: " Distinguish dam from foal and return marked, or we shall open hostilities. Within seven days your country will be devastated." Then the king summoned his minister of state and said, " What are we to do about this? If there exists a way to Gnd the answer, tell me." What the minister replied was, " This is not a thing that I can tell your majesty offhand. Permit me to retire and reflect upon it and then report." But what he thought to himself was, " My mother, whom I keep hidden, being well along in years, may sometime have heard of something of this sort." And he hurried out. Secretly going to his mother's room, he stated the problem to her and asked what he should tell the king, in case she had ever happened to hear. " Yes, when I was young, I did hear that one," his mother replied. " With identical mares, to distinguish dam 28

PERSONS OVER SEVENTY DEPORTED from foal, first put grass between the two horses and then watch. The one that starts right in eating you may know tor the ioal. The one that takes its time about eating you may know for the dam. So at least I have heard tell." And when the minister returned to the royal presence and the king asked what he had figured out, he simply repeated what his mother had told him and let it pass as his own. " To be sure!" the king exclaimed, and at once ordered grass, placed it between the two horses, and then watched. One was forward about eating. One took her time and ate what the other left. By watching them, the king knew dam from ioal, marked each accordingly, and sent them back. Later on, in like manner, a lacquered pole was sent, with instructions to distinguish bottom from top. When the king summoned his minister and again inquired what was to be done, the minister spoke as before and then withdrew. When he again went to his mother's room and stated the problem, his mother said, " This is a very easy one. Float the pole in water and then watch. The end that dips slightly you may know for the bottom." When the minister returned to the royal presence and again made his report, the king placed the pole in water as directed, watched, and returned it with the end that dipped slightly marked " bottom." Yet again, an elephant was sent. The instructions were to compute its weight. That time, the king thought, " Fine business/ Setting us problems like this!" Anxiously he summoned his minister, asked what was to be done, and remarked that this time it seemed a much harder job. The minister agreed that it certainly did. Nonetheless he said that after retiring and pondering the problem he would tell him, and then he withdrew. As he left, the king thought, " Why can't our minister figure things out on the spot? Why must he go home like this every time to get the answer? I suspect that at home he has something or other." After awhile, the minister returned, fudging that this latest problem might well have been too much for him, the king merely asked, " Well, how about it? " And the minister said, " It only requires a little figuring, your majesty. First get the elephant on a boat and float it and make an ink-mark just above 29

TALES OF INDIA where the water comes to. After that, take the elephant off and then throw stones on the boat until the water comes up to the lower edge of the ink-mark made when the elephant was on board. Then weigh the stones in a balance. From the sum total of the weights of all the stones, which equals the weight of the elephant, you will know how much the elephant weighs." The king had the computation made as directed, then copied out the weight of the elephant and returned it with the elephant. As for the enemy country, when their three hard problems came back correctly solved without exception, the people were no end impressed. This must be a country with plenty of clever men: numskulls would never have known enough to send back any such solutions. And since a hostile attitude toward a wise country invites counterplots and reprisals it seemed advisable to seek a mutually friendly footing. Once and for all they renounced their age-old attitude of challenge and sent word to this effect. After things had been amicably settled, the king summoned his minister and said, " That this country has both been spared disgrace and become reconciled with an enemy country is due to your good offices, my minister. I wish to express my unbounded satisfaction. But now tell me something: how did you ever get the answers to those extremely difficult problems? " Whereupon the minister's eyes filled with tears and drying them on his sleeve he said to the king, " In this country from time immemorial the established custom has been to deport persons over seventy. The present administration is in nowise responsible for starting it. Now it so happens that your servant's own mother is past seventy, eight years past seventy this year. In order to go on paying her my Glial respects morning and evening, I secretly built an underground room in my house and and have kept her there. Knowing that older persons are often widely informed, every time I excused myself it was to ask her what she knew, and everything that I then told your majesty I got from her. If it had not been for this older person — " Then the king said, " Whatever the reason why in this country elderly persons have from of old been exiled, I hereby now decree that elderly persons shall henceforth be honored, and I 3°

PERSONS OVER SEVENTY

DEPORTED

purpose to issue a proclamation that all the aged, high or low, male or female, who have been deported to distant parts may return. Instead of having the name of being a country that rejects the old, let us henceforth be called a country that protects them." So was it ordained. That from this time forth the administration was benevolent, the population orderly, and the country prosperous is the tale that has been handed down.

31

TALES OF CHINA

TALE 11

How Under Emperor Ming of the Later-Han Dynasty Buddhism Crossed to China AGES AGO, in the reign of Emperor Ming of the Later-Han dynasty in China, the emperor had a dream in which he saw a man approaching who was the color of gold and over ten feet tall. Upon waking, his majesty sent for a state minister possessed of enlightenment and asked what this dream was a sign of. " It is the sign that a supreme sage will arrive from a foreign land," the state minister told him. The emperor after hearing this could hardly wait, and when priests called Kagapa Matanga and Dharma Rakusha arrived from India bringing Buddha relics and numerous texts for presentation to him, he joyfully recognized these men as those he had been expecting and accepted their doctrine without reservation. None the less, there were at that time many high officials and court nobles who did not accept it, and needless to say the Taoist hierarchy known as Tao-masters of the Five Peaks were of this number. " The system established by us has been venerated as supreme by people all over the country, high, middle, and low, by everyone from emperor to populace, from ancient times to the present," they thought to themselves. " And now all of a sudden to be invaded by queer-looking, oddly dressed, unintelligible persons from a foreign land armed with incomprehensible writings and to have these persons honored by the emperor is most disturbing," they grumbled. The people at large were likewise inclined to be critical. None the less, the emperor himself sincerely reverenced this

35

TALES OF CHINA monk

Matanga, became his adherent, hastened to erect a

special monastery, to which the name White

Horse

Temple

became attached [half-column lacuna]. W h e n this temple was finished,

the emperor deposited

there the texts and

Buddha

relics, installed the monk Matanga in it, and was about to become a devout believer when the Tao-masters saw what was happening, became very much exercised, and moved by jealousy addressed these words to the emperor: "It is unprecedented for a queer baldpate to come from a foreign land bringing hermit bones and texts with the characters all run together

and be done any such honor as this. W h a t

powers is that baldpate supposed to have? The system established by us is one that can divine the future from the past, and can tell in advance from a man's physiognomy

the good

things and the bad that will befall him as sure as heaven. From ancient times until now, the whole country from the emperor on down, high, middle, and low, has therefore reverenced this system as supreme. If you now propose to discard it, you might do well to first make trial of it as against this baldpate, then let the winner be acclaimed, the loser When

and

discredited."

the emperor heard this, his heart sank and he

thought,

" The system these Tao-masters have established is indeed capaable of fathoming

matters both heavenly and earthly. If this

priest from foreign parts, as yet without experience ing good and bad, is asked to pit his extremely

in foresee-

uncertain arts

against theirs, and the Indian priest loses, what a pity it will be!" And so instead of at once agreeing to a contest, he first sent for the priest Matanga and said to him: " Certain persons known as Tao-masters of the Five Peaks who have from the beginning

been revered in this country are

now moved by jealousy to say thus and so. What shall we do about it? " Monk Matanga replied, " It is by contests of skill that our tenets have from of old gained respect. Make the meeting soon, and see who will be winner and who loser this time." He seemed quite delighted,

and when the emperor

heard

his reply he was delighted too. The day was set and a proclamation immediately

issued announcing

that monk Matanga

the Tao-masters would on that day match skills in the

36

and front

HOW BUDDHISM CROSSED TO CHINA

garden of the palace. When the day came, no end of people attended, high, middle, and low, from all over the country. On the east a long brocade tent had been pitched and in it the supreme Tao-masters were lined up, about 2,000 of them. There were white- [or long-] haired old men, there were men of youth and vigor. Each in the exercise of his gifts was a credit to the past. The high officials rallied in a body to the Taoist side, also the court nobles, their sons and grandsons, the government functionaries. For, to judge from the records, the Taomasters appear actually to have been well versed in the arts of divination. To monk Matanga's side only one high official rallied. Apart from this man not a single adherent did he have, though at heart the emperor was his adherent. On the Taoist side, the doctrinal writings had been placed in magnificent boxes and arranged on an ornamental stand. On the west a brocade tent had likewise been pitched. In it sat the one monk Matanga and the one state minister, and in it had been placed a Iapis-Iazuli urn containing the Buddha relics and ornamental boxes containing the scriptures that had been brought over, some two or three hundred scrolls. Then as each side awaited the test, it was announced from the Taoist side that the Buddhist monk Matanga's party was to set fire to the Taoist party's texts. Accordingly an acolyte from monk Matanga's side advanced and struck a spark and set Ere to the Taoist side's books. And in like manner a Tao-master from the Taoist side set fire to the scriptures on Buddhist monk Matanga's side. Both exhibits ignited together. Flames rose and black smoke mounted to the sky. But meanwhile the Buddha relics on monk Matanga's side emitted a glow and rose toward heaven. Similarly the Buddhist scriptures rose toward heaven and remained in mid-air along with the Buddha relics. Monk Matanga, censer in hand, kept his eye fixed on them. The Taoists' books were all instantly burned to ashes. Then all the Taoists either bit their tongues off or shed tears of blood or bled from the nose and choked to death, or else got up and ran and either crossed to monk Matanga's side and became disciples, or swooned away, their limbs collapsing and their livers failing them. 37

TALES OF CHINA

Such were the marvels that took place. The emperor wept to behold them, and arose and awarded the honors to monk Matanga. That thereafter the true teaching was propagated in China and has flourished to this day is the tale that has been handed down.

38

TALE 12

How Under Emperor Wu of the Liang Dynasty Bodhidharma Crossed to China AGES AGO, in South India, there was a sage called preceptor Bodhidharma. Among his disciples was a monk called Buddhayasha. To Buddha-yasha, Bodhidharma said, " You must get to China at once and spread the doctrine." Obedient to his master's instructions, Yasha took ship and crossed to China. He tried to spread the doctrine, but there were thousands of monks in the country, each diligently at worjk. Of the persons who heard him, not one would accept Buddhist doctrine as Yasha taught it. In the end they drove Yasha out, banished him to the temple called Tung-lin-ssu on Lii-shan. Now at Lii-shan there was a supreme sage called great-teacher Yuan. Seeing that this Yasha had come because forced to, he asked a question before admitting him. " You have come from the west country because forced to," he said. "What sort of Buddhism can you be trying to propagate here that they should drive you out like this? " Whereupon, instead of answering in words, Yasha clenched his fist and opened it, then said, " It is all one." Great-teacher Yuan soon perceived that the fist when closed was the striving after temporal good, when open the striving after future good, and knew Yasha's meaning to be that the striving after temporal good and the striving after future good are one. Later on, Yasha died there. Great-teacher Bodhidharma over in India then knew without being told that his disciple Yasha had died in China and he himself took ship and crossed to China. 39

TALES OF CHINA

This was in the reign of Emperor Wu of the Liang dynasty. Along about then, Emperor W u had founded a large monastery, cast numerous Buddha images, erected a pagoda, copied numerous sutra scrolls, and was thinking to himself, " W e have done meritorious works. Let us now show them to some competent monk and get his approval." He then made inquiry as to whether there was in the country at that time any wise and devout sage, and was informed that a sage had recently crossed from India. His name was Bodhidharma and he was wise, devout, a supreme sage. Emperor Wu was glad to hear this. " W e shall summon this man," he thought, "show him the monastery, buddhas, and sutras, get his approval on these, and when he also hears of my noble acts he will judge my accomplishment even more meritorious." Accordingly he had preceptor Bodhidharma sent for, and in response to the summons the preceptor duly presented himself. Then after taking him through the monastery and showing him such things as hall, pagoda, buddhas, and sutras, Emperor Wu addressed this question to Bodhidharma: " When I build hall and pagoda, convert people, have sutra rolls copied, Buddha images cast, is there any merit in this? " To which great-teacher Bodhidharma replied, "No, this is not meritorious." Then Emperor Wu thought, " W h e n the preceptor saw the layout of my temple, I certainly expected him to express approval, but if he so thoroughly disapproves, how unwise of him to say so!" And he asked another question, "In what sense, then, is it unmeritorious?" To which great-teacher Bodhidharma replied, " In such building of pagoda temples we may mean to be performing meritorious acts, but being a temporal matter it is in no true sense meritorious. True merit as such resides in the pure buddha, the seed of salvation within us which by inner revelation becomes true merit. Measured against that, these things can only be evaluated as transitory." Now when Emperor Wu heard this he was displeased. What use was such talk as this? " When we are convinced of having performed incomparably meritorious acts, it is presumption so to discredit them," he thought, and under a misapprehension his majesty banished the great teacher. 40

HOW BODHIDHARMA CROSSED TO CHINA

When banished, the great teacher trudged with priest's staff for cane to a place called Liang mountain. There he met a man called meditation-master Hui-k'o. To this man he imparted the buddha doctrine complete. Later on, great-teacher Bodhidharma died in that place, and the monks his disciples laid Bodhidharma in a coffin and carried it to the grave. Twenty-seven days later, a man called Sung-yiin, who had gone as imperial emissary, chanced to meet on the Onion range of Central Asia a foreign monk. On one foot he wore a straw sandal. His other toot was then bare. To Sung-yiin the foreign monk said, " No doubt you know that the king of your country died today." Upon hearing this, Sung-yiin got out paper and jotted down the day and the month. Some months later when Sung-yiin returned to the imperial palace and inquired he was toJd of the emperor's passing. He thought of the date he had jotted down. It tallied exactly. Wondering who the foreign monk could have been who had informed him of this event on Onion range, he realized that it was preceptor Bodhidharma. Along with the palace officials and the monks who had been Bodhidharma's disciples he then went to Bodhidharma's grave to make sure. When they opened the coffin and looked, not a trace of Bodhidharma's body was visible. All that they found in the coffin was one straw sandal. In view of which fact, the foreign monJc he had met on Onion range must certainly have been Bodhidharma returning to India in one straw sandal. It was by leaving one sandal behind that he made himself known to the people of China, as everybody knows. The whole country then knew that he had been a supreme sage, and no end of respect was paid him. That this preceptor Bodhidharma was the third son of the king of the great Brahman-land kingdom of South India is the tale that has been handed down.

41

TALE 73

How Chinese Meng Tsung's Filial Piety Got His Old Mother Bamboo Shoots in Winter AGES AGO, in China, under the [lacuna] emperors, there lived at Chiang-tu a man called Meng Tsung. His father died and his mother was left to his care. With Meng Tsung filial piety went more than skin deep and he was no slacker in providing for his old mother. In later life, his mother got so that she could not eat a meal unless she had bamboo shoots, and for years there was never a day when Meng Tsung did not have bamboo shoots for her morning and night. When bamboo shoots were plentiful the getting was easy. When bamboo shoots were out of season, east and west he would scurry until he had dug some up for his mother. But there came a day one winter when the snow had drifted so deep and the ground had frozen so hard that to dig up bamboo shoots was absolutely impossible. That morning he had no bamboo shoots to give his mother. Under the circumstances, his mother said she would do without, but her mealtime went by and she neither ate nor drank but sat grieving. Seeing which, Meng Tsung lamented thus to heaven: " For years not a day has gone by without my providing bamboo shoots for my mother morning and night. But here is a morning when the snow is so deep, the ground so hard frozen that to get bamboo shoots is impossible. Such being the case, my mother said she would do without, but her mealtime went by and she neither ate nor drank. Old and feeble as she is, she can't last long unless she eats her meals. What a pity that I 42

FILIAL PIETY AND BAMBOO SHOOTS

have no bamboo shoots for her today!" and he wept and lamented and kept on doing so. Then suddenly when he looked out into the garden, what should he see but three purple bamboo shoots sprouting up of their own accord. Meng Tsung thought, " The depth of my Glial piety must have moved heaven itself to pity." With rejoicing he picked them, and when he gave them to his mother she too cheered up and could eat and drink as usual. That those who heard of this occurrence were impressed by what Glial piety can do is the tale that has been handed down.

43

TALE 14

How Chinese Han Po-yii When Beaten by His Mother Wept for Grief AGES AGO, in China, under the Sung emperors, there was a man called Han Po-yii. When, in childhood, he lost his father, the family was reduced to his mother and himself. But, devotedly though he cared for his mother, the moment Po-yii did the least thing wrong his mother would get angry and take her cane and beat and scold Po-yii. It hurt to be beaten, but Po-yii kept that fact to himself and never cried. This was the regular thing. Then after his mother had begun to get old and feeble, there came a time when she struck Po-yii and it did not hurt. That time he wept. Surprised at this, the mother then questioned Po-yii. " Years ago," she said, " when I used to beat you regularly, never once did it make you cry. Why should it make you cry now? " And Po-yii replied, " Years ago, when your cane used to hurt, yes I did keep the fact to myself and never cried. But today was different. Your blows lacked force, were not as they used to be. I thought: this is because my mother is growing old, is losing her strength and getting feeble. It was grief that made me cry." When he told her this and she knew that instead of weeping because of the pain of being beaten, as she had supposed, it was for grief over her advancing age and infirmity, the mother's sympathy for Po-yii passed all bounds. Those who heard of the incident were impressed by Po-yii's attitude. That in concealing his own bodily pain but weeping at his mother's loss of vigor Po-yii showed the height of filial piety is the tale that has been handed down.

44

TALE 15

How T'ang Emperor Hsiian-tsung's Yang Kuei-fei Was Killed by His Majesty's Favor AGES AGO, in China, in T'ang times, there was an emperor called Hsiian-tsung who was by nature amorous, mad about women. Once it had been his empress and a lady in waiting that he loved. The empress was called Yiian Hsien, the lady in waiting was called Wu Shu-fei. While the emperor was frequenting these two women morning and night, suddenly, in quick succession, both empress and lady in waiting died. The emperor's grief Jcnew no bounds, but since tears could not bring them back he solemnly vowed that he would search until he found women just like them. Nor had he any intention of leaving the search to others. No, the emperor started out from the palace himself, traveled about, looked here, looked there, until he reached a place called Hungnung. In this place stood a willow hut. In the hut sat an old man. Yang Hsiian-yen he was called. The emperor had someone sent to the hut to look. Yes, Hsiian-yen had a daughter. Her features were regular, her person beautiful beyond compare, she had a sort of radiance about her. When his deputy, after seeing her, so reported, the emperor signified pleasure and bade him go fetch her at once. When thè man then brought the girl and the emperor saw her, the girl's loveliness struck him as being greater than that of his former empress and lady in waiting combined. Signifying pleasure, he settled her in a palanquin and took her back to the palace. Among three thousand women, this woman alone held the

45

TALES OF

CHINA

field. The name people called her by was Yang Kuei-fei. Now she was all that mattered. Night and noon were given over to dalliance. His majesty paid no attention even to affairs of state. In spring, he just enjoyed the Bowers with her, in summer they cooled themselves beside a spring, in autumn viewed the moon, and all winter long the two of them watched the snow. Being thus without a moment's time to spare, what should the emperor do but take this Kuei-fei's elder brother, a man called Yang Kuo-chung, and put him in charge of the government. This of course caused bitter complaint. People throughout the land began to grumble, " In this day and age a man is luckier to beget daughters than to beget sons." While the country was thus in turmoil, the minister of state was a man called An Lu-shan. Being wise, and shrewd as well, he felt sorry to see the country lost for love of this Kuei-fei, and thought to himself: Why not the Kuei-fei lost and the country saved? Taking every precaution, An Lu-shan secretly got an army together and stormed the imperial palace. In terror the emperor took Yang Kuei-fei and fled with her from the palace. But when Yang Kuo-chung tried to flee along with them, the emperor's attendant, a man called Ch'en Hsiian-li, promptly stabbed him to death. Then, with weapon again at hip, Ch'en Hsiian-li went down on his knees before the emperor's palanquin, did obeisance to his majesty and said: " Due to his concern for her highness Yang Kuei-fei, your majesty has ceased to attend to the administration of the country. Due to this, the country is already [5 or 6 character lacuna]. Before things go too far, may it therefore please your majesty to forego Yang Kuei-fei. The country [4 or 5 character lacuna]." Though deeply distressed, the emperor was so infatuated that to give her up seemed impossible. Then once Yang Kuei-fei slipped off, entered a temple, and sought refuge in Buddha's radiance. But Ch'en Hsiian-li saw her, seized her, twisted a glossed silk cord about Yang Kueifei's neck and killed her. When the emperor saw this happen he was heartbroken, distraught with grief, and his tears fell like rain. But although the sight seemed past bearing, there was reason back of the deed and he could feel no resentment. Then An Lu-shan banished the emperor, occupied the imperial palace,

46

HOW YANG KUEI-FEI WAS KILLED and ruled the country, but before long he died. Then

Hsiian-

tsung abdicated in favor of the crown prince and became exemperor. But still he could not forget her. In his grief he neither knew when the Sowers dropped in spring, nor noticed when the leaves fell in autumn. The leaves piled up in the garden but there was nobody to sweep them. As the days went by, his grief alone increased. Meanwhile

a so-called fang-shih, or necromancer,

going to the soul-land of P'eng-lai. When

mentioned

given an audience

with Hsiian-tsung this person stated that if so commanded

he

would proceed to the august abode of Yang Kuei-fei as his majesty's emissary. Upon hearing this, the emperor signified pleasure in the extreme and deigned to say, " Very well, proceed to the abode of Yang Kuei-fei and report to us upon it." When

so instructed,

up the fang-shih went to the peak of

heaven, down he went to the nethermost

depths of the earth,

but his search met with no success. Whereupon

this word was

brought him: " In the eastern sea is an island called P'eng-lai. On this island stands a large palace. In this palace is a section called imperial concubine's

supreme-devotion

house. It is there

that Yang Kuei-fei now resides." Hearing which, the fang-shih set out for that P'eng-lai and found it. At the moment of his arrival, the sun was just sinking behind the rim of the hills, bringing darkness to the surface of the sea. Since the dower-gates were all barred and nobody seemed to be stirring, the fang-shih tapped at the wicket. Then the pinned-up hair of a green-robed maid appeared. " Wherever

did you come

from, sir? " she said. And the fang-shih replied, " I am an emissary of the T'ang emperor, sent all this way to have speech with Yang Kuei-fei." The maid then said, " The imperial

concubine

has just this moment retired. You will have to wait awhile, sir." So with arms [3 character lacuna] the fang-shih sat there. In due course, day broke again and, when told of the fangshih's coming, the imperial concubine invited the fang-shih in. She inquired whether the emperor was all right or not, and what had happened in China from the fourteenth year of

T'ien-pao

down to the present. The fang-shih told her the happenings of those years. Then she handed the fang-shih something.

47

" Take

TALES OF

CHINA

this to the emperor," she said [3 or 4 character lacuna]. " A n d you must say, ' W h e n this you see, remember.' " T h e fang-shih said, " A jeweled hairpin is not unique. W h e n I present it, my master may not accept it as necessarily yours. But in the old days there must have been matters that you and his majesty discussed privately and that others would not have

known."

Then the imperial concubine reflected for a moment and said: " In the old days on the seventh night of the seventh month we viewed the Weaving W o m a n together, and standing there beside me the emperor said,' The Weaving Woman's star marriage is a pitiful thing. I wonder if something like this may not also happen to us. If in the sky, would that it might be as birds matching their wings, if on earth may it be as trees with mating branches/' Heaven is long and earth is everlasting, but when both have come to an end our grief will still remain. There is no way it ever can end. Say this." With

her message, the fang-shih returned, but when he had

given it to the emperor his majesty got sadder and sadder until finally this thought was more than he could bear and before very long he died. To return to the killing of Yang Kuei-fei, the emperor's being there and seeing it was as sad a thing as the dawn wind on the moor. So far as the emperor's feelings are concerned, its sadness is undeniable.

But since An Lu-shan only killed to save the

country, even the emperor could not criticize the deed. That according to ancient opinion both emperor and minister recognized and accepted its justice is the tale that has been handed down.

48

TALE 16

How Knight Confucius While Traveling Met Boys Who Quizzed Him AGES AGO, in China, during the Chou dynasty, there was a state-of-Lu man called K'ung Ch'iu. His father was called Shuliang. His mother was of the Yen family. This is the K'ung Ch'iu commonly called K'ung-tzu, Confucius. His height was nine feet six inches. His heart was wise, his comprehension deep. In childhood, under Lao-tzu, he studied literature and annals, but there was nothing he could not comprehend. After he grew up, his abilities broadened and his disciples were many. In the service of feudal lords he improved governments. In private life he instructed individuals. He was ignorant of nothing whatsoever. Accordingly his countrymen all looked up to him and respected him no end. Once when Confucius was riding in his carriage, there were three seven-year-olds playing in the road. One of them was not just playing in the road: he was right out in it building a mud castle. As Confucius came along he called to the boy and said, " Quick, boy, make way for my carriage to pass." The boy laughed and said, " Never yet did I hear of a castle making way for a carriage, but I have heard of carriages turning out for castles." And so Confucius had his driver turn out and bypass the castle. Confucius asked the boy his name. The boy replied that his family name was Ch'ang but that because he was only going on eight he would have no given name for another twelve years. Confucius said, "Let's see if you know what tree has no branches, what cow has no calf, what horse has no colt, what man has no wife, what woman has no husband, what mountain

49

TALES OF CHINA

has no stones, what water has no fish, what castle has no men, what person has no given name." The boy replied, " A log has no branches, a mud cow has no calf, a wooden horse has no colt, a hermit has no wife, a singing-girl has no husband, T'ai Shan has no stones, well-water has no fish, an abandoned castle has no men, a minor child has no given name." As Confucius listened, he thought, " This boy is no mediocrity," and rode on. As he rode along, Confucius met two more boys of seven or eight, and it was Confucius who was quizzed. One boy said, " Is the sun nearer when it first rises than it is at noonday? " And the other boy said, " Or is the sun farther off when it first rises than it is at noonday? " The first boy came bacJc with, " When the sun rises is it hot to the touch like boiling water and is it cool at noon? " The second boy with, " Or is the sun cool when it rises and by noon hot to the touch like boiling water?" But when asked like this to settle a dispute as to whether when the sun rose it was nearer than at noon, Confucius was stumped. Then both boys laughed and said, "We had supposed Confucius to be so wise that there was nothing he did not know, but how uninformed he really is! " Impressed by this remark, Confucius congratulated the two boys on not being mediocrities. In the old days even small children were smart like that. Just walking along attended by various disciples, Confucius saw a horse stick its head up from behind a roadside fence. Confucius said, "Here's a cow sticking up its head." His disciples thought it singular that he should call what was really a horse a cow, but suspecting some catch each tried to figure it out as they walked along. What Yen Hui, the foremost disciple, figured out while walking less than two and a half miles was this: " By prolonging the vertical stroke of the horse-character used in the twelve-hours dial, you get the cow-character, and when this horse stuck up its head he called it a cow to test our intelligence." When he asked their Master, the reply was, " Certainly." The other disciples gradually figured it out in the course of the next mile or so, thus revealing the relative speed of their minds. That because he had such wide understanding all his countrymen looked up to Confucius and revered him is the tale that has been handed down. 5°

TALE 17

When Chuang-tzu Observed the Doings of Animals and Took to His Heels AGES AGO, in China, there was a man called Chuang-tzu. His heart was wise and his understanding deep. Once when this man was walking along the road he saw a snowy heron in a swamp. It stood watching something. Thinking that he would steal up on the heron and have a whack at it, Chuang-tzu grasped his staff and got quite close. The heron made no move to escape. Chuang-tzu thought this strange, but when he got even closer he saw that the heron was standing over a crayfish which it meant to eat. Then he knew why the heron did not know that someone was about to strike it. Next he observed that the crayfish which the heron meant to eat was making no move to escape either. Being about to eat a small insect, it never knew that the heron stood watching. Then Chuang-tzu Sung aside his staff and Bed, thinking in his heart: "Neither heron nor crayfish was aware of the harm that threatened itself, each being solely intent on harming something else. Nor should I have known, when about to strike the heron, had something bigger been there about to harm me. In case there was, I therefore took to my heels." This was wisdom. Others so placed would likewise do well to take thought. Again, when Chuang-tzu and his wife were looking down at the water, they noticed a large fish disporting itself on the surface. As his wife watched it, she said, " That fish must certainly feeI happy, it is so frolicsome." To which Chuang-tzu responded, "How can you possibly know the feelings of a

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TALES OF CHINA

fish? " His wife replied, " How can you possibly know whether I do or don't know the feelings of a fish? Because you are not I, you do not know my inner mind." This was wisdom. Actually, no matter how intimate people may be, they can never know each other's inner mind. That both Chuang-tzu and his wife were persons whose hearts were wise and their understanding deep is therefore the tale that has been handed down.

52

TALE 18

How a Woman of Ch'ang-an Changed Pillows with Her Husband and Was Killed by His Enemy AGES AGO, in China, during the early T'ang dynasty, there lived in Ch'ang-an a woman who was both beautiful and chaste. This woman had a husband. Her husband had an enemy. The enemy came to their house to kill the woman's husband. At the moment, her husband had gone somewhere, was not in the house. When the enemy did not find the husband, he seized and bound the wife's father. The woman, hearing that her father had been bound, came forth from the inner apartment. When the enemy saw her, he said: " I came here to kill your husband, but your husband is nowhere about. Unless your husband shows up I shall kill your father." The woman answered, " Why should my husband's absence be any reason for killing my father? Take my advice and come back to the house later when you can kill my husband. In our bedroom, my husband lies on the east pillow, I lie on the west pillow. Later, when my husband comes in, he will be lying on the east pillow and you can then kill him." When the enemy heard this, he released her father and left. Afterwards the husband came in. The wife said to him, " Tonight let me lie on the east pillow, and you lie on the west pillow," and they lay down. Presently the enemy came in and thinking that the wife on the east pillow was the husband he killed her. Then when he had killed the wife and spared the husband, the enemy saw what he had done and was no end 53

TALES OF CHINA

pained and grieved, for he then knew that it was due to the wife's change of pillows with her husband that she had been killed in his stead. Afterwards the enemy was so touched by this that he permanently ceased from his hatred, making a pledge of blood-brotherhood for the first time. Thus we see that in the old days there was a woman capable of sacrificing her own life to prolong her husband's. That all who heard of it said, " What a gracious act!" is the tale that has been handed down.

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TALE 19

The Might of Assistant High Priest Jitsu-in of Hieizan AGES AGO, there was at the West Pagoda of Hieizan a man called assistant high priest Jitsu-in. He was also called the Komatsu assistant high priest. Of both the exoteric and the esoteric doctrine he was a past master. In addition, he was a very strong man physically. One noon when the assistant high priest was taking his nap, some young disciples who had heard tell of their master's strength brought hazelnuts to test it. While they were squeezing eight hazelnuts between the assistant high priest's ten toes, he pretended sleep, and after the job of squeezing them in was done he moved as if stretching in his sleep and contracted his feet. All eight hazelnuts were smashed to bits at once. Upon one occasion when the emperor's clergy were performing a palace incantation ceremony, the assistant high priest went up for the imperial incantation. All his fellow clergy were staying on, but the assistant high priest remained only for a time and when it got late he left. Outside he had expected to find his retinue of priests and novices, but when only his clogs were there, and not an attendant priest or even a novice in sight, he just started out alone through the gate-guards' barracks. The moon was very bright, and as he went plodding past the Butoku-den, a thinly clothed man approached and accosting the assistant high priest said, " What! All alone, sir? Please to get on my back, sir, and I will give you a lift." The assistant high priest replied that he would be most happy to, and when he was cozily settled, the man ran with him to the corner of 57

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Nishi-Omiya and Ni-jd. Then he said, " Here you are, sir, please to get down." The assistant high priest replied, " Why should I want to come here? Platform-quarters are where I expected to go." The fellow had no idea what a mighty man he was. He /ust thought, " That monk seems to be wearing a nice thick cloak," and he was planning to strip him of the cloak. Giving a violent /ounce, he said with an angiy snarl, " Won't get down, won't you? You cringing priest, has life no value for you? Hand over that cloak you are wearing." But when he made as if to turn back, the assistant high priest said: " No. That was not the understanding. The impression I got was that you saw me walking alone and out of sympathy offered to carry me. It is cold and I shall certainly not remove my cloak." He then squeezed the man's waist so sharply that it was like a dagger cutting in. This was too much for the man. " I greatly misjudged you, sir," he said. "Please accept my apologies for that folly. Now I will take you to the right place. Loosen up on my waist, though, /ust a little, sir, or my eyes will pop out and my waist will be cut through." He gave a groan of agony. "Certainly," the assistant high priest replied, loosening up on his waist and making himself lighter to carry. The man then hunched him up and asked, " Where would your reverence wish to go, sir? " and the assistant high priest replied, " The partypine-moor was where I was thinking of going, to moon-view, when for reasons of your own you brought me here. First take me there and let me moon-view." The man, as directed, then took him to the party-pine-moor. On arriving there, he said, " Now won't you please get down, sir, and I'll be leaving." But he still could not escape. With the priest on his back, gazing at the moon and whistling tunes, he was kept standing there until the temple bell struck the hour. The man's misery passed all bounds, but the assistant high priest said, " The right-guard racing ground is the place I really prefer. Take me there." And when the man just stood and said, " How long before I may leave, sir? " the assistant high priest said, "That depends," and again gave his waist a slight squeeze. " Ouch, I can't stand that, I'll get going," the man then said in a tone of misery. Again he loosened up on his waist and made himself lighter,

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THE MIGHT OF PRIEST JITSU-IN and again hunching him up the man took him to the rightguard racing ground. On arriving there, he again stayed on his back endlessly composing poems and what not. Next he said, " I have always wanted to go out to the Kitsu-ji racing grounds. TaJce me there," and without a word the man again miserably took him. From there he again obediently took him to NishiOmiya. All night long he kept carrying him about on his back like that, and it was dawn before he finally returned him to platform-quarters and escaped. Though the man got the cloak, he was certainly a fellow who had seen trouble. That this assistant high priest had such great strength is the tale that has been handed down.

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TALE 20

Wrestler Umi Tsuneyo's Match with a Snake AGES AGO, in Tango province, there was a wrestler of the right called Umi no Tsuneyo. Beside the house where Tsuneyo lived, there was an old river which at one point had formed a deep pool. In summer there was shade along the old river beach, and once while strolling about to cool off, clad only in a hempen garment corded in at the waist, wearing high clogs, with a forked stick for cane, and attended only by one small boy, this Tsuneyo wandered under the trees by this pool. The pool was green and fearsome. Impossible to see bottom. As he stopped to look at the various reeds and rushes growing there, he seemed to see something leave the opposite bank, about ten yards away. The swell was coming in his direction. As Tsuneyo watched, wondering what to expect, the swell neared the beach on his side and a big snake poked its head up out of the water. That it must be a big one Tsuneyo could tell at first glance from the size of the snake's head. As he watched to see if it meant to emerge on his side, the snake poked its face up and stared at Tsuneyo for quite a time. Wondering what designs the snake had on him, Tsuneyo drew four or five feet back from the beach, stood motionless, and watched. After staring and staring, the snake drew its head under water again. Then no sooner did he see a swell toward the opposite bank than another wave came in his direction. Next the snake poked its tail up out of the water and seemed to aim it toward where Tsuneyo was standing. " This snake certainly seems to have some plan," he thought, and as he stood there passively watching, the snake lashed out with its tail and wrapped it twice around Tsuneyo's leg. As he 60

UMI TSUNEYO'S MATCH WITH A SNAKE stood wondering what it meant to do next, it tightened the grip it had got and pulled for all it was worth. " So it means to drag me into the river.'" he thought, and realizing how strong its pull was, he took a firm stance. But the supports of the clogs he was wearing gave way. He thought he was going to be thrown, but recovered himseli and regained his footing. " Strong is no word for its pull. I could get dragged," he thought. Then he stamped so hard that his feet went five or six inches down into the solid ground. But while he was still thinking how strong its pull was, it suddenly snapped like a rope, and as it snapped, blood was seen floating on the river. " So it broke," he thought, and drew out his feet. In so doing he pulled a section of the snake ashore. Then he unwound the coiled tail of the snake from his leg and bathed the leg in water, but the mark where the snake had coiled did not go away. Meanwhile numerous attendants had arrived. He was advised to wash the mark with sake, and sake was at once sent for. After the washing, he had his attendants drag up the tail half of the snake for him to look at. Big was no word for it. The crosssection measured all of a foot. When sent across the river to examine the head end, they found that the snake had coiled its neck several times around a large tree root on the bank before lashing out with its tail and first encircling and then tugging at his leg. But the snake's strength had proved less than Tsuneyo's and it had snapped at the middle. What an amazing thing this was: the snake's will to pull regardless of whether it broke! Afterwards, wishing to test how much man-power the snake had exerted, Tsuneyo took a big rope, attached it to his leg more or less as the snake had been coiled, and had ten men take hold and pull on it. Finding the ten insufficient, he added three, then five, and went on saying, " Not enough yet" until he had sixty of them pulling. Then Tsuneyo said, "That's about it, I believe." To judge from this, Tsuneyo himself must have had the strength of a hundred men, which seems an extraordinary thing. That in the old days there were actually wrestlers of such strength is the tale that has been handed down.

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TALE 21

How Wrestler Kisaichi Munehira Tossed a Blue Shark AGES A G O , in Suruga province, there was a wrestler of the left called Kisaichi no Munehira. Because he was a wise wrestler he had from the start never lost either to the left or to the right, and was soon ready to try for championship. At that time there was a fellow wrestler of the same side in Mikawa province called Ban no Setayo whose powerful physique had long kept him champion. T o him this Munehira presented himself as contender for the title. When they met, Setayo was beaten, Munehira thus being promoted to champion and Setayo dropping to vice-champion. So this Munehira must have been quite an expert wrestler. • Once when this Munehira was out hunting in Suruga province in the fourth lunar month, a stag got an arrow in the back and started swimming across the estuary to escape to the opposite mountains. But Munehira swam after the stag and about three or four hundred yards out caught hold of the stag, drew the stag's hind legs over his shoulders, and started to swim back. At this point, a whitecap arose in the offing. It was coming in Munehira's direction. The bowmen standing on the beach gave a piercing yell and with one accord bawled at the swimming Munehira, " Hey, that wave's a shark! You'll get eaten!" As they watched the wave follow Munehira and close in upon him they expected Munehira to be eaten then and there. But instead the wave started back to where it had come from and Munehira came swimming in with the stag as before. Land was now only a hundred yards away. Then they saw the wave follow 62

HOW MUNEHIRA TOSSED A BLUE SHARK

Munehira again as before and close in on him and then again turn back. Munehiia still had the stag. The strand was now only three to six yards away and those on shore could see that Munehira had only the stag's two hind legs and hip-bones. Then the wave came again. Those gathered on shore shouted at Munehira, "Quick! Get to land!" Turning a deaf ear, however, Munehira stopped. The wave was already so near that they could see the shark's eyes like round mirrors. Its great mouth was open and the teeth were like swords. But when it got so near that they could fairly see Munehira being eaten, Munehira with one motion stuffed into the shark's mouth the stag's legs he still had, put his hands into the shark's head-gills, got it face down, and then with a shout as if tossing a wrestler tossed it ashore. The shark was tossed some ten feet in and lay writhing. Then the bowmen watching on the bank let fly their arrows and shot the shark dead with the stag's legs still in its jaws. Afterwards, when the bowmen gathered about and asked Munehira how he had ever managed to escape being eaten, this is what Munehira said: " In devouring anything, a shark does not eat it on the spot but always bites off a part and takes it to its lair, then returns to get the remainder. Now, knowing this, the first time it came for food I thrust the stag at it, and after biting off the stag's head and neck it went back. When it came a second time, I fed it the front legs and ribs. The next time it came I took and fed it the hind legs, then tossed it. Anyone not knowing what I knew might have let the whole thing go the first time and having fed it all out would certainly have himself been eaten the next time. A man ignorant of the principles would have had difficulty doing what I did, and a man of insufficient strength would certainly have been toppled over as he fed the stag out." The listening bowmen all agreed that it had been a rare event. That when word of it reached the neighboring provinces the feat was loudly acclaimed is the tale that has been handed down.

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TALE 22

How a Man Bounced His Sword-Sheath Rod on a Fingernail and a Woman Her Needle AGES AGO, in the reign of Emperor [2 character lacuna], there was in the right-guards' barracks an attendant called [2 character lacuna] no Haruchilca who was expert at kicking a ball. Once when this Haruchika stood leaning against a back-street well-curb and there were a good many young girls about and he wanted to show off, he drew the ornamental rod from his swordsheath, stood it up on his fingernail, held it out over the well, and bounced it forty or fifty times. People gathered to watch and were amused and impressed no end. Meanwhile an old woman came closer to watch and she said, " Interesting trick you are doing. Takes an expert. Even in the old days there was nobody did the like. Say, I've a mind to practice." Then, drawing out a needle that was stuck in her sleeve, she bounced it forty or fifty times on her nail with the thread still in it. All who saw her were amazed. Then Haruchika saw her, [2 character lacuna] -ed, replaced his sheath-rod. These were rare accomplishments. That in the old days there were people who had such skill, even if in matters of no consequence, is the tale that has been handed down.

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TALE 23

When Kudara Kawanari and Hida Takumi Competed A G E S AGO, there was a painter called Kudara no Kawanari. He was unequaled anywhere. The stones at Waterfall Palace were placed by this Kawanari. The wall-paintings at that palace were done by this Kawanari too. Once Kawanari had a servant boy run away. East and west he searched without coming upon the boy. Then Kawanari hired a certain palace menial and told him this: " A boy who has been some time in my service has now run away. Hunt the boy up, catch him, and return him to me." " Easy enough to catch him," the menial said, " if I knew the boy's face. But when I don't know the face, what way is there to catch him at all? " "Right you are," said Kawanari, and he took out a fold of paper, drew an outline of the boy's face, handed it to the menial, and said, " You are to catch a boy who looks like this. The east and west markets are places where people congregate. Better search in those vicinities." With the sketch of the boy's face the menial then went to the markets. Though there were a great many people about, there was no boy who looked like the sketch. When he had spent quite a time wondering if this boy or that could be the one, a boy did however appear who resembled it. He took out his sketch and upon comparison could find not the slightest difference. It was he. So he caught the boy and took him to Kawanari's. Kawanari was very much pleased to see him back. Those who heard tell of this at the time said, " What a neat job!"

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Also living then was a carpenter called Hi da Takumi. He was a master carpenter from capital-removal times and unequaled anywhere. The Buiaku-in built by this Takumi must have Been a fine thing. Once this Takumi and the above-mentioned Kawanari had decided to engage in a competition of skills. Hi da Takumi said to Kawanari, " At my house I have built a six-foot-square hall. Please come and see it. I even thought you might do paintings for the walls." With their competition under way, this might of course have been said to trick him, but Kawanari went to Hida Takumi's house anyway. Upon arriving, he could see that there really was a funny little hall. The doors on all four sides were open. Hida Takumi entered the hall and said, " Please come and see the interior." Kawanari then stepped up on the veranda. But when he started to enter by the south door, that door snapped shut. Dumbfounded, he went around to enter by the west door, but then that door snapped shut and the south door opened. When he tried the north door, that door closed and the west door opened. And when he tried the east door, that door closed and the north door opened. Round and round he went like this over and over again trying to get in. Shut and open. He could not get in. Tired out, he stepped down from the veranda. Then Hida Takumi laughed no end. Kawanari went home consumed by envy. Some days later, Kawanari sent this message to Hida Takumi's place: "Please come to my house. I have something to show you." Thinking to himself, " He is obviously planning to trick me," Hida Takumi did not go, but after being cordially invited several times he felt he must. When his arrival at Kawanari's house was announced, he was bidden to " please come in." Accordingly, he slid open the passageway door, and, as he did, there inside he saw a great swollen putrid blackish corpse lying. Putrid enough to smell. Unprepared for any such sight, he let out a yell and drew back in horror. Kawanari, inside, laughed no end when he heard that yell. As Hida Takumi stepped to the ground aghast, Kawanari poked his face out through the sliding door and said, " Here I am. Come in." As Takumi approached with fear and trembling he could see that actually it was just a paper panel

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KVDARA KAWANARI AND HIDA TAKUMI

with that corpse painted on it. An attempt to emulate his hall trick. Such was the skill of both these men. That as a story of the day this was told in ten thousand places and that everyone applauded it is the tale that has been handed down.

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TALE

24

How a Lady Went to a Master of Medicine, Was Cured of a Boil, and Slipped Off AGES AGO, the director of the bureau of medicine was a topnotch physician called [3 character lacuna]. Because he was unequaled anywhere, everybody went to be treated by this man. Once a handsomely decorated ladies' ox-cart drove up to the bureau director's and turned in. Seeing it, the director asked whose the carriage was, but no answer could be given him. The runners just got the cart in, unhitched it, slung the yoke over the wicket beam, and lackeys pulled it up to the door. Then the director approached the carriage, asked who the occupant might be, and to what he owed the honor of her visit. And when the lady inside did not answer, he said in a kindly, half-joking way, " In any case, please condescend to alight." Then, being by nature an old man of some discernment, the director of the bureau of medicine at once had a corner room partitioned, swept, and cleaned, folding screens set up, mats spread, and so on, after which he again approached the carriage and told her [3 character lacuna]. "In that case, please step aside," the lady said. W h e n the director complied, the lady, face hidden behind fan, did alight. Though he had thought there would be attendants in the carriage, nobody else appeared, but as the lady got down, a fifteen- or sixteen-year-old [2 character lacuna] maidservant approached. She went to the carriage, took a gold-lacquer comb-case out, and carried it along. Then lackeys came up, hitched the oxen to the cart, and off it went [2 character lacuna] flying. The lady settled herself in the space [2 character lacuna] as 68

HOW A LADY W A S CURED AND SLIPPED OFF

her room. The maidservant, after wrapping the comb-case up and hiding it, knelt behind the screens. Then the director approached and said, " Now /ust tell me who [i character lacuna] and what the trouble seems to be. Speak light out." To which the lady replied, " Please come inside. Modesty forbids my telling you." And the director went inside the blinds. Face to face with her, he could see that she was a woman of about thirty. Her facial expression, her eyes, nose, mouth, gave no indication of anything wrong. Her features were fair, hair very long and nicely perfumed, clothes faultless. She might without blushing face a sister years younger, or anyone. Observing all of which, the director felt strangely suspicious. Somehow or other he thought she looked like a person who might expect advances from him, and smiling all over his toothless and wrinkled face he drew closer to question her. To say nothing of his old mistresses being gone, the director had for three or four years even been without a wife and so felt quite glad. But the lady was saying, " Regardless of one's personal feelings, when life itself is at stake anybody forgets shame. I thought I would do just anything to go on living and so I came to you. Whether I am to live or to die is now tor you to decide, doctor. I put myself in your hands," and she wept no end. Most sympathetically the director asked, " What is actually the trouble? " The lady then opened up her hakama and he could see a slight swelling on her snowy white thigh, but could get no idea of the full extent of the swelling, and for a better look had her let down her hakama from the waist. The vulva was still obscured by capilli, but manual exploration in the vicinity revealed a boil, and when he used both hands and parted the capilli, he could see that here was a case which would require the utmost circumspection. Because it was [2 character lacuna], the elderly physician felt so sorry for her that he decided she must be spared treatment by any hands less skillful than his own. From that first day on, he never let anyone else go near her. No, he corded up his own sleeves and himself tended her noon and night. After seven days of this, he could see that she was practically cured. The bureau director's mood was one of great satisfaction. " I shall 69

TALES OF JAPAN

now keep her here for a certain time," he thought, " and before sending her home shall have a talk with her." To her he said, " I shall now discontinue the cold applications and continue with some sort of remedy that will go into a teacup and will only need rubbing in with a bird's wing five or six times a day. You need now feel no further anxiety." The lady said, " After seeking your help in my dishonorable , plight I shall always feel toward you as toward a parent. When the time comes, might I ask you to send me back in your own carriage? I shall let you know when I feel well enough. I certainly mean to come here regularly." The director consequently relaxed, thinking that she would be staying on for four or five days. And along toward evening, when the lady, wearing only a single thin cotton-padded night garment, had already taken her servant maid and slipped away, the director, all unsuspecting, ordered supper for her, arranged everything on a tray, and carried it in himself. Nobody there. " I seem to have just hit upon a time when she is necessarily occupied," he thought, and he took the food back. Meanwhile, since it was getting dark, he thought he would first light up. As he brought the lamp and set it on the stand he could see that she had taken off her clothes and left them scattered about. The comb-case was there too. Wondering what she could be doing to stay hidden so long behind the screens, he first said, " What are you doing that takes so long? " then looked behind the screens. What could have become of her? The maidservant gone too. Clothes left lying in a heap. Even her hakama there. But not her night garment. That one thin cotton-padded garment was missing. She must have slipped off wearing only this! The thought that his lady had to all appearances slipped off dressed like that made the bureau director's heart stop beating. He was desperate. He bolted the doors, had numerous persons light lamps, and [1 character lacuna] all through the building, but nothing came of it. Then the bureau director got to thinking of the lady's face, form, and expression, and his love and anguish passed all bounds. Without scandal she could have carried out her original intention. Why should scandal attach to being cured? With him, 70

HOW A LADY WAS CURED AND SLIPPED OFF

there was no risk of spite or jealousy, no woman to be feared, and i f , for example, she was somebody else's wife she need only say she could not become his. Yet sometimes while thinking of the remarkably exquisite person whom he had loved and tended, he would smite his hands together in vexation and stamp his feet at the way he had been tricked and given the slip, would pucker up his face and weep. At which his physician disciples of course laughed much in private. Society people also laughed when they heard it, but the curiosity aroused was cause of much anger and dispute. To judge from this, what an extremely prudent woman she must have been! That to the last she never let anyone know is the tale that has been handed down.

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TALE 25

How a Man's Wife Became a Vengeful Ghost and How Her Malignity Was Diverted by a Master of Divination AGES AGO, there was somebody called [2 character lacuna] who divorced a wife with whom he had lived for years. The wife nursed a bitter resentment, grieved and mourned herself ill, pined for months desiring to die, then did die. This woman had neither parents nor relatives, so that when she died there was no burial. As she lay in the house her hair never fell but remained rooted, her bones all clung together instead of dropping apart, and when neighbors peeped in at her through a crack they were terrified no end. In addition, there was always a really [3 character lacuna] glow in her house. And there were creaking sounds all the time which so scared the neighbors that they would duck around it. Now when her former husband heard of this he felt more dead than alive. " What can I do," he said, trembling with fear, " to escape the malignity of this ghost? Since her resentment against me was what made her desire death and then die, I am certainly the one she is after," [3 character lacuna]. And he went to a master of divination, stated his problem, and asked if there was any possibility of escaping harm. The diviner said, " Escape will be a matter of very great difficulty indeed. None the less, the possibility you mention does exist. If you care to try. But it will involve a perfectly terrifying experience. Please bear that in mind." Toward sunset the diviner took the ex-husband to the dead woman's house. Even what the husband heard from outside

72

HOW A WIFE BECAME A VENGEFUL GHOST made his hair bristle with honor, to say nothing of the unbearable fear he felt about entering the house. But, confiding himself to the diviner, in he went. He looked, and sure enough there face down lay the dead woman, her hair not fallen, her bones still clinging together. The diviner instructed him to get on her back and ride her like a horse, to pull hard on the dead woman's hair and never let go, and finally, after reciting a formula, he said, "Stay like that until I return. You are certainly in for a terrifying experience. Please bear that in mind." Whereupon he left. Though feeling more dead than alive, the ex-husband had no choice but to ride the dead woman and keep tight hold of her hair. The evening dragged slowly on and when he thought that it must be nearly midnight suddenly the dead woman exclaimed, " O what a weight!" meanwhile springing up on all fours. " I'll get that fellow," she said and galloped off. Away she went, he had no idea how far, but he followed the diviner's instructions and was still clutching her hair when she finally returned. Back at her own house, she lay face down again as before. Terrified was no word for the husband, but though practically unconscious he managed to remember not to let go of her hair and he was still on her back at cockcrow. The dead woman then made not another sound. When in due course dawn came, the diviner returned, said, " Last night must certainly have been a frightful experience," asked whether he had let go of her hair at all, and was told by the husband that he had not. Then, after again reciting a formula over the dead woman, the diviner said, "Now then, come away, sir," took the husband back with him, and assured him that he now had no further cause for fear. " The danger you mentioned has been averted," he said. With tears in his eyes, the husband fell on his knees before the diviner. And afterwards, sure enough, the husband remained unmolested. This was almost a recent event. That grandsons of these persons are now living and that descendants of the diviner are now at the Otonoi-dokoro is the tale that has been handed down.

73

TALE 26

When Emperor Murakami and Sugawara Fumitoki Each Composed a Chinese Poem AGES A G O , Emperor Murakami, being fond of composition, took as theme the palace nightingales twittering at dawn and made the Chinese poem: At dew-fall low their chatter Under the garden Sowers, At moon-set loud their singing Under the palace willows. The emperor then summoned a scholar called Sugawara Fumitoki, who commented upon his majesty's composition, then made a Chinese poem of his own: A t the west tower, moon-set, Among the Sowers, music, i n the palace, one lamp lit, Behind the bamboo, voices. W h e n the emperor heard this read, his majesty said, " In our opinion, it is we who best developed the theme, but Fumitoki's poem is also very fine." Then, summoning Fumitoki into his more immediate presence, he said, " Now, to our imperial face, do not hesitate to comment upon our poem without fear or favor." " Your majesty's composition is very fine," Fumitoki said. " The closing septet quite surpasses Fumitoki's." Upon hearing this, the emperor said, " No/ That is flattery. You must speak positively," and summoning [3 character lacuna], director of the imperial record bureau, his majesty said,

74

EMPEROR MURAKAMI'S CHINESE POEM

" Unless Fumitoki appraises this poem positively, from now on nothing that Fumitoki may say shall be reported to us." Completely overcome, Fumitoki then said, " In truth, your majesty's

composition and Fumitoki's poem are neck and neck." The emperor said: "If in truth they are, you must swear to it." Whereupon, to avoid swearing falsely, Fumitoki said, " In truth, Fumitoki's poem is perhaps a knee ahead," and hastily withdrew. The emperor got no end of satisfaction out of this. That an old-time emperor was so fond of composition is the tale that has been handed down.

75

TALE 27

How Taira Koremochi Had a Retainer Killed on Him AGES AGO, there was a person called Kazusa-governor Taira Kanetada. He was the son of Shigemori, younger brother of warrior Taira Sadamori. While this Kanetada was governor, and in that province, a person called Fifteenth-born-general Koremochi, son of this Kanetada, was in JVfutsu province. To his father, governor Kanetada, he sent a message to the effect that it was a long time since he had seen him and that as he was governor of Kazusa and down there he would be happy to call on him. And Kanetada, having made preparations for his entertainment, was waiting and wondering how soon he would get there when the mansion servants tumultously proclaimed his arrival. At the time, Kanetada had a cold which prevented his going out. He was lying inside the bamboo blinds having his back pounded by a petty-samurai page boy when Koremochi came. As Koremochi stood by the projecting eaves, duly apologizing for past negligence, the four or five retainers who formed his bodyguard were lined up fully armed in the front garden. Their leader was a man in his fifties who went by the name of Tardsuke, tall, stout, with long, shiny, terrific mustaches. He certainly looked every inch a soldier. When Kanetada saw him, he said to the boy who was pounding his back, " See that man out there? Do you recognize him? " and the boy replied that he did not. "That," said Kanetada, "is the man who killed your father some years ago. At the time, you were too young to know much about it." " I was told that my father had been

76

TAIRA KOREMOCHI'S RETAINER

KILLED

killed, but I never knew who killed him or I should surely have recognized the face," said the boy, his eyes brimming with tears, and he got up and left. When Koremochi had eaten, and it was getting dark, he went to his sleeping quarters. After accompanying his master, Tarosuke went to his own quarters. Several individuals entertained him personally. Because it was the thirtieth of the ninth month there was a hubbub of foodstuffs being toted around, fruits, sake, hay, and grain, and as the courtyard got dark, pine torches were set up here and there. Tarosuke, after having eaten, slept with his head pillowed high. On the pillow lay his embossed sword. Close by were his bow, quiver, armor, and helmet. In the garden, armed warriors were making their rounds, on guard over their master. The spot where Tarosuke lay was encircled by a great double-walled cloth tent that no arrow could pierce. The light from the pine torches set up in the courtyard was as bright as day. There could not be a particle of danger. Tarosuke had come a long way, was all worn out, had drunk plenty of sake. He slept soundly. But the boy who went off with brimming eyes upon learning from the governor that this was the man who killed his father had by no means just gone o f f , the governor surmised. No, after leaving, the page had gone to the kitchen and had diligently sharpened and resharpened the point of his hip-sword, which he then slipped into his pouch. As soon as it got dark, he had gone to this Tarosuke's quarters and carefully reconnoitered, had then mingled in the hubbub of food and feed carrying, had casually taken a tray, and, pretending an errand, had got himself into the space between the two layers of tent wall. " Retribution upon my father's enemy is something permitted by heaven," he thought to himself. Then with bent knees he prayed, " In what I have this night planned out of filial duty, let not my heart fail me! " And nobody knew a thing. Finally, at dead of night, in the knowledge that Tarosuke was lying [1 character lacuna], the boy calmly approached, severed his windpipe by a cut and a twist, and darted away. Where he had been nobody knew. At daybreak when Tarosuke was late in appearing for duty, his 77

TALES OF JAPAN

retainers proposed taking him some rice gruel, but when they approached to inform him of their intention, there they saw him lying dead in his own blood. " How can this be? " these retainers exclaimed and raised an outcry. Other retainers with arrows fitted or swords drawn rushed in shouting. But what could they do? Who killed him, anyhow? And having no idea who could have, since nobody outside of his retainers would have had access to him, the retainers felt mutually suspicious that one of their own number might have been a party. But this got them nowhere either. "What an inglorious death you have died, chief, without even a chance to cry out!" they vied in wailing discordantly. " Who would ever have expected you to die unheroically like this? For years you took risks for his excellency, but even when your luck ran out why had you to die so ignobly? " Thus producing no end of an uproar. Meanwhile Koremochi learned of the event and was very much exercised. " This is an insult to me," he said. " To kill a vassal of mine like that can only indicate utter lack of respect for me. At the same time, the situation created is a very awkward one. In my own domicile, it would be all very well. But to have such a thing happen when I have come to a province not mine is a singularly ticklish matter. Now this Tarosuke did kill a man years ago, I believe. The son of the man he killed would, as a petty-samurai, reside at his lord's. It certainly looks as though such a person had done the killing," and arguing along this line he went to the residence. Presenting himself to the governor, Koremochi said, " A retainer of ours was killed last night, sir. To have such a thing happen when paying a call like this is extremely to Koremochi's discredit. This can hardly have been the act of an outsider, sir. The petty-samurai son of a man who was killed by an arrow years ago for impertinently challenging a knight resides at the castle, I suppose. This would certainly appear to have been his work. Please summon and question him, sir." To which the governor replied, " There is no denying that the boy could have done it. Yesterday when that man was in the garden as one of your bodyguard I was having this boy pound my back, since my back was paining me. I asked if he

78

TAIRA KOREMOCHI'S RETAINER KILLED knew the man and he replied that he did not. Then I said, ' Your father was killed by that man. It is well to know the face of such a person. He has defied you, but it is not a pleasant situation.' Then with downcast eyes he quietly got up and I have not seen him from that moment to this. For a boy who served me noon and night, never left my side, this staying away since yesterday afternoon is an unheard-of thing. Another suspicious circumstance is that in the evening, in the kitchen, he got his sword extremely sharp. And this morning I have heard suspicions actually voiced by his fellow pages. " Now, as to summoning him for questioning: if it was really this boy's deed, do you propose to kill him? Not until I learn your intention shall I summon the boy. I, Kanetada, humble though I may be, am your excellency's father. Now if one of your bodyguard had committed a like crime against Kanetada and if somebody should be angry and blame a certain person for retaliating, I don't believe you would think it right. Is not retribution against a father's enemy something sanctioned by heaven? And if the man who killed me, Kanetada, had been a topnotch warrior of your bodyguard I doubt if your revenge would have been easy. Such is my opinion. To me, Kanetada, to blame a person who thus avenges his father is, I must confess, impossible," he said sternly, then rose to his feet. " I went at it the wrong way," thought Koremochi, and respectfully subsided. " No use," he thought, and returned to his own province of Mutsu. This Tarosuke's own retainers had to accept it as best they might. Afterwards, the boy who had killed Tardsuke let three days go by, then appeared with his clothes dyed black. As he came modestly in, avoiding his lord's presence, nobody was dry-eyed, neither governor nor retainers. After that the boy worried over what people were thinking about him, and in next to no time took sick and died. Then nobody felt sadder than the governor, who said, " The boy was quite a warrior to punish his father's enemy, and it was a pious act. He did more than anyone can do unaided. To punish at will a man so closely guarded by his retainers truly appears to have been a dispensation of heaven." That the others expressed assent is the tale that has been handed down. 79

TALE 28

How an East-Bound Traveler Fathered a Child by a Turnip AGES AGO, there was a person who was on his way down east from the capital. As he passed through a certain hamlet, province and district unknown, a sexual urge suddenly struck him and while he was worrying himself distracted over how to get anything that would qualify as a woman, there beside the highroad he noticed inside a fence some so-called greens which had grown very tall and luxuriant. Since this was the tenth month, the turnip roots should be well developed. Instantly the man got down from his horse, entered the enclosure, pulled a large turnip root, hollowed it out, and when it had served its purpose tossed it back into the enclosure and rode on. Afterwards, the proprietor of the Held took to the field a number of woman-servants, as well as his young daughters, to harvest the greens. During the harvesting, a fourteen- or fifteenyear-old daughter, still unwed, strolled along the fence as she harvested and noticed the turnip that the man had tossed back in. " Why here is a hollowed-out turnip root," she said. " What on earth!" But after toying with it for a time she sliced it at the grooves and ate it. Then along with all the servants she returned home. Afterwards this daughter unexplainably experienced a vague distress, refused to eat this and that, and seemed so unlike her usual self that her parents remarked anxiously, " Something must be the matter." Meanwhile, as the months wore on, it became plain that she was pregnant. In utter dismay, her parents questioned her 80

EAST-BOUND

TRAVELER

AND

TURNIP

regarding her supposed shameful conduct, but the daughter replied that she had never been near a man. " A queer thing happened, though," she said. " O n e day I noticed a peculiar turnip root and ate it. Since that day i have never felt the same." T o her parents this did not make sense. They

could not believe

it

was any such thing and made inquiries. But the household help also said that they had never seen any man about, and so, with it still a mystery, the months

wore on, and when her time

came

she was quite normally delivered of a fine bright boy. After there was no use talking and the parents reared the Meanwhile,

that

child.

the man once on his way down, was now,

some years in the provinces,

after

on his way up again, along with a

number of others. A s they passed that Geld, it seems that it was again the tenth cided

month

and that the girl's parents, having

de-

to harvest the greens, were there in the Held with

servants as before.

As he came alongside the fence,

swapping yarns with the others, said quite loudly, this! The

other

year, when

I was going

down

their

this

man,

" Listen

to my

province, I passed this place. I was up against it. An trollable

urge. So I went inside

turnip, hollowed

uncon-

took an enormous

it out, and w h e n I was through with it tossed

it inside the fence The mother,

the fence,

again."

inside the fence, heard him clearly, and remem-

bering what her daughter had said emerged from behind fence exclaiming Supposing

to

home

in astonishment, " How's that? How's

that she was challenging

the

that? "

his having said he had

stolen a turnip, and thinking it nonsense,

the man simply edged

away. But the mother was so determined

that he f o u n d he had

no choice but to listen. " Please tell my husband almost

in tears, and, wondering

that," she said,

what he was in for, the

replied, " There is nothing I need conceal. Neither sible, nor was there a theft.

man

am I respon-

I am an ordinary honest

person,

and [i character lacuna] if I said ' I' it was for the sake of the story." At this, the mother's

tears burst forth. W e e p i n g all the way,

she practically dragged the man home

with her, and,

though

still seeing no sense in it, he was talked into entering the Then

the woman

really wanted

told him

the situation

was to compare the child 81

house.

and that what with

him. Next

she she

TALES OF JAPAN

brought the boy in and soon saw that he resembled this man down to the smallest detail. Then the man himself was moved. " Yes, it must have been so predestined," he said. " This can happen to people." "Now you have only to consult your own feelings," the woman said. And when the boy's mother was called in, he could see that though of humble biith she was very sweet. A woman of about twenty. The child was five or six and a very fine bright boy. As the man looked at them, he thought, " I have no father, mother, family, kin, or dependents to necessitate my going on up to the capital, whereas to this place I appear predestined. Why not simply make this girl my wife and remain here? " and having weighed the matter he soon married the girl and settled down there. This was a strange thing. None the less, that a man did impregnate a woman without having had intercourse with her and that she bore a child is the tale that has been handed down.

82

TALE 29

How in Mimasaka Province a God Was Trapped by a Hunter and Living Sacrifice Stopped AGES AGO, in Mimasaka province, there were gods called Chuzan and Koya. The god Chuzan's form was that of a monkey, Koya's that of a snake. Once a year a festival was held in the former's honor and living sacrifice offered him. As sacrificial victim the provincials would present some girl as yet unwed. From antiquity down to modern times this custom had been perpetuated without a break. Upon one occasion, the chaste and lovely person chosen, as some such person in the province inevitably must be, was a girl of about sixteen or seventeen. Though the parents loved her more dearly than life itself, this daughter was the victim appointed. Named at that year's festival, she was to be ceremonially dieted for a year and then presented at the next year's festival. After their daughter's appointment, the parents grieved without ceasing. No escape seemed possible and there was nothing they could do but watch the days and months slip by bringing her life to its close, nothing that parents and child could do but count in mutual lamentation the dwindling remnant of life together. Meanwhile there was a man whom destiny had brought from the east country to that province. This man was in the so-called dog-and-mountain trade; he kept numerous dogs and took them to the mountains to kill boar and stag, and made such hunting his occupation. He was, moreover, of so bold a disposition that nothing held any terror for him. When this man had been in the province for awhile, he 83

TALES OF JAPAN

naturally heard of the situation and having a proposal to make, went to the house of the victim's parents. After introducing himself he took advantage of a momentary delay to peep through a crack in her bamboo blinds. What a lovely girl the sacrificial victim was! With her white skin, charming dignity, long hair, she did not look like the daughter of country people at all. As the easterner saw her gracefully reclining in pensive mood, with loosened hair, and weeping, his pity and his concern for her passed all bounds. Then he met her parents and they talked. The parents said, " With our only daughter chosen for such a fate we are in a constant state of grief. We watch the days and months slip by, we mourn the nearer approach of our final parting. What a province this is/ What crimes we must have committed in previous existences to be born in such a wretched place!" " Nothing is more precious to anyone on earth than life," the easterner replied. " And of a man's possessions none is more precious than his child. What could be more heart-rending than the prospect of seeing your only daughter chopped up before your very eyes? Don't just let her die! When attacked by an enemy, nobody simply resigns himself to death. Buddha and the gods respect life, even I am concerned for your daughter, and the master here now is nonhuman. If that master pleases to accord me a like death, I will die in her stead. But don't let his according it to me worry you." " But how do you mean to do this? " the parents asked when they heard his proposal. " Just in the prescribed way. You are to stay at home, speak to no one, just go on with the ceremonial diet and keep the straw ropes drawn." " If it would save our daughter from death, we ourselves would die without a murmur," the parents said. They let the easterner see their daughter privately, and after making her his wife, how the easterner hated to leave her! He then singled out two dog-and-mountain dogs that had been with him for years, said, " You do this job for me," and when he had made them understand, he fed and fondled them. Next he secretly caught monkeys, brought them back alive

84

HOW A HUNTER TRAPPED A GOD

from the mountains, and in an unfrequented spot systematically trained the dogs to prey on them. So thoroughly did he teach them to regard dogs and monkeys as natural enemies that finally they would attack monkeys on sight. When the habit was thus established, he put a fine polish on his sword and kept it by him. To his wife the easterner said, " I am about to die in your place. With death as errand, how sad a farewell can be!" Though she could not know how her husband felt, the girl's own sadness passed all bounds. The day had now arrived and everyone from the shrine officials on down came out to escort her. They brought along a new coffin and said for her to get into it, but when they pushed the coffin into her chamber, it was her husband, clad only in hunting trousers, and with his sword by him, who actually got into the coffin. Yes, and he had his two dogs get in and lie at his left and his right. Her parents then let the escort suppose that the girl was inside, and off they took it, while a cloud of attendants, bearers of spears, sakaki trees, bells, and mirrors, went clamoring on ahead. The wife, fearful of what might happen, was sad about her husband going in her place. The parents, unworried as to subsequent disaster, were thinking if such things were ever going to stop, this was the way to stop them. When the sacrificial victim reached the shrine, prayers were said, the door of the innermost palisade was opened, the ropes that bound the coffin were cut, and it was pushed inside and left there. The shrine officials then closed the door of the paliside and lined up outside. Through a tiny hole he had carved in the coffin the husband could see a monkey seven or eight feet long on the main front seat. Its teeth were white, its face and buttocks red. Lined up in a row to left and right were a hundred other monkeys, red-faced, eyebrows raised, gibbering and shrieking. In front, on a chopping board, lay a great knife. Such things as vinegar-salt and sake-salt were there. It was as if someone had brought down stag or boar and was preparing to eat it. In an instant the large monkey on the main seat was up and opening the coffin. The other monkeys all hopped up too, and when among the lot of them they had got it open, out leapt

85

TALES OF JAPAN

the husband. " Eat them up, you and you," he called to the dogs. Out sprang the two dogs. They caught the big monkey in their teeth and tossed it Bat. The man then drew his sword, which shone like ice. He seized the chief monkey, dragged it up on the chopping-board, held the sword over its head. " You destroyer of human beings, you eater of human flesh, do you know what I am going to do to you? I am going to cut your throat and feed you to the dogs." At these words the monkey's face glowed red, its eyes Sashed, and it bared its gleaming white teeth, then shed tears and wrung its hands, but paying no heed to these manifestations the man continued: " In return for the many men's daughters you have devoured these many years, today you shall yourself be destroyed. Here and now, if you are god enough, let's see you strike me dead!" And while he was speaking, with his sword held over its head, the two dogs killed many monkeys. Such as managed to escape with their lives climbed trees, and after scrambling to cover in the mountains called a host of monkeys together. The mountains echoed and re-echoed to their calls and cries but nothing came of it. In the meantime, the god was appealing to the chief official of the shrine: " Never from this day forth will I exact this living sacrifice, never will I cause lives to be destroyed. Moreover, for the way he has used me, you shall not hold this man accountable, nor shall anyone, from the sacrifice girl on down, father, mother, relatives, connections, be apprehended. I only ask to be spared." At these words, the shrine officials all filed into the inner enclosure and urged the man to release the god on these terms, but he would not. " I do not hold my life dear," he said. " For taking the lives of so many human beings, I shall make him pay with his own and then perish along with him," and he vowed he would not release him. Only when a most solemn pledge had been made did the man say, " So be it. From now on behave differently," and released him, whereupon he fled to the mountains. Then the man returned home and he and the girl lived long as husband and wife. The parents were no end pleased with 86

HOW A HUNTER TRAPPED A GOD

their son-in-law. And the family had nothing at all to fear. What was more, the score from previous existences had apparently been paid o f f . That afterwards there was no more living sacrifice and that the province was well content is the tale that has been handed down.

»7

TALE 30

How Mikawa Province Originated Dog's-Head Silk AGES AGO, in Mikawa province, [2 character lacuna] district, there was a district official who took two wives, set them to feeding silkworms, and made big profits. But something went wrong with the first wife's worm-feeding. And when her silkworms all died so that she had none to feed, the husband himself lost interest and never visited her. And when the master stopped going there, his retinue all stopped too, so that even her house became poor and deserted. Staying on there all alone, with just two attendants, the wife's depression and grief passed all bounds. When the worms she was feeding in her house all died, she gave up sericulture, but although doing no feeding, once when she noticed one lone worm clinging to a mulberry leaf and munching, she did take and feed it. As this lone worm got bigger, and as she stripped mulberry leaves into its tray and watched it devour them all alone, she felt sorry for it and took it in her hand as she fed it. She never thought that anything could come of her raising this silkworm, but it had been three or four years now since she had practiced her old trade and to take it up again in this unexpected way made her sad and therefore tender. Meanwhile a white dog that she had been keeping in the house came toward her wagging its tail, and before her very eyes, when she had put the silkworm back in its tray and was watching it eat mulberry leaves, this dog ran up and ate the silkworm. Although she could not help resenting it, she could hardly destroy a dog for eating one silkworm. After swallowing the silk-

88

THE ORIGIN OF DOG'S-HEAD SILK worm, the dog looked up at her, and thinking how she seemed fated to be unable to raise even one silkworm, she looked sorrowfully down at the dog and wept. Then the dog licked its nose. As it did so, it produced from its two nostrils two white strands over an inch long. Half doubting what she saw, she took and pulled the strands, and when both spun out longer and longer she wound them on a reel. When there was more than she could wind on that reel, she wound on another, and when [2 character lacuna] was not [2 character lacuna], she got another reel, and kept on like this until she had wound two or three hundred reels. When the supply was even then not exhausted, she got bamboo rods and started twisting it on those, and when it was still not exhausted she wound it on buckets. After she had wound at least four or Eve thousand ryo's worth, the silk finally stopped spinning out, and the dog rolled over and died. Then, thinking that Buddha and the gods had taken dog form to save her, the wife buried the dog at the foot of a mulberry tree in the Held behind her house. Then, the silk being so fine as to need no processing, she twined it. Mean while her husband, the dictrict official, when on his way somewhere chanced to pass her door. To [2 character lacuna] the house so [1 character lacuna] and deserted-looking grieved him, and he wondered so sadly how the lady who lived there was that he got down off his horse and went in. There was nobody around. Just his wife sitting there alone and twining a great deal of silk. When he saw the silk, he said, "The silk reeled from the cocoons spun at my house is black-knotted and coarse. This silk is white and lustrous as snow and of supreme fineness. There is nothing like it in the country." Then examining it in utter amazement, he asked, " What sort of work is this? " And the wife told him the facts in the case, hiding nothing. Upon hearing her story, the district official thought, " Here is a woman to whom Buddha and the gods have shown mercy," and he repented his foolish suspicions. [2 character lacuna] he soon took up his abode, never went near his second wife's place again, and made this his home. At the mulberry tree where the dog was buried, silkworms 89

TALES OF JAPAN

went on spinning cocoons unceasingly. And when these were taken and the silk wound o f f , it was again of supreme fineness. The district official told a provincial official called [2 character lacuna] about this silk, and the provincial official told the government about it, and from then on " dog's-head silk " was contributed by that province. The district official handed the business on to his grandsons. Now ovens are used in the production of the silk. This silk was deposited in the Sovereign's Private Office to be woven for his majesty's wear. That it was actually made into material for his majesty's wear some have said. That the second wife must have got at the Erst wife's silkworms and killed them others have said. These things are not known for a certainty. To judge from the above, retribution for previous existences was no doubt involved. At any rate, that the breach between husband and wife was patched up by the silk produced is the tale that has been handed down.

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TALE 31

How the Reizei-in Water Spirit Assumed Human Form and Was Caught AGES AGO, his retired majesty Yozei's residence occupied the site north of Ni-jd, west of Nishi-do-in, south of Oimikado, and east of Abura no Ko/i in the second ward. After his retired majesty's demise, Reizei-in was opened up through and the section to the north turned over to dwellings, while in the southern section a tew ponds and the like still remained. One summer, when this section was also being built up and people were sleeping on their west porches, an old man about three feet tall would come and run his hand over the sleepers' faces. It was weird, but if they showed no signs of fright, just lay there pretending to be asleep, the old man would peacefully go away again. On starry or moonlight nights they could see him go to the edge of the pond and vanish as if erased. Since there was nobody to clear the pond, floating plants had grown so rank and bulrushes so thick that it was grim and fearful to behold. People were becoming more and more afraid that there might be some dweller in the pond, and later on when these nightly rounds kept occurring everybody who heard about them was terrified. Meanwhile there was an army man who swore he was going to catch that face-feeler. He lay down all alone on his porch armed with a China-grass rope to wait the night out. Through the early hours he saw nothing. When he thought that it must be past midnight, and he had dozed off for a moment as he waited, something cold touched his face, the very thing he had been waiting for. On the alert even in his sleep, he jumped up

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with a start and seized it. Then he /ust bound it with his Chinagrass rope and tied it to the handrail. Word went round and people gathered. A lamp was lighted and they saw a little old man about three feet tall wearing a light blue court costume, trussed up within an inch of his life and blinking his eyes. They asked him who he was, but he gave no answer. After a bit he smiled faintly, looked them all over, then said in a thin and woebegone voice, " Might I have a tub of water? " So they filled a great tub with water and set it in front of him. The old man craned his neck, looked into the tub, saw his reflection in the water, said, "I am a water spirit," then dived into the water and disappeared. As a result there was so much water in the tub that it spilled over the rim. The rope that had bound him, still knotted, remained in the water. It was by dissolving back into water that the old man disappeared. All who saw this were overcome with amazement. The water in the tub they put into the pond, taking care not to spill any. From then on, the old man's coming and touching people ceased. That people said he really was a water spirit in human form is the tale that has been handed down.

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How Ki Tosuke's Meeting with a Ghost-Woman in Mino Province Ended in His Death AGES AGO, there was a person called Nagato ex-governor Fujiwara Takanori. When appointed vice-governor of Shimosa he had in his charge, as member of the civil dictator's staff, the estate in Mino province called Namatsu imperial manor. On this imperial manor there was a person called Ki Tosuke. In company with a number of others, Takanori, attended by this Tosuke, had gone up for night duty at the summons of the steward of the Higashi San-jo palace. When the night watch was over, they were relieved and sent back. On the way down to Mino, as they were crossing the Seta bridge, there on the bridge stood a woman with lifted kimono. Tosuke thought she looked peculiar, but as he passed, the woman said, " Hey, where are you people bound for? " and so he dismounted and replied that they were going to Mino. The woman then said, " There is a request I should like to make of you, sir. May I?" And Tosuke replied, " Certainly." " That's very nice of you, sir," the woman said, drawing from her bosom a small silk-wrapped box; but when she said, " if you will take this box to the [i character lacuna]-bridge at Kara-village in Katakata district you will find a dame at the west end of the bridge. Please give this to that dame," Tosuke was annoyed and thought it an unreasonable request. But the woman's aspect was so alarming that he could hardly refuse. As he took the box, Tosuke said: " About this dame who is to be at the bridge, might I ask 93

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who she is and what she looks like? If she fails to meet me, how can I look her up, and who shall I say is sending her this? " " Just you go to the end of the bridge," the worn an said, " and the dame can't possibly fail to come and take it. You only have to wait. But see to it that you don't open the box and look in." While he was thus conversing, this Tosuke's retinue saw no woman. They just saw their chief get down off his horse and stand there for no apparent reason. They thought it strange. When Tosuke had taken the box, the woman went away again. Afterwards he remounted and rode on, but when he got down to Mino he forgot and passed the bridge without delivering the box, remembered when he reached home, and thought how inconvenient it was not to have delivered that box. Now he would have to make a special trip to look her up and deliver it. And he put it on top of a pile of things in the storeroom. But Tosuke's wife was a person of an extremely jealous disposition, and when Tosuke put the box up, his wife inadvertently saw him and was convinced that he had bought this box in the capital, brought it down on purpose to give to some woman, and was evidently trying to hide it from herself. So when Tosuke stepped out, his wife secretly took down the box and opened it. Inside she saw several gouged-out eyes and a lot of male genitalia with a few capilli adhering. The wife was scared out of her wits and called distractedly to Tosuke as he came back in. When she showed him, Tosuke said, " More bad luck! What an inconvenient thing to have happen/ After being told not to look!" Tosuke got the cover on somehow, tied the box up as before, and started at once for the bridge the woman had indicated. Sure enough, a dame appeared. Tosuke handed her the box and told her what the woman had said. The dame took it but remarked, " This box has been opened and looked into." Tosuke denied having done any such thing, but the dame was in a very ugly temper and said, " What an outrage!" Furious though she was, she however accepted the box and Tosuke returned home. Afterwards Tosuke said he was not feeling quite as usual and lay down. To his wife he said, " I was told in so many words not to open it. By foolishly opening the box to look — " and in no time he was dead.

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HOW KI TOSUKE MET A GHOST-WOMAN

Yes, the empty suspicions of a jealous wife can be as disastrous as this for her husband. It was because of jealousy that

that Tosuke unexpectedly and irrevocably lost his Hie. That even while making allowances for a woman's nature all who heard of this occurrence blamed the wife is the tale that has been handed down.

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How Ex-Emperor En-yus Rat-Day Was Attended by Sone Yoshitada AGES AGO, just after his abdication, ex-emperor En-yu decided to go for a Rat-day outing to a place called Funaoka. After leaving his residence on Horikawa, his ex-majesty proceeded west along Ni-jd to Omiya, then along Omiya. The route was packed tight with spectators' ox-carts. The apparel of top-rank court functionaries was beyond description. At the south main-gate of the Urin-in his ex-majesty was transferred to his imperial horse, and upon his reaching Murasalci-no, there among the scattered clumps of small pines on the north face of Funaoka artificial streams were set Sowing. Stones had been placed, pebbles strewn, an awning of Chinese brocade erected, bamboo blinds hung, a wooden floor laid, and even a balustrade constructed, the elegance of which passed all bounds. In addition, a curtain of matching brocade had been drawn all the way around. Closest to the imperial presence were the seats of top-ranJc court functionaries. Next came the courtiers' seats. At the end of the courtiers' seats, alongside the curtain, were seats for Japanese-poem composers. When his ex-majesty had taken his place, the top-rank officials and the courtiers seated themselves as directed. Meanwhile the poets were summoned and all bowed themselves in. When told to be seated they approached one by one as directed and took their seats. The poets were Onakatomi Yoshinobu, Taira Kanemori, Kiyohara Motosuke, Minamoto Shigeyuki, and Ki Tokibumi. These five had previously received 96

EX-EMPEROR EN-YO'S RAT-DAY OUTING a circular letter from his ex-majesty. They had been told to bring compositions and all had come dressed and capped for the occasion. Not long a iter they had seated themselves, in came an old man wearing an eboshi and a nondescript clove-dyed hunting coat. He took his place at the end of the poets' row. Those present wondered who this could be, and upon closer inspection saw that it was Sone Yoshitada. " Why, what's Sotan doing here?" the courtiers queried privately, and when questioned to this effect Sotan replied, " The mood was on me, so I came." Then the courtiers asked the arbiter of rites and ceremonies if Sotan had been invited to attend, and the arbiter replied that there had been no such invitation. They then inquired around as to whether outsiders had been notified, but could Snd no evidence that they had been. As a result, the arbiter of rites and ceremonies came up in back of where Sotan was sitting and asked: " Sir, why did you come when not invited? " Sotan replied, " I heard that poets had been told to come and so I came. Why shouldn't I have come? Am I any less a poet than these other masters who came? " From this the arbiter was convinced that the fellow had simply pushed his way in uninvited. " Why did you come uninvited? " he said again. " Leave at once." But even when ordered out he still did not budge. Then such men as ex-minister Fujiwara Okikaze, ex-general Fujiwara Asamitsu, Hokoin no Otodo, were apprised of the situation. They recommended taking hold of his coat collar and dragging him out. Whereupon a number of bold young lowerrank courtiers came up behind Sotan, reached their hands in under the curtain, seized the collar of Sotan's hunting-coat, got him down on his back, and then dragged him outside the curtain. Next these courtiers took turns kicking until they had gone seven or eight times around. Then Sotan somehow gave them the slip and got up and ran, whereupon the courtiers' young attendants and small page boys started after the Seeing Sotan and gave chase, clapping their hands and laughing. They made as much noise as if chasing a runaway horse. Watching them, 97

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the crowd both young and old automatically joined in and swelled the roar of laughter past all bounds. Sotan ran for a side-peak, climbed to the top and looked back, then facing his laughing pursuers he lifted his voice and said, " You have no cause to laugh and I have no cause for shame. Hear my side now/ That his retired majesty was coming out for Rat-day and that poets were invited is what Yoshitada heard and so he came and took a seat. Quick as biting a chestnut he was chased out, then kicked. What shame to that? " This speech was received by high, middle, and low with a roar of laughter. After which, Sotan just slipped away. At the time, everyone made a joke of this episode, and persons of humble origin were placed at an added disadvantage. Yoshitada did compose poems, but that it was a mistake for him to go uninvited because he heard that poets were invited and thus lay himself open to shame and general derision and make himself a fable for future generations is the tale that has been handed down.

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When Chikuzen-Governor Fujiwara Akiie's Samurai Forgot Himself AGES AGO, there was a man called Chikuzen ex-governor Fujiwara Akiie. This man's father was called Sadato. He had been governor of Chikuzen too. When this lord Akiie was still too young for office, was called master Yotsuro, and lived as household dependent, there was a handsome and pompous samurai with long shiny whiskers and a soldierly bearing who went by the name of Yorikata. Now once while Akiie was a dependent, a band of samurai dropped by, transacted such business as they had, and then ate. After they had finished eating, and when Akiie was removing the remnants and the chief of the fed samurai was sorting these remnants and gradually getting them apportioned, Yorikata came up. There was now little left in the original vessels but when Yorikata pointed to the remnants the chief, with provincial courtesy, said, " Please have what is in my bowl." Then with the samurai all looking on, Yorikata took their chief's bowl and instead of transferring the contents to his own bowl, absent-mindedly started gobbling straight out of the chief's bowl. The provincials saw this and exclaimed, " Look! He's eating straight out of your honor's bowl." Yorikata then remembered, and realizing what a really terrible slip he had made, was so overcome that he spat his mouthful of rice back into the chief's dish. Having only just seen him eat out of the bowl, both the samurai and their chief now saw him contaminate it. And as he spat the mouthful of rice mixed with saliva into the bowl, some of it managed to cling to his long 99

TALES OF JAPAN whiskers. He tried hard to wipe it off but made a very poor job of it. As the provincial samurai stood watching, they must have laughed to themselves. How could Yorikata ever have been so forgetful? Originally he had been regarded as a very able soldier, but after this even his reputation as a soldier suffered, and he acquired the nickname "Oko" or" Alas!" To judge from the above, even a soldier can appear foolish if he lets his mind wander. That whatever a man may be, it behooves him to keep his wits about him is consequently the tale that has been handed down.

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How in Mutsu Province a Dog-and-Mountain Dog Bit to Death a Big Snake AGES AGO, in Mutsu province, [2 character lacuna] district, there lived a man of humble family who Jcept numerous dogs in his house, regularly took these dogs with him into the deep mountains to track down boar and stag, and made hunting his full-time occupation. The dogs themselves, having been systematically trained to prey on boar and stag, would joyfully take their proper places front or back when their master went into the mountains. Such is the work commonly termed " dog-andmountain." Upon one occasion this man had as usual gone with his dogs into the mountains. He had equipped himself in advance with food and other necessities. Since two or three days' work was to be done in thé mountains he would stay in the mountains. That night he lay in the hollow of a big tree, with rustic bow, quiver, and great-sword by his side, a fire burning in front, and his dogs all lying around it. Now among his numerous dogs there was one particularly bright dog which had been with him for years, and at dead of night, as all the other dogs lay there, this one dog suddenly sprang up, stared at the hollow tree where his master was lying, and set up a tremendous barking. The master wondered what it was barking at and looked all around but could see nothing for it to bark at. When the dog still did not stop barking and then kept jumping in its master's direction as it barked, the master took alarm. " There is nothing in sight for this dog to 101

TALES OF JAPAN bark at, and yet it jumps in my direction and barks. Any animal is a stranger to its master, and this dog would certainly appear to be thinking of devouring me in these deserted mountains. I have a mind to kill the fellow," he thought. He drew his greatsword. Though in fear of it, the dog, undaunted, never stopped jumping and barking. "If the fellow should get his teeth into me in any such cramped hollow as this it would be bad," the master thought and jumped out of the hollow tree. But as he /umped the dog leapt above the hollow where he had been lying and bit at something there. Then the master thought, "If I myself had been what it meant to bite, it would not have barked," and just as he was looking to see what the fellow could have bitten, down from above the hollow dropped something ponderous. This the dog caught in its teeth to prevent escape, and when the master looked, there lay a snake six or seven inches in diameter and more than twenty feet long. The snake had had its head so painfully bitten by the dog as to lose its grip and drop. When the master looked at it and saw what an utterly terrible thing it was, he admired the dog's courage, and his great-sword was used to kill the snake. Not until he had killed it did the dog let go. Only to think that unbeknown to him there had been a big snake in a hollow way up at the top of his big tall tree and that it had been about to swallow him as he lay there! And to think that this dog had seen the snake's head descending and had jumped and barked/ And that he, the master, had failed to take in the situation and look up, had simply supposed that the dog was bent on devouring him. To think that he had drawn his great-sword to kill the dog! If he had actually killed the dog, how he would have repented it! Such thoughts would not let him sleep, and when dawn came and he saw the dimensions of the snake, he certainly felt more dead than alive. " I f , while I lay sleeping, this snake had come down and got its coils on me, what could I have done? This dog's fine performance must surely be some accrual to me from another life," he thought, and took his dogs and returned home. To judge from the above, if he had actually killed the dog, 102

DOG AND SNAKE IN MUTSU PROVINCE

not only would the dog have died, but the master himself would afterwards have been swallowed by the snake. And some such thing is what you would naturally expect to have happen. But that such an unheard-of thing is what did happen is the tale that has been handed down.

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Tsunekiyo Yasunaga's Fuha-Barrier Dream about His Wife at the Capital AGES AGO, there was a person called Tsunekiyo Yasunaga. He was under-steward to a man designated as Prince-imperial Koietaka. Now Yasunaga had gone down to Kotsuke province to levy upon this prince's fief, and after years and months of it was returning. On his way up to the capital he lodged for the night at Fuha-barrier in Mino province. Now Yasunaga had a young wife at the capital and during all those months down in the province he had been very much worried about her. On top of this, he suddenly realized how much he loved her, and it was with the intention of hurrying off at daybreak regardless of anything that he lay down at the barrier inn and went to sleep. In a dream that Yasunaga had, he saw people coming from the direction of the capital by torchlight. A boy was carrying the torch and he had a lady with him. As Yasunaga was wondering who these arrivals might be, he saw them come past the room where he was lying. The escorted lady was that very wife of his at the capital about whom he had been worrying! " What sort of work is this? " he thought with dismay. Their sleeping quarters were separated by a wall. Peeping through a hole in this wall, Yasunaga could see this boy and his wife side by side. In no time, she had taken a pot, boiled some rice, and was eating with this boy. As Yasunaga watched them he thought, " My own wife, and during my absence she has got herself married to this boy I" His liver rebelled, his heart pounded, he was all upset. He decided, however, to watch what

YASUNAGA'S FUHA-BARRIER DREAM they would do next. After they had finished eating he could see the pair, his wife and this boy, put their arms about each other and lie down. Presently they embraced. When Yasunaga saw this, malice surged up and he dashed in there. He looked, but there was no longer any light. " Nobody here," he thought, and awoke. That it had just been a dream he realized, but as he lay there he became more and more anxious about what might actually be happening at the capital. Then the moment day broke he started out at top speed, turning night into noon, reached the capital, and went home. When he found his wife quite all right he was content. But the moment Yasunaga's wife saw him, she laughed. "Last night," she said, "I dreamed that a strange boy came here and enticed me away with him. We went to some unimaginable place. It was night and he carried a torch. There was an empty room and we went in, cooked rice and the pair of us ate it, the boy and I, and after that the pair of us lay down. Then suddenly both the boy and I seemed to hear a noise and I woke up. And while I was still lying here worrying, you came in." Then Yasunaga told her what he had dreamed, how he had worried, had turned night into noon and come at top speed. His wife listened in amazement. To judge from the above, both husband and wife must have dreamed the same thing at the same time, truly an extraordinary thing. That mutual anxiety should have made them dream as they did and dream so circumstantially seems incredible. But the intensity of a man's anxiety for wife and child when away on business is incalculable. That what caused them to dream as they did was extreme concern is the tale that has been handed down.

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Two Brothers Plant Day-Lilies and Asters AGES AGO, there was a man living in [2 character lacuna] province, [2 character lacuna] district, who had two sons. W h e n their father died, both sons mourned him with affection. Some years elapsed but they never forgot. In those first years after the departed's burial, buried though he was, the sons still paid respects to their parent at the customary times. They would go to his grave, shed tears, tell of their grief and sorrow, talk as if to a living parent, and then go home. Meanwhile, as the years and months piled up, both sons took service in the government, and when this made it unbearably hard to attend to private matters, the elder brother reflected, " Much to my regret, I can think of no [1 character lacuna] way. A plant called day-lily or forgetting-grass, I am told, will make anyone who looks at it forget." He decided to try planting this forgetting-grass beside the grave, and did plant it. Afterwards, when the younger brother went as usual to ask the elder brother if he would be paying the customary visit to their father's grave, the elder brother proved simply too busy to go with him. The younger brother thought this very heartless of the elder brother. "Surely it devolves on both of us to cherish our father's memory day and night. But if my brother has forgotten, then it is my job to cherish our parent all the more and not forget. A plant called the aster, I am told, will so impress a thing on the mind of anyone looking at it that he can never forget." As a result, asters were what he planted beside the grave, and when he kept going regularly to look at them it became more and more impossible to forget. For years and months he paid these visits until finally upon 106

TWO BROTHERS PLANT DAY-LILIES AND ASTERS

one occasion he seemed to hear a voice coming from inside the grave. " I am the spirit that guards the skeleton of your father," it said. " Fear not. I plan to look after you as well." The younger brother listened, too awe-struck to reply, and the spirit spoke again: " Despite the passing of time, your devotion to your parent has not altered. Your brother, whose grief appeared to equal yours, has planted forgetting-grass and already feels the effect of looking at it. You who planted asters and looked at them have felt the effect of those. I admire your loving devotion to your parent, and, being cognizant of the good and evil that each day holds, may be counted upon henceforth to reveal to you in dreams whatever appears to be to your advantage," and the voice ceased. Through his tears, the younger brother rejoiced without measure, and after that he invariably dreamed what a day held in store for him. His being given knowledge of everything good or bad as relating to himself is no mystery. It was due to his loyal devotion to his father. Hence that a fortunate man will plant asters and look at them regularly and that an unfortunate man will plant day-lilies and look at them regularly is the tale that has been handed down.

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BACKGROUND POINTS SOURCES AND RELATED TEXTS BIBLIOGRAPHY

Background Points Tale 1 . Vakkula's Good Deed The C Y C L E of Buddhist cosmogony corresponds roughly to the geologic epoch of modern science, and the great cycle to an astronomic epoch. Like Gotama of the seventh and sixth centuries B.C., we of the twentieth century A.D. would be described as living in the second great cycle, second period (i.e., " perfection," or as A. K. Reischauer terms it, " inhabitation," Studies in Japanese Buddhism, p. 200), ninth of the twenty cycles of increase, during which a man's life-expectancy rises from 10 years to 80,000 before the cycles of decrease set in. Buddha VIPACIN stands as Gotama's hypothetical counterpart in a previous world-cycle corresponding to the present cycle. His lifelegend as given in Digha Nikaya: Mahapadana Suttanta, with Buddha as narrator, practically duplicates the Gotama legend itself, except that Vipacin attains enlightenment without the two preliminary stages, namely, after simply thinking the chain of causation through first backwards and then forwards. (Rhys-Davids, T. W . and C. A. F., Dialogues of the Buddha, part II, pp. 4 - 4 1 . ) HARITAKA, bot. terminalia chebula, is described in Bukkyo Daijiten, the " Buddhist encyclopedia," as a tree native to India, having white blossoms and a yellow fruit the size of a large jujube, the pulp of which anciently had multiple uses as a drug, like " our " ginseng. Legend says that a haritaka fruit was first brought down by Indra (Cowell, E. B., trans., Buddha-Karita, Sacred Books of the East, vol. 49, part I, p. 166). Also that when physician Jivaka died, haritaka was the only medicinal plant that did not weep. Of the others, physician Jivaka had alone known the special properties, but as a cure-all haritaka might still expect to be prescribed. (Chavannes, Cinq Cents Contes, no. 189.) In old Japan, haritaka was a staple drug. The Shoso-in at Nara, treasury of objects in daily use at the court of Emperor Shomu, 724-748, inventories it as no. 38 of 60 Indian drugs stored in 21

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lacquered boxes, " 1,000 pieces." ("Medicine in Ancient Japan," by Keizo Dohi, The Young East, October and November 1926.) But Vakkula lived where it grew, and his good deed was a very small act of kindness, less than the loan of an aspirin. Such small acts of kindness, not great virtues, were however what qualified for the Tusita heaven, as disciple Moggalana discovered upon his visit to it. (E. W . Burlingame, Buddhist Legends, vol. Ill, pp. 107, 108.) The VERY LARGE FISH seems first to have come into Vakkula's life by etymology. The Pali form of his name, if split into Ba-kula, could mean " two houses." To him might then be assigned the story of a baby that was swallowed out of the nurse's hands at Kosambi while being bathed in the Jumna and was subsequently rescued at Benares in a councilor's kitchen, claimed by his own family, and made by royal decree the son of both houses. It is found so assigned in the life-sketch which precedes the poem credited to Vakkula in the Therigatha collection. (Mrs. T. W . Rhys-Davids, Psalms of the Early Buddhists, vol. II, p. 159.) From Chinese versions the etymological link has, quite naturally, disappeared. Kitchen-rescue is typical of the Jonah motif in India, the classical instance being that of Kama, god of love. After rebirth as Krishna's son, Kama turns up in the kitchen of Sambara, who had tried to drown him (Hitopadesa, p. 40). The motif itself is a favorite. In Somadeva's vast stories-within-stories collection of about Konjaku date, Katha Sarit Sagara, the swallowing even of adults becomes a stock episode. Once a ship with all on board is swallowed, as in Lucian's True History, though in the Indian case no countries exist inside the fish. (The Ocean of Story, C. H. Tawney's translation of Somadeva's work, ed. N. M. Penzer, 10 vols., London, 1924-1928.) That Vakkula GOT HIS GROWTH and went where Buddha was may sound as though he left home young, but traditionally he did not The Therigatha life-sketch and other Pali works show him first entering the order at eighty. Existing anecdotes all hinge on friction with younger monks, followed by Buddha's intervention. When a younger monk refused him admission, Buddha accorded it. When others plagued him, Buddha helped him to arhatship. When the lot of them complained that he only meditated but never preached, and Indra himself came down as in Tale 5, Buddha made a prediction. (Schmidt, Dsanglun, sec. 4, chap. X V , p. 127; Huber, Sutralamkara, p. 205.) Vakkula must have been around one hundred and sixty when, without ever preaching, he made his one convert, the ascetic Acela Kagapa. The " Bakkula Sutra " tells of Kagapa's visiting the bamboo grove at Rajagaha to consult Vakkula about combating concupiscence. Vakkula simply informs Kajapa that during his eighty years as a recluse no thoughts of lust, malevolence, or the desire to hurt

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had arisen in him, that he had not had so much as a rash, or compromised in the least detail respecting association with women, even woman recluses, or respecting bodily comfort. In a week Kaçapa is himself an arhat. (Chalmers, Further Dialogues of the Buddha, Sacred Books of the Buddhists, vol. V I , pp. 226-229.) ARHATSHIP, the state of enlightenment, carried with it certain supernatural powers, notably performance of the miraculous transformations and ability to enter nirvana at a moment of one's own choosing, as Vakkula himself does at the end of the Bakkula Sutra. Old Japan's idea of how arhats looked will be familiar to amateurs of Japanese painting. How they felt is conjectured by T. W . Rhys-Davids: " Arhatship is no doubt an end in itself. It is a state of bliss unspeakable. But it is also an escape from the whirlpool of rebirths. . . ." (Buddhism: Its History and Literature, P- 155-) The THREE J E W E L S , or three treasures, were Buddha, his teachings, and his monastic community. The six PERFECTIONS (paramita) were liberality (dam), righteousness (sila), forbearance or endurance (ksanti), mental strength (virya), mental concentration (dhyana, " z e n " ) , realization of the truth (prajna). The number was latterly raised to ten. (Nalinakasha Dutt, Early Monastic Buddhism, vol. II, p. 300. )

Vakkula through the Ages In the Pali canon, Vakkula's attributes are, as in Konjaku, health and longevity. Buddha once even brackets Vakkula's health with Moggalana's magic powers and Sariputra's wisdom: " The chief, O brethren, among those who are disciples of mine, in the matter of bodily health is Bakkula." (F. L. Woodward, trans., Book of the Gradual Sayings, vol. I, p. 20.) This saying is later quoted by India's Greek king Menander (Milinda), who asks the sage Nagasena if it does not make Vakkula superior to the buddha. In the process of resolving this dilemma, Vakkula's good health is ascribed not to his having eased one monk's aching head, but to his having healed both the buddha Anoma-Dassi and the buddha Vipacin, along with his 68,000 disciples. (Rhys-Davids, trans., The Questions of King Milinda, Dilemma 43, Sacred Books of the East, vol. 36, pp. 8-12.) In the Sanskrit Divyavadana, however, we find Vakkula described to Emperor Açoka simply as the disciple of fewest impediments. Açoka's own conversion had, of course, not lacked impediments. His donation at the Vakkula stupa was small. ( " Un don dérisoire," J. Przyluski terms it in La Légende de l'Empereur Açoka, Paris, 1923. E. Burnouf translates the episode entire, Introduction à l'Histoire du Buddhisme Indien, 1844; 2nd éd., Paris, 1876, p. 349.)

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Vakkula appears in three of eleventh-century Japan's most read sutras. In the Lotus Sutra he appears as one of the 26 eminent disciples present at Buddha's final giving of the law, and again as one of 500 arhats destined to become buddhas, only 10 of whom are actually named. In the Larger Sukhavati-Vyuha, he is one of the 34 great disciples present at Buddha's dialogue with Ananda and Agita on an accessible land of bliss. In the Smaller he is one of 16 arhats present at Buddha's dialogue with Sariputra on the same subject. (Hendrik Kern, trans., Saddharma Pundarika, Sacred Books of the East, vol. 21, pp. 2,198; F. Max Miiller, trans., vol. 49, part II, pp. 2, 90.) Statues of the 500 arhats were a common item of temple furniture. In modern times, we find Vakkula still able to cure a headache, geographer Alexander Cunningham's. The headache was Kosambi. Cunningham had mapped countless Buddhist sites but not until he came upon the Singhalese version of the Ba-kula, two-house, story in Spence Hardy's Manual of Budhism did he have any idea where to put Kosambi. Above Benares on the Jumna he then found a hamlet with the suggestive name of Kosam. It had suitable ruins. (Ancient Geography of India, pp. 394-395; Manual of Budhism [sic], p. 501.)

Tale 2. King Prasenajit's Daughter Vajra the Deformed PRASENAJIT was king of Kosala (modern Nepal) in Buddha's day, i.e., late sixth and early fifth centuries B.C. SRAVASTI, his capital city, would thus have heard Buddha teach by dialogue somewhat before Athens heard Socrates. In Early Monastic Buddhism, Mr. Dutt counts twenty-one rainy reason retreats spent by Buddha and his disciples at Prasenajit's vihara, or wanderers' shelter, " in addition to many visits paid to it at other times." Sravasti is the scene of more dialogues than any other one place. Many have the king as collocutor, one the queen herself. (See Warren, Buddhism in Translations, pp. 228-231.) And, in turn, it is from the Dialogues and other Pali works that scholars have derived the events of Prasenajit's reign as now found, for example, in the Cambridge History of India, vol. I. Twelve centuries later than the time of Tale 2, the Chinese pilgrim Hsiian-tsang was still shown ruins of the king's palace and of the " great hall of the law he built for Buddha." LADY MALLIKA, according to Chavannes, Contes, no. 441, was slave in a garland merchant's garden before she became queen. One day the king paused in her garden, tired from the hunt. The name " Mallika " perpetuates her association with jasmine. One anecdote about her in the Dhammapada commentary tells

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BACKGROUND POINTS how, when Ananda recited the law to Prasenajit's two queens, " of the two queens Mallika learned thoroughly, rehearsed faithfully and heeded her teacher's instruction. But Vasabhakhattiya did not learn thoroughly, nor did she rehearse faithfully, nor was she able to master the instruction she received." (Burlingame, Buddhist Legends, vol. II, pp. 58-59.) Another gives a bath incident which had obliged Lady Mallika to resort to deceit, with the result that when she died she was briefly reborn in a hell. Buddha is represented as having avoided Prasenajit until the news of her whereabouts was better. (Ibid., pp. 340-342.) The SIXTEEN GREAT KINGDOMS of Buddhist times — Anga, Magadha, Kasi, Kosala, Vajji, Malla, Ceti, Vanga, Kuru, Pancala, Maccha, Surasena, Assaka, Avanti, Gandhara, Kamboja (E. R. J. Gooneratne, Anguttara Nikaya, Ceylon, 1913, p. 233) —mark the city-state stage which was to terminate in the third century B.C. with Anoka's empire. The period was one of lurid dynastic crimes not unlike those of Greek tragedy and Shakespeare: patricide, fratricide, such things as Devadatta's attempt to kill Buddha himself. Exceptionally, Prasenajit's own rise involved no family murders, but his fall follows the typical pattern: suspicion and reprisal, loss of his crown by treachery. (See Nilmani Chakravarti's article " The End of Prasenajit, King of Kosala," based on data from the commentary on Dhammapada, verse 3, ch. IV.) The king, it seems, had appointed as commander-in-chief an acquaintance from his student days at the university of Taxila. Following a court conspiracy, the king had him killed, later regretted the act, and took his nephew into service. During a subsequent campaign, Prasenajit left his army encampment to visit Buddha nearby at Ulumpa, depositing prown, sword, and other insignia of royalty at the monastery gate. Making off with these, his bodyguard invested his son, leaving Prasenajit only his horse. On this he rode to Rajagaha, found the gate closed, and died during the night in a hut outside. The SKIN condition described is known to modern medicine as " ichthydermatitis." In August 1952 the American press carried reports of a congenital case in England being cured by hypnosis, one limb at a time, when the boy sufferer was twelve. The HAIR, curling to the left, was demon hair. Buddha's curled to the right. H. C. Warren, Buddhism in Translations, gives the story of Buddha taking his sword and cutting off his topknot at the time of the great retirement. " His hair thus became two fingerbreadths in length, and curling to the right, lay close to his head. As long as he lived it remained of that length, and the beard was proportionate. And never again did he have to cut either hair or beard " (p. 66). The lock shown Hsiian-tsang as a Buddha relic is described as dark auburn in color: " The hair turns to the right;

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BACKGROUND POINTS drawing it out, it is about a foot long; when folded up it is only about half an inch." (Beal, Si-yu-ki, vol. I, p. 67.) For further legends regarding Buddha's hair, see the H&bogirin entry " Buppatsu," where the color is given as blue-black. Princess V A J R A appears in the Dialogues simply as a loved daughter. " Are you fond, sire, of your only daughter, the princess Vajiri? " queen asks king. (Chalmers, trans., Further Dialogues of the Buddha, part II, p. 58.) And to judge from certain Jataka commentary data (Cambridge History, vol. I, p. 1 8 1 ) , she did marry one of the sixteen great kings, her father's neighbor and defeated foe, the king of Magadha. Kamo Chomei's TEN-FOOT-SQUARE HUT was literature of the next period, date 1 2 1 2 , but the term already had Buddhist connotations. This was the size of shelter prescribed for wilderness-dwelling hermits, and a monastery superior's quarters had come to be so called. Similar COMPLICATIONS had faced the father of Uppalavana, one of Buddha's two chief woman disciples: for her beauty, princes from all over India wooed her, and it was to save her father the hazards of choosing that she had originally become a nun. Historically, Prasenajit's vow was a Brahman sacrifice vow, made when everything depended upon the turn of a battle, and it involved the slaughter of large numbers of oxen rather than anything resembling a Japanese ho-e, or continuous sutra-reading, the expression used. The lady Mallika and two of the king's sisters were Buddhists, but, strictly speaking, the king himself was not. Brahmans remained his official religionists. Evidence of possible Brahman hostility to the Buddhist queen appears in Chavannes, Contes, no. 498, that curious ragbag of archaic themes which circulated so widely in Europe during the Middle Ages as the Dreams of Prasenajit. (For literature on its components and travels see Chavannes, Contes, vol. IV, pp. 213-220, and Gudzy, Early Russian Literature, New York, 1949, p. 186, footnote.) Here Brahmans interpret the dreams in such a way as to make the lady Mallika's death appear advisable. For a final boon she however asks to be allowed to see Buddha, who explains the dreams otherwise. A SHAKKA (lifetime) BUDDHA MANIFESTATION similar to Vajra's is described in Burlingame's Buddhist Legends, vol. Ill, p. 263. Here Buddha " sent forth a radiant image of himself" and " caused intense joy and satisfaction to spring up within the monk," who " attained Arahatship, together with the Supernatural Powers." In the Vajra story as known to Hsiian-tsang, a formal evocation had apparently been substituted for the type of appeal found in Konjaku and related texts. In visiting the cave where Buddha " left his shadow," it seems that Hsiian tried various approaches but

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only succeeded in seeing the shadow when he recited the " stanzas " which had brought Prasenajit's daughter her vision of Buddha " suspended in space, sending forth radiance on all sides, displaying to her his incomparable form." (Arthur Waley, The Real Tripitaka, p. 28.) T o REVILE comes sixth among the ten wrongs as listed in Further Dialogues (Chalmers, trans., part I, p. 345). Of these, three concern the body: murder, theft, lust; four concern speech: equivocation, lying, reviling, and flattery; three relate to thought: envy, anger, ignorance. Avadana Cataka examples of compensation-rebirth with a foul odor for speaking ill are as follows (Léon Feer's translation, Annales du Musée Guimet, vol. 1 8 ) : p. 184, for slandering other nuns; pp. 190-194, with a repulsive appearance as well for reviling an arhat (the Vajra story); pp. 401-404, through 500 rebirths for reviling an arhat. Another sufferer from an evil smell that nothing can eradicate is a queen in Tawney's The Ocean of Story (vol. I l l , p. 6 1 ) . She is confined in a lonely palace in the middle of a forest and regards her fate as the result of evil actions in a former life. Further refinement of the penalty appears in Burlingame, Buddhist Legends, vol. I, p. 33: rebirth as a fish with a bad breath. REPENTANCE is not indexed in Warren, Buddhism in Translations, although confession appears in the monastic ritual of reading the precepts and proclaiming innocency. " If a priest remember having committed a sin, and desire again to be pure, let him reveal the sin he committed, and when it has been revealed, it shall be well for h i m " (p. 405). For confession, " t h e priests retired two and two together." According to de Visser, Ancient Buddhism in Japan, p. 255: " Evidently the Indian Buddhists laid stress upon the value of confession and asking forgiveness, whereas in China repentance, as the cause of confession, was deemed the main point." See also the sutra quotation, p. 257: " All those who wish to be reborn in a happy state instead of as animals or unhappy men must repent and not hide their evil deeds."

Tale 3. How Preceptor Bodhidharma Toured India Observing the Acts of Monks FIVE INDIES is the T'ang term for India. T h e " sixteen great kingdoms " of Buddha's day, and of Tale 2, had built up to an empire, and by Bodhidharma's time, nearly a thousand years later, had atomized again. There were now seventy or more, and " five" merely represented a geographical division into North, East, West,

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BACKGROUND POINTS Central, and South. On the origin of the name India, i.e., Yin-tu, and its mapping off into these divisions, see On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629-645 A.D., by Thomas Waiters (London, 1904; China, 1938), vol. I, pp. 1 3 1 ® , and Cunningham's Ancient Geography of India, pp. 7 - 1 0 . That the GO PLAYERS episode should have been retold in Homotsu-shu, a collection of the year 1 1 7 8 , and transcribed in Ujishiii ( 1 2 — ) , is of interest in view of Japan's subsequent long line of celebrated monk G o players and teachers. Traditionally, the oldest recorded board was played by sect-founder Nichiren ( 1 2 2 2 1 2 8 2 ) and his disciple Nichiro. The G o champion who instructed all three members of Japan's triumvirate around 1600 was still a man with a monastic background. Like chess or checkers, G o uses a chequered board. In the autumn of 1956, the youngest freshman ever admitted to Harvard appeared on newspaper front pages holding one. In Japan this board has 19 horizontal and 19 vertical lines; 180 black pieces, 180 white are used in the play. These are called " stones." They are round and flat, Ya inch in diameter, Y4 inch thick, the white made of shells or conches, the black of fine stone. The bottom of the board is slightly hollowed so that their placing will produce a pleasing sound. G o is a game of territory. A stone surrounded by stones of the opposite color is captured, or " dead," and is removed. Its space is added to the captor's territory, and the stone itself may later be put back into play to hold territory for him. Three types of Go board are preserved in the Shoso-in at Nara (eighth century). For a complete treatment of Go, ancient and modern, see Fukumensi Mihori, Japanese Game of " Go," Tourist Library, no. 27 (Board of Tourist Industry, Japanese Government Railways, 1 9 3 9 ) . ENLIGHTENMENT, sudden complete realization of the futility of everything, came in strange ways. In Chavannes, Contes, no. 120, three monks compare experiences: one had attained it at a vintage, another when he heard the rattling of a woman's bracelets, the third when he saw a lotus pool trampled by men and horses. For other examples see notes to no. 120 in Contes, vol. I V , pp. 144, 145. Against THIEVES, and sleep is often termed a " t h i e f " in Buddhist texts, Buddha had counseled his disciples to cry out. The occasion is Chavannes's Contes, no. 183. Thieves had stolen the robes and begging bowls of 500 monks as they sat meditating, and Buddha said that another time they were to " pousser de grands cris." VILLAGERS also came to the rescue of Hsiian-tsang in a crisis. In 633, when his party was beset by robbers in the Punjab, Hsuan and one young monk slipped out of the trap, ran, and came upon a Brahman plowing. When this Brahman went to the nearest village and blew on his conch, eighty villagers appeared and, seizing

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any weapons available, dashed to the rescue. (Waley, The Real Tripitaka, pp. 34-35.) If it could be, SINCE A SAGE WAS BEING MURDERED would sound like a sly reference to a witty tale about a not too bright monk in the Pali Jataka. The SEVEN TREASURES OF WISDOM listed in Dialogues of the Buddha (Rhys-Davids, trans., part III, p. 235) are faith, morals, conscientiousness, discretion, learning, self-denial, insight. SLEEP, as Spence Hardy points out, is a major hazard of meditation, especially in the Indian climate. Hence the combating of sleep is basic. But if the old hermit went for years with none at all he was out-waking Buddha, who is said to have slept three and one third hours a night. In legend, Bodhidharma and the old hermit appear to have become telescoped. It is Bodhidharma who drowses while meditating. He plucks at his eyebrows and tea plants spring up where the hairs fall, a boon to all future meditators. A MADMAN, of Sravasti, is described in Beal's Catena (p. 357). He thought he had lost his head and was running after it. But Bodhidharma's monk had apparently made himself mad by trying to understand the doctrine of the six ways or destinations. To this doctrine neither Japan nor China was ever very hospitable. On it, de Visser cites only one or two sutra passages regarding alms in behalf of parents or near ancestors for whom the preta, or famished demon birth, was feared, i.e., the rebirth associated with avarice or greed. (Ancient Buddhism in Japan, Leiden, 1935.) In China, at a conference on Buddhism called by the first T'ang emperor, the Confucians flatly declared that the " six states of being " into which the souls of men might be born were entirely fictitious. (Edkins, Chinese Buddhism, p. 115.) The term THREE WORLDS is sometimes used in the general sense of " this mundane sphere." Specifically, the Buddhist three worlds were of color (desire), form, and formlessness, a metaphysical equivalent of the Brahmanic three worlds of earth, atmosphere, and heaven. In the stupa of Agoka's time the square plinth was the world of men; the dome, heaven; and the three-forked flame, the world of space. ASURA is often translated " titan " on the basis of Indian mythology. For the war of Devas and Asuras see Burlingame, Buddhist Legends, vol. I, pp. 319s. For a detailed discussion of the term see the Hdbdgirin entry " Ashura." Bodhidharma in India Back in 1925, when Sakai Kohei attempted to alert Zen scholarship to the documentary aspect of Tale 3, he was apparently as unaware of Paul Pelliot's 1923 publication of a sixth-century per-

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sonal interview with Bodhidharma as Pelliot had been of Tale 3. Buried deep in an ultra-academic Japanese monograph, the hint dropped by Dr. Sakai would appear to have escaped the notice even of D. T . Suzuki. Pelliot's discovery, on the other hand, being buried no deeper than an article entitled " Notes sur Quelques Artistes des Six Dynasties et des T ' a n g " (T'oung Pao, 1923, pp. 253 ff), the second section of which " donnera en passant des informations sur le fameux temple de Chao-lin et sur Bodhidharma," was, in due time, processed by scholars, whose comments will be found summarized on p. 1 6 1 of Sir Charles Eliot's Japanese Buddhism (London, 1 9 3 5 ) . To these scholars, with only a Zen-school release of the year 1041 as yardstick, the Pelliot find yielded little beyond the datum that somewhere between the years 515 and 534 Bodhidharma was alive at the age of 150 and in China. Plus a natural explanation of the Chinese epithet " blue-eyed barbarian " and of the fact that Bodhidharma was always painted with blue eyes. (See the Southera Sung dynasty portrait preserved in Japan and reproduced Kokka, November 1929, p. 321.) Viewed in the light of Tale 3, however, the find yields a good deal more, for the flashback that this incredibly old Bodhidharma gives of his Indian wander-years now evokes the younger man. Taken together, the two documents add up to our first and only actual glimpse of Bodhidharma in India, a new sidelight on the genesis of his " inner Buddhism," and evidence of a link with West as well as East. That nothing was positively known about Bodhidharma previous to his arrival in China around A.D. 516, or was ever likely to be, remained for some years the consensus of scholarly opinion. No Sanskrit document or Chinese translation from the Sanskrit was discoverable, and there seemed little chance of anything new turning up in India. Those were troubled times for Indian Buddhism, persecution from without, schisms within, monks by the thousand fleeing to China before the rising tide of Tantrism. As for works original to China, until Pelliot called attention to Yang Hsiian-che's Lo-yang Monastery Records, A.D. 547, the earliest known mention of Bodhidharma had been in Tao-hsiian's " Memoirs of Eminent Priests Cont'd," A.D. 645. Here Tao-hsiian describes Bodhidharma as a meditation-master who had made known in the Lo-yang region under the Wei a meditation method called mural contemplation. He alludes to Bodhidharma items now lost, gives a version of the sermon discussed under Tale 12, but says nothing about Bodhidharma in India. The next mention is in a tenth-century work, " Old T'ang History," ch. 1 9 1 , quoted by Dr. Haga in connection with Tale 12. This work attempts to supply an Indian background for Bodhi-

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dharma by making him an Indian king's son who entered religion to avoid a succession wrangle, went to the South Seas, obtained the law of the dhyana (zen) school, left for China with its insignia, robe and begging bowl, reached Liang territory, had the Tale 1 2 misunderstanding with Emperor W u , then crossed to the W e i and lived in retreat at Shaolin Monastery until poisoned by the translator Bodhiruci who was also in residence there. Finally there is the " Transmission of the Lamp," 1 0 4 1 , which has the third son of the king of Kanchi (Conjeevaram) in South India take the name Bodhidharma, serve the patriarch Pradjnatara for forty years, succeed him, and in 5 1 6 leave by sea for Canton bearing the symbols of the patriarchate, Buddha's robe and begging bowl, thus becoming the first of six Chinese patriarchs and the last of twenty-eight Indian patriarchs, the first of whom, Kajapa, had received enlightenment direct from Buddha. Hypothetically, D . T . Suzuki attributes this " invention " to " a need felt during the formative period of the Zen school for establishing some chain of succession from Buddha to Bodhidharma." (Suzuki, Essays in Zen Buddhism, First Series, p. 156.) Curious as to the personal identity of the man who had given his artists some of their best subjects, Pelliot first followed up the clues found in " Old T'ang History " but could locate nothing in the annals either of W e i or of Liang. Even at Shaolin Monastery nothing earlier turned up than an inscription of the year 725, which mentioned Bodhidharma's having been there but did not list him among the monastery's " Ten Great." W h a t Pelliot later found out about those " ten g r e a t " will be noted in connection with Tale 1 2 . T h e lead contributed by Tao-hsiian's " Memoirs " did pay off, however. In Yang Hsiian-che's Lo-yang Monastery Records he found Bodhidharma mentioned under two temples, the personal interview with him under Yung-ning, a monastery adjacent to the imperial palace of the Wei. As the Yung-ning interview is transcribed by Pelliot, Yang Hsiian-che and the town prefect went up to Yung-ning one day. There present at the time was a monk from the west countries (i.e., India), who spoke of having originally come from the kingdom of Persia, gave his age as one hundred and fifty years (the figure also given by "Memoirs of Eminent Priests C o n t ' d " ) , and remarked as they viewed the marvels of the temple that he had traveled the various kingdoms in all directions (as in Tale 3) and that in all Jambudvipa (i.e., the world of men) there was no monastery so beautiful as this one. (Was Bodhidharma being careful to praise the W e i temple after having got into trouble by not praising Liang Emperor W u ' s ? ) Checking this interview against the " Transmission of the Lamp," scholars proceeded to point out: ( 1 ) that it verified the

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" Transmission " date for Bodhidharma's crossing to China, since the interview would necessarily have taken place between 515, when Yung-ning was built, and 534, when Lo-yang was abandoned by the Wei; and (2) that the Persian origin datum did not really conflict with the " Transmission " South-Indian-prince statement, since the Conjeevaram dynasty of that day was itself Persian, i.e., Pallava. The " Transmission " would, however, appear to be no very good reason for not taking literally what Bodhidharma is himself reported to have said. Why shouldn't he have started out from Persia to study Indian meditation techniques just as Hsiian-tsang started out from China a hundred or so years later to study scriptural texts? Hsiian-tsang's " Records " more than once mention a man with the Persian name Vimalamitra ( " -mitra" equals "-dharma") who also made an extensive tour of Indian monasteries, even if only to end in a heresy and sink to hell. If from Persia, Bodhidharma's procedure in observing meditation techniques will at once be seen to smack of the Aristotelian West. First watch your monk, then question him. Again, if from Persia, Bodhidharma would have come to China not from South India but through it, pausing in some one of its thousand monasteries for a hundred years or some fraction thereof, gathering disciples about him, sending one of them to China as we see him doing in Tale 12. Which would coincide with the evidence of a late popular error which no Western writer, not even Paul Pelliot, ever dreams of neglecting to mention. Namely, the confounding of Bodhidharma with the apostle Thomas, who is also " Tamo." Coupled, that is, with the still vigorous South Indian tradition of a visit from the apostle Thomas, as noticed, for example, in the National Geographic Magazine, February 1955. As to the documentary aspect of Tale 3, there are four points worth noting: ( 1 ) That in 645 Tao-hsiian appears to have had an ample Bodhidharma literature to draw upon for " Memoirs of Eminent Priests Cont'd." (2) That although Zen, as Zen, did not reach Japan until Eisai ( 1 1 4 1 - 1 2 1 5 ) brought it back from Southern Sung China and did not until then sweep the fashionable world, warriors, poets, artists, or produce the austere elegance of the tea ceremony, still there had been attempts made to introduce Bodhidharma's teaching, simply as such, during the first three centuries after his death, i.e., in 654 and 736, in 815 by a Chinese priest Giku, who was well received by emperor and empress, and in 858 by the Japanese monk Egaku. (3) That in those days no scholar-priest would have thought of coming to Japan from China without books, or have hoped to get listeners for " inner " Buddhism unless he had a few narratives that made as good listening as " outer " Buddhism's. And that out of such preacher material

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some fragment such as Tale 3 might at a pinch have survived into Konjaku times. (4) That similar chance survivals in Japan include not only T'ang and Sung dynasty art works but certain otherwise " lost" Buddhist scriptures.

Tale 4. How a Poor Woman in India Got the Lotus Sutra Copied Sutra-copying, if not in India, at least in old Japan, and the rewards hoped from it, have been studied in some detail by N. Tsuda of the Imperial Museum, Tokyo. It seems that the LOTUS SUTRA was often copied on a long roll wound about a central rod, then placed in a cylinder of gilt bronze or terra cotta, and buried on some sacred mountain or within the precincts of a Shinto shrine. The copying was done with black ink on paper dyed light yellow with an anticorrosive and insecticide drug. What the copyist wished Buddha to do for him would be written in at the end. Nonscholars might give alms and have monks do the actual copying. ( " Manuscript Copies of Buddhist Scripture and How they were Made," TASJ, vol. L, 1922.) In having the Lotus Sutra copied when hoped-for benefits had already been received, this poor woman is in good company, i.e., that of Jikaku Daishi or Ennin (794-864), dean of sutra-copiers in Japan. (Eliot, Japanese Buddhism, p. 324.) This is the only Lotus Sutra story that Konjaku tells as of India, but China is credited with several (scroll 7, nos. 1 4 - 3 2 ) . Although Chinese antecedents exist for both the HAIR-SELLING and the dumb prince motif, the idea of combining the two, thus producing plot complication, apparently originated in Konjaku. " I only sold what was my own," says the heroine of Little Women, who, like this girl, found hair none too easy to sell even after her noble decision had been reached.

Tale 5. How Three Beasts Practiced the Bodhisattva Discipline and the Hare Roasted Itself One of the monuments shown Hsiian-tsang in the Benares region was the THREE BEASTS stupa, " erected by men of a later time," where the hare's generous act had supposedly occurred. The story as there summarized is the only hare-and-hermit item in the Sanskrit-based Chinese Tripitaka to preserve the Pali Indra-moon motif that we get in Konjaku. " Hare-marked " as an epithet of the moon antedates Buddhism, but the Pali canon (Jataka, no. 316) rounds it out into a new fable. The occasion is a Savatthi householder's alms-giving. Buddha and

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500 priests from Jetavana Monastery have been not fed but feasted for seven days and then " given all the requisites." At the end, Buddha consents to tell how, as a hare, he himself had once had nothing to give as alms but his own flesh. T h e Jataka are Buddha's recollections of 550 rebirths, during which he practiced every perfection in each of its degrees. The hare rebirth is liberality (dana) practiced in its highest degree. T h e Hsiian-Tsang version varies from Jataka 3 1 6 in having dropped one of the Pali four animals, i.e., the otter as fish-bringer, along with disciple-identification of the hare's companions, and in actually roasting the hare. Indra had originally given the test a safety feature and had afterwards simply squeezed a mountain and drawn the hare's outline on the moon with the juice. But other Chinese versions, whether with four animals and identification or only the hare, have lost both Indra and hare-inthe-moon and have substituted a new logic. For if Brahman, or hermit, or old man, is genuine, the hare's sacrifice will need a concrete cause such as drought or winter, and the old man himself will need identification. Usually this is as buddha Dipamkara, but once, when it is the hare who converts the hermit, the latter becomes Maitreya, the next buddha.

Tale 6. How Lion's Pity for Monkey's Young Made Him C u t a Chunk Off Himself for Eagle LION as baby-sitter for MONKEY neighbors does not appear in Jataka, no. 499, where we first get the pound-of-flesh motif paired off with the two-way compassion theme. Here, to test the Bodhisattva, this time a great king, on another virtue, compassion, Indra is a hawk and one of his nobles a dove seeking refuge with the king. The hawk's argument is that of the Konjaku eagle. Balances are brought, and the king begins by cutting a piece from his hip, but the dove gets heavier and heavier. For other instances of animal baby-sitting, see Tibetan Tales (London and New York: Broadway Translations, 1 9 2 5 ) , p. 328, where a tigress and a lioness care for each other's young; and, as a parallel example of its hazards, Chavannes, Contes, no. 2 1 7 , where a lioness leaves her cubs with two recluses and a hunter gets them. And for a king failing at a woman's job, cf. King Alfred of England burning the old lady's cakes. Among the Konjaku identifications, KACAPA will be recognized as the disciple whom Zen tradition makes first patriarch, YASODHARA as the wife of Buddha's youth, RAHULA as their son, ANANDA as Buddha's faithful servant, and DEVADATTA as his jealous cousin. Hsiian-tsang was shown the spot where Devadatta sank to hell for

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plotting to poison Buddha. According to the Pali scriptures he will remain there " for the entire world cycle," as will other schismatics (Warren, Buddhism in Translations, p. 485).

Tale 7. How in India a Fox Passed foi Beast King and Died of Riding a Lion In making the FOX KING tale hinge on what a fox gets out of a sutra, Konjaku manages to give an already old fable a new twist. Jataka, no. 241, has a jackal hear a monk conning the spell " of subduing the world "; the Chinese version, a student reciting the " book of kingly polity "; while the secular " blue jackal" owes everything to a fall into a vat of indigo. Animal conversion is of frequent occurrence in the Chinese canon. A dog devoutly listening under a sramana's bed is reborn a human being, ends as an arhat (Chavannes, Contes, no. 97). A bird pierced by a hunter's arrow while absorbing a monk's words from the branches of a tree is next born in heaven (ibid., no. 227). The hermit of the hare story preaches to animal neighbors. But when this fox listens, it is something else again. The Konjaku version is also exceptional in being kept within animal dimensions. In Jataka, no. 241, when the jackal has collected an army of all the quadrupeds, lions included, he besieges Benares. In the Chinese version, he undertakes to marry the daughter of the king of Kasi and besieges that city. The " blue jackal" ultimately runs up against a sort of court conspiracy. In Tibetan Tales, no. X X X V I , lions are a casual part of his entourage: " The jackal, surrounded by many quadrupeds, rode along on an elephant, with the lions around him, and then the tigers and other quadrupeds. The jackals formed a circle around him at a greater distance " (p. 337). And he is not recognized as a jackal until tricked into raising his voice. The Chinese version identifies the king of Kasi as Buddha, the wise minister as Sariputra, the jackal king as Devadatta.

Tale 8. How Tortoise, Heedless of Crane's Warning, Fell to Earth and Got a Cracked Shell Was TORTOISE carried by one CRANE or by two? In one Chinese version, one crane takes tortoise in its beak. In another, two wild geese hold the ends of a stick with tortoise hanging on at the center. Dr. Yamagishi's modernized retelling allows for two cranes similarly holding a stick. Grammatically, however, only one crane is discoverable in Konjaku. The text, not always precise about singu-

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lar and plural, here specifically says " one " crane. Later when the numeral " two " occurs, it invariably appears to refer to the cranetortoise " pair " of tortoise's first speech. And in the Introduction to Classical Japanese Literature (Kokusai Bunka Shinkokai, ed.) eleven-line summary of this tale we find: " I will hold a piece of wood in my beak and you must cling to it with your teeth." Jataka, no. 215, is a two-wild-geese version. Jataka, no. 38, has a crane offer to carry not a tortoise but some fish from a pond to a large lake: it then eats them. T h e tortoise of Jataka, no. 178, remains in the home pool regardless of drought. Again Konjaku sticks to the animal dimension. One Chinese version has boys down below exclaim about wild geese carrying a tortoise. Tortoise snaps back, " What's that to you? " In another, tortoise sails over one village without mishap only to hear people in a second village say that the geese have stolen her. She feels obliged to set them right. In the former version, Devadatta again: in the far past, as tortoise, he had fallen to his death, now he has fallen into hell. Hitopadesa uses tortoise and two swans as a frame story in its story-within-a-story pattern, and Lancereau's translation, Hitopadesa (pp. 236-237), tabulates the secular westward course of the fable from Panchatantra, book I, tale 14, to La Fontaine. T h e SEVEN JEWEL-LAKES OF PARADISE m e n t i o n e d b y t h e crane

were apparently accessible to anything that could fly. On Lake Anotatta, for example, not only deities but earth-dwellers, such as private buddhas, arhats, and rishis, had bathing places assigned them.

Tale 9. How Tortoise W a s Outwitted by Monkey MONKEY'S voyage on TORTOISE, crocodile, porpoise, or dolphin is even more widely traveled than its companion-piece, tortoise's trip by air. Chavannes's note on its diffusion (Conies, vol. 4, p. 105) includes, for example, a Swahili version discovered in East Africa. Like the swan-tortoise fable, moxikey-porpoise is used as a frame-tale in both Panchatantra and Hitopadesa. T h e battle of wits between monkey and amphibian, or fish, typically ends in something of a draw. Approach to the problem of first getting monkey on its back is, however, by no means uniform. In Eastern versions, the dohada or cravings of pregnancy motif is a favorite device. In Jataka, no. 57, the crocodile's pregnant mate wants a monkey's heart. In Jataka, no. 208, the monkey goes so far as to designate a tree with ripe figs as the heart tree. T h e Chinese scriptures give one crocodile-pregnancy-heart version, and one where the tortoise's mate is not pregnant but feigns illness because 126

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she is jealous of his friendship with the monkey. A moral issue, betrayal of a friend, is thus involved. Hence, identification of the male tortoise with Devadatta. In Chavannes, Contes, no. 36, the tortoise's lure is not berries but musical entertainment, a curious pun on the character for both " music " and " medicine." In the West, motivation is of a different type. See, for example, La Fontaine, book IV, tale 7, where dolphins are rescuing passengers from a sinking ship, and a monkey who has been part of the cargo tries to pose as a human being. The dolphin asks him if he comes from Athens: yes, and he knows all the great ones. When next asked if he knows Piraeus, he mistakes the name of the port for that of a person: down one.

Tale 10. Where Persons Over Seventy Were Deported Why should a country not send all PERSONS OVER SEVENTY to a sort of permanent fiftieth reunion, with older classes staying on and later ones constantly arriving? Because, as a mother once told her little boy, there are some things that older people know just because they are older. Solomon's son is a Western example of what happens when this truth is disregarded. Meanwhile, the tale is itself old. The frame-story goes back at least to Akir the Wise, already familiar a thousand or more years B.C., temporarily heralded as the oldest story in the world when first rediscovered on papyrus. Here the king of Mesopotamia had sentenced a wise old counselor to death, and the pharaoh of Egypt had soon heard of it. Fortunately for Mesopotamia, however, the counselor had once befriended his jailer and was still alive below ground. For the ancient diffusion of the Akir tale, see Chavannes, Contes, vol. 4, pp. 201-204. For its medieval history in Old Russia alone, see N. K. Gudzy, Early Russian Literature (New York, 1949), pp. 81-83, where we find that to quote from it was at one time the sign of a well-read man. Popular with copyists, it was even an item in the lost Musin-Pushkin manuscript which gave modern Russia Prince Igor. The choice of riddles, and their solution, varies from one retelling to another. The frame itself undergoes changes even as between Konjaku and the Chinese source, which has a celestial spirit as questioner, preserves the minister's father instead of his mother, and includes several strictly Buddhist brain-twisters. Chavannes speaks of having seen the boat-elephant application of the principle of Archimedes attributed in a Chinese schoolbook to Ts'ao Ts'ao (A.D. 152-220) and remarks on the fact that story literature " a pu introduire de l ' I n d e en Chine même les principes

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BACKGROUND POINTS de physique " (Contes, vol. Ill, p. 5, note). And in San Kuo Chih (Annals of the Three Kingdoms, A.D. 222-265), w e Sun Ch'uan sending an elephant, the " grand ancestor" desiring to know its weight, and five-year-old Wan Ch'ung suggesting a large boat and a mark at the water line, to the great satisfaction of the " grand ancestor." Sei Shonagon's earlier eleventh-century version of the tale is discussed in Noel Peri's article " Un Conte Hindoue au Japon," where, however, Konjaku is not mentioned, nor is any attempt made to trace the origin of Sei's new riddle, associated in Greek legend with Daedalus. Sei links the story to one of her favorite Shinto shrines, Arit5shi, i.e., " ants'-path." It seems that Ki Tsurayuki (883-946), when riding across country in Izumi, suddenly noticed something wrong with his horse, but after offering a poem to the deity at Aritoshi got it going again. Sei makes a bow to Tsurayuki's memory, then tells of an emperor of Japan who would allow nobody over forty in his capital and of an emperor of China who sent a jewel with seven twists for him to thread. One minister had, however, kept both parents, and his father came up with the answer. Namely, take two ants, attach a fine thread to their hips and a coarser thread to the fine one, insert the ants at one opening of the jewel, and rub honey outside the other opening. Sei seems to think that the minister's father may have become the Shinto deity. Horses and elephants between adjacent Indian kingdoms perhaps, but as between China and Japan, Sei keeps her riddles small. The pole becomes a lacquered stick two feet long, and her third riddle is to distinguish a male from a female snake, each about two feet long.

Tale 1 1 . How Under Emperor Ming of the Later-Han Dynasty Buddhism Crossed to China EMPEROR MING'S dream is officially assigned to about the year 68 A.D. Officially it led to an Indian embassy such as Fa Hsien's of 399. But by making the dream merely premonitory Konjaku sidesteps a difficulty raised by Henri Maspero, namely the feasibility of an embassy to India in or around 68 A.D. (" Le Songe et l'Ambassade de l'Empereur Ming," BEFEO, 1910, vol. I l l , p. 244.) Another point made in Maspero's critical study of the dream was that by 68 A.D. one already gets monks and Buddhist laymen in Emperor Ming's capital, Lo-yang. Some years later, Maspero published a study of this pre-dream Buddhist community's origins. It seems that when Emperor Ming's brother became duke of Ch'u, 39 A.D., then king, 41 A.D., his capital, long a Taoist stronghold, was

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already honeycombed by Buddhism, at first casually regarded as a Taoist sect with a new formula for immortality. In the second century, when Buddhism had gained strength enough to emerge, the White Horse Monastery apparently shaped a legend and arbitrarily made Emperor Ming, maternal uncle of the superior, Buddhism's first patron. ("Origines de la communauté bouddhiste de LoYang," JA, Juillet-Septembre 1934.) A body the color of GOLD is listed as one of the thirty-two marks of a buddha. When gold leaf was used on images, it also took care of another buddha-characteristic, radiance. KAÇAPA MATANGA and DHARMA RAKUSHA were collaborators on the 42-article sutra, traditionally the first translation of Buddhist material into Chinese. The name WHITE HORSE Monastery has alternate explanations, one that a white horse had carried the books and relics to China, the other that, back in India, following a worse than usual persecution, it was the whinnying of a white horse that revealed a forgotten cache of Buddhist texts and objects. What BOOKS would Taoism have put into competition with the Buddhist scriptural texts? Closest in character would have been the Tao Te Ching, the Chuang-tzu, and the Lieh-tzu. (The Tao Te Ching, sometimes attributed to Lao-tzu, and said to be the world's second most translated book after the Bible, has been retranslated by Arthur Waley, The Way and its Power, New York, 1958, and by R. B. Blakney, The Way of Life, New York, 1955.) On the other hand, the Taoists might have preferred to rely upon works of cosmology and astrology, or upon inscrutable treatises on divination such as the I Ching. Priests' CONTESTS are as old as the Old Testament and as new as the fourteenth-century Life of Stephen of Permia, where Stephen challenges the ranking shaman of his mission post to walk through fire, dive through one hole in the ice and come up through another, and so on. (Gudzy, Early Russian Literature, pp. 238-242.) But here is a contest between priesthoods where both are lettered. It is logical that the Buddhists should win in terms of lévitation, a faculty which we have seen assigned to arhats. But Tao-masters could at least ride the winds. In airs less quiet than those of the palace front garden, who knows what their books might have done? Legends of conversion from the throne down exist in West as well as East, cf. Harald Bluetooth of Denmark, or Vladimir's mass baptism of his people in the Dnieper. But note that Emperor Ming's policy is to let his people judge for themselves. The whole scene suggests picture-scroll treatment as a panoramic spread: garden with brocade tents, court personages, populace, and as background for vigorous action black smoke rising, men running, falling, a certain amount of red blood flowing. 129

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Note that Buddhism is said to have FLOURISHED as a result of the contest, but that Taoism is not said to have withered. No longer before Konjaku than 842-845, the Taoists had been top dog, and the Japanese monk Ennin had been caught in this greatest of the four great persecutions. (See Ennin, Diary, tr. Edwin O. Reischauer, New York, 1955.)

Tale 12. How Under Emperor Wu of the Liang Dynasty Bodhidharma Crossed to China The Haga edition emends the name BUDDHA-YASHA to Buddhabhadra. The historic Buddha-yasha's dates are too early even with Bodhidharma 150 years old around 520. According to the information on Shaolin Monastery brought together by Paul Pelliot in " Quelques Artistes des Six Dynasties et des T'ang," Shaolin had been founded in 495 for " a meditation master by the name of Buddha-bhadra," and such of the monastery's " Ten Great" as could readily be identified were Buddha-bhadra's disciples. Did Bodhidharma seek out his dead disciple's monastery only to find a new generation of disciples entrenched there? When Buddha-yasha CLENCHED and then OPENED his FIST to signify that striving after secular good and striving after salvation are the same, he was expressing one side of the Buddhist antithesis, which was enlightenment (satori) versus merit. This antithesis is not quite faith versus works, since faith presupposes a god whereas satori is a sudden " grasp " of " this sorry scheme of things entire." When Bodhidharma told the emperor that image-casting, sutracopying, and pagoda-building are not the stuff that virtue is made of, he was expressing the antithesis as a whole. His Majesty wu (502-549), first emperor of the Liang dynasty at Nanking, was the ultimate in merit-Buddhism if his accomplishment be regarded in that light. He forbade the slaughter of animals, expounded the scriptures, led the monastic life more than once, sent to India and imported Sanskrit texts, scholars, a translator. He assembled the first Chinese Tripitaka, said to have included over 2,000 translated scriptural texts. The older of the two encyclopedias used by the Konjaku compiler (see page 145) was brought together in his day. Instead of trudging with PRIEST'S STAFF FOR CANE TO LIANG MOUNTAIN when dismissed by Emperor Wu, both legend and art have him break a reed and on it cross the Yangtze from Liang to Wei. HUI-K'O is the " Transmission's " second Chinese patriarch. SUNG-YUN'S Indian errand shares with Fa Hsien's the fifth section of the Lo-yang Monastery Records. This fifth section alone is trans-

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BACKGROUND POINTS lated in Samuel Beal's Travels of Fah-Hian and Sung-Yun (London, 1869). IN THE COFFIN they find robe and both sandals in the " Old T'ang History " account. The ONE SANDAL to which Konjaku attributes Bodhidharma's posthumous notoriety was not all that he left behind. There was also his pi-kuan or mural contemplation. Both " Memoirs of Eminent Priests Continued " and " Transmission of the Lamp " preserve forms of a document which D. T. Suzuki describes as " the only authentic writing of the Zen founder's at present in our possession " (Essays in Zen Buddhism, First Series, p. 165). From Dr. Suzuki's translation and interpretation of this document, pi-kuan emerges as a striking spiritual discovery. " W a l l " has the connotation of something firm, upstanding, unscaleable, and far from meditating in front of it you are yourself such a wall as you meditate. Textually the document is little more than the repreaching of a Buddha sermon, which Dr. Suzuki also translates, but a transformation results from the change of one syllable. Where the original sermon says chiieh-kuan (enlightenment-meditation) Bodhidharma says pi-kuan. The general argument seems to be that there are two ways to enter the Path: ( 1 ) by Reason, (2) by Conduct, and that the latter consists in Four Acts, the third of which is " not to seek after anything " — cf. Buddha-yasha's closed and open fist. In the late eighth or early ninth century, Bodhidharma's message was summed up in a four-line manifesto (Suzuki, First Series, p. 1 6 3 ) : A special transmission outside the scriptures; No dependence upon words and letters; Direct pointing at the soul of man; Seeing into one's nature and the attainment of Buddhahood. On the emptiness associated with satori, the translator once heard Dr. Suzuki as lecturer quote a poem which likened it to one of those water-pails which Japanese country women carry so gracefully on their heads, but with the sides and bottom gone, the water gone, the moon's reflection gone. The final detail, however, he characterized as only a poetic touch.

In Art and Legend Bodhidharma was a favorite subject with Chinese painters, as Pelliot points out in " Quelques Artistes," but considerable confusion appears to have existed with regard to the shoe. One painting, for example, shows Bodhidharma navigating his reed across the Yangtze with one sandal on his foot, the other mounted on his 1

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BACKGROUND POINTS priest's staff. ("Quelques Artistes," p. 254, note.) Edkins speaks of having seen, in a small temple on P'u-to Island, " a representation of the eighteen Arhans [sic] crossing the sea " which shows Bodhidharma " seated on what is termed a ' one-horned immortal bull.' He carries a pole on his shoulder with one shoe suspended on it." (Chinese Buddhism, pp. 263-264.) The confusion also comes over into a poem which Dr. Suzuki quotes as from a compilation of the year 1307 (Second Series, p. 2 1 4 ) . For nine years he had been sitting and no one knew him; Carrying a shoe in his hand he went home quietly, without ceremony. Legend turned the " mural contemplation " of document to " wall-gazing," and expanded it into the familiar tale of Bodhidharma's having sat for nine years at Shaolin Monastery facing a wall. In one version he nearly falls asleep like the old hermit of Tale 3. In another, his legs drop off; cf. the legless Daruma dolls of Japan. For photographs of Shaolin Temple in the early twentieth century and of the graphic and epigraphic material on Bodhidharma then assembled there, and also of Emperor Wu's temple in ruins, see Chavannes, Mission Archéologique dans la Chine Septentrionelle (Paris, 1909).

Tale 13. How Chinese Meng Tsung's Filial Piety Got His Old Mother Bamboo Shoots in Winter MENG TSUNG, one of the twenty-four examples of filial piety, appears in the records as keeper of the fish-ponds under Emperor Wu of the Chin dynasty, third century A.D. Chinese versions say that Tsung's mother (late mother) craved bamboo shoots and that Tsung went into a winter bamboo grove and lamented (wept and wailed) until some appeared. Konjaku is apparently original in making the bamboo-shoot getting a day in and day out matter.

Tale 14. How Chinese Han Po-yii When Beaten by His Mother Wept for Grief On the strength of this instance alone, the devoted Han-dynasty son HAN PO-YU will be found listed at the end of Brinkley's fourvolume History of China as one of the " Celebrated Characters in Chinese History " along with the first emperor and Li Hung-chang. 132

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Tale 15. How T'ang Emperor Hsiian-tsung's Yang Kuei-fei Was Killed by His Majesty's Favor had for twenty years been the favorite of HSUAN(685-762) by the time of the rebellion of barbarian general AN LU-SHAN, which temporarily overthrew and permanently weakened the T'ang dynasty at the middle of the eighth century. In 806 their story was made immortal by the Po Chii-i (772-846) ballad, of which Tale 15 is a prose retelling. In his Life and Times of Po Chii-i (London, 1949), Arthur Waley states that this ballad originated in three friends chatting about the last years of Hsiian-tsung. One of them, Ch'en Hung, afterwards wrote a prose account which took its place alongside the ballad in Po's collected works. Po rather tossed the ballad off and despite its immediate and continued success never thought much of it. But later on a general once told him of a singing-girl who put up her price because she could sing it (p. 45). And when exiled to a distant government post, Po found that its fame had preceded him even there. Over in Japan Po Chii-i was a favorite even during his lifetime. It seems that Ennin met him and in 847 carried back not only Po's works but a separate copy of the ballad (p. 176). The term " Literary Collection " or even " Collection " long meant the Works of Po Chii-i, and the Japanese edition of 1618 is the most " complete" (p. 226). Tale 1 5 was followed by four other early retellings of the ballad, one of which uses the story as a horrible example of what can happen politically when an incompetent person like Yang Kuei Fei's brother is placed in a top position. YANG KUEI F E I

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Tale 16. How Knight Confucius While Traveling Met Boys Who Quizzed Him CONFUCIUS, as envisaged by Arthur Waley's Analects (3rd imp., London, 1949), is a moral teacher in the sense of having been tutor to sons of ruling-class families. His edition of the Classics thus becomes a sort of textbook. Confucius as " no longer a moral teacher but a ' wise man,' . . . an answerer of grotesque conundrums," or as a successful statesman and diplomatist, Mr. Waley regards as a later stage in the evolving legend. On the other hand, however, the " later " stage is a matter of record as early as the fourth century B.C., in the Lieh-tzu, to which Dr. Haga traces one of the three Tale 16 episodes, and in the Chuang-tzu. KNIGHT, Mr. Waley explains as the rank next after that of the

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Great Officers (ibid., p. 15) and sees the young Confucius not as poring over his books but as engaged in the knightly pursuits of fighting and hunting. YEN HUI was one of two very promising disciples who died before their master. He is a key figure in the Analects. In the Chuangtzu he is driver of the carriage in which Confucius pays his bold visit to the brigand Chih.

Tale 17. When Chuang-tzu Observed the Doings of Animals and Took to His Heels In Three Ways of Thought in Ancient China (London, 1939), Arthur Waley describes CHUANG-TZU'S point of view, largely through quotations from the book Chuang-tzu, and contrasts it with two other Chinese schools of thought from the fourth century B.C. He includes a translation of the fish episode but not of the heron passage. In Chuang-tzu the SNOWY HERON appears as a bird with a wingspread of seven feet which pounces upon a mantis which has just rounded up a cicada. Chuang-tzu is armed with a cross-bow, danger takes the form of a park-keeper, and the turn given the parable is: " Alas! how creatures injure one another. Loss follows the pursuit of gain." (H. A. Giles, trans., Chuang-tzu, London, 1926.) On p. 258, Giles describes a Chinese woodcut where events are in abeyance as in Tale 17, but with the addition of a tiger about to spring on the man and a well into which both will eventually topple. In the FISH episode the Chuang-tzu has minnows, a second philosopher instead of Chuang-tzu's wife, and again an ending different from that of Tale 17.

Tale 18. How a Woman of Ch'ang-an Changed Pillows with Her Husband and Was Killed by His Enemy CH'ANG-AN, the city after which Kyoto was patterned, was capital of the T'ang dynasty, 618-906. But Tale 18 represents a story which had been part of the Chinese repertory since at least the first century B.C., when Liu Hsiang included it in his Record of Noteworthy Women, the work which also gave Mencius's mother her place in history. The Gempei Seisuiki Kesa Gozen episode, at the end of which Tale 18 is transcribed as a parallel case, differs in having a passional motivation. Endo Morito, an officer of the guards, falls in love with his cousin Kesa, wife of a comrade, Minamoto Wataru,

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and when repulsed threatens to kill Kesa's mother. Kesa then agrees to marry him if he will first kill her husband. She is to get Wataru into a drunken sleep and then wet his head. Morito will simply come into their bedroom and feel for damp hair. But it is her own head that Kesa wets. Both Morito and Wataru become priests. For the identification of Morito with the priest Mongaku, who spurred Yoritomo to immediate action in the spring of 1180, see F. Brinldey, History of the Japanese People (New York, 1 9 1 5 ) , p. 303. Partly perhaps on account of the Gempei Seisuiki angle, Tale 18 is the Konjaku sample given in Tsugita Jun's history of Japanese literature.

Tale 19. The Might of Assistant High Priest Jitsu-in of Hieizan In the table of teacher-disciple relations for famous priests of the Tendai sect (R. K. Reischauer, Early Japanese History, vol. B, p. 49), JITSU-IN is listed as disciple in the sixth generation of Ennin (Jikaku Daishi), diarist of the 842-845 persecution of Buddhism in China, and dean of Lotus Sutra copiers, who had in turn been the disciple of Saicho (Dengyo Daishi), founder of the Japanese Tendai sect and of the Enryaku-ji at Hieizan. Jitsu-in's death date is given (ibid., vol. A, p. 318) as the year 1000, and his title as Senior Assistant High Priest (Daisozu). Reading down, the monastic official ranks were: Daisojo (Senior High Priest), Sojo, Daisozu (Senior Assistant High Priest), Sozu, etc. From the Nihon-hoke-kengi, we learn that Jitsu-in left home and " climbed the mountain " as a young boy, resided at the armorcloister, was by nature intelligent, had a physiognomy showing ability and a powerful physique. That every day he went to the hall and recited the Lotus Sutra. His voice was clear and beautiful: listeners were deeply moved. His learning was extensive, his reading wide. His rank was Daisozu. In old age he transferred to Little Pines Monastery, where he had a Lotus Sutra vision. The first Lotus Sutra reading at the WEST PAGODA, in 924, would have been somewhat before Jitsu-in's time. Upon this occasion, the sutra was divided into 1,000 parts, each read by a different person. Historic clashes between the three Enryakuji pagodas began almost a century later. It was in 1093 that the chief priest sent military priests to demolish West Pagoda houses and rooms, and they were defeated by priests from nearby Yogawa Pagoda. Again, in 1 1 3 3 , West Pagoda students fought with priests of the main temple, and imperial police were despatched to keep order. In 1 1 5 0 a fight between West Pagoda and Yogawa was forbidden. In 1 1 6 0 East and West pagodas fought and East was badly defeated. An INCANTATION CEREMONY was typically performed in cases of

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BACKGROUND POINTS illness or childbirth. Such a ceremony is also the background for an episode in O-kagami. (E. O. Reischauer and J. K. Yamagiwa, Translations from Early Japanese Literature, p. 339.) The PALACE area at 2 A.M. on a night not of moonlight but of driving rain is scene of the famous episode in O-kagami where young Michinaga boldly braves the weather and comes back with a piece cut from the throne, proof that he had got to the Daigoku-den. Two other young nobles had failed at similar assignments due to noises in the party-pine-moor and strange appearances. (Ibid., PP- 337-339-) The palace area, oblong in shape, extended 3 , 8 4 0 feet along the northern boundary of Kyoto at the center, and 4 , 6 0 0 feet south. Besides the palace it included various government and department buildings and large halls. Buildings from north to south along the west wall were the lacquer storehouse, the imperial family office, the headquarters of the right palace and of the right military guards, the skilled artisans bureau, the horse-bureau of the left, and the horse-bureau of the right. The BUTOKU-DEN, or Military Arts palace, lay in the next tier of buildings, between and overlapping the right palace and the right military guards' headquarters. Here the emperor went to see archery contests and horse races and here the military arts were explained. During Jitsu-in's lifetime, in 975, it had burned. The Butoku-den faced east across a broad pine-clad space called the Utage-no-matsubara, or PARTY-PINE-MOOR, where guests would repair after Butoku-den gatherings. Across this space and to the right lay the Shingon-in, also known as palace Buddhist headquarters. Inside was a ceremonial platform and to the north of this were the priests' quarters, here referred to as PLATFORM-QUARTERS. (R. A. B. Ponsonby-Fane, Kyoto: Its History and Vicissitudes, 792-1868, Hong Kong, 1931, p. 153.) The use of water clocks and the practice of announcing the hours by bells and drums began in 671. By Jitsu-in's time the T E M P L E B E L L had long since taken over. The CORNER OF NISHI-OMIYA, the avenue along the west wall, and NI-JO, or Second Avenue, along the south wall, i.e., the outer southwest corner of the palace area, meant a run of four blocks. KITSU-JI was two avenues, or eight blocks, west of Nishi-Omiya.

Tale ao. Wrestler Umi Tsuneyo's Match with a Snake Traditionally Japanese WRESTLING, sumo, began around 259 A.D., when Nomi Sukune of Izumo province matched strength with Tagima Kehaya and, like UMI TSUNEYO, won by strong footwork, with the resulting death of his opponent. 136

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In 808 a halt was called to presenting sumö experts as tribute, and in 810 the provinces were prohibited from sending them up to Kyoto at all, but in 827 we find officials appointed to supervise sumö, and in 833 several of the eastern provinces were ordered to send in sumö experts. Then in 893 the provinces were again forbidden to send wrestlers as tribute, in 898 their coming to the capital at all was again stopped, and in 903 it was settled that they should come to the capital on fixed days. In 1 1 3 3 a compilation of Chinese and Japanese poems dealing with sumö was officially ordered.

Tale 2 1 . How Wrestler Kisaichi Munehira Tossed a Blue Shark It is something of a surprise to find this and other huntsman stories in a collection beamed at the anti-meat-eating Buddhist reading public of eleventh-century Kyoto. Japanese legendary history contains two brothers of divine origin, one of whom was a skilled fisherman, the other a mighty hunter. A record of about the year 380 mentions the establishment of mountain-warden and fisherman guilds, whose tribute to the imperial family was to take the form of hunting and fishing products. By 675, however, Buddhist influence is already seen in certain restrictions on hunters and fishermen, and a prohibition against the use of domestic animals and monkeys for meat. In 689 hunting and fishing were respectively prohibited in specified areas. In 860, private hunting was forbidden in the provinces, and in 884 we get a reference to imperial hunting grounds where others than the emperor and his guests were forbidden to hunt but might gather wood and cut grass. In 1072 private raising of falcons and eagles for hunting was forbidden, and in 1 1 3 0 hunting was forbidden.

Tale 22. How a M a n Bounced His Sword-Sheath Rod on a Fingernail and a Woman Her Needle Although no related document is quoted, a somewhat similar episode does exist in the Chinese Tripitaka, where a twelve-year-old boy goes up to Lo-yang with his father and attracts a crowd by tossing up and catching a " stone " 500 times at the edge of a well. T h e boy was Houei-Kouang, and in his audience was Buddhabhadra, the founder of Shaolin Monastery, who wondered whether such secular skill as this might not be turned to religious advantage. Houei-Kouang later became his most famous disciple. (Pelliot, " Quelques Artistes," p. 247.) J

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Tale 23. When Kudara Kawanari and Hida Takumi Competed Since no work of KAWANARI'S has survived, G . B. Sansom seems inclined to regard him as a legendary personification of the beginnings of secular art in Japan in the early Heian period (Japan: A Short Cultural History, Rev. Ed., London, 1946, p. 250). Under 853, eighth month, twenty-fourth day, Montoku jitsuroku (Records of Montoku's reign, 850-858), however, notes the death of scattered junior fifth rank lower grade Ason Kudara Kawanari at the age of seventy-two. He had previously been transferred from the Aguri to the Kudara, a clan made up of ex-Koreans, source of most of Japan's first artists and artisans. Kawanari was skilled in the military art of pulling the strong-bow and in 808 became a leftguardsman. Because of a knack he had, he was often called upon to make pictures. He made true likenesses of " old-time persons," and his mountains, water, grass, and trees were all lifelike. Once in the days when he resided at the palace he ordered a certain man to summon his personal servant. The man he spoke to had never seen him but from a sketch that Kawanari then drew was able to identify him. In 833 Kawanari received promotion to junior lower fifth rank. Later he went to Bichu province, then to Harima. The WEST MARKET occupied the position of the present Shichijô railway station, covering twelve square blocks to the north of Shichijô (Seventh Avenue) and to the west of Nishi-Omiya, one block being devoted to the Market Office. The EAST MARKET occupied a similar area to the north of Shichijô and the east of Omiya. Like the Ukyo ("right capital") as a whole, it never flourished, and to help matters was in 825 given a monopoly on the sale of brocade, damask, silk, cotton, thread, China-grass, dyestuffs, needles, combs, dyed leather, sashes, oil, earthenware, and oxen. In 1052 this was withdrawn, and the East Market was so soon deserted as to necessitate its reintroduction. Thus the Kawanari episode may be thought of as occurring early in its first period of artificial prosperity. (Ponsonby-Fane, Kyoto, pp. 1 2 7 - 1 3 1 . ) If HIDA TAKUMI (lit. "Carpenter from Hida province") was active in capital-removal times, 795, he would have been somewhat older than Kawanari. None of his work survives, but in Genji we get an echo of his reputation when Kaoru, confronted by the illfitting door at Ukifune's hideout exclaims: " A wonderful piece of carpentry! The Craftsman of Hida could pick up a hint or two from the man who made that! " (Waley, trans., vol. 6, p. 109.) Emendation in BURAKU-IN of the character " bu " meaning martial, as in the Butoku-den of Tale 19, for the " bu " of the actual Buraku-in or Festivities Palace is suggested in a note.

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Tale 24. How a Lady Went to a Master of Medicine, Was Cured of a Boil, and Slipped Off The BUREAU o r MEDICINE occupied a square in the south section of the palace area, with the rice-wine office to the north, the palace well to the south, the left-horse bureau to the west, and the Burakuin or Festivities Palace to the east. It came under the Ministry of the Imperial Household and had charge of sickness, of epidemics, of curing those of the fifth rank and above. T o be found there were masters and doctors of medicine, and the medicines. Physicians are mentioned as early as 438, when one was brought over from Korea to cure the Emperor Ingyo, and again in 553 when the kingdom of Kudara there was commanded to send doctors of medicine, of divination, and of calendar-making. In 730 a doctor of medicine and a scholar of divination were ordered to teach lunar calendar-making and medicine at the Court University, with a teacher of Chinese as colleague. In 808 Japan's first medical work, in 100 books, was published, and in 835 because of his skill in medicine Omura Fukkitsu was given a family name and a hereditary title and was ordered to compile a medical work. In 874 some officials were sent to China for scented medicines. In 984 a doctor of acupuncture compiled a work on Chinese medicine in 30 books. In 1066 a Sung merchant presented both a medicine with mysteriously beneficial properties and a parrot.

Tale 25. How a Man's Wife Became a Vengeful Ghost and How Her Malignity Was Diverted by a Master of Divination The BUREAU OF DIVINATION occupied space in the Ministry of Central Affairs, south of the Residential Palace. There were doctors of divination as well as masters. The Japanese term for divination, On-yo (Chinese, Yin and Yang), represents the concept of two principles operative upon five elements: fire, water, wood, metal, and earth, and strictly should apply only to the reading of events by this concept, but Tale 25 is an example of the type of advice constantly asked of practitioners of the science. In the Tsutsumi-Chunagon story " Blackening," where a girl puts eyebrow paint all over her face by mistake, a master of divination is summoned before her ladies realize the natural cause of her dreadful appearance. (E. O. Reischauer and J. K. Yamagiwa, Translations from Early Japanese Literature, p. 257.) The OTONOI-DOKORO, or " night-duty " bureau, occupied a solid block near the northeast corner of the palace area, and included a

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guardhouse. T o the north of it, along the north wall of the palace area, was the bureau of palace equipment and upkeep, in control of such items as firewood and lights, carriages and palanquins, fans and sunshades. T o the east of it, along the east palace wall, was the office residence of female dancers and musicians.

Tale 26. When Emperor Murakami and Sugawara Fumitoki Each Composed a Chinese Poem MURAKAMI-TENNO had been appointed crown prince in 944, had accepted the abdication of Suzaku-Tenno in 946, and had then reigned until 967 when he died at the age of 42. In 960 we find a Chinese-poetry contest held in the residential palace for the first time, and that same year the emperor attended a Japanese-poetry contest held among the ladies in waiting. Also in 960 there was a fire in the Imperial Palace and he and the crown prince, future Reizei-Tenno, moved to the Reizei-in, moved back in 961. In 963 and 965 he watched horse racing at the Suzaku-in, and in the latter year saw a sarugaku ( " monkey-music," farcical mimetic dances) performance at the residential palace. An able ruler as well as an amateur of poetry, Murakami-Tenno apparently valued SUGAWARA FUMITOKI for more than his literary gifts. In 954 we find him ordered, with others, to present sealed documents containing their political opinions and suggestions. In 968, the year after Murakami's death, he was ordered, as senior assistant minister of ceremonial, to discuss the ministry's examination in Chinese poems with other Confucian scholars. Bachelor of Literature examinations had been held since 728. In connection with Tale 26, the eleventh-century reader would perhaps have recalled how a seventh-century Chinese poet, Hsieh Tao-heng, lost his life by writing better verses than Yang-ti, second emperor of the Sui dynasty.

Tale 37. How Taira Koremochi Had a Retainer Killed on Him great-uncle TAIRA SADAMORI appears prominently in the annals for 936-940 in connection with suppressing the revolt of Taira Masakado, which had for a brief space made him ruler of the eight eastern provinces. In 935, Sadamori's father, the Daijo of Hitachi province, had been killed by Masakado, and in 936 we find Sadamori setting out to subdue him. In 938 Sadamori was defeated and put to flight by Masakado, but in 940 finally succeeded in killing him.

TAIRA KOREMOCHI'S

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Tale 28. How an East-Bound Traveler Fathered a Child by a Turnip For a Tripitaka example of somewhat this type of quasi-parthenogenesis, see Chavannes, Coxites, no. 342.

Tale 29. How in Mimasaka Province a G o d Was Trapped by a Hunter and Living Sacrifice Stopped In Japan, Brinkley places the cultural epoch represented by this tale in the fourth, fifth, and sixth centuries A.D., cites the deities of Chusan and Koya in Mimasaka province, as well as other monkey and serpent deities that inspired terror, and tells how Emperor Yuryaku ( 4 5 7 - 4 7 9 ) , when expressing " a desire to see the incarnated form of the deity of Mimoro Mountain, was shown a serpent seventy feet long." (Brinkley, History of the Japanese People, p. 128.) STRAW ROPES were hung in doorways and around ShintS shrines or sacred objects to avert evil. SAKAKI TREES, Cleyera japonica, were placed in front of deities during worship.

Tale 30. How Mikawa Province Originated Dog's-Head Silk That the lady should have had a MULBERRY TREE IN THE FIELD behind her house seems only natural in view of her previous practice of sericulture, but it was also in accord with the revised Taiho code of 718, which provided that each household should have, in addition to rice lands, dry fields on which it was to raise a specified number of mulberry and lacquer trees. T h e command to plant mulberry trees in the provinces had already gone out in the years 457 and 693 and went out again in 807. In 934 and 952 the Office of the Capital was ordered to plant mulberry trees. T h e tradition of silk goes back to the sun-goddess herself, who is shown reeling silk from cocoons held in her mouth. In 457 the Empress Kogo set the precedent of silkworm culture for future empresses. Until cocoon boiling came in, silk thread was coarse and uneven, and had Tale 30 been written by the English essayist who traced roast pig to the first time a village burned, the moral might well have been that the dog's interruption of the pupa-cycle was what gave people the idea of interruption by boiling. T h e SOVEREIGN'S PRIVATE OFFICE, in charge of almost all matters

relating to the emperor, was established in 810. Regulations re-

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garding silk sent in from the provinces as taxes were issued in 7 1 7 and 7 1 9 and again in 1070. The fourth article of the edict of 646 had allowed for tax payments in silk and other local commodities in place of forced labor.

Tale 3 1 . How the Reizei-in Water Spirit Assumed Human Form and Was Caught YOZEI, fifty-seventh emperor, was crowned in 877, at the age of ten, and at seventeen had an illness which left him insane. He was dethroned in 884 but lived on at the Yozei-in until 949, i.e., into the reign of Murakami, sixty-second sovereign, becoming a Buddhist priest a few days before his death. The site of his residence was one avenue to the east of the palace area and occupied a tract one block wide and two blocks long. On the map in R. K. Reischauer, Early Japanese History (vol. B, p. 3 1 ) the intermediate street, REIZEI-IN, has already been cut through, but just next the former Yozei-in a similar one-block-by-two site, that of the Nij5-in, appears with the Reizei-in not cut through. O n the river-god, the well-god, the WATER SPIRIT and so on, see

Sansom's Japan, p. 49.

Tale 32. How Ki Tosuke's Meeting with a Ghost-Woman in Mino Province Ended in His Death T h e HIGASHI SAN-JO PALACE appears in the records for the third

month of 1005 as Michinaga's " new residence on east Sanjo," but following the burning of the Imperial Palace in the twelfth month of that year, Ichijo-Tenno moved over and for the next three months it was the imperial residence. SETA BRIDGE spans the waters of Lake Biwa at the place where they narrow to form the Seta River. It was the scene of the decisive battle in a " disturbance " of the year 672. In 1024 and again in 1 1 2 4 it is on record as having burned.

Tale 33. How Ex-Emperor En-yu's Rat-Day Was Attended by Sone Yoshitada EN-YU was Murakami's fifth son, born 959, made crown prince at the age of eight, emperor at the age of ten. He abdicated at twenty-six, i.e., 984, ninth month. Toward the end of 985 he fell ill, then he became a Buddhist priest, and died in 991. T h e Kojidan dates his RAT-DAY as of the year 985, second month, 142

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thirteenth day, starting at 10 A.M., hour of the snake. The day of the rat, first of a series of ten signs applied to days, was in the olden days a usual time for going out to the Murasaki plain, pulling young pines, and conducting festivities centering about the theme of long life. The URIN-IN at Murasakino will be remembered as scene of the lecture on the Lotus Sutra which provides the background for O-kagami. (See Translations from Early Japanese Literature by Reischauer and Yamagiwa.) Three of the five invited poem composers were survivors from the staff of compilers who had done Gosenshu, second of the twenty-one imperial anthologies, for Murakami in 951. SONE YOSHITADA, Sotan for short, was author of a one-scroll poem collection interchangeably known by the long form and the short form of his name. Though regarded by contemporaries as a radical poet (Tsugita Jun), poems of his were later included in the fourth imperial anthology, Goshuishu (completed in 1086), and in the eighth, Shinkokinshu (1206). The rounded hat or EBOSHI was everyday headgear at court in that day and the hunting coat an informal court costume.

Tale 34. When Chikuzen-Govemor Fujiwara Akiie's Samurai Forgot Himself The typical Konjaku attitude to soldiers verges on apotheosis. For a résumé of one of the most famous of such soldier stories, see Kokusai Bunka Shinkókai, ed., Introduction to Classical Japanese Literature.

Tale 35. How in Mutsu Province a Dog-and-Mountain Dog Bit to Death a Big Snake Wild MUTSU province, where the Ezo were never completely conquered until the second half of the eleventh century, and where frontiersmen commonly intermarried with Ezo or even went over to the Ezo to avoid imperial taxes, makes a most suitable setting for the faithful-dog and snake theme so popular in eleventh-century Europe from Wales to Old Russia.

Tale 36. Tsunekiyo Yasunaga's Fuha-Barrier Dream about His Wife at the Capital FUHA, one of the three barriers set up in 673 for purposes of protection (the others being Osaka hill, scene of a famous Genji

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passage, and Suzuka in Ise province), had been abolished as a barrier in 789. Literally Fu-ha means unbroken, and as the barrier house fell into decay more than one poet wrote such lines as " Full of cracks, the barrier house of Fuwa." (Reischauer and Yamagiwa, " Izayoi Nikki," Translations from Early Japanese Literature, p. 63.) The provinces of Konjaku times are classified by post-roads in R. K. Reischauer, Early Japanese History, vol. B, pp. 1 6 - 1 8 . Maps appear in the same work, pp. 1 0 - 3 7 , ' n G . B. Sansom, Japan: A Short Cultural History, p. 216.

Tale 37. Two Brothers Plant Day-Lilies and Asters For a modern symbolic answer to the question of keeping our dead alive in memory, see the Henry James short story entitled " The Altar of the Dead."

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Sources and Related Texts For all of the India stories given and for some of the others, the Haga Yaichi Kosho Konjaku monogatari quotes or cites related texts from the so-called Chinese Tripitaka. " So-called " because in addition to Chinese translations from the Sanskrit " three-baskets," Vinaya, Sutra, Abhidharma, i.e., discipline, discourses, theory, the Chinese canon also includes Buddhist works original to China: encyclopedias, ecclesiastical histories, dictionaries of clerical biography, records of pilgrimages to India. Most often cited by Dr. Haga are the two encyclopedias which go to make up Volume 53 of the Taisho Issaikyo (Tokyo, 19241929), and which are numbered 2 1 2 1 and 2122 in the Hdbdgirin catalogue (Paris, 1 9 3 1 ) to this edition of the Chinese Tripitaka. As Dr. Haga's preface points out, both were standard works of early enough date so that the Konjaku compiler might have used them, and in the case of material previously lost the supposition is that he must have. H . 2 1 2 1 , Ching-liu-i-hsiang (sutra and vinaya miscellany) is a work in 50 scrolls completed in 516 A.D. The 639 items are arranged under 21 heads and 40 subheads, heaven, earth, buddhas, bodhisattvas, kings, queens, princes, rich merchants, ordinary merchants, common men and women, gods and demons, beasts, birds, insects, and hells being among the topics covered. (See the descriptive catalogue of a Tripitaka then in England, made by Nanjio Bunyiu, Japanese pupil and associate of Max Miiller, 1883, where this work is numbered 1473. The Hdbdgirin catalogue is not descriptive, but gives cross references to Nanjio.) As Przyluski and others have pointed out, H.2121 is an anthology particularly rich in passages from lost works. H.2122, Fa-yiian-chu-lin (law-garden-pearl-grove) is a work in 120 scrolls, 668 A.D., designed to give a comprehensive view of the Buddhist system. There are 100 sections, each divided into subsections, where an introductory article is followed by illustrative extracts from the stock of translations that had then already been M5

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accumulating for six centuries. (See A. Wylie, Notes on Chinese Literature, 1922 reprint, p. 207.) Both encyclopedias, it will be noted, state the source of each extract, a feature of specific interest where the source is now lost. Thus H . 2 1 2 1 is expressly used by Chavannes to cover works no longer extant. (Chavannes, Contes, vol. Ill, pp. 207-284.) Western translations of Chinese Tripitaka material quoted or cited occur in four works: ( 1 ) Cinq Cents Contes et Apologues extraits du Tripitaka Chinois et traduits en français, Edouard Chavannes (3 vols.; Paris, 1 9 1 0 - 1 1 ; supplementary 4th vol., ed. Sylvain Lévi, 1934); (2) Les Avadanas: Contes et Apologues Indiens, Stanislas Julien (3 vols.; Paris, 1859); (3) Dsanglun oder Der Weise und der Thor, I. J. Schmidt (St. Petersburg, 1 8 4 3 ) , from the Tibetan counterpart of H.202; (4) Si-yu-ki, Samuel Beal's translation of H.2087, Hsiian-tsang's Records (London, 1884). There also exists a French version of the Sanskrit collection of which H.200 and H.203 are respectively a third- and a fifth-century translation, the Avadana Çataka (Léon Feer, Avadana Cataka, Annales du Musée Guimet, vol. 18, Paris, 1891 ). In the case of Tale 2, for example, it thus becomes possible to study four stages in the transposition of a plot from culture to culture. Tale 5 represents the exceptional case of a story deriving from the Pali rather than from the Sanskrit canon, normal source of Chinese Tripitaka translations, the version involved being one brought direct from India in the seventh century by Hsiian-tsang. Traditionally, the Pali canon was carried to Ceylon orally in the fourth century B.C. and there committed to writing in the first century B.C., when script first came to be extensively used in India for literary purposes. It is a Hinayana or " small vehicle " canon, as opposed to the Mahayana or " large vehicle " canons, the canon perhaps of that conservative element which is said to have bolted the council at Vesali when the broader school managed to get its own choice of texts voted canonical. The Sanskrit scriptures, on the other hand, are, like Japanese Buddhism, typically Mahayana, though not entirely so. Two distinguishing marks of the Hinayana are ( 1 ) that it gives us Buddha as a human teacher, traveling from place to place in the company of his disciples, where the Mahayana canons deify and also multiply him (see Tale 3), and (2) that its ideal is the arhat or enlightened monk, where the Mahayana ideal is the Bodhisattva regarded as looking beyond the individual salvation of Tale 5 to universal salvation for all creatures. Three works specifically associated with Pali are the Jataka, 550 birth-stories, where Sanskrit has only smaller separate groups of birth-stories; the Therigâthâ collections of religious verse by elder

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monks and nuns; and a noncanonical work, the Milinda-panha, or questions of King Milinda, where a successor of Alexander in Bactria during the second century B.C. is shown querying the sage Nagasena on a variety of difficult points. T A L E 1 : Vakkula's Good Deed. (Scroll 2, no. 20. Haga I, p. 163. Yamagishi's Konjaku selections, p. 27.) Quoted: H.2122, scroll 42, section, "Recompense," subsection, "Liberality" (source, H.2058). Of this the present version practically constitutes a translation, since in this one case Konjaku follows the Chinese somewhat closely except for omitting the follow-1 ing: ( 1 ) that there was meat in the cauldron and Vakkula asked for some; (2) the stepmother's observation that Vakkula must be charmed against fire; (3) the numerical aspect: five escapes from death for one act of liberality, the fish episode counting as three: escape from drowning, from digestion by the fish, from injury by the knife. Reference only: H . 2 1 2 1 , scroll 37, " How Vakkula kept one precept and was repaid by five escapes from death" (Chavannes, Contes, no. 450). H . 2 1 2 1 , scroll 44, " How a farmer gave a monk a haritaka fruit and was reborn as crown prince of two realms" (ibid., no. 458). See also: H.202 (Schmidt, Dsanglun, pp. 1 6 1 - 1 6 4 ) , and H.206 (Chavannes, Contes, no. 98). T A L E 2: King Prasenajit's Daughter Vajra the Deformed. (Scroll 3, no. 14. Haga I, p. 201. Yamagishi, p. 34.) Quoted: H.2122, scroll 76, section, " T h e Ten Vices," subsection, " Ill-Speaking" (source, H.200) (Schmidt, Dsanglun, pp. 45~5 1 )Reference only: H.202, scroll 2, " King Prasenajit's daughter Vajra," the H.200 story. H.203, scroll 2, " T h e Karma of King Prasenajit's deformed daughter Raitei" (Chavannes, no. 402). The Japanese collections: Hyakuinen-shu (date 1 2 5 7 ) , scroll 3; and Homotsu-shu (date 1 1 7 8 ) , scroll 5. Structural elements remain constant from India, through the third and fifth century Chinese versions to Japan: ugly princess, unlucky bridegroom, stolen key, and Buddha manifestation, but circumstances, even in the concluding cause-and-effect explanation, change with each retelling. In the Avadana Cataka (Feer, pp. 1 9 0 194), Prasenajit marries his eighteen-deformity daughter at dusk to an unsuspecting merchant from the south; the unhappy wife goes down into the cellar, hangs herself; Buddha loosens the rope, revives her, expounds the law. In both Chinese versions the king has a down-and-out ex-official brought in and makes the transaction sound like a fair enough bargain. Only H.200 mentions the lady Mallika M7

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and gives some description of skin and hair (like a horse's tail). It is not until Konjaku that we get all the kings proposing, the narrative moving at a true court pace, and the Buddhist coloring heightened by such touches as the leftward curls, the ten-foot-square hut, and Princess Vajra absent not from a secular gathering of her husband's friends and their wives but from a palace ho-e. T A L E 3: How Preceptor Bodhidharma Toured India Observing the Acts of Monks. (Scroll 4, no. 9. Haga I, p. 301. Yamagishi, p. 44.) Quoted: H.2122, scroll 34, section, "Concentration," subsection, "Instances" (source H.202) (Schmidt, pp. 384, 385). The Japanese collections: Homotsu-shu, scroll 6, " How Bodhidharma watched the Go-playing Monks "; and Uji-shui monogatari, scroll 12, " How Bodhidharma observed the Acts of Indian monks." Homotsu-shu does not represent the Go players as arhats. What they tell Daruma (Bodhidharma) is that when black " dies " they rejoice that black deeds and worldly passions have lost, that when white " dies" they mourn the overthrow of white teachings and virtue, and that they are thus preparing themselves for enlightenment, whereupon Daruma wipes away tears of joy. In conclusion we are told that according to the signs at death the two were reborn as sages. (For these signs, see Beal's Catena, p. 41. The occult principle ascends or descends, on the basis of a man's good or bad works. If the eyes remain warm longest, it means paradise, if the top of the head, rebirth as a sage.) Uji-shui transcribes the story practically verbatim in syllabary, for " flowers and incense," however, substituting " nembutsu " (repetition of Buddha's name). The Chinese passage quoted merely tells how Upagupta, later Agoka's teacher, was instructed to take black and white pebbles and keep a daily tally of his bad thoughts and his good, and how the black gradually dwindled down to none at all. Avadana Cataka mentions "mixed acts" as well. For a Western parallel, see Gesta Romanorum, Tale C L X V I , " Of the Game of Schaci," where the pieces are again black and white. The translator says that " elaborate religious applications" are made in the Latin but these he does not pass on to us. T A L E 4: How a Poor Woman in India Got the Lotus Sutra Copied. (Scroll 4, no. 40. Haga I, p. 370. Yamagishi, p. 53.) Quoted: After another hair-motif story (scroll 4, no. 1 5 ) , H . 2 1 2 1 , scroll 45, " How a long-haired woman sacrificed her hair to offer a repast to Buddha" (source, H.217) (Chavannes, Contes, no. 47 1 -) See also: For the hair-motif, H.203 (ibid., no. 4 1 1 ) . For the dumb-prince-motif, H.152 (ibid., no. 38, and vol. 4, note to no. 38), and Tibetan Tales, pp. 247!!.

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SOURCES AND RELATED TEXTS T A L E 5: How Three Beasts Practiced the Bodhisattva Discipline and the Hare Roasted Itself. (Scroll 5, no. 13. Haga I, p. 423. Yamagishi, p. 60.) Quoted: H.2087, scroll 7 (Beal, Si-yu-ki, vol. II, pp. 58, 59; Julien, Les Avadanas, vol. I, pp. 375, 376). H.2122, scroll 41, section, " Alms-Giving," subsection, " Examples " (source, H.206) (Chavannes, no. 139). H.2121, scroll 47, " H o w a hare king, out of attachment for a hermit, cast his body into the fire and accumulated a birth in the Tusita heaven " (source, H.154, i.e., the translated Sanskrit Jataka-nidana, 55 sutras on Buddha's former rebirths, scroll 4, no. 3, " The hare-king sutra " ) . Reference only: H.203, scroll 2. H.200, scroll 4, " How a hare roasted its own flesh to feed a hermit " (Sanskrit original translated by Feer, Avadana Çataka, pp. 1 3 8 - 1 4 2 ) . See also: H.152, "Sutras on the Six Perfections" (Chavannes, no. 2 1 ) . Jataka, no. 316 (Cowell's 6 vol. Jataka, and Warren, Buddhism in Translations, pp. 274-279). Gâtakamâlâ by Arya Sura, tr. from the Sanskrit by J. S. Speyer (London, 1895), no. 6. For descriptive tabulations of Indian and Chinese versions, Chavannes, vol. 4, pages 95, 96, and Thomas Watters, On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, vol. II, pp. 56, 57. T A L E 6: How Lion's Pity for Monkey's Young Made Him Cut a Chunk Off Himself for Eagle. (Scroll 5, no. 14. Haga I, p. 426. Yamagishi, p. 62.) Quoted: H.2122, scroll 64, section, "Compassion," subsection, " B e a s t s " (source, H.397). H.2121, scroll 1 1 , " H o w a lion gave his own flesh for a monkey friend" (source, H.1509, scroll 33) (Julien, Les Avadanas, vol. II, pp. 2 1 - 2 3 ) . In the H.2122 passage (no Western translation) Buddha tells his disciples how in a previous existence he had been a lion, etc. Lion and eagle speak in seven-character stanzas, lion arguing that eagle should spare his betraying a trust, eagle replying that he flies too high to fear lion, and wants better reason for returning his prize. Eagle finally relents rather than let lion maim himself, and he is, therefore, identified with Sariputra the wise rather than with Devadatta. Julien's translation of the H.2121 passage bears the motto: " I I faut être fidèle à sa parole." When lion argues that one king owes another a good turn, the vulture replies, " Maintenant, je meurs de faim; qu'ai-je besoin de considérer la ressemblance ou la différence du rang." See also: Cowell, Jataka, no. 499; Speyer, Gâtakamâlâ, no. 2; Schmidt, Dsanglun, pp. 16-20; Chavannes, Contes, no. 2 and no. 197, and for further material on Jataka, no. 499, as represented in the Chinese Tripitaka, Chavannes, vol. 4, pages 85, 86.

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SOURCES AND RELATED TEXTS T A L E 7: How in India a Fox Passed for Beast King and Died of Riding a Lion. (Scroll 5, no. 20. Haga I, p. 444. Yamagishi, p. 66.) Quoted: H.2122, scroll 54, section, "Deception," subsection, " B e a s t s " (source, H . 1 4 2 1 ) (Chavannes, no. 365). See also: Cowell, Jataka, no. 241; ibid., nos. 143 and 335, where jackal pretends only to certain of lion's abilities. For blue jackal: Chavannes, Contes, no. 389; Tibetan Tales, no. X X X V I ; Lancereau's Hitopadésa, pp. 142, 143. For bibliography on the Panchatantra's blue jackal, Chavannes, ibid., vol. 4, p. 193. T A L E 8: How Tortoise, Heedless of Crane's Warning, Fell to Earth and Got a Cracked Shell. (Scroll 5, no. 24. Haga I, p. 453. Yamagishi, p. 69.) Quoted: H.2122, scroll 46, section, "Discretion," subsection, "Breaches of i t " (source, H.206) (Chavannes, Contes, no. 1 3 1 ) . H.2122, scroll 82, " The Six Perfections," section, " Steadfastness," subsection, " E x a m p l e s " (source, H . 1 4 2 1 ) (ibid., no. 367; Julien, Les Avadanas, vol. I, p. 71 ). See also: H.1443 (Chavannes, Contes, no. 395). T A L E 9: How Tortoise Was Outwitted by Monkey. (Scroll 5, no. 25. Haga I, p. 455. Yamagishi, p. 72.) Quoted: H . 2 1 2 1 , scroll 23, " The nun Boshi's past birth as a seatortoise's mate" (source, H.154, the Tortoise-Monkey sutra) (Chavannes, no. 425). H.2122, scroll 54, section, "Lying," subsection, " B e a s t s " (source, H.193, and the Kamakura period Japanese collection Saseki-shu, scroll 5, part first: the Preceptor's dialogue of the ant and the scorpion, no Western translation). In the Saseki-shu story, the preceptor begins by explaining that the scriptures contain many animal dialogues, for example that of the monkey and the crocodile, which he describes as a hornless animal. Here the monkey has been led to expect a mountain and when none appears on the horizon asks why. See also: H.152 (Chavannes, Contes, no. 36); Cowell, Jataka, nos. 57 and 208. For the dohada or cravings of pregnancy motif, Tawney, Ocean of Story, vol. I, Foreword by Sir Richard Carnac Temple, and p. 222, note. For diffusion, Chavannes, Contes, vol. 4, p. 105. T A L E 10: Where Persons Over Seventy Were Deported. (Scroll 5, no. 32. Haga I, p. 468. Yamagishi, p. 74.) Quoted: H.2122, scroll 49, section, " Filial Impiety," subsection, " Father neglect " (source, H.203) (Chavannes, Contes, no. 400). San Kuo Chih, dynastic annals of A.D. 222-265. Sei Shònagon, Makura no Zoshi, scroll 10, list of Shinto shrines (André Beaujard, Les Notes de chevet de Sèi Shònagon, Paris, 1934, pp. 238-241; English Pillow Book translations stop short of scroll 10).

150

SOURCES AND RELATED

TEXTS

Reference only: H.200, scroll 7 (Schmidt, Dsanglun, pp. 189191). T A L E 1 1 : How Under Emperor Ming of the Later-Han Dynasty Buddhism Crossed to China. (Scroll 6, no. 2. Haga I, p. 478. Yamagishi, p. 79.) Quoted: H.2122, scroll 20, section, "Thousand Buddhas," subsection, " Efficacy." H.2122, scroll 55, section, " Iconoclasm," subsection, " Efficacy." The Japanese Sankoku denki, scroll 9, " The Han-Dynasty Introduction of Buddhism." Reference only: H.2122, scroll 18, section, " L a w veneration," subsection, " Efficacy." H.2059, scroll 1 , and H.2064, scroll 1, respectively the sixth-century work and the fifteenth-century compilation from older memoirs where biographies of Matanga and Rakusha appear. H.2035, scroll 35, a thirteenth-century Tendai school history of Chinese Buddhism in 54 books. H. 2084, scroll 1, section, " Efficacy of the first China Shakka image." In H.2122, scroll 20 (no Western translation) we get Matanga at the White Horse Monastery, a man versed in both vehicles who had reached China in the third year of Ei-hei (58-76 A . D . ) . Then come Emperor Ming's dream, here of a golden man flying down from heaven, the embassy, the white-horse whinnying legend. Rakusha, also at the monastery, is shown working on the forty-twoarticle sutra, dying at somewhat over sixty. He is credited with another " first" as well, his copied Shakka painting. H.2122, scroll 55 (no Western translation) gives dream and embassy, describes the temple as having wall paintings and a threestory pagoda. The emperor questions Matanga and Rakusha and they instruct him. The fourteenth year of Ei-hei, first month, first day is given as the date of the Five-peaks Tao-master episode, the fifteenth day as the date of the contest, held at the White Horse Temple. Following elaborate manifestations, over a thousand officials and 620 Tao-masters become monks; 230 imperial concubines and officials' wives become nuns. Ten temples, seven for monks, three for nuns, are founded. The post-Kamakura Sankoku denki (no Western translation) dates the dream 1 0 1 0 years after Buddha's death, Ei-hei 14, night of the sixteenth day of the eighth month, and makes the white horse simply the bearer of books and relics. After 3,700 Tao-masters have made prodigious efforts, Matanga takes the lapis-lazuli urn of Buddha relics in his two hands and ascends 300 feet into the air with it. The relics emit a glow which lights the whole sky and the four seas. All 3,700 Tao-masters become disciples of Matanga. White Horse Monastery is founded, Buddhism is propagated in the 400 provinces of China, and 1,703 temples are built. The emperor's dream is here of a golden man fifteen feet tall.

SOURCES AND RELATED

TEXTS

T A L E 12: How Under Emperor Wu of the Liang Dynasty Bodhidharma Crossed to China. (Scroll 6, no. 3. Haga I, p. 483.) Quoted: H.2064, scroll 4 (for translation of interview with Emperor Wu, see Edkins, Chinese Buddhism, p. 1 0 1 , quoted in A. K. Reischauer, Studies in Japanese Buddhism, p. 75; and for interpretation as well as translation, see Suzuki, Essays in Zen Buddhism, First Series, p. 1 7 5 ) . H.2064, s c r °U 2> on Buddha-bhadra, emendation suggested for Buddha-yasha. Reference only: H.2076, scroll 3; H.2060, scroll 16; H.2059, scroll 2. T A L E 13: How Chinese Meng Tsung's Filial Piety Got His Old Mother Bamboo Shoots in Winter. (Scroll 9, no. 2. Haga I, p. 617. Yamagishi, p. 87.) Quoted: Meng Ch'iu, part II, a small Yuan dynasty work for " juvenile instruction " giving selections from the classics and narratives in tetrameter stanzas, the second of its three parts being " Personal Conduct" (see Wylie, Notes on Chinese Literature, p. 185). Yiian Chien Lei Han, vol. 271, Filial Piety Section, an encyclopedia in 450 books compiled in 1 7 1 0 (Wylie, ibid., p. 188; and S. Y. Téng and K. Biggerstaff, Annotated Bibliography of Selected Chinese Reference Works, rev. ed., 1950, Harvard-Yenching Institute Studies, vol. II, p. 126). See also: Ivan Chen, The Book of Filial Duty (London, 1908). T A L E 14: How Chinese Han Po-yii When Beaten by His Mother Wept for Grief. (Scroll 9, no. 1 1 . Haga I, p. 629. Yamagishi, p. 90.) Quoted: Shuo Yiian, scroll 3. Reference only: Hómotsu-shü, scroll 1. T A L E 15: How Tang Emperor Hsiian-tsung's Yang Kuei-fei Was Killed by His Majesty's Favor. (Scroll 10, no. 7. Haga I, p. 729. Yamagishi, p. 96.) Quoted: Po Shih Wen Chi, scroll 12, section, "Sentiment," poem, " The Everlasting Wrong " (H. A. Giles, History of Chinese Literature, pp. 169-175; Soames Jenyn, Further T'ang Poems; Witter Bynner in R. C. Trevelyan, From the Chinese). Minamoto Toshiyori, Mumyosho ( 1 1 2 7 ) , final scroll. Kara monogatari. Taiheiki, scroll 37, the Yang Kuo-chung affair. Soga monogatari, scroll 2, the Emperor Hsüan-tsung incident. Reference only: H.2064, " Old T'ang History," scroll 76. Minamoto Toshiyori (died 1 1 2 9 ) , compiler of the fifth imperial anthology, includes the story complete in his Mumyosho. The Kara monogatari, a late Heian collection of Chinese historical and legendary material from noted Chinese writers, treats it in the poetical monogatari style, prose punctuated by verse, more than

152

SOURCES AND RELATED TEXTS tripling the length as compared with Konjaku. The Taiheiki, a Muromachi period romanticization of the shogunate's first two hundred years ( 1 1 8 1 - 1 3 6 8 ) , throws it in at great length as a horrible example of what can happen politically when a person like Yang Kuei-fei's brother is placed in a top position. The Soga monogatari, another Muromachi period work (for description see Kokusai Bunka Shinkokai, Introduction to Classical Japanese Literature), uses only the geomancer episode. T A L E 16: How Knight Confucius While Traveling Met Boys Who Quizzed Him. (Scroll 10, no. 9. Haga I, p. 759.) Quoted: H.2122, scroll 4, section, " Sun and Moon," subsection, " Motion Relative to the Earth " (source, the Lieh-tzu). Shih Shuo Hsin Yii, scroll 12, section, " Precocity " (source, Chin-shu, History of Chin, scroll 6, Annals of Tsin Emperor Ming). Uji-shui monogatari, scroll 12, Confucius's dialogue with an eight-year-old. Toshiyori, Mumydsho, final scroll. Jikkinsho, second scroll. On the Shih Shuo Hsin Yii, see T6ng and Biggerstaff, Annotated Bibliography, p. 301. Both Chin-shu and Uji-shui set as the problem the comparative distance away of the sun and a capital city. Mumydsho gives a poem about the horse and cow characters, then explains it by telling the Yen Hui anecdote. On Jikkinsho (Miscellany of the Ten Maxims), date 1252, see Reischauer and Yamagiwa, Translations from Early Japanese Literature, p. 13. The quoted passage gives the Yen Hui anecdote in brief. T A L E 17: When Chuang-tzu Observed the Doings of Animals and Took to His Heels. (Scroll 10, no. 13. Haga I, p. 772. Yamagishi, p. 104.) Quoted: Chuang-tzu, book 4, Mountain-tree section, bird passage only (Giles, Chuang-tzu, pp. 258, 259). See also, for the fish passage, Giles, pp. 218, 219, and Waley, Three Ways of Thought in Ancient China, p. 22. T A L E 18: How a Woman of Ch'ang-an Changed Pillows with Her Husband and Was Killed by His Enemy. (Scroll 10, no. 21. Haga I, p. 788.) Quoted: Liu Hsian, Ku Lieh nil chuan (Record of Noteworthy Women), first century B.C., section, " Chastity." Chin shu tsae ke, Chin biographies of contemporary princes of other dynasties (265419 A . D . ) , no. 14. Gempei Seisuiki, scroll 19, " The East-turn faithful wife," the Konjaku story retold at the end of the Kesa Gozen episode as a karma cognate. Reference only: Hyaku Innen Shu, a Kamakura period Buddhist collection, scroll 6, " The Faithful Wife." Gempei Seisuiki, scroll 19, the Kesa Gozen episode itself. l

53

SOURCES AND RELATED TEXTS T A L E 19: The Might of Assistant High Priest Jitsu-in of Hieizan. (Scroll 23, no. 19. Haga III, p. 56. Yamagishi, p. 225.) Quoted: Nihon Hôke-kengi (Record of Lotus Manifestations in Japan), scroll 2, "Biography of the Hieizan West-Pagoda Armored Monk Assistant-high-priest Jitsuin." Reference only: Genkyô Shakuso, scroll 4, a compilation of Buddhist records for a 700-year period from 593. T A L E 20: Wrestler Umi Tsuneyo's Match with a Snake. (Scroll 23, no. 22. Haga III, p. 65. Yamagishi, p. 233.) Quoted: Uji-shüi monogatari, scroll 14, " Tsuneyori's Meeting with a Snake " (Tsuneyori in error for Tsuneyo). T A L E 2 1 : How Wrestler Kisaichi Munehira Tossed a Blue Shark. (Scroll 23, no. 23. Haga III, p. 68. Yamagishi, p. 235.) T A L E 22: How a Man Bounced His Sword-Sheath Rod on a Fingernail and a Woman Her Needle. (Scroll 24, no. 4. Haga III, p. 79.) T A L E 23: When Kudara Kawanari and Hida Takumi Competed. (Scroll 24, no. 5. Haga III, p. 80.) Quoted: Montoku jitsuroku (Records of Montoku's reign, 850858), 879 A.D., fifth of the Six National Histories, scroll 5. H . 2 1 2 1 , scroll 44 (source, H.206, scroll 4, " Carpenter's and Painter's Mutual Deceits") (Chavannes, no. 163). Shih Shuo Hsin Yii, by Liu I-ch'ing (A.D. 403-444) (see Têng and Biggerstaff, Annotated Bibliography, p. 301), a collection of minor incidents from the Han to the Tsin dynasty, divided under 30 heads, scroll 16, " Applied Arts section," Wu tsa tsu, by Hsieh Tsai-hang, a Ming dynasty, i.e., sixteenth-century, work in 16 volumes, treating largely of the supernatural and the strange, scroll 7. See also: Tibetan Tales, p. 361. T A L E 24: How a Lady Went to a Master of Medicine, Was Cured of a Boil, and Slipped Off. (Scroll 24, no. 8. Haga III, p. 87.) T A L E 25: How a Man's Wife Became a Vengeful Ghost and How Her Malignity Was Diverted by a Master of Divination. (Scroll 24, no. 20. Haga III, p. 106. Yamagishi, p. 251.) T A L E 26: When Emperor Murakami and Sugawara Fumitoki Each Composed a Chinese Poem. (Scroll 24, no. 26. Haga III, p. 126. Yamagishi, p. 256.) Quoted: Gôdanshô ( 1 1 0 7 ) , a conversational collection of anecdotes about literary personages as related by Oe Masafusa and taken down by Fujiwara Sanekane, in 5 scrolls, scroll 5, Chinese poetics section: " Composition contest between his majesty Murakami and Fumitoki, courtier third rank." T A L E 27: How Taira Koremochi Had a Retainer Killed on Him. (Scroll 25, no. 4. Haga III, p. 229.) 1

54

SOURCES AND RELATED TEXTS T A L E 28: How an East-Bound Traveler Fathered a Child by a Turnip. (Scroll 26, no. 2. Haga III, p. 270.) T A L E 29: How in Mimasaka Province a God Was Trapped by a Hunter and Living Sacrifice Stopped. (Scroll 26, no. 7. Haga III, p. 284.) Quoted: Sou shen chi, a fourth-century book of marvels, chiefly incredible, much quoted up to and during T'ang times, then apparently lost, scroll 19. Yu kuai lu, a brief eighth-century record of wonders and monstrosities. Uji-shui monogatari, scroll 10, " How an Azuma [east-country] man stopped living sacrifice" (S. Ballard, TASJ, 1900). Reference only: Hyakuinnen-shu, scrolls 1, 2, and 3. T A L E 30: How Mikawa Province Originated Dog's-Head Silk. (Scroll 26, no. 1 1 . Haga III, p. 309. Yamagishi, p. 305.) Quoted: H.2122, scroll 63, section, " Fertility," subsection, " Seed." T A L E 31: How the Reizei-in Water Spirit Assumed Human Form and Was Caught. (Scroll 27, no. 5. Haga III, p. 347. Yamagishi, p. 307.) T A L E 32: How Ki Tosuke's Meeting with a Ghost-Woman in Mino Province Ended in His Death. (Scroll 27, no. 21. Haga III, p. 368.) Quoted: H.2122, scroll 46, section, "Discretion" (source, Sou sh&n chi). T A L E 33: How Ex-Emperor En-yu's Rat-Day Was Attended by Sone Yoshitada. (Scroll 28, no. 3. Haga III, p. 406.) Quoted: Kojidan, accounts of ancient events, a Kamakura period work in 6 scrolls, scroll 1, Monarch and Empress section. O-kagami, a history of the years 850-1025, probably completed in the early 1100's, scroll 8. T A L E 34: When Chikuzen-Governor Fujiwara Akiie's Samurai Forgot Himself. (Scroll 28, no. 34. Haga III, p. 457.) T A L E 35: How in Mutsu Province a Dog-and-Mountain Dog Bit to Death a Big Snake. (Scroll 29, no. 32. Haga III, p. 521.) Quoted: Sou shen chi, scroll 20. Sankoku denki, scroll 22, " Experience of a hunter who dwelt by an unidentified river." T A L E 36: Tsunekiyo Yasunaga's Fuha-Barrier Dream about His Wife at the Capital. (Scroll 31, no. 9. Haga III, p. 601. Yamagishi, p. 388.) T A L E 37: Two Brothers Plant Day-Lilies and Asters. (Scroll 31, no. 27. Haga III, p. 630.) Quoted: Minamoto Toshiyori, Mumyosho scroll 2, " Item on poems about plants with occult properties" (the Konjaku story transcribed).

155

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BIBLIOGRAPHY Bunzaburô, Matsumoto, review of his Daruma (Bodhidharma) (Tokyo, 191 x ), by N. P., Bulletin de l'Ecole Française d'ExtrêmeOrient, 1 9 1 1 , pp. 457-458. Burlingame, Eugene Watson, Buddhist Legends Translated from the original Pali text of the Dhammapada Commentary (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1 9 2 1 ) . 3 vols. Burnouf, E., Introduction à l'Histoire du Buddhisme Indien, 2nd ed. (Paris, 1876). 586 pages. Cambridge History of India, vol. I (New York: Macmillan, 1922). Chakravarti, Nilmani, " The End of Prasenajit, King of Kosala," Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, vol. X X V I , 1930, pp. 271-273, based on data from the commentary on Dhammapada, verse 3, ch. IV. Chalmers, Lord, Further Dialogues of the Buddha, Parts I and II, translated from the Pali of the Majjhima Nikaya, Sacred Books of the Buddhists, vols. V , V I (London: H. Milford, Oxford University Press, 1926-27). Chavannes, Edouard, Cinq Cents Contes et Apologues extraits du Tripitaka Chinois et traduits en français (3 vols., Paris, 1 9 1 0 1 1 ; supplementary 4th vol., ed. Sylvain Lévi, 1934). , Mission Archéologique dans la Chine Septentrionelle, Planches (Paris, 1909). Chen, Ivan, The Book of Filial Duty, translated from the Chinese of the Hsiao Ching, with the Twenty-Four Examples, Wisdom of the East (London, 1908). Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms (220-265): Chapters 69-78 of the Tzu Chi Tung Chin of Ssuma Kuang, translated and annotated by Achilles Fang, edited by Glen W . Baxter (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1952). Chuang-tzu, see Giles, Herbert A. Cowell, E. B., tr., the Buddha-Karita of Asvaghosha, from the Sanskrit, Sacred Books of the East, ed. Max Miiller, vol. 49, part I (Oxford, 1894). , ed., The Jataka, or Stories of the Buddha's Former Births, translated from the Pali by various hands (Cambridge, England: University Press, 1895). 6 vols. Cunningham, Alexander, The Ancient Geography of India, I: The Buddhist Period, Including the Campaigns of Alexander and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang (London, 1 8 7 1 ) . Davids, see Rhys-Davids. Dialogues of the Buddha, see Rhys-Davids. Dohi, Keizo, " Medicine in Ancient Japan, Study of some drugs preserved in the Imperial treasure house at Nara," The Young *57

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East (Tokyo), October 1926, pp. 1 5 1 - 1 5 7 ; November 1926, pp. 185-195. Dsanglun oder Der Weise und der Thor, see Schmidt, I. J. Dutt, Nalinakasha, Early Monastic Buddhism, Calcutta Oriental Series, no. 30 (Calcutta, 1941-45). 2 vols. Edkins, Joseph, Chinese Buddhism, 2nd ed. rev., Trübner's Oriental Series (London: Kegan, Paul, Trench, 1893). 453 pages. Edmunds, Will H., Pointers and Clues to the Subjects of Chinese and Japanese Art (London, 1934). Eliot, Sir Charles, Hinduism and Buddhism, an historical sketch (London: E. Arnold and Co., 1921, Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1954; New York: Barnes and Noble, 1954). 3 vols. , Japanese Buddhism (London: E. Arnold and Co., 1935). 449 pages. Elisséeff, Nikita, Thèmes et Motifs des Mille et une Nuits: Essai de Classification (Beyrouth: Institut Français de Damas, 1949). Feer, Léon, Avadana Çataka: Cent Légendes (Bouddhiques) traduites du Sanskrit, Annales du Musée Guimet, vol. 18 (Paris, 1891). Filliozat, Jean, "Mélanges: La Médecine Indienne," Journal Asiatique, Avril-Juin 1934, p. 306. Florenz, Karl, Geschichte der japanischen Litteratur (Leipzig: Amelangs, 1906). 642 pages. Fukumensi Mihori, Japanese Game of "Go" (tr. Z. T. Iwadö), Tourist Library, no. 27 (Board of Tourist Industry, Japanese Government Railways, 1939). Further Dialogues of the Buddha, see Chalmers, Lord. Gâtakamâlâ, see Speyer, J. S. Genji, The Tale of, see Waley, Arthur. Gesta Romanorum, see Swan, Charles. Giles, Herbert A., A Chinese Biographical Dictionary (London: B. Quaritch, and Shanghai, 1898). 1022 pages. , Chuang-tzu, translated from the Chinese (London: B. Quaritch, 1889; 2nd rev. ed., 1926). 466 pages. , A History of Chinese Literature (London and New York, 1901, 1915, 1923, 1933, 1937; New York: Grove Press, 1958). 448 pages. " Go," Japanese Game of, see Fukumensi Mihori. Gooneratne, E. R. J., The Anguttara Nikaya, translated from the Pali text (Galle, Ceylon, 1 9 1 3 ) . Gudzy, N. K., Early Russian Literature, translated from the second Russian edition by S. W . Jones (New York: Macmillan, 1949). 545 P a S es 158

BIBLIOGRAPHY Haga Yaichi, Köshö Konjaku monogatari (Tokyo, 1 9 1 3 , 1914, 1 9 2 1 ) . 3 vols. 2700 pages. Hardy, R. Spence, Eastern Monachism (London: Partridge and Oakey, 1850). 443 pages. , A Manual of Budhism [sic] in its Modern Development, translated from Singhalese manuscripts (London: Williams and Norgate, i860; 2nd ed., 1880). 566 pages. Hitopadesa, see Lancereau, Edouard. Hôbôgirin: dictionnaire encyclopédique du bouddhisme d'après les sources chinoises et japonaises, publié sous le haut patronage de l'Académie impériale du Japon et sous la direction de Sylvain Levi et J. Takakusu. Rédacteur en chef Paul Demiéville (vols. I—III, Tôkyô: Maison franco-japonaise etc., 1929-37). Fascicule annexe. Tables du Taishô Issaikyo, nouvelle édition du Canon bouddhique chinois, publié sous la direction de J. Takakusu et K. Watanabe (Tôkyô: Maison franco-japonaise, 1931 ). 202 pages. Huber, Edouard, Sutralamkara, Açvaghosa, traduit en français sur la version chinoise de Kumarajiva (Paris, 1908). 496 pages. Jataka, see Cowell, E. B. Jenyn, Soames, Further Tang Poems (London: J. Murray, 1944). 95 PagesJulien, Stanislas, Les Avadanas: Contes et Apologues Indiens (Paris: B. Duprat, 1859). 3 vols. , Mémoires sur les Contrées occidentales Traduits du Sanskrit en Chinois en l'an 648 par Hiouen-Thsang et du Chinois en français (Paris: l'Imprimerie impériale, 1857-58). Kahgyur, see Tibetan Tales. Kathä Sarit Sägara, see Ocean of Story, The. Kern, Hendrik, tr., The Saddharma Pundarika, or the Lotus of the True Law, Sacred Books of the East, vol. 21 (Oxford, 1884). Kobayashi, Nobuko, The Sketch Book of the Lady Sei Shönagon, translated from the Japanese with Introduction by L. Adams Beck, Wisdom of the East (London, 1930). Kokka (Tokyo), November 1929, p. 320, picture, p. 321 of Daruma (Bodhidharma); February 1932, p. 41, picture of Daruma (Bodhidharma). Kokusai Bunka Shinkökai, ed., Introduction to Classical Japanese Literature (Tokyo: Society for International Cultural Relations, 1948). Lancereau, Edouard, Hitopadésa, ou L'Instruction Utile: Recueil d'Apologues et de Contes (Paris: P. Jannet, 1855). Law, B. C., Geography of Early Buddhism (London, 1932). , A History of Pali Literature (London, 1933). 2 vols.

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Maspero, H., " Le Songe et l'Ambassade de l'Empereur Ming, Etude Critique des Sources," Bulletin de l'Ecole Française d'Extrême-Orient, 1910, vol. Ill, p. 244. , " Les Origines de la communauté bouddhiste de Lo-yang," Journal Asiatique, Juillet-Septembre 1934. Moller, J. Prip, Chinese Buddhist Monasteries (Copenhagen and Oxford, 1937). Müller, F. Max, Larger Sukhavati-Vyuha, Smaller Sukhavati-Vyuha, translated from the Sanskrit, Sacred Books of the East, vol. 49, part II (Oxford, 1894). Murasaki, Lady, see Waley, Arthur, The Tale of Genji. Nanjiô Bunyiû, A Catalogue of the Chinese Translation of the Buddhist Tripitaka, The Sacred Canon of the Buddhists in China and Japan, compiled by Order of the Secretary of State for India (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1883; Tokyo, 1930). 479 pages. Ocean of Story, The, being C. H. Tawney's translation of Somadeva's Kathä Sarit Sägara (or Ocean or Streams of Story). Now edited with introduction, fresh explanatory notes and terminal essay by N. M. Penzer (London, 1924-1928). 10 vols. Pelliot, Paul, " Notes sur Quelques Artistes des Six Dynasties et des T'ang," T'oung Pao, 1923, pp. 2530?. Peri, Noel, " Un Conte Hindoue au Japon," Bulletin de l'Ecole Française d'Extreme-Orient, 1910, vol. Ill, p. 427. Ponsonby-Fane, R. A. B., Kyoto, Its History and Vicissitudes since its Foundation in 792 to 1868 (Hong Kong, 1931). 450 pages. Przyluski, J., La Légende de l'Empereur Açoka dans les Textes Indiens et Chinois (Paris, 1923). Questions of King Milinda, see Rhys-Davids, T. W. R. Reischauer, August Karl, Studies in Japanese Buddhism (New York: Macmillan, 1917). 361 pages. Reischauer, Edwin O., Ennin, Diary, the record of a pilgrimage to China in search of the law, translated from the Chinese (New York: Ronald Press, 1955). 454 pages. , Ennin's Travels in T'ang China (New York: Ronald Press, !955)- 34 1 Pag«, and Joseph K. Yamagiwa, Translations from Early Japanese Literature (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1951). 467 pages. Reischauer, Robert Karl, Early Japanese History (c. 40 B . C . - A . D . 1167) (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1937). 2 vols. 405 and 249 pages.

160

BIBLIOGRAPHY Rhys-Davids, T . W . , Buddhism: Its History and Literature (New York: Putnam's, 1896). 230 pages. , Questions of King Milinda, translated from the Pali of the Milinda-panha, Sacred Books of the East, vols. 35 and 36 (Oxford, 1890-94). Rhys-Davids, T . W . and C. A. F., Dialogues of the Buddha, Parts II and III, translated from the Pali of the Dighä-Nikäya. Rhys-Davids, Mrs. T . W . , Psalms of the Early Buddhists (London: published for the Pali text society by H. Frowde, 1 9 0 9 - 1 9 1 3 ) . 2 vols.: I. Psalms of the sisters (Theragäthä), II. Psalms of the brethren (Therigäthä). Saddharma Pundarika, see Kern, Hendrik. Sakai Köhei, Konjaku monogatari shin-kenkyü (A New Study of the Konjaku Monogatari), Kokubungaku tsüshi (A Continuous History of Japanese Literature) (Tokyo, 1 9 2 5 ) . Sansom, G. B., Japan: A Short Cultural History (rev. ed., London: Cresset Press, 1946). 548 pages. Saunders, Kenneth J., Epochs in Buddhist History, Haskell Lectures, 1921 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1924). 243 pages. Schmidt, I. J., Dsanglun oder Der Weise und der Thor, aus dem Tibetischen uebersetzt und mit dem Originaltexte herausgegeben (St. Petersburg, 1 8 4 3 ) . Sei Shönagon, see Beaujard, André; Kobayashi, Nobuko; Waley, Arthur. Speyer, J. S., Gdtakamdld, or Garland of Birth-Stories by Arya Stira, translated from the Sanskrit, Sacred Books of the Buddhists, I (London: H. Frowde, 1895). Sukhavati-Vyuha, see Müller, F. Max. Suzuki, Daisetz Tei tari, Essays in Zen Buddhism, First Series (London: Luzac and Co., 1 9 2 7 ) . 326 pages. , Second Series (London, 1933; Boston: Beacon Press, 1 9 5 2 ) . 348 pages. Swan, Charles, tr., Gesta Romanorum, 1824, new edition 1 8 7 1 , Broadway Translations (London and New York, 1924). 472 pages. Téng, S. Y., and K. Biggerstaff, Annotated Bibliography of Selected Chinese Reference Works, Harvard-Yenching Institute Studies, vol. II (rev. ed., Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1950). Thompson, Stith, The Types of Folk-Tale: A Classification and Bibliography, F. F. Communication no. 74 (Helsinki, 1928). , Motif-Index of Folk-Literature, F. F. Communication nos. 106, 107, 108, 109, 1 1 6 (Helsinki, 1 9 3 2 - 1 9 3 5 ) . Tibetan Tales Derived from Indian Sources, translated from the

161

BIBLIOGRAPHY Tibetan of the Kahgyur by F. Anton von Schiefner and from the German into English by W . R. S. Ralston, New Edition with preface by C. A. F. Rhys-Davids (London and New York: Broadway Translations, 1925). (First appeared 1882, Trübner's Oriental Series.) Trevelyan, Robert Calverley, ed., From the Chinese (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1945). 92 pages. Tsuda, N., " Manuscript Copies of Buddhist Scripture and How they were Made," Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, vol. L, 1922. Tsugita Jun, Kokubungakushi shinkö (New Study of History of Japanese Literature) (Tokyo, 1932). 2 vols. 1254 pages. Visser, M. W . de, Ancient Buddhism in Japan: Sutras and ceremonies in use in the seventh and eighth centuries A.D. and their history in later times (Leiden: Brill, 1935). 2 vols. 763 pages. Waley, Arthur, The Analects of Confucius, Translated and Annotated (3rd imp., London, 1949; Allen and Unwin, 1938; Macmillan, 1939). , Life and Times of Po Chii-i (London: Allen and Unwin, 1949). 238 pages. , The Pillow-book of Sei Shönagon (London: Allen and Unwin, 1928; Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1929). 162 pages. , The Real Tripitaka and Other Pieces (London: Allen and Unwin; New York: Macmillan, 1952). 291 pages. , The Tale of Genji, by Lady Murasaki: A Novel in Six Parts translated from the Japanese (London: Allen and Unwin, 1935; Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1925-33, 6 vols, with separate titles). 11

35 P a g es , Three Ways of Thought in Ancient China (London: Allen and Unwin, 1939). 275 pages. , The Way and its Power: A Study of the Tao ti ching and its Place in Chinese Thought (London: Allen and Unwin, 1934; Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1935; New York: Grove Press, 1958). 262 pages. Warren, Henry Clarke, Buddhism in Translations, Harvard Oriental Series, vol. Ill (Cambridge: Harvard University, 1896). 520 pages. Watters, Thomas, On Yuan Chwang's [Hsiian-tsang's] Travels in India 629-645 A.D. (London, 1904; China, 1938). 2 vols. Winternitz, M., A History of Indian Literature, translated from the original German by Mrs. S. Ketkar (University of Calcutta, 1927). 2 vols. Woodward, F. L., translator, Book of the Gradual Sayings, vols. 162

BIBLIOGRAPHY I - V , with an introduction by Mrs. T . W . Rhys-Davids (published for the Pali Text Society, Oxford University Press, 1 9 3 2 36). Wylie, A., Notes on Chinese Literature with Introductory Remarks on the Progressive Advancement of the Art; and a list of Translations from the Chinese into various European languages (reprinted from the Original Edition, Shanghai: Presbyterian Mission Press, 1922). Yamagishi Tokuhei, Konjaku monogatari, Gendaigoyaku Kokubungaku Zenshü (Complete Japanese Literature Collection in modem Japanese translation), No. 12. One hundred and twentyfive tales retold in modern Japanese (Tokyo, 1935). 398 pages.

163

Index Acela Kagapa, ascetic, Vakkula's one convert, 1 1 2 - 1 1 3 Agoka, emperor of India, 264-228? B.C., military conqueror, then propagator of Buddhism, 1 1 3 , 115, n ^ M 8 Aesop, ix, xiii Agita, a king. See Sukhavati-Vyuha Akimoto. See Minamoto Akimoto Akir the Wise, one of the world's oldest stories, 127 Alcestis theme, xiv, 53-54, 1 3 4 An Lu-shan, barbarian general, rebellion of, 46, 48, 133 Analects of Confucius. See Waley, Arthur Ananda, Buddha's faithful servant, 20, 1 1 4 , 1 1 5 , 124 Ancient Buddhism in Japan, 1 1 7 , 119 Ancient Geography of India, 1 1 4 , 118 Anga. See Sixteen great kingdoms Anguttara Nikaya, 1 1 5 Annotated Bibliography of Selected Chinese Reference "Works, 152Anoma-Dassi, hypothetical buddha, 113 Anotatta. See Seven lakes of paradise Apostle Thomas in South India, 122 Archimedes, principle of, 29-30, 127-128 Arhat, enlightened monk, and Arhatship, 4, 9, 1 1 2 - 1 1 4 , 1 1 7 , 126, 129, 146, 148

Aritöshi, Shinto shrine in Izumi, 128 Ariwara Narihira, poet and lover, 825-880. See Ise Monogatari Assaka. See Sixteen great kingdoms Aston, W . G., translator, 1896, of Nihongi, Japanese Chronicles in Chinese, completed A.D. 720, x. See also History of Japanese Literature Asura. See Six Destinations of Rebirth Athens, 1 1 4 , 127 Avadana Cataka, Sanskrit collection, 1 1 7 , 146, 148 Avadanas, Les: Contes et Apologues Indiens, 146, 149 Avanti. See Sixteen great kingdoms Bactria, 147 " Bakkula Sutra," translated Further Dialogues of the Buddha, 112-113 Ballard, S. See Uji-shüi monogatari Ban no Setayo, wrestler, 62 Beal, Samuel. See Catena of Buddhist Scriptures; Si-yu-ki; Travels of Fah-Hian and Sung-Yun Benares, 1 1 2 , 1 1 4 , 125 Biggerstaff, K. See Annotated Bibliography of Selected Chinese Reference Works Bodhidharma, Indian meditation master, 5th and 6th centuries A.D., titular founder of Chinese Zen: Tale 3 as sole vestige of a conjectural B. continuity, x; Sakai Köhei on Tale 3 substantiated by Pelliot's discovery of unique B.

INDEX interview, xiii-xiv; new datum in Tale 12, xiv; B. in India, 8 - 1 1 ; B. in China and clash with emperor Wu, 39-41; Pelliot's discovery in the light of previous B. documentation and of Tale 3, 120-121; Persian origin datum as related to B.'s blue eyes and to the Western slant in Tale 3, 122; B. confounded with the apostle Thomas, 122; documentary aspect of Tale 3 analyzed, 1 2 2 123; pi-kuan, mural contemplation, the meditation technique made known by B. in the Loyang region, 1 3 1 ; B. in art and legend, 119, 1 3 1 - 1 3 2 ; B. material at Shaolin, 132, 148, 152 Bodhiruci, Indian scholar resident in China as translator during the 6th century, 121 Bodhisattva, 124; term defined, 146; discipline practiced by Three Beasts, 1 5 - 1 7 , 123 Book of Filial Duty, The, 152 Book of the Gradual Sayings, 1 1 3 Brahmans and Brahmanism, 3, 116, 118, 119, 124 Brinldey, F. See China: Its history, arts and literature; History of the Japanese People, A Buddha, Gotama, c. 568-488 B.C., 1 1 1 , 146; and the venerable Vakkula, 4, 1 1 2 - 1 1 4 ; a n d king Prasenajit, 6-7, 1 1 4 - 1 1 6 ; Shakka, or lifetime, manifestation, 6, 1 1 6 - 1 1 7 , 147> recollections of former rebirths, see Jataka; other Buddha identifications, 20, 125; teachings, 6-7, 24-25; prayers and requests, 12, 123; devotional techniques, 8, 148; images, 8, 40, 1 5 1 ; relics, 35-37, 1 1 5 , 1 5 1 ; " Buddha and the gods," 89; Buddha's hair, 1 1 5 - 1 1 6 Buddha-bhadra, founder of Shaolin Monastery, 130, 137, 152 Buddha-Karita, 1 1 1 Buddha-yasha, disciple of Bodhidharma, 39; emendation to Buddha-bhadra suggested, 130, 1 3 1 , 152 Buddhas, multiple, 14, 146 Buddhism: introduction into China, xiv, 35-38, 128-130, 1 5 1 ; at Lo-

yang previous to emperor Ming, 128; Inner and Outer, 40-41, 122, 1 3 0 - 1 3 1 ; Hinayana and Mahayana, 146 Buddhism in Translations, 1 1 4 , 1 1 5 , 1 1 7 , 125 Buddhist Legends, 112, 1 1 5 , 116, 117, 1 1 9 Bukkyö Daijiten, " Buddhist encyclopedia," 1 1 1 Buraku-in, Festivities Palace of Hida Takumi, 66, 138 Burnouf, E. See Introduction à l'Histoire du Buddhisme Indien Butoku-den, Military Arts palace, 57, 136, 138-139 Bynner, Witter, 152 Byôdô-in, Uji, xvi Cambridge History of India, 1 1 4 Canterbury Tales in English letters and Konjaku in Japanese letters compared, ix Catena of Buddhist Scriptures, 119, 148 Ceti. See Sixteen great kingdoms Ceylon. See Pali canon Chakravarti, Nilmani. See " End of Prasenajit " Chamberlain, Basil Hall, translator, 1882, of Ko-ji-ki, or Records of Ancient Matters, A.D. 712, a Japanese work written phonetically in Chinese characters, x Ch'ang-an: setting for Tale 18, 5354, 153; T'ang capital and pattern for Kyoto, 134 Chao-lin. See Shaolin Monastery Chavannes, Edouard. See Cinq Cents Contes; Mission Archéologique Chen, Ivan. See Boofc of Filial Duty, The Ch'en Hsüan-li, emperor HsiianTsung's attendant, kills Yang Kuo-chung, then Yang Kuei-fei, a6 Ch en Hung, friend of poet Po Chii-i, 133 Chiang-tu, 42 Chih, a brigand, 134 Chikuzen, one of Kyüshü's nine provinces, xii. See also Fujiwara Akiie; Provinces Chin shu tsae ke, Chin biographies of contemporary princes, 153

INDEX China: Its history, arts and literature, 132 Chinese Buddhism, 1 1 9 , 132, 152 Chinese Tripitaka: Sanskrit-based, 123; first assembled, 130; episode similar to Tale 22, 137; to Tale 28, 1 4 1 ; as Konjaku source, and described, 145-146; Western translations from, 146 Ching-liu-i-hsiang, 6th-century Chinese encyclopedia, 145 Chin-shu, History oit Chin, 153 Chou dynasty, 1 1 2 2 - 2 5 5 B-c-> 49 Chuang-tzu, Chinese philosopher, 4th century B.C., xiv, 5 1 - 5 2 , 134, 15? Chuang-txu, 129, 1 3 3 , 134, 153 Chùzan, monkey deity, 83-87, 141 Cinq Cents Contes et Apologues extraits du Tripitaka Chinois et traduits en français, 1 1 4 , 1 1 6 , 1 1 8 , 124, 125, 126, 127, 146 Compensation rebirth, xiii, 4-5, 7, 15, 90; with a foul odor for illspeaking, 1 1 7 , 147; five escapes from death for one act of liberality, 147 Confucius, Chinese sage, 5th century B.C., xiv, 49-50, 1 3 3 - 1 3 4 , Conjeevaram, kingdom in South India, 1 2 1 - 1 2 2 Cunningham, Alexander. See Ancient Geography of India Daedalus, 128 Daigoku-den, imperial council hall, 136 Dainihon Hôke-kengi, Great-Japan Lotus-Efficacy Records, xv Daruma, Japanese for Bodhidharma Dengyô Daishi. See Saichô Devadatta, Buddha's jealous cousin, 20, 1 1 5 , 124, 125, 126, 149 Dhammapada commentary. See Buddhist Legends; " End of Prasenajit " Dharma Rakusha, 35, 129, 1 5 1 Dialogues of the Buddha, 1 1 , 1 1 4 , 119 Dïgjhâ Nikâya: Mahapadana Suttanta, translated Dialogues of the Buddha Dipamkara, hypothetical buddha, 124

Divination, 72-73; concept, and extensions of its application, Bureau of, 139 Divyavadana, 1 1 3 Dohada, or cravings of pregnancy motif, 26-27, 1 2 6 , 1 5 0 Dreams of Prasenajit, 1 1 6 Dsanglum oder Der Weise und der Thor, German translation of Tibetan version of Avadana Cataka, 1 1 2 , 146, 147, 148 Dutt, Nalinakasha. See Early Monastic Buddhism Early Japanese History, xii, xix, 135, 142, 144 Early Monastic Buddhism, 1 1 3 , 1 1 4 Early Russian Literature, 1 1 6 Edkins, Joseph. See Chinese Buddhism Egaku, Japanese preacher of Bodhidharma's " i n n e r " Buddhism, 122 Egypt, xiii, 127 Eisai, and Zen, 122 Eliot, Sir Charles. See Japanese Buddhism " End of Prasenajit," 1 1 5 Endo Moritö, character in Gempei Seisuiki, 1 3 4 - 1 3 5 Enlightenment (satori), 7, 9, 35, 1 1 8 , 130, 1 3 1 , 148 Ennin, 794-864, student in China and Abbot of Enryaku-ji, 123, 130, 1 3 3 , 135 Ennin, Diary, 130 Enryaku-ji, temple on Hieizan founded A.D. 788: Jitsu-in there, 135; clashes between the three pagodas, 135 Enyü, emperor 969-984, 96-98, Ezo, the aborigines of Japan, 143 Fa Hsien, embassy to India A.D. 399, 128, 1 3 0 - 1 3 1 Fa-yiian-chu-lin, 7th-century Chinese encyclopedia, 145 Five Indies, T'ang term for India, 8, 1 1 7 - 1 1 8 Florenz, Karl. See Geschichte der japanischen Litteratur From the Chinese, 152 Fuha-Barrier, 1 0 4 - 1 0 5 , 1 4 3 - 1 4 4 , 5 Fujiwara Akiie, Chikuzen-govemor, 99-100, 143, 1 5 5

ÍNDEX Fujiwara Asamitsu, 97 Fujiwara Michinaga, 966-1027, most powerful man of his day, older kinsman of Minamoto Takakuni, xvii; youthful exploit, 136; residence used by emperor Ichijö, 142 Fujiwara Morosuke, great-grandfather of Minamoto Takakuni, xvii Fujiwara Okikaze, d. c. 9 1 1 , one of the Thirty-six Japanese Poets singled out by F. Kintö in the early 1 1 t h century, 97 Fujiwara Sadatö, father of Akiie, 99 Fujiwara Sanekane. See Gödanshö Fujiwara Takanori, in charge of Namatsu imperial manor, 93 Fujiwara Yorimichi, 992-1074, son of Michinaga and his successor as most powerful man in Japan, known as Ujidono from his Uji villa, which survives as the Byödöin, xv-xvi; and Minamoto Takakuni, xvii-xviii Fukumensi Mihora. See Japanese Game of " Go " Fumitoki. See Sugawara Fumitoki Funaoka, 96 Further Dialogues of the Buddha, 113,

117

Further T ang Poems, 152 Gandhära. See Sixteen great kingdoms Gempei Seisuiki, Kamakura period war narrative, xiv, 1 3 4 - 1 3 5 , 153 Genji, Tale of, six-volume court novel by Lady Murasaki Shikibu, copies in circulation by 1 0 2 1 , ix, xi, xii, xiv, 138, 143 Genkyö Shakuso, Japanese compilation of Buddhist records, 154 Geschichte der japanischen Litteratur, xi Gesta Romanorum, ix, xv, 148 Gikü, Chinese preacher of Bodhidharma's " inner" Buddhism, 122 Giles, H. A. See Chuang-tzu; History of Chinese Literature Go, game of, 8-9, 1 1 8 , 148 Gödanshö, 154 Go-ichi-jö, emperor 1016-1036, xviii Gooneratne, E. R. J. See Anguttara Nikaya

Go-sanjö, emperor crown prince, xvii Gosenshü, imperial Goshüishü, imperial Greece, xiii Grimm, xiii Gudzy, N. K. See Literature Gukanshö, xvii

1068-1073, as anthology, 143 anthology, 143 Early

Russian

Haga Yaichi. See Köshö Konjaku monogatari Han Po-yü, filial son, 44, 132, 152 Harald Bluetooth of Denmark, 129 Hardy, Spence. See Manual of Budhism (sic) Haritaka, fruit and drug, 3, 1 1 1 112,147 Haruchika, barracks attendant who demonstrates a small skill, 64 Hida, Takumi, i.e. Hida-province carpenter, active c. A.D. 795: in competition with Kudara Kawanari, 65-67, 154; mentioned in Genji, 138 Hieizan, mountain overlooking Kyoto and Lake Biwa with temples of the Enryaku-ji on cypress-clad summit, xviii; Jitsu-in of, 57-59, J 35 Higashi San-jö palace, night duty at,

93-95. M 2

Hinayana, " small vehicle " canon of Buddhism, 146 History of Chinese Literature, 152 History of Japanese Literature, xi, xix History of the Japanese People, A, Hitachi, a province on the Tökaidö, 140. See also Provinces Hitopadesa, 1 1 2 , 126, 150 Hobogirin, 1 1 9 ; catalogue to Taishö Issaikyö, 145 Hököin no Otodo, 97 Hömotsu-shü, a collection of the year 1 1 7 8 , 1 1 8 , 147, 148, 152 Honchöshoseki, Japanese Literature Index, xvi Hospital care, 68-71 Hsieh Tsai-hang. See Wu tsa tsu Hsiian-tsang, 7th-century Chinese pilgrim to India, 1 1 4 , 1 1 5 , 1 1 6 , 1 1 8 , 122, 123, 124, 146 Hsiian-tsung, T'ang emperor A.D. 685-762,45-48,133,152

INDEX Huber, Edouard. See Sutralamkara Hui-k'o, meditation master at Liang mountain, 4 1 ; and the "Transmission's " second Chinese patriarch, 1 3 0 Hung-nung, village where Hsiiantsung first found Yang Kuei-fei, 45 Hunting, 62-63, 8 3 - 8 7 , 1 0 1 - 1 0 3 ; Buddhist-inspired restrictions upon, 1 3 7 Hyakuinneti-shü, collection of the year 1 2 5 7 , 1 4 7 , 1 5 3 , 1 5 5 I Ching, treatise on divination, 129 Ichijö, emperor 9 8 6 - 1 0 1 1 : his " four dainagons," xvii; when palace burns, uses Michinaga's residence, 1 4 2 Indra, ruler of heaven, 1 5 - 1 7 , 1 1 1 , 1 1 2 , 123, 124 Ingyö, emperor c. A.D. 438-454, 1 3 9 Introduction ä VHistoire du Buddhisme Indien, 1 1 3 Introduction to Classical Japanese Literature, xi, 126, 1 5 3 Ise Monogatari, 9th-century series of tales centering in poems by Ariwara Narihira, ix, xv Izumi, one of provinces surrounding Kyoto, 128. See also Provinces James, Henry, his " Altar of the Dead " as modern symbolic answer to question raised in Tale 37. 1 4 4 Japan: A Short Cultural History, 138, 142, 144 Japanese Buddhism, 1 2 0 Japanese Game of " Go," 1 1 8 Jataka, Pali collection of 550 Buddha birth-stories representing practice of the perfections in all degrees, ix, 1 1 9 , 1 2 4 , 146; as related to individual Konjaku Tales, 1 2 5 , 1 2 6 , 149, 1 5 0 Jataka-nidana, Sanskrit work covering 55 Buddha rebirths, 149 Jenyn, Soames. See Further Tang Poems Jikaku Daishi. See Ennin Jikkinshö, Miscellany of the Ten Maxims, date 1 2 5 2 , xvii, 1 5 3 Jitsu-in, Hieizan daisözu, assistant high-priest, d. A.D. 1 0 0 0 ,

57-59;

1

rank in Tendai teacher-disciple succession, 1 3 5 ; character-sketch from Nihon-höke-kengji, 135, Jivalca, legendary Indian physician, 111 Jonah motif: in Tale 1 , xiii; in other Indian works, 1 1 2 Kagapa, disciple of Buddha: among Tale 6 identifications, 20; as first Zen patriarch, 1 2 1 , 1 2 4 Kagapa Matanga, 35-38; as introducer of Buddhism into China, 129, 1 5 1 Kama, god of love, 1 1 2 Kamakura period, 1 1 9 2 - 1 3 3 3 , xv, and passim Kamboja. See Sixteen great kingdoms Kamo Chömei. See Ten-foot-square hut Kanchi. See Conjeevaram Kanetada. See Taira Kanetada Kaoru, character in Genji, 1 3 8 Kara monogatari, late Heian collection of Chinese material, 1 5 2 Kara-village, 93 Käsi, 1 2 5 . See also Sixteen great kingdoms Katakata district, 93 Kathä Sarit Sägara, vast nth-century Indian story-within-story collection, 1 1 2 , 1 1 7 , 1 5 0 Kawanari. See Kudara Kawanari Kazusa, province on the Tökaidö, xiv. See also Provinces; Taira Kanetada Keizo Dohi. See " Medicine in Ancient Japan " Kern, Hendrik. See Lotus sutra Kesa Gozen, character in Gempei Seisuiki, xiv, 1 3 4 - 1 3 5 , 1 5 3 Ki Tokibumi, one of the " Five Men of the Pear-Jar Room " who compiled Gosenshü, 96 Ki Tösuke, 9 3 - 9 5 , 1 4 2 , 1 5 5 Ki Tsurayuki, chief compiler of Kokinshü, A.D. 905, and author of the famous Japanese prose introduction, 128 Kisaichi Munehira, wrestler and huntsman, 6 2 - 6 3 , 2 37> J 5 4 Kiyohara Motosuke, one of the Gosenshü compilers, d. A.D. 990, 96 Kögö, the empress of Yüryaku, em-

INDEX peror c. 457-489, as patroness of sericulture, 141 Kojidan, accounts of ancient events, a Kamakura period work: source of Takakuni anecdote, xvii; dates Enyii's Rat-day, 142, 1 5 ; Kokubungakushi shinkö, new study of history of Japanese literature, »35. M3 Kokusai Bunka Shinkökai. See Introduction to Classical Japanese Literature Komatsu, i.e. Little Pines, a monastery on Hieizan, 57, 1 3 5 Konjaku monogatari, 1075, outstanding among medieval story collections for scope, arrangement, continuing reader-appeal: place in Japanese letters comparable to that of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in English letters, ix; title and its associations, ix; documentary aspect, x; previous notice by Western writers includes no translations, xi; Genji palace-eye view of Kyoto extended in Japan section and content of cultural life exemplified in India and China sections, xii; range of narrative technique, xiv-xv; antecedents and a later legend, xv-xvi; Minamoto Takakuni as traditional compiler, xvi-xvii; text, transmission, and the Haga Yaichi Köshö Konjaku monogatari, xviii-xix; handling of material in Tale 2 as compared with Sanskrit original and 3rd- and 5th-century Chinese versions, 147-148; two motifs combined in Tale 4 to produce plot, 123; new twist given old fable in Tale 7, 125; animal dimension preserved in Tales 7 and 8, 125, 126; general, 128, 130, 132, 143, 145, 153 Konjaku monogatari shin-kenkyü, New study of the Konjaku Monogatari, xiii, xviii-xix, 1 1 9 - 1 2 0 Korea, kingdom of Kudara, 139 Koremochi. See Taira Koremochi Koretaka, Prince-Imperial, 104 Kosala, modern Nepal, kingdom of Prasenajit, 1 1 4 . See also Sixteen great kingdoms Kosambi, ancient city on the Jumna, 112, 114

Köshö Konjaku monogatari, critical edition of the Konjaku monogatari, with Chinese source and principal related Chinese and Japanese texts reproduced after each tale, other related texts tabulated, xi, xviii, xix, 120, 130, 1 3 3 , M5 Kötsuke (Közuke), province on the Tösandö, east mountain postroad, in northern Honshü, 104. See also Provinces Köya, serpent deity, 83, 1 4 1 Krishna, 1 1 2 Ku Lieh nil chuan, Record of Noteworthy Women, a work of the ist century B.C., 134, Kudara Kawanari, artist, A.D. 7 8 1 853, 65-67; Sansom on, 138; Montoku jitsuroku life-sketch, K'ung Ch'iu or K'ung-tzu. See Confucius Kuru. See Sixteen great kingdoms Kyoto, capital of Japan 794-1868: rapidly growing big city, x; T'angstyle capital of a T'ang-style bureaucracy, xii; patterned after Ch'ang-an, 134; palace area, 5 7 59, 136, see also Buraku-in, Butoku-den, Daigoku-den, Shingonin, Divination, Medicine (Bureaus of), Otonoi-dokoro, Utageno-matsubara; detached palaces of city and environs, see Higashi Sanjö palace, Reizei-in, Suzaku-in, Urin-in; east and west markets, 65, 138; racing grounds, 58, 59, 140; a new real-estate development, 91-92; a back-street wellcurb, 64 La Fontaine, 126, 127 La Légende de l'Empereur Açoka, " 3 » 145 Lake Biwa, 142 Lancereau, Edouard. See Hitopadésa Lao-tzu, 129; as teacher of Confucius, 49 Later Han Dynasty, A.D. 25-220, 35- 15» Leu I-ch ing, A.D. 403-444. See Shift Shuo Hsin Yii Li Hung-chang, 1 3 2

170

INDEX Liang dynasty, 502-556, xiv, 39-40, 1 2 1 , 130, 152 Liang mountain, 41 Lieh-tzu, 129, 1 3 3 , 1 5 3 Life of Stephen of Permia, 129 Little Pines Monastery. See Komatsu Little Women, hair motif as in Tale 4, 123 Liu Hsiang. See Ku Lieh nil chuan Living sacrifice to animal gods, 8 3 87 Lotus sutra: copying of, 1 2 - 1 4 , 123, 148; Vakkula mentioned in, 1 1 4 ; in Jitsu-in's religious life, 135; lecture on, 143 Lo-yang: ancient name for Honanfu, Wei capital, 120, 122, 137; Later-Han capital, 1 2 8 - 1 2 9 Lo-yang Monastery Records: Bodhidharma reference, xiv, 1 2 0 1 2 1 ; Sung-Yiin and Fa Hsien, 130-131 Lucian's True History, 1 1 2 Lii-shan, 39 Maccha. See Sixteen great kingdoms Magadha, king of, 1 1 6 . See also Sixteen great kingdoms Mahayana, " large vehicle " canon of Buddhism, 146 Maitreya, the next buddha, 124 Makura no Zoshi. See Sei Shonagon Malla. See Sixteen great kingdoms Mallika, king Prasenajit's Buddhist queen, 5-7, 1 1 4 - 1 1 6 , 147 Manual of Budhism (sic), 1 1 4 , 1 1 9 Manyoshu, 8th-century poem collection, xv Maspero, Henri, on introduction of Buddhism into China, 1 2 8 - 1 2 9 Matanga. See Kagapa Matanga Medicine, Bureau of, 68-71, 139 "Medicine in Ancient Japan," 1 1 2 " Memoirs of Eminent Priests Continued," 7th-century dictionary of clerical biography, 120-122, Menander. See Milinda Mencius, mother of, 134 Meng Ch'iu, Yuan dynasty work, 152 Meng Tsung, filial son, 42-43, 132, 152 Mesopotamia, xiii, 127 Michinaga. See Fujiwara Michinaga Mikawa, a province on the Tokaido,

eastern sea post-road, 62, 88, 1 4 1 , 155. See also Provinces Milinda, or Menander, king of Bactria, 2nd century B.C., 1 1 3 , 147 Milinda-panha, Pali work in which king Milinda queries the sage Nagasena, 1 1 3 , 1 4 6 - 1 4 7 Mimasaka, a province on tne Sanyödö, mountain sunny-side postroad, general region of Osaka, 83-87, 1 4 1 , 155 Minamoto Akimoto, d. 1047, known as " Yokogawa chünagon," brother of Minamoto Takakuni, retirement to Hieizan in 1036, following emperor Go-ichi-jö's death, xvii-xviii Minamoto Shigeyuki, d. 1000, recognized as one of Thirty-six Japanese Poets, 96 Minamoto Takaaki, d. 983, grandfather of Takakuni, xvii Minamoto Takakuni, 1004-1077, traditional compiler of Koitjaku, xv-xviii Minamoto Tamenori, d. shortly after 1000. See Sambö eshi Minamoto Toshikata, d. 1027, father of Takakuni, xvii Minamoto Toshiyori, d. 1 1 2 9 . See Mumyöshö Minamoto Wataru, character in Gempei Seisuiki, 1 3 4 - 1 3 5 Ming, emperor A.D. 58—76, xiv, 3 5 38, 1 2 8 - 1 2 9 , 1 5 1 Mino, a province on the Tösandö, east mountain post-road, central Honshü, 93-95, 104-105, 142, 155. See also Provinces Mission Archéologique dans la Chine Septentrionelle, 132 Moggalana, disciple of Buddha, 1 1 2 , "3 Montoku jitsuwku, fifth of the Six National Histories, on Kudara Kawanari, 138, 154 Mumyöshö, 152, 153, 155 Munehira. See Kisaichi Munehira Murakami, emperor 946-967, xvii, 74-75, 140, 142, 143, 154 Murasaki Shikibu, Lady, 9 7 5 - 1 0 3 1 , author of Genji, ix, xii, xvii Murasaki-no, 96-98, 143 Muromachi period, 1 3 9 2 - 1 5 7 3 , 153 Musin-Pushkin manuscript, 127 Mutsu, a province on the Tösandö,

ÍNDEX northern Honshü, 1 0 1 - 1 0 3 ; Taira Koremochi's province, 76-79; still a wild frontier, 143, 1 5 5 Nagasena, Buddhist sage, 2nd century B.C., 1 1 3 , 147 Nagato, a province on the Sanyodö, Fujiwara Takanori known as Nagato ex-governor, 93 Namatsu imperial manor, 93 Nanjio Bunyiû, descriptive catalogue of Chinese Tripitaka, 145 Nanking, 130 National Geographic Magazine, on South Indian tradition of a visit from the apostle Thomas, 122 Nichiren, founder of Japanese sect, 118 Nichiro, disciple of Nichiren, 1 1 8 Nihon öjögokurakki, Japanese Rebirth-in-Paradise Records, xv Nihon reiiki, Japanese Miracle Records, xv Nihon-höke-kengi, character-sketch of Jitsu-in from, 135, 154, also indexed as Dainihon-höke-kengi Notes de chevet de Séi Shônagon, Les, complete French translation of Makura no Zoshi, 150 Notes on Chinese Literature, 152 " Notes sur Quelques Artistes des Six Dynasties et des T'ang." See Pelliot, Paul Ocean of Story, English translation of Kathä Sarit Sägara Oe Masafusa. See Gödanshö O-kagami, xvii; Michinaga episode, 136; Urin-in as background, 143 Old Russia, 143 " O l d T'ang History," 120, 1 2 1 , 131,152 On Yuan Chwang s [Hsiian-tsang's] Travels in India, 118 Onakatomi Yoshinobu, d. 991, chief compiler of Gosenshü, 96 Otonoi-dokoro, " night-duty " bureau, 73, 139 Pali canon, 1 1 3 - 1 1 4 ; directly represented only in Tale 5, 1 5 - 1 7 , 1 2 3 - 1 2 4 ; and Ceylon, 146 Pancâla. See Sixteen great kingdoms Panchatantra, xiii, 126, 150 Party-pine-moor. See Utage-nomatsubara

Pelliot, Paul, discoverer of unique Bodhidharma material in the Loyang Monastery Records, xiv, 119-123, 130-131 P'eng-lai, " soul-land," 45-48 Peri, Noel, 128 Persia, named by Bodhidharma as his country of origin, 1 2 1 - 1 2 2 Pi-kuan, mural contemplation, meditation method made known by Bodhidharma in the Lo-yang region, 1 3 1 Pillow Book. See Sei Shônagon Piraeus, 127 Platform-quarters. See Shingon-in Po Chii-i, Chinese poet, 772-846, Tale 1 5 a prose retelling of ballad translated in English as " The Everlasting Wrong," 1 3 3 , 152 Po Shi Wen Chi, Po Chii-i's collected works, 152 Pradjnatara, 1 2 1 Prasenajit, king of Kosala, modern Nepal, in Buddha's day, 5-7, 1 1 4 - 1 1 7 , 147 Prince Igor, 127 Provinces, xii, 144 Przyluski, J. See La Légende de l'Empereur Açoka Psalms of the Early Buddhists, translation of Thengäthä collections Questions of King Milinda, translation of Milinda-panha Rahula, son and disciple of Buddha, in Tale 6 identifications, 20, 124 Rajagaha, 1 1 2 , 1 1 5 Rakusha. See Dharma Rakusha " Record of Noteworthy Women." See Ku Lieh nil chuan Reischauer, A. K. See Studies in Japanese Buddhism Reischauer, E. O. See Ennin, Diary; Translations from Early Japanese Literature Reischauer, R. K. See Early Japanese History Reizei, emperor 967-969, 140 Reizei-in: street cut through grounds of Yözei-in, 91-92, 142, 155; detached palace across from palace area along Omiya and Nijö, 140 Repentance, 7, 9, 1 1 7 Rhys-Davids, T . W . , 1 1 3 , 1 1 9

172

INDEX Saddharma Pundarika. See Lotus sutra Saicho, founder of Japanese Tendai sect and of the Enryaku-ji on Hieizan, 135 Sakai Kohei. See Konjaku monogatari shin-kenkyu Sambara, 1 1 2 Sambo eshi, Three-Treasures Picture-Tales, xv San Kuo Chih, Annals of the Three Kingdoms, A.D. 222-265, 150 Sankoku denki, post-Kamakura work, description of Han-dynasty introduction of Buddhism, 1 5 1 , Sanskrit canon, 146 Sansom, G. B. See Japan: A Short Cultural History Sariputra the Wise, disciple of Buddha, 1 1 3 , 1 1 4 , 125, 149 Saseki-shu, Kamakura period collection, 150 Satori. See Enlightenment Savatthi, Pali form of Sravasti Sei Shonagon, court lady, d. about 1025, author of Makura no Zoshi, ix, xii; alternate version of Tale 10, xiii, 128, 150 Sericulture, 88-90, 1 4 1 Seta bridge, " one of 8 most beautiful sights of Lake Biwa," 142; as ghost-story setting, 93-95 Seven jewel-lakes of paradise, 24, 126 Seven treasures of wisdom, 10, 119 Shaolin Monastery, 1 2 0 - 1 2 1 , 130, 132, 137 Shih Shuo Hsin Yti, 153, 154 Shimosa, a province on the Tokaido, 93. See also Provinces Shingon-in, palace Buddhist center, included the Platform-quarters referred to in Tale 19, 58, 59, 136 Shinkokinshu, imperial anthology, J 43 Shinto shrines, 128, 1 4 1 , 150; sutras buried at, 123 Shomu, emperor 724-749, 1 1 1 Shoso-in at Nara, 1 1 1 , 1 1 8 Shotoku, prince, regent 593-621, established Buddhism in Japan, transformed Japan from tribal

kingdom, representation in Konjaku, xiii Shu-liang, father of Confucius, 49 Shuo Yuan, 152 Six Destinations of Rebirth: pantomimed by a mad monk, 1 1 , 1 1 9 ; animal rebirth, 1 5 - 1 7 Six perfections: listed, 1 1 3 ; attained by Vakkula, 4; liberality (dana) in its highest degree, 1 5 - 1 7 , 124; compassion, 124; steadfastness, 150 Sixteen great kingdoms of Buddhist times, 5; enumerated, 1 1 5 , 117 Si-yu-ki, English translation of Hsiian-tsang's Records Socrates, 1 1 4 Soga monogatari, Muromachi period work, 1 5 3 Somadeva. See Katha Sarit Sagara Sone Yoshitada, 10th-century radical poet, 96-98, 143, 155 Sotan. See Sone Yoshitada Sou shin chi, 4th-century book of marvels, 155 South India, 39, 4 1 , 1 2 1 ; apostle Thomas tradition, 122 Sovereign's private office, Kurododokoro, 90, 1 4 1 - 1 4 2 Sravasti, Prasenajit's capital city, 5, 1 1 4 , 1 1 9 , 123 Studies in Japanese Buddhism, 111, 152 Sugawara Fumitoki, d. 981, 74-75, 140, 154 Sukhavati-Vyuha, Larger and Smaller, 1 1 4 Sumo, Japanese wrestling, 60-61, 62-63, 136—137 Sun Ch'uan, 128 Sung-yiin, 4 1 , 1 3 0 - 1 3 1 Surasena. See Sixteen great kingdoms Suruga, province on the Tokaido, 62. See also Provinces Sutralamkara, 1 1 2 Suzaku, emperor 930-946, 140 Suzaku-in, detached palace, with oxbow of river on three sides, racing grounds, in an area extending along Suzaku avenue from Sanjo (Third) to Shijo (Fourth) avenue, 140 Suzuki, D. T., 1 2 0 - 1 2 1 , 1 3 1 - 1 3 2 , 152

INDEX Taiheiki, mance

Muromachi period roon shogunate history,

1181-1368,

153

T'ai Shan, 50 Taihd code, 141 Taira Kanemori, d. 990, one of the famous Thirty-six Japanese Poets, 96

Taira Kanetada, 76-79 Taira Koremochi, 76-79, 154; his historic great-uncle Sadamori, 140 Taira Masakado, revolt suppressed by Sadamori, 140 Taira Sadamori, d. shortly after 940, 76; historic achievement, 140 Taira Shigemori, 76 Taisho Issaikyo, Japanese definitive edition of Chinese Tripitaka, 145 Takakuni. See Minamoto Takakuni Takanori. See Fujiwara Takanori T'ang dynasty, A.D. 618-907, 45, *33 Tango, province on Sanindo, mountain-shadow post-road, 60. See also Provinces Tantrism, 120 Tao Te Ching, sometimes attributed to Lao-tzu, 129 Tao-hsiian. See " Memoirs of Eminent Priests Continued " Tao-masters, xiv, 35-37, 129, 1 5 1 Tarosuke, 7 6 - 7 9

Taxila, university of, 1 1 5 Tendae sect, 135, 1 5 1 Ten-foot-square hut, translation of the 13th-century Japanese classic Hojoki, 1 1 6 , 148 Tdng, S. Y . See Annotated Bibliography of Selected Chinese Reference Works Therigathd, Pali collections of religious verse by elder monks and nuns, 1 1 2 , 146 Thomas, the apostle, 122 Three Jewels or Treasures, xv; attained by Vakkula, 4; enumerated, "3 Tibetan Tales, 1 2 4 - 1 2 5 , 148, 150, Tosuke. See Ki Tosuke Translations from Early Japanese Literature, xii, 136, 139, 1 5 3 " Transmission of the Lamp," 11thcentury Zen-school document tracing a patriarchal succession

from Buddha to Bodhidharma, 121-122,

130-131

Travels of Fan-Hian and Sung-Yun, 130-131

Trevelyan, R. C. See From the Chinese Ts'ao Ts'ao, 127 Tsuda, N., on sutra-copying, 1 2 3 Tsugita Jun. See Kokubungakushi shinkö Tsunekiyo Yasunaga, 104-105, 143, 155 Tsuneyo. See Umi Tsuneyo Tsutsumi-Chünagon, story " Blackening," 139 Tung-lin-ssu, temple on Lü-shan, 39 Tusita heaven, 1 1 2 , 149 Uji, 9.2 miles from Kyoto, xv-xvi Uji monogatari, question of identity with Konjaku monogatari, xvi Ujidainagon. See Minamoto Takakuni Ujidono. See Fujiwara Yorimichi Uji-shüi monogatari, Kamakura period collection, xvi, 1 1 8 , 148, 153, 154, 155; S. Ballard's translations from, xi Ukifune, character in Genji, 138 Umi Tsuneyo, wrestler, 60-61, 136, 154; in Japanese painting, xiv Upagupta, Buddhist sage, 148 Uppalavana, woman disciple of Buddha, 1 1 6 Urin-in, celebrated detached palace built by the emperor Junna, 823833: out at Murasaki-no, 96; setting for O-kagami, 143 Utage-no-matsubara, party-pinemoor, 136 Vajji. See Sixteen great kingdoms Vajra, daughter of king Prasenajit, 5-7, 116,

147-148

Vakkula, disciple of Buddha, 3, 4, 111-113,

X

47

Vasabhakhattiya, Prasenajit's other queen, 1 1 5 Vesali, council of, 146 Vimalamitra, Persian tourist of Indian monasteries, 122 Vipacin, hypothetical buddha of a previous world-cycle, 3, 1 1 1 , 1 1 3 Visser, M. W . de. See Ancient Buddhism in Japan Vladimir of Kiev, 129

m

INDEX Waley, Arthur, xii, 1 1 7 , 1 1 9 , 129, 1 3 3 . 134> M3> *53 Wan Ch'ung, 128 Warren, H. C. See Buddhism in Translations Watters, Thomas. See On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India Wei dynasty, A.D. 386-534, 121122, 130 White Hoise Monastery, 36, 129, »5 1 Wrestling, Japanese. See Sumö Wu, emperor of the Chin dynasty, 3rd century A.D., 132 Wu, Liang dynasty emperor 502550, xiv, 39-41, 1 2 1 , 130, 152 W u Shu-fei, lady in waiting loved by Hsiian-tsung, 45 Wu tsa tsu, 154 Wylie, A. See Notes on Chinese Literature Yamagishi Tokuhei, modern Japanese retelling of Tale 8, 125 Yamagiwa, J. K. see Translations from Early Japanese Literature Yamato monogatari, c. 950, xv Yang Hsüan-che. See Lo-yang Monastery Records

Yang Hsiian-yen, father of Yang Kuei-fei, 45 Yang Kuei-fei, " honorable consort" of emperor Hsiian-tsung, 45-48,133,153 Yang Kuo-chung, Yang Kuei-fei s elder brother, 46, 152 Yasodhara, wife of Buddha's youth, in identifications of Tale 6, 20, 124 Yen Hui, disciple of Confucius, 50, 134' x 5 3 Yokogawa chunagon. See Minamoto Akimoto Yorikata, samurai, 99-100 Yoritomo, 1 3 5 Yôzei, emperor 876-884, 9 1 , 142 Yu kuai lu, 8th-century record of wonders, 155 Yiian, great-teacher at Lii-shan, 39 Yuan Chien Lei Han, 18th-century encyclopedia, 152 Yiian Hsien, Hsiian-tsung's empress, 45 Yung-ning, monastery adjacent to imperial palace of the Wei at Lo-yang, 1 2 1 - 1 2 2 Zen Buddhism, x, xiv, 1 2 0 - 1 2 2

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