Translations

from the Illustrated Tales of Regent Hideyoshi

In the Beginning1-1-1 How Hideyoshi Was Born1-1-2 How Hideyoshi Met Koroku1-1-3 How Koroku Tested Hideyoshi1-1-4 How Hideyoshi Met Matsushita Yukitsuna

from the Senjūshō

5:3 About Naiki Yasutane5:4 Sojō Yōen5:5 Kakuson and the Monk With a Poem About Rattles5:6 The Lady of the Middle Counselor5:10 A Man of Ōmi Lost His Son and Left Secular Life5:11 About a Nun of Eguchi9:8 Courtesan of Eguchi9:10 A Reunion at the Hasedera Temple

from the works of Ryunosuke Akutagawa

The Christ of NankingOginOshino

from the Chirizuka Monogatari

1:1 How a Poem of Lord Jōtokuin Shaded the Burning Sun2:6 Selfless Lord Amako Tsunehisa3:4 About the Legends of Mount Ômine4:1 About Extraordinary Tales of Master Kobo, Salt, Chikami, Reed and Other Things4:4 Witty Tales of Japan and India5:4 Lord Hosokawa's Secret Plot5:9 Lord Moronao's Amorous Affairs6:5 Priest Myosen and Masashige

5:3 About Naiki Yasutane

from the Senjūshō

translated by Yoshiko Dykstra

Yasutane and the two dogs.

Some time ago, Yasutane1 served as a naiki, an imperial secretary. He was very compassionate toward all living beings. Once when he fed his dog, a neighbor’s dog was watching; and feeling sorry for it, Yasutane also gave it some food. Then the two dogs began to fight to get the last grain of the rice. Surprised, Yasutane tearfully said to the dogs, “How mean and debased you are! You dogs, quickly abandon the lowly mind.” Seeing him to do this, Master Jie2 said to himself, “He is certainly not an ordinary man.” Yasutane eventually received the tonsure and finally attained enlightenment, something he had long desired.

This was truly noble. How did he obtain such a sympathetic heart? His compassion was different from the usual love for one’s wife and children, being rather that of Buddhas and bodhisattvas who are merciful to every sentient being in this world. Such compassion arises from a pure heart.

In general, your love for your wives and children is based on your personal delusions and attachments. So you are often upset and distracted [because of your love] and finally experience the Three Sufferings.3 What a pity to see anyone love and attach to someone or to something. If you practice the Law, you will cast away feelings of love and hatred which arise from your desires and delusions.

What and why do we love and hate? According to the Law, since there is nothing to love or hate in the beginning, neither love nor hatred should ever arise. We all want to discard attachment to anything [to free ourselves from sufferings], but we always have difficulty in abandoning the wrong attitudes and in cultivating the right mind. Even though we may wish to acquire the pure mind of a Buddha, we often fail to attain our goal before our last moments.

I more admire people who have compassion for others than those who retire deep into mountains to purify the mind.

~~~ The End ~~~

©2009 by Yoshiko Dykstra

1Yoshishige Yasutane (934-1002), the second son of Kamo Tadayuki, a Yin-yang master, excelled in writings such as Nihon Ōjō Gokurakuki, and Chiteiki.

2Master Jie or Ryōgen (912-985) was the 18th Tendai Zasu (superintendent). Yasutane was a close friend of Genshin, a disciple of Master Jie.

3The sufferings include fire, sword and blood after death.