diff --git a/.DS_Store b/.DS_Store new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5008ddf Binary files /dev/null and b/.DS_Store differ diff --git a/buddhist_psalm_text.pickle b/buddhist_psalm_text.pickle new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7c7ce47 --- /dev/null +++ b/buddhist_psalm_text.pickle @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +S'The Project Gutenberg EBook of Buddhist Psalms, by Shinran Shonin\r\n\r\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with\r\nalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or\r\nre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included\r\nwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org\r\n\r\n\r\nTitle: Buddhist Psalms\r\n\r\nAuthor: Shinran Shonin\r\n\r\nTranslator: S. Yamabe\r\n L. Adams Beck\r\n\r\nPosting Date: September 20, 2012 [EBook #7015]\r\nRelease Date: December, 2004\r\nFirst Posted: February 23, 2003\r\n\r\nLanguage: English\r\n\r\nCharacter set encoding: UTF-8\r\n\r\n*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BUDDHIST PSALMS ***\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nProduced by David Starner and the Online Distributed Proofreader\'s Team.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nWISDOM OF THE EAST\r\n\r\nBUDDHIST PSALMS\r\n\r\nTRANSLATED FROM THE JAPANESE\r\n\r\nOF\r\n\r\nSHINRAN SH\xc5\x8cNIN\r\n\r\nBY S. YAMABE AND L. ADAMS BECK\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nCONTENTS\r\n\r\nINTRODUCTION\r\n\r\nLAUDING THE INFINITE ONE\r\n\r\nOF PARADISE\r\n\r\nCONCERNING THE GREAT SUTRA\r\n\r\nCONCERNING THE SUTRA OF THE MEDITATION\r\n\r\nCONCERNING THE LESSER SUTRA\r\n\r\nOF THE MANY SUTRAS CONCERNING THE INFINITE ONE\r\n\r\nCONCERNING THE WELFARE OF THE PRESENT WORLD\r\n\r\nOF THANKSGIVING FOR NAGARJUNA, THE GREAT TEACHER OF INDIA\r\n\r\nOF THANKSGIVING FOR VASUBANDH, THE GREAT TEACHER OF INDIA\r\n\r\nOF THANKSGIVING FOR DONRAN, THE GREAT TEACHER OF CHINA\r\n\r\nCONCERNING UNRIGHTEOUS DEEDS\r\n\r\nCONCERNING DOSHAKU-ZENJI\r\n\r\nCONCERNING ZENDO-DAISHI\r\n\r\nCONCERNING GENSHIN-SOZU\r\n\r\nCONCERNING H\xc5\x8cNEN SH\xc5\x8cNIN\r\n\r\nOF THE THREE PERIODS\r\n\r\nCONCERNING BELIEF AND DOUBT\r\n\r\nIN PRAISE OF PRINCE SHOTOKU\r\n\r\nWHEREIN WITH LAMENTATION I MAKE MY CONFESSION\r\n\r\nADDITIONAL PSALMS\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nINTRODUCTION\r\n\r\nBY L. ADAMS BECK\r\n\r\nIt is a singular fact that though many of the earlier Buddhist\r\nScriptures have been translated by competent scholars, comparatively\r\nlittle attention has been paid to later Buddhist devotional\r\nwritings, and this although the developments of Buddhism in China\r\nand Japan give them the deepest interest as reflecting the spiritual\r\nmind of those two great countries. They cannot, however, be\r\nunderstood without some knowledge of the faith which passed so\r\nentirely into their life that in its growth it lost some of its own\r\ninfant traits and took on others, rooted, no doubt, in the\r\nbeginnings in India, but expanded and changed as the features of the\r\nchild may be forgotten in the face of the man and yet perpetuate the\r\nunbroken succession of heredity. It is especially true that Japan\r\ncannot be understood without some knowledge of the Buddhism of the\r\nGreater Vehicle (as the developed form is called), for it was the\r\ninfluence that moulded her youth as a nation, that shaped her\r\naspirations, and was the inspiration of her art, not only in the\r\nwritten word, but in every art and higher handicraftsmanship that\r\nmakes her what she is. Whatever centuries may pass or the future\r\nhold in store for her, Japan can never lose the stamp of Buddhism in\r\nher outer or her spiritual life.\r\n\r\nThe world knows little as yet of the soul of Mahayana Buddhism,\r\nthough much of its outer observance, and for this reason a crucial\r\ninjustice has been done in regarding it merely as a degraded form of\r\nthe earlier Buddhism\xe2\x80\x94a rank off-shoot of the teachings of the\r\nGautama Buddha, a system of idolatry and priestly power from which\r\nthe austere purity of the earlier faith has passed away.\r\n\r\nThe truth is that Buddhism, like Christianity, in every country\r\nwhere it has sowed its seed and reaped its harvest, developed along\r\nthe lines indicated by the mind of that people. The Buddhism of\r\nJapan differs from that of Tibet as profoundly as the Christianity\r\nof Abyssinia from that of Scotland\xe2\x80\x94yet both have conserved the\r\nessential principle.\r\n\r\nBuddhism was not a dead abstraction, but a living faith, and it\r\ntherefore grew and changed with the growth of the mind of man,\r\nenlarging its perception of truth. As in the other great faiths, the\r\nascent of the Mount of Vision reveals worlds undreamed, and\r\nproclaims what may seem to be new truths, but are only new aspects\r\nof the Eternal. Japanese Buddhists still base their belief on the\r\nutterances of the Buddhas, but they have enlarged their conception\r\nof the truths so taught, and they hold that the new flower and fruit\r\nspring from the roots that were planted in dim ages before the\r\nGautama Buddha taught in India, and have since rushed hundred-armed\r\nto the sun. Such is the religious history of mankind, and Buddhism\r\nobeys its sequence.\r\n\r\nThe development of Mahayana Buddhism from the teaching of the\r\nGautama Buddha has been often compared with that of the Christian\r\nfaith from the Jewish, but it may be better compared with the growth\r\nof a sacerdotal system from the simplicities of the Gospel of\r\nSt. Mark. That the development should have been on the same lines in\r\nall essential matters of symbol and (in the most important respects)\r\nof doctrine, modified only by Eastern habits of thought and\r\nenvironment, is a miracle of coincidence which cannot be paralleled\r\nin the world unless it be granted that Christianity filtering along\r\nthe great trade routes of an earlier world joined hands with\r\nBuddhism in many unsuspected ways and places. Evidence is\r\naccumulating that this is so, and in a measure at present almost\r\nincredible. And if it be so\xe2\x80\x94if it be true that in spite of racial\r\ndistinctions, differences of thought and circumstance, the religious\r\nthought of East and West has so many and so great meeting-points,\r\nthe hope of the world in things spiritual may lie in the recognition\r\nof that fact and in a future union now shadowed forth only in symbol\r\nand in a great hope. This, however, is no essay on Buddhism, either\r\nearlier or later, and what I have said is necessary to the\r\nintroduction of these J\xc5\x8ddo-Wasan, or Psalms of the Pure Land, which\r\nare a part not only of the literature, but also of the daily worship\r\nand spiritual life of Japan. Their history may be briefly told.\r\n\r\nBuddhism passed into Japan from China and Korea about 1320 years\r\nago, in or about the year A.D. 552. It adapted itself with perfect\r\ncomprehension to the ideals of the Japanese people, inculcating\r\namong them the teachings of morality common to the great faiths\r\nwith, in addition, the spiritual unction, the passion of love and\r\nsympathy, self-devotion, and compassion, in which Buddhism and\r\nChristianity are alike pre-eminent. The negative side of Buddhism,\r\nwith its passionless calm and self-renunciation, is the only one\r\nthat has been realised in the West, and the teachings of Mahayana\r\nwhich have borne fruit and flower, visible to all the world, of\r\nhappiness, courtesy, kindliness in the spiritual attitude of a whole\r\npeople, have never received the honour which was their due.\r\n\r\nFor with the Buddhist faith there came the germ of the belief that\r\nthe Gautama Buddha in his own grandeur bore witness to One\r\nGreater\xe2\x80\x94the Amitabha or Amida Buddha\xe2\x80\x94that One who in boundless\r\nlight abideth, life of the Universe, without colour, without form,\r\nthe Lover of man, his Protector and Refuge. He may, He must be\r\nworshipped, for in Him are all the essential attributes of Deity,\r\nand He, the Saviour of mankind, has prepared a pure land of peace\r\nfor his servants, beyond the storms of life and death. This belief\r\neventually crystallised and became a dogma in the faith of the Pure\r\nLand, known in Japan as J\xc5\x8ddo Shinshu, a faith held by the majority\r\nof the Japanese people. It is a Belief which has spread also in\r\nEastern Siberia, many parts of China, Hawaii, and, in fact,\r\nwhereever the Japanese race has spread. And the man who stated this\r\nbelief for all time was Shinran Sh\xc5\x8dnin, author of the Psalms here\r\npresented.\r\n\r\nHe was born in the year A.D. 1175 near City-Royal\xe2\x80\x94Kyoto, the\r\nancient capital of Japan. He was a son of one of the noblest\r\nfamilies, in close connection with the Imperial House, and had it\r\nnot been for the passion for truth and the life of the spirit which\r\nconsumed him, his history would have been that of the many other\r\nbrilliant young men who sank into mere courtiers\xe2\x80\x94\xe2\x80\x9cDwellers above\r\nthe Clouds,\xe2\x80\x9d as the royalties and courtiers of the day were called\r\namong the people. But the clear air above the clouds in which his\r\nspirit spread its wings was not that of City-Royal, and the Way\r\nopened before him as it has opened before many a saint of the\r\nChristian Church, for while still a child he lost both his parents,\r\nand so, meditating on the impermanence of mortal life, and seeing\r\nhow the fashion of this world passes away, he abandoned his title\r\nand became a monk in one of the noble monasteries whose successors\r\nstill stand glorious among the pine woods above Lake Biwa.\r\n\r\nThese were not only monasteries, but seats of learning, as in Europe\r\nin the Middle Ages, and here the Doctrines were subjected to\r\nbrilliant analysis and logical subtleties which had almost\r\nsuperseded the living faith. In that cold atmosphere the spirit of\r\nShiran Sh\xc5\x8dnin could not spread its wings, though for twenty years he\r\ngave his thoughts to its empty glitter. Therefore, at the age of\r\ntwenty-nine he cast it all behind him, and in deep humility cast\r\nhimself at the feet of the great Teacher H\xc5\x8dnen, who, in the shades\r\nof Higashiyama, was setting forth the saving power of the Eternal\r\nOne who abideth in the Light and in whom is no darkness\xe2\x80\x94the Buddha\r\nof Boundless Light. And in this place and from this man Shinran\r\nreceived enlightenment.\r\n\r\nLife now lay before him as a problem. Unlike as the two men are in\r\ncharacter and methods, his position resembled that of Martin Luther\r\non quitting the Church of Rome. For the Buddhist monastic rule\r\nrequires its members to be homeless, celibate, vegetarian, and here,\r\nlike Luther, Shinran joined issue with them. To his mind the\r\nattainment of man lay in the harmonious development of body and\r\nspirit, and in the fulfilment, not the negation of the ordinary\r\nhuman duties. Accordingly, in his thirty-first year, after deep\r\nconsideration, he married the daughter of Prince Kujo Kanezane,\r\nChief Minister of the Emperor and head of one of the greatest houses\r\nin Japan, and in that happy union he tasted four years of simple\r\ndomestic joy, during which a son was born to him. Then the storm\r\nbroke.\r\n\r\nTrouble was stirred up by the orthodox Buddhist Church with evil\r\nreports which reached the ears of the Emperor, and Shinran was sent\r\ninto banishment in the lonely and primitive province of Echigo\xe2\x80\x94a\r\nterrible alternative for a man of noble birth and refined\r\nculture. He took it, however, with perfect serenity as a mission to\r\nthose untaught and neglected people, and into their darkness he\r\nbrought the light of the Father of Lights, and the people flocked to\r\nthe warmth and wonder of the new hope, and heard him gladly. The\r\nstory is told by a contemporary, whom I have thus rendered:\r\n\r\n\xe2\x80\x9cIn the spring of the third year of the era of Kennin, the age of\r\nShinran Sh\xc5\x8dnin was twenty-nine. Driven by the desire for seclusion,\r\nhe departed to the monastery of Yoshimizu. For as his day was so\r\nremote from the era of the Lord Buddha, and the endurance of man in\r\nthe practice of religious austerity was now weakened, he would fain\r\nseek the one broad, straight way that is now made plain before us,\r\nleaving behind him the more devious and difficult roads in which he\r\nhad a long time wandered. For so it was that H\xc5\x8dnen Sh\xc5\x8dnin, the great\r\nteacher of the Doctrine of the Land of Pure Light, had taught him\r\nplainly of the inmost heart of the Faith, raising up in him the firm\r\nfoundation of that teaching. Therefore he certainly received at that\r\ntime the true meaning of the Divine Promise of universal salvation,\r\nand attained unto the imperishable faith by which alone the ignorant\r\ncan enter into Nirvana without condition or price.\r\n\r\n\xe2\x80\x9cFrom the province of Echigo Shinran passed onward to that of\r\nHitachi, and entered into seclusion at Inada, that little village of\r\nthe region of Kasama. Very lonely was his dwelling, yet many\r\ndisciples sought after him, and though the humble door of the\r\nmonastery was closed against them, many nobles and lesser persons\r\nthronged into the village. So his hope of spreading abroad the Holy\r\nTeaching was fulfilled and his desire to bring joy to the people was\r\nsatisfied. Thus he declared that the revelation vouchsafed to him in\r\nthe Temple of Rokkaku by the Bodhisattwa of Pity was indeed made\r\nmanifest.\xe2\x80\x9d\r\n\r\nIt is that revelation which speaks in these Psalms\xe2\x80\x94the love,\r\naspiration, passion for righteousness and humility which are the\r\nheart of all the great religious utterances of the world.\r\n\r\n\xe2\x80\x9cAlas for me, Shinran, the ignorant exile who sinks into the deeps\r\nof the great ocean of human affections, who toils to climb the high\r\nmountains of worldly prosperity, and is neither glad to be with them\r\nwho return no more to illusion, nor takes delight in approaching\r\nmore nearly to true enlightenment. O the pity of it! O the shame of\r\nit!\xe2\x80\x9d\r\n\r\nThis cry alternates with the joy of perfect aspiration, and it is\r\nthat which keeps these psalms in warm human touch with the\r\nspirituality that is neither of race nor time, but for eternity.\r\n\r\nHe was sixty-two years of age when he returned from exile to\r\nCity-Royal, and though he made it his centre, it was his home no\r\nmore. He wandered from place to place, teaching as he went, after\r\nthe manner of the Buddhas. At the age of ninety his strength\r\nsuddenly failed, and the next day he passed away in perfect peace.\r\n\r\nSuch were the outward events of his life; his own writings must give\r\nthe history of his soul. His teachings to-day are spread far and\r\nwide in the land of his birth, and are an inspiration to millions\r\nwithin and without its shores. In him was the harmonised spirit of\r\nBuddhism at its highest. Those who can enter into the heart of\r\nShinran Sh\xc5\x8dnin will have gained understanding of the heart of a\r\nmighty people which is said to be impossible of Western reading, and\r\nyet in its essentials is simple as the heart of a child.\r\n\r\n L. ADAMS BECK.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nEDITORIAL NOTE\r\n\r\nThe object of the Editors of this series is a very definite\r\none. They desire above all things that, in their humble way, these\r\nbooks shall be the ambassadors of good-will and understanding\r\nbetween East and West\xe2\x80\x94the old world of Thought and the new of\r\nAction. In this endeavour, and in their own sphere, they are but\r\nfollowers of the highest example in the land. They are confident\r\nthat a deeper knowledge of the great ideals and lofty philosophy of\r\nOriental thought may help to a revival of that true spirit of\r\nCharity which neither despises nor fears the nations of another\r\ncreed and colour.\r\n\r\n L. CRANMER-BYNG. S. A. KAPADIA.\r\n\r\nNORTHBROOK SOCIETY, 21 CROMWELL ROAD, KENSINGTON, S.W.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nBUDDHIST PSALMS\r\n\r\n\r\nLAUDING THE INFINITE ONE\r\n\r\n1. Since He who is Infinite attained unto the Wisdom Supreme, the\r\nlong, long ages of ten Kalpas have rolled away.\r\n\r\nThe Light of His Dharma-Kaya is in this world eyes to the blind.\r\n\r\n2. Seek refuge in the True Illumination! For the light of His Wisdom\r\nis infinite.\r\n\r\nIn all the worlds there is nothing upon which His light shines not.\r\n\r\n3. Take refuge in the Light universal.\r\n\r\nAs the Light of His deliverance is boundless, he who is within it is\r\nfreed from the lie of affirmation or denial.\r\n\r\n4. Seek refuge in That which is beyond understanding,\r\n\r\nFor His glory is all-embracing as the air. It shineth and pierceth\r\nall things, and there is nothing hid from the light thereof.\r\n\r\n5. Take refuge in the ultimate Strength, for His pure radiance is\r\nabove all things. He who perceiveth this Light is set free from the\r\nfetters of Karma.\r\n\r\n6. Seek refuge in the World-Honoured.\r\n\r\nSince His glorious radiance is above all He is called the Buddha of\r\nDivine Light. And by Him is the darkness of the three worlds\r\nEnlightened.\r\n\r\n7. Excellent is the Light of His Wisdom. Therefore is he called the\r\nBuddha of Clear Shining.\r\n\r\nHe who is within the Light, being washed from the soil of Karma,\r\nshall attain unto the final deliverance.\r\n\r\n8. Take refuge in the Mighty Consoler. Wheresoever His mercy shineth\r\nthroughout all the worlds, men rejoice in its gladdening light.\r\n\r\n9. The darkness of ignorance perisheth before His light. Therefore\r\nis He hailed as the Buddha of Radiant Wisdom. All the Buddhas and\r\nthe threefold choir of sages praise Him.\r\n\r\n10. His glory shineth for ever and ever. Therefore is He called the\r\nBuddha of Everlasting Light.\r\n\r\nMost excellent is the virtue of this light, for he who perceiveth it\r\nis born into Paradise without dissolution of being.\r\n\r\n11. The glory of the Infinite is boundless, therefore is He known as\r\nthe Buddha of Light Past Comprehension.\r\n\r\nAll the Buddhas glorify the majesty of His holiness that leadeth all\r\nthe earth into His Kingdom.\r\n\r\n12. His clear shining transcendeth all revelation, nor can human\r\nspeech utter it. Therefore is He named the Buddha of Light\r\nUnspeakable.\r\n\r\nAll the Buddhas glorify the glory of the Infinite One who is Buddha\r\nthrough His promise of Light immeasurable.\r\n\r\n13. Take refuge in Him who is Holiest of Holy. Sun and moon are\r\nlost in the ocean of His splendour. Therefore is He named that\r\nInfinite in whose radiance Sun and Moon are darkened. Before whose\r\nDivine Power even that Buddha made flesh in India himself faltereth\r\nin ascribing praise to the Majesty of His true glory.\r\n\r\n14. Far beyond human numbering are the wise in the high assemblage\r\nof the Infinite One. Therefore let him who would be born into the\r\nLand of Purity seek refuge in the Great Congregation.\r\n\r\n15. In Paradise are the Mighty unnumbered, Bodhisattvas ranked in\r\nthat hierarchy nearest to the Perfect Enlightenment. Thence are they\r\nmade flesh upon earth according to the way of salvation that all\r\nhaving life might be saved.\r\n\r\n16. Take refuge in the ocean-deep Soul Universal.\r\n\r\nFor the sake of all dwelling in the Ten Regions hath He kept the\r\nfullness of all the Teachings, in His divine and mighty promises.\r\n\r\n17. He who is Infinite never resteth, for together with the\r\nBodhisattvas of Compassion and Pure Reason He laboureth, that the\r\nsouls of them that duly receive Him may have salvation, enlightening\r\nthem with the light of His mercy.\r\n\r\n18. When he who is born into the land of Pure Peace returneth again\r\ninto this sinful world, even like unto that Buddha made flesh in\r\nIndia, he wearieth not in seeking the welfare of all men.\r\n\r\n19. Seek refuge in the World-Honoured, for His Divine Power is\r\nAlmighty and beyond man\xe2\x80\x99s measure, being made perfect in\r\ninconceivable Holiness.\r\n\r\n20. The Sr\xc4\x81vakas, the Bodhisattvas, the Heavenly Beings and Souls in\r\nParadise, they in whom wisdom is made equal unto beauty, declare\r\ntheir attributes in order, according to their former birth.\r\n\r\n21. Seek refuge in Him in whom all strengths are equal.\r\n\r\nNought is there to compare with the excellent beauty of the Souls in\r\nParadise, for their being is infinite as space, and far are they\r\nabove celestials and mortal man.\r\n\r\n22. Whoso would be born into Paradise shall in this life be made one\r\nwith those men that return no more unto birth and death.\r\n\r\nIn that Pure Land is none who hath stood among doubting men, and\r\nnone also who hath trusted in his own deeds for Salvation. To this\r\ndo all the Buddhas witness.\r\n\r\n23. If all having life in the Ten Regions hear this Holiest Name of\r\nHim that is Infinite, and attain unto the true faith, they shall\r\nobtain joy and gladness.\r\n\r\n24. For when a man with joy accepteth the sacred vow of Him that is\r\ninfinite who saith, \xe2\x80\x9cI will not attain unto perfect Enlightenment\r\nunless in Me shall all the world be made whole,\xe2\x80\x9d at that very time\r\nhe shall assuredly be born into Paradise.\r\n\r\n25. Seek refuge in the Almighty Spirit.\r\n\r\nBy the divine might of His promise, by the Infinite One was Paradise\r\ncreated; yea, and the Souls of men that dwell therein. And there is\r\nnought that may compare with them.\r\n\r\n26. Seek refuge in the unutterable Wisdom.\r\n\r\nOf His Land of Peace the half cannot be told. Even the word of the\r\nBuddha himself could not utter it.\r\n\r\n27. Myriads of happy souls were born, are born and shall be born\r\ninto that Land of Purity, not from this world alone, but from the\r\nhidden worlds also, and the Ten Regions.\r\n\r\n28. So soon as man heareth the holy name of the Infinite One and\r\nwith great gladness praiseth him, he shall attain to the reward of\r\nthe holy Treasury of Merit.\r\n\r\n29. Go forward, O Valiant Souls, seeking the Law though all the\r\nworlds fall into flame and ruin, for ye shall have passed beyond\r\nbirth and death!\r\n\r\n30. The innumerable Buddhas praise the triumphant divinity of the\r\nBringer of Light. To Him do gather the myriad Bodhisattvas,\r\nunnumbered as the Sands of Ganges in worship from the Eastern world.\r\n\r\n31. As from the East, so gather also to the Infinite One the\r\nBodhisattvas from the Nine Regions of the worlds.\r\n\r\nWith Sacred Psalms the Gautama Buddha himself laudeth the boundless\r\nglory of the Infinite One.\r\n\r\n32. Seek refuge in the World-Honoured.\r\n\r\nTo Him do the myriad Buddhas of the ten Regions bring homage with\r\nsongs and praises, that they may sow the seeds of merit.\r\n\r\n33. Bring homage to the Hall of Great Teaching and to the living Bo\r\ntree that is in Paradise! Yet this land, glorious with the Holy\r\nTree, radiant with the Hall of Great Teaching that shineth with the\r\nSeven Jewels, where innumerable souls hastening from all the ends of\r\nthe Earth shall be born, is but the temporal Paradise.\r\n\r\n34. In awful reverence seek refuge in the purity of Him that\r\nwelcometh. For by His Divine Promise was this glorious land, great\r\nbeyond human measurement, made to be.\r\n\r\n35. Seek refuge in the wisdom inconceivable. For the perfection of\r\nHis Virtue\xe2\x80\x94that Virtue availing for all the world, and the perfect\r\nway by which He willeth that man shall take refuge in Him, are past\r\nall human speech or thought.\r\n\r\n36. Take refuge in the wisdom that is most truly infinite. For He is\r\nfaithful, having promised in His Divine Might, and on his perfect\r\nclear promise that cannot be shaken is the merciful way of salvation\r\nbuilded.\r\n\r\n\r\nOF PARADISE\r\n\r\n37. Seek refuge in the heavenly harmony.\r\n\r\nFor the jewel groves and gem trees of Paradise give forth a sweet\r\nand most excellent melody in pure and ordered unison.\r\n\r\n38. Seek refuge in the Divine Promise, the Treasury of Merit,\r\n\r\nFor the seven jewel trees are fragrant in Paradise where the\r\nflowers, the fruits, the branches and the leaves thereof\r\n\r\nCast back their radiance the one to the other.\r\n\r\n39. Bring homage to the perfect Righteousness.\r\n\r\nAs the pure wind blows over the trees glorious with jewels,\r\n\r\nIt draweth from them a noble music with five-fold strains of\r\nharmony.\r\n\r\n40. In all the world is no place hidden from the glory shed by\r\nhundreds of myriad rays from the heart of every flower of Paradise.\r\n\r\n41. Like unto a golden mountain reflecting the myriad rays of these\r\nheavenly blossoms, so is the form of the Infinite One.\r\n\r\n42. From His Sacred Body, as from a well-spring, floweth this light\r\nover the Ten Regions of the world.\r\n\r\nBy His Sacred teaching He leadeth all having life into the way of\r\nlight.\r\n\r\n43. Seek refuge in the Treasury of Righteousness.\r\n\r\nFor in Paradise is that holy lake, with its waters of eightfold\r\nVirtue, all-glorious with the seven jewels. And all this is the\r\ninconceivable handiwork of Purity.\r\n\r\n44. Seek refuge in the All-Honoured.\r\n\r\nFor when sorrow and sighing are fled away, the Holy Land shall\r\nrejoice with joy and singing. Therefore is it called Paradise.\r\n\r\n45. The Buddhas of the Three Ages and the Ten Regions, they in whom\r\nthe Dual Wisdom is perfect and their illumination entire, lead all\r\nthe worlds marvellously into the way of Salvation, the Truth being\r\ntheir Vehicle.\r\n\r\n46. He that seeketh refuge in the Kingdom of the Infinite One is a\r\ncitizen of the Kingdom of every Buddha.\r\n\r\nLet him that is set free, with single heart give praises unto One\r\nBuddha, for in so doing he praiseth all.\r\n\r\n47. The faithful believer at that moment when he rejoiceth in the\r\nsound of the name of the Infinite One hath revealed unto his very\r\neyes the Buddha of Light.\r\n\r\n48. Let him that hath faith praise the Virtue of the Divine Wisdom.\r\n\r\nLet him strive to declare it unto all men that he may offer his\r\nthankfulness for the grace of the Buddha.\r\n\r\n\r\nCONCERNING THE GREAT SUTRA\r\n\r\n49. The Venerable Ananda, rising from his seat, and looking upwards\r\nto the World-Honoured Gautama Buddha, his eyes being opened,\r\nmarvelled greatly, seeing the glory of his Lord so transfigured.\r\n\r\n50. The Venerable Ananda asked the Cause of that glory, for the\r\nLord, shining in the Light that was hitherto unseen of the world,\r\ntaught openly, for the first time, that Truth for which He came into\r\nthe world.\r\n\r\n51. In the meditation of the Great Calm the Buddha whose countenance\r\nis glorious, commendeth the most excellent wisdom of Ananda for that\r\nhe asked the way of knowledge, desiring to be instructed.\r\n\r\n52. That Buddha that was made flesh in India was in this world\r\nmanifested that he might preach the Divine Promise of Him who is\r\nInfinite.\r\n\r\nHard is it to see the hidden blossom of the myriad-century-blooming\r\nLotus, so hard also is it for a man\xe2\x80\x99s understanding to receive the\r\nmessage of that Blessed One.\r\n\r\n53. Ten Kalpas of Ages have rolled away since He who is Infinite\r\nattained unto the Wisdom, yet before the myriads of the Kalpas He\r\n_was_.\r\n\r\n54. He who is of the Light Ineffable, Holiest Refuge of men,\r\nordaining that His saving grace should be made manifest, duly\r\nconsidered all the worlds of the Ten Regions, under the guidance of\r\nthe holy Buddha of Loka-is-Vara-Raja.\r\n\r\n55. Purity, Rejoicing, Wisdom, these three are the Supernal Essence\r\nof the light of the Infinite One that enlighteneth all things,\r\ncommunicating good to all the worlds of the Ten Regions.\r\n\r\n56. Teaching all that have life in the Ten Regions, that they might,\r\nwith sincerity, faith, and hope, be born again into Paradise, He set\r\nforth that promise infinite and divine\xe2\x80\x94the true seed of birth\r\nwithin the Kingdom of Truth.\r\n\r\n57. Whoso attaineth unto the True Faith is in unity with them that\r\nreturn no more to birth and death, for having thus attained, they\r\npass onward into Nirvana, their lives being ended.\r\n\r\n58. In His great compassion the Blessed One accomplished His\r\ninfinite wisdom in His divine promise, ordaining that womanhood\r\nshall be raised into manhood.\r\n\r\n59. Instructing all that have life in the Ten Regions how they\r\nshould through sincerity, effort, and hope be born into the Temporal\r\nParadise, He faithfully promiseth to manifest Himself unto the eyes\r\nof the dying, opening wide the gate of all righteousness before\r\nthem.\r\n\r\n60. By the divine promise to the dying of His consoling presence our\r\nLord instructeth men that they shall make to grow all righteousness\r\nrevealed in the Sutra of Meditation upon the Buddha of Infinite\r\nLife.\r\n\r\n61. All righteous deeds done of men in true obedience to the holy\r\nDoctrine of Sincerity and right-doing, are but the seed of merit\r\nthat shall be born within the Temporal Paradise.\r\n\r\n62. Instructing All that have life in the Ten Regions how that they\r\nmay through sincerity, merit, and hope be born into the Temporal\r\nParadise, He promiseth that no man shall lose salvation, for He hath\r\nopened the Gate of Truth.\r\n\r\n63. By the Divine Promise of the final salvation hath our Lord\r\ninstructed the men of the Single Vehicle to recite His Holy Name\r\nthat is the Essence of all the merit revealed in the Lesser Sutra of\r\nthe Buddha of Infinite Life.\r\n\r\n64. He that reciteth the Holy name by his own effort and in the mind\r\nof meditation or of dispersing, being led by the virtue of the\r\ndivine promise of final salvation, turneth naturally in at the Gate\r\nof Truth.\r\n\r\n65. He that holds not the True Faith, even though he desire to be\r\nborn into the Pure Paradise of Joy, must go unto his own place, and\r\nit shall be in the border of the Outermost Places, for this is the\r\nfruit of doubting the mystery of the Supreme Wisdom.\r\n\r\n66. That a man should be a Buddha, made manifest in this world, is a\r\nrare thing and difficult. So difficult is it also to hear the\r\nexcellent doctrine of all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. In all the\r\nmyriads of Kalpas such a way comes seldom.\r\n\r\n67. Difficult is it for men to find a wise Teacher; so is it also\r\nfor them to be instructed and to hear the Holy Law. More difficult\r\nstill is it to receive the True Faith.\r\n\r\n68. More difficult is it for men to receive the Divine Promise made\r\nunto men than to receive all other teachings.\r\n\r\nThe Lord Buddha teacheth that this is of all hard things most\r\ndifficult and yet again more difficult.\r\n\r\n69. The true Doctrine teacheth men that they may become Buddhas in\r\nreciting the Holy Name, and so therefore is it that all other faiths\r\nand moralities are but transitory doorways unto the Truth. Man\r\ncomprehendeth not that Pure Land of Peace unless he holdeth fast the\r\ntrue Doctrine, casting aside that which is transitory.\r\n\r\n70. Seek refuge in the Sole Vehicle of merciful promise. For the\r\ntransitory teachings have let and hindered men in the Way of\r\nEnlightenment so that they must needs pass through the long\r\nweariness of births and deaths.\r\n\r\n\r\nCONCERNING THE SUTRA OF THE MEDITATION\r\n\r\n71. That Lord that was made flesh in India, the Lord of great pity,\r\nshowing unto Vaidehi, Queen of Magadha, the golden mirror created by\r\nhis marvellous power, commanded her to choose the Land of Pure Joy\r\namong all the worlds therein appearing.\r\n\r\n72. Binbisara, he who commanded that an ascetic should be slain\r\nbefore his pre-ordained time was come, by his own son was imprisoned\r\nin a seven-walled prison as the due recompense of his violence.\r\n\r\n73. Aj\xc4\x81ta-\xc5\xa0atru, prince and heir of Magadha, denouncing his mother\r\nas a traitor, with drawn sword ran furiously upon her.\r\n\r\n74. Then said J\xc4\xabvaka the minister and another with him: \xe2\x80\x9cThis act is\r\nworthy only of an outcast. For the fame of our race unworthy art\r\nthou to dwell in the Palace.\xe2\x80\x9d And earnestly did they counsel him to\r\nchange his evil purpose.\r\n\r\n75. Laying his hand on his sword-hilt, J\xc4\xabvaka, the minister, drew\r\nbackwards a few steps, steadfastly regarding the prince, that he\r\nmight avert this great sin. And so it was that the prince laid down\r\nhis sword, and secluded his mother in a palace.\r\n\r\n76. Certain is it that Ananda with Vaidehi, Devadatta and yet\r\nothers, bearing their part in this great sorrow of the royal palace\r\nof Magadha, must needs so suffer that they might know the infinite\r\npity of the Blessed One, that Lord who in this world made manifest\r\nthe true teaching.\r\n\r\n77. And all these wise ones having so received instruction revealed\r\nunto us, who are of all evil-doers worst, the true way, the refuge\r\nof His divine promise that absolveth all the sins of men.\r\n\r\n78. For when the full time was come that by the will of our Lord and\r\nof Vaidehi the teaching of the Pure Land should be made known here\r\non Earth, Aj\xc4\x81ta-\xc5\xa0atru, her son, sinned this sin, Varshakara his\r\nminister bearing testimony against it.\r\n\r\n79. It is needful that the heart of a man be opened unto the Faith\r\nuniversal which He who is Blessed hath shown us, forsaking the\r\nbelief that his own works shall save him, for in every man the power\r\nto perform righteous deeds is differing.\r\n\r\n\r\nCONCERNING THE LESSER SUTRA\r\n\r\n80. The Eternal Father is called the Buddha of Infinite Light,\r\nbecause very mightily He holdeth in safety all beings dwelling in\r\nthe Ten Regions of the world who, by His merciful enlightenment,\r\nrecite His Holy Name.\r\n\r\n81. The myriad Buddhas, unnumbered as the sands of Ganges, counsel\r\nall having life to trust in the Supernal Virtue of the Holy Name,\r\ndeclaring that weighed against this even righteous deeds are the\r\nlesser good.\r\n\r\n82. The innumerable Buddhas, countless as the sands of Ganges, are a\r\ntestimony and a shield to all that have life in this sorrowful and\r\nsinful world, declaring unto them that teaching most high and\r\ndifficult of acceptance, which is the true faith.\r\n\r\n83. Whoso attaineth unto a Soul clear and enduring as diamond shall\r\ntestify unto his thankfulness for the limitless grace of the Blessed\r\nOne, for even the testimony and the safeguarding that he hath of all\r\nthe Buddhas proceed only from the fulfilment of His most merciful\r\npromise.\r\n\r\n84. The innumerable Buddhas, countless as the sands of Ganges, guide\r\ninto a sure trust in the Holy Name those sinful creatures and\r\nevil-hearted that wander in the darkness of this wicked world\r\nbearing the five signs of degeneration upon it.\r\n\r\n\r\nOF THE MANY SUTRAS CONCERNING THE INFINITE ONE\r\n\r\n85. Having great pity, our Eternal Father lighteneth the dark night\r\nof ignorance, manifesting Himself in that Land of Joy as the Buddha\r\nof Infinite Light which enlighteneth all the worlds with its\r\nimmeasurable glory.\r\n\r\n86. That Lord most compassionate, the Buddha of immeasurable Light,\r\nHe who had attained unto the Supreme Wisdom even before the myriads\r\nof Kalpas were, pitying them that know not, made himself manifest in\r\nthe Palace of Kapila as the Lord Sakya-muni.\r\n\r\n87. If a man had the duration of all the myriad Kalpas, had he\r\ninnumerable tongues and each of these tongues innumerable voices,\r\nyet should he vainly essay the praises of that Blessed One.\r\n\r\n88. The Lord instructeth us that the way into Paradise is straight\r\nand easy. Therefore whoso receiveth not this Truth is, in verity,\r\ncalled a man that hath not eyes to see nor ears to hear.\r\n\r\n89. The One true freedom is the Highest, and the Absolute is perfect\r\nfreedom. And when we attain unto that freedom, for us shall desire\r\nand doubt vanish away.\r\n\r\n90. When every man is beloved of us, even as the son of our own\r\nbody, there is the Universal Mind made perfect in us. And this shall\r\nbe in Paradise.\r\n\r\n91. He who is in all things supreme, is Himself Nirvana, and Nirvana\r\nis that true light that abideth in the Land that is to come, but\r\nthis world cannot know it.\r\n\r\n92. Our Lord instructeth us that he who rejoiceth in his faith is,\r\nin so doing, in unity with the Highest. For true faith is the seed\r\nof light, and the seed of true light is in itself the potentiality\r\nof that which is Deity.\r\n\r\n93. Whoso trusteth not in the Supreme Wisdom of the Enlightened One,\r\nclinging unto his own purblind knowledge, must suffer by fire for\r\nlong Kalpas of ages.\r\n\r\n\r\nCONCERNING THE WELFARE OF THE PRESENT WORLD\r\n\r\n94. He that hath unending pity, the Buddha of Infinite Life, hath\r\ngiven unto us in the Sutra of Golden Light a teaching concerning\r\nlong life, that the way of long life and the welfare of the people\r\nmight be made known unto them.\r\n\r\n95. Dengyo-Daishi, he who taught the Tendai-shu in the mount of\r\nHiye, hath compassionately instructed us that we should recite\r\nNamuamida-butsu, that Holiest Name, as a sure shield against the\r\nseven sorts of calamities.\r\n\r\n96. Whoso reciteth the Holy Name, that is higher than all other\r\nvirtues, shall be set free from the fetters of the past, the\r\npresent, and the future.\r\n\r\n97. To him that reciteth the Holy Name shall be good unending even\r\nin this world, for the sin of his former births is vanquished and\r\nhis youth set free from death.\r\n\r\n98. To him that reciteth the Holy Name, shall Brahma and Chakra the\r\ngreat king bring homage, and about him shall heavenly beings and\r\nbenignant deities keep watch throughout the days and nights.\r\n\r\n99. That man that reciteth the Holy Name shall the four mighty\r\nRegents in Heaven guard through the days and nights against the\r\ndisturbance of all evil spirits.\r\n\r\n100. To him that reciteth the Holy Name shall the Deity of the Earth\r\nbring homage, watching over him throughout the day and night, as the\r\nshadow follows its substance.\r\n\r\n101. To him who reciteth the Holy Name, Nanda and Upananda the Naga\r\nKings, together with their attendant deities shall bring homage,\r\nwatching over him throughout the day and night.\r\n\r\n102. To him who reciteth the Holy Name, the King of Death, together\r\nwith his ministers in the five worlds, shall do reverence, guarding\r\nhim throughout the days and nights.\r\n\r\n103. Mara, the Tempter, he who is Ruler of that heaven, where\r\npleasures are collected, hath sworn unto the Lord to shield him from\r\ntemptation who reciteth the Holy Name.\r\n\r\n104. All good deities in Earth and Heaven shall be gracious unto him\r\nwho reciteth the Holy Name, shielding him throughout the days and\r\nnights.\r\n\r\n105. All evil spirits in heaven and earth tremble before that\r\nbeliever who standeth upon the Immutable promise. For even in this\r\nworld hath he the mind of Divine Illumination.\r\n\r\n106. Kwannon and Seishi, the Bodhisattvas of incarnate Pity and\r\nWisdom, together with their companions, innumerable as the sands of\r\nGanges, shall be beside him who reciteth the Holy Name, even as the\r\nshadow cleaves to the substance.\r\n\r\n107. Within the Light of Buddha of Infinite Light are unnumbered\r\nBuddhas, and of these, each and every one shall shield him who hath\r\nwithin him the true Faith.\r\n\r\n108. Whoso reciteth the Holy Name shall be surrounded himself by\r\nthose Buddhas who cannot be numbered, who in the Ten Regions with\r\njoy protect and guide him.\r\n\r\nUpon the Sutra of Suraigama-Samadhi, I, Shinran Sh\xc5\x8dnin, have uttered\r\nthese eight lauds praising the virtue of Seishi the Bodhisattva of\r\nWisdom.\r\n\r\n109. Seishi, he who is the Bodhisattva of Wisdom, having\r\ncomprehended the fullness of the Holiest Name, rising from his seat,\r\nprostrated himself beneath the feet of our Lord, worshipping Him, he\r\nand his fellowship, and thus he spake:\r\n\r\n110. \xe2\x80\x9cO my Lord, in the ancient time, before the Kalpas innumerable\r\nas the sands of Ganges, there was manifest in this world a Buddha,\r\nand His Name was called\xe2\x80\x94The Buddha of Infinite Light.\r\n\r\n111. \xe2\x80\x9cIn His footsteps twelve Buddhas followed, and twelve long\r\nKalpas have rolled away. And of these Buddhas the last was He that\r\nis called that Buddha in whose glory the Sun and Moon are even as\r\ndarkness.\r\n\r\n112. \xe2\x80\x9cUnto me hath that Buddha revealed the Path of the meditation\r\nof the Supreme\xe2\x80\x94that meditation wherein He instructeth us that all\r\nthe Buddhas of all the Ten Regions compassionate as even as a father\r\npitieth his child.\r\n\r\n113. Whoso seeketh refuge in Buddha, as a child in the bosom of his\r\nmother shall verily perceive Him now or in the time that shall be.\r\nAnd it shall be soon.\r\n\r\n114. \xe2\x80\x9cAs a man encompassed by the cloud of incense casteth sweet\r\nodours about him, so he that trusteth in the Holy Promise is\r\nspiritually endued with the Divine Essence.\r\n\r\n115. \xe2\x80\x9cWhen I was initiate in right doing, I attained unto the high\r\nway of that assurance that freed me from birth and death, through\r\nthe teaching of the Noble Doctrine of the Holy Name.\r\n\r\n\xe2\x80\x9cTherefore in this world, rejoicing, I guide the faithful believer\r\ninto the way of Purity.\xe2\x80\x9d\r\n\r\n116. Now with all praise let us give thanks unto the merciful\r\ngoodness of the Bodhisattva of Wisdom.\r\n\r\n\r\nOF THANKSGIVING FOR NAGARJUNA, THE GREAT TEACHER OF INDIA\r\n\r\n117. Nagarjuna, the great teacher, setting forth in many excellent\r\nwritings the praise of the Kingdom of Purity, hath instructed us to\r\nrecite the Holy Name.\r\n\r\n118. For the Lord Buddha declared in prophecy that in India, in the\r\nSouthern Parts, should arise a great Teacher, trampling upon the\r\nfalse teachings of affirmation and denial.\r\n\r\n119. Nagarjuna, the Great Teacher, he who mightily set forth the\r\nnoble doctrine of the greater Vehicle, and himself attained unto\r\nthat height whereon a man rejoiceth eternally in the Faith, hath\r\nvery sweetly persuaded men that they should receive the teaching of\r\nthe Holy Name.\r\n\r\n120. Nagarjuna, that great priest, setting forth the two ways\xe2\x80\x94the\r\nway that is straight and plain, and the way of high austerity,\r\nleadeth very gently to the Ark of the Divine Promise such as are\r\ndriven through the weariness of births and deaths.\r\n\r\n121. He who receiveth this teaching of Nagarjuna the Great Teacher,\r\nshould recite always the Holy Name, believing the Divine Promise of\r\nthe Buddha of Infinite Light.\r\n\r\n122. Whoso would quickly attain unto that resting-place where\r\nillusion ceaseth, should recite the Holy Name holding his mind in\r\nsteadfast piety.\r\n\r\n123. One Ark only, that Ark of the Divine Promise of our merciful\r\nFather, doth voyage and bear us unto the shore of the eternal\r\npeace\xe2\x80\x94even us who so long have drifted hither and thither in the\r\nocean of birth and death.\r\n\r\n124. This great priest hath in one utterance set forth that the Lord\r\nis Ruler indeed of the sacred teaching, and that herein are the holy\r\nBodhisattvas His ministers. Therefore should we bring homage unto\r\nour Lord.\r\n\r\n125. The mighty company of the Bodhisattvas utter these words, \xe2\x80\x9cWhen\r\nwe became wise in holiness, yea, we who have striven through Kalpas\r\nunnumbered,\r\n\r\n126. \xe2\x80\x9cYet could we not root out our earthly desires which are the\r\nvery seed of birth and death. But through that only way of the\r\nmeditation of the Highest did we attain unto the final deliverance\r\nthat hath destroyed all our sin.\xe2\x80\x9d\r\n\r\n\r\nOF THANKSGIVING FOR VASUBANDH, THE GREAT TEACHER OF INDIA\r\n\r\n127. Among those doctrines taught of our Lord Vasubandh, the great\r\npriest hath persuaded us who are full of sinful desires to accept\r\nthe Divine Promise of our infinite Father.\r\n\r\n128. Only to Him who is above all things is known the glory of the\r\nLand of Peace. Wide as the sky and boundless is it spread forth.\r\n\r\n129. Whoso believeth in the power of the Divine Promise shall verily\r\nbe at one with the holy Essence, even as the turbid stream is clear\r\nand pure within the ocean depth when they have flowed together.\r\n\r\n130. When the assemblage of the believers in the holy faith is born\r\nwithin that Land of Purity that hath sprung from the lotus of the\r\ntrue enlightenment, soon shall their heart\xe2\x80\x99s desire be fulfilled in\r\nthem.\r\n\r\n131. The heavenly spirits and those souls freed from illusion, they\r\nwho are born in the land of purity from the wisdom deep as the ocean\r\nof the Divine Promise, differ not the one from the other in their\r\npowers. Pure are they as the air is pure.\r\n\r\n132. Vasubandh, that exalted master of excelling works, who himself\r\nhath found refuge in the Buddha of Infinite Light, hath declared\r\nthat whoso is borne in the Vehicle of the Divine Promise shall\r\nwithout doubt attain unto the Promised Land.\r\n\r\n133. Whoso taketh refuge in the Buddha of Infinite Light, that light\r\nthat shineth unto all the worlds of the Ten Regions, shall be\r\ncalled, according to the teaching of that master of excelling works,\r\na man whose heart is great, and to him shall the True Light be\r\nshown.\r\n\r\n134. He whose heart is great and who shall attain unto the true\r\nenlightenment is he also that desireth the salvation of all living,\r\nand verily the true faith given of that Blessed One is salvation.\r\n\r\n135. The single heart perceiveth the true faith, and so doing is\r\nstrong and clear as the diamond, and this strength is the wisdom of\r\nthe supreme that strengthened us.\r\n\r\n136. When we shall attain, unto the Promised Land, which is that\r\nNirvana past all understanding, there shall we labour abundantly for\r\nthe salvation of all living things. For so the Sutra teaches us in\r\nthese words: \xe2\x80\x9cA heart that inclineth to the succour of others.\xe2\x80\x9d\r\n\r\n\r\nOF THANKSGIVING FOR DONRAN, THE GREAT TEACHER OF CHINA\r\n\r\n137. Donran, that great teacher of China, being instructed of\r\nBodhi-ruci, the priest of India, sought refuge in the Land of\r\nPurity, and thus doing he burned with fire the books of the Taoist\r\nteaching which he had aforetime held in honour.\r\n\r\n138. Having thus cast from him the writings that he had so many\r\nyears diligently studied, he preached unto all men the doctrine of\r\nthe Divine Promise, and, so teaching, he led men that are fast bound\r\nin the fetters of illusion, in at the Gate of the Great Peace.\r\n\r\n139. A mighty King of this world brought homage unto him in his\r\nmonastery and put unto him this question, saying: \xe2\x80\x9cIf so it is that\r\nthe Land of Purity should be in all the Ten Regions, how then is it\r\ndeclared unto us in the Sutra that it is in the Western Heaven?\xe2\x80\x9d\r\n\r\n140. And with humble piety he replied:\r\n\r\n\xe2\x80\x9cOf this matter can I not tell thee. It is too high for me. Still am\r\nI in the lower rank of wisdom, even still small is my knowledge. I\r\ncannot fathom this great mystery.\xe2\x80\x9d\r\n\r\n141. All men in the priesthood or the people who know not the rock\r\nof their trust, did Donran the Great Priest guide unto the sure\r\nrefuge of the doctrine of the Land of Bliss.\r\n\r\n142. He abode in the Temple of the Great Rock, being favourably\r\nbidden thereto by the King of the Gi Dynasty, and in the evening of\r\nhis days he travelled into the district of Dun.\r\n\r\n143. And this King of the Gi Dynasty reverently offered unto him the\r\nholy title of Shinran (Ran of Divinity) and the honourable name of\r\n\xe2\x80\x9cRock of the Venerable Ran\xe2\x80\x9d\xe2\x80\x94that his dwelling-place should be\r\ncalled by it.\r\n\r\n144. Great and mighty upon the people was his spiritual power in the\r\ntemple of Genchu and in the fourth year of Kokwa of the Gi Dynasty\r\nthe Temple of Yosen became his beloved dwelling.\r\n\r\n145. And when he had reached sixty-seven years, he sought his final\r\nrefuge in the Eternal Kingdom. And at that departing were vouchsafed\r\nmany holy marvels unto which all men, both of the priests and\r\npeople, came and did reverence.\r\n\r\n146. And when Donran the Great High Priest had departed into the\r\nPeace, the King of the Gi Dynasty by a royal order commanded there\r\nshould be built for him a holy monument in the lands of Dun.\r\n\r\n147. What man could know the unsearchable mystery of the faith and\r\ndeeds of the Divine Promise were it not for that most excelling\r\ncommentary of Donran the wise Priest, which he wrote concerning the\r\nteaching of Vasubandh that had lived aforetime.\r\n\r\n148. He who believeth that the Sole Vehicle of the Divine Promise,\r\nmost perfect, most mighty, receiveth within itself the Greatest of\r\nSinners, and this because it is its chief will so to do, will\r\nreceive the depth of this essential teaching\xe2\x80\x94namely, that before\r\nthe eyes of the Instructed, illusion and wisdom are in their Essence\r\nOne.\r\n\r\n149. Among the Five Mysteries that are preached in this Sutra, the\r\nmystery of the Divine Power of the Enlightened One is highest, and\r\nthis is the holy vow of our Blessed One, this and this only.\r\n\r\n150. Unto us hath our Father given those two spiritual gifts. Of\r\nthese the first is the Virtue whereby we attain unto His Kingdom,\r\nand the second is the Virtue whereby having so attained we return\r\ninto this world for the Salvation of men. By the merit of these two\r\ngifts are we initiates of the true faith and of its deeds.\r\n\r\n151. When we shall have attained unto the faith and the deeds of the\r\nMerciful Promise through our Father that is in all things able to\r\ngive them unto us, birth and death are henceforward as Nirvana. And\r\nthis is called the Gift of Departure.\r\n\r\n152. And when we shall have attained unto that height which is\r\ndesire for the ingathering of all beings into Paradise, shall we\r\nreturn again into this world that we may be Saviours of Men. And\r\nthis is called the Gift of Returning.\r\n\r\n153. That \xe2\x80\x9cSingle Mind\xe2\x80\x9d expounded unto us by Vasubandh, the Master\r\nof Writings that excel, is nothing other than the faith of us that\r\nare now fast bound in illusion. So teacheth Donran the Great Teacher\r\nin his Commentary.\r\n\r\n154. The Buddha of that inexpressible Light that shineth into the\r\nworlds of the Ten Regions, being for ever enlightened in the night\r\nof ignorance, hath most certainly opened the way of Nirvana to every\r\nman who even for one moment rejoiceth in receiving His Divine\r\nPromise.\r\n\r\n155. By the merit of His Infinite Light, when we attain unto that\r\nfaith divine and omnipotent, the ice of illusion shall melt into the\r\nwater of perfect wisdom.\r\n\r\n156. Sin is made one with virtue in its essence, even as ice is one\r\nwith water. The more there is ice, so much the more water is\r\nthere. So also is the binding up of sin with virtue.\r\n\r\n157. In the unbounded ocean of the Holy Name is not seen even one\r\nsingle death of a blasphemer. For the myriad streams of sin are on\r\npurity with the ocean of righteousness when they have flowed into\r\nthe impurity thereof.\r\n\r\n158. When the streams of illusion have flowed into the Great Sea of\r\nthe Merciful Promise of the Enlightened One, whose light shineth\r\ninto all the worlds of the Ten Religions, then shall they too become\r\nthe pure water of the Perfect Wisdom.\r\n\r\n159. No other way is there of attaining unto the Perfect\r\nEnlightenment save only by birth into the Land of Gladness, and\r\ntherefore have all the Enlightened Ones exhorted men that they\r\nshould receive the Doctrine of the Kingdom Purity.\r\n\r\n160. The Great Priest hath well taught us that in order to cleanse\r\nour deeds, words, and thoughts of deceitfulness, our Father hath\r\nperformed the three of His pure and universal.\r\n\r\n161. There is no way unto the Kingdom of Gladness save only by\r\nattaining unto the true faith through that Holy Name, the very Jewel\r\nof Wonder.\r\n\r\n162. When the new birth through the clearness of the Divine Promise\r\nis attained in the Eternal Kingdom, it is not like unto the birth of\r\nthis world; then is there no inferiority even in those that in this\r\nworld were sinners, for they have entered into Paradise.\r\n\r\n163. The Holy Name of the Buddha of that Boundless Light that\r\nshineth into all the worlds of the Ten Regions, and the glory of His\r\nWisdom, destroy the darkness of ignorance in the Eternal Night, thus\r\nfulfilling all the desires of men.\r\n\r\n\r\nCONCERNING UNRIGHTEOUS DEEDS\r\n\r\n164. These three things are expounded unto us by Donran\r\nDaishi. First, that faith is not holiness, for faith is not\r\nabiding. At one time it abideth, at another it is gone.\r\n\r\n165. And second: This faith is not Single Minded, for it hath not\r\nresolution.\r\n\r\nAnd third: It continueth not, for the other thoughts of the heart\r\ndivide it against itself.\r\n\r\n166. The three ways of this faith lead the one to the other one. On\r\nthis must the believer fix his eyes. If his faith is not in\r\nholiness, then hath he not the faith of resolution.\r\n\r\n167. And having not the faith that is resolute, that faith cannot\r\nendure, and because it endureth not, how can he attain unto the\r\nfaith of determination? And attaining not unto the faith of\r\ndetermination, the faith is not sanctified in him.\r\n\r\n168. For the attainment of Right Practice expounded by the Master of\r\nthe Written Word is according unto the true faith and this alone.\r\n\r\n169. If a man return into the Great Way of the Divine Promise,\r\neschewing the narrow ways of deeds and works, in him shall the true\r\nlight of Nirvana be made manifest.\r\n\r\n170. The mighty king So, he of the Ryo line, worshipped the Great\r\nTeacher Donran Daishi, naming him the Bodhisattva of Ran, turning\r\nhis face in worship unto the dwelling-place of his Teacher.\r\n\r\n\r\nCONCERNING DOSHAKU-ZENJI\r\n\r\n171. Having cast away from him all trust in the righteous deeds of\r\nthe sages, Doshaku-Zenji, the Great Teacher, hath taught us to enter\r\nin at the only gate that is the Gospel of the Pure Land.\r\n\r\n172. Having thus cast away from him the laborious study of the\r\nDoctrine of Nirvana, Doshaku, the Great Teacher, himself trusted\r\nonly in the power of the Divine Promise, and he persuaded men to\r\nfollow after him.\r\n\r\n173. In this world of sin that is so far removed from the blessed\r\nday of our Lord, is there no man who attaineth unto the wisdom\r\nSupreme, yea, not though he should compass all righteous doing. So\r\nteacheth our Lord of Great Teaching.\r\n\r\n174. He who succeeded unto the teaching of Donran-Daishi,\r\nDoshaku-zenji, the Great Priest, thus declareth: \xe2\x80\x9cTo toil and labour\r\nafter righteous deeds in this life is the unavailing toil of\r\nself-effort.\xe2\x80\x9d\r\n\r\n175. In this world, the doing of evil and the sin that is wrought of\r\nmen is violent and furious as the storm wind and rain. Therefore\r\nhave the compassionate Buddhas exhorted men to seek their refuge\r\nwithin the Land of Purity.\r\n\r\n176. From him that sinneth, throughout his life shall the fetters of\r\nillusion fall away, if he shall recite the Holy Name with love and\r\nadoration.\r\n\r\n177. That he might lead men into the Eternal Kingdom\xe2\x80\x94those men who\r\nare in this life fast bound unto the evil thing, our Father teacheth\r\nus, saying, \xe2\x80\x9cRecite my name,\xe2\x80\x9d and hath promised further, \xe2\x80\x9cDoing\r\nthis, if they be not born again, I myself will not attain unto\r\nWisdom.\xe2\x80\x9d\r\n\r\n\r\nCONCERNING ZENDO-DAISHI\r\n\r\n178. Rising like unto an incarnation of the Mighty Ocean, Zendo, the\r\ngreat teacher, came into the world.\r\n\r\nAnd for the sake of mankind in this sinful place, he called unto all\r\nthe Buddhas of the Ten Regions to be his testimony unto his\r\ncommentary on the Sutra.\r\n\r\n179. Two interpreters of Zendo-Daishi were there in the age that\r\nfollowed his own, and these were Hosh\xc5\x8d and Sh\xc5\x8dk\xc5\x8d. They, it is, who\r\nhave opened the Treasury of teaching that the inward purpose of the\r\nBlessed One should be wholly made known.\r\n\r\n180. How should women turn their hearts unto wisdom\xe2\x80\x94they who are\r\nfast bound with the five fetters? No, not through the ages of\r\nmyriads of Kalpas, until they seek refuge in the Divine Promise of\r\nHim who is mighty.\r\n\r\n181. Having thrown open the Gate of Righteousness, our Lord hath\r\ninstructed mankind in every sort of righteous deed. He hath set\r\nbefore us how the five right deeds differ from the confused deeds\r\nthat are outside the Five, so that mankind may enter the way of the\r\nSole Practice.\r\n\r\n182. To mingle the right action with the action that is not akin to\r\nit is called the confused practice. The man that erreth therein\r\nhath not attained unto the single heart. He knoweth not thankfulness\r\nfor the grace of the Enlightened One.\r\n\r\n183. If he entreat in prayer the good things of this world, even\r\nthough he recite only the Blessed Name, he is condemned therein,\r\nbeing also a man of the confused practice. He shall not be born into\r\nthe Land of Purity.\r\n\r\n184. Not one, indeed, but not far asunder are the confused deed and\r\nthe confused practice. The teachings that are not the teachings of\r\nthe Land of Purity are to be condemned as confused deeds.\r\n\r\n185. Having invoked the testimony of all the Buddhas, Zendo-Daishi\r\nhath set before us the story of the two rivers, the one, the river\r\nof fire, the other the river of water, that he might incline the\r\nheart to righteous deeds, and guard the true faith of the Divine\r\nPromise.\r\n\r\n186. Verily a simple man may attain unto the true Illumination, if\r\nhe believe the Holy Promise that is the spirit of the teaching of\r\nShinshu. Because for this only was the Lord made manifest in this\r\nworld, and not according to those other teachings which shall pass\r\naway and be no more.\r\n\r\n187. Before the Almighty Power of the Divine teaching do all the\r\nfetters of evil deeds fall away. Therefore is the Divine Promise of\r\nour Father invoked as that Holy Thing which giveth unto us\r\nomnipotent strength.\r\n\r\n188. Yet, to whomsoever would enter the Promised Land, created in\r\nthe power of His Divine Vow, is belief in his own strength impotent.\r\n\r\nAnd because they are needless, therefore the wise who have received\r\nthe Great and Lesser Vehicles must trust unto the promise of the\r\nAlmighty One.\r\n\r\n189. Whoso hath known himself the slave of illusion shall yet,\r\nrelying on the Power of the Holy Promise, enter into the immortal\r\njoy of the Truth, and all his earthly body shall fall from him.\r\n\r\n190. Merciful and compassionate parents unto us are the Blessed One\r\nand the Lord Buddha. For they have opened before us the ways of\r\ngood, having so purposed that the great Faith shall be.\r\n\r\n191. He who is one with the True Soul hath attained unto a heart\r\nclear and hard as diamond. Therefore is he at one with that man who\r\nhath the three excellent forms of Penitence. This hath the Great\r\nTeacher shown us.\r\n\r\n192. By that faith alone, like unto a jewel of price, we who in this\r\nsinful world have our being, may enter into the Eternal Kingdom,\r\nbeing eternally freed from the yoke of birth and death.\r\n\r\n193. At that moment when faith in the Enlightened One is perfected,\r\npure and lasting as the diamond, then shall the Spiritual Light\r\nshine upon us and guard us, the light which for ever guideth us from\r\nrebirth and death.\r\n\r\n194. Whoso attaineth not unto the True Faith hath not in him one of\r\nthe Trinity of Virtues, that are Sincerity, Faith, and Hope, and the\r\nman that hath not one of these three holdeth not the perfect faith.\r\n\r\n195. Whoso attaineth unto the True Faith given of Him is freed from\r\nall let and hindrance, for his heart is at one with the Divine\r\nPromise, and he is obedient unto the true teaching that is the Very\r\nWord of the Buddha.\r\n\r\n196. Whoso hath comprehended the truth of the Holy Name is at that\r\nvery moment freed from doubt. He hath possessed the Right thought,\r\nand he is commended as excellent and rare in his attainment.\r\n\r\n197. He shall be let and hindered that is not at one with the Divine\r\nPromise, and therefore he whose faith is not full of Peace is a man\r\nwho holdeth not the Divine Thought.\r\n\r\n198. The attainment of the Divine Wisdom shall come unto him who\r\nreciteth the Holy Name, for his faith cometh from the Divine Promise\r\nof Him that leadeth him into the Promised Land. He shall not fail\r\nto attain unto the Great Nirvana.\r\n\r\n199. At this time when the five Signs of Degeneration are manifest,\r\nmany men are there who doubt and blaspheme the Holy Doctrine. Yea,\r\neven the Priests, together with the people, are enemies unto him who\r\nwalketh in the right way.\r\n\r\n200. He who blasphemeth the Divine Promise is a man born blind. He\r\nshall sink into three evil worlds for age-long myriads of Kalpas.\r\n\r\n201. Though the way into the Land that is in the West hath been made\r\nplain before us, yet the age-long Kalpas have rolled away without\r\ngood fruit thereof, for we have hindered ourselves and our brethren\r\nthat we might not enter therein.\r\n\r\n202. Without the Almighty Strength of the Divine Promise how should\r\nwe leave this sinful world? Wherefore we should live in hearty\r\nthanksgiving for the Grace of our Father, thinking ever upon the\r\nocean deeps of his love.\r\n\r\n203. For it is by the marvellous mercy of our Lord that we may cast\r\naside the anguish of birth and death, in the shining hope of our\r\nEternal Kingdom.\r\n\r\nTherefore should we return unto the Lord righteous deeds in\r\nthanksgiving for His grace and mercy.\r\n\r\n\r\nCONCERNING GENSHIN-SOZU\r\n\r\n204. Genshin the Great Teacher declareth: \xe2\x80\x9cIn this world have I,\r\neven I, appeared as an incarnation of the Buddha, and now, my work\r\nof Salvation being accomplished, I return unto the Eternal Kingdom\r\nthat is my home.\r\n\r\n205. From the teaching of our Lord hath Genshin, the Great Teacher,\r\ntenderly opened unto us the gate of the Doctrine of the Holy Name,\r\nand hath so taught mankind in this evil world that is far removed\r\nfrom the Golden Day of our Lord.\r\n\r\n206. Genshin-Sozu, he who sat in the Assemblage on the Peak of\r\nVultures in the time of our Lord, hath taught us that there are two\r\nParadises, that which is eternal and that which is temporal, and\r\nthus setteth forth the merit and the defect of the Right Practice\r\nand of the Mingled Deed.\r\n\r\n207. Acharya Genshin, the Great Teacher, considering one of the\r\nSutra with the commentary of Ekanzenji, hath made plain the\r\nattributes of the Land of Outermost Places.\r\n\r\n208. For he said: \xe2\x80\x9cNot one man is there of thousands who may not be\r\nborn into the Land of Purity.\xe2\x80\x9d And thus saying, he commendeth the\r\nfollowers of the Right Practice.\r\n\r\nAnd again:\r\n\r\n\xe2\x80\x9cThere is not even one among tens of thousands who may enter it.\xe2\x80\x9d\r\nAnd so saying, he condemneth the doers of the mingled deed.\r\n\r\n209. Further he setteth forth how few are the men who can enter into\r\nthe True Land of Purity. And very solemnly he warneth us that more\r\nare they that are born into the Temporal Paradise.\r\n\r\n210. Wheresoever men or women, be they noble or lowly born, recite\r\nthe Holy Name of our Father, there is no pre-eminence of place or\r\ntime. Freely may they do this, whether walking, resting, sitting,\r\nor lying.\r\n\r\n211. Though our eyes are so blinded by illusion that we discern not\r\nthe light whereby He embraceth us, yet that great mercy for ever\r\nshineth upon us and is not weary.\r\n\r\n212. Whatsoever may be his Visible Deed that would be born into the\r\nPromised Land, he shall not forget day or night to hold fast unto\r\nthe name of the Divine Promise.\r\n\r\n213. To us that in this world are sinners most sinful, there is none\r\nother way of Salvation save that we should enter into the Land of\r\nPurity, by reciting the holy name of Him who is our Father.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nCONCERNING H\xc5\x8cNEN SH\xc5\x8cNIN\r\n\r\n214. Since the day when H\xc5\x8dnen Sh\xc5\x8dnin appeared in the world, and set\r\nforth the single Ark of the Divine Promise, hath the Doctrine of the\r\nPure Land gloriously shone upon the hearts of all men in the land of\r\nNihon.\r\n\r\n215. For from the strength of the wisdom of light, H\xc5\x8dnen, the Great\r\nTeacher, came into the world and hath taught the chosen doctrine of\r\nthe Divine Promise, and he hath built Jodo-Shinshu upon the rock.\r\n\r\n216. Though Zendo and Genshin, those great teachers, have well\r\ninstructed us, yet had H\xc5\x8dnen Sh\xc5\x8dnin kept silence, wherewith should\r\nwe know the holy teaching of Shin-Shu, we who dwell in remote\r\ncountry and in an evil day?\r\n\r\n217. Throughout the long, long Kalpas of my lives that are overpast\r\ncould I never find the way of Deliverance, and if H\xc5\x8dnen Sh\xc5\x8dnin, the\r\nGreat Teacher, had not arisen in this world, vainly had I spent the\r\nprecious hours of my life.\r\n\r\n218. When his years were but fifteen, H\xc5\x8dnen Sh\xc5\x8dnin entered into the\r\nWay of Illumination, for in departing from worldly life he fulfilled\r\nhis heart\xe2\x80\x99s desire, and by him was clearly understanded the doctrine\r\nof the transience of life.\r\n\r\n219. The excellent righteousness of H\xc5\x8dnen Sh\xc5\x8dnin, his deeds and the\r\nwisdom that was in him, drew unto him for refuge many even of chief\r\npriests of the heretics that seek Nirvana through the way of the\r\nsages. Yea, they sought him even as their appointed teacher, radiant\r\nand stray of soul as the diamond.\r\n\r\n220. Even while H\xc5\x8dnen Sh\xc5\x8dnin yet walked in this world, there issued\r\nfrom his body rays of a golden shining, and this, so it is said,\r\nhath Kanezane Fujiwara beheld with his own eyes.\r\n\r\n221. The people passed it from mouth to mouth that this H\xc5\x8dnen Sh\xc5\x8dnin\r\nwas the living incarnation of Doshaku Zenji, or yet again of Zendo\r\nDaishi.\r\n\r\n222. Before the eyes of men H\xc5\x8dnen Sh\xc5\x8dnin stood as the Boddhisattva\r\nof Wisdom, or, yet more, as the Blessed One again made flesh.\r\n\r\nThe Emperor and all his ministers did homage unto him, yea, and the\r\nmen of the chief city and of the far countries.\r\n\r\n223. He who had been Emperor, in the time of Jokyu, brought homage\r\nto H\xc5\x8dnen Sh\xc5\x8dnin. All the priests and scholars of the word of\r\nConfucius had understanding of the doctrine of Shin Shu.\r\n\r\n224. A chosen vessel of the Blessed One that men might be saved,\r\nH\xc5\x8dnen Sh\xc5\x8dnin was manifested in the world, and he opened wide the\r\ngate of perfect wisdom, having instructed mankind in the Holy Faith.\r\n\r\n225. Of all rare things it is the rarest that we should ourselves\r\nmeet with the True Teacher, yet verily the chain of doubt in the\r\nDivine Mercy is the true cause of unending birth and death.\r\n\r\n226. H\xc5\x8dnen Sh\xc5\x8dnin issued forth from the mysterious Light and his\r\ndisciples beheld it. In his eyes was there nought of disparity\r\nbetween the wise and them that know not, between the noble and the\r\nlowly born.\r\n\r\n227. And now, his time being at hand, H\xc5\x8dnen Sh\xc5\x8dnin spake:\r\n\r\n\xe2\x80\x9cThrice have I taken birth in the Land of Purity, and of these three\r\ntimes the last hath given unto me the fullness of peace.\xe2\x80\x9d\r\n\r\n228. Once did H\xc5\x8dnen Sh\xc5\x8dnin speak, saying: \xe2\x80\x9cIn the glorious day of\r\nour Lord was I among the holy Assemblage on the Peak of Vultures,\r\nand my Spirit was rapt in self-instruction and in the doctrine of\r\nsalvation.\xe2\x80\x9d\r\n\r\n229. Having taken birth in that small and remote island, H\xc5\x8dnen\r\nSh\xc5\x8dnin spread abroad the doctrine of the Holy Name for the sake of\r\nall men\xe2\x80\x99s salvation. And thus had he done not only then, but many\r\ntimes in ages gone by.\r\n\r\n230. That Buddha, whose light is infinite, was made flesh in this\r\nworld as H\xc5\x8dnen Sh\xc5\x8dnin, and when his merciful work was accomplished,\r\nhe returned into the Land of Purity.\r\n\r\n231. When his life was drawing to a close, light was manifested\r\nabout him as a cloud of glory, yea, and music of the heavenly\r\nplaces, sweet and excelling in harmony, and sweet odours scattered\r\nabout him.\r\n\r\n232. Following steadfastly after the ensample of the Nirvana of the\r\nLord, he laid himself upon his right side, his head inclined unto\r\nthe north, his face turned unto the west. And the crowding people\r\nattended upon him, even the priests and men and women of the nobles\r\nand of the lowly born.\r\n\r\n233. Now the time when H\xc5\x8dnen Sh\xc5\x8dnin departed from this life was the\r\ntwenty-fifth day of the young spring. In the second year of\r\nKenriyaku he returned in peace unto the Land of the Father.\r\n\r\nOn the ninth day of February and the second of Ko-Yen, the\r\nrevelation that here followeth was sent unto me in a dream of\r\nmorning.\r\n\r\n234. It is necessary that men should believe the divine promise of\r\nHim who is Infinite.\r\n\r\nWhoso believeth shall attain unto Perfect Wisdom, by the virtue of\r\nthat Light which embraceth him and shall never forsake him.\r\n\r\n\r\nOF THE THREE PERIODS\r\n\r\n235. Two thousand years and yet more are departed since the day when\r\nour Lord entered into Nirvana. Ended are the two glorious\r\nperiods\xe2\x80\x94the orthodox and the representative. Lament, O ye\r\ndisciples, who in this closing age would follow after the Lord.\r\n\r\n236. The teachings of our Lord have entered into the Dragon Palace,\r\nfor in this closing age they are too high for men. Men are impotent\r\nto follow after their practice or to attain unto them.\r\n\r\n237. Throughout the three periods hath the Divine Promise of the\r\nBuddha of Infinite Light prospered and grown. But in this period of\r\nthe closing age all righteous deeds are hidden within the Dragon\r\nPalace.\r\n\r\n238. In a certain Sutra are we thus instructed, since the age that\r\nnow is a part of the fifth in this closing age wherein men are fast\r\nbound in warfare, all righteous deeds have disappeared from the\r\nworld.\r\n\r\n239. Since the ancient days the life of men, whose age counted as\r\n80,000 years, hath declined and lessened. And when they could live\r\nbut 20,000 years, they were men living in an evil world, and with\r\nthe five signs of degeneration upon them.\r\n\r\n240. And since time itself hath decayed, the bodily frame of man\r\nhath waxed smaller and feebler, and they are as furious serpents or\r\nas wicked dragons, for the decay of time worketh within them.\r\n\r\n241. The illusion that is bred of ignorance increaseth, and is\r\ndriven over the world like dust. Hatred great and unbreakable as\r\nthe high mountains is in the stead of love.\r\n\r\n242. The perversity of man is as strong and piercing as the thorn of\r\nthe jungle. With eyes of suspicion and venomous anger do they accuse\r\nand persecute them who believe upon the Holy Name.\r\n\r\n243. It is a mark of the degeneration of time that man\xe2\x80\x99s life is\r\nbrief and death cometh upon him early and with iron hands breaketh\r\nup his body and that which surrounds him wherein he dwelleth. And\r\nthey who leaving justice turn to wickedness do destroy one another\r\nby their evil deeds.\r\n\r\n244. No hope is there that the men now living in these last days\r\nshall escape the fetters of birth and death if they refuse the\r\nmerciful promise of the Blessed One.\r\n\r\n245. Of heretics in the faith are there ninety sorts that defile the\r\nworld and only the teaching of the Enlightened One cleanseth it. By\r\nhim alone that attaineth unto wisdom shall true joy to man be\r\nfulfilled according to nature and in peace.\r\n\r\n246. In these last times of decay the priests, together with the\r\npeople, do evil unto him that trusteth in the doctrine of the Holy\r\nname.\r\n\r\n247. Whoso attaineth not unto wisdom is eager to harm that man who,\r\nwith single heart, accepted the exalted promise. There is no end to\r\nthe infinity of the ocean of birth and death for those men who raven\r\nto destroy the doctrine that is mighty to save them if they would\r\nhave it so.\r\n\r\n248. Though the days of our present time are those that are called\r\northodox, we, in whom ignorance is fulfilled, have not within us the\r\nheart that is pure and true. How, then, can we of our own help\r\nattain unto the deeds that shall gain the wisdom that is made\r\nperfect.\r\n\r\n249. The strong heart that is able to attain unto wisdom by\r\nself-help is beyond human knowledge and speech. How is it possible\r\nthat men full of ignorance, fettered unto birth and death, should\r\npossess such a heart.\r\n\r\n250. Though we were masters of the strong will of self-effort, even\r\nshould we have seen face to face the Buddhas, myriad as the sands of\r\nGanges\xe2\x80\x94they who in this world were manifested the one after the\r\nother, yet were we drifted on the torrent of birth and death, in\r\nself-effort were no rescue for us.\r\n\r\n251. In these sinful days that are called the representative and\r\nlast times all the teachings of the Lord Buddha, the Sakiya-Muni\r\nhave vanished away, but the Divine Promise of the Buddha of Infinite\r\nLight, shining greatly over the world, prosperously leads mankind\r\nunto the Eternal Kingdom.\r\n\r\n252. After choice that is peerless and beyond the world\xe2\x80\x99s\r\nunderstanding, after five Kalpas of musing, the Blessed One builded\r\nup the Divine Promise of the Light and Life Infinite. And this is\r\nthe Essence of His Mercy showed upon us.\r\n\r\n253. The noble mind that shall attain unto wisdom in the doctrine of\r\nthe Pure Land is the mind that fain would become Buddha, and it is\r\nnamed: \xe2\x80\x9cThe mind that shall save men who suffer.\xe2\x80\x9d\r\n\r\n254. The mind that shall save men is that mind given by the high\r\npromise of the Blessed One. Whoso attaineth unto the faith He\r\ngiveth shall be lord of the great Nirvana.\r\n\r\n255. Whoso attaineth unto the mind that would fain become Buddha,\r\nhaving sought refuge in the gift of the Blessed One, hath no term in\r\nhis own gift of welfare to mankind, having for ever laid down all\r\nself-righteousness.\r\n\r\n256. According to the all-seeing promise of the Blessed One when the\r\nwater of the faith He giveth entereth the soul, illusion passeth\r\nstraight-way into wisdom through the virtue of that true land of the\r\nDivine Promise.\r\n\r\n257. That man who trusteth in the two gifts granted by the Buddha of\r\nInfinite Light, is raised up into the sphere of the Lesser\r\nEnlightenment, and thence hath he the heart that dwelleth always on\r\nthe perfection of the Blessed One.\r\n\r\n258. He that attaineth unto the faith that is true gift of the\r\npromise of wisdom from the Blessed One, cometh unto the sphere of\r\nthe Lesser Enlightenment, for he is embraced in the arms of the\r\nspiritual light that is of the Father Eternal.\r\n\r\n259. Fifty-six thousand and seventy years shall pass before the\r\nBodhisattva that is Maitreya shall attain unto the Perfected\r\nWisdom. But whoso embraceth the true faith shall at this very time\r\nbe lord of the great Enlightenment.\r\n\r\n260. He that hath ascended unto the height of the Lesser\r\nEnlightenment, accepting the Divine Promise of the Holy Name, shall\r\nenter into the Great Nirvana, being made equal unto the Bodhisattva\r\nMaitreya.\r\n\r\n261. He that receiveth the true Faith, and is one with them that\r\nreturn no more to birth and death, shall receive the Perfected\r\nWisdom, even as that Bodhisattva Maitreya that is called, \xe2\x80\x9cHe that\r\nshall come.\xe2\x80\x9d\r\n\r\n262. And the wise in the age which is called Representative, having\r\nutterly renounced all the doctrine of self-dependence, have entered\r\nin at the gate of the Holy Name. For this is the way chosen for that\r\nAge.\r\n\r\n263. He who reciteth the Holy Name, having attained unto the true\r\nfaith, shall unceasingly adore the Eternal Father, that he may make\r\na return unto Him for His Grace.\r\n\r\n264. Inexplicable and unutterable merit shall be given unto him who,\r\nliving in this sinful world, believeth the Divine Promise that\r\nproceedeth from His will.\r\n\r\n265. For the true welfare of men that shall be the Buddha of the\r\nGreat Light hath given the holy name of Wisdom unto the Bodhisattva\r\nof Wisdom.\r\n\r\n266. And with great compassion for mankind in this evil world the\r\nBodhisattva of Wisdom persuadeth them to believe upon the Holy Name,\r\nand sweetly welcometh the believer that he may lead him into the\r\nLand of Purity.\r\n\r\n267. By the mercy of our Lord and of the Blessed One we are able to\r\nattain unto the heart that desireth Buddhahood. At that time alone,\r\nwhen we enter into the wisdom of the faith, shall we be ourselves\r\nlike unto them that would return good unto the Buddha for His Grace.\r\n\r\n268. It is by the strength of the Divine Promise that we can reach\r\nunto the holy name of Wisdom. Without the wisdom of the faith, how\r\nis it possible that we should attain unto the Nirvana?\r\n\r\n269. The Divine Light shineth over the Deep Night of ignorance,\r\ntherefore sorrow not that the wisdom of your eyes is darkened. The\r\nholy Ark is at hand that voyageth over the great ocean of birth and\r\ndeath; therefore fear not because your sin is heavy.\r\n\r\n270. Great as is the night of the Divine Promise of our Salvation,\r\nso light is the heaviest of our sins. Immeasurable is the wisdom of\r\nour Father, and therefore they that are strong, as also they that\r\nweary, shall never be forgotten.\r\n\r\n271. Our Father hath perfected His mercy by uttering the Divine\r\nPromise that giveth all His merit unto man, that He might save them\r\nthat are fast bound unto birth and death.\r\n\r\n272. Yea, the recitation of His Holy Name is given of the Blessed\r\nOne. Therefore we must not offer this unto Him for the acquirement\r\nof merit. For this will He most surely disdain.\r\n\r\n273. Yea, verily, when the water of the mind of man floweth into the\r\ngreat Ocean of the Divine Promise of the Perfect Wisdom it is\r\nchanged and becometh the mind of infinite compassion.\r\n\r\n274. And the Lord saith, speaking through a certain Sutra:\r\n\r\n\xe2\x80\x9cMy disciples that shall be, they that are sinners because of the\r\nlost way and love of evil things, it is they that shall destroy my\r\nholy doctrine.\xe2\x80\x9d\r\n\r\n275. Whoso blasphemeth the doctrine of the Holy Name shall suffer\r\nwithout ceasing, for he shall fall into the depth of the Hell of\r\nAvichi for eighty thousands of Kalpas.\r\n\r\n276. He to whom is given the true entrance into the True and\r\nPromised Land, by the grace of our Lord and of the Blessed One,\r\nshall be one with those men who return no more unto birth and death,\r\nand after this transitory life attain unto the Great Peace.\r\n\r\n277. Well may we understand from the teaching of the myriad Buddhas\r\nin the Ten Regions\xe2\x80\x94they that protect mankind\xe2\x80\x94that the strong mind\r\nthat seeketh enlightenment by self-effort is vain and impotent.\r\n\r\n278. The Buddhas in the Ten Regions, innumerable as the sands of\r\nGanges, bear witness that very few are there of men in this sinful\r\nworld and decaying time that attain unto the true faith.\r\n\r\n279. If we accept not the two divine gifts, the gift of entering the\r\nPromised Kingdom, and the gift of return into this evil world, then\r\nshall the wheel of birth and death turn with us for ever. And how\r\nshall we endure to sink into the sea of suffering?\r\n\r\n280. Whoso believeth the marvellous wisdom of that Blessed One,\r\nshall be joined unto them that return no more unto birth and\r\ndeath. And when, possessed of excelling knowledge, such a man is\r\nborn into Paradise, soon shall he attain unto the Perfected Wisdom.\r\n\r\n281. It is the sole way unto the Promised Land that man should\r\nbelieve the wisdom that is beyond human knowledge, of the\r\nEnlightened One. Yet it is of all hard things hardest to attain unto\r\nthe Faith, the true way that leadeth to Paradise.\r\n\r\n282. Casting aside the sorrow of birth and death, that sorrow which\r\nis timeless in its beginning, I hope now solely for the Great\r\nNirvana. There is no end to my thankfulness for the two mighty gifts\r\nof our Eternal Father.\r\n\r\n283. Few are the believers that shall be born into the Land that is\r\npromised, but many are they that shall be born into the Temporal\r\nParadise. Because the hope that we shall see Light by our own\r\nstrength is vain, having no foundation, we have therefore drifted on\r\nthe ocean of birth and death for many myriads of Kalpas.\r\n\r\n284. Because in the gift of the Holy Name is a grace great and\r\nwonderful, if man attain unto the gift of departing, that of itself\r\nshall guide him unto the gift of returning.\r\n\r\n285. Through the great mercy of the gift of departing shall we\r\nattain unto the compassion of the gift of returning. If it were not\r\nthe free gift of the Blessed One, how should we attain unto wisdom\r\nin the Land of Purity.\r\n\r\n286. The Buddha of the Infinite Light, together with the\r\nBodhisattvas of Compassion and Wisdom, having taken the Ark of the\r\nDivine Promise, that is voyaging on the ocean of birth and death,\r\nhave gathered and saved mankind therewith.\r\n\r\n287. Whoso in heart and soul believeth the Divine Promise of the\r\nBuddha of Infinite Light must diligently recite the Holy Name both\r\nsleeping and waking.\r\n\r\n288. Those men in the hierarchy of Sages that have trusted unto\r\nself-effort for the means of attaining wisdom, on entering into the\r\nheritage of the Divine Promise believe in it as in the Reason that\r\ntranscendeth all reason.\r\n\r\n289. Though the teachings of the Lord stand for ever, yet unto none\r\nis it possible to follow them in exactness, and therefore is there\r\nnone that may attain unto supreme enlightenment in these last days\r\nof the falling away.\r\n\r\n290. In India, in China, and the land of Japan, may the many\r\nteachers of the doctrine of the Land of Purity, with compassion and\r\ntender acceptance, persuade mankind to strive unto the true faith\r\nthat they may be joined unto those that return no more unto birth\r\nand death.\r\n\r\n291. Even as His friends the Lord commendeth those men that, having\r\nattained unto the true faith taught of the Blessed One unto us,\r\ndwell within the joy of holiness.\r\n\r\n292. It is very meet that our souls rejoice exceedingly in the grace\r\nof the great compassion of the Buddha. Yea, even to the extinction\r\nof the body. And for the gracious giving of our spiritual teachers\r\nwe must in like manner rejoice, yea, though our very bones be\r\nbroken.\r\n\r\n\r\nCONCERNING BELIEF AND DOUBT\r\n\r\n293. Whoso comprehendeth not the wisdom of the Enlightened One, and\r\ndoubteth concerning His illumination, shall rise no higher than the\r\nOutermost Places, for he hath trusted in the power of Reward, and\r\nhath relied upon the principle of morality.\r\n\r\n294. Whoso doubteth the wisdom of the Enlightened One\xe2\x80\x94that wisdom\r\nbeyond all human understanding\xe2\x80\x94and reciteth the Holy Name, trusting\r\nin the merit of himself, shall not rise beyond the outermost bounds\r\nof the Pure Land that is the Temporal Paradise, for he hath not the\r\ngrace of right thankfulness for His Compassion.\r\n\r\n295. Whoso shall accept the doctrine of rewards and doubteth the\r\nwisdom of Him that hath Light that surpasseth all knowledge of man,\r\nshall be made captive in Doubting Castle, and the three jewels of\r\nthe faith shall no more be his.\r\n\r\n296. For his sin, in that he hath doubted the wisdom of the\r\nEnlightened One, shall he remain in the Outermost Places of the Land\r\nof Purity. And for as much as we are taught that the sin of doubt\r\nis grievous, we are also instructed that he must there dwell for\r\nmany Kalpas.\r\n\r\n297. If the prince committeth a sin against his Father, even the\r\nChakravarti, the King, he is fettered as a prisoner, though the\r\nchain be of gold.\r\n\r\n298. Whoso reciteth the Holy Name, and so doeth as a work of\r\nself-merit, shall be bound in the prison of the sevenfold gems, for\r\nhe believeth not right by the divine promise of that Holy One, and\r\nheavy is the sin of his doubting.\r\n\r\n299. Yet he even that hath a doubting soul and sinneth the sin of\r\nself-merit, must needs strive to comprehend the merciful goodness of\r\nthe Blessed One, and he shall recite the Holy Name if he would at\r\nall be equalled unto him that holdeth the true faith.\r\n\r\n300. It is the Law that he who soweth shall reap what he soweth,\r\ntherefore the man that is full of righteous deeds for the sake of\r\nself-merit shall enter into the prison of the sevenfold gems, for he\r\ndoubteth the marvellous wisdom of Him that hath the Light.\r\n\r\n301. Whoso doubteth of the wisdom of Him that hath Light beyond the\r\nimagining of man, and trusteth to the root of goodness and\r\nvirtue\xe2\x80\x94he shall not attain unto the Soul of Great Mercy, for he is\r\nborn into the Outermost Places of Paradise, and slow and dull of\r\nheart is he.\r\n\r\n302. Among those men that doubt the Holy Word, some are imprisoned\r\nin the shut bud of the Lotus. And they shall be despised as they\r\nthat in illusion are born into the outermost Paradise or are held\r\ncaptive within the narrow walls of the womb.\r\n\r\n303. Whoso doubteth the omniscience of the wisdom of the\r\nLight-Bearer, but holdeth to his belief in Reward, excellent\r\nofttimes in making the root of goodness to grow,\r\n\r\n304. Because he doubteth the wisdom of the Eternal Wisdom, and is\r\nheld captive as in the strait prison of the womb, hath neither\r\nknowledge nor wisdom, and is compared unto a man straitly bound in\r\ncaptivity.\r\n\r\n305. He that is born into the outermost place, all glorious with the\r\nsevenfold jewels, shall not in five hundred years behold that\r\nthree-fold jewel, the Tri-ratna, for there is in him no spiritual\r\nwell-doing, that he should give it unto his fellow-men.\r\n\r\n306. To him who is born into the Palace, glorious with the seven\r\njewels, for five hundred years there shall befall many sorts of\r\nsorrows from his own evil doing.\r\n\r\n307. Whoso hopeth reward and maketh to flourish the root of\r\ngoodness, shall remain in the transitory Paradise, for though he be\r\na good man, yet hath he a doubting heart.\r\n\r\n308. Because he accepteth not the Divine Promise of Him who is the\r\nLight unspeakable, and carrieth his doubt with him unto Paradise,\r\ntherefore the shut flower of his heart openeth not, therefore is he\r\nunshapen as a child in the womb.\r\n\r\n309. When he perceiveth the Land of Purity, the Bodhisattva Maitreya\r\nthus questioneth the Holy One, saying, \xe2\x80\x9cWhat is the cause and what\r\nthe circumstance of that man who, having been born, yet remaineth as\r\nit were straitened in the womb?\r\n\r\n310. And thus spake the Lord unto the Bodhisattva Maitreya saying,\r\n\r\n\xe2\x80\x9cWhoso trusteth in the root of goodness that he himself maketh to\r\ngrow and hath a doubting soul, he it is that is in the outermost\r\nplaces of the Paradise, he it is that is said to be straitened still\r\nin the womb of ignorance.\xe2\x80\x9d\r\n\r\n311. He who doubteth the wisdom of Him that is all Light, shall for\r\nhis sin be made captive until five hundred years be gone, and this\r\nis called the conception within the womb of ignorance.\r\n\r\n312. Whoso doubteth the wisdom that is beyond man\xe2\x80\x99s understanding,\r\nand hath believed the doctrine of reward, shall of a certainty be\r\nborn within Doubting Castle, and this is called conception within\r\nthe womb of ignorance.\r\n\r\n313. Whoso trusteth upon self-righteousness rather than upon the\r\nwisdom of the Enlightened One that is beyond man\xe2\x80\x99s knowledge, shall\r\nbe conceived within the womb of ignorance, and to him shall the\r\nmercy of the Three Jewels be unknown.\r\n\r\n314. Whoso doubteth the wisdom of the Enlightened One that\r\nsurpasseth all knowledge of man and trusteth in the hope of reward,\r\nand would attain unto birth in Paradise by making the root of\r\ngoodness to grow, shall be straitened in the womb of ignorance.\r\n\r\n315. Heavy is the sin of doubting the wisdom of the Buddha. He who\r\nis instructed taketh refuge in the wonderful wisdom of the\r\nEnlightened One, being in contrition for his foolishness.\r\n\r\nThese twenty-three psalms above-written are made by me that men\r\nshould know the heaviness of their sin in doubting the Divine\r\nPromise of the Buddha of Infinite Light.\r\n\r\n\r\nIN PRAISE OF PRINCE SHOTOKU\r\n\r\n316. Through the compassion of Shotoku the great prince we, having\r\naccepted the Divine Promise sprung from the unsearchable wisdom of\r\nthe Illuminated One, are made equal unto Maitreya. Bodhisattva\xe2\x80\x94the\r\nBuddha that shall be\xe2\x80\x94having been united unto those men who return\r\nno more to birth and death.\r\n\r\n317. The mighty Bodhisattva of Compassion, he who is the Saviour,\r\nwas made manifest in this world as Shotoku the Prince, who, like a\r\nfather, hath not forsaken us, and like a mother is ever amongst us.\r\n\r\n318. From that past where was no beginning until the day that now\r\nis, hath Shotoku the great prince, the Compassionate, dwelt among us\r\nlike unto a father and a mother.\r\n\r\n319. Shotoku the Prince, from his Compassion, hath persuaded us to\r\nenter in at the Divine Promise of the wondrous wisdom of the\r\nLight-Bearer. And through this are we joined unto those men who\r\nreturn no more unto birth and death.\r\n\r\n320. Whoso attaineth unto the holy faith that is the power of\r\ndivinity, must, in the Ten Regions of the world, find the twofold\r\ngift of the Enlightened One, that he may live in thankfulness for\r\nHis grace.\r\n\r\n321. Shotoku, he who is mercy\xe2\x80\x99s self, the Compassionate, he who is\r\nlike unto a father, and the Bodhisattva of Mercy, the divine\r\ntenderness, his succour is merciful as the pity of a mother.\r\n\r\n322. Testimony is there that Shotoku the prince hath mercy upon us,\r\nfrom the myriads of Kalpas even unto this day, because the wondrous\r\nwisdom of Him who is Light beareth the load of his debt for the\r\nbeliever.\r\n\r\nTherefore before the eyes of His wisdom is the evil as the good, the\r\npure as the unclean.\r\n\r\n323. Shotoku, the Prince, he that is in Japan called the Lord of\r\nTeaching, he whose great mercy overtops all spoken words of\r\ngratitude, must we therefore praise for evermore, having with single\r\nheart sought refuge in him.\r\n\r\n324. He who hath pitied the dwellers in the lands of Japan, the\r\nPrince of Jogu, he whose ways are merciful, hath spread abroad the\r\nDivine Promise of the Enlightened One. Therefore let us praise him\r\nwith great rejoicing. Throughout the many myriads of Kalpas, birth\r\nafter birth fell hitherto upon us.\r\n\r\n325. We to whom he showed forth his compassion must be swift to\r\npraise him, having continually sought refuge in him, and with a\r\nsingle mind.\r\n\r\n326. The high Prince Shotoku, he who hath guarded us and with great\r\ncarefulness led us upwards from remotest times, hath lovingly\r\nentreated us to seek our refuge in the two-fold gift of the\r\nEnlightened One.\r\n\r\n\r\nWHEREIN WITH LAMENTATION I MAKE MY CONFESSION\r\n\r\n327. Though I seek my refuge in the true faith of the Pure Land,\r\n\r\nYet hath not mine heart been truly sincere.\r\n\r\nDeceit and untruth are in my flesh,\r\n\r\nAnd in my soul is no clear shining.\r\n\r\n328. In their outward seeming are all men diligent and truth\r\nspeaking,\r\n\r\nBut in their souls are greed and eager and unjust deceitfulness,\r\n\r\nAnd in their flesh do lying and cunning triumph.\r\n\r\n329. Too strong for me is the evil of my heart. I cannot overcome\r\nit.\r\n\r\nTherefore is my soul like unto the poison of serpents,\r\n\r\nEven my righteous deeds, being mingled with this poison, must be\r\nnamed the deeds of deceitfulness.\r\n\r\n330. Shameless though I be and having no truth in my soul,\r\n\r\nYet the virtue of the Holy Name, the gift of Him that is\r\nenlightened,\r\n\r\nIs spread throughout the world through my words being as I am.\r\n\r\n331. There is no mercy in my soul.\r\n\r\nThe good of my fellow-man is not dear in mine eyes.\r\n\r\nIf it were not for the Ark of Mercy, the divine promise of the\r\nInfinite Wisdom,\r\n\r\nHow should I cross the Ocean of Misery?\r\n\r\n332. I, whose mind is filled with cunning and deceit as the poison\r\nof reptiles, am impotent to practise righteous deeds.\r\n\r\nIf I sought not refuge in the gift of our Father, I should die the\r\ndeath of the shameless.\r\n\r\n333. It is a token of this evil age that in this world the priests,\r\ntogether with the people,\r\n\r\nIn secret serve strange gods,\r\n\r\nWhile bearing the appearance of the devout sons of Buddha.\r\n\r\n334. Sad and corrupt is it that the priests and people, following\r\nafter the superstitions of auspicious times and days, seek\r\nsooth-saying and festivals\r\n\r\nAnd worship the gods of heaven and earth.\r\n\r\n335. Though I have heard that the names of priest and monk are\r\nhonourable,\r\n\r\nYet now are they held as light as the five shameless precepts of\r\nDevadatta.\r\n\r\n336. Being of one accord with the many minds of the heathen,\r\n\r\nThey bow in worship before devils,\r\n\r\nWhile yet wearing the robe of the Buddha.\r\n\r\n337. Sad and sorrowful is it that all the priests and people now in\r\nthe land of Yamato should worship the devils of heaven and earth, in\r\nthe name of the holy mysteries of the Buddha.\r\n\r\n338. It is a mark of the downward way of this evil age that men\r\ndespise the name of priest or monk as a mean thing, considering them\r\nlike unto slaves.\r\n\r\n339. May they yet bring offerings with homage unto the priests, even\r\nas you do unto Saliputra or Mahamonugalyayana, those two great\r\nservants of the Lord; though they are priests but in name and\r\nwithout discipline, for this is the time of degeneration and of the\r\nlast days.\r\n\r\n340. Though sin hath no substance in itself, and is but the shadow\r\nof our illusion, and soul is in itself pure, yet in all this world\r\nis there no sincere man.\r\n\r\n341. Great sorrow is it that, in the wicked world of this age now so\r\nnear its end, the high priests who are born in the palankin, and the\r\nmonks who bear it now in Nara and Mount Hiyei, desire high secular\r\nrank as the greatest honour.\r\n\r\n342. That they consider the monk and nun as their slaves, and mock\r\nat the honourable title of priest and minister, even as at the mean\r\nname of slave, gives testimony that they despise the teaching of the\r\nBuddha.\r\n\r\nThese sixteen psalms written above are written by me, Gutoku, with\r\nlamentation, to be a record. To me even the honourable priests and\r\nmonks of the Central Temples seem now to be despised.\r\n\r\n\r\nADDITIONAL PSALMS\r\n\r\n343. Having fulfilled forty and eight of the Divine Promise,\r\n\r\nHe attained unto the supreme enlightenment, and was manifest as the\r\nBuddha of Infinite Light.\r\n\r\nWhoso seeketh refuge with Him shall be certainly born into the Land\r\nof Purity.\r\n\r\n344. Into the Promised Land\xe2\x80\x94the Paradise of the Great Calm.\r\n\r\nHe who practiseth the righteous deeds of the mingled motive hath no\r\nclaim of birth,\r\n\r\nTherefore He that is Infinite would have us follow the deeds of the\r\nsingle practice that is chosen of Him as teaching that is at the\r\nroot.\r\n\r\n345. The merit of His holy austerities throughout the myriads of\r\nKalpas is fully declared in his name of Amida (the Infinite).\r\n\r\nAnd the Holy Name, after the consideration of five Kalpas,\r\n\r\nWill be accorded unto us who are alive in this degenerated age.\r\n\r\n346. Because action, speech, and mind of the Infinite Life and the\r\nbeliever in the Holy Name are welded as into a diamond, therefore\r\nshall he certainly be one with the men that return no more unto\r\nbirth and death.\r\n\r\n347. He that hath much knowledge and keepeth the Pure Land is not\r\nchosen,\r\n\r\nAnd whoso breaketh the Holy Law and sinneth is not disdained.\r\n\r\nOnly he that seeketh refuge in the Eternal Father shall enter into\r\nBuddhahood as a pebble is transmuted into gold.\r\n\r\n348. Our faith that endureth as the diamond cometh from the mind of\r\nthe Buddha that eternally endureth.\r\n\r\nLacking the aid of the Divine Power, how should we attain unto the\r\nunchanging mind?\r\n\r\n349. In the great ocean of the Divine Promise\r\n\r\nIs there no ripple of illusion.\r\n\r\nIf we enter into the ark of the Holy Vow,\r\n\r\nThe spirit of mercy shall take part with our self-endeavour.\r\n\r\n350. Since we have believed the Divine Promise,\r\n\r\nHow is it possible we should be in the power of life or death?\r\n\r\nUnchanged may be our sinful body,\r\n\r\nBut our heart is in the Paradise for ever.\r\n\r\n\r\n[Transcriber\'s Note: Numbering went 307, 308, 307, 310 . . . fixed]\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nEnd of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Buddhist Psalms, by Shinran Shonin\r\n\r\n*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BUDDHIST PSALMS ***\r\n\r\n***** This file should be named 7015-0.txt or 7015-0.zip *****\r\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\r\n http://www.gutenberg.org/7/0/1/7015/\r\n\r\nProduced by David Starner and the Online Distributed Proofreader\'s Team.\r\n\r\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions\r\nwill be renamed.\r\n\r\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no\r\none owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation\r\n(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without\r\npermission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily\r\nkeep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.\r\n\r\nMost people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:\r\n\r\n www.gutenberg.org\r\n\r\nThis Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,\r\nincluding how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary\r\nArchive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to\r\nsubscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.\r\n' +p0 +. \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/final_nonets.pickle b/final_nonets.pickle new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1a257de --- /dev/null +++ b/final_nonets.pickle @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +S'The Light of His Dharma-Kaya is in ' +p0 +. \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/final_nonets.txt b/final_nonets.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..78173c3 --- /dev/null +++ b/final_nonets.txt @@ -0,0 +1,60 @@ +For when a man with joy accepteth +Our Father hath perfected His +If he entreat in prayer the good things +It is the Law that he who soweth +The mighty king So , he of +If all having life +And for as much +Before +When + + + +He who is Infinite never resteth , for +Binbisara , he who commanded +Seek refuge in the All-Honoured +Rising like unto an +Though we were masters of +And since time itself +He who is of +Whoso +That + + + +Though sin hath no substance in itself +To him who reciteth the Holy +Wheresoever men or +How , then , can we of our own +Whoso attaineth +Is spread throughout the world +To us that +Author +The Lord + + + +Take refuge in the wisdom that is most +Difficult is it for men to +If we accept not the two divine gifts +That they consider the monk +Difficult is it +In this world , the doing of +Having thus +That they +All the priests + + + +For it is by the marvellous mercy +Because the hope that we shall see Light +Though Zendo and Genshin , those +And this is called the Gift of +From the teaching of our +Bodhisattva—the +Even the word of +Is there no +Unlike + + + diff --git a/nonet_generator.py b/nonet_generator.py new file mode 100644 index 0000000..de71029 --- /dev/null +++ b/nonet_generator.py @@ -0,0 +1,66 @@ +""" My Nonet Generator + + What it will do: + Import a text from Gutenberg + Make a Nonet + (first iteration) + 1st line: contain 9 syllables + 2nd line: contain 8 syllables + 3rd line: contain 7 syllables + ... + 9th line: contain 1 syllable + +""" + +from pattern.en import parsetree +from pattern.en import tag +from pattern.en import pprint + +def word_eval(string) + pprint(parsetree(string, relations = True)) + for word, pos in tag(string): + if pos == "NN": + print word + +def gutenberg_text_gather(current_URL): + + from pattern.web import * + buddhist_psalm_text = URL(current_URL).download() + print buddhist_psalm_text + + # Save data to a file (will be part of your data fetching script) + f = open('buddhist_psalm_text.pickle','w') + pickle.dump(all_texts,f) + f.close() + + # Load data from a file (will be part of your data processing script) + input_file = open('buddhist_psalm_text.pickle','r') + reloaded_copy_of_texts = pickle.load(input_file) + + +def make_dictionary(): + # make dictionary with index, forward, preface, introduction, apendix, all that stuff removed + # strip all peroids + pass + +def generate_line(text): + + # evaluate text for phrases with 9 syllables that begin with an article or a proper noun + # use subject of first phrase to determine line 2 with 8 syllables + # use adj of line 2 to determine line 3 with 7 syllables + # then randomly choose a search parameter for all following lines with corresponding syllables + # until final line 9, choose noun randomly + # return a tuple of all the lines + + # cannot trunkate words + # do not have to start at begining of sentance + pass + +def build_nonet(tuple_of_lines): + # deconstruct tuple into nonet + # return nonet + pass + + +print gutenberg_text_gather(current_URL) + diff --git a/nonet_generator_actual.py b/nonet_generator_actual.py new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cecafa2 --- /dev/null +++ b/nonet_generator_actual.py @@ -0,0 +1,173 @@ +""" This Mini_Project creates nonets, which a poems of a structure: +9 syllables +8 syllabes +... +3 syllables +2 syllables +1 syllable + +I use a book of Buddhist Psalms as the source text. This project randomly +selects sentances from the psalms, evaluates their syllable count and trunates them +at the desired count. My syllable counter is pretty basic, there are many exceptions to the +rules that I wrote. For example I assumed any 'e' at the end of a word would be silent which means +'the' has now syllabe count, when in fact it has one. I also included all major diphthongs in my +rules, but there are again exceptions. However, I feel this is a good estimation seeing as +there are masters thesis written on the topic of syllable counting. + +Enjoy the sometimes insightful, but mostly bizzare, poetry! +""" +from pattern.web import * +import pickle +from pattern.en import tokenize +import random + + +def gutenberg_text_gather(current_URL,command = False): + """ gutenberg_text_gather take a text from gutenberg + and stores it to a file. It only pulls from gutenberg + when given the command True. By default the command is False. + This function outputs reloaded_copy_of_texts, which + is just a text file of my gutenberg book. In this + case Buddhist Psalms + """ + + if command: # If I tell it to laod data from url + buddhist_psalm_text = URL(current_URL).download() + + # Save data to a file (will be part of your data fetching script) + f = open('buddhist_psalm_text.pickle','wb') + pickle.dump(buddhist_psalm_text,f) + f.close() + + # Load data from a file (will be part of your data processing script) + input_file = open('buddhist_psalm_text.pickle','rb') + reloaded_copy_of_texts = pickle.load(input_file) + return reloaded_copy_of_texts + + +def sentance_break(origin_text): + """ Input: output text from gutenberg_text_gather + Output: tokenized text, a list of strings + where the strings are the sentances + """ + text = tokenize(origin_text,) # using patter to break string of text apart in to a list of strings where each string is a sentace + return text + + +def text_clean(text): #cuts out trash text + """ Input: output form sentance_break (a list of sentance strings) + Output: a list of strings cleaned of excess text before and after body text + """ + index = 0 + stop = 0 + start = 0 + + for sentance in text: + if "* * * END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BUDDHIST PSALMS * * *" in sentance: # this is where psamls stop + stop = index + text = text[0:stop] + index = index + 1 + for sentance in text: + if "NORTHBROOK SOCIETY, 21 CROMWELL ROAD, KENSINGTON, S.W." in sentance: # this is where psalms start + start = index + text = text[start:stop] + index = index + 1 + return text + +def syllable_counter(string): + """ Takes a word, and evaluates (roughly) + the number of syllables it contains. + This function returns number of syllables + There must be a space after the string, + otherwise it will break + >>> syllable_counter('mouse ') + 1 + >>> syllable_counter('a, ') + 1 + """ + i = 0 # index of while loop + counter = 0 # counter of syllables + vowels = ['a','e','i','o','u','y','e '] # what are vowels + diphthongs = ['ee', 'ei', 'ea', 'oo', 'oi', 'oy', 'ou', 'ai', 'ie', 'ey', 'ay'] #what are diphthongs + index = 0 + + while string[index] != ' ': # break at space + char = string[index] # look at each letter in string + next_char = string[index+1] # and the letter following + if char.isalpha(): + if char in vowels: + if (char + next_char in diphthongs): + counter = counter + 1 # count + index = index + 1 # skips second letter in diphthong + elif (char == 'e' and next_char == ' '): # assume if e at end of word, is not syllable + pass # don't count + else: + counter = counter + 1 # if it's a solitary vowel, add one to counter + index = index + 1 + + return counter + + +def sentance_eval(sentance,syllable_value): + """ Takes a sentance, and evaluates + the number of syllables contained in + each word. This function returns number of syllables + There must be a space after the string, + otherwise it will break + >>> sentance_eval('Im a mouse ') + 3 + >>> syllable_counter('She is alone ') + 4 + """ + sentance_as_list = sentance.split() # make list of strings (words) + sentance = [word + ' ' for word in sentance_as_list] #now with spaces so it works in syllable_counter + counter = 0 # initiating counter + current_sentance = '' # initiating current_sentance string + for word in sentance: + counter += syllable_counter(word) #add syllables in sentace + if counter == syllable_value: + current_sentance += word # adding together my phrase + return current_sentance # actually a phrase of the sentance + elif counter > syllable_value: # because I count by words, sometimes a word will push the syllable count over + return "Failed, try again (error: syllable count too high)" # if this happens I return and error + elif counter < syllable_value: # sometimes a sentance might not have enough syllables + current_sentance += word + continue # if that happens move on + return "Failed, try again (error: syllable count too low" + +def build_nonet(text): + """ Selects random sentances from text list + Evaluates number of syllables in text by calling sentance_eval + Increments number to syllables from syllable_value (9 for a nonet) to 0 + Input: text + Output: final poem + """ + + cleaned_text = text_clean(text) + syllable_value = 9 # for a nonet + f = open('final_nonets.txt','a') # open a file to write to + while syllable_value > 0: + sentance = random.choice(cleaned_text) # select a random sentance from text list + phrase = sentance_eval(sentance,syllable_value) # create a phrase with syllable_value x + if 'Failed' in phrase: # if the count is too high or low + syllable_value = syllable_value # try again for another line + else: # if the phrase has the proper syllable count + syllable_value = syllable_value - 1 # go to next line + poem = "".join(phrase) # formating + f.write(poem + '\n') + print poem + f.write('\n') + f.write('\n') + f.write('\n') + f.close() + +if __name__ == "__main__": + current_URL = 'https://www.gutenberg.org/files/7015/7015-0.txt' + gathered_text = gutenberg_text_gather(current_URL) + broken_sentance = sentance_break(gathered_text) + cleaned_text = text_clean(broken_sentance) + build_nonet(cleaned_text) + +# import doctest +# doctest.testmod() +# doctest.run_docstring_examples(syllable_counter, globals(),verbose = True) \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/nonet_generator_object_version.py b/nonet_generator_object_version.py new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c0e1929 --- /dev/null +++ b/nonet_generator_object_version.py @@ -0,0 +1,153 @@ +from pattern.web import * +import pickle +from pattern.en import tokenize +import random + +class Nonet_Gen(): + def __init__(self,url,syllables,command=False): + self.url = url + self.command = command + self.raw_text = [] + self.clean_text = [] + self.sentance = [] + self.syllables = syllables + self.sentance_syllable_counter = 0 + + + def get_raw_text(self): + """ gutenberg_text_gather take a text from gutenberg url + and stores it to a file. It only pulls from gutenberg + when given the command True. By default the command is False. + This function outputs self.raw_text, which + is a tokenized text file of my gutenberg book. + """ + if self.command: # If I tell it to load data from url + buddhist_psalm_text = URL(self.url).download() + + # Save data to a file (will be part of your data fetching script) + f = open('buddhist_psalm_text.pickle','wb') + pickle.dump(buddhist_psalm_text,f) + f.close() + + # Load data from a file (will be part of your data processing script) + input_file = open('buddhist_psalm_text.pickle','rb') + # Use pattern to break string of text in to a list of strings where each string is a sentace + self.raw_text = tokenize(pickle.load(input_file),) + + + def get_clean_text(self): + """ Input: output form sentance_break (a list of sentance strings) + Output: a list of strings cleaned of excess text before and after body text + """ + index = 0 + stop = 0 + start = 0 + + for sentance in self.raw_text: + if "* * * END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BUDDHIST PSALMS * * *" in sentance: # this is where psamls stop + stop = index + self.clean_text = self.raw_text[0:stop] + index = index + 1 + for sentance in self.raw_text: + if "NORTHBROOK SOCIETY, 21 CROMWELL ROAD, KENSINGTON, S.W." in sentance: # this is where psalms start + start = index + self.clean_text = self.raw_text[start:stop] + index = index + 1 + + def get_syllable_counter(self,string): + """ Takes a word, and evaluates (roughly) + the number of syllables it contains. + This function returns number of syllables + There must be a space after the string, + otherwise it will break + >>> syllable_counter('mouse ') + 1 + >>> syllable_counter('a, ') + 1 + """ + i = 0 # index of while loop + counter = 0 # counter of syllables + vowels = ['a','e','i','o','u','y','e '] # what are vowels + diphthongs = ['ee', 'ei', 'ea', 'oo', 'oi', 'oy', 'ou', 'ai', 'ie', 'ey', 'ay'] #what are diphthongs + index = 0 + + while string[index] != ' ': # break at space + char = string[index] # look at each letter in string + next_char = string[index+1] # and the letter following + if char.isalpha(): + if char in vowels: + if (char + next_char in diphthongs): + counter = counter + 1 # count + index = index + 1 # skips second letter in diphthong + elif (char == 'e' and next_char == ' '): # assume if e at end of word, is not syllable + pass # don't count + else: + counter = counter + 1 # if it's a solitary vowel, add one to counter + index = index + 1 + return counter + + def get_sentance_syllable_count(self,sentance,syllables): + """ Takes a sentance, and evaluates + the number of syllables contained in + each word. This function returns number of syllables + There must be a space after the string, + otherwise it will break + >>> sentance_eval('Im a mouse ') + 3 + >>> syllable_counter('She is alone ') + 4 + """ + sentance_as_list = sentance.split() # make list of strings (words) + sentance = [word + ' ' for word in sentance_as_list] #now with spaces so it works in syllable_counter + self.sentance_syllable_counter = 0 # initiating sentance syllable counter + current_sentance = '' # initiating current_sentance string + for word in sentance: + self.sentance_syllable_counter += self.get_syllable_counter(word) #add syllables in sentace + if self.sentance_syllable_counter == syllables: + current_sentance += word # adding together my phrase + return current_sentance # actually a phrase of the sentance + elif self.sentance_syllable_counter > syllables: # because I count by words, sometimes a word will push the syllable count over + return "Failed, try again (error: syllable count too high)" # if this happens I return and error + elif self.sentance_syllable_counter < syllables: # sometimes a sentance might not have enough syllables + current_sentance += word + continue # if that happens move on + return "Failed, try again (error: syllable count too low" + + def get_nonet(self): + """ Selects random sentances from text list + Evaluates number of syllables in text by calling sentance_eval + Increments number to syllables from syllable_value (9 for a nonet) to 0 + Input: text + Output: final poem + """ + f = open('final_nonets.txt','a') # open a file to write to + syllable_value = self.syllables + self.get_raw_text() + self.get_clean_text() + while syllable_value > 0: + sentance = random.choice(self.clean_text) # select a random sentance from text list + phrase = self.get_sentance_syllable_count(sentance,syllable_value) # create a phrase with syllable_value x + if 'Failed' in phrase: # if the count is too high or low + syllable_value = syllable_value # try again for another line + else: # if the phrase has the proper syllable count + syllable_value = syllable_value - 1 # go to next line + poem = "".join(phrase) # formating + f.write(poem + '\n') + print poem + f.write('\n') + f.write('\n') + f.write('\n') + f.close() + +if __name__ == "__main__": + current_URL = 'https://www.gutenberg.org/files/7015/7015-0.txt' + nonent = Nonet_Gen(current_URL,9,command=True) + nonent.get_nonet() + + + + + + + + diff --git a/syllable_counter b/syllable_counter new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9280970 --- /dev/null +++ b/syllable_counter @@ -0,0 +1,66 @@ +from pattern.en import tokenize + +def syllable_counter(string): + """ Takes a word, and evaluates (roughly) + the number of syllables it contains. + This function returns number of syllables + There must be a space after the string, + otherwise it will break + >>> syllable_counter('mouse ') + 1 + >>> syllable_counter('a ') + 1 + """ + i = 0 # index of while loop + counter = 0 # counter of syllables + vowels = ['a','e','i','o','u','y','e '] # what are vowels + diphthongs = ['ee', 'ei', 'ea', 'oo', 'oi', 'oy', 'ou', 'ai', 'ie'] #what are diphthongs + index = 0 + + while string[index] != ' ': # break at space + char = string[index] # look at each letter in string + next_char = string[index+1] # and the letter following + + if char in vowels: + if (char + next_char in diphthongs): + counter = counter + 1 # count + index = index + 1 # skips second letter in diphthong + elif (char == 'e' and next_char == ' '): # assume if e at end of word, is not syllable + pass # don't count + else: + counter = counter + 1 # if it's a solitary vowel, add one to counter + + index = index + 1 + + return counter + +def sentance_strip(text): + #remove junk + #junk is puncturation + # and + + +def sentance_eval(sentance): + """ Takes a sentance, and evaluates + the number of syllables contained in + each word. This function returns number of syllables + There must be a space after the string, + otherwise it will break + >>> sentance_eval('Im a mouse ') + 3 + >>> syllable_counter('She is alone ') + 4 + """ + sentance_as_list = sentance.split() # make list of strings (words) + sentance = [word + ' ' for word in sentance_as_list] #now with spaces so it works in syllable_counter + counter = 0 + for word in sentance: + counter += syllable_counter(word) + return counter + +print sentance_eval('a very long time') + +# if __name__ == "__main__": +# import doctest +# doctest.testmod() +# doctest.run_docstring_examples(syllable_counter, globals(),verbose = True) \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/syllable_counter.py b/syllable_counter.py new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c318112 --- /dev/null +++ b/syllable_counter.py @@ -0,0 +1,64 @@ +""" This will take a string + Count how many syllables it has + And return that number of syllables + + A syllable is: + a vowel a e i o u y + two vowels: ee, ea, oo, oi, ou, ai, ie + + It is not: + e at the end of a word +""" +def syllable_counter(string): + i = 0 + counter = 0 # how would I increment counter in for loop to get number of sylables + vowels = ['a','e','i','o','u','y','e '] # what are vowels + while i < len(string): + character = string[i] + if character in vowels: # if char is in vowel list + if character == 'e ': #if the e is at the end of the word + return counter # do not add to the syllable counter + counter = counter + 1 + i = i + 1 + return string, counter + + + #look forward to next char + + #if two letter = 1 + +print syllable_counter('founde ') + +# """ This will take a string +# Count how many syllables it has +# And return that number of syllables + +# A syllable is: +# a vowel a e i o u y +# two vowels: ee, ea, oo, oi, ou, ai, ie + +# It is not: +# e at the end of a word +# """ +# def syllable_counter(string): +# i = 0 # index of while loop +# counter = 0 # counter of syllables +# vowels = ['a','e','i','o','u','y','e '] # what are vowels +# diphthongs = ['ee', 'ei', 'ea', 'oo', 'oi', 'oy', 'ou', 'ai', 'ie'] #what are diphthongs +# while i < len(string): +# character = string[i] +# if character in vowels: # if char is in a vowel +# if character == 'e ': #if the e is at the end of the word +# return counter # do not add to the syllable counter +# counter = counter + 1 +# i = i + 1 +# return string, counter + + +# #look forward to next char + +# #if two letter = 1 syllable + +# print syllable_counter('founde ') + + diff --git a/syllable_counter_test.py b/syllable_counter_test.py new file mode 100644 index 0000000..261fc6a --- /dev/null +++ b/syllable_counter_test.py @@ -0,0 +1,41 @@ +""" This will take a string + Count how many syllables it has + And return that number of syllables + + A syllable is: + a vowel a e i o u y + two vowels: ee, ea, oo, oi, ou, ai, ie + + It is not: + e at the end of a word +""" +def syllable_counter(string): + #This only works assuming all words (strings) have a space after them. + i = 0 # index of while loop + counter = 0 # counter of syllables + vowels = ['a','e','i','o','u','y','e '] # what are vowels + diphthongs = ['ee', 'ei', 'ea', 'oo', 'oi', 'oy', 'ou', 'ai', 'ie'] #what are diphthongs + while i < len(string)-1: + char = string[i] + next_char = string[i+1] + if char in vowels: # if char is a vowel + if char + next_char in diphthongs: + #char = char + next_char + #if char in diphthongs: + counter = counter + 1 + elif char + next_char == 'e ': #if the e is at the end of the word + return counter # do not add to the syllable counter, end of word + else: + counter = counter + 1 + i = i + 1 + return string, counter + + + #look forward to next char + + #if two letter = 1 syllable + +print syllable_counter('founde ') + + + diff --git a/syllable_counter_test_2 b/syllable_counter_test_2 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2bf05db --- /dev/null +++ b/syllable_counter_test_2 @@ -0,0 +1,25 @@ +def syllable_counter(string): + i = 0 # index of while loop + counter = 0 # counter of syllables + vowels = ['a','e','i','o','u','y','e '] # what are vowels + diphthongs = ['ee', 'ei', 'ea', 'oo', 'oi', 'oy', 'ou', 'ai', 'ie'] #what are diphthongs + index = 0 + + while word[index] != ' ': + char = word[index] + next_char = word[index+1] + + if char in vowels: + if (char + next_char in diphthongs): + counter = counter + 1 + index = index + 1 + elif (char == 'e' and next_char == ' '): + pass + else: + counter = counter + 1 + + index = index + 1 + + return string, counter + +print syllable_counter('founde ') \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/text_gather b/text_gather new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f71a7bf --- /dev/null +++ b/text_gather @@ -0,0 +1,27 @@ +""" This is my text gathering code +""" + +import pickle +# current_URL = 'https://www.gutenberg.org/files/7015/7015-0.txt' +all_texts = [] + +def gutenberg_text_gather(current_URL): + + from pattern.web import * + buddhist_psalm_text = URL(current_URL).download() + print buddhist_psalm_text + + # Save data to a file (will be part of your data fetching script) + f = open('buddhist_psalm_text.pickle','w') + pickle.dump(all_texts,f) + f.close() + + # Load data from a file (will be part of your data processing script) + input_file = open('buddhist_psalm_text.pickle','r') + reloaded_copy_of_texts = pickle.load(input_file) + + +def make_dictionary(): + # make dictionary with index, forward, preface, introduction, apendix, all that stuff removed + # strip all peroids + pass \ No newline at end of file