First Priest: “He that has once looked upon a stupa shall for all eternity avoid the three worst catastrophes.”
Komachi: “One sudden thought can strike illumination.” Is that not just as good?
Second Priest: If you’ve had such an illumination, why are you lingering here in this world of illusion?
Komachi: Though my body lingers, my heart has left it long ago.
First Priest: Unless you had no heart at all you wouldn’t have failed to feel the presence of a stupa.
Komachi: It was because I felt it that I came perhaps.
Second Priest: In that case you shouldn’t have spread yourself out on it without so much as a word of prayer.
Komachi: It was on the ground already….
First Priest: Just the same it was an act of discord.
Komachi: “Even from discord salvation springs.”
Second Priest: From the evil of Daiba
Second Priest: From the evil of DaibaKomachi: Or the love of Kannon.
First Priest: From the folly of Handoku
First Priest: From the folly of HandokuKomachi: Or the wisdom of Monju.
First Priest: What we call evil
First Priest: What we call evilKomachi: Is also good.
First Priest: Illusion
First Priest: IllusionKomachi: Is Salvation.
Second Priest: “Salvation
Second Priest: “SalvationKomachi: Cannot be watered like trees.”
First Priest: “The brightest mirror
First Priest: “The brightest mirrorKomachi: Is not on the wall.”
Chorus: Nothing is separate.
Nothing persists.
Of Buddha and man there is no distinction,
At most a seeming difference planned
For the humble, ill-instructed men
He has vowed from the first to save.
“Even from discord salvation springs.”
So said Komachi. And the priests:
“Surely this beggar is someone beyond us.”
