Page:Anthology of Japanese Literature.pdf/293

Rh Namu Amidabu.


 * “If I attain to Buddhahood,
 * In the whole world and its ten spheres
 * Of all that dwell here none shall call on my name
 * And be rejected or cast aside.”

“Oh, reject me not!
 * One cry suffices for salvation,
 * Yet day and night
 * Your prayers will rise for me.
 * Happy am I, for though you know not my name,
 * Yet for my soul’s deliverance
 * At dawn and dusk henceforward I know that you will pray.”

So he spoke. Then vanished and was seen no more.


 * (Here follows the Interlude between the two Acts, in which a recitation concerning Atsumori’s death takes place. These interludes are subject to variation and are not considered part of the literary text of the play.)

Since this is so, I will perform all night the rites of prayer for the dead, and calling upon Amida’s name will pray again for the salvation of Atsumori.


 * (The ghost of Atsumori appears, dressed as a young warrior.)

Would you know who I am
 * That like the watchmen at Suma Pass
 * Have wakened at the cry of sea birds roaming
 * Upon Awaji shore?
 * Listen, Rensei. I am Atsumori.

How strange! All this while I have never stopped beating my gong and performing the rites of the Law. I cannot for a moment have dozed, yet I thought that Atsumori was standing before me. Surely it was a dream.

Why need it be a dream? It is to clear the karma of my waking life that I am come here in visible form before you.

Is it not written that one prayer will wipe away ten thousand sins? Ceaselessly I have performed the ritual of the Holy Name