A good man, leisurely walking along Suzaku Avenue, met a beautifully dressed attractive woman who spoke to him in a graceful voice and immediately touched his heart. The overwhelmed man took the woman to a quiet unpeopled place where they had a more intimate conversation.
The man said to the woman, “Our karmic relation from our previous lives has caused this meeting. I want to have a relationship with you tonight.”
The woman replied, “It is not difficult to realize your wish. But you will lose your life if you associate with me. This is why I cannot accept your offer.”
The man insisted, “I am not concerned about my life. I only wish to sleep with you.”
“Oh, no, no. Do not think like that. You have an official title and rank as well as a wife and children. One’s existence is a life-long treasure while desire is a momentary pleasure. How can one lose one’s precious life for a transient pleasure?” inquired the woman.
The man did not give up and continued to persuade her. “Although I understand your reasoning, I am infatuated by your enchanting appearance. The love between man and woman is something natural and beautiful. Listen sympathetically and grant my wish.”
Finally the woman accepted and agreed, saying, “Your kind and sincere words impress me so much that I can no longer refuse you. I will prolong your life by dying in your place. I hope that you will copy the Hokekyō and offer a dedication service to relieve me from my sufferings.”
The joyful man said that he would repay the woman with his treasures. So they spent the night intimately. At daybreak when the time for their separation arrived, the man said, “I wish to know if you will die in my place. I will return home and copy the sūtra.”
“If you wish to know when I die, go near the Butokuden in the morning and look for me,” replied the woman and asked him to give her his fan, saying, “This fan will be your sign.” Thus they parted tearfully.
In the morning, the man walked around the Butoku Palace and found a dead fox lying on the ground behind the palace with his fan over its face. The man clearly understood the situation. From that day on, the man made a copy of the Hokekyō every seventh day and offered a dedication service with a lecture. Before the forty-ninth day after the death of the woman, the man dreamed that the woman appeared dressed in the attire of a Heavenly Lady, accompanied by hundreds of similarly dressed women. She said to the man, “Thanks to the power of the Hokekyō which you had copied, I am relieved from my eternal sufferings and am travelling to the Tōri Heaven. My obligation to you is limitless and I will reward you for generations.”
As the woman finished speaking, she ascended to the sky. Beautiful music was heard in the sky, and a pleasant fragrance filled the man’s room. (Page 142-143)
Miraculous Tales of the Lotus Sutra from Ancient Japan