Priest Ryosan was from an eastern province. He was never idle but was strong and active by nature. Since entering the priesthood, he had abstained from cereals, and ate only greens. He did nothing but recite the Hokekyō. He lived in a remote place in a deep mountain and never resided among people.

He used vines and birch bark as his best clothes, and the shade under trees as his finest mansions. He always considered his body to be as fragile as foam, and his life to be as perishable as the morning dew. If he had cherished his body as a treasure, how could he ever receive the protection of the Rasetsu guardians of the Law? He also thought, “My body is a temporary shelter for the Five Shades and the Demons of the Four Delusions who distract my mind so that I commit various sins. So how sad it is! My wisdom is not comparable even to that of the Suffering Bird of Snow Mountain, nor are my offerings comparable to that of the Lotus King who turned himself into a red fish for the nourishment of his sick people.”

Thinking thus, Ryōsan was never concerned about covering and feeding his body.

Ryōsan ascended Mount Mitake and lived on Tokoro Peak for scores of years during which he recited only the Hokekyō, while engaging in difficult ascetic practices. In the beginning demon deities appeared as fearsome figures but tried in vain to frighten Ryōsan. Later they came to him with offerings of fruits and nuts, and were accompanied by bears, foxes and even poisonous snakes. Sometimes beautiful Heavenly Ladies including Kōtainyo, a rasetsu woman, descended and paid homage to him by bowing.

The offerings of noble and lowly people did not overjoy Ryōsan, nor did evil slander affect him. When talking with people, he never forgot to recite the sūtra. While closing his eyes in sleep, his reciting voice sounded more sonorously.

At the end of his life, his complexion became fairer, his face glowed with joy, his body had no pain, and his mind was high-spirited. When friends asked why Ryōsan was so pleased, he replied, “Finally my solitary self, which has endured poverty all these years, is now blooming with glory and official titles. How can I help rejoicing? I am abandoning my soiled body of delusion and transiency and receiving the pure and permanent fruit of the Buddha!” Ryōsan passed away as he finished speaking. (Page 76-77)

Miraculous Tales of the Lotus Sutra from Ancient Japan



NOTES:

• The Five Shades refers to temporary existence in this world of phenomena, which consists of five elements of form, perception, ideas, volition, and consciousness.
• The Four Delusions refers to the Four Illusions, the permanence, the pleasure, and the purity of this world, and the existence of ego.
• It refers to the bird in the Snow Mountains or in the Himalaya Mountains which cries because of suffering from the cold.