Muro no shami was of the Enomoto family, being self-ordained without a clerical name. He was popularly called the Novice of Muro, for he came from Muro district in Kii province. Living in the village of Arata in Ate district, he shaved his head and face and wore a surplice, but he led a householder’s life, following a vocation to earn his livelihood. He made a vow to copy the Hoke-kyō as it should be done, and, in a state of purification, he started copying it by himself. After every bodily function he purified himself by bathing, and, when six months had passed, he finished copying. After the dedication ceremony he put the Hoke-kyō in a lacquered leather chest, which he placed in a high niche in his living room for occasional reading.

In the summer of the sixth year of the cock, the third year of the Jingo keiun era, at noon on the twenty-third of the fifth month, a fire broke out and destroyed his whole house. In the raging flames only the chest containing the scripture remained unharmed. When he opened the chest, he found the color of the scripture brilliant and its characters distinct. People came from all quarters to see it and could not help wondering at it.

Indeed, we know that the same manifestations of power took place here as in the case of the scripture being copied properly by a highly disciplined nun of Hotung, or as in the case of the daughter of Wang Yü in the time of the Ch’en dynasty being saved from fire by reciting the scripture.

The note says: How praiseworthy was this member of the Enomoto family for accumulating merits by his great devotion and by copying the Ekayana scripture*< . The guardian deity of dharma performed a miracle in the flames. This is an effective story for converting the minds of nonbelievers and an excellent guide for stopping offenses of the evil-minded. (Page 235-236) *That is, Hoke-kyō, which expounds the Ekayana (one vehicle) teaching that all vehicles are reduced into one vehicle on the ultimate level.