[115] He vowed that he would come as a ship to those drowning in the Sea of Delusion.
[116] Here follow the twelve concluding lines, too full of Buddhist technicalities to interest a general reader.
[117] A twelfth-century folk-song (Ryōjin Hisshō, p. 126), speaks of “The Way of Love which knows no castes of ‘high’ and ‘low.’”
[118] A story from Huai-nan Tzŭ. What looks like disaster turns out to be good fortune and vice versa. The horse broke away and was lost. A revolution occurred during which the Government seized all horses. When the revolution was over the man of Sai’s horse was rediscovered. If he had not lost it the Government would have taken it.
[119] This simile, which passed into a proverb in China and Japan, occurs first in Chuang Tzŭ, chap. xxii.
[120] Compare the “possession” in Sotoba Komachi.
[121] Adapted from a poem in the Gosenshū.
[122] Adapted from a poem in the Kokinshū.
[123] The names of two of the Cold Hells in the Buddhist Inferno.
[124] There is a legend that the fish who succeed in leaping a certain waterfall turn into dragons. So the Gardener’s attempt to raise himself to the level of the Princess has changed him into an evil demon.