Sotoba in Kobudera Cemetery
(The upper characters are “Bonti”—modified Sanskrit)
The uselessness of any exact translation of these inscriptions may be exemplified by a word-for-word rendering of two sentences written upon the sotoba used by the older sects. What meaning can you find in such a term as “Law-sphere-substance-nature-wisdom,” or such an invocation as “Ether, Wind, Fire, Water, Earth!”—for an invocation it really is? To understand these words one must first know that, in the doctrine of the mystical sects, the universe is composed of Five Great Elements which are identical with Five Buddhas; that each of the Five Buddhas contains the rest; and that the Five are One by essence, though varying in their phenomenal manifestations. The name of an element has thus three significations. The word Fire, for example, means flame as objective appearance; it means flame also as the manifestation of a particular Buddha; and it likewise means the special quality of wisdom or power attributed to that Buddha. Perhaps this doctrine will be more easily understood by the help of the following Shingon classification of the Five Elements in their Buddhist relations:—
I. Hō-kai-tai-shō-chi
(Sansc. Dhârma-dhâtu-prakrit-gñâna), or “Law-sphere-substance-nature-wisdom,”—signifying the wisdom that becomes the substance of things. This is the element Ether. Ether personified is Dai-Nichi-Nyōrai, the “Great Sun-Buddha” (Mahâvairokana Tathâgata), who “holds the seal of Wisdom.”
II. Dai-en-kyō-chi
(Âdarsana-gñâna), or “Great-round-mirror-wisdom,”—that is to say the divine power making images manifest. This is the element Earth. Earth personified is Ashuku Nyōrai, the “Immovable Tathâgata” (Akshobhya).
III. Byō-dō-shō-chi
(Samatâ-gñâna), “Even-equal-nature-wisdom,”—that is, the wisdom making no distinction of persons or of things. The element Fire. Personified, Fire is Hō-shō Nyōrai, or “Gem-Birth” Buddha (Ratnasambhava Tathâgata), presiding over virtue and happiness.
IV. Myō-kwan-zatsu-chi