He gave me two little packages. One contained white sand—sand from the holy temple of Zenkōji, whither all good souls make pilgrimage after death. The other contained a very small white stone, said to be a shari, or relic of the body of a Buddha.
I hoped to visit the kind old man many times again. But a school contract took me out of the city and over the mountains; and I saw him no more.
[1] Sanscrit: Bhûta-Tathatâ.
[2] Sanscrit: Avidya.
[3] Sanscrit: Tathâgata-gharba. The term "Tathâgata" (Japanese Nyōrai) is the highest title of a Buddha. It signifies "One whose coming is like the coming of his predecessors."
[4] Nirvana.
[5] Sanscrit: Mahâmaudgalyâyana.
[6] The Japanese rendering of Sakyamuni.