Sanuki no Suke’s Daiary (17)

 

     After the precepts were administered and Priest Kensen left, the Emperor summoned Acharya Jokai (1074-1149), who had served the Emperor for a long time, and who was his mother’s brother by a different mother, to his bedside and the Emperor said,

"Read the sutra to me.  This will be the last time I hear Jokai's voice."

     The Emperor seemed extremely distressed, and no longer had even the energy to shed tears.  Who could remain calm when hearing such words?  No one could contain themselves.  Jokai didn't reply for quite a while, nor was his voice chanting the sutra.  I thought, "Perhaps, he is trying to hold back tears, too."

     After a while, I heard Jokai chanting in a scarcely audible voice.  He was reading the prose leading to the Bhikkhu Verse in Lotus Sutra Chapter 2: Expedient Means.  The Emperor listened attentively, and from the line, "The Buddha's mighty virtue has passed away from the people," he joined his voice in Jokai’s reading slowly but smoothly.  His voice was so noble, as if Jokai's voice was being drowned out.  Jokai read the part to the Emperor in particular.  It was probably because he had heard that the Emperor recited volumes one and two by heart in the morning and evening.