- kōmyō shingon 869
The Tathāgatha Amida arrived,
For overcoming calamity and ensuring longevity
[Amida] expounded the dharma of
The “Chapter on Lifespan” of the Golden Radiance Sūtra. (Kaneko 1964,
419)Likewise, the mantra of light is said to cure illnesses, enable devotees
to fly through the air, and otherwise bring about extraordinary ben-
efits in this life (Unno 2004, 240–41). Yet the relation between this-
worldly benefits, the ultimate goal of religious awakening, and the role
of karma has yet to be sufficiently understood. Here we take the case
of Myōe and the mantra of light to outline some of the issues involved.
In one episode dealing with this-worldly benefits of the mantra, Myōe
relates the following:
When this fool (Myōe) was residing on Mount Takao , there
was a plague, and many people fell ill. Among them was someone who
was diagnosed as terminally ill,... one Saishō Ajari Shōken.... He unexpectedly fell gravely ill and lost consciousness. The
High Priest [Jōgaku-bō] Gyōji , my former teacher, came
to his side, transferred the mystic power [of the mantra] to a melon,
and wetted [Shōken’s] lips with it, whereupon he revived and said, “If
I had died, I was destined to be born as a fish. While I was immersed
underwater, a sweet delicacy entered my mouth. As I revived and came
out of my unconscious state, I remembered the taste extremely well.
Afterwards, I became aware that the sweet substance was the melon to
which the High Priest had transferred the mystic power and had placed
in my mouth... .” This reminds me that I, too, was once revived by being
wetted with a melon to which the mystic power of the mantra was trans-
ferred. (Unno 2004, 240).
There are a number of key points regarding this and similar episodes.
First, most are given as examples of karmic recompense, of the frui-
tion of positive past karma and present actions. Thus, as Myōe writes
in the Recommending Faith in the Sand of the Mantra of Light (Kōmyō
Shingon dosha kanjinki ), “the karmic recom-
pense in the present world is the result of accumulated effects of past
karma” (Unno 2004, 241). Second, one will fail to recognize the invis-
ible workings of past karma coming to fruition in the present if one
is too preoccupied with the external outcomes: “Because the mind is
distracted by the phenomenal world before one’s eyes, it is not possible
to see that the... present world is the result of accumulated... karma
(Unno 2004, 241). Third, because, unlike enlightened buddhas, sen-
tient beings cannot see the workings of karma transparently, foolish