9. It was in the nineteenth year of his age that, looking up to Gonzo as his religious guide, he took upon himself the vows of the Bodhisattva, and became a homeless S'ramana, striving after enlightenment, and wearing the black silk robes of the Buddhist priest.

10. At Shusenji in the province of Idzu, and in other places besides, he discovered the hot springs bubbling out of the earth. And it was he that demonstrated to the world the use of coal.

11. Inside the tower of the Temple of Kumadera in Yamato there was revealed to him the doctrine which is above all others. But as there was none whom he could question thereon, he received permission from the Emperor to go to China for study.

12. In company with the ambassadors that were sent

to the Court of the Tangs in China, he arrived at a certain port of China. But the party was not allowed to land, because they had not come to the usual port of debarkation.

13. Then did our sage write a letter in the name of the ambassadors, in the which he described all the pains and perils of the voyage over the sea, with its storms and billows. And then were they allowed to land.

14. Keikwa the Ac'arya was delighted to welcome him, and having purified the Mandara for him, committed to him the whole of the great law of the Ryobu in its entirety, to its lowest depths.

15. Keikwa the Ac'arya told him that the secret treasure of the Shingon law lay hidden within the sacred books, and that it would be well for him to make use of the help of pictures.

16. [From Keikwa] Kobo received over a hundred books explaining the Ryobu Mandara as contained in the

doctrine of the Vajrayana. Also he received many sacred vessels and implements that had been handed down from the days of Amogha, the doctor of the Tripitaka.

17. The boy whom he met wrote the character for "dragon" upon the water. But our Sage, seeing that one small stroke had been omitted, took up his pen and supplied that which was wanting. Then the dragon revealed himself in his true form and flew away to the sky.

18. Under Prajna, the monk of Nalanda in Central India, and under Munis'ri, the Master of the Tripitaka, he studied Sanskrit, and was by them presented with many books of the Scriptures in Sanskrit.

19. With a pen in his mouth, one in each hand, and one in each foot, he wrote five lines of a poem simultaneously. The Tang Emperor was astonished at what he saw, and gave him the title of the "Five-Pen-Priest."

20. But when Keikwa his teacher died, he wrote his

memorial on a monument, moistening his inkslab with his tears, and erected it at Ryugen.

21. Now, when he was about to return to his own land, standing on the sea-beach he threw his vajra towards Japan. Strange to say, the vajra flew straight across, and was found hanging on the branch of a pine-tree at Takano.