37. When first he began to open up Mount Koya, after he had found on a pine tree the vajra he had thrown, and after the sword. had come out from the earth, then indeed he knew that the place was the seat of ancient Buddhist worship.

38. Not only did he make the pool of Tochi in Sanuki, but in other places also he made pools. In addition to bridges and piers, he repaired a great number of bridges.

39. In order to save men from the plague he preached the inner meaning of the Heart-Sutra. The roads were filled with men that had been raised from the dead; the whole land enjoyed the blessings of peace.

40. He founded the temple upon Mount Bandai and placed there as his successor the priest Furuichi from Tsukuba. He subdued the wilderness of Mount Futara and called the place Nikko.

41. He was anxious that the flowers of literature should flourish among our men of the Land of the Day-spring, and composed in the letters of our country a poem on the four verses of the Tathagata.

42. The doctrines of S'akyamuni are eighty-four thousand in all, the last being the teaching on Nirvana which Buddha himself gave. The most important of these have been thus interpreted.

"Life's naught, Death's naught," said Shaka. "E'en to-day,"
Said Kobo, "have we crossed the mountain-pass
Of true existence."
Shaka: "Now with joy
Nirvana's peace we enter."
"Life's a dream,"
Said Kobo, "Death, the waking of the Soul
From some poor drunkard's nightmare misery."

43.

"All things are full of change," said Shaka's self.
"The flowers, that fragrant bloom, will change and droop,"
Said our Sage Kobo. "Life is but death" became,
To Kobo, "Who can hope to live for aye?"

44. Thus any man who can write the Kana characters of the Iroha, whether he understand their meaning or not, becomes the disciple of our great Sage, and receives the happiness that comes from the Law.

45. This syllabary he founded on the Sanskrit alphabet, which we venerate as sacred, and arranged according to the principles of Nirvana, handing it down to us in a word-picture of fifty syllables. Thus he provided for the education of future generations.

46. Basing his action on the expressed wish of the Emperor Saga, he founded in the Toji Temple at Kyoto a shrine for the worship of Hachiman, where he worshipped the god and laid upon him the duty of protecting the Imperial House.

47. The god of Inari appeared on Mount Fushimi and received from Kobo's hand the sacrifice he offered. "Together, you and I," he swore, "we will protect this people."