The Master (highly gratified). Ah! A dove transformed into an eagle, a sparrow into a clam! This is delightful. You have come here and have been enlightened. It is true: if men will consider our misfortunes in this light, and will believe the words of Scripture, then the storms will abate, and the billows settle down, and the harvest be plenteous. But, unfortunately, men's minds change with their circumstances, like the reflection of the moon on waters, smooth and rough, like the aspect of an army with its swords sheathed, and with them drawn and brandished. You believe me now, but what guarantee have I that you will not speedily forget your good resolutions? But mark my words, if you wish the country to be peaceful and blest, you must consider well, and punish the wrong.

Five misfortunes out of the seven mentioned in the Yakushi Kyo have befallen us. Two still remain--a foreign invasion and a rebellion.

Two of the three mentioned in the Mahasampata Sutra have been fulfilled, the one remaining is a foreign war.

[paragraph continues] Of all the misfortunes mentioned in the Suvarnaprabhasa and in the Ninnokyo, but one remains that we have not yet experienced, the misfortune of foreign invasion. When a country is badly governed, the first result is that the deities are disturbed: when the deities are disturbed, the minds of the people are thrown into confusion. When I consider these Scriptural prophecies and then look at the world around me, I am bound to confess that both the gods and the minds of the people are confused. You see the fulfilment of the prophecy in the past: dare we say that the remaining prophecies will fail of their fulfilment? And if, by reason of the bad state of our religion, these remaining calamities should come upon us, in what condition are we to bear them?

An Emperor can rule, because he is the Lord of his country; a Prince can rule, because he is the owner of his barony. But if a foreign invasion should come, or if rebellion should raise its head amongst us, what then? If country and home be lost, whither shall we turn? Is it not right to pray for one's country, if one desires its welfare?

But now men are anxious about their happiness in the world to come. So, forgetting present duties, they listen to the words of this heresy, and reverence the blasphemer of the Buddhas. They do it in ignorance: they have no desire to turn from the right way, and yet they have not the courage to follow the true Buddhism. In their hearts they are faithful--why, then, do they give ear to this heresy? They will die in their stubborn ignorance, and their souls will not return to the earth, but will sink to the bottomless pit of Hell (mugen no jigoku).

It is said in the Mahasampata Sutra, that though a