"Twenty jin of gold!! One-armed Tetta Mune-yoshi was actually exchanged for twenty jin of gold?!..."
"Buddha above! Converted into grain, this old craftsman is actually worth 2,700 koku of rice? One man alone equals the annual income of a hundred warriors?"
"Ah! Gleaming gold, shining gold, heart-stirring gold!... Shikan, shikan!"
The heavy gold on Morino Kiyoshi's back was like a golden dream, pressing down so hard he could not straighten his waist. First came a wave of wild joy, leaving him dazzled and entranced for a moment, before he hurriedly used his profound Buddhist cultivation to halt the surging greed. After that, he immediately handed the "calamity that disturbed the Dharma"—the bamboo basket filled with gold—to Matsushita Shojiro, telling him to send it back to the ship at once.
"Namu San! If one can turn things, one is the same as the Tathagata; if one is turned by things, this is samsara... Shikan!..."
Once the gold had left his hands, Morino Kiyoshi silently recited scripture for a while. When he raised his head again, clarity had returned to his eyes. For him to move among Kyoto's many nobles and conduct Yoneya's great business, he was naturally a man whose thoughts flashed like lightning! And he was most skilled at reading people's hearts. With only a little thought, he began to taste something of the matter.
"Buddha sees into the human heart!... The Gold Chieftain brought out these ten extra pieces of gold not, it seems, for me to see, but rather... for Tetta Mune-yoshi to see? A craftsman bought back ought by rights to be treated like a servant to be ordered about at will, yet the Gold Chieftain respects him so much, as if honoring a noble person?... Strange. Truly strange!"
Morino Kiyoshi looked thoughtfully at the old craftsman,