"When the Bodhisattva saw the starving tiger, he pitied its suffering and gave rise to a heart of great compassion. He said, 'I shall give this body of mine to this tiger, to preserve its life.' Then he climbed to a high place, leapt down, and gave away his body and life to save all living beings..."
The low murmur of scripture rang out aboard the great ship hung with five-colored prayer banners, carrying the compassion of delivering all beings from suffering. Then came the repetition of dozens of believers, chanting aloud in devout voices.
"I shall give this body of mine to this tiger, to preserve its life!..."
"I, with this body of mine, shall offer it to this tiger, that its life may be fulfilled!..."
The sound of sutra-chanting in the cabin echoed across the sea beneath Ezo's clouds. Most of the accents were from the Capital Region and Omi, and faintly mixed into them were choked sobs and weeping. And when that chanting drifted out of the cabin, circled once around the icy tips of the Naginatas, it seemed to freeze again, like a fate decreed by Buddha, in the cold October wind...
"Namu Myoho Renge Kyo, Namu Shakyamuni Buddha!..."
Master Juehui finished preaching the sutra and recited two invocations of the Tendai Esoteric Sect. Afterward, he lowered his eyes and climbed from the cabin onto the deck. Two Warrior Monks stepped forward, one taking his monk's staff, the other lowering his head to hold up his prayer beads and Kasaya. And so Master Juehui stood clean and unadorned aboard the five-hundred-koku flagship, "Hokke-maru," wearing only a plain monk's robe. He stood there quietly, silently turning the beads on his wrist, gazing for a long time at Ezo's northern sea before letting out a chant that was