"When he died it was as though a bright light had gone out in the midst of a black night."
    "Namudaishi." (Trans. by Arthur Lloyd.)

The "Namudaishi"

Kōbō Daishi[1] ("Glory to the Great Teacher"), who was born A.D. 774, was the most holy and most famous of the Japanese Buddhist saints. He founded the Shingon-shū, a Buddhist sect remarkable for its magical formulæ and for its abstruse and esoteric teachings, and he is also said to have invented the Hiragana syllabary, a form of running script. In the Namudaishi, which is a Japanese poem on the life of this great saint, we are informed that Kobo Daishi brought back with him from China a millstone and some seeds of the tea-plant, and thus revived the drinking of this beverage, which had fallen into disuse. We are also told in the same poem that it was Kōbō Daishi who "demonstrated to the world the use of coal." He was renowned as a great preacher, but was not less famous as a calligraphist, painter, sculptor, and traveller.
"A Divine Prodigy"

Kōbō Daishi, however, is essentially famous for the extraordinary miracles which he performed, and numerous are the legends associated with him. His conception was miraculous, for when he was born in the Baron's Hall, on the shore of Byōbu, a bright light shone, and he came into the world with his hands folded as if in prayer. When but five years of age he would sit[Pg 235] among the lotuses and converse with Buddhas, and he kept secret all the wisdom he thus obtained. His heart was troubled by the sorrow and pain of humanity. While on Mount Shashin he sought to sacrifice his own life by way of propitiation, but he was prevented from doing so by a number of angels who would not allow this ardent soul to suffer death until he had fulfilled his destiny. His very games were of a religious nature. On one occasion he built a clay pagoda, and he was immediately surrounded by the Four Heavenly Kings (originally Hindu deities). The Imperial Messenger, who happened to pass by when this miracle took place, was utterly amazed, and described the young Kōbō Daishi as "a divine prodigy." While at Muroto, in Tosa, performing his devotions, we are told in the Namu-daishi that a bright star fell from Heaven and entered his mouth, while at midnight an evil dragon came forth against him, "but he spat upon it, and with his saliva he killed it."

In his nineteenth year he wore the black silk robes of a Buddhist priest, and with a zeal that never failed him sought for enlightenment. "Many are the ways," he said; "but Buddhism is the best of all." During his mystical studies he came across a book containing the Shingon doctrine, a doctrine that closely resembles the old Egyptian speculations. The book was so abstruse that even Kōbō Daishi failed to master it; but, nothing daunted, he received permission from the Emperor to visit China, where he ultimately unravelled its profound mysteries, and attained to that degree of saintship associated with the miraculous.
Gohitsu-Oshō

When Kōbō Daishi was in China the Emperor, hearing of his fame, sent for him and bade him rewrite the[Pg 236] name of a certain room in the royal palace, a name that had become obliterated by the effacing finger of Time. Kōbō Daishi, with a brush in each hand, another in his mouth, and two others between the toes, wrote the characters required upon the wall, and for this extraordinary performance the Emperor named him Gohitsu-Oshō ("The Priest who writes with Five Brushes").
Writing on Sky and Water

While still in China Kōbō Daishi met a boy standing by the side of a river. "If you be Kōbō Daishi," said he, "be honourably pleased to write upon the sky, for I have heard that no wonder is beyond your power."

Kōbō Daishi raised his brush; it moved quickly in the air, and writing appeared in the blue sky, characters that were perfectly formed and wonderfully beautiful.

When the boy had also written upon the sky with no less skill, he said to Kōbō Daishi: "We have both written upon the sky. Now I beg that you will write upon this flowing river."

Kōbō Daishi readily complied. Once again his brush moved, and this time a poem appeared on the water, a poem written in praise of that particular river. The letters lingered for a moment, and then were carried away by the swift current.

There seems to have been a contest in magical power between these two workers of marvels, for no sooner had the letters passed out of sight than the boy also wrote upon the running water the character of the Dragon, and it remained stationary.

Kōbō Daishi, who was a great scholar, at once perceived that the boy had omitted the ten, a dot which rightly belonged to this character. When Kōbō Daishi pointed out the error, the boy told him that he had forgotten to insert the ten, and begged that the famous[Pg 237] saint would put it in for him. No sooner had Kōbō Daishi done so than the Dragon character became a Dragon. Its tail lashed the waters, thunder-clouds sped across the sky, and lightning flashed. In another moment the Dragon arose from the water and ascended to heaven.

Though Kōbō Daishi's powers of magic excelled those of the boy, he inquired who this youth might be, and the boy replied: "I am Monju Bosatsu, the Lord of Wisdom." Having spoken these words, he became illumined by a radiant light; the beauty of the Gods shone upon his countenance, and, like the Dragon, he ascended into heaven.
How Kōbō Daishi Painted the Ten

On one occasion Kōbō Daishi omitted the ten on a tablet placed above one of the gates of the Emperor's palace.[2] The Emperor commanded that ladders should be brought; but Kōbō Daishi, without making use of them, stood upon the ground, and threw up his brush, which, after making the ten, fell into his hand.
Kino Momoye and Onomo Toku

Kino Momoye once ridiculed some of Kōbō Daishi's characters, and said that one of them resembled a conceited wrestler. On the night he made this foolish jest Momoye dreamed that a wrestler struck him blow upon blow—moreover, that his antagonist leapt upon his body, causing him considerable pain. Momoye awoke, and cried aloud in his agony, and as he cried he saw the wrestler suddenly change into the character he had so unwisely jeered at. It rose into the air, and went back to the tablet from whence it had come.

[Pg 238]

Momoye was not the only man who imprudently scoffed at the great Kōbō Daishi's work. Legend records that one named Onomo Toku said that the saint's character Shu was far more like the character "rice." That night Onomo Toku had good reason to regret his folly, for in a dream the character Shu took bodily form and became a rice-cleaner, who moved up and down the offender's body after the manner of hammers that were used in beating this grain. When Onomo Toku awoke it was to find that his body was covered with bruises and that his flesh was bleeding in many places.
Kōbō Daishi's Return

When Kōbō Daishi was about to leave China and return to his own country he went down to the seashore and threw his vajra[3] acros............