66 HEIAN PERIOD
and to your teacher. That is also the way to show your devotion to your country and to your family. My disciple I-ming will carry on the teachings here. Your task is to transmit them to Japan. Do your best! Do your best!” These were his final instructions to me, and he was kindly and patient as always. On the night of the last full moon of the year he purified himself with a ritual bath and, lying on his right side with his hands making the gesture of Vairocana, breathed his last.
That night, while I sat in meditation in the hall, the abbot appeared to me in his usual form and said, “You and I have long been pledged to propagate the esoteric teachings. If I am reborn in Japan, this time I will be your disciple.”
TRANSLATED BY DONALD KEENE
