1. A Buddhist service held for the repose of the dead. Such ceremonies were conducted annually, usually on the fifteenth day of the seventh month.
2. Kissen Shishi and Shodai-nyo are the Japanese names for this couple. Their Sanskrit names are unknown.
3. The first of the four stages of Hinayana enlightenment that voice-hearers aim to attain.
4. Shunkan (d. 1179) was a priest of the Tendai school. In 1177, he helped formulate a plot to overthrow Taira no Kiyomori, who held military control of the capital. The plot was discovered, however, and Shunkan was banished to Iogashima, an island located south of Kyushu, where he died. According to The Tale of the Heike, during the third year of Shunkan’s exile, a youth called Ario who had served him since childhood traveled to the island to visit his teacher.
5. T’ien-t’ai quotes a similar statement from the Increasing by One Agama Sutra in his Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sutra.
6. Lotus Sutra, chap. 2.
7. Ibid., chap. 9.
8. The two outlying islands refer to Iki
and Tsushima, islands off the coast of Kyushu.
9. Taira no Shigehira (1156–1185). In 1180 , by command of his father, Taira no Kiyomori, he attacked the priests of Nara and burned down Todai-ji and Kofuku-ji temples. In 1184, however, at the Battle of Ichinotani, Shigehira was captured by the Minamoto forces and eventually handed over to the priests of Nara, who had him beheaded.
10. Lotus Sutra, chap. 7.
11. The Marquis of Sui in China once came upon a large snake that had been wounded. He applied medicine to the wound, and the snake later appeared holding a jewel in its mouth to reward him. The story is referred to in the letter addressed to Yang Te-tsu by Ts’ao Chih (192– ), which is included in Literary Anthology. The source of the dragon reference is unknown.
12. This is described in the “Devadatta” chapter of the Lotus Sutra. The dragon girl possessed an extremely precious jewel, which she presented to the Buddha.
