In eighth-century Nara, a noble's daughter copying the Pure Land sutra a thousand times is drawn to a mountain temple at Taima by the vision of a figure in the sunset. Meanwhile a long-entombed prince, a royal ghost, wakes in his dark tomb, calling for the woman he loved.
Books mentioned in The Book of the Dead (5)
Amida Sutra: “The Lady of the Yokohagi house began copying the Sutra on the Praise of the Pure Land at that time; the gift of her father's that most enriched the girl's heart was this newly translated Amida Sutra in one scroll. [auto-translated]”
Lotus Sutra: “Behind the curtained dais came two scrolls apparently copied in a woman's hand: the Lotus Sutra of Lady Tachibana, her great-grandmother, and the Treatise on Yue Yi of the present Empress Dowager. [auto-translated]”
Classic of Filial Piety: “They say she was copying the Amida Sutra a thousand times before she left home, that she had practised on the Treatise on Yue Yi and her brother's chronicle of Gangōji, and that she learned the Classic of Filial Piety when she was this small. [auto-translated]”
Chu Ci: “A true woman scholar, she is; one like you, wasting himself on the Chu Ci and on tales, cannot go near her. [auto-translated]”
Treatise on Yue Yi by Xiahou Xuan: “They say that before leaving home she had copied out a thousand Amida Sutras, and had practised her hand with the Treatise on Yue Yi and, earlier still, the Gangoji Engi written by her elder brother. [auto-translated]”