Omatsu received the blessings of Amitabha Buddha for its healthy work and daily virtuous deeds.
Impressed by the miracle of Omatsu, the village chief and his wife renewed their faith.
The chief and his wife, together with ‘Omatsu’, began to visit Nishiho-ji Temple frequently. He served the temple well as the head of a parishioner family, and as word of the burns spread, the temple became crowded with worshippers from far-off places seeking the blessings of the temple…
『Undaunted by fire』
One night, the village chief was awakened by a disturbing sleeplessness.
When he opened the shutters to quell the disturbance, he couldn’t believe his eyes.
A fire was raging on the other side of the mountain, in the direction of Xifang Temple!
「Hey! Wake up! The temple’s on fire!」
He called out to his family and rushed to Seihoji Temple without his clothes.
The wives and servants chased after him, panting for breath.
By that time, the villagers had noticed the fire and had gathered with water buckets and sticks to destroy it, but the fire had already covered the pillars of the hall.
Firefighting technology was still in its infancy, and the temple was engulfed in flames as the villagers panicked…
「Oh, my God…」
「If only… at least the principal object had remained…」
The chief and his wife fell to the ground in an embrace.
The villagers stood dumbfounded in front of the crumbling hall…
At that moment…
「Master..! Mistress! This way, this way! Over here!」
From the other side of the hall, which was still breathing sparks of fire, came the voice of Omatsu.
「Omatsu? What are you doing here? It’s not safe…」
The chief and his wife finally get up and go towards the voice of Omatsu and find themselves in a small garden behind the hall, where beautiful wisteria flowers bloom in spring. There they found Omatsu and the Abbot standing there, stunned.
「Oh! Abbot! Are you safe!」
The chief called out to them, but they seemed to be in a strange state.
They were silently looking up at the wisteria tree with their backs to us.
The chief, who looked up at the wisteria with his eyes, was again startled.
The wisteria tree had just started to bud, and there, in the pale light, was the principal object of the deity floating above it.
The village headman stood there, unable to speak, just like them.
The villagers, who had followed the chief, were also astonished to see this scene and all knelt down to pray to the authority of the Buddha.
Then the principal object of the Buddha descended in front of everyone and the light subsided and returned to the original image of the Buddha…
Reconstruction of the temple, whose principal object was intact, was swift.
The chief of the temple invested much of his wealth in the rebuilding, and the villagers were willing to transport timber and help the carpenters, and the temple was rebuilt even more splendidly than before.
In addition to the ‘miracle of the Omatsu burns’, there was the ‘miracle of the principal object. The story spread quickly and there was no end to the number of worshippers who wanted to benefit from it…
He saves his devout daughter and even protects his own body from fire…
It is truly a great power… or rather, a multi-functional Amitabha object.
The title of today’s talk might have been better『Fireproof construction』(^_^;).
But then an unexpected problem befell the principal object. How will the Amitabha deal with this problem?