Kannon Reigenki Saigoku Pilgrimage: No. 18 Yamashiro-kyo Rokkaku-do / Prince Shotoku

|Kannon Reigenki (Miraculous Tales of Kannon) |Saigoku (Western Provinces) |Junrei (Pilgrimage) No. 18 |Yamashiro-kyo (Kyoto) |Rokkaku-do
My thoughts within my heart are like the six corners, praying that they may simply become rounded.
I pray that they may simply become rounded.

|Prince Shotoku |This |venerable image was placed in a |box and |drifted to the |sea off |Awaji, where the |Prince |picked it up and |kept it with him, |never |letting it |leave his |person.
|After that, |for the |construction of |Tenno-ji |Temple, he |sought |good timber. |At that time, he |came to this |place, |hung this |image on the |branch of a |cedar tree, and as he |bathed, he |tried to |lift it, but it |became as heavy as a |boulder and |would not |lift.

When he |prayed for a while, he received a |divine message as if in a |dream or |reality:
“|You and |I have a |karmic bond spanning seven |lives, and |furthermore, |because there is a |bond with this |place, I will not |leave here.”

|The Prince |revered it |more and more, and when he told an |old woman in the vicinity that he |wished to |enshrine it in this |place,
“|How fortunate you are, |my lord. |Near this |place, there is a |large |cedar tree. It is a |miraculous |sacred tree that is |mysteriously |covered by |purple clouds |every |morning. |Hurry and |use this to |build it,” she |taught him.

|The Prince |rejoiced and had the |Rokkaku-do |built, and the fact that he |built it using only |one |cedar tree is |truly a |miraculous |event.