Tradition / Region: Japanese Mythology
Alternate Names: —
Category: Cow
The Myth
At Enkō-ji Temple there once lived a monk named Shaku Eshō. During his lifetime, he took a bundle of firewood belonging to the temple—wood meant for boiling water—and gave it away to another person. Not long after this act, Eshō died.
Some time later, a cow at the temple gave birth to a calf. As it grew, the animal was put to work pulling carts and hauling heavy loads of firewood each day without rest.
One day, while the ox strained beneath its burden, a monk unknown to the temple appeared at the gate. Watching the animal struggle, he said quietly:
“Monk Eshō may have been skilled in reciting the Nirvana Sutra, but it seems he is not very good at pulling a cart.”
At these words, the ox burst into tears, gave a deep sigh, and fell down dead.
The driver accused the visiting monk of causing the animal’s death and had him seized and reported. Yet the monk’s appearance was noble and radiant, unlike that of an ordinary person. Artists were summoned to paint him, and each portrait they made resembled Kannon Bodhisattva. Soon afterward, the monk vanished, and it was said that Kannon had appeared in human form and then departed.
From that time on, people told that the ox had been none other than Monk Eshō reborn, condemned to labor for his wrongdoing. Similar stories were also told of other monks who misused temple goods and were reborn as cattle, forced to pull carts and bear burdens as punishment.
Thus the tale endured as a warning that even small acts of theft could bind a soul to a life of toil, and that the lowing of a weary ox might carry the regret of a human past.
Gallery
Sources
Keikai. (822). Nihon-koku genpō zen’aku ryōiki [日本国現報善悪霊異記, Miraculous Stories of Reward and Punishment in This World]. Nara: Yakushiji Temple.
TYZ Yokai Encyclopedia. 恵勝, from https://tyz-yokai.blog.jp/archives/1078437911.html
Interpretive Lenses
Religious Readings
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Philosophical Readings
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Political / Social Readings
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