I had a dream about a large object which resembled a sheep in the sky. It went through unending transformations. Sometimes it was like a light, sometimes it resembled a human figure. When it was like an aristocrat wearing a cap, it suddenly changed into a commoner who descended to the ground.

The priest Girin was there. He looked at it, was disgusted, and detested it. It turned to me and seemed to want to say something. I thought to myself that this was a constellation that had transformed and manifested itself. I thought highly of it. I wanted to resolve my uncertainty [about what it was].

Then it turned to me and said, 'Many [priests] should not accept the faith and offerings of other people."

Then I understood it. I asked it, "Where will I be reborn next?"

It replied, 'In the Trayastrimsas Heaven.'

I asked, "When I am reborn there, will I already be unattached to the five desires and be practicing the Buddha's way?"

It replied, "Yes." The heavenly being said, "Shouldn't you keep from burning your head?"

I replied, "Yes." I thought, My next life will be good. Why do I try to anticipate it? I think it was telling me that I need only do what I must before people in this world.

Again I said, "Will you always protect me like this?"

It said, "Yes."

Then I awoke.

NOTES

• Myoe Shonin (1173-1232) was a Japanese monk living in a time when Buddhism (and many civil institutions) had decayed. Priests were corrupt (some were robbers); temples had been burned, and lines of oral/experiential teaching (vital in many Buddhist sects) wiped out. Myoe was determined to reconstruct the early purity of Buddha's teaching from scratch if need be; and he used ecstatic dreams and visions like this to do it.
• The date: The year is definite, but the "20th day of the 9th month" is in the lunar calendar, and may not line up well with our September.
• Trayastrimsas Heaven: the second of the six Buddhist heavens.
• Burning your head: not as mysterious as it sounds. Myoe was harshly ascetic; he once cut off his own ear. This dream, decades later, seems to be reminding him that Buddha advocated escaping this world via moderation, not asceticism and certainly not suicide.

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