Chapter 8 of 43
VI
Gleanings in Buddha-Fields: Studies of Hand and Soul in the Far East · Lafcadio Hearn
VI
_Going to see the beloved, a thousand ri are as one ri;_[4] _Returning without having seen, one ri is a thousand ri._
[Footnote 4: One _ri_ is equal to about two and a half English miles.]
VII
_Going to see the beloved, even the water of rice-fields_[5] _Ever becomes, as I drink, nectar of gods[6] to the taste._
[Footnote 5: In the original _dorota;_ literally "mud rice-fields,"-- meaning rice-fields during the time of flushing, before the grain has fairly grown up. The whole verse reads:--
Horeté kayoyeba Dorota no midzu mo Noméba kanro no Aji ga suru. ]
[Footnote 6: _Kanro,_ a Buddhist word, properly written with two Chinese characters signifying "sweet dew." The real meaning is _amrita,_ the drink of the gods.]