Tale of the Flying Bowl - Hihatsutan

Japanese: 飛鉢譚 - ひはつたん

This is a tale about a monk who receives alms by throwing his bowl. As the saying goes, "three robes and one bowl," a bowl is one of the items of furniture that a monk must carry, and is made of wood or iron and is a container for receiving offerings. The story in the Flying Storehouse chapter of the Shigisan Engi Emaki scrolls in which Myoren flies his bowl and carries away a rich man's rice storehouse is connected to an ancient story in the Honcho Shinsen Den by Oe Masafusa, in which a monk from Mt. Hira learns the way of the sage and performs the flying bowl technique. In this story, a monk throws his bowl at an Otsu ship sailing on Lake Biwa in order to ask for rice, but when the helmsman dislikes the bowl and throws a sack of rice instead, the bowl follows and all the rice in the ship flies off into the mountains like wild geese.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

修行者が鉢（はち）を飛ばして布施を得る説話をいう。鉢は〈三衣一鉢（さんねいつぱつ）〉というように，僧の携えるべき什器の一つで，木や鉄で作られ，供養を受けるための容器であった。《信貴山縁起絵巻》飛倉の巻が描く，命蓮（みようれん）が鉢を飛ばして長者の米を倉ごと運んでしまう話は，古く大江匡房《本朝神仙伝》の，比良山の僧が仙道を学び飛鉢法を行う話とつながる。それは，琵琶湖を往く大津船に鉢を飛ばし米を求めるが，楫取（かじとり）が鉢を嫌って一俵を投ずると，鉢に従い船中の米がことごとく雁が飛ぶように山に去る。

出典　株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について　情報

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