Sutra of Non-Giving - Sutra of Non-Giving

The title of a Kyogen piece. A Kyogen about a monk. In the Okura Nagareyama main family, it is written as "Fuse no sutra". When the monk (shite) finishes reciting sutras for his parishioners and is about to leave, the usual donation is not made. The monk tries various things to remind the parishioners to make a donation, under the pretext of a sermon, in order to avoid setting an example, but the parishioners don't notice. The monk gives up and starts on his way home, but is reluctant to leave, so he hides his robe in his bosom and pretends to have returned to look for it, trying desperately to make the parishioners realize that the hole in the robe is just big enough for a night's sleeper coin to pass through, and so on. When the parishioners finally realize what's going on and offer them a donation, the monk is reluctant to accept it, trying to save face. When the monk forces the robe into his bosom, it comes out. The piece ends with the monk saying, "I can't even be ashamed of myself." Although the work is a scathing attack on the greed of monks, the human and fluctuating feelings of the poor monk also evoke sympathy. It seems to have been inspired by a proverb found in "Kefukisou" that says, "For a sutra without alms, one takes off one's robe" (one responds to unpaid work in a crude manner).

[Mitsuo Yuya]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

狂言の曲名。出家狂言。大蔵(おおくら)流山本家では「布施無経」と表記する。檀家(だんか)での読経を終えた僧（シテ）が帰る段になっても、いつもの布施が出ない。これが例になってはまずいと、説教にかこつけて布施を思い出させようとさまざまにいうが、檀家は気がつかない。僧はいったんはあきらめて帰途につくが去りがたく、袈裟(けさ)を懐(ふところ)に隠して、捜しに戻った体(てい)を装い、鳥目(ちょうもく)（銭(ぜに)）が通るぐらいの穴を「ふせ縫い」にしたのが目印などと懸命に気づかせようとする。ようやく察した檀家が布施を出すと、僧は体面を取り繕いなかなか受け取ろうとしない。むりやり僧の懐に押し込むと、袈裟が出てくる。僧の「面目もおりない」で終曲。僧侶(そうりょ)の欲心を痛烈につく作品だが、貧僧の人間味豊かに揺れる心が共感をよぶ。『毛吹草』にもある諺(ことわざ)「布施無い経には袈裟を落とす」（無報酬の仕事には粗略なやり方で応ずる）に着想を得たらしい。

［油谷光雄］

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