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64 The Beginning of Heaven and Earth ing also on the circumstances of the sins, he punishes them in such a way that sinful people feel ashamed of their sins. Even though a person is good, the tengu will still try to possess him. But Migiri with his almighty knife scatters them. He does not want to give a person up to the tengu, so he lets them go instead to Furukatoriya.96 Those who make a complete confession he frees from the clutches of Inuheruno. But those who have committed suicide or have harmed others, they will undergo investigation but in any case will still be thrown into Inuheruno. They will never be saved, so you must be careful.97 San Peitoro is the gate official. When you reach the gate you must offer the Gate-Opening Orassho.98 San Pauro evaluates the good and the evil, and those who are neither good nor evil will go to Furukatoriya; it all depends on the nature of their sins. They may undergo examination anywhere from six hours to thirty-three years.99 Afterward, San Jiwan will inspect, Abosutoro will forgive, and through Santosu the Mediator they will soon experience the pleasures of Paraiso.100 14. The Destruction of Our World When the time draws near for the destruction of this world, a great fireball will descend. Winds will roar, torrential rains fall, and insects plague the earth. All kinds of human negligence will be visible. For seven years things will remain in this chaotic state. That is why food shortages will be rampant and the food and possessions of affluent people will be taken from them by force. When their food is all eaten up, people will start turning on their neighbors and nearly devour one another.101 The tengu will arrive at this time. With a secret desire to entice people into their power they will transform the fruit of the masan into various alluring shapes and appealing objects, and offer it to people in many guises. Those who eat of this fruit will fall into the tengu’s hands and drop into Inuheruno.102 Translation 65 After another seven years have elapsed, in the subsequent three years rice paddies and fields as far as the mountains and in all directions will bear rich harvests. It will be an age of luxury, ease, and extraordinary abundance. This is the last chance for people to give up their evil ways and begin to practice virtue. Then you will have salvation. When another three years have elapsed, the fire from the sun and the fire from below the earth will join, and the Cross Tree of Sanchiishima will burn up completely. Seawater will turn to oil and the fire will blaze high. Grasses and trees too will burn like candlewicks . In twelve places the blazes will burn and rise to dreadful heights. When beasts, birds, and other living things see this, they will cry out, “Oh, help us! We want to be saved, so let us be eaten by humans and have a chance.”103 The blazing fires will rise gradually and within three units of time die out. After this great conflagration, as far as the eye can see, this world will be a vast expanse of white sand. Santosu will blow his shell trumpet, and the humans who were made first, then those who died long long ago, and finally those who died consumed in the recent conflagration will appear in the vast clearing. Every one of them without exception will show up in that place. Thus Deusu whose power is infinite will make souls appear again with their original bodies.104 It is said that at that time some souls will be wandering about. When we look into the reason for this situation, the answer lies in practices of our present world. For the wandering souls are those of people who were cremated.105 They are destined to roam about for all eternity. They can never float up to the light but must remain in perpetual darkness. But at the time of this great holocaust, bodies buried in the ground or thrown in the water, eaten up by beasts, birds, or fish, will all return to their original forms despite their various ways of dying.106 But it is a different matter for a human body that has been eaten by another human. Those will never again return to their original forms. This is the reason we do...

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