一
I
ある日の事でございます。御釈迦様は極楽の蓮池のふちを、独りでぶらぶら御歩きになっていらっしゃいました。池の中に咲いている蓮の花は、みんな玉のようにまっ白で、そのまん中にある金色の蕊からは、何とも云えない好い匂が、絶間なくあたりへ溢れて居ります。極楽は丁度朝なのでございましょう。
It happened one day. The Buddha was strolling alone along the edge of the lotus pond in Paradise. The lotus flowers blooming in the pond were all as white as jewels, and from the golden stamens at the heart of each, a fragrance beyond telling kept overflowing, without pause, into the air round about. It must have been just morning in Paradise.
やがて御釈迦様はその池のふちに御佇みになって、水の面を蔽っている蓮の葉の間から、ふと下の容子を御覧になりました。この極楽の蓮池の下は、丁度地獄の底に当って居りますから、水晶のような水を透き徹して、三途の河や針の山の景色が、丁度覗き眼鏡を見るように、はっきりと見えるのでございます。
Presently the Buddha came to a stop at the edge of the pond, and, through a gap in the lotus leaves that covered the water's face, chanced to look down at what lay below. Now the bottom of this lotus pond of Paradise lies directly over the pit of Hell, and so, through water clear as crystal, the River of Three Crossings and the Mountain of Needles could be seen quite plainly, exactly as though one were peering through a peep-box.
するとその地獄の底に、犍陀多と云う男が一人、ほかの罪人と一しょに蠢いている姿が、御眼に止まりました。この犍陀多と云う男は、人を殺したり家に火をつけたり、いろいろ悪事を働いた大泥坊でございますが、それでもたった一つ、善い事を致した覚えがございます。と申しますのは、ある時この男が深い林の中を通りますと、小さな蜘蛛が一匹、路ばたを這って行くのが見えました。そこで犍陀多は早速足を挙げて、踏み殺そうと致しましたが、「いや、いや、これも小さいながら、命のあるものに違いない。その命を無暗にとると云う事は、いくら何でも可哀そうだ。」と、こう急に思い返して、とうとうその蜘蛛を殺さずに助けてやったからでございます。
And there in the depths of Hell, His eye fell upon a man named Kandata, squirming among the other sinners. This Kandata was a great thief who had done all manner of evil — killing people, setting fire to houses — yet even he, it so happens, once did a single good deed. For once, as he was passing through a deep forest, he saw a small spider crawling along the roadside. At once Kandata raised his foot to crush it underfoot, but then, "No, no," he suddenly thought better of it, "small as this creature is, it surely has life in it too. To take that life without cause would be a pitiful thing, however you look at it." So, catching himself short, he left the spider alone, and did not kill it after all.
御釈迦様は地獄の容子を御覧になりながら、この犍陀多には蜘蛛を助けた事があるのを御思い出しになりました。そうしてそれだけの善い事をした報には、出来るなら、この男を地獄から救い出してやろうと御考えになりました。幸い、側を見ますと、翡翠のような色をした蓮の葉の上に、極楽の蜘蛛が一匹、美しい銀色の糸をかけて居ります。御釈迦様はその蜘蛛の糸をそっと御手に御取りになって、玉のような白蓮の間から、遥か下にある地獄の底へ、まっすぐにそれを御下しなさいました。
As the Buddha watched what was passing in Hell, He recalled that this Kandata had once spared a spider's life. And He thought that, as a reward for that one good deed, He would, if it could be managed, save the man out of Hell. As it happened, when He looked beside Him, He saw upon a lotus leaf the color of jade a spider of Paradise, spinning out a beautiful thread of silver. The Buddha took that spider's thread gently into His hand, and, from among the white lotuses like jewels, let it straight down to the bottom of Hell, far, far below.
二
II
こちらは地獄の底の血の池で、ほかの罪人と一しょに、浮いたり沈んだりしていた犍陀多でございます。何しろどちらを見ても、まっ暗で、たまにそのくら暗からぼんやり浮き上っているものがあると思いますと、それは恐しい針の山の針が光るのでございますから、その心細さと云ったらございません。その上あたりは墓の中のようにしんと静まり返って、たまに聞えるものと云っては、ただ罪人がつく微な嘆息ばかりでございます。これはここへ落ちて来るほどの人間は、もうさまざまな地獄の責苦に疲れはてて、泣声を出す力さえなくなっているのでございましょう。ですからさすが大泥坊の犍陀多も、やはり血の池の血に咽びながら、まるで死にかかった蛙のように、ただもがいてばかり居りました。
Now here, meanwhile, was Kandata, down in the Pool of Blood at the bottom of Hell, floating up and sinking down together with the other sinners. Look which way one might, all was pitch dark, and when now and then something loomed faintly up out of that darkness, it was only the gleam of the fearful needles on the Mountain of Needles — so there is no telling how forlorn a place it was. What is more, all about lay hushed and still as the inside of a grave, and the only sound to be heard now and again was the faint sighing of the sinners. This, one supposes, was because those who fall so far as this have already been worn out by every torment of Hell, and no longer have even the strength left to cry aloud. So it was that even Kandata, great thief as he was, could do nothing but flounder, choking on the blood of the pool, like a frog at the point of death.
ところがある時の事でございます。何気なく犍陀多が頭を挙げて、血の池の空を眺めますと、そのひっそりとした暗の中を、遠い遠い天上から、銀色の蜘蛛の糸が、まるで人目にかかるのを恐れるように、一すじ細く光りながら、するすると自分の上へ垂れて参るのではございませんか。犍陀多はこれを見ると、思わず手を拍って喜びました。この糸に縋りついて、どこまでものぼって行けば、きっと地獄からぬけ出せるのに相違ございません。いや、うまく行くと、極楽へはいる事さえも出来ましょう。そうすれば、もう針の山へ追い上げられる事もなくなれば、血の池に沈められる事もある筈はございません。
But then, on a certain occasion, it happened this way. Kandata, chancing to lift his head and gaze up at the sky above the Pool of Blood — why, down through that hushed darkness, from far, far above in the heavens, a strand of silver spider's thread, gleaming thin as though fearful of being seen, came slipping softly down upon him! At the sight of it Kandata clapped his hands together in spite of himself, overjoyed. If he clung fast to this thread and climbed, and climbed as far as it would take him, surely he could not fail to escape out of Hell. Nay, if things went well, he might even gain entrance to Paradise itself. And then there would be no more being driven up the Mountain of Needles, nor any chance at all of being sunk again into the Pool of Blood.
こう思いましたから犍陀多は、早速その蜘蛛の糸を両手でしっかりとつかみながら、一生懸命に上へ上へとたぐりのぼり始めました。元より大泥坊の事でございますから、こう云う事には昔から、慣れ切っているのでございます。
Thinking thus, Kandata at once seized the spider's thread firmly in both hands and began, with all his might, to haul himself up it, higher and higher. Being, after all, a great thief, he had long since been thoroughly practiced in matters of this kind.
しかし地獄と極楽との間は、何万里となくございますから、いくら焦って見た所で、容易に上へは出られません。ややしばらくのぼる中に、とうとう犍陀多もくたびれて、もう一たぐりも上の方へはのぼれなくなってしまいました。そこで仕方がございませんから、まず一休み休むつもりで、糸の中途にぶら下りながら、遥かに目の下を見下しました。
But between Hell and Paradise there lie tens of thousands of miles, so that, however he might hurry himself, he could not easily win his way up. After climbing for some while, Kandata at last grew tired, until he could no longer haul himself up so much as one more length. So, having no choice, he thought he would rest a moment first, and, hanging there midway on the thread, looked far down beneath his feet.
すると、一生懸命にのぼった甲斐があって、さっきまで自分がいた血の池は、今ではもう暗の底にいつの間にかかくれて居ります。それからあのぼんやり光っている恐しい針の山も、足の下になってしまいました。この分でのぼって行けば、地獄からぬけ出すのも、存外わけがないかも知れません。犍陀多は両手を蜘蛛の糸にからみながら、ここへ来てから何年にも出した事のない声で、「しめた。しめた。」と笑いました。ところがふと気がつきますと、蜘蛛の糸の下の方には、数限もない罪人たちが、自分ののぼった後をつけて、まるで蟻の行列のように、やはり上へ上へ一心によじのぼって来るではございませんか。犍陀多はこれを見ると、驚いたのと恐しいのとで、しばらくはただ、莫迦のように大きな口を開いたまま、眼ばかり動かして居りました。自分一人でさえ断れそうな、この細い蜘蛛の糸が、どうしてあれだけの人数の重みに堪える事が出来ましょう。もし万一途中で断れたと致しましたら、折角ここへまでのぼって来たこの肝腎な自分までも、元の地獄へ逆落しに落ちてしまわなければなりません。そんな事があったら、大変でございます。が、そう云う中にも、罪人たちは何百となく何千となく、まっ暗な血の池の底から、うようよと這い上って、細く光っている蜘蛛の糸を、一列になりながら、せっせとのぼって参ります。今の中にどうかしなければ、糸はまん中から二つに断れて、落ちてしまうのに違いありません。
And his desperate climbing had not been in vain: the Pool of Blood where he had lately been was now hidden somewhere down in the darkness below, and that faintly gleaming, fearful Mountain of Needles too lay beneath his feet. At this rate, he thought, getting out of Hell might prove no great matter after all. Kandata, twining both hands about the spider's thread, laughed aloud — in a voice he had not once used in all his years down here — "I've done it! I've done it!" But then, chancing to notice, he found that below him on the spider's thread — why, countless sinners without number were following the way he had climbed, toiling upward, upward, one after another, just like a column of ants! At the sight of this, Kandata, torn between astonishment and terror, could for a while only work his eyes about, his mouth hanging open like a fool's. How could this thin thread of spider's silk, one that seemed ready to snap under his own weight alone, possibly bear the weight of all that multitude? If it should happen to break partway, then he himself — he who, of all people, mattered most, having climbed so far already — would be sent tumbling headlong back down into the Hell he had left. That would be a terrible thing indeed. And yet, even as he thought this, the sinners kept coming, by the hundreds, by the thousands, swarming up out of the pitch-black bottom of the Pool of Blood, climbing steadily in a single file up the thin, gleaming thread. Unless something were done at once, the thread was sure to snap in two, right in the middle, and fall.
そこで犍陀多は大きな声を出して、「こら、罪人ども。この蜘蛛の糸は己のものだぞ。お前たちは一体誰に尋いて、のぼって来た。下りろ。下りろ。」と喚きました。
So Kandata raised his voice and bellowed: "Here, you sinners! This spider's thread is mine! Who gave you leave to climb it? Get down! Get down!"
その途端でございます。今まで何ともなかった蜘蛛の糸が、急に犍陀多のぶら下っている所から、ぷつりと音を立てて断れました。ですから犍陀多もたまりません。あっと云う間もなく風を切って、独楽のようにくるくるまわりながら、見る見る中に暗の底へ、まっさかさまに落ちてしまいました。
It was at that very moment. The spider's thread, which until then had been perfectly sound, snapped with a sharp crack, right at the place where Kandata hung. And so it was all up with Kandata. Before he could so much as cry out, he went cutting through the air, spinning round and round like a top, and in the blink of an eye fell headlong down into the darkness below.
後にはただ極楽の蜘蛛の糸が、きらきらと細く光りながら、月も星もない空の中途に、短く垂れているばかりでございます。
After that there remained only the spider's thread of Paradise, glittering thin and bright, hanging there, a short length of it, midway in a sky where there was neither moon nor star.
三
III
御釈迦様は極楽の蓮池のふちに立って、この一部始終をじっと見ていらっしゃいましたが、やがて犍陀多が血の池の底へ石のように沈んでしまいますと、悲しそうな御顔をなさりながら、またぶらぶら御歩きになり始めました。自分ばかり地獄からぬけ出そうとする、犍陀多の無慈悲な心が、そうしてその心相当な罰をうけて、元の地獄へ落ちてしまったのが、御釈迦様の御目から見ると、浅間しく思召されたのでございましょう。
The Buddha, standing at the edge of the lotus pond of Paradise, had watched this whole affair from beginning to end without moving, and now, when Kandata had sunk like a stone to the bottom of the Pool of Blood, He resumed His stroll, wearing upon His face a look of sorrow. It must have seemed to Him a base thing indeed — that Kandata's merciless heart, thinking only of saving himself out of Hell, should have met with punishment fit to match it, and fallen back into the very Hell he had come from.
しかし極楽の蓮池の蓮は、少しもそんな事には頓着致しません。その玉のような白い花は、御釈迦様の御足のまわりに、ゆらゆら萼を動かして、そのまん中にある金色の蕊からは、何とも云えない好い匂が、絶間なくあたりへ溢れて居ります。極楽ももう午に近くなったのでございましょう。
But the lotuses of Paradise's pond took not the slightest notice of any such matter. Their white flowers, like jewels, swayed their calyxes gently about the Buddha's feet, and from the golden stamens at their centers a fragrance beyond telling kept overflowing, without pause, into the air round about. It must have been drawing near noon in Paradise by now.
（大正七年四月十六日）
(April 16, 1918)