Happy Thoughts - Sleep Stories for Grownups-Halloween!A Passional Karma-Pt 2

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We've got a very special Japanese Halloween story today, so why not settle in and have a listen! It was written by Lafcadio Hearn. We're continuing with our Sleep Stories series-and this is part 2 of this traditional story. It’s got a bit of mystery and a bit of chill!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hi, this is Stefana at Positive Affirmations and Audio Stories
bringing you happy thoughts, inspiration, motivation and entertainment to start
your day. We use the power of positive words to
help you live the positive, uplifting lifestyle that you so

(00:23):
very well deserve. And we're continuing with our sleep story series.
Continuing with the story of Passional Karma by Lefcadio Hearne.
This is part two. If you remember from part one,
Tomoso had snuck in two the other fellows home to

(00:49):
see who was that woman he was talking to, and
he found out it was a skeleton, just skin and bones.
But to Shinaburra, he saw the beautiful woman that he

(01:18):
used to love. So we can imagine that Tomoso was
pretty freaked out and he ran to the place of
Hakku old oh you say, the nime Somi or the

(01:40):
wise man, the mystic man to tell him what he
had seen and asked for help. Hako old Oh you
say the Nimsomi was a very old man, but in
his life he had traveled much, and he had heard

(02:02):
and saying so many things that he could not be
easily surprised. Yet the story of the terrified Tomoso, both
alarmed and amazed him. He had read in ancient Chinese
books of love between the living and the dead, but
he had never believed it possible. Now, however, he felt

(02:24):
convinced that the statement of Tomoso was not a falsehood,
and that something very strange was going on in the
house of Hoggi Water. Should the truth prove to be
what Tomoso imagined, then the young Samurai was a doomed man.

(02:45):
If the woman be a ghost, said Yusighed to the
frightened servant. If the woman be a ghost, you Muster
must die very soon, unless something extraordinary can be done
to save him. And if the woman be a ghost,
the signs of death will appear on his face. For

(03:08):
the spirit of the living is your key and pure,
and the spirit of the dead is inky and unclean.
The one is positive, the other negative. He whose bride
is a ghost cannot live, even though in his blood

(03:29):
there existed the force of a life of one hundred years.
That force must quickly perish. Still, I shall do all
that I can to save Hagiwarasama. And in the meantime, Tumosau,
say nothing to any other person, not even to your

(03:51):
wife about this matter. At sunrise, I shall call upon
your master. When questioned the next morning by Yusai, Shinaburo
at first attempted to deny that any woman had been
visiting the house, But finding this artless policy of no avail,

(04:15):
and perceiving that the old man's purpose was altogether unselfish,
he was finally persuaded to acknowledge what had really occurred,
and to give his reasons for wishing to keep the
matter a secret. As for the lady Ijima, he intended,
he said, to make her his wife as soon as possible.

(04:36):
Oh madness, cried Usai, losing all patience in the intensity
of his alarm. No, sir, that the people who have
been coming here night after night are dead. Some frightful
delusion is upon you. Why the simple fact that you
long supposed also you to be dead, and repeated the

(04:59):
nimbutsu for uh and made all ferings before her tablet
is excelf the proof. The lips of the dead have
touched you, The hands of the dead have caressed you.
Even at this moment. I see in your face the

(05:22):
signs of death that you will not believe. Listen to
me now, sir, I beg you, if you wish to
save yourself, otherwise you have less than twenty days to live.
They told you these people that they were residing in

(05:44):
the district of Shitaya, then you're not gonna no Sasakai.
Did you ever visit them at that place? No, of
course you do not. Then go today as soon as
you can to. You're not gonna no Sasaki to try
to find their home. And having uttered this council with

(06:07):
the most vehement earnestness, Hakuhoo Yosai abruptly took his departure. Shinzabuu, startled,
though not convinced, resolved after a moment's reflection to follow
the advice of the ninsomi and go to Shitaya. It

(06:28):
was yet early in the morning when he reached the
quarter of Yanaka no Sasaki and began his search for
the dwelling of Osuyu. He went through every street and
side street with all the names inscribed at the various entrances,
and made inquiries whenever an opportunity presented itself. But he

(06:51):
could not find anything resembling the little house mentioned by
o yone, and none of the people whom he question
knew of any house in the quarter inhabited by two
single women. Feeling at last certain that further research would
be useless, he turned homeward by the shortest way, which

(07:15):
happened to lead through the grounds of the temple shin
Banzui In. Suddenly his attention was attracted by two new
tombs placed side by side at the rear of the temple.
One was a common tomb, such as might have been

(07:35):
erected for a person of humble rank. The other was
a large and handsome monument, and hanging before it was
a beautiful pione lantern, which probably had been left there
at the time of the Festival of the Dead Shin
t Saboru remembered that the peone lantern carried by Oyone

(07:59):
was exactly similar, and the coincidence impressed him as strange.
He looked again at the tomb, but the tombs explained nothing.
Neither bore any personal name, only the Buddhist kaimno or
posthumous appellation. Then he determined to seek information at the temple,

(08:24):
and Alcolok stated in reply to his questions that the
large tomb had been recently erected for the daughter of
Ejma Heyzayamon, the Hatamuko of Ushigomeh and that the small
tomb next to it was that of her servant O Yone,

(08:48):
who had died of grief soon after the young lady's funeral.
Immediately to Shinzabudo's memory, there recurred with another and sinister meaning,
the words of Oyone, We went away and found a
very small house in Yanaka no Sasaki. There we are

(09:13):
now just barely able to live by doing a little
private work. Here indeed was the very small house and
in Yanaka no Sasaki, but the little private work. Terror stricken,

(09:35):
the samurai hastened with all speed to the house of
Yusai and begged for his counsel and assistance. But Yusai
declared himself unable to be of any aid in such
a case. All that he could do was to send
Shinzaburo to the High Priest Real Saiki of the shin
Banzui in with a letter praying for immediate religious help.

(10:04):
The High Priest Real Sicki was a learned and a
holy man. By spiritual vision, he was able to borrow
the secret of any sorrow and the nature of the
karma that it caused it. He heard unmoved the story
of Shinzaburo and said to him, a very great danger

(10:26):
now threatens you because of an error committed in one
of your former states of existence. The karma that binds
you to the dead is very strong. But if I
tried to explain his character, you would not be able
to understand. I shall tell you therefore, only this, that

(10:47):
the dead person has no desire to injure you out
of hate, feels no enmity towards you. She is influence
on the contrary, by the most passionate affection for you.
Probably the girl has been in love with you from
a time long preceding your present life, from a time

(11:09):
of not less than three or four past existences, And
it would seem that although necessarily changing her form and
condition at each succeeding birth, she has not been able
to cease from following after you. Therefore, it will not

(11:34):
be an easy thing to escape from her influence. But
now I am going to lend you this powerful mamori
which will protect you. It is a pure gold image
of that Buddha called the sea sounding Tathagata kai on Yurai,

(12:00):
because his preaching of the law sounds throughout the world
like the law of the sea, and this little image
is especially a shore to yo yo kai amulet, which
protects a living from the dead. This you must wear
in its covering next to your body under the girdle. Besides,

(12:26):
I shall personally perform in the temple a sega key
service special service for the repose of the troubled spirit.
And here is a holy sutra called ubol Dune like
Cule or treasure Reigning Sutra. You must be careful to

(12:51):
recite it every night in your house without fail. Furthermore,
I shall give you this package of o Fudha symbols.
You must past one of them over every opening of
your house, no matter how small. If you do this,

(13:11):
the power of the holy texts will prevent the dead
from entering. But whatever may happen, do not fail to
recite the sutra. Shinzaburo humbly thanks the high Priest, and

(13:32):
then taking with him the image, the sutra and the
bundle of sacred texts, he made all haste to reach
his home before the hour of sunset. With Yusai's advice
and help, Shinzaburo was able before dark to fix the
holy texts all over the apertures of his dwelling. Then

(13:57):
the Ninsomi returned to his own house, leaving the youth alone.
Night came warm and clear. Shinzabudu made fast the doors,
bound the precious amulet about his waist into his mosquito net,
and by the glow of a night lantern, began to

(14:19):
recite the Ubo Darani Kyo. For a long time, he
chanted the words, comprehending little of their meaning. Then he
tried to obtain some rest, but his mind was still
too much disturbed by the strange events of the day.

(14:40):
Midnight passed and no sleep came to him. At last,
he heard the boom of the great temple bell of
densi In, announcing the eighth hour. It ceased, and she

(15:00):
zin Zaburo suddenly heard the sound of Gita approaching from
the old direction, but this time more slowly. Karan Koron
Karan karn.

Speaker 2 (15:18):
At.

Speaker 1 (15:18):
Once a cold sweat broke over his forehead. Opening the
suitor hastily with trembling hands, he began again to recite
it aloud. The steps came nearer and nearer reached the
live hedge stopped then, strange to say, Shinzaburo felt unable

(15:43):
to remain under his mosquito net. Something stronger even than
his fear impelled him to look, and instead of continuing
to recite the Ubo Doronikyo, he foolishly approached the shutters
and through a chink it out into the night. Before

(16:03):
the house. He saw O Suu standing and O Yone
with the peone lantern, and both of them were gazing
at the Buddhist texts paced above the entrance. Never before,
not even in what time she lived, had O Suyu

(16:25):
appeared so beautiful, and Shinzaburo felt his heart drawn towards
her with a power almost resistless. But the terror of
death and the terror of the unknown restrained, and there
went within him such a struggle between his love and
his fear, that he became as one suffering in the

(16:48):
body the pains of the shown that Sue held. Presently,
he heard the voice of the maid servant saying, my dear mistress,
there is no way to enter the heart of huggywater.
Some almost have changed, for the promise that he made

(17:09):
last night has been broken, and the doors had been
made fast to keep us out. We cannot go in tonight.
It will be wiser for you to make up your
mind not to think any more about him, because his
feeling towards you has certainly changed. It is evident that

(17:30):
he does not want to see you, So it will
be better not to give yourself any more trouble for
the sake of a man whose heart is so unkind.
But the girl answered, weeping, Oh to think that this
could happen. After the pledgures which we.

Speaker 2 (17:50):
Made to each other often, I was told that the
heart of a man changes as quickly as the sky
of autumn. Yet surely the heart of Huggey, what a summa,
cannot be so cruel that.

Speaker 1 (18:02):
He should really intend to exclude me in this way.
Dear yone, please find some means of taking me to him.
Unless you do, I will never never go home again.
Thus she continued to plead, veiling her face with her

(18:23):
long sleeves, and very beautiful she looked, and very touching,
but the fear of death was strong upon her lover.
Oyoni at last made answer, my dear young lady, why
will you trouble your mind about a man who seems
to be so cruel? Well, let us see if there

(18:48):
be no way to enter at the back of the house.
Come with me, after taking o Suyu by the hand.
She led her away toward the rear of the dwelling,
and there the two disappeared, as suddenly as the light
disappears when the flame of a lamp is blown out.

(19:15):
Night after night, the shadows came at the hour of
the ox, and nightly shin Zaburo heard the weeping of Osoyu.
Yet he believed himself saved little, imagining that his doom
had already been decided by the character of his dependence.

(19:39):
Tomozon had promised, you say, never to speak to any
other person, not even to o Mine, his wife, of
the strange events that were taking place. But Tomozo was
not long suffered by the hauteurs to rest in peace.
Night a night, o yone entered into his dwelling and

(20:04):
roused him from his sleep and asked him to remove
the o fuda placed over one very small window at
the back of his master's house, and Demozo, out of fear,
as often, promised her to take away the old fudo
before the next sundown, but never by day could he

(20:25):
make up his mind to remove it, believing that evil
was intended to Shinzaburo. At last, in a night of storm,
O yone straddled him from slumber with a cry of reproach,
and stooped above his pillow and said to him.

Speaker 3 (20:45):
Have a care how you trifle with us. If by
tomorrow night you do not take away that text, you
shall learn how I can hate.

Speaker 1 (20:59):
And she made her face so frightful as she spoke
that Tomoso nearly died of terror. Omine, the wife of Tomoso,
had never to then known of these visits, even to
her husband. They it seemed like bad dreams. But on
this particular night it chanced that, waking suddenly she heard

(21:24):
the voice of a woman talking to Tomoso. Almost in
the same moment, the talking ceased, and when Omine looked
about her, she saw, by the light of the night
lamp only her husband, shuddering and white with fear. The

(21:44):
stranger was gone, The doors were fast it seemed impossible
that anyone could have entered. Nevertheless, the jealousy of the
wife had been aroused, and she began to chide and
to question Tomoso in such a manner that he thought

(22:04):
himself obliged to betray the secret and to explain the
terrible limit in which he had been placed. Then the
passion of Omine yielded to wonder and alarm. But she
was a subtle woman, and she devised immediately a plan

(22:26):
to save her husband by the sacrifice of her master.
And she gave Tomoso a cunning counsel, telling him to
make conditions with the dead. And that's it for to day.

(22:52):
We'll be back again next week. What are these conditions?
Are they going to work? And in whose favor will
they work? You'll have to wait till next week to
find out. In the meantime, feel free to share this
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(23:15):
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(23:38):
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