English Translation

On the banks of the Ganges river, there were five hundred hungry ghosts. For an eternity, they were unable to drink water. Though they would go to the banks of the river, the water appeared to all of them as fire and they could not drink it. At that moment, the Buddha took up his seat beneath the Udumbara tree by the banks of the river. The five hundred hungry ghosts went to the Buddha’s presence and humbly said, “Our suffering is too difficult to bear, we plead for your help.” The Buddha then explained to the many ghosts about the sin of greed. Despite hearing this, the ghosts humbly said, “We are so tortured by pain, your words do not enter our hearts.” Through the power of the Buddha, he allowed them to drink water and preached to them the various laws of Buddhism. Upon hearing this, the ghosts instantly shed their hungry ghost forms and attained heavenly bodies as a result.

This passage recounts a tale about hungry ghosts and their salvation through the compassion of the Buddha.

The illustration uses a compositional method known as 異時同図 iji douzu, in which the same figures are shown performing different actions over time within a single scene. To match the text, it depicts the hungry ghosts four times following a curve from the bottom to the top right:

1. The hungry ghosts are unable to drink the water as it appears to them as fire.

2. They plead to the Buddha, who takes his place beneath the Udumbara tree.

3. They are able to drink water once again through the power of the Buddha.

4. They shed their old forms and depart from the realm of the hungry ghosts, ascending to the realm of gods.

This technique was commonly used in illustrated handscrolls to capture a sequence of actions described in a narrative in a single illustration.

The illustration to the left depicts the Buddha standing beneath the Udumbara (鬱曇鉢, udonbara) plant. Udumbara can also refer to the blue lotus flower, similar to that on which the Buddha is standing on.

The plant is featured in various Buddhist texts often as a symbol of rarity or an encounter with the Buddha. The flower of the Udumbara plant is also referred to as 優曇華 udonge in Japanese literature, where it is often said to only bloom once every 3,000 years. A quote from the Lotus Sutra states, “Encountering the Buddha is as difficult as encountering the udumbara flower.”