On the Immediate Penalty of Violent Death Incurred by an Ignorant Man Who Broke a Wooden Buddha Image a Village Child Had Made in Playing1
In the village of Hamanaka, Niki, Ama district, Kii province there was an ignorant man whose name is unknown. Born ignorant, he did not know the law of causation.

There was a path running along the mountain between Ama and Ate. It was called Tamasaka. If one climbs the mountain from Hamanaka, traveling due south, he will reach the village of Hata. Once a child of that village went into the mountain to collect firewood and played by that mountain path, carving a piece of wood into a Buddha image and piling stones into a pagoda. He placed the image in the stone pagoda and occasionally played there, making offerings.

In the reign of Emperor Shirakabe, an ignorant man laughed at the statue carved by the child in his play, chopping and breaking it with an axe. Hardly had he gone any distance when he threw himself on the ground, bleeding from the nose and mouth with both eyes plucked out, dying in an instant like the disappearance of an illusion.

Indeed, we learn that the Guardian of dharma is present. How could we not revere it? The Hoke-kyō explains it thus: “If children draw an image of Buddha with a twig, brush, or fingernail in their play, they will all attain Buddhahood. Or if they raise one hand and bow to worship a Buddha-image, they will attain the supreme stage of Buddhahood.” Therefore, be pious and faithful. (Page 262-263)