Karma and Buddhist Salvation

Central to several plays is the Buddhist concept of karma, where past actions determine present suffering, and salvation is achieved through prayer, repentance, and the intervention of Buddha—as in Kinuta, where the wife's ghost is freed through the Lotus Sutra, and Atsumori, where the enemy priest prays for his former foe's rebirth.

Atsumori's ghost seeks salvation through prayer, and the priest's rites are central to the chapter.