ANONYMOUS (14TH CENTURY)

The Sanskrit reads from top to bottom: a (earth), vam (water), ram (fire), ham (wind) and kham (void). They combined are referred as godai, or the five elements. Originated from the Indian Buddhist concept Mahabhuta, the five elements are believed to form everything in the universe. The concept is also associated with gorin (the five wheels) and Dainichi Nyorai (Vairocana) in Japanese Esoteric Buddhism.
The inscription above is quoted from Vairocana’s Awakening Sutra, which explains the five elements:
The Self has insight in honpusho,
it transcends [ordinary] language,
it achieves liberation from all passions,
it is far removed from causality (innen),
it knows emptiness to be [omni-present] like empty space.
Translated by Henny van der Veere, A Study into the Thoughts of Kogyo Daishi Kakuban (Leiden: Hotei Publishing, 2000). p.149.