toku minori
kiku no shiratsuyu
yoru wa okite
tsutomete kien
koto o shi zo omou
The Law teaches that
White dewdrops on chrysanthemums (Listen)
Fall at night (Arise from slumber)
And vanish with the dawn (Go to prayer, all will die)–
That is what I feel.
At a time when there was a reading of the Lotus Sutra at the Bodai Temple and she had gone to hear it, she heard from someone asking her to return home quickly, so she composed:
求めてもかゝる蓮の露をおきてうき世に又は歸る物かは
motomete mo
kakaru Fatisu no
tuyu wo okite
uki yo ni mata Fa
kaFeru mono ka Fa
Even being asked,
Faced with such a lotus –
Dew-dropped – should I abandon it
And once again to the world of pain
Return?