Love without meeting
Left (Win in a certain book)
かひもなきこひをのみしてよのなかにあはぬためしをわれやのこさむ
| kai mo naki koi o nomi shite yo no naka ni awanu tameshi o ware ya nokosamu | Pointlessly Yearning is all I do— In this mundane world, that We never meet: will that habit Be all that is left to me? |
Tadami
21[i]
Right (Win)
人をよにこひにこがるるわがみよりいくらのなみだここらいづらん
| hito o yo ni koi ni kogaruru wagami yori ikura no namida kokora izuran | For her within the night My yearning smoulders on, yet From my sorry self How many tears Might burst out in floods? |
22
[i] An almost identical poem is included in Saigū nyōgo kishi joō uta’awase (21).
Written down on a pieice of folded paper when the snow was falling, around when he was deciding to become a monk.
世の中にふるぞはかなき白雪のかつはきえぬる物としるしる
| yo no naka ni Furu zo Fakanaki sirayuki no katu Fa kienu mono to sirusiru | Through this mundane world Fleetingly falling The snow, so white, Is swift to vanish— That I know only too well… |
Fujiwara no Takamitsu
When gazing at the moon, around the time he got the idea to become a monk.
かくばかりへがたく見ゆる世の中にうら山しくもすめる月かな
| kaku bakari Fegataku miyuru yo no naka ni urayamasiku mo sumeru tuki kana | When so very Hard it seems to pass through This mundane world Indeed, I envy The moon, dwelling there, so clear! |
Fujiwara no Takamitsu
Composed and sent to a certain person’s residence to say how transient this mundane world is.
世中にかしこきこともはかなきも思ひしとけば夢にぞ有りける
| yo no naka ni kashikoki koto mo hakanaki mo omoishi tokeba yume ni zo arikeru | In this mundane world The glories and Trivialities both, When you think them over, Are but dreams… |
715
On impermanence.
かくてのみありてはかなき世中をうしとやいはんあはれとやいはん
| kakute nomi arite hakanaki yo no naka o ushi to ya iwan aware to ya iwan | So, simply Being here, briefly In this mundane world— Should I call cruel, or That ‘tis full of sorrow?[i] |
711
[i] See: Topic unknown. よのなかにいづらわが身のありてなしあはれとやいはむあなうとやいはむ yo no naka ni / izura wa ga mi no / arite nashi / aware to ya iwamu / ana uto ya iwamu ‘Within this mundane world / Where should my sorry self / Be, or not? / Should I cry out in sorrow, or / At its cruelties?’ Anonymous (Kokinshū XVIII: 943)
Composed on the conception of the essential nature of things.
神といひ仏といふも世中の人の心のほかのものかは
| kami to ii hotoke to iu mo yo no naka no hito no kokoro no hoka no mono ka wa | What we call God, and What we call Buddha, too— In this mundane world ‘Tis in the human heart that They are and nowhere else, aren’t they? |
654
A poem on how Mahāyāna[i] develops the viewpoint of the Middle Way.[ii]
世の中はかがみにうつるかげにあれやあるにもあらずなきにもあらず
| yo no naka wa kagami ni utsuru kage ni are ya aru ni mo arazu naki ni mo arazu | Is this mundane world A mirror’s reflected Shape, perhaps? Not existing, and Not not existing… |
653
[i] Mahāyāna (the ‘Great Vehicle’) (Jp.: daijō 大乗) is the largest major tradition of Buddhism.
[ii] The ‘Middle Way’ (Madhyamāpratipada) (Jp.: chūdō 中道) refers to a spiritual practice of Buddhism that steers clear of both extreme asceticism and sensual indulgence.
