阿耨多羅三藐三菩提の仏たち
わが立つ杣に冥加あらせたまへ
わが立つ杣に冥加あらせたまへ
- Roma-ji
-
Anokutara sanmyaku sanbodai no hotoketachi waga tatsu soma ni myōga arasetamae
- English Translation
-
Anokutara—
sanmyaku sanbodai—
O you buddhas all,
upon the timber hill I enter,
grant your unseen grace.
- Meaning
- O buddhas of supreme and perfect enlightenment, grant your unseen protection to this timbered mountain on which I now stand.
- Commentary
-
Book Twenty Buddhist Poems 1920
Headnote: "When the Central Hall on Mount Hiei was built."
This is the fifth poem in the opening sequence of poems attributed to deities and eminent monks. It prays to the buddhas who have attained supreme enlightenment to grant their protection to Mount Hiei, which the poet is about to open. According to the headnote, it was composed when the Central Hall on Mount Hiei was built.
An unconventional poem that sets a Sanskrit scriptural phrase directly into its first and second lines, it conveys the solemnity of one who founds a whole monastic mountain.
The author, "Dengyō Daishi," is Saichō. A monk of the early Heian period, he went to Tang China to study the Tiantai teachings, founded the Japanese Tendai school, and laid the foundation of Enryaku-ji on Mount Hiei. Dengyō Daishi is the title the court conferred on him after his death.
The Konpon Chūdō is the central hall of Enryaku-ji, originating in the Ichijō Shikan-in that Saichō built in Enryaku 7 (788).
The phrase "waga tatsu soma" in this poem was taken up by Jien in "Ōkenaku / ukiyo no tami ni / ōu kana / waga tatsu soma ni / sumizome no sode" (Senzai Wakashū; Ogura Hyakunin Isshu), and became established as an expression for Mount Hiei.
The first line, "anokutara," begins with a word transcribing Sanskrit sounds directly—an extraordinarily unusual opening.
The second line, "sanmyaku sanbodai no," continues the first; "anokutara sanmyaku sanbodai" means supreme, perfect enlightenment, the highest awakening of a buddha. The line has extra syllables.
The third line, "hotoketachi," addresses the buddhas who have attained enlightenment, and the poem breaks after it.
In the fourth line, "waga tatsu soma ni," "soma" is a mountain from which timber is cut; here it means Mount Hiei, which the poet enters to build his hall.
The last line, "myōga arasetamae," is an imperative praying for unseen protection, and it has extra syllables. It shares with the next poem's last line, "ware o misonae," the form of calling on sacred beings in prayer.
- Author
- Saichō
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Ashi soyogu shiose no nami no itsu made ka ukiyo no naka ni ukabi wataran
- Next Poem
-
Nori no fune sashite yuku mi zo moromoro no kami mo hotoke mo ware o misonae