谷川の流れし清く澄みぬれば
隈なき月の影も浮かびぬ
隈なき月の影も浮かびぬ
- Roma-ji
-
Tanigawa no nagare shi kiyoku suminureba kuma naki tsuki no kage mo ukabinu
- English Translation
-
As the mountain stream
flows so pure, and has run clear,
now its waters hold
the light of the unclouded moon,
afloat upon the surface.
- Meaning
- Now that the mountain stream runs pure and clear, the light of the unclouded moon floats upon its waters.
- Commentary
-
Book Twenty Buddhist Poems 1930
Headnote: "When I was reading the Nirvana Sutra, someone in a dream wrote and showed me 'Chiru hana ni / ike no kōri mo / tokenu nari / hana fukichirasu / haru no yo no sora'; this is the poem I remember sending in reply within the dream."
This is the first poem in the sequence of reflections on reading the sutras and pondering the Law. It says that because the mountain stream has run clear, the light of the unclouded moon now floats upon it. According to the headnote, while the poet was reading the Nirvana Sutra, someone in a dream wrote and showed her "Chiru hana ni / ike no kōri mo / tokenu nari / hana fukichirasu / haru no yo no sora," and she remembered replying within the dream.
As the moon is reflected in clear water, so the Buddha dwells in a heart made pure; the enlightened heart of one reading the sutra is entrusted to a scene.
No author is named in the text; continuing from the preceding poem, this is a poem by Higo, a lady-in-waiting and poet of the late Heian period who served in the household of Fujiwara no Morozane, the Kyōgoku Regent, and is also called Kyōgoku Kanpaku-ke no Higo.
The Nirvana Sutra, set at the Buddha's passing, teaches that the Buddha is eternal and that all living beings possess the buddha-nature.
The first line, "tanigawa no," takes up the "ice of the pond" in the dream poem and moves the scene to running water after the ice has melted.
In the second line, "nagare shi kiyoku," "shi" is an emphatic particle heightening the clarity of the stream.
The third line, "suminureba," means "since it has become clear," a definite condition formed by the perfective "nu" in the realis with "ba." The clearing of the water is overlaid with the clearing of the heart.
The fourth line, "kuma naki tsuki no," is the moon without a trace of cloud, understood as a figure for the Buddha or the buddha-nature. It answers the dream poem's "spring night sky" by adding the moon.
The last line, "kage mo ukabinu," states with the perfective "nu" that the moonlight is now mirrored on the water. The scene of the moon reflected in water shows the Buddha dwelling in a pure heart.
- Author
- Higo
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
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Murasaki no kumo no hayashi o miwataseba nori ni ouchi no hana sakinikeri
- Next Poem
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Negawaku wa shibashi yamiji ni yasuraite kakage ya semashi nori no tomoshibi