いろにのみ染めし心のくやしきを
空しと説ける法のうれしさ
空しと説ける法のうれしさ
- Roma-ji
-
Iro ni nomi someshi kokoro no kuyashiki o munashi to tokeru nori no ureshisa
- English Translation
-
Only in color
did I dye this heart of mine—
and though I regret,
O the joy of the Law that taught
that color is but empty.
- Meaning
- How I regret the heart I dyed only in the colors of the world—and how glad I am of the Law that teaches that color is empty.
- Commentary
-
Book Twenty Buddhist Poems 1936
Headnote: "Composed on the meaning of the Heart Sutra."
This is the third poem in the sequence on phrases from the scriptures and the heart of the teachings, closing that sequence. To one who regrets having dyed her heart only in color, it sings the joy of the Law that teaches color is empty. According to the headnote, it was composed on the meaning of the Heart Sutra.
Regretting a life spent captivated by love and splendor, she expresses the joy of finding salvation in the teaching that all such things are empty.
The author, "Kojijū," was a lady-in-waiting and poet from the end of the Heian into the early Kamakura period, the daughter of Kōsei, superintendent of Iwashimizu Hachiman Shrine. She is known as "Matsuyoi no Kojijū."
The Heart Sutra, known for the phrase "form is emptiness, emptiness is form," teaches that all things with form are empty, without substance.
In the first line, "iro ni nomi," "iro" is a pivot word joining the sense of love and bright colors with the Buddhist sense of "form," all things that have shape.
The second line, "someshi kokoro no," means "the heart I dyed in those colors"; "color" and "dye" are associated words.
The third line, "kuyashiki o," means "though it is regrettable," and the particle "o" turns toward the joy that follows.
The fourth line, "munashi to tokeru," gently transposes the Heart Sutra's "form is emptiness": the Law has taught that form is empty, without substance.
The last line, "nori no ureshisa," ends on a noun, closing with the joy of salvation. Passing from the "regret" of the third line through the teaching of the fourth, regret is turned into joy.
- Author
- Kojiju
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Okuyama ni hitori ukiyo wa satoriniki tsune naki iro o kaze ni nagamete
- Next Poem
-
Murasaki no kumoji ni sasou koto no ne ni ukiyo o harau mine no matsukaze