Soko kiyoku kokoro no mizu o sumasazu wa ikaga satori no hachisu o mo min - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

底清く心の水を澄まさずは
いかがさとりの蓮をも見ん

Roma-ji: Soko kiyoku kokoro no mizu o sumasazu wa ikaga satori no hachisu o mo min
English Translation: Pure to its depths, if
the water of the heart
is not made to clear,
how then could one ever see
the lotus of awakening?
Meaning: Unless you make the water of your heart clear to its very depths, how could you ever see the lotus of enlightenment?
Commentary: Book Twenty Buddhist Poems 1947

Headnote: "When a hundred-poem sequence was composed at my house on the meaning of the Five Wisdoms, the Wisdom of Wondrous Observation."
This is the third poem in the sequence of poems by various poets on phrases from the scriptures. Unless the water of the heart is made clear to its depths, one cannot see the lotus of enlightenment. According to the headnote, when a hundred-poem sequence was composed at his house on the meaning of the Five Wisdoms, this is the poem on the Wisdom of Wondrous Observation.
Borrowing the image of the lotus blooming in clear water, it teaches that purifying the heart is the path to enlightenment, and shows the poet admonishing himself.
The author, "Nyūdō Saki no Kanpaku Daijō Daijin," is Kujō Kanezane. Son of Regent Fujiwara no Tadamichi, he served in turn as regent, chancellor, and grand minister, and later took vows. He left the diary Gyokuyō and was the elder brother of Jien and father of Fujiwara no Yoshitsune.
The Five Wisdoms are, in esoteric Buddhism, the five kinds of wisdom possessed by Dainichi Nyorai: the Wisdom of the Essence of the Dharma Realm, the Great Round Mirror Wisdom, the Wisdom of Equality, the Wisdom of Wondrous Observation, and the Wisdom of Accomplishing Works. The Wisdom of Wondrous Observation correctly observes all things and cuts off doubt, and is assigned to Amida Nyorai.

The first line, "soko kiyoku," means "pure to the bottom," seeking clarity to the depths of the heart.
The second line, "kokoro no mizu o," likens the heart to water; like the "dust of the heart" of 1926 and the clear stream of 1930 in this book, it overlays the heart with clear water.
The third line, "sumasazu wa," means "if one does not make it clear," a hypothetical condition formed by the negative "zu" with "wa."
The fourth line, "ikaga satori no," uses the rhetorical adverb "ikaga" to deny: how could one see it?
The last line, "hachisu o mo min," likens enlightenment to a lotus flower. The lotus is the flower of Amida's Pure Land, and so it echoes the assignment of the Wisdom of Wondrous Observation to Amida.
Author: Kujō Kanezane
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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