渡すべき数も限らぬ橋柱
いかにたてける誓ひなるらん
いかにたてける誓ひなるらん
- Roma-ji
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Watasubeki kazu mo kagiranu hashibashira ika ni tatekeru chikai naruran
- English Translation
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To carry across,
numbers beyond all counting—
such a bridge's pillars,
how could they have been raised up,
the vow that stands behind them?
- Meaning
- Bridge pillars meant to carry across beings beyond all counting—how could such a vow ever have been raised?
- Commentary
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Book Twenty Buddhist Poems 1966
Headnote: "When Taikenmon-in no Chūnagon urged others to compose poems on the twenty-eight chapters, on the meaning of 'He widely saved living beings, their number beyond measure' from the Introductory chapter."
This is the second poem in the sequence of poems by various poets on scriptural phrases and Buddhist observances. The poet wonders how the Buddha could have raised the pillars of a bridge meant to carry across beings without number. According to the headnote, it was composed on the meaning of "He widely saved living beings, their number beyond measure" from the Introductory chapter, when Taikenmon-in no Chūnagon urged others to compose poems on the twenty-eight chapters of the Lotus Sutra.
Likening to a bridge the Buddha's salvation that carries beings from this shore of delusion to the far shore of awakening, he marvels at the vastness of a vow to save beings without limit.
The author, "Kōtaigōgū no Daibu Shunzei," was a son of Fujiwara no Toshitada and the poet who compiled the Senzai Wakashū. He took vows under the name Shakua and was the father of Fujiwara no Teika.
Taikenmon-in no Chūnagon was a lady-in-waiting who served Taikenmon-in, empress of Emperor Toba. The Introductory chapter tells how the Buddha widely saved living beings too many to count.
The first line, "watasubeki," means "meant to carry across" to the far shore, likening the saving of beings to crossing a bridge.
The second line, "kazu mo kagiranu," transposes the scripture's "their number beyond measure," showing the limitlessness of the beings to be saved.
The third line, "hashibashira," is the pillar that supports a bridge, a figure for the vow that upholds the Buddha's salvation. The poem breaks after it.
In the fourth line, "ika ni tatekeru," "tate" is a pivot word joining "raising" the bridge pillars and "making" a vow.
The last line, "chikai naruran," closes with the conjectural "ran," wondering with admiration what kind of vow it could be. "Carry across," "bridge pillar," and "raise" are associated words.
- Author
- Fujiwara no Shunzei
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
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Uki o nao mukashi no yue to omowazu wa ika ni kono yo o uramihatemashi
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Ima zo kore irihi o mite mo omoikoshi mida no mikuni no yūgure no sora