玉かけし衣の裏を返してぞ
愚かなりける心をば知る
愚かなりける心をば知る
- Roma-ji
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Tama kakeshi koromo no ura o kaeshite zo oroka narikeru kokoro o ba shiru
- English Translation
-
The jewel fastened—
turning over the lining
of the robe at last,
how foolish it has been,
that is how I know my heart.
- Meaning
- Only when I turned over the lining of the robe where the jewel had been fastened did I come to know how foolish my heart had been.
- Commentary
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Book Twenty Buddhist Poems 1971
Headnote: "On the meaning of the Five Hundred Disciples chapter."
This is the seventh poem in the sequence of poems by various poets on scriptural phrases and Buddhist observances. Only on turning over the lining of the robe on which a jewel had been fastened does one know one's own foolish heart. According to the headnote, it was composed on the meaning of the Five Hundred Disciples chapter of the Lotus Sutra.
It expresses the realization, brought about only by the Buddha's teaching, of the folly of having wandered in delusion while already possessing, unawares, the treasure of the buddha-nature.
The author, "Sōzu Genshin," was a Tendai monk of the mid-Heian period, called Eshin Sōzu because he lived at the Eshin-in at Yokawa on Mount Hiei. He wrote the Ōjō Yōshū (Essentials of Rebirth), which greatly influenced the spread of Pure Land Buddhism.
The Five Hundred Disciples chapter tells the parable of the jewel sewn in the robe. A man who fell asleep drunk at a close friend's house had a priceless jewel sewn into the lining of his robe by that friend, who then set out on a journey; unaware of it, the man lived in poverty until, meeting the friend again, he was told of it and found the jewel. The parable likens this to living beings originally possessing the potential to become buddhas.
The first line, "tama kakeshi," means "on which a jewel had been fastened," using the attributive of the past "ki." It points to the jewel of the parable of the jewel in the robe.
The second line, "koromo no ura o," is the lining of the robe where the jewel was sewn, showing where the unnoticed buddha-nature lies.
The third line, "kaeshite zo," means "turning it over," intensified by the particle "zo," marking the turning point of first awakening through the teaching.
The fourth line, "oroka narikeru," uses the attributive of "keri" of realization, showing a heart newly aware that it was foolish.
The last line, "kokoro o ba shiru," closes the kakari-musubi of "zo" with the attributive "shiru." Poem 1950 in this book also takes the Five Hundred Disciples chapter as its topic, singing of the unclouded heart of a disciple who outwardly appears as a voice-hearer; this poem, in contrast, sings of the heart of an ordinary person who holds the treasure without knowing it.
- Author
- Genshin
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Au koto o izuku ni tote ka chigirubeki ukimi no yukan kata o shiraneba
- Next Poem
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Yume ya yume utsutsu ya yume to wakanu kana ika naru yo ni ka samen to suran