Hokekyō o waga eshi koto wa takigi kori na tsumi mizu kumi tsukaete zo eshi - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

法華経を我が得しことは薪こり
菜摘み水汲み仕へてぞ得し

Roma-ji: Hokekyō o waga eshi koto wa takigi kori na tsumi mizu kumi tsukaete zo eshi
English Translation: The Lotus Sutra,
the way that I came to gain it
was by cutting wood,
picking greens and drawing water,
serving, so I came to gain it.
Meaning: I gained the Lotus Sutra by cutting firewood, picking greens, and drawing water, serving my master; that is how I gained it.
Commentary: Book Twenty Lament Poems 1346

Headnote: "Composed by Archbishop Gyōki"
The poet says that he gained the Lotus Sutra by cutting firewood, picking greens and drawing water in service. In the Devadatta chapter of the Lotus Sutra it is told that the Buddha, when a king in a former life, served a hermit called Asita, gathering firewood, picking fruit and drawing water in his practice, and so received the Lotus Sutra, and the poem is composed in the person of the Buddha. At the Eight Lectures on the Lotus Sutra, people walked in procession carrying firewood and water buckets as this poem was chanted, a rite called the firewood procession.
The author, Archbishop Gyōki, was a priest of the Nara period. He traveled the provinces building roads and bridges and devoting himself to the relief of the people, and having helped in raising the Great Buddha of Tōdaiji, he became archbishop.
It draws on the tale in the Devadatta chapter of the Lotus Sutra of the Buddha serving the hermit Asita and receiving the Lotus Sutra.

First line, "Hokekyō o," means "the Lotus Sutra," a hypermetric line of six syllables.
Second line, "waga eshi koto wa," means "how I gained it," with "shi" the attributive form of the past auxiliary "ki."
Third line, "takigi kori," means "cutting firewood," sharing this word with the first line of 1339 in this book, "takigi koru."
Fourth line, "na tsumi mizu kumi," means "picking greens, drawing water," with the third line piling up the labors of his service and practice.
Final line, "tsukaete zo eshi," means "by serving did I gain it," with the binding particle "zo" resolved by "shi," the attributive form of the past auxiliary "ki." It closes with the same "eshi" as the second line.
Author: Gyōki
Source: Shui Wakashu
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