Hakanaku zo miyo no hotoke to omoikeru waga mi hitotsu ni ari to shirazute - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

はかなくぞ三世の仏と思ひける
わが身ひとつにありと知らずて

Roma-ji: Hakanaku zo miyo no hotoke to omoikeru waga mi hitotsu ni ari to shirazute
English Translation: How vain it was,
of the buddhas of three worlds
the way I thought,
not knowing that they abide
within this one self of mine
Meaning: How foolish I was to think of the buddhas of the three worlds as far away, not knowing that they dwell within this one self of mine.
Commentary: Book Nineteen Buddhist Poems 1217

Headnote: "Composed on the Flower Garland Sutra at the time of the same hundred-poem sequence"
He composed this on the Flower Garland Sutra when Retired Emperor Sutoku called for the hundred-poem sequence. How vain it was to think of the buddhas of the three worlds as far away, not knowing they are in this one self of mine, he says. The Flower Garland Sutra teaches that there is no difference among the mind, the Buddha and living beings, so that the Buddha is found within one's own heart. The poem voices his awakening to the delusion of having sought the buddhas of past, present and future outside himself.
The author, "Former Consultant Norinaga," is Fujiwara no Norinaga. A son of the Major Counselor Fujiwara no Tadanori, he rose to consultant. He served Retired Emperor Sutoku as a close attendant and was exiled for his part in the Hōgen Disturbance. He was also known as a master calligrapher.
It comes from the same hundred-poem sequence of Retired Emperor Sutoku as the preceding poem, 1216. The phrase "buddhas of the three worlds" appears again at 1220, 1221 and 1228 in this book; where this poem finds the Buddha within the self, in 1220 and 1221 the light of the buddhas of the three worlds shines on the snow and melts away sin.

First line, "hakanaku zo": "zo," an emphatic binding particle, closes with the attributive "keru" in the third line.
Second line, "miyo no hotoke to": "miyo" are the three worlds of past, present and future, so the buddhas of every age. The phrase also appears in the fourth lines of 1220, 1221 and 1228 in this book.
Third line, "omoikeru": "keru," the attributive of the exclamatory "keri," closes the binding. The poem pauses here.
Fourth line, "waga mi hitotsu ni": "within this one self of mine."
Fifth line, "ari to shirazute": "not knowing that they are there," and by inversion it gives the reason for the mistaken thought of the third line.
Author: Fujiwara no Norinaga
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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