常ならぬためしは夜半の煙にて
消えぬ名残を見るぞうれしき
消えぬ名残を見るぞうれしき
- Roma-ji
-
Tsune naranu tameshi wa yowa no kemuri nite kienu nagori o miru zo ureshiki
- English Translation
-
The proof that nothing
lasts was the midnight smoke
of the funeral pyre,
yet what remains, not vanished,
how glad I am to see it
- Meaning
- The proof that nothing lasts was the smoke of that midnight pyre, yet how glad I am to see what remains and has not vanished.
- Commentary
-
Book Nineteen Buddhist Poems 1254
Headnote: "Composed on visiting Tennōji and paying homage to the relics left by the Buddha's body"
He composed this on visiting Shitennōji and paying homage to the relics, the Buddha's remains. The proof of impermanence was the midnight smoke, yet how glad I am to see what remains unvanished, he says. The Buddha's passing and the midnight smoke of his cremation showed the impermanence of the world, but he rejoices in the bond with the Buddha that lets him still worship the relics that have not vanished.
The author, "Meiun, Head of the Tendai School," was a son of the Provisional Major Counselor Minamoto no Akimichi and served as head of the Tendai school. He enjoyed the trust of Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa but lost his life when Kiso Yoshinaka attacked the Hōjūji palace.
1209 in this book was likewise composed on worshipping the relics at Tennōji. Where that poem found it sad to look on what remained of the Buddha who had departed as the smoke cleared, this poem finds it a joy to see what has not vanished, so before the same relics the two form a pair of sorrow and joy. It also stands beside the preceding poem, 1253, as a poem on Tennōji.
First line, "tsune naranu": "impermanent."
Second line, "tameshi wa yowa no": "tameshi" means an example or proof, and "yowa," the middle of the night, refers to the Buddha's passing at midnight.
Third line, "kemuri nite": "being the smoke of the pyre," answering "kemuri mo sumite" in the second line of 1209 in this book.
Fourth line, "kienu nagori o": "nagori," what remains behind, means the relics. It is the same word as in "kore ya nagori to" in the fourth line of 1209 in this book.
Fifth line, "miru zo ureshiki": "zo," an emphatic binding particle, closes with "ureshiki," the attributive of the adjective. It has the same form as "miru zo kanashiki" in the fifth line of 1209 in this book, setting joy against sorrow.
- Author
- Meiun
- Source
- Senzai Wakashu
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