Ika ni shite kiku koto no kaku yasukaran ada ni omoite ekeru nori ka wa

いかにしてきくことのかくやすからん
あだに思ひて得ける法かは

Roma-ji: Ika ni shite kiku koto no kaku yasukaran ada ni omoite ekeru nori ka wa
English Translation: How can it be that
hearing it should come to us
now with so much ease?
It is not a Law that was
won by one who held it light.
Meaning: How is it that hearing it now should come so easily? It is not a Law that was gained by holding it lightly.
Commentary: Miscellaneous Poems 885

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "The Devadatta chapter"
This is the third poem on the Devadatta chapter. How is it that we can now hear so easily the Lotus Sutra that the Buddha gained only after long years of austerity? It is no Law won by holding it lightly, the poet says, taking up the hardships of the preceding poem to express gratitude for meeting the teaching so easily.

First line, “ika ni shite”: how.
Second line, “kiku koto no kaku”: hearing it, so; a line of six syllables.
Third line, “yasukaran”: should be so easy; the poem breaks here.
Fourth line, “ada ni omoite”: thinking lightly of it.
Fifth line, “ekeru nori ka wa”: ka wa is rhetorical; is it a Law so gained? It is not.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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