Samazama ni tanagokoro naru chikai o ba namu no kotoba ni fusanetaru kana

さまざまに掌なる誓ひをば
南無の言葉にふさねたるかな

Roma-ji: Samazama ni tanagokoro naru chikai o ba namu no kotoba ni fusanetaru kana
English Translation: In so many ways
the vows held within the palms
of a thousand hands—
all into that word "Namu"
gathered up and bound as one.
Meaning: The vows held in so many ways within the palms of a thousand hands are all bound together into the single word "Namu."
Commentary: One Hundred Poems 1541

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Ten Buddhist Poems: Three on the Thousand-Armed Kannon Sutra"
The third of the three poems on the Thousand-Armed Kannon Sutra. The many vows of salvation held in the thousand palms of the Thousand-Armed Kannon are bound together into the single word "Namu."
It sings of the simplicity of faith: the manifold vows of Kannon, who saves beings with a thousand hands, come together in the single word "Namu" spoken in devotion. Taking up the vow of the preceding poem and joining it to the words of invocation, it closes the three poems on this sutra.

First line, “samazama ni”: in many ways.
Second line, “tanagokoro naru”: held in the palms of the thousand hands of Kannon.
Third line, “chikai o ba”: o ba stresses the object, "those vows."
Fourth line, “namu no kotoba ni”: Namu is the word of devotion to the Buddha, "into the word Namu."
Fifth line, “fusanetaru kana”: fusanu is to bind together, "how they are bound as one."
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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