[1]Iro wa shian noHoka to-wa iédo,Koré mo saki-sho noEn de arō."En" is a Buddhist word signifying affinity,—relation of cause and effect from life to life.
[1]
Iro wa shian noHoka to-wa iédo,Koré mo saki-sho noEn de arō.
"En" is a Buddhist word signifying affinity,—relation of cause and effect from life to life.
Even the knot of the rope tying our boats togetherKnotted was long ago by some love in a former birth.
If the touching even of sleeves be through En of a former existence,Very much deeper must be theEnthat unites us now![2]
[2]Sodé suri-ō no moTashō no en yo,Mashité futari gaFukai naka.Allusion is here made to the old Buddhist proverb:Sodé no furi-awasé mo tashō no en,—"Even the touching of sleeves in passing is caused by some affinity operating from former lives."
[2]
Sodé suri-ō no moTashō no en yo,Mashité futari gaFukai naka.
Allusion is here made to the old Buddhist proverb:Sodé no furi-awasé mo tashō no en,—"Even the touching of sleeves in passing is caused by some affinity operating from former lives."
Kwahō[3]this life must be,—this dwelling with one so tender;—I am reaping now the reward of deeds in a former birth!
[3]The Buddhist word "Kwahō" is commonly used instead of other synonyms for Karma (such as ingwa, innen, etc.), to signify the good, rather than the bad results of action in previous lives. But it is sometimes used in both meanings. Here there seems to be an allusion to the proverbial expression,Kwahō no yoi hito(lit.: a person of good Kwahō), meaning a fortunate individual.
[3]The Buddhist word "Kwahō" is commonly used instead of other synonyms for Karma (such as ingwa, innen, etc.), to signify the good, rather than the bad results of action in previous lives. But it is sometimes used in both meanings. Here there seems to be an allusion to the proverbial expression,Kwahō no yoi hito(lit.: a person of good Kwahō), meaning a fortunate individual.
Many songs of this class refer to the customary vow which lovers make to belong to each other for more lives than one,—a vow perhaps originally inspired by the Buddhist aphorism,—
Oya-ko wa, is-sé;Fūfu wa, ni-sé;Shujū wa, san-zé.
"The relation of parent and child is for one life; that of wife and husband, for two lives; that of master and servant, for three lives." Although the tender relation is thus limited to the time of two lives, the vow—(as Japanese dramas testify, and as the letters of those who kill themselves for love bear witness)—is often passionately made for seven. The following selections show a considerable variety of tone,—ranging from the pathetic to the satirical,—in the treatment of this topic:
I have cut my hair for his sake; but the deeper relation between usCannot be cut in this, nor yet in another life.[4]
[4]Kami wa kitté moNi-sé made kaketaFukai enishi waKiru mono ka?Literally: "Hair have-cut although, two existences until, deep relation, cut-how-can-it-be?" By the mention of the hair-cutting we know the speaker is a woman. Her husband, or possibly betrothed lover, is dead; and, according to the Buddhist custom, she signifies her desire to remain faithful to his memory by the sacrifice of her hair. For detailed information on this subject see, in myGlimpses of Unfamiliar Japan,the chapter, "Of Women's Hair."
[4]
Kami wa kitté moNi-sé made kaketaFukai enishi waKiru mono ka?
Literally: "Hair have-cut although, two existences until, deep relation, cut-how-can-it-be?" By the mention of the hair-cutting we know the speaker is a woman. Her husband, or possibly betrothed lover, is dead; and, according to the Buddhist custom, she signifies her desire to remain faithful to his memory by the sacrifice of her hair. For detailed information on this subject see, in myGlimpses of Unfamiliar Japan,the chapter, "Of Women's Hair."
She looks at the portrait of him to whom for two lives she is promised:Happy remembrances come, and each brings a smile to her face.[5]
[5]Ni-sé to chigirishiShashin we nagaméOmoi-idashitéWarai-gao.Lit.: "Two existences that made alliance, photograph look-at, thinking bring-out smiling face." The use of the termshashin,photograph, shows that the poem is not old.
[5]
Ni-sé to chigirishiShashin we nagaméOmoi-idashitéWarai-gao.
Lit.: "Two existences that made alliance, photograph look-at, thinking bring-out smiling face." The use of the termshashin,photograph, shows that the poem is not old.
If in this present life we never can hope for union,Then we shall first keep house in the Lotos-Palace beyond.[6]
[6]Totémo kono yo déSowaré-nu narabaHasu no uténa déAra sėtai.Lit.: "By-any-means, this-world-in, cannot-live-together if, Lotos-of Palace-in, new-housekeeping." It is with this thought that lovers voluntarily die together; and the song might be called a song ofjōshi.
[6]
Totémo kono yo déSowaré-nu narabaHasu no uténa déAra sėtai.
Lit.: "By-any-means, this-world-in, cannot-live-together if, Lotos-of Palace-in, new-housekeeping." It is with this thought that lovers voluntarily die together; and the song might be called a song ofjōshi.
Have we not spoken the vow that binds for a double existence?If we must separate now, I can only wish to die.
There!—oh, what shall we do?... Pledged for a double existence,—And now, as we sit together, the string of the samisen snaps![7]
[7]Among singing-girls it is believed that the snapping of a samisen-string under such circumstances as those indicated in the above song is an omen of coming separation.
[7]Among singing-girls it is believed that the snapping of a samisen-string under such circumstances as those indicated in the above song is an omen of coming separation.
He woos by teaching the Law of Cause and Effect for three lives,And makes a contract for two—the crafty-smiling priest![8]
[8]This song is of a priest who breaks the vow of celibacy.
[8]This song is of a priest who breaks the vow of celibacy.
Every mortal has lived and is destined to live countless lives; yet the happy moments of any single existence are not therefore less precious in themselves:—
Not to have met one night is verily cause for sorrow;Since twice in a single birth the same night never comes.
But even as a summer unusually warm is apt to herald a winter of exceptional severity, so too much happiness in this life may signify great suffering in the next:—
Always I suffer thus!... Methinks, in my last existence.Too happy I must have been,—did not suffer enough.
Next in point of exotic interest to the songs expressing belief in preëxistence and rebirth, I think I should place those treating of the doctrine ofingwa,or Karma. I offer some free translations from these, together with one selection from a class of compositions more elaborate and usually much longer than thedodoitsu,calledhauta.In the original, at least, my selection from thehauta—which contains a charming simile about the firefly—is by far the prettiest:—
Weep not!—turn to me!... Nay, all my suspicions vanish!Forgive me those words unkind: someingwacontrolled my tongue!
Evidently this is the remorseful pleading of a jealous lover. The next might be the answer of the girl whose tears he had caused to flow:
I cannot imagine at all by what strange manner of ingwaCame I to fall in love with one so unkind as you!
Or she might exclaim:—
Is this the turning ofEn?—am I caught in the Wheel of Karma?That, alas! is a wheel not to be moved from the rut![9]
[9]Meguru en kaya?Kuruma no watashiHiku ni hikarénuKono ingwa.There is a play on words in the original which I have not attempted to render. The idea is of an unhappy match—either betrothal or marriage—from which the woman wishes to withdraw when too late.
[9]
Meguru en kaya?Kuruma no watashiHiku ni hikarénuKono ingwa.
There is a play on words in the original which I have not attempted to render. The idea is of an unhappy match—either betrothal or marriage—from which the woman wishes to withdraw when too late.
A more remarkable reference to the Wheel of Karma is the following:—
Father and mother forbade, and so I gave up my lover;—Yet still, with the whirl of the Wheel, the thought of him comes and goes.[10]
[10]Oya no iken déAkirameta no weMata mo rin-yé déOmoi-dasu.The Buddhist wordRin-yé,orRinten,has the meaning of "turning the Wheel,"—another expression for passing from birth to birth. The Wheel here is the great Circle of Illusion,—the whirl of Karma.
[10]
Oya no iken déAkirameta no weMata mo rin-yé déOmoi-dasu.
The Buddhist wordRin-yé,orRinten,has the meaning of "turning the Wheel,"—another expression for passing from birth to birth. The Wheel here is the great Circle of Illusion,—the whirl of Karma.
This is ahauta:—
Numberless insects there are that call from dawn to evening,Crying, "I love! I love!"—but the Firefly's silent passion,Making its body burn, is deeper than all their longing.Even such is my love ... yet I cannot think through whatingwaI opened my heart—alas!—to a being not sincere![11]
[11]Kaäi, kaäi toNaku mushi yori moNakanu hotaru gaMi we kogasu.Nanno ingwa déJitsu naki hito niShin we akashité,—Aa kuyashi!Lit.: "'I-love-I-love'-saying-cry-insects than, better never-cry-firefly, body scorch! What Karma because-of, sincerity-not-is-man to, inmost-mind opened?—ah! regret!" ... It was formerly believed that the firefly's light really burned its own body.
[11]
Kaäi, kaäi toNaku mushi yori moNakanu hotaru gaMi we kogasu.Nanno ingwa déJitsu naki hito niShin we akashité,—Aa kuyashi!
Lit.: "'I-love-I-love'-saying-cry-insects than, better never-cry-firefly, body scorch! What Karma because-of, sincerity-not-is-man to, inmost-mind opened?—ah! regret!" ... It was formerly believed that the firefly's light really burned its own body.
If the foregoing seem productions possible only to our psychological antipodes, it is quite otherwise with a group of folk-songs reflecting the doctrine of Impermanency. Concerning the instability of all material things, and the hollowness of all earthly pleasures, Christian and Buddhist thought are very much in accord. The great difference between them appears only when we compare their teaching as to things ghostly,—and especially as to the nature of the Ego. But the Oriental doctrine that the Ego itself is an impermanent compound, and that the Self is not the true Consciousness, rarely finds expression in these popular songs. For the common people the Self exists: it is a real (though multiple) personality that passes from birth to birth. Only the educated Buddhist comprehends the deeper teaching that what we imagine to be Self is wholly illusion,—a darkening veil woven by Karma; and that there is no Self but the Infinite Self, the eternal Absolute. In the followingdodoitsuwill be found mostly thoughts or emotions according with universal experience:—
Gathering clouds to the moon;—storm and rain to the flowers:Somehow this world of woe never is just as we like.[12]
[12]Tsuki ni murakumo,Hana ni wa arashi:Tokaku uki-yo waMama naranu.This song especially refers to unhappy love, and contains the substance of two Buddhist proverbs:Tsuki ni murakumo, hana ni kazé(cloud-masses to the moon; wind to flowers); andMama ni naranu wa uki-yo no narai(to be disappointed is the rule in this miserable world). "Uki-yo" (this fleeting or unhappy world) is one of the commonest Buddhist terms in use.
[12]
Tsuki ni murakumo,Hana ni wa arashi:Tokaku uki-yo waMama naranu.
This song especially refers to unhappy love, and contains the substance of two Buddhist proverbs:Tsuki ni murakumo, hana ni kazé(cloud-masses to the moon; wind to flowers); andMama ni naranu wa uki-yo no narai(to be disappointed is the rule in this miserable world). "Uki-yo" (this fleeting or unhappy world) is one of the commonest Buddhist terms in use.
Almost as soon as they bloom, the scented flowers of the plum-treeBy the wind of this world of change are scattered and blown away.
Thinking to-morrow remains, thou heart's frail flower-of-cherry?How knowest whether this night the tempest will not come?[13]
[13]Asu ari toOmō kokoro noAda-zakura:Yo wa ni arashi noFukanu monokawa?Lit.: "To-morrow-is that think heart-of perishable-cherry flower: this-night-in-storm blow-not, is-it-certain?"
[13]
Asu ari toOmō kokoro noAda-zakura:Yo wa ni arashi noFukanu monokawa?
Lit.: "To-morrow-is that think heart-of perishable-cherry flower: this-night-in-storm blow-not, is-it-certain?"
Shadow and shape alike melt and flow back to nothing:He who knows this truth is the Daruma of snow.[14]
[14]Kagé mo katachi moKiyuréba moto noMidzu to satoru zoYuki-Daruma.Lit.: "Shadow and shape also, if-melt-away, original-water is,—that-understands Snow-Daruma." Daruma (Dharma), the twenty-eighth patriarch of the Zen sect, is said to have lost his legs through remaining long in the posture of meditation; and many legless toy-figures, which are so balanced that they will always assume an upright position however often placed upside-down, are called by his name. The snow-men made by Japanese children have the same traditional form.—The Japanese friend who helped me to translate these verses, tells me that a ghostly meaning attaches to the word "Kagé" [shadow] in the above;—this would give a much more profound signification to the whole verse.
[14]
Kagé mo katachi moKiyuréba moto noMidzu to satoru zoYuki-Daruma.
Lit.: "Shadow and shape also, if-melt-away, original-water is,—that-understands Snow-Daruma." Daruma (Dharma), the twenty-eighth patriarch of the Zen sect, is said to have lost his legs through remaining long in the posture of meditation; and many legless toy-figures, which are so balanced that they will always assume an upright position however often placed upside-down, are called by his name. The snow-men made by Japanese children have the same traditional form.—The Japanese friend who helped me to translate these verses, tells me that a ghostly meaning attaches to the word "Kagé" [shadow] in the above;—this would give a much more profound signification to the whole verse.
As the moon of the fifteenth night, the heart till the age fifteen:Then the brightness wanes, and the darkness comes with love.[15]
[15]According to the old calendar, there was always a full moon on the fifteenth of the month. The Buddhist allusion in the verse is tomayoi,the illusion of passion, which is compared to a darkness concealing the Right Way.
[15]According to the old calendar, there was always a full moon on the fifteenth of the month. The Buddhist allusion in the verse is tomayoi,the illusion of passion, which is compared to a darkness concealing the Right Way.
All things change, we are told, in this world of change and sorrow;But love's way never changes of promising never to change.[16]
[16]Kawaru uki-yo niKawaranu mono waKawarumai to noKoi no michi.Lit.: "Change changeable-world-in, does-not-change that-which, 'We-will-never-change'-saying of Love-of Way."
[16]
Kawaru uki-yo niKawaranu mono waKawarumai to noKoi no michi.
Lit.: "Change changeable-world-in, does-not-change that-which, 'We-will-never-change'-saying of Love-of Way."
Cruel the beautiful flash,—utterly heartless that lightning!Before one can look even twice it vanishes wholly away![17]
[17]Honni tsurénaiAno inadzuma waFuta mé minu uchiKiyété yuku.The Buddhist saying,Inadzuma no hikari, ishi no hi(lightning-flash and flint-spark),—symbolizing the temporary nature of all pleasures,—is here playfully referred to. The song complains of a too brief meeting with sweet-heart or lover.
[17]
Honni tsurénaiAno inadzuma waFuta mé minu uchiKiyété yuku.
The Buddhist saying,Inadzuma no hikari, ishi no hi(lightning-flash and flint-spark),—symbolizing the temporary nature of all pleasures,—is here playfully referred to. The song complains of a too brief meeting with sweet-heart or lover.
His very sweetness itself makes my existence a burden!Truly this world of change is a world of constant woe![18]
[18]Words of a loving but jealous woman, thus interpreted by my Japanese friend: "The more kind he is, the more his kindness overwhelms me with anxiety lest he be equally tender to other girls who may also fall in love with him."
[18]Words of a loving but jealous woman, thus interpreted by my Japanese friend: "The more kind he is, the more his kindness overwhelms me with anxiety lest he be equally tender to other girls who may also fall in love with him."
Neither for youth nor age is fixed the life of the body;—Bidding me wait for a time is the word that forever divides.[19]
[19]Rō-shō fujō noMi dé ari nagara,Jisetsu maté to waKiré-kotoba.Lit.: "Old-young not-fixed-of body being, time-wait to-say, cutting-word." Ro-shō fujō is a Buddhist phrase. The meaning of the song is: "Since all things in this world are uncertain, asking me to wait for our marriage-day means that you do not really love me;—for either of us might die before the time you speak of."
[19]
Rō-shō fujō noMi dé ari nagara,Jisetsu maté to waKiré-kotoba.
Lit.: "Old-young not-fixed-of body being, time-wait to-say, cutting-word." Ro-shō fujō is a Buddhist phrase. The meaning of the song is: "Since all things in this world are uncertain, asking me to wait for our marriage-day means that you do not really love me;—for either of us might die before the time you speak of."
Only too well I know that to meet will cause more weeping;[20]Yet never to meet at all were sorrow too great to bear.
[20]Allusion is made to the Buddhist text,Shōja hitsu metsu, esha jōri("Whosoever is born must die, and all who meet must as surely part"), and to the religious phrase,Ai betsu ri ku("Sorrow of parting and pain of separation").
[20]Allusion is made to the Buddhist text,Shōja hitsu metsu, esha jōri("Whosoever is born must die, and all who meet must as surely part"), and to the religious phrase,Ai betsu ri ku("Sorrow of parting and pain of separation").
Too joyful in union to think, we forget that the smiles of the eveningSometimes themselves become the sources of morning-tears.
Yet, notwithstanding the doctrine of impermanency, we are told in anotherdodoitsuthat—
He who was never bewitched by the charming smile of a woman,A wooden Buddha is he—a Buddha of bronze or stone![21]
[21]Much more amusing in the original:—Adana é-gao niMayowanu mono waKi-Butsu,—kana-Butsu,—Ishi-botoké"Charming-smile-by bewildered-not, he-as-for, wood-Buddha, metal-Buddha, stone-Buddha!" The term "Ishi-botoké" especially refers to the stone images of the Buddha placed in cemeteries.—This song is sung in every part of Japan; I have heard it many times in different places.
[21]Much more amusing in the original:—
Adana é-gao niMayowanu mono waKi-Butsu,—kana-Butsu,—Ishi-botoké
"Charming-smile-by bewildered-not, he-as-for, wood-Buddha, metal-Buddha, stone-Buddha!" The term "Ishi-botoké" especially refers to the stone images of the Buddha placed in cemeteries.—This song is sung in every part of Japan; I have heard it many times in different places.
And why a Buddha of wood, or bronze, or stone? Because the living Buddha was not so insensible, as we are assured, with jocose irreverence, in the following:—
"Forsake this fitful world"!—{Lord Buddha's}that wasorteaching!{upside-down}And Ragora,[22]son of his loins?—was he forgotten indeed?
There is an untranslatable pun in the original, which, if written in Romaji, would run thus:—
Uki-yo we sutéyo t'a{Shaka Sama}Sorya yo{saka-sama }Ragora to iū ko weWasurété ka?
Shakamuniis the Japanese rendering of "Sakyamuni;" "Shaka Sama" is therefore "Lord Sakya," or "Lord Buddha." Butsaka-samais a Japanese word meaning "topsy-turvy," "upside down;" and the difference between the pronunciation of Shaka Sama andsaka-samais slight enough to have suggested the pun. Love in suspense is not usually inclined to reverence.
[22]Râhula.
[22]Râhula.
Even while praying together in front of the tablets ancestral,Lovers find chance to murmur prayers never meant for thedead![23]
And as for interrupters:—
Hateful the wind or rain that ruins the bloom of flowers:Even more hateful far who obstructs the way of love.
Yet the help of the Gods is earnestly besought:—
I make myhyaku-dō,traveling Love's dark pathway.Ever praying to meet the owner of my heart.[24]
[23]Ekō suru totéHotoké no maé yéFutari mukaité,Konabé daté.Lit.: "Repeat prayers saying, dead-of-presence-in twain facing,—small-pan cooking!"Hotokémeans a dead person as well as a Buddha. (See myGlimpses of Unfamiliar Japan:"The Household Shrine")-Konabé-datéis an idiomatic expression signifying a lovers' tête-à-tête. It is derived from the phrase,Chin-chin kamo nabé("cooking a wild duck in a pan"),—the idea suggested being that of the pleasure experienced by an amorous couple in eating out of the same dish.Chin-chin,an onomatope, expresses the sound of the gravy boiling.
[23]
Ekō suru totéHotoké no maé yéFutari mukaité,Konabé daté.
Lit.: "Repeat prayers saying, dead-of-presence-in twain facing,—small-pan cooking!"Hotokémeans a dead person as well as a Buddha. (See myGlimpses of Unfamiliar Japan:"The Household Shrine")-Konabé-datéis an idiomatic expression signifying a lovers' tête-à-tête. It is derived from the phrase,Chin-chin kamo nabé("cooking a wild duck in a pan"),—the idea suggested being that of the pleasure experienced by an amorous couple in eating out of the same dish.Chin-chin,an onomatope, expresses the sound of the gravy boiling.
[24]To perform the rite called "o-hyaku-dō" means to make one hundred visits to a temple, saying a prayer each time. The expression "dark way of Love"(koi no yamioryamiji)is a Buddhist phrase; love, being due tomayoi,or illusion, is a state of spiritual darkness. The term "owner of my heart" is an attempted rendering of the Japanese wordnushi,signifying "master," "owner,"—often, also, "landlord,"—and, in love-matters, the lord or master of the affection inspired.
[24]To perform the rite called "o-hyaku-dō" means to make one hundred visits to a temple, saying a prayer each time. The expression "dark way of Love"(koi no yamioryamiji)is a Buddhist phrase; love, being due tomayoi,or illusion, is a state of spiritual darkness. The term "owner of my heart" is an attempted rendering of the Japanese wordnushi,signifying "master," "owner,"—often, also, "landlord,"—and, in love-matters, the lord or master of the affection inspired.
The interest attaching to the following typical group of love-songs will be found to depend chiefly upon the Buddhist allusions:—
In the bed of the River of Souls, or in waiting alone at evening,The pain differs nothing at all: to a mountain the pebble grows.[25]Who furthest after illusion wanders on Love's dark pathwayIs ever the clearest-seeing,[26]not the simple or dull.
[25]Sai-no-kawara toNushi matsu yoi waKoishi, koishi gaYama to naru.A more literal translation would be: "In the Sai-no-Kawara ('Dry bed of the River of Souls') and in the evening when waiting for the loved one, 'Koishi, Koishi' becomes a mountain." There is a delicate pun here,—a play on the wordKoishi,which, as pronounced, though not as written, may mean either "a small stone," or "longing to see." In the bed of the phantom river, Sai-no-Kawa, the ghosts of children are obliged to pile up little stones, the weight of which increases so as to tax their strength to the utmost. There is a reference here also to a verse in the Buddhistwasanof Jizō, describing the crying of the children for their parents:"Chichi koishi! haha koishi!" (SeeGlimpses of Unfamiliar Japan,vol. i. pp. 59-61.)
[25]
Sai-no-kawara toNushi matsu yoi waKoishi, koishi gaYama to naru.
A more literal translation would be: "In the Sai-no-Kawara ('Dry bed of the River of Souls') and in the evening when waiting for the loved one, 'Koishi, Koishi' becomes a mountain." There is a delicate pun here,—a play on the wordKoishi,which, as pronounced, though not as written, may mean either "a small stone," or "longing to see." In the bed of the phantom river, Sai-no-Kawa, the ghosts of children are obliged to pile up little stones, the weight of which increases so as to tax their strength to the utmost. There is a reference here also to a verse in the Buddhistwasanof Jizō, describing the crying of the children for their parents:"Chichi koishi! haha koishi!" (SeeGlimpses of Unfamiliar Japan,vol. i. pp. 59-61.)
[26]Clearest-sighted,—that is, in worldly matters.
[26]Clearest-sighted,—that is, in worldly matters.
Coldly seen from without our love looks utter folly:Who never has feltmayoinever could understand!
Countless the men must be who dwell in three thousand worlds;Yet among them all is none worthy to change for mine.[27]
However fickle I seem, my heart is never unfaithful:Out of the slime itself, spotless the lotos grows.[28]
So that we stay together, even the Hell of the Blood Lake—Even the Mountain of Swords—will signify nothing at all?[29]
[27]San-zen sékai niOtoko wa arédo,Nushi ni mi-kayeruHito wa nai."San-zen sekai," the three thousand worlds, is a common Buddhist expression. Literally translated, the above song runs: "Three-thousand-worlds-in men are, but lover-to-exchange person is not."
[27]
San-zen sékai niOtoko wa arédo,Nushi ni mi-kayeruHito wa nai.
"San-zen sekai," the three thousand worlds, is a common Buddhist expression. Literally translated, the above song runs: "Three-thousand-worlds-in men are, but lover-to-exchange person is not."
[28]The familiar Buddhist simile is used more significantly here than the Western reader might suppose from the above rendering. These are supposed to be the words either of a professional singing-girl or of ajorō. Her calling is derisively termed adoro-midzu kagyō("foul-water occupation"); and her citation of the famous Buddhist comparison in self-defense is particularly, and pathetically, happy.
[28]The familiar Buddhist simile is used more significantly here than the Western reader might suppose from the above rendering. These are supposed to be the words either of a professional singing-girl or of ajorō. Her calling is derisively termed adoro-midzu kagyō("foul-water occupation"); and her citation of the famous Buddhist comparison in self-defense is particularly, and pathetically, happy.
[29]Chi-no-Iké-Jigoku mo,Tsurugi-no-Yama mo,Futari-dzuré naraItoi 'a sénu.The Hell of the Blood-Lake is a hell for women; and the Mountain of Swords is usually depicted in Buddhist prints as a place of infernal punishment for men in especial.
[29]
Chi-no-Iké-Jigoku mo,Tsurugi-no-Yama mo,Futari-dzuré naraItoi 'a sénu.
The Hell of the Blood-Lake is a hell for women; and the Mountain of Swords is usually depicted in Buddhist prints as a place of infernal punishment for men in especial.
Not yet indeed is my body garbed in the ink-black habit;—But as for this heart bereaved, already it is a nun.[30]
My hair, indeed, is uncut; but my heart has become a religious;A nun it shall always be till the hour I meet him again.
But even the priest or nun is not always exempt from the power ofmayoi:—
I am wearing the sable garb,—and yet, through illusion of longing,Ever I lose my way,—knowing not whither or where!
[30]In the original much more pretty and much more simple:—Sumi no koromo niMi wa yatsusanedo,Kokoro hitotsu waAma-hōshi."Ink-black-koromo[priest's or nun's outer robe] in, body not clad, but heart-one nun."Hitotsu,"one," also means "solitary," "forlorn," "bereaved."Ama hōshi,lit.: "nun-priest."
[30]In the original much more pretty and much more simple:—
Sumi no koromo niMi wa yatsusanedo,Kokoro hitotsu waAma-hōshi.
"Ink-black-koromo[priest's or nun's outer robe] in, body not clad, but heart-one nun."Hitotsu,"one," also means "solitary," "forlorn," "bereaved."Ama hōshi,lit.: "nun-priest."
So far, my examples have been principally chosen from the more serious class ofdodoitsu.But indodoitsuof a lighter class the Buddhist allusions are perhaps even more frequent. The following group of five will serve for specimens of hundreds:—
Never can be recalled the word too quickly spoken:Therefore with Emma's face the lover receives the prayer.[31]
Thrice did I hear that prayer with Buddha's face; but hereafterMy face shall be Emma's face because of too many prayers.
Now they are merry together; but under their boat isJigoku.[32]Blow quickly, thou river-wind,—blow a typhoon for mysake!
Vainly, to make him stay, I said that the crows were nightcrows;[33]—The bell of the dawn peals doom,—the bell that cannot lie.
[31]The implication is that he has hastily promised more than he wishes to perform. Emma, or Yemma (Sansc. Yama), is the Lord of Hell and Judge of Souls; and, as depicted in Buddhist sculpture and painting, is more than fearful to look upon. There is an evident reference in this song to the Buddhist proverb:Karu-toki no Jizō-gao; nasu-toki no Emma-gao("Borrowing-time, the face of Jizō; repaying-time, the face of Emma").
[31]The implication is that he has hastily promised more than he wishes to perform. Emma, or Yemma (Sansc. Yama), is the Lord of Hell and Judge of Souls; and, as depicted in Buddhist sculpture and painting, is more than fearful to look upon. There is an evident reference in this song to the Buddhist proverb:Karu-toki no Jizō-gao; nasu-toki no Emma-gao("Borrowing-time, the face of Jizō; repaying-time, the face of Emma").
[32]"Jigoku" is the Buddhist name for various hells (Sansc.narakas).The allusion here is to the proverb,Funa-ita ichi-mai shita wa Jigoku:"Under [the thickness of] asingle boat-plank is hell,"—referring to the perils of the sea. This song is a satire on jealousy; and the boat spoken of is probably a roofed pleasure-boat, such as excursions are made into the sound of music.
[32]"Jigoku" is the Buddhist name for various hells (Sansc.narakas).The allusion here is to the proverb,Funa-ita ichi-mai shita wa Jigoku:"Under [the thickness of] asingle boat-plank is hell,"—referring to the perils of the sea. This song is a satire on jealousy; and the boat spoken of is probably a roofed pleasure-boat, such as excursions are made into the sound of music.
[33]Tsuki-yo-garasu,lit.: "moon-night crows." Crows usually announce the dawn by their cawing; but sometimes on moonlight nights they caw at all hours from sunset to sunrise. The bell referred to is the bell of some Buddhist temple: theaké-no-kane,or "dawn-bell," being, in all parts of Japan, sounded from every Buddhisttera.There is a pun in the original;—the expressiontsukenai,"cannottell(a lie)," might also be interpreted phonetically as "cannotstrike[a bell]."
[33]Tsuki-yo-garasu,lit.: "moon-night crows." Crows usually announce the dawn by their cawing; but sometimes on moonlight nights they caw at all hours from sunset to sunrise. The bell referred to is the bell of some Buddhist temple: theaké-no-kane,or "dawn-bell," being, in all parts of Japan, sounded from every Buddhisttera.There is a pun in the original;—the expressiontsukenai,"cannottell(a lie)," might also be interpreted phonetically as "cannotstrike[a bell]."
This my desire: To kill the crows of three thousand worlds,And then to repose in peace with the owner of my heart![34]
[34]San-zen sékai noKarasu we koroshiNushi to soi-né gaShité mitai
[34]
San-zen sékai noKarasu we koroshiNushi to soi-né gaShité mitai
I have cited this last only as a curiosity. For it has a strange history, and is not what it seems,—although the apparent motive was certainly suggested by some song like the one immediately preceding it. It is a song of loyalty, and was composed by Kido of Chō-shū, one of the leaders in that great movement which brought about the downfall of the Shōgunate, the restoration of the Imperial power, the reconstruction of Japanese society, and the introduction and adoption of Western civilization. Kido, Saigō, and Ōkubo are rightly termed the three heroes of the restoration. While preparing his plans at Kyōto, in company with his friend Saigō, Kido composed and sang this song as an intimation of his real sentiments. By the phrase, "ravens of the three thousand worlds," he designated the Tokugawa partisans; by the wordnushi(lord, or heart's-master) he signified the Emperor; and by the termsoiné(reposing together) he referred to the hoped-for condition of direct responsibility to the Throne, without further intervention of Shōgun and daimyō. It was not the first example in Japanese history of the use of popular song as a medium for the utterance of opinions which, expressed in plainer language, would have invited assassination.
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While I was writing the preceding note upon Kido's song, the Buddhist phrase,San-zen sékai(twice occurring, as the reader will have observed, in the present collection), suggested a few reflections with which this paper may fitly conclude. I remember that when I first attempted, years ago, to learn the outlines of Buddhist philosophy, one fact which particularly impressed me was the vastness of the Buddhist concept of the universe. Buddhism, as I read it, had not offered itself to humanity as a saving creed for one inhabited world, but as the religion of "innumerable hundreds of thousands of myriads ofkôtis[35]of worlds." And the modern scientific revelation of stellar evolution and dissolution then seemed to me, and still seems, like a prodigious confirmation of certain Buddhist theories of cosmical law.
The man of science to-day cannot ignore the enormous suggestions of the new story that the heavens are telling. He finds himself compelled to regard the development of what we call mind as a general phase or incident in the ripening of planetary life throughout the universe. He is obliged to consider the relation of our own petty sphere to the great swarming of suns and systems as no more than the relation of a single noctiluca to the phosphorescence of a sea. By its creed the Oriental intellect has been better prepared than the Occidental to accept this tremendous revelation, not as a wisdom that increaseth sorrow, but as a wisdom to quicken faith. And I cannot but think that out of the certain future union of Western knowledge with Eastern thought there must eventually proceed a Neo-Buddhism inheriting all the strength of Science, yet spiritually able to recompense the seeker after truth with the recompense foretold in the twelfth chapter of the Sutra of the Diamond-Cutter. Taking the text as it stands,—in despite of commentators,—what more could be unselfishly desired from any spiritual teaching than the reward promised in that verse,—"They shall be endowed with the Highest Wonder"?
[35]1 kôti = 10,000,000.
[35]1 kôti = 10,000,000.
"It is not possible, O Subhûti, that this treatise of the Law should be heard by beings of little faith,—by those who believe in Self, in beings, in living beings, and in persons."—The Diamond-Cutter.
"It is not possible, O Subhûti, that this treatise of the Law should be heard by beings of little faith,—by those who believe in Self, in beings, in living beings, and in persons."—The Diamond-Cutter.
There still widely prevails in Europe and America the idea that Nirvana signifies, to Buddhist minds, neither more nor less than absolute nothingness,—complete annihilation. This idea is erroneous. But it is erroneous only because it contains half of a truth. This half of a truth has no value or interest, or even intelligibility, unless joined with the other half. And of the other half no suspicion yet exists in the average Western mind.
Nirvana, indeed, signifies an extinction. But if by this extinction of individual being we understand soul-death, our conception of Nirvana is wrong. Or if we take Nirvana to mean such reabsorption of the finite into the infinite as that predicted by Indian pantheism, again our idea is foreign to Buddhism.
Nevertheless, if we declare that Nirvana means the extinction of individual sensation, emotion, thought,—the final disintegration of conscious personality,—the annihilation of everything that can be included under the term "I,"—then we rightly express one side of the Buddhist teaching.
*
The apparent contradiction of the foregoing statements is due only to our Occidental notion of Self. Self to us signifies feelings, ideas, memory, volition; and it can scarcely occur to any person not familiar with German idealism even to imagine that consciousness might not be Self. The Buddhist, on the contrary, declares all that we call Self to be false. He defines the Ego as a mere temporary aggregate of sensations, impulses, ideas, created by the physical and mental experiences of the race,—all related to the perishable body, and all doomed to dissolve with it. What to Western reasoning seems the most indubitable of realities, Buddhist reasoning pronounces the greatest of all illusions, and even the source of all sorrow and sin. "The mind, the thoughts, and all the senses are subject to the law of life and death. With knowledge of Self and the laws of birth and death, there is no grasping, and no sense-perception. Knowing one's self and knowing how the senses act, there is no room for the idea of or the ground for framing it The thought of 'Self' gives rise to all sorrows,—binding the world as with fetters; but having found there is no 'I' that can be bound, then all these bonds are severed."[1]
The above text suggests very plainly that the consciousness is not the Real Self, and that the mind dies with the body. Any reader unfamiliar with Buddhist thought may well ask, "What, then, is the meaning of the doctrine of Karma, the doctrine of moral progression, the doctrine of the consequence of acts?" Indeed, to try to study, only with the ontological ideas of the West, even such translations of the Buddhist Sutras as those given in the "Sacred Books of the East," is to be at every page confronted by seemingly hopeless riddles and contradictions. We find a doctrine of rebirth; but the existence of a soul is denied. We are told that the misfortunes of this life are punishments of faults committed in a previous life; yet personal transmigration does not take place. We find the statement that beings are reindividualized; yet both individuality and personality are called illusions. I doubt whether anybody not acquainted with the deeper forms of Buddhist belief could possibly understand the following extracts which I have made from the first volume of "The Questions of King Milinda:"—
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The King said: "Nagasena, is there any one who after death is not reindividualized?" Nagasena answered: "A sinful being is reindividualized; a sinless one is not." (p. 50.)
"Is there, Nagasena, such a thing as the soul?" "There is no such thing as soul." (pp. 86-89.) [The same statement is repeated in a later chapter (p. 111), with a qualification: "In the highest sense,O King, there is no such thing."]
"Is there any being, Nagasena, who transmigrates from this body to another?" "No: there is not." (p. 112.)
"Where there is no transmigration, Nagasena, can there be rebirth?" "Yes: there can."
"Does he, Nagasena, who is about to be reborn, know that he will be reborn?" "Yes: he knows it, O King." (p. 113.)
Naturally the Western reader may ask,—"How can there be reindividualization without a soul? How can there be rebirth without transmigration? How can there be personal foreknowledge of rebirth without personality?" But the answers to such questions will not be found in the work cited.
It would be wrong to suppose that the citations given offer any exceptional difficulty. As to the doctrine of the annihilation of Self, the testimony of nearly all those Buddhist texts now accessible to English readers is overwhelming. Perhaps the Sutra of the Great Decease furnishes the most remarkable evidence contained in the "Sacred Books of the East." In its account of the Eight Stages of Deliverance leading to Nirvana, it explicitly describes what we should be justified in calling, from our Western point of view, the process of absolute annihilation. We are told that in the first of these eight stages the Buddhist seeker after truth still retains the ideas of form—subjective and objective. In the second stage he loses the subjective idea of form, and views forms as external phenomena only. In the third stage the sense of the approaching perception of larger truth comes to him. In the fourth stage he passes beyond all ideas of form, ideas of resistance, and ideas of distinction; and there remains to him only the idea of infinite space. In the fifth stage the idea of infinite space vanishes, and the thought comes:It is all infinite reason.[Here is the uttermost limit, many might suppose, of pantheistic idealism; but it is only the half way resting-place on the path which the Buddhist thinker must pursue.] In the sixth stage the thought comes,"Nothing at all exists."In the seventh stage the idea of nothingness itself vanishes. In the eighth stage all sensations and ideas cease to exist. Andafterthis comes Nirvana.
The same sutra, in recounting the death of the Buddha, represents him as rapidly passing through the first, second, third, and fourth stages of meditation to enter into "that state of mind to which the Infinity of Space alone is present,"—and thence into "that state of mind to which the Infinity of Thought alone is present,"—and thence into "that state of mind to which nothing at all is specially present,"—and thence into "that state of mind between consciousness and unconsciousness,"—and thence into "that state of mind in which the consciousness both of sensations and of ideas has wholly passed away."
For the reader who has made any serious attempt to obtain a general idea of Buddhism, such citations are scarcely necessary; since the fundamental doctrine of the concatenation of cause and effect contains the same denial of the reality of Self and suggests the same enigmas. Illusion produces action or Karma; Karma, self-consciousness; self-consciousness, individuality; individuality, the senses; the senses, contact; contact, feeling; feeling, desire; desire, union; union, conception; conception, birth; birth, sorrow and decrepitude and death. Doubtless the reader knows the doctrine of the destruction of the twelve Nidanas; and it is needless here to repeat it at length. But he may be reminded of the teaching that by the cessation of contact feeling is destroyed; by that of feeling, individuality; and by that of individuality,self-consciousness.
*
Evidently, without a preliminary solution of the riddles offered by such texts, any effort to learn the meaning of Nirvana is hopeless. Before being able to comprehend the true meaning of those sutras now made familiar to English readers by translation, it is necessary to understand that the common Occidental ideas of God and Soul, of matter, of spirit, have no existence in Buddhist philosophy; their places being occupied by concepts having no real counterparts in Western religious thought. Above all, it is necessary that the reader should expel from his mind the theological idea of Soul. The texts already quoted should have made it clear that in Buddhist philosophy there is no personal transmigration, and no individual permanent Soul.