Gosanka Poems, Revised, "The Oneness of Birth and Death"

         
332   生き変り 死に変りつ永久の 生命の主は人にぞあるなり
   

Through birth,
Death, and rebirth,
The master of
Eternal life
Is the human being.

S6-110C; previous translations based on non-Meishu-sama text 生き変り 死に変りつ永久の 栄えに至る人の精霊かも IKI KAWARI, SHINI KAWARI TSUTSU TOKOSHIE NO / SAKAE NI ITARU HITO NO TAMA KAMO. No such poems exists in Shikashû or Okada Mokishi Zenshû Shikahen, two anthologies that claim to be complete collections of Meishu-sama’s poetry. Prayers and Gosanka, page 96A, Prayers and Poems, page 96A, and Book of Gosanka, page 93, #372.
 
    Prayers and Gosanka
 
By his repeating the process / The process of birth and death, / The spirit of man / Learns, expands, ‘til it attains / Total, Eternal Glory.
 
  Prayers and Poems
 
By repeating the process / Of birth and death / The human spirit learns and expands, / Until it attains / Eternal happiness.
 
  Book of Gosanka
 
As man lives, he dies; / When he dies, he lives again, / Reincarnating, / Until his soul elevates / To perfection eternal.
 
333   生まるるも 死ぬるも深きわけあるを 知らで世人を導き得べしや
    How can the people of
The world be guided
Without knowing that
There is a profound reason
For living and for dying?
S6-110D.
         
         
334  

幽世の 事ども知らで道を説く 人の言葉は空虚なりける

    Empty are the words
Of those who expound
On how to live, but who
Do not know
About the invisible world.
S6-111A, page 75; previous translations in Prayers and Gosanka, page 96B; Prayers and Poems, page 96B; Sounds of the Dawn, Volume II, pages 55 and 202 (#125); and Book of Gosanka, page 31 (#121).
  Prayers and Gosanka, SDII
 
Those who tell others / How to live, preach about life / But have no knowledge / Of life after death themselves, / Speak meaningless, empty words.
 
  Prayers and Poems
 
Those who explain to others / How to live, / But who have no knowledge / Of life after death themselves, / Speak meaningless, empty words.
 
  Book of Gosanka
 
Those who spread teachings, / Without any knowledge of / The world of spirit / Are those who spread only words, / That are vacant of substance.
 
335  

己が身の 神に造られたも知らで 神は此世に無しとふ(トー)愚かさ

    How foolish are those
Who think that God
Does not exist in this world
And who do not realize their own
Bodies are made by God!
S6-111B; previous translations based on non-Meishu-sama text 己が身の 造られるを知らずして 神はこの世に無しとふ愚かさ ONOGA MI, TSUKURARETA-TARU O SHIRAZU SHITE / KAMI WA KONO YO NI NASHI TOU OROKASA. No such poems exists in Shikashû or Okada Mokishi Zenshû Shikahen, two anthologies that claim to be complete collections of Meishu-sama’s poetry. Prayers and Gosanka, page 96C, Prayers and Poems, page 96C, and Book of Gosanka, page 20, #80.
 
  Prayers and Gosanka (original)

How foolish are those / Who deny God’s Existence, / Ignore proofs of Him, / Not knowing their own bodies / Have been created by Him!
 
  Prayers and Poems
 
How foolish are those / Who deny God’s Existence / Without really knowing / How their own lives / Have been created.
 
  Book of Gosanka
 
One who does not know / That God is his Creator, / And with ignorance / Says in this world there’s no God— / Is one who’s foolish indeed.
 
 
336  

永久に 人の生命はあるものと 知りて初めて人たる人なり

    When you know that
Human life is eternal,
Only then are
You truly a
Human being.
S6-111C; previous translations based on non-Meishu-sama text 永久に 人の生命はあるもと 知りてまことの人となりけり TOKOSHIE NI, HITO NO INOCHI WA ARU MONO TO / SHIRITE MAKOTO NO HITO TO NARIKERI. No such poems exists in Shikashû or Okada Mokishi Zenshû Shikahen, two anthologies that claim to be complete collections of Meishu-sama’s poetry. Prayers and Gosanka, page 97A, Prayers and Poems, page 97A, and Book of Gosanka, page 14, #53.
 
  Prayers and Gosanka, SDII
 
Once I awakened / To the realization / That man’s life goes on, / Is immortal, eternal, / I truly began to live.
 
  Prayers and Poems
 
Once I awakened / To the realization / That my life goes on, / Is immortal, eternal, / I truly began to live.
 
  Book of Gosanka
 
When one know the Truth, / That the life of man goes on— / On and on eterne, / One becomes truly a man, / Intended as man by God.
 
         
337  

永遠の 生命の幸を作れかし 此現世にありし間に

    Make the
Happiness of
Eternal life
While you are in
The visible world.
S6-111D; previous translations based on non-Meishu-sama text 永遠の 生命の親を悟れかし 此現世に生くる間に TOKOTOWA NO, INOCHI NO OYA O SATORE KASHI / KONO UTSUSHIYO NI IKURU AIDA NI. No such poems exists in Shikashû or Okada Mokishi Zenshû Shikahen, two anthologies that claim to be complete collections of Meishu-sama’s poetry. Sounds of the Dawn, Volume II, pages 56 and 202 (#126); and Book of Gosanka, page 13, #50.
 
  Sounds of the Dawn, Volume II
 
Awaken to God, / To the Existence of Him / Who is the Father, / The Source of Eternal Life / While you life on this earth-plane.
 
  Book of Gosanka
 
While man lives his life / In this transitory world, / He must awaken / To the reality that / Immortal God gave him life.
 
         
338  

朽ちず焼けぬ 宝といふは目に見えぬ 徳を施す事にぞありける

    The treasure that cannot
Decay or be destroyed
Is the virtue that is
Performed unseen
By the eyes of others.
 
S6-111E; previous translations of poem in Prayers and Gosanka, page 97B; Prayers and Poems, page 97B; Sounds of the Dawn, Volume II, pages 56 and 202 (#13); and Book of Gosanka, page 51 (#201).
  Prayers and Gosanka (original), SDII

Life’s greatest treasure, / Which never, never corrodes / Or turns to ashes, / Is the good done in secret / For the welfare of others.
 
  Prayers and Poems
 
Life’s greatest treasure, / Which never corrodes / Or turns to ashes, / Is the good done in secret / For the welfare of others.
 
  Book of Gosanka
 
The treasure of man / That will not decay or burn / Is one of virtue; / When man quietly does good— / A virtue not seen but done.
 
 
339 

幽世に います垂乳根に尽すこそ こよなき真の孝にぞありける

  The true act of
Filial piety is that
Performed for the
Welfare of the ancestors
In the invisible world.
 
S6-112A; previous translations of poem in Prayers and Gosanka, page 97C; Prayers and Poems, page 97C; Sounds of the Dawn, Volume II, pages 55 and 200 (#123); and Book of Gosanka, page 44 (#176).
  Prayers and Gosanka (original), SDII

Making our parents / And our ancestors happy / In the spirit world / By our good deeds is the best, / Greatest of filial acts.
 
  Prayers and Poems
 
Making our parents and ancestors / Happy in the spiritual world / By our good deeds / Is the best and greatest / Of filial acts.
 
  Book of Gosanka
 
Serving our parents / In the spiritual world / With best of effort— / Is the greatest way to show / Our filial piety.