5:4 Sojō Yōen1
from the Senjūshō
translated by Yoshiko Dykstra
Yōen and a monk
Some time ago Sojō Yōen was an administrator of the Yamashina Temple.2 Talented and well learned, he excelled especially in the Way of Poetry. Sometimes he sequestered himself in the Buddhist world purifying his mind in the way of Dharma, and at other times he composed poems under the moonlight or near flowers.
When the unohana3 began to bloom on hedges of village houses, and cuckoo birds came down to the villages from the mountain, one’s mind became unsettled.
One day a monk, Yōen’s acquaintance, visited him and asked him, “I wonder if making poems will hinder your practice of the Way?”
Yōen replied, “How can you say a thing like that? By composing poems, my sadness and yearnings for love will be controlled as I concentrate my mind on single thing, composing poems. And this is nothing but the practice of the yuishiki, Consciousness Only. There is no dharma except in one’s mind, which should constantly seek for it. If your mind is not settled, you will not be able to attain your enlightenment. People themselves agitate their own minds by saying things like ‘Making poems is a hindrance to learning.’ What can I say?” Saying this Yōen tearfully left the monk.
Even ignorant in the Way, those who engage in the Way of Poetry have very elegant and pure hearts, as they easily forget hatred and grudges [while making poems]. Yōen, a devout Buddhist, must have made poems with deep feelings toward the Way. I feel most envious of him.
The way to attain enlightenment is found only in our minds — but alas, when can we clear the heart and hold the pure moon in the heart? I am always vexed lamenting my ignorance.
Whenever I hear, “The Thirty Seven Noble Ones for enlightenment are all in one’s mind,” I feel like worshipping them as I open my heart, but soon I become sad as I wonder, “Being ignorant myself, how can I see the noble appearance of a Buddha?”4 Thus I foolishly spend days despising my foolish heart and mind.
1Yōen (1048-1125), a poet monk, and a son of Fujiwara Eisō, became a bettō administrator of the Yamashina Temple. He was also known as Sōjō Hatsune (First Sound). Sōjō is a title for a high-ranking priest like “abbot.” His poems appear in imperial anthologies including the Kinyōwakashū, and his stories in other tale collections like the Ujishūi Monogatari (III:10).
2The temple in Nara is presently called the Kōfukuji Temple and supported by the Fujiwara clan. The Karin-in Hall in the compound is famous for poetry meetings.
3The tiny white flowers, deutzia, popularly called unohana, flower in the month of U, the fourth month, as they bloom at the time of rice planting.
4This refers to the thirty-seven steps for enlightenment in the Diamond Womb Mandala.