Two sneers for writing

2010-10-04

Two sneers for writing

Two more verses from Ikkyū, this time on the theme "Two sneers for writing" (嘲文章　二首):

人具畜生牛馬愚
詩文元地獄工夫
我慢邪慢情識苦
可嘆波旬親得途

傑作詩文金玉聲
言々句々諸人驚
閻王豈許雅頌妙
鐵棒應惶鬼眼睛

Man is as foolish as a beast, as an ox or a horse;
Literature is a contrivance of Hell.
The woe of pride, vanity, and obstinacy:
How lamentable! The devil draws nearer and nearer.

A poetic masterpiece, a gold-and-jade voice:
Word by word, line by line, all the audience is stunned—
But when has Yama ever shown leniency to those who can turn a phrase sublime?
The iron rod! Fear the demon's gaze!

I like how Ikkyū carefully doesn't say that writing actually causes pride, vanity and obstinacy. As a prolific poet himself, he surely knew it was the other way around.

Pic related; it's ~~a writer~~ Jigoku Dayū (by Yoshitoshi).

Popularity factor: 5

Carl:

I like Yama. I hope he doesn't have to spend too many super-kalpas suffering in hell before he gets himself sprung by Amida. Working the gates of hell is a crummy job, but someone had to do it!

Leonardo BOiko:

I like the way portrayals of skulls and skeletons vary with the ages.

無名酒:

If you like that, Leonardo, there's almost a whole chapter on that for China (pre-Jesuit influence, then post) in On Their Own Terms by Elman.

taemin:

Is it unusual that 地獄 bridges the caesura of the second line? Seems odd to me, but maybe my sense is off...

Matt:

Yama is harsh, but fair. I felt bad killing him at the end of Tenchu.

Taemin, that's a good point. It is unusual, I think. (And I don't think a 4+3 reading is possible... so it's not just my mistake, I guess.)

I'm not sure what the critical response to Ikkyu's poems as Chinese poetry (rather than as "literature" in general) is, though. Maybe he's celebrated for daring rule-breaking.

2010-10-04