第五段
Passage 5
Translation and Explanatory Notes
Passage 5
Translation and Explanatory Notes
Original Classical Japanese Texts
恒河の辺に、五百の餓鬼あり。無量劫の中に水を得ること能はず。河の辺に至ると雖も、水、皆火と見えて飲むこと得ず。その時に、仏、河の辺、鬱曇鉢 (ウヅンバラUdumbara flower) 林下に坐しき。五百の餓鬼、仏の御許に詣りて、「我が苦しみ耐へ難し、助け給へ」と申す。その時に、仏、諸々の鬼の為に、慳貪の咎を説い（→き）給ふ。鬼、これを聞くと雖も、「苦に責められて、心に入らず」と申す。仏の力をもて、水を飲ましめて、様々の法を説い（→き）給ふ。鬼、これを聞きて、忽ちに餓鬼の貌を捨てて、天の身を得たり。
English Translation
At the banks of the Ganges River, there are five hundred hungry ghosts. They are not able to obtain water for an eternity time. Even though they went to the banks of the river, all of the water appeared as fire, which made them not able to drink. Right at that time, the Buddha took up a place below the Udumbara flowers near the banks of the river. The five hundred ghosts, came to the Buddha’s holy presence and humbly said, “We are having difficulty bearing pain, please offer us some help.” Then, the Buddha explained the teachings about the sins of greed for the sake of these large number of ghosts. The ghosts heard this and humbly said, “We are so assailed by the sufferings, and what you say doesn’t go into our heart.” The Buddha then made them drink water with his power, and gave them teachings. Immediately, the ghosts shed their ‘gaki’ appearances, and attained heavenly bodies as a consequence.
Explanatory Notes
Please see this high resolution image which the Buddha, with beams around his head, toke up a place under the Udumbara tree and and gave teachings to the hungry ghosts.
Please see this high resolution image depicting the moment when the "Gaki" attained heavenly bodies, in which they rose up in the sky and their appearances are no longer scary-looking.
Notable Grammar Structures and Vocabularies
無量劫- A concept of time in Buddhism, meaning "limitless time".
雖も - Literally means とは言っても, but here basically means けれども (even though) in Modern Japanese.
皆- Although 皆 usually means "everyone", the 皆 here refers to all of the water.
坐しき- Rather than the meaning "to sit down", 坐しき here means "to take up a place".
我 われ - Ancient way of saying "I", or "one-self".
責める - Although the kanji in the transcription is 責, the meaning of this verb in the context is "to assail". That being the case, 攻める may be a better kanji interpretation of the verb.
飲ましめて- しめ is the 未然形 of the auxiliary verb しむ, which means causative. 飲ましめて in Modern Japanese would be 飲ませて, to make someone drink.