Ofudesaki 06:034

Ofudesaki
Author: Miki Nakayama Date Published: 1998 Pages: 486 (English ed.) Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15 Part 16 Part 17 unnumbered set

Ofudesaki 06:034 is a verse from the Ofudesaki. The English translation below is the sixth edition translation.

Content

Among them were a fish and a serpent.	sono uchi ni uo to mī to ga majiri iru	そのうちに　うをとみいとが　まちりいる
Looking closely, I saw that they had human faces.	yoku mi-sumaseba ningen no kao	よくみすませば　にんげんのかを

Alternate English translations

Third Edition

Among them I found a fish and serpent. And after gazing at them, I found that they had the faces of human beings.

Inoue/Eynon

Mixed among them were a merman and a white snake. When carefully examined, they had human faces.

Commentary

Ofudesaki chushaku

• See Ofudesaki chushaku 06:029–51

Yoshitaro Ueda (2009)

From Michi no dai: Foundation of the Path 35:73

Although at first there seemed to be only “loaches,” God now saw “a fish and a serpent” among them, the words “fish” and “serpent” being translations of the Japanese terms “uo” and “mii,” respectively. The usual Chinese character for “uo” is 魚 (“fish”), and “mii” is connected with 蛇 (“serpent” or “snake”). These terms are all metaphors. The verse says, “Looking closely, I saw that they had human faces.” We may find this part to be somewhat difficult to understand. There are often discussions about whether these creatures had already had human faces before God looked at them. It seems to me that the meaning of the verse is that when God looked closely, an image came into God’s minds of the faces of humans God was to create, rather than that a close look revealed that they already had human faces. An image of human faces formed in God’s mind.

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