Ofudesaki 06:041
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Part 1 |
Contents
Content
| It is indeed difficult to explain | ima made ni nai koto bakari hajimeru wa | いまゝてに ない事ばかり はちめるわ |
| how I began things which had never existed. | nani o yū no mo muzukashiki koto | なにをゆうのも むつかしき事 |
Alternate English translations
Third Edition
It was indeed difficult, because I was beginning things which had never existed before.
Inoue/Eynon
Beginning something that is unprecedented is also a difficult thing to explain.
Commentary
Ofudesaki chushaku
Yoshitaro Ueda (2009)
From Michi no dai: Foundation of the Path 35:74–5
God was creating humankind and the world, neither of which had previously existed; therefore, this endeavor in the muddy ocean was truly an extraordinary undertaking. It is also not easy to “explain how”–i.e., to describe in words how this undertaking was carried out. The only effective way of describing it would be to use the vocabulary of those for whom the description was intended. This makes it unlikely that the use of such words as “fish,” “serpent,” “flatfish,” and “turtle” is meant to indicate the existence of the creatures referred to by these words in the muddy ocean. We find it difficult to imagine that these vertebrates, fish species, and reptiles existed at the time. Yet, if we were to describe something that had previously not existed by using words and concepts, we would probably have to use words and concepts that were familiar to our audience and effective in expressing what needed to be expressed. What we have here in the Ofudesaki may be referred to as symbolic expressions or figures of speech.
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