Pratityasamutpada – the 12 links of conditioned arising - Part 3
From 7 to 12 causal branches continued as follows [See: 1 -6]:
7. Sensation – vedana is a Buddhist term referring to the sensing action of humans. It is the feeling of touch. The six senses come into contact with the six external sense organs through the six internal sense organs and sense them. Besides physical and physiological sensations such as 'hot' and 'painful', including those that are perceptually felt by the mind, such as suffering and pleasure. For example, feeling 'beautiful' when looking at nature.
8. Craving – trsna (tanha) is an important concept in Buddhism, referring to "thirst, desire, longing, greed", either physical or mental. The sanskrit word “trsna” is typically translated as craving, and is of three types: "craving for sensual pleasures", "craving for existence", and "craving for non-existence".Trsna is also mentioned in the 4 Sacred Truths, which state that it is the cause of suffering and that this causes living beings to repeat death and rebirth in the wheel of samsara.
9. Attachment– upadana means "fuel, material cause, substrate that is the source and means for keeping an active process energised". It is also an important Buddhist concept referring to "attachment, clinging, grasping". It is considered to be the result of trsna (craving), and is part of the dukkha (suffering, pain) dogma in Buddhism.
10. Feeling – bhava is the state of existence of a living being, the area of survival. It refers to the state in which sentient beings go through ‘trailokya’ in the cycle of samsara (reincarnation). Trailokya stands for the three realms that are the world of greed, the world of pure matter, free from desire(colour), and the world that transcends both desire and material conditions and dwells only in mental action (colourlessness).
11. Birth – Jati refers to the repeated existence of a person as a new life through samsara (reincarnation).
12. Old age and Death – Jaramarana stands for "old age" (jara) and "death" (marana). In Buddhism, jaramarana is associated with the inevitable decay and death-related suffering of all beings prior to their rebirth within samsara (cyclic existence).
And it’s so underrated! It’s vocaloid, but doesn’t have any covers. Why isn’t this more popular?!
The instrumental parts are beautiful, especially the flute, but the lyrics are good too
Some background info: This song is inspired by Touken Ranbu, a game/anime about anthropomorphic swords. It’s sung from the perspective of Okita’s swords Kashu Kiyomitsu and Yamatonokami Yasusada.
Here it is with English subs:
youtube
And here are the lyrics (Kanji + Romaji + Translation):
(source: https://niseuta.tumblr.com/post/125065668048/suisenka-kashuu-kiyomitsu-yamatonokami)
水餞花
Suisenka
Narcissus [1]
嗚呼 伝う雫 あの冷たさ思い出す
Aa tsutau shizuku ano tsumeta sa omoidasu
Oh, I recall the coldness that comes with tears
胸に広がる 痛みの意味も 知らなかった
Mune ni hirogaru itami no imi mo shiranakatta
Yet I did not know the meaning of this pain that spreads within my chest
嗚呼 与えられた 人の身が心を解く
Aa ataerareta hito no mi ga kokoro wo hodoku
Oh, Being given a human body that released my heart
かつての言葉が 静かに彩られていく
Katsute no kotoba ga shizuka ni irodorareteiku
And old words that colored me quietly
“愛されていた"なんて問わずとも
"Aisareteita” nante towazu tomo
No need to even ask “Were we ever loved?”
鼓動が告げる 僕ら愛されていた
Kodou ga tsugeru bokura aisareteita
For this heartbeat conveys that we were loved
そうね 今はもう叶わないけど
Soune ima wa mou kanawanai kedo
I see that even though now I am unable to
触れてみたかった
Furete mitakatta
I still want to try and touch you
舞い散る花に滴る露
Mai chiruhana ni shittatarutsuyu
Scattered flower petals covered with dew drops
鮮やかに蘇る記憶が
Azayaka ni yomigaeru kioku ga
Vividly revive memories
輪廻の歯車を廻していく
Rinne no haguruma wo mawashite iku
Of the wheels of reincarnation turning
最期を見届けたかった
Saigo wo mitodoketakatta
To see things firmly until the end
嗚呼 そよぐ風が いつかの香りを運ぶ
Aa soyogu kaze ga itsuka no kaori wo hakobu
Oh, the rustling wind that carries the fragrance of someday
揺蕩う想い 断ち切ることさえ 出来ずに
Tayutau omoi tachikiru koto sae dekizu ni
Is unable to cut off even these drifting thoughts
一所に佇む黒猫の
Hitotokoro ni tatazumu kuro neko no
Standing in the same place is a black cat
姿見とめた心が凪いでいく
Sugatami tometa kokoro ga naide iku
With its reflection, my heart settled down
刹那、雰れた 気がした白露も
Setsuna, koboreta ki ga shita shiratsuyu mo
And for a moment, I felt even the glistening dew that spilled
風となって消えた
Kaze to natte kieta
Into the wind and disappeared
貴方の為に仕えたこと
Anata no tame ni tsukaeta koto
The fact that I have served you
いつまでも誇りに思ってるよ
Itsumade mo hokori ni omotteru yo
Fills me with pride for all eternity
暗涙に咽ぶ横顔が語る
Anrui ni musebu yokogao ga kataru
Choked with silent tears, a profile that conveyed
閑雅で狂おしいほどに
Kangade kuruoshii hodo ni
Quiet elegance to the point of madness
再び巡り逢えたことを
Futatabi meguri aeta koto wo
The fact that the two of us had met again
決して無駄にはしない
Kesshite muda ni wa shinai
It will not be in vain
この身朽ちること、恐れず臨む
Kono mi kuchiru koto, osorezu nozomu
Even with this decaying body, I will face it with no fear
守り抜くよ 褪せない 思いを
Mamorinuku yo asenai omoi wo
Safeguard these thoughts so they won’t fade.
鏡のような 僕らだから
Kagami no youna bokura dakara
For we are like a mirror, that’s why we
闇夜も越える支えとなれる
Yamiyo mo koeru sasae to nareru
Cross over the night to support you
共に歴史を噛み締め 往こうか
Tomo ni rekishi wo kamishime ikou ka
Together, let us grab our hold on history
誠の道を 参ろう
Makoto no michi wo mairou
And venture the road of sincerity
貴方の為に仕えたこと
Anata no tame ni tsukaeta koto
The fact that I have served you
いつまでも誇りに思ってるよ
Itsumade mo hokori ni omotteru yo
Fills me with pride for all eternity
未だ見ぬ鳥たちが羽ばたく地で
Mada minu toritachi ga habataku ji de
In this land, flying birds that remain unseen
どうか僕ら見守っていて
Douka bokura mimamotteite
Somehow still watch over us
咲き誇る花 風に舞って
Sakihokoru hana kaze ni matte
Flowers in full bloom dance in the wind
縁の絆と 共に往こう
Enishi no kizuna to tomo ni ikou
Together we’ll go with the bonds of fate and,
継いだ浅葱を纒い 誠の御旗のもと
Tsuida asagi wo matoi makoto no mihata no moto
Our bodies clad with traditional colors under the flag of sincerity [2],
現世を駆けよう
Ima wo kakeyou
Advance to the present world [3]
嫋やかな花
Taoyakana hana
Graceful flower
清らかな水
Kiyorakana mizu
Pure water
闇隔つとも
Yamieda tsutomo
Even if left alone in the dark [4]
あいとう、偲ぶその先で
Aitou, shinobu sono saki de
Mourn, Remember what has been [5]
Notes:
1 - A few things about the title:
Suisenka can mean Daffodil or Narcissus(水仙花).
In Hanakotoba, they mean Respect and Self-esteem respectively. I don’t think that the flower meaning has anything to do with the song though.
The kanji here is different. Instead it’s written as 水餞花.
The kanji in the middle, 餞, means farewell gift.
Not sure who the farewell gift is addressed to. In my opinion, it is a message to their former master, Okita Souji.
Or maybe it could be for the Saniwa who’s reckless enough to break these precious swords.
(Yes you, I am judging you because I honestly have never broken sword in the game. That was a joke please don’t get mad. :<)
2 - Was really confused so I kind of guessed this part.(do inform me if you have a better translation)
Sorry for the really weird wording, I’m gonna attempt to give additional info here:
誠の御旗-> Makoto no Hata -> Flag of Sincerity
The symbol character on the flag of the Shinsengumi is “誠” which means sincerity/honesty.
継いだ浅葱 -> Tsuida asagi -> Inherited Asagi
Changed it to “traditional colors”
Asagi: hues of light yellow, green and blue
Also, this Wikipedia page is really interesting.
3 - 現世
In Shintoism, is read as gensei or utsushiyo refers to the “actual world”.
In Buddhism, it is read as genze, there is a similar concept and it is interpreted as the “present world” or the world after reincarnation.
In this song, the kanji is read as ima which means “present/now” so I believe it follows the latter meaning.
More on this here and here.
4 - 隔 means isolated but I used “left alone” here. (not really much of a difference I guess?)
I think this hints towards the fate of the actual sword, Kashuu Kiyomitsu, who was abandoned by his master since he was deemed irreparable.
5 - Also in the last line, there’s a really neat pun:
Aitou(Mourn) = Ai(Love) + Tou(sword)
(Mind = blown <3 ahahah)
Pratityasamutpada, or dvadasangika-pratityasamutpada is the twelve links or nidānas, a series of twelve conditions in Buddhism for the extinction of suffering by severing the roots of suffering in real life. It is one of the fundamental dogma of Buddhism.
They are direct internal causes that cause results and indirect causes that help them from outside.
The 'karma' philosophy, which is of great importance in Buddhism, does not recognise any independent entities, but means that they are established in relation to other things.
Pratityasamutpada (paticcasamupada), commonly translated as dependent origination, or dependent arising, is a key dogma in Buddhism shared by all schools of Buddhism. It states that all dharmas (phenomena) arise in dependence upon other dharmas: "if this exists, that exists; if this ceases to exist, that also ceases to exist". The basic principle is that all things (dharmas, phenomena, principles) arise in dependence upon other things.
The dogma includes depictions of the arising of suffering (anuloma- paticcasamupada, "with the grain", forward conditionality) and depictions of how the chain can be reversed (patiloma- paticcasamupada, "against the grain", reverse conditionality).
The traditional interpretation of these lists is that they describe the process of a sentient being's rebirth in samsara, and the resultant duhkha (suffering, pain, unsatisfactoriness), and they provide an analysis of rebirth and suffering that avoids positing an atman (unchanging self or eternal soul). The reversal of the causal chain is explained as leading to the cessation of rebirth (and thus, the cessation of suffering).
At that time, suffering is extinguished and samsara also ceases to exist because the root, ignorance (Skt. abidya), is extinguished.
[The 12 lists will be continued in the next article: click here]