Offering prayers at Mount Fuji
The time of humanity’s awakening is here!
The dawn! The dawn!
First light of the day everlasting,
melodies of sacred teachings,
rhythmic vitality of life
brimming with vast and magnificent strength.
Mount Fuji, like the dawn,
brings restoring richness to our lives.
It enfolds a soul, eternally enduring.
Its solemn form like a wise philosopher
arising from deepest meditation.
Its peaceful aspect remains unmoved
by the bravest north winds.
With the accumulation of propitious snows
it paints a picture of sacred purity.
Under the fierce heat of summer’s red emperor
it never neglects to refresh us
with fragrant breezes and tranquil green.
Mount Fuji! How transcendent is your perfectly formed beauty!
History’s pages pile up
thousands, tens of thousands deep.
The trampling march of fire and steel
continues unchecked and unabated.
On which of life’s shores have we touched land?
Humanity’s passage is driven
by the maddened lashing of storm-torn sails.
Earth remains adrift on sad and tragic currents.
People yearn for indications
of a firm and certain direction.
Abiding on the parched earth, the people of medieval Europe
drew forth the clear waters of Scholasticism
and were revived.
Struggling in anguish through harsh trials, the Jewish people
kept faith in the coming of the Messiah
and were filled with the vital breath of life.
Exhausted by wandering on confounded paths, the people of Asia
encountered the sage philosopher of Eagle Peak
and brought their lives to new flowering.
The times pass on, new eras arrive.
The rich robes of the past are now threadbare.
The billowing waves of a defiled age
rage ever more ferociously.
Ah, let us offer our prayer and pledge
to the sacred peak of Mount Fuji,
that we may bring succor to the suffering.
Untold numbers of people
have extolled Mount Fuji.
But I have no taste for the exaggerated claims
of narrow particularism.
In the burning house of our all-consuming age
I stand, unadorned, fearing no refutation.
I will offer my praise to distant Mount Fuji,
just as the world’s two billion people
turn themselves to face the sun’s noble beams
or bathe in Luna’s delicate light.
Now from Mount Fuji comes the stirring chime
of the sacred bell, resounding with
the tones of freedom, peace and dignity.
The time has come
to awaken to the realities of the inner life,
inspired by the echoing bell of lasting peace
that sounds from beautiful, sacred Mount Fuji.
How incomparable, Mount Fuji!
Preserving the writings of the great sage,
home to the eternal guide and master!
How majestic, this sublime peak!
Heritage unbroken over so many seasons,
key to reveal the secrets of the cosmos!
The doors to the jeweled throne
—without rival or parallel—
have now been thrown open!
The sacred bell echoes and sounds.
The dawn is here! The dawn!
The time of humanity’s awakening
is finally at hand!
First published in the January 1950 issue of the magazine Daibyakurenge. This translation is based on a revised version published in 1991.
Eagle Peak (Skt Gridhrakūta): a mountain near the city of Rājagriha in Magadha in ancient India; sometimes called Vulture Peak. Said to be the place where Shakyamuni preached the Lotus Sutra.