Text: Iroha. Translation from Abe, Ryuichi (1999). The Weaving of Mantra: Kûkai and the Construction of Esoteric Buddhist Discourse. Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-11286-6.
Iroha is an older Japanese poem with deep connections to Japanese culture and religion. There are a number of different versions – the original cannot be read by the vast majority of modern Japanese readers. It has been translated in a number of languages but the translations lose much of the nuance and meaning.
May 2023 TOK essay prescribed title #2 is focused on the importance of what can or cannot be explained. Any poem that could be fully explained may be too simplistic to have much artistic merit. Deeper and more thought-provoking poems perhaps can be only partially understood. A poem in translation, such as the excerpt from iroha below, adds another layer to the “explanation” question.
Although its scent still lingers on
the form of a flower has scattered away
For whom will the glory
of this world remain unchanged?
Arriving today at the yonder side
of the deep mountains of evanescent existence
We shall never allow ourselves to drift away
intoxicated, in the world of shallow dreams.
Abe, Ryuichi (1999). The Weaving of Mantra: Kûkai and the Construction of Esoteric Buddhist Discourse. Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-11286-6.