where there’s people there’s flies and Buddhas — Issa tr. Lanoue
人有れば蝿あり仏ありにけり hito areba hae ari hotoke ari ni keri —Issa
人 hito: person(s), human being 有れ are: a classical form of aru, to exist / to be, used before ば ば ba: classical conjunctive particle, if…, then…, when, because, since; compounds to: 有れば areba: given that, when are, whenever, wherever are, since…
蝿 hae: fly (flies) (the insect) あり ari: classical form of aru, to be, exist, there is/are
仏 hotoke: Buddha(s), the Buddha‑nature あり ari: as above there is/are, exist(s) に ni: nowadays a connecting particle (https://jisho.org/word/%E3%81%AB) but here a classic perfective verb auxiliary. けり — keri — another classical perfective verb auxiliary, equivalent to present perfective in English, and here as kireji or cutting-word at the end of sentence, indicating recent past plus sudden awareness: “ah, so it is!” The ending にけり (ni keri) is a classic combination of two auxiliary verbs:に (ni), the continuative form of the classical perfective auxiliary ぬ (nu). A state or action has reached completion, evolved, or “has come to be.” けり(keri) the exclamatory past or perfective auxiliary of realization. ‘keri’ is now archaic, so here the archaic biblical English “verily” (truly!) might fit. Or “lo and behold!” Or sometimes, maybe, “it has come to pass.”
Literal: people whenever are flies are Buddhas have come to be, verily!
Context suggests the choice of singular or plural. Plural seems more appropriate. I understand that the closing perfective should normally govern the preceding tenseless verbs (“given people there have been flies and there have been Buddhas: so it is!”), but a better natural rendering in spoken English seems to be as in Lanoue’s translation above, which becomes timeless.
Issa’s Pure Land Buddhism is on show as, conceivably raising one eyebrow in amusement, he reminds himself that both people and their tormenting pests in an imperfect world are on their karmic way to becoming Buddhas. In his belief system, you can’t be reincarnated as a ‘lower form’ of life in the Pure Land, so, given people, some of them must have been flies, and all are capable of eventually attaining the Buddha-nature. Acceptance… Enlightenment… That’s how it is.
An assertive statement, in a single sentence, that is elevated to an adage: “a short, memorable saying that expresses a general truth from a common observation.“
where there’s people
there’s flies
and Buddhas
— Issa tr. Lanoue
人有れば蝿あり仏ありにけり
hito areba hae ari hotoke ari ni keri
—Issa
人 hito: person(s), human being
有れ are: a classical form of aru, to exist / to be, used before ば
ば ba: classical conjunctive particle, if…, then…, when, because, since;
compounds to:
有れば areba: given that, when are, whenever, wherever are, since…
蝿 hae: fly (flies) (the insect)
あり ari: classical form of aru, to be, exist, there is/are
仏 hotoke: Buddha(s), the Buddha‑nature
あり ari: as above there is/are, exist(s)
に ni: nowadays a connecting particle (https://jisho.org/word/%E3%81%AB) but here a classic perfective verb auxiliary.
けり — keri — another classical perfective verb auxiliary, equivalent to present perfective in English, and here as kireji or cutting-word at the end of sentence, indicating recent past plus sudden awareness: “ah, so it is!”
The ending にけり (ni keri) is a classic combination of two auxiliary verbs:に (ni), the continuative form of the classical perfective auxiliary ぬ (nu). A state or action has reached completion, evolved, or “has come to be.” けり(keri) the exclamatory past or perfective auxiliary of realization.
‘keri’ is now archaic, so here the archaic biblical English “verily” (truly!) might fit. Or “lo and behold!” Or sometimes, maybe, “it has come to pass.”
Literal:
people whenever are
flies are
Buddhas have come to be, verily!
Context suggests the choice of singular or plural. Plural seems more appropriate. I understand that the closing perfective should normally govern the preceding tenseless verbs (“given people there have been flies and there have been Buddhas: so it is!”), but a better natural rendering in spoken English seems to be as in Lanoue’s translation above, which becomes timeless.
Issa’s Pure Land Buddhism is on show as, conceivably raising one eyebrow in amusement, he reminds himself that both people and their tormenting pests in an imperfect world are on their karmic way to becoming Buddhas. In his belief system, you can’t be reincarnated as a ‘lower form’ of life in the Pure Land, so, given people, some of them must have been flies, and all are capable of eventually attaining the Buddha-nature. Acceptance… Enlightenment… That’s how it is.
An assertive statement, in a single sentence, that is elevated to an adage: “a short, memorable saying that expresses a general truth from a common observation.“