善がり曼荼羅 || Satisfied Mandala

Album art.

善がり曼荼羅
yogari mandala
Satisfied Mandala

Vocals: あやぽんず* (Ayaponzu*)
Lyrics: azuki
Arranged by: kaztora
Album: Season 4 you [Official site]
Circle: 森羅万象 (Shinra-Bansho)
Event: C93
Original theme: The Magic Straw-Hat Jizo [魔法の笠地蔵]

This is another one of those translations that I had lying around almost complete for a few years. I struggled a lot with working out the perspective of the song, so I never published the translation. Looking back on it now, it feels a bit like a sardonic onlooker is passing judgement on selfish people.

I thought about translating 善がり in the title as ‘smug’, but that’s better captured by 独り善がり.


非公式の英訳/Unofficial translation

Timid people bustle around, making a fuss by apologising with tongues stuck out.
Nobody can flaunt their two-faced feelings.
Troubled faces hold tension and shy, prim faces pay attention.
Things that aren’t in their hearts anymore are being buried.

You escape barefoot. Where does salvation lie?
You head west and east yet continue on through hell.

You’re all show, nothing but paper mache.
Take back your fake repentance.
You look down on people who move forward while worrying.
Walk beside the road of flowers!

Greedily does it. You bother them, then pluses and minuses come knocking.
Ah, I’ve been betrayed. Don’t know. Everyone starts looking away.
Believe me, it’s the truth. I’m more level than anyone.
Heartless words will be buried here.

I sought salvation in a few lines.
I worried and hesitated
then the falling snow made me realise it.

Seizing the hand that’s been offered
doesn’t mean that help will be there forever.
O people who die equally and correctly! O people who hang on!
Walk down the hidden back road!

In health and in sickness
lie answers to years of questions (of endurance.)
Ah. They’re unable to act or pray themselves
and they leave happiness to others. Hell is in the heart.

They say that just taking the hand of someone lost
is enough to save them. Like I’d know!
O people who die equally and correctly! O people who hold on!
You worry and worry, but did things change for the better?
What if you just stopped falling to your knees and praying?
Without praying, without acting, without making it happen, without doing a thing,
I’ll still be here watching over you
so walk your own road!


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