# Buddha in der Glorie · Buddha in Glory

Neue Gedichte · Rainer Maria Rilke · New Poems: The Other Part

Source: https://1732studios.com/books/rilke/buddha-in-der-glorie. Data: https://1732studios.com/books/rilke/buddha-in-der-glorie.json. Audio: https://audio.1732studios.com/rilke/<line id>.m4a.

**1** Mitte aller Mitten, Kern der Kerne,  
Center of all centers, kernel of kernels,
> Genitive plural for the superlative: Mitte aller Mitten, 'center of all centers', and Kern der Kerne, 'kernel of kernels', put a noun in the genitive plural after itself to mark its absolute degree, the same pattern as 'King of Kings'. aller is genitive plural of alle.

**2** Mandel, die sich einschließt und versüßt,–  
almond that encloses itself and grows sweet,–
> Separable verb, reflexive here: einschließen, 'to enclose, shut in', is separable: its prefix ein- moves to the end of the clause, die sich einschließt. It is also reflexive, sich, so the almond encloses itself. versüßt, from the inseparable versüßen, 'to sweeten', stays whole.

**3** dieses alles bis an alle Sterne  
all of this, out to the farthest stars,
> bis an takes the accusative: bis an means 'as far as, right up to' and takes the accusative; alle Sterne, 'all the stars', is its object. bis and an work together as one compound preposition here rather than separately.

**4** ist dein Fruchtfleisch: Sei gegrüßt.  
is your fruit-flesh: be greeted.
> A compound noun for pulp: Fruchtfleisch literally joins Frucht, 'fruit', and Fleisch, 'flesh, meat', to name the soft pulp of a fruit. German fuses the two into a single noun where English needs a hyphen: 'fruit-flesh'.
> Passive formed with the imperative: sei is the imperative of sein, 'be', and gegrüßt is the past participle of grüßen, 'to greet'; together they form a passive command, 'be greeted'. This fixed formula works like the Latin salutation 'ave'.


**5** Sieh, du fühlst, wie nichts mehr an dir hängt;  
See — you feel how nothing clings to you any longer;
> hängen an takes the dative: hängen an, 'to hang on, cling to', governs the dative: an dir, 'to you'. nichts mehr is 'nothing any longer' and is the subject of hängt. wie here is the subordinating conjunction 'how', introducing fühlst's clause.

**6** im Unendlichen ist deine Schale,  
your husk lies in the infinite,
> Adjective turned into a noun: unendlich, 'infinite', is nominalized here as das Unendliche, 'the infinite'; im is a contraction of in dem. German capitalizes and declines adjectives this way when they stand alone as nouns. Schale means 'shell, rind, husk'.

**7** und dort steht der starke Saft und drängt.  
and there the strong sap stands and presses.
> Two verbs, stehen and drängen: Saft means 'sap, juice'. stehen here means the sap stands gathered, at the full, rather than simply upright. drängen means 'to press, push, urge'. Both verbs share der starke Saft as their subject, joined by und.

**8** Und von außen hilft ihm ein Gestrahle,  
And from outside a radiance helps it,
> helfen governs the dative: helfen, 'to help', takes a dative object, not accusative: hilft ihm, 'helps it'. ihm refers back to der Saft. ein Gestrahle is the subject, a noun Rilke builds from strahlen, 'to radiate', with the collective Ge- ... -e frame.


**9** denn ganz oben werden deine Sonnen  
for high above, your suns are being
> Passive auxiliary strands its participle: werden is the passive auxiliary here, completed only in the next line by the participle umgedreht: deine Sonnen werden ... umgedreht, 'your suns are turned around'. German can hold the participle far from werden. denn means 'for, because'.

**10** voll und glühend umgedreht.  
wheeled full and glowing round.
> Past participle completes the passive: umdrehen, 'to turn around, rotate', is separable; umgedreht is its past participle, completing the passive begun by werden in the line above. voll and glühend, 'full' and 'glowing', are uninflected predicate adjectives modifying the same subject.

**11** Doch in dir ist schon begonnen,  
Yet within you has already begun
> sein where haben is expected: beginnen normally forms its perfect with haben: hat begonnen. Here ist begonnen instead reads as a state passive, 'is already begun', naming a resulting state rather than a completed action. doch means 'yet' and schon means 'already'.

**12** was die Sonnen übersteht.  
what will outlast the suns.
> überstehen takes a direct object: überstehen means 'to survive, outlast, withstand' and takes a direct accusative object: was die Sonnen übersteht, 'what outlasts the suns'. was, 'that which', is the subject of this relative clause, with die Sonnen as the object of übersteht.

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Source text: public domain (Rainer Maria Rilke, died 1926; Neue Gedichte published 1907 and 1908), from Wikisource. English translation and notes: © 2026 1732 Studios, LLC. Narration: synthesized for this edition.