From:  Arjuna Wiwaha (“Arjuna’s Wedding) by Mpu Kanwa
11th century Javanese poem  Canto V, Verse 9  (Translated by Patricia Henry)

 

            Hanānonton ringgit manangis asĕkĕl, mūda hidĕpan

                huwus wruh towin yang walulang inukir molah angucap

                haturning wang trĕşņeng wişaya malahā tar wwihikana

ri tatwanyān māyā sahana-hananing bhāwa siluman *
 

             There are those who watch the shadow play, weeping and sad in their foolish understanding

             They know that it is really only carved leather moving and talking

             This is the situation of those who thirst for things of the senses;  they are even worse off, not realizing

             The truth is that all that exists in this world is also illusion

 

The verse comments on the foolishness of those who get so caught up in the wayang that they cry at the plight of the puppets, and compares them to people who mistake the transitory illusion of this world for true reality.  It is an argument for Arjuna to reject the world and pursue Nirvana -- an argument he counters by saying that it is possible (and right, for a ksatria) to balance between the world of illusion and the nothingness of the Absolute.

 

 

*If you want to get the Javanese script font (such that the passage below looks like Javanese instead of gobbledigook,  check out https://seasite.niu.edu/Indonesian/jawa/jawa.htm  and/or https://hanacaraka.fateback.com/

ano[no[noTn]i=gitMnzisseKl\mudaidPn\ ,

auwus\ w]uh[towin\yzWlulzinuki/[molazucp\ ,

atu/nizW=t}S\[!=wi$ymlaot/wWiaikn ,

rittWn-nMoyosananni=*owsilumn\ .