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The garden between records

Records in this room

01storyEzekiel · The chariot vision02researchAncient Text Research Kit03storyAt the threshold of Kesh · The temple hymn’s conclusion04storyA Vessel on a White Lotus · Amoghapāśa05storySamuel · The source of the voice06storySpeech that went unheard · Vāk and understanding07storyWind, Dust and the Body · An Incantation of Ningirim08storyMoses · Fire in the bush09storyElijah · After the fire10storyA Voice from the Depths · Jonah11storyJacob · The place he did not know12storyThe empty space · A wheel, a vessel and a room13storyJacob · Tell me your name14storyKena · That through which15storyThe yaksha · Power that is not enough16storyWho knows the beginning · The hymn of origins17storyThe Waters of Nun · Book of the Dead18storyZhuang Zhou · The butterfly dream19storyForm and Emptiness · Heart Sūtra20storyThe Kālāmas · When you know for yourselves21storyThe ending of hostility · Pairs22storyThe cessation of suffering · What can change23storyDiscern and choose · Thought, word and deed24storyMusa · Where the two seas meet25storyThe Plant That Could Not Be Kept · Gilgamesh26storyAfter the Flood · Gilgamesh and Genesis27storyNachiketas · The third boon28storyThe unborn · The body and its dweller29storyA Weapon That Can Be Recalled · Mahābhārata30storyThe Stayed Hand · Abraham and Isaac31storyJob · Before explaining32publicationSuffering is not a required course.33storyAn explanation is not pain relief.34storyWhat Shall I Bring? · Micah and Hosea35storyWho sinned? · A question on the road36storyTo follow · To save and to lose37storyLife within me · No longer I38storyThe transfiguration · A voice from the cloud39storyAre you Elijah? · Three Gospel testimonies40storyWords on the Gates · Deuteronomy41storyElijah and Elisha · On the other side of the Jordan42storyThe seven seals · Who can stand?43storyThe image of the beast · Breath and a name44storyThe river and tree after the end · After the visions of judgment45storyAt the foot of Sumeru · Four mountains46storyMani · The name Maitreya47storyWait here for Maitreya · A dialogue48storyBuddha Mani · The Moon God49storyA place by the water · The garden between records

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The Plant That Could Not Be Kept · Gilgamesh

Tablet XI · Uta-Napishtim’s gift, the test of sleep and the lost plant · four selected passages

1. Gift and test · Thompson, XI, pp. 53–54, “(Then) to the Ark” to “se’nnight!”(Then) to the Ark came up Enlil; my hand did he grasp, and uplifted Me, even me, and my wife, too, he raised, and, bent-kneed beside me, Made her to kneel; our foreheads he touch’d as he stood there between us, Blessing us; 'Uta-Napishtim hath hitherto only been mortal, Now, indeed, Uta-Napishtim and (also) his wife shall be equal Like to us gods; in the distance afar at the mouth of the rivers Uta-Napishtim shall dwell'. (So) they took me and (there) in the distance Caused me to dwell at the mouth of the rivers. But thee, as for thee, pray, Who will assemble the gods for thy (need), that the life which thou seekest Thou mayst discover? Come, fall not asleep for six days, aye, a se’nnight!"

2. Sleep · p. 54, “(Then), while he sat” to “return to his land”(Then), while he sat on his haunches a sleep like a breeze breathed upon him. Spake to her, Uta-Napishtim, yea, unto his wife: "O, behold him, E’en the strong fellow who asketh for life, (how) hath breathéd upon him Sleep like a breeze!" (Then) his wife unto Uta-Napishtim the Distant Answer 'd: "O, touch him, and let the man wake, that the road he hath traversed He may betake himself homeward in peace, that he by the portal Whence he fared forth may return to his land."

3. The plant · p. 56, “Gilgamish spake to him” to “youthful condition”Gilgamish spake to him, (yea), to the boatman Ur-Shanabi (this wise): "(Nay, but) this plant is a plant of great wonder(?), Ur-Shanabi," said he, "Whereby a man may attain his desire—I'll take it to Erech, (Erech), the high-wall’d, and give it to eat [unto . . . .]. 'Greybeard-who-turneth-to-man-in-his-prime' is its name and I'll eat it I myself, that again I may come to my youthful condition."

4. The snake · p. 56, “Gilgamish spied out” to “Over his cheeks flow’d his tears”, with marked cutsGilgamish spied out a pool of cool water, (and) therein descending Bathed in the water. (But here was) a serpent who snuff’d the plant's fragrance, Darted he up [from the water (?)], and snatch’d the plant […] Then Gilgamish sate him, (and) burst into weeping. Over his cheeks flow’d his tears […]

Akkadian · damaged witness K.2252

294 {d}GIŠ-gim₂-maš a-na ša₂-šu-ma MU-r[a ana x x x ma-la-h]u 295 {m}ur-šanabi₂ šam-mu an-nu-u₂ ša[m-mu x x x] 296 ša₂ LU₂ ina lib₃-bi-šu₂ i-kaš-ša₂#-d[u x x] 297 lu#-bil#-šu# ana lib₃-bi UNUG{ki} su-pu-r[i ( : )] 298 [x x x x x x x x x x x] 299 šum#-ma?# ši-i-bu iṣ-ṣa#-[hir x] 300 a-na-ku lu-kul-ma lu-tur a-[na x x x x x x]

Reading notes

Uta-Napishtim describes a particular decision by the gods that changed his and his wife’s fate. He immediately asks who will gather the gods for Gilgamesh. Knowing how someone else was saved does not give the hero a way to repeat it.

The search for life then meets a bodily limit: Gilgamesh falls asleep. In the selected continuation, Uta-Napishtim’s wife asks that he be woken and allowed to return home. We can read this as a reminder of the hero’s limits; the text does not say mortality punishes insufficient effort.

The plant offers a different hope. Gilgamesh himself speaks of recovering his youth; this is not the same as Uta-Napishtim’s exceptional fate. He obtains the plant but cannot keep it. Its loss is not explained as breaking a prohibition: the snake takes it while he bathes.

The modern reading mentions the snake shedding its skin. This renewal can be connected with the theme of youth, but it does not establish that the snake becomes immortal.

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