8月5日

禪悅二首
清 張問陶 ( 1764~1814 )

蒲團清坐道心長，消受蓮花自在香；
八萬四千門路別，誰知方寸即西方。

門庭清妙即禪關，枉費黃金去買山；
只要心光如滿月，在家還比出家閑。

──選自《張問陶詩歌菁華錄》

August 5

Two Poems on the Joy of Chan
Zhang Wentao (1764 - 1814, Qing Dynasty)
English translation: Miao Guang

By purely sitting on the hassock,
    the mind for the Way progresses,
Being worthy of enjoying
    the refreshing lotus fragrance;
Though eighty-four thousand
    distinct ways exist,
Who is to know that the West*
    is immediately in the mind.

Pure and wondrous a home suffices to be a Chan abode,
Why go wasting your gold to purchase mountains?
As long as the mind is bright as the full moon,
A householder is more liberated than a renounced monk.

── from Zhang Wentao Shige Jinhua Lu (Anthology of Poetry by Zhang Wentao)

* The Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss.