10月3日

念佛偈
唐 白居易 ( 772~846 )

余年七十一，不復事吟哦；
看經費眼力，作福畏奔波；
何以度心眼，一聲阿彌陀。
行也阿彌陀，坐也阿彌陀；
縱饒忙似箭，不離阿彌陀；
達人應笑我，多卻阿彌陀。
達又作麼生，不達又如何；
普勸法界眾，同念阿彌陀；
要脫輪迴苦，須念阿彌陀。

──選自《白氏長慶集》

October 3

Verse on Chanting the Buddha's Name
Bai Juyi (772 - 846, Tang Dynasty)
English translation: Miao Guang

At the age of seventy plus one,
Poetry is what I no longer read or write.
Reading too strenuous for the eye,
While doing good deeds too much of a physical act.

How can the mind then pass time?
Amitabha is what I simply chant.
I chant Amitabha while walking,
I chant Amitabha while sitting;
Even when buried in matters,
Never forget Amitabha for a chant.

Let those intellects ridicule me,
And most of you skeptics of Amitabha.
So what if you are an intellect?
So what if I ain’t?

I urge all living beings in the Dharma realm,
To come together and chant Amitabha;
If one seeks liberation from the cycle of rebirth,
To chant Amitabha would be an essential act.

── from Baishi Changqing Ji (Collected Poems of Mister Bai)