2月8日

法王印
唐 寒山 ( 生卒年不詳 )

人生不滿百，常懷千歲憂；
自身病始可，又為子孫愁。
下視禾根土，上看桑樹頭；
秤槌落東海，到底始知休。
可嘆浮生人，悠悠何日了？
朝朝無閑時，年年不覺老。
總為求衣食，令心生煩惱；
擾擾百千年，去來三惡道。
我見黃河水，凡經幾度清；
水流如激箭，人世若浮萍。
癡屬根本業，愛為煩惱坑；
輪迴幾許劫，只為造迷盲。

──選自《寒山子詩集》

February 8th

Seals of the Dharma King
Hanshan (Years unknown, Tang Dynasty)
English translation: Miao Guang

Not even a hundred years old yet,
    one already bears a thousand-year load of worries;

Having just recovered one’s own health,
    worries over his children and grandchildren
    nevertheless ensue.

Looking downwards, stalks take root in the soils,
Looking upwards, mulberry treetops shift in colors;
As the steelyard tilts towards the Eastern Sea,
    one finally sees that’s where the weighing stops.

Sighing upon this delusory life,
    when will its long days finally end?
Morning after morning of leisureless times,
    year after year’s unawareness of old age.

Always pursuing food and clothing,
    causing nothing but worries to the mind;
Hundreds and years of turmoil,
    one travels between the three evil realms*.

The Yellow River that I see,
    when has the water ever been clear?
The torrents are rapid as flying arrows,
    while life is as duckweeds.

Ignorance is the fundamental karma,
    while clinging the pit of afflictions;
How many kalpas of rebirth have passed,
    just to create what is lost and blind.

── from Hanshanzi Shiji (Collected Poems of Hanshanzi)

* The three realms refer to that of animals, hell, and hungry ghosts.