know not where to head for.
I have also heard some clever men suggest
To leave the country that is well governed
And go to the state where disorder prevails.
At the door of a physician there are queues
Of those who are sick, no doubt; so, I wish
Thru what I’ve heard from them to think out
Some methods of dealing with such tyrants
And their extant regimes, if peradventure
The evils of them may be tackled and cured.
Alas! The risk is that I will go only to suffer
In the punishment of myself. The right means
In such a case will not admit of any admixture.
With such admixture, the one instrumentation
Will entail a series of other tools and methods:
Their multiplication will be embarrassed.
That sort of embarrassment will make one
Be extremely anxious. However anxious
One may be, one will not save oneself.
The sagely men in the olden days first had
What they wanted to do in themselves
And only then they sought the response to it
In all the others they met on their ways.
If what they wanted in themselves was not fixed,
What leisure had they to go and interfere
With the proceedings of any tyrannous regime
And unduly ruling! The staple subject of thought.
05
Insight
When utter fools try to recite my poems,
They do not sense them, just chuckling
And sneering at them, and nothing else.
When common folks read my poems,
They think them over, time and again,
Admitting, “Thought provoking,” they say.
When smart guys read my poetic lines,
They learn them by rote, one by one,
Smiling broadly. Such guys are those
Whose insight is so sharp and whose spirit
Is so keen that once they run across
The theme which speaks of taking a leap
Into the whirlpool of hell, in no time
They are aware that this is all about
The sagely cultivation of oneself, I swear.
06
Virtue's Colour
"May I know your name, ma'am?"
I asked the reddish maple which
Stood just next to me at the height
Of the Mid-Autumn Festival. . .
While pouring some more red wine
Into her glass, I squinted at her
From the corner of my eye to see
She turned to be deeply red;--
I read her complete blushing
As virtue's colour of a fair maiden.
07
Innate Elegance
There is a jade tree I have encountered
On the top of the Frozen Mountain --
It came into the world before all woods
Were set alone. It exceeds all ancestors
By twice in age; its knotty roots are curved
And twisted by ground waters and stones
Beyond all notions; its trunk and limbs
Are transmuted by steady frost and winds --
Everyone laughs at its ugly outside --
So decayed, withered and worm-eaten,
And nobody cares of its innate elegance
That a piece of jade grants us upon engraving.
When the bark all is done falling away,
What remains is perfectly simple and clean,
Like a drop of pine tar timed into an amber
To become a gem in ten million years.
08
Influence
There is nothing so level
As the surface of still waters.
It may serve as an example
Of a pure serenity.
All within its circuit
Is preserved in peace,
And there comes to it
No agitation from outside.
The virtuous efficacy
Is the perfect cultivation
Of the harmony of nature.
Although realization of this
Is not manifested in a man,
Unambiguously, all things
Cannot separate themselves
From its great influence.
09
In the Steel-plant Smoking-room
A layer upon layer of beautiful sceneries and landscapes;
The misty racks are locked in retreat on the green slopes.
Brushed off by the mountain fog, my headband gets wet;
The early morning dew moistens my straw-made cloak.
On my feet I wear my wandering far and wide sandals;
In my hand I hold an old rattan to tread on my pathway.
Time and again I contemplate the dusty world from afar;
Here is my wildest dreamland I wander thru leisurely. . .
Why should I leave it now for a rut of unsettled routine
Of my second shift in the realm of total overproduction!
10
In the Dark as in the Light
The body once asked its shadow, saying,
“Listen, dear follower, you are always
In the shade of my stature! How come
That recently you were looking down
And now you are looking up; formerly
You had your hair tied up and now
It's dishevelled; you were sitting and now
You have risen up; some time ago
You were walking and now you’ve stopped,
As though struck dumb: How is all this?”
The shadow retorted without delay, saying,
“Venerable Body, how come you ask me
About such trivial things? These matters
All belong to me, but I have no idea
How they are done so. I’m like the cocoon
I am like them, and yet not like them.
With light and the sun I make my look;
With dark and the night I fade away, vanished.
Am not I dependent on your substance
From which I am thrown? Isn’t that
Your substance itself dependent on
Something else? When that thing comes,
We both come with it; when it goes,
We both go with it. Then that something
Is under the influence of another substance,
Also known as 'the universal entity,'
We both find ourselves coming out
From the same single source, do you mind!
Since we both come out from all the same
Original substance, what cause is there for you
To question me? You’d better ask yourself
To know for certain, my dear benefactor.”
11
In the Autumn Rain
In the deep mountains
I while away a night of rain,
And above the lofty trees
A myriad of springs
Splash out their chilly
And weighty raindrops
Straight on my straw hat
And my cloak. . . Freezing,
Their steady drumming
Echoes in my temples,
Reminding me time
And again, “Autumn
Is after you, my friend,
Her Majesty Autumn
Is about your neck --
So be loyal and staunch
All throughout the phase
Of her stern reign until
Better season to come up
From behind the lofty hills.”
12
Second Youth
Old trees whose leaves
Are trembling in breeze
Long for silence and calm.
Some trees who are still wet
With the sap beneath their rind,
&nbs
p; And it is so lovely to see, act as if
They desire to bloom now and again,
They expose their branches to the wind.
13
Implements
All men have something to be useful;
In using things, each one has what is fit.
In using something, if you use it up,
It'll be just lack, even more, total deficit.
A round chisel with a square handle
Or a square pestle with a round mortar --
How sad! They're produced for no use.
To use a fine horse to catch a mice
Is not as good as to use a lame cat!
14
Hence the Chaos
If there were not the views of others,
I should not have mine;
If there were not myself with my views,
Theirs would be uncalled for --
This is nearly a true statement of the case,
But nobody knows what it is
That makes it be so. It might seem
As if there would be a real Architect
Concerned in it, but no one finds
Any trace of his presence in acting.
That he could act so I believe, but
Nobody can see his personification.
He can have affections indeed,
But he has no appearance and
What is called 'the architectural aspect
Of the unfathomable universe';--
Hence the spontaneous chaos.
15
A Trance
While the breath is blowing,
All the six tones
Of the 12-vent flute
Of old bamboo
Sound differently.
But once the breath stops,
Accordingly, it makes
All the twelve sounds
Cease of themselves.
Both of such things
Arise from the breath
And the flute's vents
Submit themselves.
Should there be
Any other elements
That excite them up
To the state of falling
Into a deeper trance? . .
16
Heaven's Operation
Stimulating the myriad kinds and
Their endlessly multiplied distinctions,
Who is it that suddenly compels them
To stop progression of themselves,
Sealing their self-selecting abilities
And restraining inherent instincts?
As is fairly said, 'Destruction is that
What makes Generation take place.'
17
Plum Stone of Mind
The centre of all centres, core of cores --
A plum stone is self-enclosed and,
What's more, growing sour-sweet,
Is like the unbounded universe
With its furthest stars and even far
Beyond them brings up to its joint result,
Its astringent pulp. Just taste it!
There is not a thing that is not that,
However, if we look at something
From this point of overconfidence,
We do not see it; only if we look at it
From the point of the unknown
We do discover it to make it be known.
Therefore, that a view comes from this,
And this view is a result of that,
Which is the theory that that view and this
Are the opposite views indeed
Which produce each other alternately.
They both find their point of conformity
Which is known as the pivot of all reasons.
As soon as we have found this pivot
We stand in the core of the ring of thoughts
Where we can respond without end
To the constantly changing circumferences.
We can respond without end to those
Affirming and to those denying views.
Therefore it is said that there's nothing
Like the proper place we take before,
Making our own course; and this place
Is the core of Mind -- the best point
Of departure for every single startup!
The wise man is he who views things
In the light of his own inherent abilities
And intuitive nature, forming his judgment
Of what he sees before his eyes. Now
You feel that Emptiness clings to you. . .
Your pivot plum stone, so vastly swollen,
Reaches into the endless way, and there
The rich and thick fluids rise and flow,
Illuminating your calm and peacefulness
Within the measure of immeasurable space.
18
Karma Cycling
A road is formed by constant treading
On the earth; a thing is called by its name
Thru a constant application of its name to it.
How come that it is so? It's so because it is so,
And that's it. Everything has its inherent traits
And its proper capability--there is not a thing
Which has not all these; hence equilibrium
Of forces and the unity of opposites.
Every separation leads to completion;
From completion ensued dissolution.
But things, without regard to completion
And the follow-up dissolution, may again
Be comprehended in their awaited unity --
There is only the far reaching in thought
Who knows how to comprehend things
In their appropriate unanimity. Being so,
Let us give up our boundless devotion
To our own viewpoints and finally
Occupy ourselves with common sense
Of what is known as the naturalness.
Yes, the common sense is grounded
On the use of things; the study of that use
Leads to the comprehensive judgement,
And that judgement secures success
Of an inquiry we make about ourselves.
That success gained, we are near to the end
Of our search and there, as a matter of fact,
We come to a stop. When we stop and yet
We do not know how it is so, we have got
What we call 'progression of the course.'
This occurs so, if we take a stalk of grain
And a huge boulder to compare them both
Or an ugly person and a beauty -- things rare
And things insecure, things crafty and
Things strange -- they all may, in the light
Of the course we all have pursued, be reduced
To the same category of our opinions of them,
Now positive and negative then and conversely.
When we toil our spirit and intellect
Obstinately determined to establish
Our solid viewpoint, and do not know
The agreement which underlies it,
As well as the viewpoints of others,
We have what we had before,
And the same we will have afterwards,
Leaving without any progression
And any qualitative advancing,
And that is the very essence of cycling
We all are trying to get the way out.
19
Agents of Sacredness
The yarrow stalks,
The plant of divination,
Together with some other
Sacred things, such as
White jade and green jadeite,
Were never perceived
As simply as the stove plants
Or pebbles on the beach.
They always were the objects
Of worship because they were
Oracular mediator and because
They showed
something
That was concealed behind the veil
Of unknown and therefore scary.
They always were the sacred things
For our ancestors in the past and
For most of us today whose good faith
Is cherished and concentrated
From day to day, year after year,
Throughout the entire lifetime.
20
Harmonization of 6:9
Harmonising some conflicting opinions
Is the invisible operation of Heaven.
How does it work? There is affirmation
Represented by the odd number nine,
And denial, the number six, of anything;
And there is assertion of an opinion
And its rejection. If the affirmation,
Being in accord with the real situation,
Is certainly different from the denial of it--
There can be no disputation about that.
If assertion of an opinion is to be correct,
Neither can there be any dispute about it.
When men are defeated in argumentation,
Their words come from their gullets as if
They were vomiting in choked desolation;
How insignificantly small are their bodily
Or earthly gesticulations by which they all
Belong to other human beings of the sort!
And how great they are in their perfection
About heavenly and spiritual specification!
So, let's forget with the lapse of time of all
Argumentations; let's forget of all conflicts
Of oppositions; let's make our appellations
Go to unification and take up there our firm
Position. If some of us, proceeding this way,
Could be said to have succeeded, it means
That we all achieve success; if some cannot
Be pronounced good, none of human beings
Can succeed either. It's what 'being-in-body'
Makes with us as an integral harmonization
Placed within the simplest correlation of 6:9.
21
Light of Changes
The scintillations of light
Which flash out from the midst
Of confusion and disarray
Are certainly valued
By all sagely minded people.
Not to insist on one's own view
And to take one's disposition
On the ordinary views
Is what is known as exploiting
The proper light of changes.
22
Delimitations
All truly valued things at first
Meet no responsive recognition;
It's just because they are so great
That they seem to be indiscernible.
One's speech from the outset
Has no well-established presentation;
It's just because of that
There come delimitations
Of different viewpoints and opinions.
As for all those delimitations,
They run to the left and to the right,
They are relations and obligations,
Classifications and distinctions,
Emulations and contentions
To be termed 'the eight boundaries.'
The great course does not admit of being praised;
The great argument does not require utterance;
The great love is not officiously lovable;
The great impartiality does not vaunt its humility;
The great courage is not seen in stubborn bravery.
Truly, the course that is shown off is not the course;
Words that are argumentative do not reach the point;
Love that is benevolently exercised
Does not accomplish its object;
Impartiality that vaunts its purity is not genuine;
Courage that is most stubborn is ineffectual.
These five things seem to be round and trundled,
But just because of that they tend to be square
And fixed. Therefore, the knowledge that stops
At what it does not know is the great knowledge.
23
Amenity of Life
How do we know that the love of life
Is simply not a delusion?
How do we know that the dislike of death
Is not like a young man's losing his way,
Not knowing that he is really going home?
How do we know that the dead do not repent
Of their former craving for surviving?
Allow me to try and explain these things myself.
A younger daughter of my eastern neighbour,
When her rich but aged promised husband
First sought her in marriage, wept till the tears
Wetted all the front of her simple clothing.
But when she came to the place of her spouse
And shared with him his luxurious couch and ate
All those delicious victuals, then she regretted
That she had so bitterly wept before her wedding.
24
The Vital Tree
Among all ancient images and figures
The World Ladder or the Vital Tree
Is one of the most widely known symbols
In the old-age mythology. In many cultures
It is pictured as an agent of the universe,
As an abode of the spirits and gods,
As a mediator of prophecy and wisdom,
As a guide of metamorphoses and changes
When the tree transforms into the clear
And meaningful existence, bearing a sign
Of all divine -- the source of fertility
As a result of the Heaven-and-Earth's unity.
25
Is Life a Dream?
Those who dream of the pleasures of drinking
May in the morning wail and weep;
Those who dream of wailing and weeping
May in the morning be going out
To mark a pleasant occasion indeed.
When they are dreaming they do not know
It is a dream; in their dreams they may
Even have tried to interpret it; but when
They awake they know that it is just a dream.
And there is the great awaking after which
We shall know that this life is a great dream.
All the while, the stupid think they are awake
And with nice discrimination stubbornly insist
On their knowing, now playing a part of kings,
And now a part of menservants. Meanwhile,
We all are dreaming, and he who tries to say
That we are dreaming is dreaming himself.
These words seem very strange even to me,
But if, let's say, in another ten thousand years,
We meet