them.
35
Cultivation
There are many with their handsome salaries
Who laugh at me because I have low money income.
This makes me feel extremely vexed and angry,
But when I go to my mentor, I throw off that feeling
And return to a better mood -- he has washed,
Without my knowing it, all the others from me
By his instructions on what is good within myself.
I have attended him for so many years now
To be out of the knowing that I am without revenues.
There is nothing which Heaven does not cover,
And nothing which Earth does not support.
But is it true that seeking for the prestige and name
Of being an extraordinary and marvellous man
One doesn't know that he thus handcuffs and fetters
His own person? Isn't it the point of thought?
36
General Sherman
In a lofty brilliance once it stood,
Sequoia by the name of Sherman,
The regal general of all redwoods,
Which crown once easily touched
The roof of the heavens. Look at it
Now but do not pass out -- old age
Is a trying stage; it's not a surprise.
The heavenly work has yet to cease
It has become a shelter for all many
Living beings, like the visible insects,
Birds, beasts, vagabonds and those
Of invisible ghosts, goblins and elves.
And when at last it falls to the ground
The life it leaves inspires new outs --
The saplings spring forth from its stub.
Truly, Nature runs like a merry-go-round,
Putting all transformations on a regular rail.
37
An Ugly Man's Charm
There is an ugly man nicknamed the Beast --
Just like that one from the well-known tale.
His father-in-law, who lived with him, thought
So much of him that he could not be away from him.
His wife, when she first saw him ugly as he was,
Represented him to her parents, sincerely saying,
"I had more than ten times rather be his concubine
Than the wife of any other man in the entire world."
I've never heard that he takes the lead in discussion,
But always seems to be of the same opinion with others.
He has not got a high-ranking post, so as to be able
To save other men's lives from death. He has no revenue,
So as to be able to satisfy men's craving for foodstuff.
Moreover, he is ugly enough to scare the whole community.
He prefers to agree with men instead of trying
To let them adopt his views; his knowledge
Does not go beyond his immediate neighbourhood
And yet, his father-in-law and his wife
Are of one mind about him in his presence. As I said,
He must have been different from other men.
I have once called him to see him in person.
Truly, he is ugly enough to scare all children;
And before he has kept in contact with me
About a year, I become confidence in him.
This country, being without its worthy leader,
The people have become minded to commit
The government to him. But he has responded
To the proposal sorrowfully, looking undecided,
As if he would fain having declined it. It's a shame!
In a little time after that he has left me and went away.
And that makes me sorry and I feel that I sustain a loss
And as if there is no one around to share a pleasure of tie
I have so much enjoyed. Really, what sort of man is he?
This ugly man, however, is believed by people,
Though he does not speak a word; he is loved by all,
Though he does no special service for anybody.
He makes men appoint him to the government office
Afraid only that he would not accept such appointment.
He must have been a man whose inherent powers
Are perfect, though realization of them outside,
In the world is not manifested in his person.
That our bodies should be nicely looking
Is sufficient to make us be physically fit.
But how much greater results should be
Expected from those whose mental gifts
Are truly perfect! Not to be sneezed at?
38
Man of the Future
It is that when one's virtue is extraordinary,
Any defection in the bodily form
May be forgotten; when men do not forget
What is easily forgotten but forget
What is not easily forgotten,
We face a case of real oblivion.
Therefore, a man of the future has that
In which his mind finds its enjoyment;
He looks on wisdom as but the shoots
From an old stump; all made agreements
With others are to him but so much glue;
All kindness is but the art of intercourse;
All great skill is but as merchants' wares
In the marketplace to be sold out.
The man of the future lays out no plans--
Of what use would wisdom be to him?
He has no cutting and hacking to do--
Of what use would glue be to him?
He has lost nothing--of what use
Would the art of intercourse be to him?
He has no goods to dispose of--
What need has he to play the part
Of a skilful merchant of pedlar business?
The want of these four things
Are the nourishment of his heavenly properties,
But the nourishment itself
Is fully depended on the heavenly victuals.
Since he receives his foodstuff
Straight from Heaven, what need has he
For anything of men's devising?
He has appearance of man, but not the passions
And desires of the humans. Where lusts
And desires are deep, the springs
Of the heavenly properties are shallow.
Since he has the bodily form of man,
He is a man, but being without the passions
And desires of the humans with all
Their approvings and disapprovings,
Certainties and doubts, likings and dislikings
Are not to be found in him --
He pursues his course without effort
And does not try to increase his lifespan.
He does not dream when he sleeps
And has no anxiety when he awakes
And does not care that his food should be pleasant.
His breathing comes deep and silently;
It comes even from his heels when he treads.
Being such, his mind is free from thoughts;
His demeanour is still and unmoved;
His forehead beams the light of simplicity.
Being such, though he may make mistakes,
He has no occasion for repentance; though
He may succeed, he has no self-complacency.
Being such, he can ascend the loftiest heights
Without fear; he can pass through water
Without being made wet by it;
He can go into fire without being burnt.
So it is that by his knowledge of his heavenly properties,
More simply, the Mind, he ascends to the stars
And reaches the realms beyond the Galaxy. . .
At this, alas, he knows nothing
Of the love of life or of the hatred of death.
39
Forefathers
The grand forefathers were truly the men
Of virtues: whatever coldness
Came from them was like that of autumn;
Whatever warmth came from them
Was like that of late spring.
Their joy and anger assimilated
To what we see in the four seasons.
In regard to things they did what was suitable
And therefore no one could know how far
Their action would go. Hence they might,
In their conduct of war, destroy a country
Without losing the hearts of its people;
Their benefits and favours might extend
To many generations of descendants
Without their being lovers of men.
For this reason, he who tries to share
His pleasure with others is not a clever man;
He who manifests affection is not benevolent;
He who observes times and seasons,
In order to regulate his conduct,
Is not a man of wisdom; he, to whom profit
He who acts for the name of doing so
And loses his good self is not the right man
Of what is known as a science;
He who throws away his person in a way
Which is not his true course cannot be a leader
And command the service of others for long.
40
Thing-in-Itself
If you hide away your hut in the ravine of a hill
And hide then the hill in a lake, you would say
That the hut is surely secure. But at midnight
There shall come a strong giant and carry it off
On his back, broad like a highway, while you
Remain in the dark, knowing nothing about this.
You might hide away anything you like,
Whether small or large, in the most suitable place
And yet, it will then be vanished from there.
But if you could hide the world in the world,
So that there is nowhere to which spare space
Could be removed, this would be the grand reality
Of the everlasting something styled 'thing-in-itself.'
When the body of man comes from its unique
Earthen mould, there is then occasion for joy,
But this body undergoes the myriad changes
And does not reach its perfect state at once --
Does it not thus afford occasion for endless joy?
Hence, the sagely man enjoys himself
In that from which there is no possibility
Of removal in any way, by which all things
Are preserved in their proper placements.
If you consider early death or old age,
Beginning and ending--all to be good,
And in this all others would be more
Than happy to follow you; therefore,
How much more will they do so in regard
To that heavenly notion of thing-in-itself,
On which all beings depend and from which
Every single transformation in the world arises!
41
A Palindrome
Merry-go-round of life is ordained,
As we have the constant alternation
Of day and night, and in both cases
The heavens play the defining part.
As for the men, they have no power
To do anything in reference to both,
Death and life--such is the causality
Of all living beings, but why it is so?
Just because some things are under
Their control but some of them not.
Some specially regard the heavens
As their Lord on High and therefore
Love them distantly as they really are,
But how much more should they love
That one which stands out nearby
As their direct superior, let's ponder it!
Some specially regard their supervisors
As supreme to themselves and will give
Their lives to die for them--how much more
Should they do so for that one which
Is their Lord abided on the Greatly High!
42
I Guess
When the springs are dried up
Fish cluster together in the mud.
Than that they should moisten
One another by the damp about them
And keep each other wet by their slime,
It would be better for them to forget
One another in the rivers and lakes.
When men praise kindness
And condemn evil, it would also
Be better to forget them both
And seek the renovation in space
Between Heaven and Earth.
There is the great mass of nature--
I find the support of my body on it;
My lifespan is spent in cultivation
And constant toil on it; my old age
Seeks ease on it, but at death
I find at last rest in it. In the end,
What makes my life a good now
Makes my death a good then, I guess.
43
Water Drinking Effect
Water has a taste, but it is a tasteless taste.
Water can be given to those
Who have practiced 'za-zen' well,
But have not yet entered the gate of Zen.
It can also be given for those who know
The taste of weak and strong tea that they
Have already drunk and are attached
To the flavour. The point is that they have
Too much thinking and cannot put it down.
They also cannot put their methods down,
And are strongly attached to a certain goal--
A yearning of getting a sudden enlightenment,
If you want me to call things by their proper names.
Those who are burdened by their experience
And intelligence are good to be treated
With spring water, as simple as it is.
Hence, a master uses a flavourless method,
Something like asking a question,
"A great quantity of rice originates from one
Single grain. Where this one comes from?"
And "As is known, ten thousand Dharmas
Return to one, where does that one return to?"
These are the methods of what is known
As 'the water drinking' which are used
To induce a practitioner of Zen to get rid
Of all attachments, throwing everything away
And having the most delicious taste of Purity.
44
The Spots of Power
From ancient times the mountain ranges
Have been the focus of mysterious imagination
Of many peoples and their old civilizations.
With peaks and passes, as the highest scale
Of the earthly manifestation, they have been
The only element enabled to touch the skies
And penetrate in the realm behind the roof
Of Heaven. They always were considered
To be a source of inspiration
For the mythical cultivation.
Mountains have been invested in all times
With a dignity unique to their own nature
And their cult in which a single peak
Or a whole ridge is an object of worship,
Has flourished in different regions.
Even nowadays there are some steady cults
Of the sacred mountains in the eastern lands,
Just as there were in pagan countries
Of the West few centuries ago. And moreover,
An elaborate mythology of mountains
Existed across a broad range of ancient cultures
Is the subject of newly rew
ritten stories today.
45
The Tea Ceremony
The tea ceremony is a magic means:
Putting it into regular practice,
You observe the basic principles
Of Earth and Heaven, Wood, Fire and,
Certainly, Water. It is as if you're telling
Your esteemed guest that he or she
Is about to set off on a trip to a place
Over the sky line and which is really idyllic:
Lofty trees, colourful birds, bubbled springs,
Powerful waterfalls, long running streams
And beautiful landscapes indeed.
By servicing with your tea, you thus
As though tell your guest: 'Go there!
You have not gotten there yet,
But you are not far away, dear friend.
If you just keep on going,
You will definitely reach your point.'
This is how the ritual works if, of course,
If your tea is to your guest's taste.
46
Drinking the Spring Water
Haven't you ever had an experience
Of drinking the spring water
Bubbling over in the deep mountains?
It can be likened to a state when
There is neither night nor daytime,
But everything is crystal clear for you
From within. Basically, we rarely think
About whether the sun is out or not,
But it is rare to be clear about such thoughts.
This clarity means the term of brightness
Where such things all exist, but
There is no distinction between them
And our mind's function:
So much subjectively, they no longer exist
Beyond our situational awareness.
While drinking the spring water,
There is still the mind. Normally,
Drinking the well or tap water,
There's No-mind while the spring water,
Due to the spiral growing
Of our environmental consciousness,
Can compel us to attain the goal
Of the so-called "No-minded Mind."
47
On the Cliff
For a long time now I have my abode
On the rocky cliff washed by the blue sea
And deep ocean. Tarrying here, altogether,
I've passed thru a number of autumns
And springs. All alone I chant aloud
My poems and sing my improvising songs--
Perfectly fluent, I have no care at all.
My cave's thatched door is never closed--
It is always wide open and therefore
Makes no squeak; the spring bubbles out
Its delicious drink; it is left for ever
To take its own streaming downhill.
A stone-cold recess, into the shallow pit
I put my cinnabar kettle--utterly gurgling,
It is overflowing with my pine wine--
Evening tea made from the cypress needles
And cedar nuts incensed in my only bowl,
The size of which is large as a pond. . .
When I starve for food, I have one grain
Of aghada-herb -- my time-proved remedy
From hunger; and very soon, my mind
Returns to its congruous state I've used to be in.
While sitting stiff, I lean at my ease
Against a warmish boulder and accumulate
My energy for another day to be; although
Weather-beaten outside I am but warm within.
48
The Bodily Mystery
Who can suppose the head
To be made from empty space,
But the spine from vital instincts
And the edgebone from fear of death?
Who knows how death and birth,
Living on and disappearing,
Compose the one bodily mystery? . .
I would be friends with him.
If my spine were to be transformed
Into a wheel axis and my spirit into a pair
Of fire steeds, I should then be mounting it
And would not change it for another light chariot.
49
The Puppet World
When we have got what we are to do,
There is the time of life in which to do it;
When we lose that at death -- resignation
And submission to the divine Heaven's will
Are what is required for a due reincarnation.
When one rests in what the time requires
And manifests the submission
And resignation, neither joy nor sorrow
Can find their entrance to the mind
Of the degenerative being. That would be
What the ancients called 'loosing
But not to lose the cords by which
The life is still suspended.'
While hanging up, one cannot lose oneself--
One is held fast by one's bonds. And that
A human being cannot evade the inevitable
And overcome the divine will of Heaven
Is a time-proved and long-acknowledged fact!
50
The Small Man of Great Heaven
Fishes breed and grow in the waters;
Man develops in the way termed 'fortune.'
Growing in water, the fish clean
The still water of ponds and lakes, and thus
Their nourishment is supplied to them.
Developing in the way of their fortune,
Men do nothing, and thus the enjoyment
Of their idle lives is secured.
Therefore it is said, "Fishes forget one another
In the ponds and lakes; men forget one another
In the art of imitating their personal fates."
What about the man who stands aloof from others?
Though he stands aloof from other men,
He lives in concert with the will of Heaven.
Hence it is also said, "The small man of Heaven
Is the superior man among men; the superior man
Among men is the small man of Heaven. . ."
This is the reason why the same capital S
Is pinned on his broad chest. There ought
To be something in that!
51
Transfiguration
When man is about to undergo his change,
How does he know that it has not happened?
When he is not about to undergo his change,
How does he know that it has taken place?
Talking about all of us, are we in a dream
From which we have not begun to awake?
We sometimes dream that we are a bird
And seem to be soaring to the heavens
Or that we are a fish and seem to be diving
In the sea depths. But we do not know
Whether we that are now speaking
Are awake or in a dream, a lifelong dream.
When others lament their bitter lot
We also bemoans, having in ourselves
The reason why we do so. And we all
Have our personality, which makes us
What we are as compared together,
But how do we know that we define
In every case correctly that
What is called Personality?
Life is not the entirely running meeting
With what is pleasurable that produces a smile;
It is not the smile suddenly produced
That makes the arrangement of our personality.
For this reason, when one rests
In what has been arranged and puts away
All thought of the transfiguration,
He is in unity with the divine will of Heaven.
52
In the Field of Good Management
Is it true that a manager who give
s forth
His orders in accord to his own views
And enacts his righteous measures
Anticipates that no one would venture
Not to obey them, but all become
Implemented completely? . .
That's but the hypocrisy of management,
Not really a good management indeed.
When a mature manager runs affairs,
Does he manage men's outward acts?
He is himself correct and so
His management goes on;
This is the simple and certain way
By which he secures a success
Of his activities, and that's the secret.
Just think of a bird which flies high
To avoid being hurt by a shot
Of a crack shooter's gun. Take a look
At a little mouse which burrows
A whole system of holes deep
Under the mulberry field
To avoid the danger of being smoked
Or dug out. Are good managers
Less knowing than these little creatures?
This is the mostly doubtful thing
I have ever picked up in my life.
53
The Governor
Happening once to meet with the governor
Of one cold state, whose name, by the way,
Has not been revealed to me, I questioned,
"I beg to ask you what should be done, sir,
To carry on the appropriate government?"
The nameless governor replied, "Go away,
You are a rude company! How come that
You put a question for which you are
Unprepared yourself? Do I seem to you
As the Maker of all things in the universe?"
I however asked him again: "What method
Do you have for the proper government
That could thus agitate my mind?" And
The nameless governor retorted at last,
"Allow all things to take their natural course;
Admit no personal or selfish consideration --
Without your deep participation in affairs.
Otherwise, for the right ordering of the state,
It would be like trying to wade thru the sea
Or dig thru the North Pole to Tasmania or,
Using a gnat for carrying Everest on its nape."
54
A Willing Horse
Here is a young man, alert
And vigorous in responding
To all current affairs;
Clear-sighted and widely erudite
He is unwearied student indeed
Of the MBA's faculty.
Can he be compared
To a truly intelligent manager?
This young man is truly to one
Of the well-trained managers,
But as the bustling underling
Of an established enterprise,
He is forced to toil his body
And daily distress his mind
With his various contrivances
And tricks of the trade which,
Thanks heavens, are in many
He resorts to in order to remain
In staying afloat now and then.
55
Benevolence
A ligament uniting the foot's big toe
With the other toes and an extra finger
May be considered as natural growths,
But they are more than is good for use.
It is that the addition to the foot is but
The attachment to it of so much useless flesh
And the addition to the hand is but
The planting on it of a useless outgrowth.
When another toe is united to the big toe,
To divide the membrane makes man weep;
And when there is an extra finger,
To gnaw it off makes one cry out indeed.
In the one case, there is a member too many,
And in the other a member too few, but the pain
And anxiety which they cause is the same;
Hence the Buddha's findings to warn off.
The benevolent men of the present age
Look at the evils of the world
As with eyes full of dust, being filled up
With sorrow by them, while all those
Who are not benevolent,
Having violently altered the character
Of their proper nature, greedily pursue
After riches and respects.
The presumption therefore
Is simply univocal -- benevolence
Is contrary to the primal nature of man;
How full of trouble and contention
Has the world been ever since Heaven
And Earth were born in the throes
Of primordial indivisibility!
56
The Campaign Trail
An extraordinary faculty leads
To the piling up of arguments,
Like a builder with his bricks
Or a net-maker with his lines.
Its possessor cunningly contrives
One's sentences and enjoys oneself
In discussing what blackness is and
What whiteness actually is,
Where views agree and where
They differ and, pressing on,
Though extremely weary,
With short steps and with a multitude
Of useless words to make good
One's dominant opinion;
Nor will one stop till one becomes
A forcible speaker.
But in all this race the candidates
Of their opposing but essentially
The same parties, with their same
Redundant views and divergent methods,
Do not proceed by that which is the path
For all under the blue heavens.
That which is the perfectly correct path
Is not to lose the real character
Of the nature with which they are
Endowed to expose themselves.
Thus excessive persistence
Eagerly brings out rating and restrains
Its proper nature that its possessor
May acquire a famous reputation
And cause all the trumpets and drums
Possibly available in the world
To celebrate an unattainable condition.
And one will not stop, like a bird of prey,
Till one has become the president oneself.
57
A State of Harmony
To maintain a proper harmony
The union of parts
Must not be considered redundance,
Nor their divergence superfluity;
What is long
Must not be considered too long,
Nor what is short too short.
A duck's legs, for instance, are short,
But if we try to lengthen them,
It occasions pain;
And a crane's legs are long,
But if we try to cut off a portion,
It produces sorrow.
Where a part is by nature long,
We are not to amputate
Or where it is by nature short,
We are not to lengthen it.
There is no occasion to try to remove
Any trouble that it may cause.
The presumption is that
A harmonious state
Is not constituents of humanity;
For to how much anxiety
Does the exercise of it give rise!
58
The Close Terms
In employing the tools like vice and line,
The compass and square, to give things
Their proper shapes we have to cut away
Some portions of what naturally belongs
To them. In using strings and fastenings,
Glue
and varnish to make things durable
We have to interfere with their primaries.
Clampdowns and suppressions in rites
And music, the factitious expression
In the countenance of merits and virtues
In order to comfort the minds of men --
These all show a failure in observing
The regular principles of the human self.
Yes, all humans are furnished
With such regular principles;
According to them what is clamped
Down is not made so by the vice,
Nor what is straight by the line,
Nor what is round by the compass,
Nor what is square by the setsquare;
Nor is adhesion effected by the use
Of glue and varnish, nor are things
Bound together by means of strings.
It is that all things are produced
What they are by a certain guidance
While they do not know till the end
How they are produced so to be.
And they equally attain their several ends,
While they don't know how it is that they do so.
Anciently it was so, and it is so today.
And this constitution of all things and matters
Should not be made of none effect. It is so,
But very few knows how to do this properly,
In other word 'effortlessly' -- the close term
Of what is known as 'the naturalness.'
59
Timeserving
From the very commencement of the world
Nowhere has there been a man who has not
Under the influence of external conditions
Altered the course of his inherent features.
I will therefore try and put the matter strictly.
The petty men for the sake of gain
Are ready to sacrifice their souls;
Wise