孟郊诗
Poems of Meng Jiao
Index
读经
Reading Scripture
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垂老抱佛脚 教妻读黄经 经黄名小品 一纸千明星 |
Old age approaching and I get all religious, Teach my wife to read the Yellow Sutra. That one is famous as a compact jewel, One page of a thousand shining stars. |
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曾读大般若 细感肸蚃听 当时把斋中 方寸抱万灵 |
Once I read the Nirvana Sutra, Fine feelings while listening to bugs sing. Back then I was often fasting and My mind grasped a myriad mysteries. |
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忽复入长安 蹴踏日月宁 老方却归来 收拾可丁丁 |
Now suddenly I'm back in Chang'an And working treads everything level. But get older and things come back to you, All tidy, snip-snap. |
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拂拭尘几案 开函就孤亭 儒书难借索 僧签饶芳馨 |
Buddha sweeps the dusty table clean, Opens the box, is like a lone tower. Confucian writings make for hard laws. But monk's sutras surround with fragrance. |
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驿驿不开手 铿铿闻异铃 得善如焚香 去恶如脱腥 |
When hurried, you are not receptive. To hear another bell, you have to ring it. Being good is like burning incense. Departing from evil, like shedding your skin. |
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安得颜子耳 曾未如此听 听之何有言 德教贵有形 |
How could it be the ears on my head Never heard like this before? Hearing these words, what difficulty is there? Learning virtue, its value is manifest. |
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何言中国外 有国如海萍 海萍国教异 天声各泠泠 |
And what of beyond the Middle Kingdom? Out there's a land called Duckweed Lake. In Duckweed Land, teachings are different Because Heaven's voices ring loud and clear. |
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安排未定时 心火竞荧荧 将如庶几者 声尽形元冥 |
The place and time are not yet settled. Heart's fires struggle on and glimmer. But I will be like everyone else, Voice silent, form in primal darkness. |
-- 孟郊
废话
There's an image of duckweed gathering on a lake or sea that reoccurs in Tang poetry. Wandering duckweed is their metaphor for wanderers. Duckweed floats on the water, unrooted, drifting as it will. So in this poem, he's mainly all religious, in a wry way, and feeling old (which they all do at the first grey hair). Then in the end, a bit of a pessimist. But just before the end, he asserts the superiority of wanderers and their closeness to Heaven. And rightly so. I myself hold a Duckweed passport.