Three poems by Shen Yueh on Buddhism circa 480 [ translated by Richard Mather in The Age of Eternal Brilliance ]

165 Harmonizing with a Poem by General of the [Left Palace] Guard, Wang [Seng-ch’ien] on an Expository Lecture [on the Dharma]

The Wondrous Wheel has ceased its former turning,
And the Jeweled Trees have not yet started sounding.
But the Sweet Dew, for whomever preached,
Achieves the One, and points the way to bodhi-mind.
Dimly obscure, the Mystic Path appears remote;
Its lofty meanings, taken as a whole, become a forest.
But the Seven [Bodhi-] flowers screen sensations and their attributes;
The Eight Releases wash away [the scent of] perfumed collars.

166 The Four City Gates

The sixfold dragon team has bolted with the chariot [of the sun],
And the two rats [of night and day] have in their turn hastened its light.
In one’s declining years, how hard to care or help;
The sunset body – oh how easily it withers and decays!

167 The Fast of the Eight Prohibitions

Because of the Commandments I’ve grown weary of Samsara.
Yet, accustomed to the Hinderances, I follow dust and filth.
The Way of the Four Truths is hard to open;
Doorways to the Eightfold Path still tightly shut.
Attaining Truth was never easy to aspire to,
But only after losing the True Way does one then know the risks.
Misguided forays now have been repeated time and time again;
Sudden enlightenment itself is not without gradations.