Three poems by Shen Yueh on Buddhism circa 480 [ translated by Richard Mather in The Age of Eternal Brilliance ]<\/p>\n
165 Harmonizing with a Poem by General of the [Left Palace] Guard, Wang [Seng-ch’ien] on an Expository Lecture [on the Dharma]<\/p>\n
The Wondrous Wheel has ceased its former turning,
\nAnd the Jeweled Trees have not yet started sounding.
\nBut the Sweet Dew, for whomever preached,
\nAchieves the One, and points the way to bodhi-mind.
\nDimly obscure, the Mystic Path appears remote;
\nIts lofty meanings, taken as a whole, become a forest.
\nBut the Seven [Bodhi-] flowers screen sensations and their attributes;
\nThe Eight Releases wash away [the scent of] perfumed collars.<\/p>\n
166 The Four City Gates<\/p>\n
The sixfold dragon team has bolted with the chariot [of the sun],
\nAnd the two rats [of night and day] have in their turn hastened its light.
\nIn one’s declining years, how hard to care or help;
\nThe sunset body – oh how easily it withers and decays!<\/p>\n
167 The Fast of the Eight Prohibitions<\/p>\n
Because of the Commandments I’ve grown weary of Samsara.
\nYet, accustomed to the Hinderances, I follow dust and filth.
\nThe Way of the Four Truths is hard to open;
\nDoorways to the Eightfold Path still tightly shut.
\nAttaining Truth was never easy to aspire to,
\nBut only after losing the True Way does one then know the risks.
\nMisguided forays now have been repeated time and time again;
\nSudden enlightenment itself is not without gradations.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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 …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,8,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all","category-buddhism","category-the-beautiful"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.billtoole.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.billtoole.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.billtoole.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.billtoole.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.billtoole.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=855"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.billtoole.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/855\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.billtoole.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.billtoole.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.billtoole.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}