Hội Thứ Hai
Biết vậy!
Miễn được lòng rồi;
Chẳng còn phép khác.
Gìn tính sáng tính mới hầu an;
Nén niềm vọng niềm dừng chẳng thác.
Dứt trừ nhân ngã thời ra tướng báu kim cương;
Dừng hết tham sân mới lảu lòng màu viên giác.
Tịnh độ là lòng trong sạch, chớ còn ngờ hỏi đến Tây phương;
Di Đà là tính sáng soi, mựa phải nhọc tìm về Cực lạc.
Xét thân tâm, rèn tính thức, há rằng mong quả báo phô khoe;
Cầm giới hạnh, địch vô thường, nào có sá cầu danh bán chác.
Ăn rau ăn trái, nghiệp miệng chẳng hiềm thửa đắng cay;
Vận giấy vận sồi, thân căn có ngại chi đen bạc.
Nhược chỉn vui bề đạo đức, nửa gian lều quý nửa thiên cung;
Dầu năng miễn thửa nhân nghì, ba phiến ngói yêu hơn lầu gác.
2.
Thus I know!
Mind is once awakened,
It is not necessary to seek any other way.
Sustaining illuminating nature conduces to peace of mind;
Right view comes when illusions are left behind.
Attachment to I-ness and Other-ness cut down,
There appears the true character of “diamond.”
[4]Greed and hatred abandoned,
Then comes the marvelous nature of perfect enlightenment.
The Pure Land
[5] is essentially the pure mind,
No more preoccupied with the Western Paradise.
[6]And Amitābha is the very illumination,
Not busy seeking the way to the Realm of Bliss.
[7]Observing body and mind, cultivating mindfulness,
Not for the purpose of reaping apparent fruits;
Preserving morality, fighting with flux,
Not owing to aspiration for fame and merit.
Eating vegetables and fruits,
No worry about taste—bitter or hot.
Covered with paper or coarse cloth,
No concern about the body—white or black.
If just pleased with morality,
A hermitage deserves much more than a celestial palace.
If constantly inspired by humaneness and uprightness,
Only three tiles are more valuable than a pavilion.
[1] According to religious tradition of Taoism called “Outer Elixir,” liberation from worldly life may be gained by transforming human body and thus ascending to Heaven in broad daylight. The art of transformation consists of an alchemical process, during which the most important ingredients, cinnabar and gold, are prepared to produce a pill of immortality.
[2] By “rabbit” or “jade rabbit,” it refers to the moon where, according to religious Taoism, the elixir of life is believed to be frequently prepared by an immortal named T’ai-shang lao-chün.
[3] I Ching, a Chinese book of wisdom and oracles, dating from the transition period between the Yin and Chou dynasties.
[4] Skt. vajra, a symbol of the indestructible. Here it stands for true reality, śūnyatā or emptiness, the essence of everything existing. This emptiness is indestructible like diamond, that is, imperishable and unborn or uncreated.
[5] Skt., sukhavatī, the realm where followers of the Pure Land school are said to be reborn to continue with their cultivation of Perfect Enlightenment under Buddha Amitābha.
[6], [7] Another designation of the Pure Land.
