柳宗元

晨诣超师院读禅经

汲井漱寒齿， 清心拂尘服，

闲持贝叶书， 步出东斋读。

真源了无取， 忘迹世所逐；

遗言冀可冥， 缮性何由熟？

道人庭宇静， 苔色连深竹；

日出雾露余， 青松如膏沐。

澹然离言说， 悟悦心自足。

Five-character-ancient-verse

Liu Zongyuan

READING BUDDHIST CLASSICS WITH ZHAO

AT HIS TEMPLE IN THE EARLY MORNING

I clean my teeth in water drawn from a cold well；

And while I brush my clothes, I purify my mind；

Then, slowly turning pages in the Tree-Leaf Book,

I recite, along the path to the eastern shelter.

……The world has forgotten the true fountain of this teaching

And people enslave themselves to miracles and fables.

Under the given words I want the essential meaning,

I look for the simplest way to sow and reap my nature.

Here in the quiet of the priest's templecourtyard,

Mosses add their climbing colour to the thick bamboo；

And now comes the sun, out of mist and fog,

And pines that seem to be new-bathed；

And everything is gone from me, speech goes, and reading,

Leaving the single unison.