[updated September 2022]
Solitary Paulownia Tree
孤 桐
一 株 青 玉 立
千 叶 绿 云 委。
亭 亭 五 丈 舍
高 意 犹 未 已。
山 僧 年 九 十
清 净 老 不 死。
自 云 手 种 时
一 果 青 桐 子。
直 从 萌 芽 拔
高 自 豪 来 始。
四 面 无 附 枝
中 心 有 通 理。
寄 言 立 身 者
孤 直 当 如 此。
Gu Tong
Yi zhu qing yu li
Qian ye lu yun wei.
Ting ting wu zhang yu
Gao yi you wei yi.
Shan seng nian jiu shi
Qing jing lao bu si.
Zi yun shou zhong shi
Yi ke qing tong zi.
Zhi cong meng ya ba
Gao zi hao mo shi.
Si mian wu fu zhi
Zhong xin you tong li.
Ji yan li shen zhe
Gu zhi dang ru ci.
Solitary Paulownia Tree
One jade-green erect tree trunk
Thousands of leaves like layers of green clouds.
Towering and erect, it is more than fifty feet tall.
Not yet ready to stop growing higher.
A mountain Buddhist monk ninety years old
Clear and clean, not ready to die.
He planted this very tree when both were young
He only put one paulownia seed into the ground.
He watched it germinate and sprout up
Starting so small, it has naturally grown tall.
On all four sides, does not touch other tree branches
Trunk and branches, inner veins of sap flow upward and outward.
His words revealed that living things and people grow just this way
Self-reliant and straight is the way.