[updated September 2022]
Spring Day With a Venerable Monk
春 日 上 方 即 事
好 读 高 僧 传
时 看 辟 谷 方。
鸠 形 将 刻 杖
龟 壳 用 支 床。
柳 色 春 山 映
梨 花 夕 鸟 藏。
北 窗 桃 李 下
闲 坐 但 焚 香。
Chun Ri Shang Fang Ju Shi
Hao du gao seng zhuan
Shi kan bi gu fang.
Jiu xing jiang ke zhang
Gui ke yong zhi chuang.
Liu se chun shan ying
Li hua xi niao cang.
Bei chuang tao li xia
Xian zuo dan fen xiang.
Spring Day With a Venerable Monk
Pleasant to read the Eminent Monks Biography
An opportunity to consider the Daoist method of eating no grains.
Turtledove form carved upon your staff
Tortoise shells used to support the bed.
The colors of willow trees and spring mountains reflect each other
At dusk, birds hide within pear blossoms.
Out the northern window, peach and plum trees below
Instead you sit in idleness, just burning incense.
Notes:
Eminent Monks Biography: Monks Hui Jiao (497-544) and Dao Xuan (596-667) each wrote a book by this name recording the holy deeds of several hundred famous monks
Turtledove staff: During the Han Dynasty ( 206 BC-220 AD), every mid-autumn month a government official would visit the elderly, and give to those at age 80 a jade staff, one foot long, with a turtledove carved at one end as a recognition of their long life.
Tortoise shells: The tortoise symbolizes connectivity.