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 BUDDHIST¹ CLASSICS WITH ZHAO

　　AT HIS TEMPLE IN THE EARLY MORNING

　　I clean my teeth in water drawn² 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 fables³.

　　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,

　　Mosses⁴ 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 unison⁵.