晨诣超师院读禅经

柳宗元

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。

READING BUDDHIST¹ CLASSICS WITH ZHAO

AT HIS TEMPLE IN THE EARLY MORNING

Liu Zongyuan

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.