緇門警訓 2.42

2.42

Abandoning home and leaving the household—what is the reason? / Bowing one's head to the King of Emptiness, seeking deliverance. / The three preceptors and seven witnesses establish the initial capacity; / Shaving the hair and dyeing the robes, one gives rise to the great vow. / Cast off greed and anger; eliminate pettiness and stinginess. / Throughout the twelve two-hour periods, constantly be cautious and heedful. / Polish and temper the true nature until it is like empty space; / Naturally, you will repulse the battle arrays of the demonic armies. / Diligently study and practice, seeking out masters; / Speak to your peers who are worthy of reliance. / Do not let the mind-ground become tangled like hemp; / A hundred years of time are casually wasted. / Follow in the steps of former worthies and learn from past sages; / Through hearing, contemplation, and cultivation, all attain realization. / In walking, standing, sitting, and lying down, one must be focused and dedicated; / Only when thought after thought is without error will there be resonance. / The twelve divisions of the Buddha's true scriptures / Comprehensively point out the path to bodhi. / If you neither study nor listen nor practice in accordance, / I ask you, on what day will your mind open in awakening? / You must urgently investigate as if your head were on fire; / Do not wait for next year or the year after. / Once a single breath fails to return, that is the next life; / Who can guarantee that this body is firm? / You do not raise silkworms for clothes, nor do you plow fields for food; / It is the blood and sweat of weaving women and tilling men. / Bestowed upon you so that you may accomplish the karma of the Way— / If the karma of the Way is not yet accomplished, how can you consume it? / Mournful is the father, mournful is the mother; / Swallowing the bitter and spitting out the sweet, their bitter toil was great. / Turning the dry side to the child while lying in the wet, they nurtured and reared you, / Wishing you to carry on the family style and succeed the ancestors. / One morning you bid farewell to your kin to seek the shaving of your head, / Leaving them at eighty or ninety with nothing to rely on. / If you do not transcend the ordinary and surpass the noble stream, / Following along in this laxity is an utter, colossal mistake. / The robe of the field of merit and the bowl that tames the dragon: / Partake of them for a whole life to seek liberation. / If on account of small gains you bind your mind, / How will you ever reach the other shore of nirvāṇa? / Good sons, you must know: / An encounter as rare as this present time / When you have met with leaving home and donning the patched hemp / Is like a blind turtle meeting a floating piece of wood. / A great man must be fierce and sharp; / Tighten the reins of body and mind; do not take things lightly. / If the power of practice and vows can mutually sustain you, / You will certainly receive the personal prediction of buddhahood at the Dragon Flower Assembly.