<Header>
<Author: 柳宗元>
<Title: 晨詣超師院讀禪經>
<Format: 五言古詩>
<Year: 1944>
<BookName: A FURTHER SELECTION FROM THE THREE HUNDRED POEMS OF THE T'ANG DYNASTY>
<Translator: SOAME JENYNS>
<TranslatedTitle: On visiting the Priest Ch’ao's Temple Court to read the Buddhist Scriptures>
<BookPage: 26>
<UsedPage: 1>
<Feature: 0>
<End Header>
<Poem>
汲井漱寒齒，
清心拂塵服。
閒持貝葉書，
步出東齋讀。
真源了無取，
妄跡世所逐。
遺言冀可冥，
繕性何由熟。
道人庭宇靜，
苔色連深竹。
日出霧露餘，
青松如膏沐。
澹然離言說，
悟悅心自足。
<End Poem>
<Translation>
I PURIFY myself with the cold water drawn from the well
With a heart at rest I shake off the dust of the world.
Leisurely I take up the palm-leaf scriptures
Walking out to the eastern lodge to read;
Though I read there is nothing in them I can read with profit,
Sordid materialism is what the world pursues.
I may search these scriptures in vain for any hope of heaven
For how can my nature attain to the perfect comprehension of them?
The enlightened man courts the peace of these cloistered courts
(Where) the colour of the mosses blends with the deep green of the bamboos.
The sun comes out through the haze
And the green pines gleam as if they were anointed with dew.
With a tranquil mind I abandon the written and spoken word
And find deep content in the joy of illumination.
<End Translation>