Putting my quarantine time to good use...
1東海橋飛羅紅跨
A flying bridge ribbons
the Eastern Ocean like a bolt of red silk,
2盡頭烟鎖見紫霞 At the mist locked end, purple clouds appear.
3千載蓬山松青閑 On Mt Horai, pines in leisure lush for a thousand years,
4萬刼凡塵花黄怕
In the mortal realm, the
most feared calamity is of growing into frailty.
5幾時長春夢虛幻
No matter when, eternal youth is what fantasies are made from,
6求仙追道佛語假
Seekers of deathlessness
and chasers of the Way; words of Buddha are but lies.
7定心鎮魔為良策
Heart be still! Quelling
demons of your heart is the best plan of attack,
8無憾渡世作年華
With no regret or sense
of loss, the best moments of your life maketh.
1.
The Eastern Ocean is
believed where the three Blessed Isles are located. Immortals often travel on brightly colored clouds or light.
2.
Purple mists usually
denote a place of fairyness
4.
Lines 3 and 4 form a
couplet if translated word for word,
Immortal
world thousand year pine green [in] leisure
Mortal
dust ten-thousand calamity flower yellow [of]
fear
6.
Literally, seeking to
become an immortal, search for the way of Tao, Buddhist words false
8.
年華 – “flower of years”, can mean youth or prime of life.
Thursday, April 02, 2020
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