白玉蟾·《慵庵铭》英译

丹经慵读，道不在书；

藏经慵览，道之皮肤。

至道之要，贵乎清虚；

何为清虚？终日如愚。

有诗慵呤，句外肠枯；

有琴慵弹，弦外韵孤；

有酒慵饮，醉外江湖；

有棋慵奕，意外干戈；

慵观溪山，内有画图；

慵对风月，内有蓬壶；

慵陪世事，内有田庐；

慵问寒暑，内有神都。

松枯石烂，我常如如。

谓之慵庵，不亦可乎？

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Inscription on the Hall of Idleness

Po Yuchien

 

I’m too lazy to read the volumes on Taoist immortality, for Tao doesn’t’ reside in the books;

Too lazy to peruse the Taoist classics, for they go no deeper in than its looks.

The essence of Tao consists in a void, clear and cool,

But what is this “void” except being all day like a fool?

Too lazy am I to read aloud poems, for when I stop, the poetry will be gone:

Too lazy to play on the ch’in, for music is not on the string where it’s born;

Too lazy to drink wine, for in the drunkard’s dream lie not the rivers and lakes;

Too lazy to play chess, for unexpectedly in the pawns dwells the conception of stakes;

Too lazy to look at the hills and streams, for there is a painting within my heart’s portals;

Too lazy to enjoy the wind and the moon, for within me lies the Isle of the Immortals;

Too lazy to attend to worldly affairs, for inside me are my intellectual possessions;

Too lazy to watch the changing of the seasons, for within me are heavenly processions.

Pine trees may decay and rocks may rot; but I shall always remain what I am, no more and no less.

Is it not fitting that I call this the Hall of Idleness?

 

（林语堂 译）