Suffering Heat
By Wang Wei
Translated by A.Z. Foreman
Sky and earth are filled with sun
Clouds of fire pack hill and vale
Grass and leaves are burnt out and shriveled
Stream and swamp dried up and drained
In light white silk my clothes feel heavy
Beneath thick leaves I bemoan thin shade
I cannot get to my bamboo mat
Best wash my linen again today
Could I but escape beyond space and time
Into empty reaches alone and away
Where long winds wend from a million miles
And great waters wash off my filth and fray
Then see the body's way is suffering
And know the mind not yet awake
Then enter the Quenching* Gate of a sudden
Let clear cool joy wind any way
*i.e. Nirvana, the extinguishing of the "fires" (or poisons) fueled by temporal obsession.
The Original:
王维
苦熱
赤日滿天地,
火雲成山嶽。
草木盡焦卷,
川澤皆竭涸。
輕紈覺衣重,
密樹苦陰薄。
莞簟不可近,
絺绤再三濯。
思出宇宙外,
曠然在寥廓。
長風萬裏來,
江海蕩煩濁。
卻顧身為患,
始知心未覺。
忽入甘露門,
宛然清涼樂。
By Wang Wei
Translated by A.Z. Foreman
Sky and earth are filled with sun
Clouds of fire pack hill and vale
Grass and leaves are burnt out and shriveled
Stream and swamp dried up and drained
In light white silk my clothes feel heavy
Beneath thick leaves I bemoan thin shade
I cannot get to my bamboo mat
Best wash my linen again today
Could I but escape beyond space and time
Into empty reaches alone and away
Where long winds wend from a million miles
And great waters wash off my filth and fray
Then see the body's way is suffering
And know the mind not yet awake
Then enter the Quenching* Gate of a sudden
Let clear cool joy wind any way
*i.e. Nirvana, the extinguishing of the "fires" (or poisons) fueled by temporal obsession.
The Original:
王维
苦熱
赤日滿天地,
火雲成山嶽。
草木盡焦卷,
川澤皆竭涸。
輕紈覺衣重,
密樹苦陰薄。
莞簟不可近,
絺绤再三濯。
思出宇宙外,
曠然在寥廓。
長風萬裏來,
江海蕩煩濁。
卻顧身為患,
始知心未覺。
忽入甘露門,
宛然清涼樂。
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