Impure Heart
Unseen Buddha

The heart is impure
The Buddha is unseen

This is a great calendar to ponder while on the toilet and feeling literary. The translations should be less precise and grammatical and more vague and poetic: I keep thinking of #WilliamEmpson and his #SeventTypesOfAmbiguity and his treatment of #NewCorn by #TaoChien
#proverbs #BuddhistCalendar #Buddhism

> Reginald H. Blyth thought T'ao Ch'ien's creation was the finest poem ever written. We are still several weeks away from seeing new corn, but for me, the eight lines are the essence of April and springtime.
- https://www.beyondthefieldsweknow.org/2019/04/thursday-poem-swiftly.html
#TaoChien #Poetry #NewCorn

NEW CORN
> Swiftly the years, beyond recall.
> Solemn the stillness of this fair morning.
- https://www.gutenberg.org/files/42290/42290-h/42290-h.htm

On p207 of English Through Picture book three the simplified version is
> Quickly the years fly past forever
> Here forever is this spring morning

#EP3 #WilliamEmpson #ArthurWaley #TaoChien #Poetry #Chinese #Trasnlastion #EP3p207