弃舍所长
Abandoning That Good At
凡人资性所长，必著之不能舍。
Ordinary beings’ natural endowments [on] that [they are] good at, will [be] attached [to], not able [to be easily] renounced.
如长于诗文者，长于政事者，长于货殖者，长于战阵者，乃至长于书者、画者、琴者、棋者。
Such [as] those good at poetry [and] literature, good at political matters, good at trading, good at battle arrays, and even those good at calligraphy, painting, zither [and] chess.
皆弊精、竭神、殚智、尽巧以从事；
All exhaust [their] energy, vitality, intelligence [and] skills, with [these] undertaking matters;
而多有钩深穷玄，成一家之名以垂世不朽。
with many having probing [for the] abstruse, [to] exhaust [the] profound, [for] accomplishing fame [for] one’s family, with [it to be] bequeathed [to] later generations without decay.
若能弃舍不用，转此一回精神智巧，抵在般若上，何患道业之无成乎？
If able [to] abandon [this, not using [them], turning them [at] once, [to] return this energy, vitality, intelligence [and] skills, [to] support [realisation of] Prajñā [i.e. perfect wisdom], why worry [about the] path’s undertakings [to be] without accomplishment?
而茫茫古今，千百人中，未见一二矣！
Yet, [of the] boundless then and now, [of] thousands [of] hundreds [of] people within, yet [to] see [are] one [or] two [doing so]!
净土宗八祖莲池大师
Pure Land Tradition’s 8th Patriarch Great Master Liánchí
《竹窗随笔》
Essays Written [By The] Bamboo Window
Namo Amituofo : Translation by Shen Shi’an
