若境遇不嘉者，当作退一步想。
If situations encountered [are] not good, [you] should take a step back [to] think.
试思世之胜我者固多，而不如我者亦复不少。
Try contemplating [how, in this] world, those better [than] me [are] indeed many, yet those not as good as me [are] likewise not few.
但得不饥不寒，何羡大富大贵。
However, [having] attained [to be] not hungry [and] not cold, why envy [those with] great wealth [and] great honour?
乐天知命，随遇而安。
Joyful [with what you have] naturally [and] content [with your] life, according [to whatever] encountered [be] with peace.
如是则尚能转烦恼成菩提，岂不能转忧苦作安乐耶。
As such then, [this is] still able [to] transform afflictions [to] accomplish bodhi [i.e. enlightenment], how can it be that [this is] not able [to] transform worry, [pain and] suffering as peace [and] bliss.
若疾病缠绵者，当痛念身为苦本，极生厌离，力修净业，誓求往生。
If sickness linger, [you] should sorrowfully [be] mindful [of your] body as [the] root [of] suffering, give rise [to] utmost revulsed renunciation [to the cycle of birth and death], energetically cultivate pure karma, [and] vow [to] seek rebirth [in Pure Land].
诸佛以苦为师，致成佛道。
All Buddhas [are] with suffering as [their] teacher, [for] reaching [and] accomplishing [the] Buddha path.
吾人当以病为药，速求出离。
We should, with sickness as medicine, [to motivate instead of dishearten us], swiftly seek departure [from the otherwise endless cycle of birth and death, which has indefinitely more sicknesses to come].
须知具缚凡夫，若无贫穷疾病等苦，将日奔驰于声色名利之场，而莫之能已。
[It] must [be] known [that as] bound ordinary beings, if without poverty, sickness [and] other [kinds of] suffering, [they] will [every] day run quickly [after] occasions of song, dance, sex, fame [and] gain, and not [be] able [to] stop.
谁肯于得意烜赫(xuǎnhè)之时，回首作未来沉溺之想乎。
Who [is] willing [to], when pleased [with oneself, complacent with] fame [and prestige], recollect thoughts [of] future sinking [and] drowning [in the bitter sea of birth and death]?
净土宗十三祖印光大师
Pure Land Tradition’s 13th Patriarch Great Master Yìnguāng
复邓伯诚居士书一
First reply letter to layperson Dèng Bóchéng
Namo Amituofo : Translation by Shen Shi’an
