【至闲人】：
闲人预办资粮
闲人念佛正优游，
莫把光阴空里投。
老有音书头渐白，
死无官贴命难留。
[To Leisurely Persons]:
Leisurely Persons In Advance Preparing [The] Provisions
Leisurely persons [should have] mindfulness [of] Buddha exactly [since they are] carefree, not having [their] time for nothing within thrown [away]. Ageing has ‘letters’ [sent, with your] hair gradually whitening, [while] death [is] without [an] official invitation, [with] life difficult [to] retain.
[Note 1: There should be disciplined use of free time available now, which is karmically hard to come by, even if taken for granted, to practise mindfulness of Buddha more diligently, instead of wasting precious time to indulge in the spiritually unsubstantial.]
[Note 2: We should be mindful that we are are ageing all the time, while death can arrive at any time. Thus, there is no time to squander away – not a decade, a year, a month, a week, a day, an hour, a minute, or even a second.]
身前预把资粮办，
眼底休为儿女愁。
家在乐邦归去好，
自然衣食不须谋。
While living, in advance with [the Three] Provisions [of Faith, Aspiration and Practice be] prepared, in [your] eyes stopping, for sons [and] daughters, [excessive] worrying. [With] home in [the] Blissful Country [of Pure Land], ‘returning’ to [it is] good, [to] naturally [have] clothing [and] food, not needing strife.
[Note 3: All should start to accumulate the Three Provisions adequately now, with diligent learning and practice of mindfulness of Buddha, lest it be too late or too challenging later, when very sick and dying. After tending to reasonable worldly concerns for family members responsibly, excessive worries should be dissolved quickly, as they tend to go on unceasingly, thus distracting from practice of mindfulness of Buddha without end.]
[Note 4: While we did not come from Pure Land, since we do not remember so, all should see Pure Land as our true spiritual and physical home home to ‘return’ to, so as to return to our Buddha-nature, to realise its potential fully there. Once in Pure Land, there will be great spiritual and physical ease, with no more need to worry about necessities being adequate or not, which we tend to be bothered by now.]
净土宗十一祖省庵大师
《劝修净土诗》第六十九首
The Pure Land Tradition’s 11th Patriarch Great Master Xǐng’ān
(Poems [For] Exhortation [To] Cultivate [The] Pure Land [Path]: 69th Poem)
【至忙人】：
忙处加鞭念佛
劝君念佛未能闲，
等得闲来病现前。
心到乱时须着眼，
念从忙处要加鞭。
[To Busy Persons]:
[In] Busy Places [With] Additional ‘Whipping’ [To Be] Mindful [Of] Buddha
[When] urging you [to be] mindful [of] Buddha, [you say are not] yet able [to attain] leisure, [but with] waiting [for] attaining [of] leisure [to] come, sickness [then] presently. [The] mind when reaching scatteredness must keep [its] focus, [for] mindfulness to go on [in] busy places, [there] must [be] additional ‘whipping’.
[Note 5: Due to sickness being able to strike at any time, not just for the very old, also possibly for the very young, that might make it more challenging to practise well in time, there should be disciplined scheduling of free time to practise mindfulness of Buddha in daily life now.]
[Note 6: If doing that in Note 5 is challenging, there should be even more disciplined practice of mindfulness of Buddha while doing tasks that do not require much deliberate thinking, such as walking, cleaning, waiting, riding vehicles… Ideally, there is both practice in this way, and as in Note 5.]
千军队里单刀入，
百沸汤中勺水传。
佛不碍忙忙自碍，
便从今日奉金仙。
[In a] thousand armed troops inside, [with a] single blade enter, [in] long boiling soup within, [add a] ladle [of] water [to] dissipate [its heat]. [As mindfulness of] Buddha [does] not obstruct [the] busy, [while the] busy self-obstructed, then from today, offer [to the] golden immortal [Āmítuófó, with sincere mindfulness of his name].
[Note 7: The practice of mindfulness of Buddha is like a single yet powerful blade, that is able to cut through the entire army of all afflictions. The practice of mindfulness of Buddha is like a cooling ladle of water, that if added even to long boiling ‘soup’ of all afflictions, is able to instantly dissipate its heat.]
[Note 8: Since the practice of mindfulness of Buddha can still be done despite being busy, it is only obstructed by the lack of discipline to exert enough efforts.]
净土宗十一祖省庵大师
《劝修净土诗》第七十首
The Pure Land Tradition’s 11th Patriarch Great Master Xǐng’ān
(Poems [For] Exhortation [To] Cultivate [The] Pure Land [Path]: 70th Poem)
相关偈子
Related Verses:
《普劝念佛往生净土文》
Verses For Universal Exhortation To Be Mindful Of Buddha For Rebirth In Pure Land
https://purelanders.com/2019/05/29/verses-of-universal-exhortation-of-mindfulness-of-buddha-for-rebirth-in-pure-land
