题《心命歌》
Inscription [On] ‘Song [Of The] Mind [And] Fate’
心好命又好，
富贵直到老。
命好心不好，
福变为祸兆。
[With the] mind good [and] fate [i.e life’s circumstances] also good, [are] wealth [and] honour until old. [With] fate good [and the] mind not good, [are] blessings changing [to] be misfortunes’ omens.
心好命不好，
祸转为福报。
心命俱不好，
遭殃且贫夭。
[With the] mind good [and] fate not good, [are] misfortunes transforming [to] be blessed rewards. [With the] mind [and] fate together not good, [is] suffering [from] calamities, also poverty [and] premature death.
心可挽乎命，
最要存仁道。
命实造于心，
吉凶惟人召。
[The] mind can save [one’s] fate, [with the] most essential [to] retain [the] benevolent path. Fate [is] truly created in [the] mind, [with the] auspicious [and] inauspicious only [by] people summoned.
信命不修心，
阴阳恐虚矫。
修心一听命，
天地自相保。
Believing [in] fate [and] not cultivating [the] mind, [the] yīn [and] yáng [i.e. negative and positive] [are] feared [to be] false [and to be] rectified. [With] cultivating [of the] mind, once accepting fate, heaven [and] earth [will] naturally help [and] protect.
此诗于心命二义发挥周到，果能以之行，则命自我作，福自我求，造化之权，不归于天地鬼神矣。
This poem [is] with [the] two meanings [of the] mind [and] fate expressed thoughtfully. If able [to], with it practise, then [will] fate [be by] oneself created, [and] blessings [be by] oneself sought, [with the] power of creation [and] transformation, not submitted to ghosts [and] gods [of] heaven [and] earth.
再玉其勉之。
[To] Zàiyù, may [you] strive hard.
净土宗十三祖印光大师
Pure Land Tradition’s 13th Patriarch Great Master Yìnguāng
Namo Amituofo : Translation by Shen Shi’an
