H o n g Y i n
The
Grand Verses
(English
Translation Version A)
Li
Hongzhi
Table
of Contents
Who Dares Renounce Human
Attachments?. 4
Cultivating Amidst the
Delusion. 19
Perfect Harmony in Buddha
Fa. 21
Assimilation and
Consummation. 24
Breaking Free of the Three
Realms. 26
Visiting the Hanging
Monastery. 27
In Command of Heaven and
Earth. 34
The Difference Between Mortal and
Divine. 35
Between Human And Phantom.. 36
Human Work and
Buddha Cultivation. 39
Destined Return
for the Holy Fruition. 47
A Tour of Mount
Xiangtang Temple. 48
A Tour of the
Qing East Imperial Tombs. 62
To
consummate yourself, reaping Buddhahood,
Let joy be
found in hardship.
Physical
pains count little as suffering,
Indeed,
cultivating mind is hardest.
Each
and every barrier must be broken through,
And
everywhere does evil lurk.
Abundant
troubles rain down together,
All
to see: Can you pull through?
The
world’s miseries endured,
One
departs the earth a Buddha.
December
17, 1976
He
who acts for his name
a life of anger
and hate is his
He
who acts for profit
cold is he,
knowing not his kin
He
who acts for emotion
many are the
troubles he brings himself
Bitter,
fighting
away,
he
makes karma all his life.
Not
seeking a name
life is carefree
and content
Not
set on profit
one is known as
humane and righteous
Not
stirred by emotion
the mind is
quiet, desires few
Kind,
cultivating
himself,
he
builds up virtue all his years.
July
13, 1986
February
2, 1987
Note:
This was written before I spread the Fa and at a time when I cultivated in
solitude.
While
the ordinary man might
long
for Immortaldom,[1]
Behind
the unbelievable wonders
lies
wrenching sorrow;
It
takes cultivating the mind,
severing
desires,
casting
off attachments,
Lest
man be lost in his ordeals
and
gripped with deep regret.
August
9, 1988
Heaven
and Earth, so vast, look small to my eye,
For
who created the limitless Firmament?
Beyond
the Cosmos ‘tis yet more boundless,
To
fulfill my grand hope I spread the Great Way.
January
1, 1990
In
life, nothing sought,
In
death, regretting naught;
Washing
away all wrong thought,
Buddhahood,
with less
adversity,
is wrought.
October
20, 1991
Cultivating
gong has a path
mind is the
way
On
the boundless sea of Dafa
hardship is your
ferry
July
24, 1992
Broadly
shines a Buddha’s light,
Justly
setting all things right.
Advance
together, ever diligent,
To
a glorious future.
December
27, 1992
Truth…?
Mysteries…?
Cultivation…?
Alas,
uncertainty…
Alas,
confusion…
Realization…!
January
17, 1993
The
Three Religions[2]
stress cultivating with non-action,
But
at first improper intention ‘tis with-action;
A
focus on charitable works is still action,
Remove
all attachments for true non-action.
January
17, 1993
Innate
base is cultivation’s foundation,
From
righteous understanding stems
a
superior man’s wisdom.
Cherish
Zhen Shan Ren,
keep
the Way in heart,
And
Falun Dafa can bring Consummation.
February
18, 1993
With
Zhen Shan Ren nestled in the heart,
Cultivating
oneself, in turn, betters a society.
With
Dafa never off the mind,
Surely
you will transcend others in time.
February
28, 1994
Supernatural
skills are but petty means,
The
Great Fa must be the basis of everything.
April
2, 1994
Cultivate
Dafa with all your heart,
Nothing
could be more important.
Become
one with Dafa,
And
Consummation is, in time, certain.
July
7, 1994
Clearer
is the Awakened One’s mind,
The
Fa gained, he travels the secular world,
Long,
drawn-out millennia have now passed,
When
the predestined time arrives,
the
Fa will be fulfilled.
August
27, 1994
With
shared purpose did you come to the earth,
And
in gaining the Fa you took the lead.
One
day shall you ascend to the heavens,
Then
free, unfettered,
with
the immeasurable power of Fa.
August
27, 1994
You
resolved to save sentient beings,
And
assist Master as he
journeys
this human world;
Come
now, and help me turn the Falun,
When
the Fa is fulfilled,
Heaven
and Earth will be yours to travel.
August
28, 1994
‘Tis
not that the journey of cultivation is painful,
Karma
from generation upon generation is blocking you.
Steel
your will,
eliminate
karma,
cultivate
xinxing,
And
become a Buddha who keeps forever the human body.
September
15, 1994
Ordinary
people do not understand the pain of cultivation,
Happiness
to them is vying and competing;
Cultivate,
my disciples, ‘til no single omission is found,
And
with the passing of all adversity,
will come the sweetness of true joy.
September
15, 1994
Study
the Fa and gain the Fa,
Focus
on how you study and cultivate,
Let
each and every thing
be
measured against the Fa.
Only
then, with that,
is it actually
cultivation.
October
7, 1994
Far
and wide do I spread the Dafa,
Saving
people, beyond the Five Elements they go.
Those
who persevere at cultivation,
Will
transcend the Three Realms upon Consummation.
October
15, 1994
Unceasingly
turns the Law Wheel, saving sentient beings,
Learn
the Fa, gain the Fa, cultivate your xinxing;
For
in the Age of Fa’s End the Wheel turns again,
Illuminating
with Fa, the hearts of the predestined.
December
27, 1994
Cherish
Zhen, Shan, Ren,
And
in Falun Dafa shall you succeed;
Cultivate
your xinxing without
a
moment’s pause,
To
taste the wonder,
so
immeasurable, at Consummation.
December
27, 1994
From
the Cosmos so boundless and vast,
Radiated
an arc of golden light.
Unto
the world descended an Awakened One,
And
Heaven and Earth did align.
Bright
does the whole universe glow,
Melding
into the light of Fa.
With
Consummation, in flight you will ascend,
Together
returning to Paradise.
December
31, 1994
All
the affairs, countless, over long, drawn-out years
pass like a wisp
of smoke.
And
though they leave the common man confused,
For
what were the vast heavens and earth created?
‘Tis
baffling, this question, to the sentient beings.
January
27, 1995
He
who regards not
ordinary sorrows and
joys
A
cultivator is he
He
who has not attachment
to worldly loss and
gain
An
Arhat is he
In
May, 1995
In
the middle of a thousand-foot cliff,
there it hangs, a
monastery,
Spreading
Dafa far and wide,
leaves
little time for leisure;
In
this life, I visit again
the
ancient monastery on a precipice,
One
day, the Fa mended,
to every
monastery it shall spread.
June
11, 1995
Where
is the Dao in these timeless
mountains
and cloud-shrouded peaks?
Ages
has the ancient monastery stood,
yet
now to it tourists flock;
Oblivious
to the beauty of mystery,
the
ordinary people,
For
vile profits
exploit
the ancient monastery.
June
11, 1995
A
Buddha came to walk the earth,
But
too lost was the ordinary man to wake;
Malevolent
ones even did Him harm,
Making
Good and Evil ever so clear.
July
26, 1995
So
hard is serenity to find
here, in
Buddhism’s “pure land,”
Sinister
things and evil thoughts
thrive in this
troubled time;
The
more repute a place enjoys,
the more do
fiends abound,
Amidst
the din and throng of selling,
firecrackers even
sound.
August
15, 1995
Though
the Dafa spreads near and far
How
many people can gain the Way?
With
petty worldly matters, so many, weighing down
You’d
do well to cultivate in that hard-earned leisure time
Then,
one day, when the mist and smoke have all passed
Will
you discover: ‘twas the True Dao you did gain
October
6, 1995
In
the leisure of serene cultivation,
those
Immortals I observe,
Each
through the ages
did
show his special powers;
Today
the world is different,
ghastly
is the change in man’s heart,
No
longer do the many gods save,
as
they wait for the calamity to end.
October
16, 1995
Infinitely
distant is Heaven’s vault,
But
with just one thought
‘tis right before
the eye;
Immeasurably
huge is the Cosmos,
Falun
turns between
Heaven and Earth.
November
9, 1995
So
huge is the sky
there lies even more of it beyond,
Each
with a sun and moon,
layers upon layers, they fill the
Firmament;
So
broad is the earth
it has both sky and ground,
Each
breeding all things,
in
turn, they populate the whole Cosmos.
November
10, 1995
What
is a human?
Full
is he of emotion and desire.
What
is a God?
Human thoughts
are nowhere found.
What
is a Buddha?
Benevolent virtue
is amply endowed.
What
is a Dao?
A realized being,
serene and clear.
November
10, 1995
Foxes,
weasels, ghosts, snakes—
bringing
chaos to the world,
Fouling
up the air, making a mess,
with
their shamanic dance;
Lacking
a teacher, lacking cultivation,
they
still call themselves masters,
Two
decades has it been like this,
such
folly and madness.
November
11, 1995
Handling human affairs
of every sort,
Burdened with all of
heaven’s troubles.
To whom can I turn to
exchange a few words?
In higher places it is
only colder.
November 11,
1995
Every form of travail
has he weathered,
Countless the fiends
trampled under his feet;
His palm erected, the
whole Cosmos shakes,
A grand Buddha stands
between Heaven and Earth.
November 12,
1995
Some 2,500 years, the
Buddhist precepts
have been
bequeathed,
Name and gain, they
tell, first must go,
then the grueling
cultivation begins;
Alas, the monks of our
day take salaries,
And workplace dress is
even provided.
December 25,
1995
In realms ultra-finite,
ultra-vast,
all declined
matter is subdued,
Stretching the Ten
Directions, tiny to vast,
the Firmament
meets the eye;
The heavens
clear,
the cosmic body
transparent,
the universe
rectified,
With the ultimate
catastrophe now past,
lucent is the
whole Cosmos.
January 2,
1996
Multitudinous are the
lives that fill the Firmament,
Layer upon layer, each
with its Heaven and Earth.
So incredible and
wonderful the spectacle,
But the common man is
too lost, caught in delusion.
How easy to say, it is,
yet so hard to really see,
For cultivation is like
climbing steps.
Only up high does the
mist of delusion clear,
There the magnificent
sight appears—
miraculous,
indescribable!
January 3,
1996
So great the shifts in
celestial phenomena,
The common man now lacks
good thoughts.
His mind, absent
control,
gives way to the
demonic,
Disasters follow,
natural and man-made,
sorrowful anguish.
Everyone sees one
another as enemy,
Everything proves short
of expectation.
Could the common man
know why?
Only a cultivator can
unlock the puzzle.
January 4,
1996
Present, but the heart
elsewhere—
Perfectly
reconciled with the world.
Looking, but caring not
to see—
Free of delusion
and doubt.
Listening, but caring
not to hear—
A mind so hard to
disturb.
Eating, but caring not
to taste—
The palate’s
attachments severed.
Doing, but without
pursuit—
So constant,
abiding in the Dao.
Calm, but without strain
of thought—
The truly
wondrous can be seen.
January 4,
1996
Dafa is what you carry
everywhere,
Zhen Shan Ren, rooted in
the mind;
A great Arhat walks the
earth,
Gods and demons fear
with awe.
January 6,
1996
Who could fathom the
measure of Heaven and Earth?
Yet the Milky Way lies
beneath his feet.
Who could grasp the
reach of the Cosmos?
Yet the turning Wheel is
right in his palm.
January 6,
1996
Words cannot describe
its beauty and wonder,
Its every hue and color,
so glorious, dazzle the eye;
Fortune and longevity
fill this Buddhist Holy Land,
At a higher place sits
the Falun World.
January 23,
1996
Oh how many the years,
looking for the master,
Finally the day has
arrived to meet him.
Cultivate and return,
the Fa now gained,
And follow your master
to return, consummated.
January 23,
1996
Sun and moon circle in
turn,
Cosmos is the wheel that
turns,
So easily, another two
hundred years gone by,
Nothing remains of the
old Xiangtang.
March 6,
1996
I climb the steep steps,
stretching miles ahead,
Winding upward and
steep, this road,
even to set off is
hard;
Glancing back, ‘tis just
like cultivating Righteous Fa,
Pausing half way makes
salvation hard.
So steel the will, and
lift thy leaden leg,
Endure the pain,
diligent, and cast off attachments;
Dafa disciples, the tens
of millions—
A place still higher
awaits you at Consummation.
April 15,
1996
Fame, gain,
emotion—cultivate each away,
And ascend to the
Firmament at Consummation,
See the human world with
eyes of compassion,
Then are you freed from
the spell of delusion.
April 21,
1996
Peerless was the
Immortal Zhang Sanfeng,[9]
Traveling all domains,
his Great Dao was unmatched,
Later generations, for
fame, bungled the boxing art,
Altering my Tai-chi,
sullying my name.
July 1,
1996
Steering the Fa Vessel
before disaster descends,
Millions upon millions
the hardships and
perils, blocking my path,
Carrying the Cosmos,
boat broken and torn,
At last! I pull into
shore—
a dream of ten thousand
years.
September 23,
1996
Yin and Yang turned
upside down,
The minds of men have
shifted,
Ghosts and beasts are
all about,
How far man has strayed
from the Dao.
September 26,
1996
Lay down your human,
mundane mind,
The Fa gained, you now
stand divine,
Break free, and depart,
these Three Realms,
And ascend to Heaven
with a Buddha Body.
October 16,
1996
I spread the Fa, your
Master, for salvation of all,
The earth’s four corners
I pilgrimage,
the Fa Vessel I
board,
In a world full of sin
and venom I transmit Dafa,
Turning the Falun, the
Cosmos is set right.
October 16, 1996, in
Atlanta
Transmitting the True
Fa,
Proves harder than just
hard.
Many are the demons who
impede,
Risks piled atop
risks.
December 22,
1996
Man is no longer
humane,
Gods, no longer
godly,
The human realm is void
of Dao,
Where are right thoughts
found?
December 22,
1996
Delusion blinds the
world’s people,
Each attached to fame
and gain,
But honest and kind were
the ancients,
Calm and balanced,
fortune and longevity
were their lot.
December 25,
1996
How they busy
themselves, building temples, worshiping,
Knowing not their acts
are all for naught;
Lost in stupefying
illusion,
they vainly dream of
journeying to the Western Paradise,
Groping blindly, walking
in darkness,
they try to scoop
the moon’s reflection from water.
March 28,
1997
The rushing waters
carried off his tragic heroism,
Yet his great spirit,
his loyal soul, still endures;
All that remains of the
age-old shrine is a place to grieve,
Now only his loyalty
remains to guide posterity.
September 11, 1997, in
Shang Yin
On and on, the autumn
rain falls like tears,
Every drop filling my
heart with anguish;
I look about, but no one
do I know in the town,
Several times has my
village lain in ruin.
Here, then gone, eight
hundred years race by,
And no one knows who I
am;
I lower my head as I
light several sticks of incense,
Their smoke drifts away,
towards old acquaintances.
Turning back, my wish
fulfilled,
I shall come again to
help all return.
September 11, 1997
at the hometown of Yue
Fei
Three hundred years flow
past like water,
Old palaces and desolate
tombs fill the eyes with sorrow;
None could foresee my
return to the world today,
One day the Fa, mended,
will spread for eternity.
October 26,
1997
at the Tomb of Emperor
Kang Xi
Disasters, one atop
another, befall the sentient beings
who have changed in
ghastly ways;
Yet here in this chaotic
world is Dafa to save them.
Confusing Good and Evil
as they malign Heaven’s Law,
The doers of
unpardonable evil will be
swept off by the chill
of autumn’s wind.
November 15,
1997
A pool of water crystal
clear,
Reflecting the splendor
of smoke-like
clouds here and
there,
Here in this chaotic
world,
It has kept its rare
beauty.
November 17,
1997
How the landscape of
Qinchuan[14] has
changed,
Chang’an now lies buried
in the earth.
Gone is the Celestial
Empire, its glory and might,
In the blink of an eye
centuries have passed.
Where now can Taizong be
found?
Dafa is here to save the
people of Tang.[15]
November 22,
1997
The destiny is
tied,
And Fa what you
cultivate,
Study the book a
lot,
Consummation draws
near.
January 27,
1998
Stories
over the long, drawn-out ages,
Have
made of Man a deluded thing;
Those
who claim abundant wisdom,
Do
wield their skills so dexterously,
but all is done
in emotion.
February 19,
1998
Humans lacking any kind
thoughts—
Each becomes the
other’s enemy.
Destruction of the
traditional—
Culture turns
decadent.
Homosexuality and
licentious desires—
A dark mind,
turned demonic.
Rampant gambling and use
of drugs—
People do
whatever they please.
Less restrictions,
promiscuity—
People head
toward depravity.
Sinister gangs and the
deranged political party—
Politicians and
gangsters work together as one.
Acting wantonly, lacking
restraint—
People defy
Heaven and betray the Dao.
Blindly believing in
science—
Mankind grows
warped.
Promoting and esteeming
violence—
People are given
to fierce fighting.
The wicked metamorphosis
of religion—
Money men and
politicians are they.
July 7,
1998
As I ascend by foot to
Yanmen Pass,
A faint churning stirs
my heart.
The ancient path of a
thousand years remains,
But gone is everything
of the past.
From here
Yanzhao[17] left, commanding his
horse,
A thousand stormy years
have elapsed.
Now, gazing down from
the Pass,
I see Dafa in the
central plains.[18]
August 10, 1998, at
Yanmen Pass
Scriptures cultivate
your mind,
Exercises temper your
body;
One day, upon
Consummation,
Zhen
Shan Ren
will
be with you to stay.
November 18,
1992
Revised in August,
1998
As the Righteous Fa
spreads,
Untold fiends try to
impede,
Yet sentient
beings
do still gain
salvation,
And human notions
change,
The degenerate things
purged,
Brightness now shines
forth.
sentient beings
have awakened
I
smile—
Dafa now
spreads
I
smile—
the ferryboat has
set sail
I
smile—
for sentient
beings there is hope
November 16,
1998
[1] “Immortaldom” (shenxian)
is a common idea in Chinese culture, somewhat similar to Saintdom in the
West, whereby a being is endowed, by virtue of his or her spiritual achievement,
with magical, supernatural powers and an enduring
bliss.
[2] “Three Religions” is a term for Chinese
Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucianism.
[3] The term used in the Chinese text here,
yinguo, has the sense of preordained fate, or causality, stemming from
conduct at an earlier time or in a previous life.
[4] The Hanging Monastery (Xuan Kong Si), or
more literally, “The Temple Suspended in Void,” is located in Shanxi Province
and was built on the sheer precipice of one of the Heng Mountains. The structure
was built some 1,400 years ago and consists of over 40 buildings as well as
caves.
[5] North Mount Heng, meaning “Everlasting
Mountain,” is located in Shanxi Province. It is one of the five “sacred
mountains” of China, all of which boast rich historical and spiritual legacies.
[6] Nanhua (or “Southern China”) Temple is
located in Guangdong Province, and was home to the Sixth Zen Patriarch, Hui
Neng. The temple is over 1,500 years old.
[7] Mount Xiangtang Temple is located in
Hebei Province.
[8] Mount Tai is located in central Shandong
Province. For centuries it has been a vitally important part of Chinese culture,
and was the site of official rites performed by past
emperors.
[9] Zhang Sanfeng is a well-known Daoist
figure who is said to have created Tai-chi chuan.
[10] Yue Fei is a
much-celebrated hero of the Southern Song Dynasty. He is known for his courage
and patriotism, and credited with defending China against northern invaders. He
died a tragic death at the hands of a court official named Qin
Hui.
[11] These are
tombs dating from the Qing Dynasty and located in Hebei Province.
[12] Sun-Moon Lake is one of Taiwan’s
best-known tourist spots and the island’s largest freshwater
lake.
[13] Located in what is today Xi’an city,
Chang’an (or “Eternal Peace”) was the ancient capital of a dozen dynasties and
an important political, economic, and cultural
center.
[14] Qinchuan was a valley in the ancient
Kingdom of Qin, and has long been associated with the origins of Chinese
civilization. Chang’an was located at its center. It lies in the plains of what
are today Gansu and Shanxi provinces.
[15] “People of Tang” is often used as an
expression meaning “the Chinese people.”
[16] Located in Shanxi Province, Yanmen Pass
was historically a point of strategic importance along the Great Wall and the
site of many battles.
[17] “Yanzhao” is short for Yang Yanzhao, a
national hero and great general in the Northern Song Dynasty who died in a
battle against invaders from the north.
[18] The term “central plains” refers usually
to the Yellow River valley, and can be understood to here mean China more
broadly.