佛语英译|| 菩提本无树

两组佛家偈语, 与大家分享。

惠能师兄神秀偈语：

身是菩提树
心如明镜台
时时勤拂拭
莫使染尘埃

Body is a Bodhi tree
Mind is like a mirror bright
Wipe with care all the time
Do not let the dust alight

六祖慧能偈语：

菩提本无树
明镜亦非台
本来无一物
何处惹尘埃

There is not a Bodhi tree
Nor a stand of mirror bright
Void is the world we see
How could dust ever alight?

** Note on the rhythm of the transition: Although not always successful, I try to follow the catalectic trochaic tetrameter (四步扬抑格：每个诗行四个重音-非重音的音步）featuring lines composed of four trochaic feet. In modern English poetry, a trochee is a foot consisting of a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable. Thus a tetrameter normally contains four trochees or eight syllables. When the tetrameter is catalectic（催化式结尾：扬抑格三音步加一个半音步）, the last syllable of the line is omitted, resulting in four stressed syllables and three unstressed syllables: – ⏑ – ⏑ – ⏑ – .