Falundafa.org

 

 

H o n g  Y i n

 

Volume II

 

The Grand Verses

 

 

 

 

 

 

(English Translation Version A)

 

Li Hongzhi

 

 

 



Table of Contents

Steadfast

Untitled

True Character is Revealed

Self-Evident is the Heart

Retribution

Nets of Fa

Rectifying the Colossal Firmament

Illuminating All

Eliminating Evil

Nothing

Unobservant

On the Journey

Undoing the Disaster

Clarity Upon Gaining the Way

No Confusion

Journeying Via The Way

Discarding Attachments

Unimpeded

Predestination Formed, the Lotuses Bloom

The Final Reckoning Approaches

True Words

The Chill of Autumn’s Winds

The Foretelling

The Great Way’s Spreading

The Catastrophe

Cleaning Out

The Inevitable

The Cleansing

The Big Stage

Just a Play

Diligence and Righteous Enlightenment

The Fa Rectifies the Cosmos

Dafa is Great

Bell Tower

Drum Tower

Buddha Law is Boundless

Entering the Gate of No-Life

Tathagata

Righteous Thoughts and Righteous Actions

The Difficult Path to Godhood

A Righteous God

The Heavens Become Clear Again

Deterrence

Hurry Up And Tell Them

Be Clearheaded

Who is Bewildered?

The Net is Tightening

Pay Up

Divine Might

Besiege and Annihilate

Plum Blossoms

Descending to the Earthly World

Dafa’s Journey

In One Thought

The Tang Way

Look Attentively

Reading My Students’ Articles

Chaotic World

The Fa-Rectification View

Expedition

Rational and Awake

Diamond-like Will

The Fa Rectifies All

Dragon Springs Temple

Dafa Disciples

Constantly Turns the Falun

Grand Vow and Great Wish

Saving the Colossal Firmament

Inexorable Fate

Danger

The Lotus

Severing

Fragrant Lotus

When the Fa Rectifies the Human World

Foolish

Don’t Be Sad

Waist-Drum Troupe

Hardship

The Master-Disciple Bond

Gods, Awaken

Heaven’s Gate Opened

What’s to Fear?

The Turning Wheel

The Great Kalpa

 


 Steadfast

 

The awakened esteem what is beyond this world

The devout cultivator sets his heart on Consummation

When great is the ordeal, keep steadfast

The will to be diligent never bowed

 

May 3, 1999

Revised February 2004


Untitled

 

The Great Law looks at a person’s heart

The world’s people would do well to rouse

Divinity, human, ghost, animal, disintegration—

The position is decided by oneself

 

May 3, 1999

Revised February 2004


True Character is Revealed

 

Be resolute cultivating Dafa, the mind unstirred

Climbing in levels is what’s fundamental

Faced with tests, a person’s true character is revealed

May you Consummate—

a Buddha, Dao, or God

 

May 8, 1999


Self-Evident is the Heart

 

Fa brings salvation to all,

‘tis Master guiding the way

One sail is hoisted,

one hundred million follow

Light are the boats, quick the travel

      with attachments cast aside

But the ocean proves hard to cross

if human thoughts weigh one down

Suddenly wind and clouds change,[1]

      and the sky threatens collapse

Mountainous waves churn the sea,

fierce waves billow

Be resolute cultivating Dafa,

follow Master closely

Should attachments be too heavy,

bearings will be lost

As boats capsize and sails tear,

some flee for their lives

When the silt is washed clean,

‘tis gold that shines forth


 

Big talk counts for naught

in matters of life and death,

Your capacity to act

gives the true picture

When one day the time of

Consummation arrives,

The truth will bear itself in full,

astonishing the earth

 

October 12, 1999

(Published May 22, 2000)


Retribution

 

Rotten demons abound in the last phase

Operating beneath the human skin

But once the partitions are cleared away

On earth the boiling cauldron[2] is in place

 

September 1, 2000

Fourth day of the eighth month, the lunar year of Geng Chen


Nets of Fa

 

Clear Wisdom saves the predestined

New Life can rid the head of evil

The People’s sharp pens fill demons with worry

Falun Dafa gives rise to Pure Insight [3]

 

January 17, 2001

Twenty-third day of the twelfth month, the lunar year of Geng Chen


Rectifying the Colossal Firmament

 

How much longer can the evil run rampant?

Every being’s volition is fully revealed.

Who could be outside this calamity?

I look with a smile at the gods being foolish.

 

February 10, 2001

Eighteenth day of the first month, the lunar year of Xin Si


Illuminating All

 

Gods and Buddhas walk the earth,

Bringing worry to the wicked and evil.

Dafa, the solution for a troubled world,

Puts a stop to its downward slide.

                                    

February 17, 2001

Twenty-fifth day of the first month, the lunar year of Xin Si


Eliminating Evil

 

A hundred thousand miles

      this vehicle travels

Racing to slay evil,

brandishing swords

The hand, erect,

      props up the falling sky

Fa-rectification averts the brewing tragedy

 

February 19, 2001

Twenty-seventh day of the first month, the lunar year of

Xin Si


Nothing

 

No nothing, no emptiness, no anything

No goodness, no evil—

beyond the extremes

A forward move,

myriad things come into being

A step back,

all turns to nothing,

forever to be a mystery

 

February 22, 2001


Unobservant

 

My journey, nonstop,

whisks through dust and wind

All manner of evil are purged,

all manner of life born

With great pains and care,

deep-running grudges are undone

Taking in the scenery, light at heart—

‘tis a luxury I have not

 

February 22, 2001


On the Journey

 

On all the earth, where is such

an astounding scene to be found?

Look to the heavens in the canyon

Where are gods to be found?

Though it’s right before you,

the gods are not seen

 

February 22, 2001

In the United States, at the Grand Canyon


Undoing the Disaster

 

Countless are the chaotic things in this human world

Gratitude and resentment now heaped atop one another,

No hope had the wicked of heart, their karma massive

‘Tis Dafa that resolves everything at the source

 

February 22, 2001


Clarity Upon Gaining The Way

 

One dynasty’s emperor, one dynasty’s subjects

Dynasty after dynasty were the karmic bonds tied

      in anticipation of the Fa

Don’t pay heed to the affairs of bygone dynasties

All will be known when you return home

at Consummation

 

February 24, 2001


No Confusion

 

Who are the Lords of Heaven?

Level after level of beings

      have drifted from the Fa

Each of whom claimed to rule

the vault of Heaven

The time of return now draws near

Let us see who remains deluded

 

March 14, 2001


Journeying Via The Way

 

The Great Way travels through the world
Bringing salvation to lives once lost
Thoughts of fame, feeling, and profit gone—
Could any difficulty stop the holy one?

March 19, 2001


Discarding Attachments


You may talk cultivation
But you have to discard the attachments

that you hold deep inside
What’s given up is not oneself
But instead the folly of delusion

April 16, 2001
Twenty-third day of the third month, the lunar year of Xin Si


Unimpeded

The paths of cultivation are varied
But none is outside the Great Law
When one is attached to nothing
The path underfoot is naturally smooth

April 16, 2001

Twenty-third day of the third month, the lunar year of Xin Si


Predestination Formed, the Lotuses Bloom

 

Where now are the gallant heroes of yore?

One after another they have come

since the spread of Dafa commenced

So long and drawn out the years—

hundreds, thousands, their measure

The predestination formed, with

true fruition, the many lotuses bloom

 

June 19, 2001


The Final Reckoning Approaches

 

In the churning, turgid waves

      traces of twilight can be seen

Calamities of every sort approach,

the final reckoning at hand

The vast firmament, rectified by Fa,

the cosmos resettled

I return to the human world

and nip off the lice and nits

 

July 17, 2001


True Words

 

Gods and Buddhas come to the world,
Every word preached resounds with Truth.
Be it matters of heaven, earth, humans, or gods,
Real secrets are imparted for this Fa.

August 19, 2001


The Chill of Autumn’s Winds

 

Think twice about your savagery, oh wicked ones

When Heaven and Earth are bright again,

down to the boiling cauldron shall you go

Little can punches and kicks change a person’s heart

Violent winds usher in an autumn with harsher chill

 

October 25, 2001


The Foretelling

 

Autumn still lingers 

yet spring has arrived

What humans doubt

all now comes forth

The sky cracks open

and the earth burns

The evil tries to hide

and the wicked ones to flee

As gong surges forth

evil spirits wail and scream

The Dafa disciples

ascend to the highest heavens

And, presiding over Heaven and Earth,

rectify the human realm

 

December 30, 2001


The Great Way’s Spreading

 

I raise my eyes and gaze at the azure sky

Macro- and microcosm, filled with eyes
The focal point of what is above and below—
The Great Way spreading in the world

January 15, 2002


The Catastrophe

 

The dark, somber clouds have but a few days left

The bitter cold fully over, spring now appears

Upon awakening, the sentient beings

stand aghast at the things they see

Half of China Proper covered by sand and dust

 

January 22, 2002


Cleaning Out

 

The dark clouds have passed

yet winds remain fierce

Though the Red Dragon is slain

humans are still confused

Where there is Evil

there is dark, dense haze

Dafa disciples

hold the palm erect

Eliminate the remaining Evil

summon righteous thoughts

Clarify the truth

rescue the sentient beings

Thoroughly annihilate the Evil

and sweep the entire cosmos clean

 

January 23, 2002


The Inevitable

 

So arrogantly did the swarm of evil descend
And fill the air with outrageous lies
They are but human clowns in a drama,

acting out all their fury
Once they have provided Dafa

with a sharp contrast,

down to the boiling cauldron they go


January 30, 2002


The Cleansing

 

Heaven and Earth turned upside down,

raining sand and dust

The minds of hundreds of millions in the

mortal world have been poisoned

How many can be saved by mercy?

New graves cover the landscape of China Proper

 

January 31, 2002


The Big Stage

 

Five thousand years of civilization

with China Proper as the stage.

Foolishly absorbed in the play’s unfolding,

the plethora of scenes dazzle.

Upon awakening, people will stare at one another,

only to realize the stage was being set for the Fa.

 

February 1, 2002


Just a Play

 

Heaven serves as curtain,

with Earth as the stage

The Cosmos moves,

Heaven and Earth open

Everything through the ages,

came about for the Fa

The Falun turns,

renewing the Three Domains

 

February 5, 2002


Diligence and Righteous Enlightenment

 

Don’t let up in studying the Fa;

amidst it transformation happens

Let nothing sway conviction;

of it comes right fruit and the blooming lotus

 

April 6, 2002


The Fa Rectifies the Cosmos

 

Compassion can harmonize Heaven and Earth, ushering in spring
Righteous thoughts can save the people in this world

April 6, 2002


Dafa is Great

 

Falun Dafa is great

The colossal firmament,

illuminated by the Fa’s light

Only after the immense force

of Fa-rectification sweeps through,

Are the boundless wonders known

 

Falun Dafa is great

Gradually enters the human realm

The sentient beings need not worry

Gods and Buddhas are smiling

 

April 25, 2002


Bell Tower

 

Its mighty sound stirs the realm of Fa

Resonances of Fa stretch in ten directions

May 5, 2002

 

Drum Tower
 

At the mallet’s drumming one knows to be diligent
The Fa drum rouses those lost in confusion

 

May 5, 2002


Buddha Law is Boundless

 

The incense burner gathers in all demons

that seek to wreak havoc on the Fa

Fine tripods incinerate those spirits

who defy the Fa

May 5, 2002


Entering the Gate of No-Life

 

Riding a tiger, so hard it is to dismount

Humans are they, trying to challenge gods

Doing all possible of evil beings

They have made a dead end of their lives

 

May 13, 2002


Tathagata

 

He comes with Truth that gives him free reign

And travels the four seas with a free and easy spirit

The Fa’s principles spread throughout the world

His Fa Boat sets sail, loaded full with sentient beings

 

May 13, 2002


Righteous Thoughts and Righteous Actions

 

A Great Enlightened One fears no hardship

Having forged an adamantine will

Free of attachment to living or dying

He walks the path of Fa-rectification

confident and poised

 

May 29, 2002


The Difficult Path to Godhood

 

Predestined ties of countless lifetimes

Each has Dafa as its guiding thread

‘Tis in hardship the golden body is tempered

Why such slow and leisurely steps?

 

May 30, 2002


A Righteous God

 

With righteous thoughts and righteous actions

He is diligent without letting up

Eliminating demons that damage the Fa

He is good to all beings

 

May 30, 2002


The Heavens Become Clear Again

 

The Heavens shrouded in darkness, the

    Earth enveloped in gloom

The thunder of the gods explodes,

    dispersing the dark, dense haze

It sweeps across rotten demons who

    sought to ruin the Fa

Do not say that we are short of mercy

 

June 16, 2002

Written for the Midwestern U.S. Fa Conference


Deterrence

 

The divine pens deter those demons in human skin

Like sharpened blades, they extirpate rotten spirits

The old forces pay not the Fa its due respect

Wielding the brush you shall subdue the surge of madness

 

July 28, 2002


Hurry Up And Tell Them

 

As Dafa disciples clarify the truth

Sharp swords shoot forth from their mouths

Tearing open the rotten demons’ lies

Lose no time and save them,

hurry up and tell them

 

August 21, 2002


Be Clearheaded

 

Dafa disciples,

away with your tears

The devil, Satan,

has utterly collapsed

Clarify the facts,

send righteous thoughts,

Expose the lies,

clean out the rotten demons

 

September 1, 2002


Who is Bewildered?

 

On a speck of dust, so tiny and slight

All of creation’s lives, buried in soil

In delusion, the world’s people can gain the Fa

The foolish and arrogant ones are

actually outside of the dusty world[4]

 

September 5, 2002


The Net is Tightening

 

How much longer can the ferocious evil run wild?

A chill is already felt in the autumn wind

The rotten demons, shaken at the core

Face their final days without a sliver of hope

 

September 14, 2002


Pay Up

 

Ten years have I spread the Fa, the door wide open
Yet how many lives still cannot enter
Lost in the world, forgetting their original intent

With the surging of the storm they sink into sin


December 12, 2002


Divine Might

 

The dust settles,

the fog lifts,

the air slowly clears
The world’s people rouse from delusion,

and amazement fills their eyes—
Dafa’s vast force

floods all the human world
Take a look:

Gods and Buddhas walk the earth

December 28, 2002
Twenty-fifth day of the eleventh month, the lunar year of Ren Wu


Besiege and Annihilate

Heaven and earth turned upside down,

how wicked the wolves in human skin
Outrageous lies howl like ill wind,

trying to deceive the world
As Dafa disciples clarify the truth
The Fa power of their righteous thoughts

pounds the demons’ dens

January 23, 2003


Plum Blossoms

(in Yuan verse)

 

In the chaotic world, like pure lotus flowers—

plum blossoms, a hundred million

Cold winds only accentuate their beauty

The interminable snowfall and rain

are the tears of gods,

Who look longingly for the plum blossoms’ return

Never, ever get preoccupied with worldly things

Steel your righteous thoughts

For all [that you have gone through] since ancient times,

Was for none other than this time around.

 

January 28, 2003


Descending to the Earthly World

 

With the turning of Falun there is sure to be madness

A whole nation’s resources drained, working on me

I quietly observe the buffoon’s fiendish play dying out

Only last vestiges of dirt now blow to and fro

Five thousand years of transmigration through shifts and change

Brush off the enshrouding dust, and all their realities are seen

Who is really the prevailing, gallant lead in this gigantic play?

I made this single trip just for the sake of sentient beings

 

The twenty-ninth day of the twelfth month, the lunar year of Ren Wu

January 31, 2003


Dafa’s Journey

(in Song verse)


Falun Dafa

Deep and immeasurable

It formed the gigantic firmament

And created all beings

Three words of Truth

Lucid the principles, clear the words
Generously blessed is the common man

who learns even its most basic meaning

Clear in vision, like a mirror, is the official

who knows it even shallowly

When a king comes to know its principles
Stability is brought to the country,

well is it governed

Peace reigns
And the era is one of prosperity
When sovereigns and ministers are upright
Good fortune extends for generations
People feel safe and settled

Year after year the crops are plentiful
The cultivator—clearer still is he

Upon gaining the Fa and entering the Way
Diligently he progresses, cultivating solidly,

‘til his practice succeeds

Persecution he resists
Sentient beings he saves
Journeying the path of godhood

March 2, 2003
The thirtieth day of the first month, the lunar year of Gui Wei


In One Thought

Confident and magnanimous, I rectify the colossal firmament
Huge is the adversity that accompanies me

as I journey Heaven and Earth
Credit and honor are not what is on my mind
As I rectify heaven, rectify earth, and rectify all lives
True thoughts, a grand wish, and diamond-like will

Recreate with one thought the enormity

The thirteenth day of the fifth month, the lunar year of Gui Wei


The Tang Way

 

While my body is amidst these mountains

My thoughts wander to that magical place

Who was the China of antiquity?

People don’t know the grandeur of the great Tang way

The sixth month of the lunar year of Gui Wei


Look Attentively


Though small the world may be
The vast firmament is fully reflected
The sky is filled with eyes
As all gods focus in
The firmament is being formed anew
And Heaven and Earth re-made

You want this, he wants that

[Each tries to steer this affair]
Both pitiable and absurd it is
’Tis the Lord of Fa rectifying the firmament
What could manage to escape it?

June 19, 2003


Reading My Students’ Articles

 

Brilliant are the articles your sharp pens craft
Powerful are their words, rich their sentences
The body of science is riddled with holes
The evil Party is stripped bare of all its garbs

July 22, 2003


Chaotic World

(in Song verse)

The heartland, some five thousand years all told
With each dynasty and generation has come a new look

In the final age, Heaven lacks the Way
Things both evil and wicked are done
Jackals and wolves roam the world
And demons lead the treacherous Party
It’s not that evil will go unpunished
The massive force is fast approaching

August 1, 2003


The Fa-Rectification View

(in Song verse)

 

Han Xin conquered the land for the House of Liu[5]

Taizong of the Great Tang expanded the territory

Yue Fei and the Sixth Son protected the heartland

And why?

‘Tis here all lives would come to gain the Fa

 

August 15, 2003


Expedition

 

Ten thousand miles I gallop, breaking demons’ battle array

Cutting down all dark minions, eliminating wicked deities

I heed not their thick fog or the gale winds they whip about

Mountain rains en route wash off dust from the expedition

 

September 2, 2003


Rational and Awake

 

Pause for a moment of self-reflection,

and increase your righteous thoughts

Thoroughly analyze your shortcomings,

and progress with renewed diligence

 

September 4, 2003


Diamond-like Will

 

Slowly autumn’s crisp air turns clear

And the thick, dark haze now gives way

Counting time on the fingers

Little of the vast firmament remains

Lost beings each foment chaos

Knowing not the great peril at hand

I strive to rescue things before they burst

Could I let rotten demons spell disaster?

Will and thought harder than diamond

The vast and miniscule are all my creation

 

September 4, 2003


The Fa Rectifies All

 

Charging beyond the Three Realms

Beyond emptiness and nothingness,

still greater cosmoses appear

Some time now has the cosmos

been rectified with Fa

When about to rest, evil rises again

The Four Great Elements[6] have weathered away

And the old Fa is disintegrating

Infinitely large are the celestial bodies

Extremely enormous the cosmic bodies

Having gone far past the colossal firmament

The Lord’s seat is ever more magnificent

Lionhearted is He by nature—

A trait that shan’t be worn down

The will as solid as diamond

All is brought under the rule of Great Law

September 20, 2003


Dragon Springs Temple

 

A majestic ancient monastery, nestled in dense woods

At dawn mist lingers over the surface of its pond

Below white clouds stretch its towers and pavilions

True transcendents dwell in the new Tang monastery

September 30, 2003


Dafa Disciples

(in Song verse)

 

Dafa disciples

Have met with calamity in the heartland

The Way absent in both Heaven and Earth,

rotten demons run rampant

The enormous force of Fa-rectification

is right before the eyes

Fa rectifies the human world

 

Dafa disciples
Great is the task upon their shoulders

Saving all lives,

clarifying the truth

Clearing poison from people’s minds—

boundless is the Fa

Little distance is left on the journey to divinity

 

October 1, 2003


Constantly Turns the Falun

 

Dafa is all harmonizing,

Heaven and Earth stand rectified

The Lord of Fa, in his compassion,

created the colossal firmament

 

October 3, 2003


Grand Vow and Great Wish

 

Having gone through life’s vicissitudes,

the grand wish is fulfilled.

Months and years have passed,

in the span of but one thought.

October 7, 2003


Saving the Colossal Firmament

 

From antiquity ‘til now, never has it been so—

The future will see Heaven and Earth last forever

In the vast firmament, reaching to time immemorial

Who dares to descend once more

 

October 12, 2003


Inexorable Fate[7]

(in Yuan verse)

 

In the vast heartland—
Five thousand years of civilization
Endlessly churn stormy waves
A specter from the West having arrived
Harm it does to all lives
Destruction it wreaks upon ancient ways
People, quickly come to!
In the Divine Land,[8] Dafa has begun its spread

 

November 11, 2003


Danger

 

Daily the world’s morals decline,

people fanning the flames

Rotten demons lead the way,

people follow along

I worry for the world’s people

Yet people don’t worry for themselves

 

November 20, 2003


The Lotus

(in Yuan verse)

 

A myriad of pure lotuses,

planted by me

Having braved snow and harsh cold,

bloom together

With the sky clearing,

spring comes to fill the garden

Divine branches boast a floral assortment

Whose fragrance fills the air

and wafts beyond the heavens

 

December 1, 2003


Severing

(in Yuan verse)

 

Cultivation is not hard,

It’s attachments that are hard to part with.

When will you sever those many attachments?

All know the sea of hardship has no shore.

If your will is not firm,
The hurdles are like mountains.
How will you transcend this mortal life?

 

January 1, 2004


Fragrant Lotus

 

The pure lotus is born from the Fa

Compassion spreads its fragrant scent

Sprinkling the world with sweet dew

Blossoming lotuses fill Heaven’s courtyard

New Year’s Day, 2004


When the Fa Rectifies the Human World

 

Rotten demons will have been exterminated,

Dark minions, melted into pus and blood.

For the things human beings have done,

Deadly epidemics will inevitably be meted out.

 

January 1, 2004


Foolish

(in Yuan verse)

 

Insolent, unbridled, bumptious,

To the rafters they leapt.

Crows blotted out the sun.

The foolish, vicious lies,

All are now exposed.

Flames of envy consumed its heart,

disclosing its original appearance.

Into boiling oil leaps the toad.

 

January 8, 2004


Don’t Be Sad

 

Imprisoned as you are,

don’t be sorrowful or sad

Carry on with righteous thoughts and actions,

and the Fa is with you

Calmly reflect on the attachments you have

Remove your human thoughts

and evil will naturally die out

January 13, 2004


Waist-Drum Troupe

(in Yuan verse)

 

Waist-drum formations

Gods steeped in the Fa

Every sound of the Fa drums pipes Zhen Shan Ren

Purging evil in the Three Realms, saving the earth’s people

The majestic sight and righteous thoughts shake Heaven’s gate

Rotten demons have nowhere to flee

 

January 22, 2004


Hardship

 

Untold have been the hardships, some fifteen years

Little could anyone know the pains and worries of rectifying Fa

All is for naught if living creatures can’t be saved

I shan’t stop until it has covered realms vast and miniscule

 

January 22, 2004


The Master-Disciple Bond

Four years has the wild evil surged

A steady helm has assured the right course

The Disciples of Fa have gone through evil trials

And though great the pressure, their wills are unbowed

There is no affect between master and disciple

The Buddha’s grace remolds Heaven and Earth

When disciples have ample righteous thoughts

Master has the power to turn back the tide

February 1, 2004


Gods, Awaken

 

All beings, quickly come to!

Traps have been planted in the heartland

‘Tis for the Fa that all have come

Why are you not sensible?

February 17, 2004


Heaven’s Gate Opened

 

Vast and mighty is Buddha’s grace,

it brings salvation to all

To remake the cosmos,

did Dafa come

The grand wish: the cosmic body,

Heaven and Earth,

each secured and lasting

I rectify realms miniscule and vast,

and the Three Domains

When the world’s people awaken

righteous thoughts emerge

From this day forth is opened

the eternal gate of Heaven

February 28, 2004


What’s to Fear?

 

Should you have fear,

it will seize upon you

If thoughts are righteous,

evil will collapse

The cultivator’s mind

is loaded with Fa

Send righteous thoughts,

and rotten demons explode

Gods walk the earth,

validating the Fa

February 29, 2004


The Turning Wheel

A hundred years has the Red Dynasty been killing

Turning the cosmos upside down,

playing China like a game

Though today you see red flowers thrive

Don’t you know?

One day the lotuses will bloom

March 5, 2004


The Great Kalpa

 

The Fa sets right the vast firmament,

clearing out old dust

Heaven and earth, boundless and vast

are alive with spring

When the greatest force of all ages has passed

Look again at the new cosmos—

Buddhas, Daos, and Gods

March 8, 2004



[1] This is a literal rendering of a four-character Chinese idiom (fengyuntubian) that has the meaning, “a sudden and dramatic change in circumstances.” Note: this and all subsequent notes are the translator’s commentary, and not part of the original Chinese text.

[2] The Chinese term here for “boiling cauldron” (youguo) normally also has the meaning, “punishment for evil spirits in hell.”

[3] The four names appearing in the poem each refer to a specific online publication or Website, the Chinese names of which are Minghui, Xinsheng, Renminbao, and Zhengjian.

[4] This is a Buddhist term in Chinese that refers generally to “the secular world” and is sometimes rendered “this defiled realm” or “the mundane world.” It is translated literally here to preserve the connection, in the repetition of the character for “dust” found here, with the first line.

[5] A term referring to the family that ruled China during the Han Dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE); the term is often simply a reference to the Han Dynasty itself.

[6] A Sanskrit, and generally Buddhist, term that refers usually to the elements earth, water, fire, and wind.

[7] The two Chinese characters comprising this title, jie shu, could also be rendered “For a Number of Kalpas.”

[8] The term here, shenzhou, is a standard Chinese term referring to China.