2月23日
五十生日感言
太虛 ( 1889~1947 )
我生不辰罹百憂，哀憤所激多愆尤，
捨家已久親族絕，所難忘者恩未酬。
每逢母難思我母，我母之母德罕儔！
出家入僧緣更廣，師友徒屬麻竹稠。
經歷教難圖救濟，欲整僧制途何修？
況今國土遭殘破，戮辱民胞血淚流！
舉世魔焰互煎迫，紛紛災禍增煩愁。
曾宣佛法走全國，亦曾行化環地球。
國難世難紛交錯，率諸佛子佛國遊。
佛子心力俱勇銳，能輕富貴如雲浮。
恂恂儒雅譚居士，中印文化融合謀。
遇我生日祝我壽，我壽如海騰一漚。
願令一漚攖眾苦，宗親國族咸遂求！
世人亦皆止爭殺，慈眼相向兇器丟！
漚滅海淨普安樂，佛光常照寰宇周。
──選自《太虛大師全書》
February 23th
Thoughts on My Fiftieth Birthday
Taixu (1889 - 1947)
English translation: John Balcom
I was not born at the right time, and have
one hundred worries;
This sadness and frustration has lead to many mistakes.
I left home long ago, and cut all ties with my family,
What is hard to forget? Kindnesses unrepaid.
Every birthday reminds me of my mother,
My maternal grandmother possessed rare virtue.
Having left home and entered the Sangha,
my karmic connections broadened;
Teachers, friends, and followers are
as thick as bamboo.
Witnessing the decline of Buddhism that
I tried to save,
Desiring to reform the monastic order, I wondered,
how best to proceed.
Today the nation is devastated.
The people are violated and insulted; blood and tears flow.
The world is oppressed by the flames of evil,
Afflicted with disasters, one upon another.
Propagating the Dharma, I walked the whole nation,
Traveling and teaching around the world;
The nation and the world are in dire straits.
I lead Buddhists to tour the Buddha's country.
All the Buddha's sons are powerful in mind
and courageous,
Looking askance at wealth as if it were floating clouds.
Honest and refined, Upasaka Tan
Who brings together the cultures of India and China,
Wishes me long life on this, my birthday.
My life is but a bubble on the sea;
I wish that one bubble could lift a myriad of sufferings,
That the wishes of the people and
the nation be fulfilled.
That the people of the world would stop fighting
and killing,
Look at one another with compassion
and throw down their weapons;
That this bubble bursts on a calm sea,
universally blissful and safe,
The Buddha's light shining throughout the universe.
── from Taixu Dashi Quanshu (The Complete Works of Master Taixu)
