Out of those woods, warns the sage, springs danger.
Yet who is like the Buddha?  Some may fell a tree
but how few clear the brush and raze the forest of desire?

The child hugs her pet, the farmer fences in his plot,
his wife cherishes her favorite wok, and the Son of
Heaven himself jealously safeguards his mandate.

What is it to own?  Only selfishness and ruinous
attachment?  All should aspire to be like the Buddha
yet isn’t it as human to want to have as to want to be?

The law is often harsh, but gentler far than lawlessness.
As virtue sometimes means committing the lesser offense,
so justice may lie in choosing the slighter injustice.

In Huaiyang, I twice intervened in disputes that weren’t mine.
Have I done as the Buddha prescribes and, like a bee, fled
with the nectar without harming the scent of the flowers?