Lost in Translation

[footfootfoot]

Two versions of the original poem wherein Jinshu anonymously presents his understanding of the dharma:
1)
The body is the Bodhi tree;
The mind is like a bright mirror standing.
Take care to wipe it all the time,
And allow no dust to cling

2)
Our body is the bodhi tree
And our mind a mirror bright.
Carefully we wipe them hour by hour
And let no dust alight.

And six versions of Huineng's annihilating reply:
1)
There is no bodhi tree
Nor stand of a mirror bright.
Since all is void,
Where can the dust alight?
2)
Bodhi originally has no tree,
The mirror(-like mind) has no stand.
Buddha-nature (emptiness/oneness) is always clean and pure;
Where is there room for dust (to alight)?
3)
Fundamentally no bodhi-tree exists
Nor the frame of a mirror bright.
Since all is voidness from the beginning,
Where can the dust alight?
4)
Enlightenment is basically not a tree
And the clear mirror not a stand.
Fundamentally there is not a single thing --
Where can dust collect?
5)
Fundamentally bodhi is no tree
Nor is the clear mirror a stand.
Since everything is primordially empty,
What is there for dust to cling to?
6)
There never was a bodhi tree
Nor mirror standing bright
Fundamentally not one thing exists
Where can dust alight?

The final translation is by Gary Snyder who is not only a poet, but also a practitioner of Zen. I think his has the most grace and also expresses the dharma.