Golden Apple

 

Yutang Lin

 

 

Someone has a golden apple
In order to sustain and continuously own it
All his life he is incessantly on guard, dealing with others
       Comparing and calculating, and fighting with others
Therefore, all his life he is very tired in both body and mind
And the consequences of his activities have
       More or less hurt or harmed others
Even after death his consciousness will still be entangled
       Without peace of mind
Although at death it dawns to him that
       Grasping is no longer possible
And yet bound by habitual tendencies
       He couldn't help feeling sad and be unwilling to yield

Everyone has a golden apple
And that is the "self" that each one is grasping onto
What a pity that those who can reflect and realize that
       Grasping the golden apple entails
       Abundance of problems and continuity of sorrows
Are too rare to be found in the world
Hence Buddha couldn't help trying to wake up everybody
To the reality that
       Such golden apple is indeed non-graspable
       And its grasping would hurt one and all others
Immediately let it go now

If it is not renounced in daily life
At death it will not be possible to be given up
Immediately and determinedly

Written in Chinese and translated on August 10, 2011
El Cerrito, California