Two Precious Scroll Narratives of Guanyin and Her ... - Khamkoo

The Precious Scroll of Incense Mountain, Part 1 83
have to pass through the hour of your death. Just give it a thought:
Where do you come from in birth? Where do you go in death? Do
you understand? As long as you do not understand my meaning,
you are officials in a dream. When people slander you, you’re filled
with anger; when people praise you, you’re filled with joy. You esteem
wealth and status like gold and jade, and you despise poverty
and a low-caste like mud and shit. When you see people displaying
virtue, you are filled with vexation, but when you see people committing
a crime, you’re filled with joy. So where is your conscience?
Your mouth may be fair, but your heart is not fair; your words
may be pure, but your deeds are not pure; you know your books,
but you do not know the rites. This is not the way of the princely
gentleman.’’
The meditation gate of great quiescence is unwilling to speak, 67
Once the sealed lips are opened, the Three Vehicles come out.
Namo Guanshiyin pusa
The princess addressed them in a bitterly biting manner:
‘‘You officials, please listen for a while to my reasons.
Not understanding transmigration through birth and death,
You blabber on in your dream, wasting precious time.
Today you do not know what tomorrow will bring,
You people all vie to have the upper hand, a vain effort!
Even though you have high status at the imperial court,
You never enjoy the mountain boy’s undisturbed sleep.’’
All the officials of the court were at loss what to answer,
Dumbstruck and dumbfounded they’d lost their mettle.
In vain they had used their finest words to advise her,
But despite all their earnest talk, she would not go back.
The court officials thereupon all took their leave,
And returned to court to report to the sagely ruler.
The princess in the end indeed set out on her journey,
And traveled farther and farther from the capital city.
All her relatives at the capital shed tears for her,
And her close relatives at court were deeply pained.
But the common people of street and ward praised her:
‘‘Rare is a princess with such a heart for the Way!’’
At night when near a mountain she’d rest at the mountain,