4. NHIÊN ĐĂNG CỔ PHẬT BỬU CÁO
Hỗn độn Tôn Sư,
Càn
khôn chủ tể.
Quy
thế giới ư nhứt khí chi trung,
Ốc
trần huờn ư song thủ chi nội.
Huệ
đăng bất diệt, chiếu tam thập lục thiên chi quang minh.
Ðạo
pháp trường lưu, khai cửu thập nhị tào chi mê muội.
Ðạo
cao vô cực,
Giáo
xiển hư linh.
Thổ
khí thành hồng, nhi nhứt trụ xanh thiên.
Hóa
kiếm thành xích, nhi tam phân thác địa.
Công
tham Thái Cực, phá Nhứt Khiếu chi huyền quan.
Tánh
hiệp vô vi, thống tam tài chi bí chỉ.
Ða
thi huệ trạch,
Vô
lượng độ nhơn.
Ðại
bi, đại nguyện, đại thánh, đại từ.
Tiên
Thiên Chánh Ðạo Nhiên Ðăng Cổ Phật Vô Vi Xiển Giáo Thiên Tôn.
(Ba lạy, mỗi lạy ba gật, mỗi gật một niệm.)
*
4. EULOGY TO DIPANKARA THE ANCIENT BUDDHA
The
Honoured Teacher amidst chaos,
The Lord of
heaven and earth,
Gathers the
universe in the primordial breath,
And holds it in
His hands.
His everlasting
wisdom lamp illuminates thirty-six heavens.
His unceasing
dharma enlightens ninety-two hundred thousand original humans.(1)
Dao is
boundlessly lofty.
Teaching expounds
Its utmost mystery.
Exhaled breath
turns into a rainbow, becoming a pillar to support the heavens.(2)
A sword is
transformed into a measuring ruler with three inches to back the earth.(3)
His merit joins
the Supreme Ultimate, disclosing the door to the Mysterious Pass.(4)
His nature
accords with wu-wei,(5) uniting profound hidden meanings of the three powers
(heaven, earth, and man).
He bestows
numerous favours,
Saving countless
humans.
Of great mercy,
great vows, great holiness, and great compassion,
Of the primordial
true Dao,
Dipankara the
Ancient Buddha is the Heavenly Revered One, who expounds the teaching in wuwei
manner.
NAMAH DIPANKARA THE ANCIENT BUDDHA, THE HEAVENLY REVERED ONE EXPOUNDING THE TEACHING IN WUWEI MANNER.
(Three kowtows, three nods with each kowtow, and one recitation with each nod.)
Translator’s Notes:
(1)
According to a Daoist Scripture in Chinese titled The Golden Basin of the Jade Dew, the
Buddha Mother sent ninety-six hundred thousand original humans to the human
world (the earth). After the First and the Second Universal Salvations, four
hundred thousand original humans returned to the Buddha Mother, and the rest
are expected to return during the Third Universal Salvation. (The term “original” indicates that the origin of those
"humans" is the heavens.)
(2) “Exhaled breath” implies exhalation during
inner self-cultivation practice. The “rainbow” symbolises the practitioner’s
curled tongue tip touching the front part of the roof of the mouth, while
the “pillar
to support the heavens” symbolises
the practitioner’s upright backbone.
(3) This metaphorical line
implies that, during inner self-cultivation practice, the practitioner’s
breath circulates through the Lower Field of Cinnabar existing below the navel
about “three inches”.
(4) The act of “disclosing the door to the Mysterious Pass” implies that the practitioner’s
breath circulates through the Mysterious Pass, whose location is shown
differently in various Daoist books.
(5) The term “wu-wei” in this sentence might be interpreted as “the
invisible world of Heavenly Powers”.
[Translated by Huệ Khải]
*
