Awakening to Reality: Poem 6

 

All people on their own have
the Medicine of long life;
it is only for insanity and delusion
that they cast it away to no avail.

When the Sweet Dew descends,
Heaven and Earth join one another;
where the Yellow Sprout grows,
Kan and Li conjoin.

A frog in a well would say
that there are no dragon lairs,
and how could a quail on a fence know
that phoenix nests exist?

When the Elixir ripens, spontaneously
Gold fills the room:
what is the point of seeking herbs
and learning how to roast the reeds?

Source: Wuzhen pian (Awakening to Reality), poem 6.

 

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