文昌帝君阴骘文英译.doc

《文昌帝君阴骘文》英译

The Tractate on the Unseen Judgment, by The Great Emperor of Literary Thriving

Translated into English by Teitaro Suzuki and Paul Carus, 1906
(Revised edition)

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The Lord says:

For seventeen generations I have been incarnated as a high officer, and I have never oppressed my people nor maltreated my subordinates. I have helped them in misfortune; I have rescued them from poverty; I have taken compassion on their orphans; I have forgiven their transgressions; I have extensively practised unheeded virtue (yin chih) which is attuned to heaven above. If you are able to keep your hearts as I have kept mine, Heaven will surely bestow upon you blessings. Therefore, these are the instructions I declare unto mankind:

(Several stories are omitted here)

He who wants to expand the field of happiness, let him lay the foundation of it on the bottom of his heart.

Practise benevolence wherever you find an opportunity, and let your deeds of merit be unheeded (yin).

Benefit all creatures; benefit the people.

Practise goodness: acquire merit.

Be honest like Heaven in conducting your affairs.

Compassionate and auspicious, the state government must be devoted to the salvation of the people.

Let your heart be impartial and wide of range.

Be faithful and reverential to the ruler. Be filial and obedient to parents. Be congenial and friendly to brothers. Be sincere in your intercourse with friends.

(Some instructions are omitted here)

Let some worship the Truthful One, and revere the Northern Constellation, while others bow before the Buddha and recite sutras.

Fulfil the four obligations; impartially observe the three doctrines.

By discoursing on morality and righteousness, convert both the cunning and the dull. By preaching on the canonical books and histories, enlighten the ignorant and the benighted.

Relieve people in distress as speedily as you must release a fish from a dry rill [lest he die]. Deliver people from danger as quickly as you must free a sparrow from a tight noose.

Be compassionate to orphans and relieve widows. Respect the old and help the poor.

Promote the good and recommend the wise. Be lenient with others and exacting with yourself.

Save your clothing and provisions that ye may befriend the hungry and cold on the road.

Give away coffins and cases lest the dead of the poor be exposed.

Build charitable graveyards for unclaimed corpses.

Establish philanthropic institutions for the education of children.

If your own family is well provided, extend a helping hand to your relatives. If the harvest fails, provide for and relieve your neighbors and friends.

Let measures and scales be accurate; and be neither chary in selling nor exacting in buying.

Treat your servants with generosity and consideration. Do not expect perfection nor be too strict in your demands.

Publish sacred scriptures and tractates. Build and repair temples and shrines.

Distribute medicine to alleviate the suffering of the sick. With tea or water relieve the distress of the thirsty.

Light lanterns in the night to illuminate where people walk. Keep boats on rivers to ferry people across.

Buy captive animals and give them freedom.

How commendable is abstinence that dispenses with the butcher!

While walking be mindful of worms and ants.

Be cautious with fire and do not set mountain woods or forests ablaze.

Do not go into the mountain to catch birds in nets, nor to the water to poison fishes and shrimps.

Do not butcher the ox that plows thy field.

Do not throw away paper that is written on.

Do not scheme for others' property.

Do not envy others' accomplishments.

Do not approach thy neighbor's wife or maids.

Do not stir thy neighbors to litigation.

Do not injure thy neighbor's reputation or interest.

Do not meddle with thy neighbor's conjugal affairs.

Set not, for personal malice, brothers at variance with one another.

Set not father and son at variance for trifles.

Never take advantage of your power, nor disgrace the good and law-abiding.

Never ride roughshod over the needy and suffering although you are rich.

While attending to your duty, be humble and modest.

Live in concord with your relatives and clansmen.

Let go hatred and forgive malice.

Those that are good, seek ye for friends; that will help you to practise virtue with body and soul. Those that are wicked, keep at a distance; it will prevent evil from approaching you.

Pass in silence over things wicked, but promulgate all that is good.

Do not assert with your mouth what your heart denies.

Always have in mind helpful sayings.

Do not use improper language.

Cut the brambles and thorns that obstruct the highway. Remove bricks and stones that lie in the path.

Repair the defiles though for many hundred years they have remained unimproved.

Build bridges to be traversed by thousands and ten thousands of people.

Expound moral maxims to correct the people's faults.

Supply the means to give instruction to people of talent.

Let your work conform to Heaven's reason, and let your speech express humaneness.

Keep the ancient sages before your eyes even when at supper or while looking over the fence.

Be mindful when you are alone in the shadow of your coverlet.

Anything evil refrain ye from doing; all good deeds do! So will you be released forever from the influence of evil stars, and always be encompassed by good guardian gods.

Rewards may be immediate, and you will receive them in person, or rewards may be remote, and will devolve upon your posterity.

Blessings come a hundredfold in loads as if drawn by horses; good fortune is piled up a thousandfold like a mass of clouds.

Do not all these things accrue to the heart of the quiet way?

文昌帝君阴骘文

　　帝君曰：「吾一十七世为士大夫身，未尝虐民酷吏；救人之难，济人之急，悯人之狐，容人之过。广行阴骘，上格苍穹。人能如我存心，天必锡汝以福。」

于是训于人曰：「昔于公治狱，大兴驷马之门：窦氏济人，高折五枝之桂。救蚁，中状元之选；埋蛇，享宰相之荣。欲广福田，须凭心地。行时时之方便，作种种之阴功。利物利人，修善修福。正直代天行化，慈祥为国救民。存平等心，扩宽大量。忠主孝亲，敬兄信友。各睦夫妇，教训子孙。毋慢师长，毋侮圣言。或奉真朝斗，或拜佛念经。报答四恩，广行三教。谈道义而化奸顽，讲经史而晓愚昧。济急如济涸辙之鱼，救危如救密罗之雀。矜狐恤寡，敬老怜贫，举善荐贤，饶人责己。措衣食，周道路之饥寒；施棺椁，免尸骸之暴露。造漏泽之仁园，兴启蒙之义塾。家富，提携亲戚；岁饥，赈济邻朋。斗秤须要公平，不可轻出重入；奴仆待之宽恕，岂宜备责苛求。印造经文，创修寺院。舍药材以拯疾苦；施茶水以解渴烦；点夜灯以照人行；造河船以济人渡。或买物而放生，或持斋而戒杀。举步常看虫蚁，禁火莫烧山林。勿登山而网禽鸟，勿临水而毒鱼虾。勿宰耕牛，勿弃字纸。勿谋人之财产；勿妒人之技能；勿淫人之妻女；勿唆人之争讼；勿坏人之名利；勿破人之婚姻。勿因私雠，使人兄弟不和；勿因小利，使人父子不睦。勿倚权势而辱善良，勿恃富豪而欺穷困。依本分而致谦恭，守规矩而遵法度。谐和宗族，解释冤怨。善人则亲近之，助德行于身心；恶人则远避之，杜灾殃于眉睫。常须隐恶扬善，不可口是心非。恒记有益之语，罔谈非礼之言。剪碍道之荆榛，除当途之瓦石。修数百年崎岖之路，造千万人来往之桥。垂训以格人非，捐资以成人美。作事须循天理，出言要顺人心。见先哲于羹墙，慎独知于衾影。诸恶莫作，众善奉行。永无恶曜加临，常有吉神拥护。近报则在自己，远报则在儿孙。百福骈臻，千祥云集，岂不从阴骘中得来者哉？」