by Liu Zongyuan (773-819)
We gather at the Jetavana
Sunset Pavilion,
immerse ourselves
in drinking meditation.
The mist gives way to darkness.
Water laps against the steps.
The blossom-laden trellis glows
in the moonlight.
Never let your exhaustion show
to Venerable Inebriation.
One glance and it’s clear
which heads have yet
to turn white.
__________
This translation is dedicated to all the bloggers gathering at the Cambridge Zen Center and elsewhere in the Boston area this weekend: Beth, Pica, qB, Lorianne, Leslee and Abdul-Walid.
Jetavana – One of the first Buddhist monasteries, a converted pleasure-garden. The poet probably knows it from the opening of the Diamond Sutra, a very popular text in Tang Dynasty China: “Once, the Buddha sojourned in the Jetavana Park with an assembly of twelve hundred and fifty bhiksus…”
immerse ourselves in drinking meditation – literally, “together pour samadhi beer (rice wine)”