Helplessness

Having braved the enemy's hail of bullets,

Yet fallen beneath the floral tributes of comrades;

Adversity is hard, but prosperity more beguiling,

For blessings were too meager to know true splendor.

Practice is like sailing, blessings like water bearing the boat—

Scant blessings cannot bear the vessel, often leaving it stranded;

Arrogance towers like mountains, self-view thick as forests,

While greed, hatred, and delusion blanket this Saha world.

Compassionate as the Buddha, merciful as the Bodhisattva, they yearn for all beings

To sever the notion of self and other, to dissolve dualistic views;

Alas, sentient beings possess sparse blessings, deep obstructions, and shallow wisdom—

Guanyin sails her empty boat, sighing as she returns to the Pure Land.