Foyan on gongfu功夫

When you have come to me, and you are handily turned toward wherever your gaze has settled, then your efforts [gongfu功夫] have not yet conformed to where it is flavourless—reside here, ten years, five years, and with the capacity to produce efforts that are refined, you are surely going to acquire an understanding.

This is how I ordinarily teach people to do gongfu.

My talk matches every word given you by our predecessors—not a word missing. Any of you who have been able to understand, have now realized this affair of our predecessors as well. Yet, you must not say, "This is the way the predecessors have spoken, so this is the way I am able to understand," because then it is no longer the same.

你方來我者裏。肯就己覷在也。則功夫未成。沒滋味在。你在者裏。十年五歲做得功夫熟也。管取悟得去。我也尋常教人做功夫。說底話皆與他古人合。不差一字。你但會得了。便知古人事也。你莫道。古人恁麼道。我恁麼會得。不是了也。(CBETA.X68n1315_031.0204b07)

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This is likely my last translation for my little project. Tomorrow I'll drop another of Foyan's poems, and then work on my art project a bit, before returning to Rujing.

Submitted July 30, 2022 at 04:16AM by surupamaerl2 https://ift.tt/xpoI6kn