Bamboo and Stone
Stay firm on the green hills and never relax,
The roots are still in the broken rocks.
Thousands of blows have made me strong,
No matter the wind blows from east to west, from north to south.
Translation
The bamboo grasps the green mountain and does not relax at all. Its roots are firmly rooted in the rock crevices.
After thousands of tortures and blows, it is still so strong,
No matter it is the southeast wind in the scorching summer or the northwest wind in the severe winter,
It can withstand it and will remain strong and strong.
Thousands of hammers and thousands of hammers carved out the deep mountains,
The fire burned like nothing.
Don’t be afraid of being shattered into pieces,
You must remain innocent in the world.
Translation
(Stone) can only be mined from the mountain after repeated impacts.
It regards burning as a common thing.
It is not afraid even if it is broken into pieces.
It is willing to leave its innocence in the world.
Notes
(1) Lime chant: Praise for lime. Yin: chant. Refers to a name for the ancient song genre (a form of ancient poetry).
(2) Thousands of hammers and thousands of chisels: Countless hammers and excavations, describing the difficulty of mining lime. Thousands and ten thousand: refers to the number of impacts, not actually 11,000. Hammer, hammer. Chisel, dig.
(3) If it is easy: it seems to be a common thing. If: as if, as if; leisurely: ordinary, relaxed.
(4) Innocence: refers to the pure white nature of lime, and also metaphors noble moral integrity. Human world: human world.
(5) Hun: Not at all, all.