Prayer for the fast at the middle prime中元齋詞
1A three-foot sword held in his hand, and the six-zhu robe not yet his
年月朔。啓請如科儀。伏以道本強名。固絶琢磨之理。身爲大患。深驚寵辱之機。能審自然而然。必知無可不可。是以。雕詞贊美則乖妙音於混成。矯志求眞則爽奇功於積學。冀標玉籍。在守金科。臣才謝半千。雖慙賢路。心凝正一。早扣玄關。齋誠於八節三元。鍊志於龍緘鳳蘊。但屬鯨翻逆浪。蜮噴毒沙。數年興蠹螫之災。萬姓抱瘡痍之苦。三尺劍高提在手。須救危時。六銖衣輕掛於身。未諧夙願。今謹因中元素節。大慶良辰。依寶壇而醮設常儀。企仙闕而拜申精懇。伏願眞風蕩滌。玄澤滂流。吾君享萬歲於巖音。賢相耀六符於渭訣。調舜絃之美化。永復昌期。漏湯網之兇徒。咸歸顯戮。然後戴髮含齒。鱗潛羽翔。不知日用之功。各遂天成之樂。俾臣代勳善繼。眞位高遷。留形於煙閣雲臺。縱賞於芝田蕙圃。鑄金追想。終榮聖主之恩。叱石閒遊。得效仙人之術。儻非過望。敢不精修。臣某無任祈恩謝過虔禱懇悃之至。謹辭。
Such a year, such a month, the first day. The opening petition is as the ritual code prescribes. I bow and consider that the Way is named only by force, and so it cuts off all reasoning of cutting and polishing, and that the body is the great trouble, so that one is deeply startled at the turn of favor and disgrace. If one can see what is so of itself, one surely knows that there is nothing that may not be. So to carve words in praise is to miss the wondrous sound in what was formed whole, and to force the will in seeking the true is to lose the rare merit of learning heaped up. To hope for a mark in the jade register lies in keeping the golden code. Your servant's talent falls short of Banqian, and he is ashamed on the road of the worthy, yet his mind is fixed on the True Unity, and early he knocked at the dark gate. He has fasted in sincerity at the eight seasons and the three primes, and he has tempered his will in the dragon's seal and the phoenix's store. But the whale rolls the waves back against their course, and the water lizard spits poisoned sand. For several years the calamity of the boring worm and the stinging insect has risen, and the myriad people hold the pain of their wounds. The three-foot sword is raised high in his hand, for he must save a time of peril. The six-zhu robe hangs light upon the body, but his old wish is not yet fulfilled. Now, reverently taking the plain season of the middle prime, the good day of great rejoicing, he leans on the jeweled altar and sets the regular rite of offering. He looks up to the immortals' gate and bows to set out his pure and earnest heart. I humbly wish that the true wind wash all clean, and that the dark favor flow in abundance. Let our lord enjoy ten thousand years in the cry from the cliffs, and let the worthy chief minister make the six tallies shine in the teaching from the Wei. Let the fair transformation of the strings of Shun be tuned, and let the flourishing age be restored forever. Let the wicked crowd that slipped through the net of Tang all come to open execution. After that, those who bear hair and hold teeth, those that sink with scales and soar with feathers, will not know the work that serves their daily use, and each will find the joy that heaven has made. Let your servant carry on well the merit of his line, and rise high to a true rank. Let his likeness remain in the Lingyan Pavilion and the Cloud Terrace, and let him take his fill of pleasure in fields of magic fungus and gardens of fragrant herbs. Let gold be cast in remembrance, and let the kindness of the sage lord be honored to the end. Let him scold the stones and roam at leisure, and come to follow the arts of the immortals. If this is not too much to hope for, how should he dare not to cultivate himself with care? Your servant so-and-so cannot bear the fullness of his prayer for kindness, his apology for fault, his reverent petition and his earnest heart. This he submits with respect.