What has the Buddha from the West achieved?
The world bustles, all vie to rush and strive.
Towers scrape the stars, pavilions touch the Milky Way;
Who halts this contest of boast and display?
Later, Monk Sengjia emerged on Huai and Si,
His influence over all Buddhas grander still.
Yue merchants, foreign traders escape their crimes,
Jade fills their boats, no counting of the cost.
Clear Huai, waveless, smooth as a mat;
Pillars tilt, propping half a sky of crimson.
Fire burned, water turned, swept the ground bare;
Suddenly a structure rose three hundred feet.
Its shadow sinks in pools, dragons flee in fright;
At noon, cloudless, it spans the empty blue.
May I ask, who was the mastermind behind this?
The Daoist Cheng Guan, a name renowned.
I once served in the army at Daliang,
My house full of worthy and heroic guests.
All said Cheng Guan, though a monk,
Had talent for public service unmatched today.
Later, a summons came from Xuzhou prefecture;
How could one recall the stream of passing guests?
People say Cheng Guan is a poet;
The whole gathering vied to chant his fresh verses.
Facing the wind, I long sigh, unseen;
I wish to gather him in, to crown him with a cap.
Luoyang's bleak autumn, weary of lonely poverty;
Tap-tap at the door, like a woodpecker's knock.
A monk comes visiting, I call him forward;
A rhinoceros horn in his brain, high cheekbones.
Alas, he's old, beyond my reach;
Sitting, I gaze at his divine bone, shedding vain tears.
The new governor of Linhuai just arrived at his post,
Sent a distant townsman to convey regards.
A love for the rare, appreciation of the gifted, truly rare;
Go, go, and convey my thoughts of leisurely longing.