Looking up to the wisdom that old sage handed down,
And considering what comes easily to my nature,
I offered myself to this tranquil dwelling,
And now nurture lifework in the pursuit of non-doing.
Master Pan’s early awakening always humbled me,
And I was shamed by Master Shang’s old-age insight,
So with years and sickness both closing in upon me
I devoted myself to simplicity and returned to it all,
Left that workaday life for this wisdom of wandering,
For this wilderness of rivers-and-mountain clarity.