與高適薛據登慈恩寺浮圖

Climbing the Pagoda of Mercy with Gao Shi and Xue Ju

The tower's force bursts forth, rising alone and tall to pierce the heavenly palaces.

Ascending, one leaves the world behind; the stone steps coil through empty space.

It looms abruptly, pressing down upon the land of gods, its rugged grandeur as though wrought by ghostly hands.

Its four corners obstruct the white sun; its seven stories brush against the azure vault of heaven.

Looking down, one points at the soaring birds; bending low, one hears the startled wind.

The linked mountains surge like waves and torrents, rushing onward as though hastening eastward at dawn.

Green locust trees flank the speeding roads; how exquisite and finely wrought the palaces and halls!

Autumn hues arrive from the west, filling the Guanzhong plain with a vast, somber green.

Upon the northern plain of the Five Tombs, through endless ages, an unbroken blur of blue-green haze.

The pure truth can be fully grasped; I have long held fast to the supreme cause.

I vow to hang up my cap and depart—the path of awakening yields boundless sustenance.