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【取經頌】 Hymn on fetching the Sutras

【取經頌】 Hymn on fetching the sutras

晉宋齊梁唐代間,高僧求法離長安,
During the Jin, Song, Qi, Liang and Tang dynasties,
High monks left Chang'an to seek the Dharma.
去人千百歸無十,後者安知前者難;
Hundreds and thousands left; barely ten returned.
Those who came after them should know of their predecessor's hardships.
路遠碧天惟冷結,沙河遮日力疲殫,
The road was far; under the azure sky they endured freezing cold,
The rivers of sand blocked the sun, their strength at an end.
後賢如未諳斯旨,往往將經容易看。
If this was not pointed out to sages of latter days,
They will take the sutras lightly.

The poem above comes from a liturgy manual called 佛說萬佛名經 the Sutra on the names of 10,000 buddhas spoken by the Buddha.https://archive.org/details/wanfomingjing/page/n3/mode/2up As its name implies, the scripture is comprised almost entirely of the names of 10,000 buddhas.

An almost identical verse (differing only by insignificant changes in wording) is found in the 金剛經科儀寶卷 ritual manual of the Diamond Sutra, where it is called 唐義淨三藏法師題取經詩 "Poem by Tripitaka Master Yijing of the Tang on fetching the scriptures https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/zh/X1494