Helplessness

Having crossed through the enemy's hail of bullets,

Yet fallen beneath the bouquet of flowers from comrades;

Adversity brings sorrow, but prosperity confuses even more,

Only because of meager merit, never having experienced splendor.

Cultivation is like sailing a boat, merit like the water that bears it,

With shallow merit the boat cannot float, and the vessel often runs aground;

Self-conceit towers like mountains, self-view dense as forests,

Everywhere greed, hatred, delusion, and arrogance—this is called the Saha world.

With loving-kindness like the Buddha and compassion like the Bodhisattvas, yearning for sentient beings,

To sever the marks of self and others, and eliminate the views of self and others;

Alas, sentient beings have meager merit, deep obstructions, and shallow wisdom,

Guanyin's empty boat drifts and sighs, returning to the Land of Bliss.