Looking up to the example

That old sage handed down,

And considering what comes

Easily to my own nature,

I offered myself to this

Tranquil repose of dwelling,

And now nurture my lifework

In the drift of idleness.

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. 

 - Hsieh Ling-yun