散花偈 'Gatha of scattering the flowers'.
This is the extremely moving hymn called 'gatha of scattering the flowers'. Below is a translation of the hymn. The hymn uses flowers to describe the impermanence of human life. It is notable for the rather elaborate plant imagery deployed.
You can hear a recording of the hymn here https://www.facebook.com/reel/1226562852576199 and another (partial) recording here https://www.facebook.com/reel/779831134558145
I have translated it with the assistance of this very useful annotated version of the liturgy, by 陳耀庭 published by Ching Chung Taoist Association, Hong Kong. https://www.daoist.org/BookSearch(test)/Download_area/scripture_03_sanhua.pdf?fbclid=IwY2xjawMksZZleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFXQ2lCU0theVNzNHlJTG5yAR6591UdqDUwjMRfs51iS8J3jeTQyx0--Pv3Vvpq0FjqaxcqE3NTnxcb9F6oKQ_aem_2YizCGj3gIKHFb8Yrv9tqA
——— Translation ——— 散一朵。是水仙
I Scatter a flower—It’s the Daffodil (literally “water immortal”)
馥郁黃花獻靈前
Fragrant yellow blossoms are presented before the Souls
紙灰飛作白蚨蝶
Paper ashes fly to become white butterflies
血淚染成紅杜鵑
The blood-stains create the red cuckoo-flower*
(note: The red cuckoo flower is what the Chinese call the Rhododendron: it is a belief that cuckoos would not stop crying until they coughed up blood, and the blood stains the flowers red)
散一朵 狀元紅
I scatter a flower—It’s the “Scholar’s red” (a type of peony)
識得浮生總是空
Recognise that this floating life is all but emptiness
錢財寶貝如山積
Wealth and treasure you can heap like mountains
死後何曾在手中
But how can it remain in your hands after you are dead?
散一朵 金海棠
I Scatter a flower—it’s the Flowering Apple
百味珍饈列兩旁
The hundred flavors and precious delicacies are arrayed in rows
靈前羅列般般有
Before the spirits everything is in profusion,
那見亡人親口嘗
But how can the dead taste these for themselves?
散一朵(啊)風入松
I Scatter a bud—it’s the wind-beaten pine
悲聲吹入華堂中
Its sad whistling enters the flowery hall
只道壽年常汝賜
Just recall the years that you have been given,
今朝一去永無踪
You leave today, never to return
散一朵(啊)是綉球
I scatter a flower—It’s the Hydrangea
夕陽西下水東流
Under the western sun, the waters flow eastward.
金銀珠寶持不去
Gold, Silver, pearls, jewels you cannot carry there,
只得山頭土一坵
All you will get is a small hillock by the mountain (i.e. the gravemound)
散一朵(啊)是垂楊
I scatter a bud—It’s the weeping willow
陰魂渺渺在何方
Where, oh where can the Yin-souls be
鷓鴣林裏悲啼哭
The Chinese francolins cry sadly in the forest
不淒涼處也淒涼
Whatever place that’s not melancholy will become sad.
(note : The cry of a Chinese francolin is traditionally transcribed as 行不得也哥哥- “I have travelled so far but I can’t find brother”)
散一朵(啊)是雪梨
I scatter a flower—it’s the snow-pear
正是離愁嘆別離
How sad is parting—What sighs of parting! (The word for ‘pear’ and ‘depart’ are homophones)
愁人莫向梨花坐
A sad person should not face sitting pear-blossoms
看見梨花愁更悲
For when seeing them their sorrow will be increased.
散一朵(啊)是金錢
I scatter a flower—it’s a Gold coin (a type of daisy or Elecampane)
金錢難買命長延
How can gold and money buy longevity?
有錢買得人間壽
If money could be used to buy longevity
富貴之人萬萬年
The rich would live a myriad, myriad years.
散一朵(啊)是芙蓉
I Scatter a flower—it’s the color-changing hibiscus
此花非白又非紅
This flower is neither white, nor is it red.
法語聲聲齊讚詠
We sing the sacred sounds of the Law
資薦亡者上南宮
To bring the deceased up to the Southern Palace
散一朵(啊)菊花新
I scatter a flower—It’s the fresh chrysanthemum
愁眉不展對芳辰
A sad brow is hidden before the fragrant display.
蚨蝶紛紛花下過
The butterflies pass by the serried flowers
不見花前月下人
But they do not see her under the moon (this is an allusion to a lover’s meeting beneath moonlight)
散一朵。是紫荊。
I scatter a flower—it’s the Chinese redbud
人生好似水浮萍
Human life is like the floating duckweed
一陣狂風花來打散
A single gust of wind, the bough snaps
東南西北任飄零
North,south,east,west, the flowers float about