ABSTRACT
For his ninetieth birthday, Gao Bineng wrote and had printed for distribution the ‘Song of life’s vicissitudes (Rensheng Yuxi)’. 1 It is a poem of twenty-one six-character couplets, summing up his Buddhist wisdom. From its first lines the poem calls upon heavenly law (tianli) and karma (yeyin) which have determined his life in the flesh. Its main content mixes reciprocation for the love of parents with spiritual care of the soul by the daily reading of Buddhist scriptures. The last two lines aspire to the two triumphs of transcendence and regeneration 2 :
When I am a spirit (shen) I would want to complete Buddhahood and be a free soul (ziyou ling),
My returning soul (hui hun) on earth protecting my sons and grandsons.
