在云浮市新兴县的龙山寺，人们对佛教“禅宗六祖”惠能大师会肃然起敬。
然而，不少“禅宗六祖”的英译并不准确。佛教“禅宗六祖惠能”的英译应是：
Master Huineng, the Sixth Patriarch of Buddhist Zen Sect 或
Master Huineng, the Sixth Patriarch of Zen Buddhism
游客会看到或听到，惠能大师当时的竞争对手神秀为继承五祖的衣钵，写
下偈语诗一首：“身是菩提树，心如明镜台，时时勤拂拭，莫使惹尘埃。” 词典上的“菩提树”为pipal; bo tree或bodhi tree而佛教界称其为“佛树”或“圣树”，故口译时要当场见效，就得以“使人意会的意似效果”译为“Buddhist tree”了。神秀的偈语我用abba抱韵译成（括号内数字分别表示：易读指数/难度系数）：
Let your body be a Buddhist tree,
Let your mind be like a bright mirror,
And often clean them all over,
Then free from dust they will be.
(tr. WWX;100/0)
或
Let your body be a Buddhist tree,
And your mind a bright mirror,
And often clean them all over,
Then free from dust they will be.
(tr. WWX;100/0)
神秀的偈语诗并未得到五祖的认可。倒是当时还是名不经传的惠能的偈语诗使他接了五祖的衣钵，成为六祖。惠能和尚的偈语诗是：“菩提本无树，明镜亦非台，本来无一物，何处惹尘埃？”我用abab交韵的译文也有“现场效果”：
There is no Buddhist tree at all,
And there is bright mirror nor.
Now there is nothing at all,
How could be dust any more?
(tr. WWX;100/0.5)
香港佛教协会的Charles Luk(CL)君在一本佛教常识书上也译了惠能的偈语诗。书上有菩提树的背景，所以他就译之为Bodhi tree。全诗以无韵形式译为：
In essence, Bodhi has no tree,
And the bright mirror does not exist,
In essence, there is not a thing,
On what then can dust be found?
(Tr.CL;100/0)
神秀偈语诗严的译文是：
Our body be a Bodhi tree,
Our mind a mirror bright,
Clean and polish frequently,
Let no dust alight.
(tr.YSD;97/0.7)
惠能偈语诗严译如下：
There is no Bodhi tree,
Nor stand of a mirror bright,
Since all is void,
Where can the dust alight?
(tr.YSD;100/0.5)
再后来，2004年2月云浮新兴六祖文化节期间，旅加华侨严坚先生又给我提供了美国Philip Yampolsky 所著“ Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch”（New York: Columbia University Press, 1967, P.1300）的译文。
神秀偈语P. Yampolsky 的译文是:
The body is tree of Awakening,
The Mind is like a clear mirror,
At all times we must strive to polish it,
And must not let the dust collect.
( tr.PY;100/0.6)
惠能偈语P. Yampolsky译如下：
Awakening originally has no tree,
The mirror also has no stand,
The Buddha nature is always clean and pure.
Where is the room for dust?
(tr.PY100/0)
根据惠能大师“四大皆空”的思想和“本来无一物”的原意，“菩提树”和“明镜台”是“本来”就“无”的，而“明镜台”实际上就是“明镜”， 不必译成“明镜的台”。Philip Yampolsky的一文“Awakening originally has no tree, / the mirror also has no stand”不准确。原意应该是There is no Awakening tree, /Neither there is any mirror.
偈，是佛经中的唱词。偈语，是常为僧俗朗诵的偈诵的精华。而惠能和神秀的偈语诗，是示法偈，是对僧徒觉悟程度的检量尺度而由僧徒作出的应验佛偈语，应该是朗朗上口，押韵顺口的。惠能和神秀的偈语诗，都押“台”、“埃”韵。所以，译文在忠实于原文的基础上，也应该是韵文。由此可见，上述四种译文中，WWX和YSD译文均得原偈的神韵。
