Zhu, the author of Reading Random Thoughts? Southern Song Dynasty
Half an acre of square pond opened, and the sky was overcast.
Why is the water in the pond so clear? Because there is inexhaustible living water for it.
Interpretation of vernacular: A pond half an acre square is displayed like a mirror, in which the brilliance of the sky and the clouds move together.
Why is the water in that square pond so clear? It is because there is an inexhaustible source to continuously transport living water for it.
Creative background:
When, where and why this group of poems was written has always been puzzling, and scholars are not clear, and there are many differences. Some people think that this poem was written one year after joining forces with Goose Lake, that is, in the spring of Xichun in the Southern Song Dynasty (1 176). Zhu visited Sanqingshan as the tomb of Wuyuan Province, and had an epiphany when he rested in Sanqingshan Sanqing Palace.
Others infer that these two poems were written in the second year of the Southern Song Dynasty (1 166) according to Zhu's letter "Answering Xu Shunzhi" (volume 39 of the four-part Collection of Official Documents of Zhu), when Zhu lived in Chong 'an, northern Fujian.