1
Jiao Ran’s life is no longer known. Where he came from and where he went are all just like a floating cloud. I only know that his family name is Xie, and he is called Qingzhou. He is the tenth generation grandson of Xie Lingyun, a master of landscape painting. I don't know when he was young, but we only know that he converted to Buddhism and became the abbot of Miaoshan Temple. He was known as the "Famous Monk of Jiangdong" and was as famous as Guan Xiuheqi. People often say that Jiaoran "is really not a distant descendant of Xie from the south of the Yangtze River", which shows the depth of his poetry.
Jiao Ran had good friendships with Lu Yu, Yan Zhenqing, Wei Yingwu, Gu Kuang, Li Jilan, etc. Most of them were people with a calm poetic style. Nowadays, most people define Yan Zhenqing as a calligrapher, but they don't know that he is also a talented poet, such as the catchy "Encouragement to Study": The lights are shining at three o'clock and five o'clock, which is when men are studying. Black-haired people don't know how to study diligently early, and white-haired people regret studying late.
Lu Yu is a tea fairy, so there is no need to talk about his demeanor. Wei Yingwu is a master of landscape and pastoral poetry, and he loves his line "The heart of the Tao is indifferent to the flowing water, and the door is closed when trouble comes". Gu Kuang's poetry style is fresh and natural, and he loves "the sound of people crossing the spring in Banqiao, and the crow of cocks on the eaves at noon. Don't hate the dark smoke of baked tea, but like the sunshine in the valley and the clear sky." Li Jilan was innocent and romantic by nature, and her poems had a good style. She loved her "The sea water of humanity is deep, not even half as long as lovesickness. The sea water still has an end, but lovesickness is boundless." Mentioning this is nothing more than saying that Jiao Ran is very talented in poetry and everyone who comes and goes is handsome.
Jiaoran does not have the ups and downs of officialdom, nor does it have soul-stirring romantic anecdotes. It sounds plain and simple. There is no need for strong words, and the harsh feelings only need to be kept in a pot of sun and moon, and slowly spoken to the autumn clouds and spring water.
2
Jiaoran’s best friend should be Lu Yu. Most of his poems contain sentences about mutual reciprocity, and Lu Yu accounts for many of them. There is a poem "Looking for Lu Hongjian but not meeting him", which is clear and distant, and reads like Jia Dao:
That day, Jiaoran suddenly became interested, and went to look for Lu Yu to cook rain and tea with dew on his shoes. The green peaks on both sides of the bank face each other, and the path full of wild flowers leads to the fields of mulberry and hemp. The chrysanthemums on the fence have not yet bloomed, but the branches and leaves are green. He went to knock on the door with a sigh of relief. There was a faint echo but no response. The woodcutter next door said: This idiot who collects dew and makes tea will not come back until dusk with Yanlan on his arm.
I wonder if Jiaoran would be disappointed at that time? Definitely not. Just like Ziyou, he thought about Dai Andao on a snowy night, so he took a small boat to meet him. But when he arrived, he didn't knock on the door and returned immediately. When people saw doubts at that time, he only said: "I was traveling in a hurry, but when I came back after my excitement was over, why did I need to see Dai?" Perhaps Jiao Ran had the same thought when he went out to look for Lu Yu. Whether he saw or not saw him was in his heart. Get in the way.
The friendship between Jiao Ran and Lu Yu began with tea and is deeper than tea. At that time, many people who practiced Buddhism and Taoism could not do without tea. The great road is as simple as it is simple. It grows day by day because of learning, but it loses day by day because of the Tao. As for tea, there is no need to pay attention to the process one by one. It only follows the heart. Snow foam, milk flowers, crab eyes, and the dusty mind fade away little by little. This is the basis of Taoism.
There is a poem by Jiao Ran called "Drinking Tea Song to Praise Cui Shi Shijun", which says: "As soon as you drink it, you will feel sleepy, and your love will be bright and refreshing all over the world. Drink it again to clear your mind, and suddenly it will be like rain." Sprinkle light dust and you will attain enlightenment in three drinks, so why bother to work hard to get rid of worries." The first cup dispelled the ignorance. The second cup calmed my mind. The third cup gave birth to Bodhi.
Jiao Ran’s love for tea is no less than Lu Yu’s. His accomplishments in tea were the opportunity for Lu Yu to compile the "Tea Classic". The so-called Zen tea is the same, the two complement each other, just like two grasses with the same mind. You can glimpse the meaning of Zen in tea, and realize the taste of tea in Zen. Over time, you don’t have to drink it, and you will have the pure land of glass in your heart. The sun shines in the morning and the sun sets in the evening, and the weather is endless.
In Jiao Ran’s heart, drinking tea is a way to cultivate the mind. Drinking too much tea is a way of being arrogant and ignorant, and does not understand the true taste of the world. He once said, "No one in the world knows about the purity of this thing. People in the world often deceive themselves when drinking." The strong and spicy taste is a taboo for Xu Jing. The nature of alcohol is reversed, so don't be contaminated. As soon as this was said, Taibai disagreed. He was a master of wine, and he wrote such poems praising wine in a eloquent manner, such as "When you are about to drink wine, don't stop drinking it. Let me sing a song with you. Please listen to me." "Name", even Du Fu also wrote a poem "The emperor couldn't get on the ship when he called him, so he claimed that he was a wine-drinking immortal".
How to say it? They are all immortal-like characters and cannot be criticized. But to borrow a quote from my predecessors: Tea is hidden, wine is the hero.
3
After bringing up the tea, I picked out a favorite poem:
Spring is like a stream, flowing freely after the rain. It was a sentence that I couldn't put down, and I couldn't take my eyes away as soon as I read it, so I found Jiao Ran's poetry collection to read. In spring, everything turns green little by little, from tree branches to shrubs, flowers and leaves to fields, extending along the earth's veins.
The stream, with the utmost softness in the world, penetrates all things without straining its shape or damaging its nature. Just like the spring birth, it has completely changed the appearance of large pieces of nature with its non-existent entry. The nature of spring is natural, the nature of water is natural, and the nature of the road is natural.
Jiao Ran once had a theory of "Four Don's" when he wrote poems: "Be high-spirited but not angry, and anger will be lost in romance; strong energy but not exposed, exposed will be hurt by the sword and ax; passionate but not dark , Darkness is due to clumsiness and dullness; talent is supported but not sparse, and sparseness is harmful to the muscles and veins. "Therefore, the clarity of Jiaoran's poetry is not damaged by the mist, and the dust is not damaged by the turbidity. There is no other word, it is just right.
Jiaoran went to the mountains and wrote "The lost mountains were suddenly covered with fallen flowers, and when crossing the water, the birds flew away"; while walking halfway, when his mind was full of ambition, he wrote "The ground was covered with light clouds. "The wind blows around the pine every time."; I was getting tired, and when I took a short nap, I wrote "Singing for a long time under the pine, and the sun was leisurely with the solitary clouds"; when I returned from the excitement, when I was drunk with a stick and quinoa, I wrote "It's first warm after leaving the mountain on Qingming Road, walking Go to Chunwu and watch Ming Ming return."
He is a monk who integrates landscape poetry into his bones and blood, leaving no trace and intoxicating all living beings. The writings depict sentient beings, ruthless people, not interfering with each other, and a perfect match. The poem is nothing more than a metaphor for emotions and aspirations, and the hidden part in it, if the reader understands it, it is fate. With Jiaoran, I was very happy to have so little, enough to sit down and drink a cup of tea, and then go home.
There are mountains in the distance, imagining a pot of tea and a piano. I undressed the clothes, burned the dry leaves, and cooked fresh fermented grains with him. Occasionally, one or two idle clouds come, say three or four simple words, chew five or six pine nuts, and play seven or eight strings of clear music. When the sun sets and all the birds return to the forest, the day is wasted.