Liu Zong was demoted to Yongzhou in the early Yuan Dynasty and lived in Longxing Temple. He once interacted with monks and discussed Buddhism. The former site of Longxing Temple is on the east bank of Xiaoshui River, inside the Taiping Gate in the south of Zhishan City, Yongzhou. At that time, there was a monk named Chong Xun in the temple, that is, Xun Gong, who was Zhan Ran's second disciple and had a close relationship with Liu. Therefore, Liu wrote "Poems written by the Sunda people as rewards for the new tea they picked among the bamboos", "Preface to sending the Sunda people to the summons of Uncle Zhongcheng", and "Notes on the Xixuan of Longxing Temple in Yongzhou" as gifts to the Sunda people. The poem "Five Odes of Xun Gongyuan" was written in 806 AD (the first year of Yuanhe). It writes about things and scenery related to Longxing Temple. The first three poems are based on discussions and directly talk about Buddhist principles, while the last two poems are good at describing scenes and contain Zen principles.
Liu Zongyuan recorded in "Records of the Pure Land Temple Repaired by Longxing Temple in Yongzhou": In Longxing Temple, there was a Pure Land Hall set up by the former governor Li Cheng_ and the monk Falin, and they often performed rituals here. By this time, it had been more than twenty years, and the buildings of the Pure Land Hall were damaged and the Buddha statues cracked and collapsed. The Sunda people lived here and began to organize and restore it. The governor Feng Xu donated money to build the gate, and Liu Zongyuan helped repair the cloister to give it a new look. Master Sunda is an eminent monk who has reached the highest level of cultivation and understands the deepest teachings. The first poem in the group of poems is titled "Pure Land Hall". It describes the decoration of the Buddhist hall after the reconstruction of the Pure Land Hall and the poet's participation in Buddhist services. It expresses the poet's mentality of worshiping Buddhism. The first four sentences are the first level: "We have formed habits since the beginning, and have fallen into the source of poverty and suffering. The manifold has reached this life, and we have begun to realize the three emptiness doors." Start with a discussion, go directly to the topic, and understand the three kinds of liberation from the cycle of suffering in life. The emptiness gate is the Buddhist path of "I am emptiness, the Dharma is emptiness, and emptiness is emptiness". The second to eighth sentences are the second level: "The Huatang opens up the pure realm, and the images are radiant and complex. The incense is burned in the cold, and the subtle Dharma words are sung." Delicately depicts the scene of doing Buddhist services in the Pure Land Hall: the pure land in the Huatang is clear The Buddha statues, the burning sandalwood, and the chanting of Buddhist scriptures are all vivid in my eyes and the sounds are in my ears. At the end of the two sentences, "Ji Shou_Teacher, thank you for being faint in the world from afar." The poet kowtows to thank the mage who sings sutras, and confesses to him from a distance that he has been dim in the world of mortals. He wants to abandon all the troubles of human desires and yearn for the door of Nirvana where there is no birth or death. The poet also believes in the Western Pure Land - the Paradise, which shows that he was influenced by Buddhism to the point of obsession.
The second song "Qu Lecture Hall" has roughly the same structure and form as the previous song. "Nirvana is not an end, and words can be separated! What is the purpose of setting up a Qu hall? Gao Shi is here." Starting from the necessity of setting up a Qu lecture hall, the scriptures need to be explained, and a forum needs to be set up for Gao Shi to lecture on the scriptures. Then, Qu The establishment of the lecture hall is a matter of course. "The Holy Silence sends words and declarations, and distinction is ignorance. Is there emptiness in interest, names and holidays?" He further pointed out that "Silence's witty words also rely on verbal preaching, and it is ignorant to separate silence and preaching." He also believes that in China Tao, emptiness, and false names are essentially the same thing. There is no need to distinguish the difference between names and forms. The last two sentences, "I wish to speak without hearing anything, and forget to think about it." I hope that I can abandon what I heard and heard, and get the true meaning of Buddha through serious thinking. The whole poem is basically a discussion, full of Buddhist terminology. The author yearns for the true meaning of Buddhism wholeheartedly, and his attitude is pious, just like a believer.
"Zen Hall" is closely related to the content of the first two. It writes about "Zen Hall", one of the three halls. There is a slight change in the writing. First, the description is: "The ground is covered with green grass, and the masses are white. The mountain flowers fall into the secluded door, and there are guests who forget about the machine." It is like a close-up shot, depicting the characteristics of the "Meditation Hall": green The Zen hall is made of thatch, and the green hills surround the white building. Then, from the outside to the inside, from objects to people, mountain flowers fall in front of the quiet door, and the Zen monks who forget their thoughts sit in the Zen hall, highlighting the Zen monks. Zen monks also naturally include poets. On the middle level, Zen language is used to describe the understanding of Buddhism: when it comes to existence, there is no need to intentionally obtain it, and there is no need to analyze it when observing it. All sounds in the world are created by destiny, and there is deep silence among the noise. A deeper understanding of Buddhism is what Zen monks (poets) gain from entering the Zen hall. The last two sentences: "The state of mind is the same, and there is no trace of the bird flying." It expresses the state of empty and empty, and the state of mind is the same, which sublimates the poetic meaning.
The first three poems are mainly about discussion and have similar styles, while the last two poems are unique and focus on describing scenes. Tan Yongzhi, a man of the Five Dynasties, has a poem in his "Autumn Stay in the Xiangjiang River and Encountering Rain" that says "Autumn wind spreads thousands of miles across the land of hibiscus". Hibiscus, one refers to lotus, and the other refers to hibiscus. Hunan is a water town with lotuses everywhere. Hibiscus is taller than ordinary flowers, with lush branches and leaves like a small tree. It can be planted in courtyards and roadsides. Therefore, Hunan is known as the country of Furong. Wang Wei, who believed in Zen Buddhism, also wrote a poem about hibiscus flowers in "Xinyiwu": "The woody hibiscus flowers have red calyxes in the mountains. There is no one in the stream, and they bloom and fall one after another." The whole poem of "Hibiscus Pavilion" is divided into three levels. , inked with bright and beautiful hibiscus, "The new pavilion overlooks the red sill. The beautiful trees bloom with hibiscus." The new pavilion is built with red railings and is surrounded by hibiscus flowers. "The morning breeze is far away in fragrance, and the cold dew is thick in color." The morning breeze blows away the fragrance, and the cold dew moistens the bright colors. The first four sentences are all about scenery, like a watercolor painting with brilliant colors, alternating between movement and stillness. The second layer, "Easy and unrestrained in the world, low and high, with many strange features", continues to describe hibiscus flowers. The flowers bloom gracefully, showing different postures and appearances. When hibiscus flowers are in full bloom, the branches are covered with flowers, whether white, red or yellow, in various shapes and forms, which is pleasing to the eye. What is particularly surprising is that the white flowers that bloom in the morning turn red in the afternoon due to photosynthesis. "I heard the metaphor of color and emptiness, who is the craftsman of creation?" With a twist of the pen, I naturally associate flowers with the metaphors of color and emptiness in Buddhism. I wonder who in the world of creation is mastering the craftsmanship of heaven and creating such beautiful scenery as hibiscus flowers. Buddhism calls all tangible things color, and believes that all things are caused by causes and conditions and have no real existence, so it is said that "color is emptiness."
The word "color" in the poem is a pun, referring not only to the color of the hibiscus flower, but also to things in the world in general. The conclusion is the third level: "I linger on the autumn moon, and the mountain bell comes from afar." From morning to night, I linger on the beautiful scenery of Furong Pavilion, and I don't want to leave for a long time. In the autumn moon, the poet listened quietly to the intermittent ringing of the mountain temple bells, and his longing for the Buddhist Zen state was self-evident. There are such beautiful scenery in the Zen courtyard, and it is an ideal place for the poet's spiritual sustenance in the Buddhist scriptures. The poems integrate landscape poems, poetry about objects, and landscape poems, and the scenes blend together, such as "the antelope hangs its horns and there is no trace to be found."
The last poem "Bitter Bamboo Bridge" is more like a poem about things. It describes the bridge between bitter bamboos, and on the surface it is about the bridge, but in fact the focus is on the bamboo, and the bridge is just a foil. That’s all. Bitter bamboo is a very common bamboo in southern Hunan, Chu region, and even its name has a derogatory connotation. The poet has a unique discernment and finds poetic meaning in ordinary things. He organically connects his life experience with the humble bitter bamboo, implying the "bitter bamboo" and "open-minded" bamboo. The structure of the poem is consistent with the group poem and is divided into three layers. The first four sentences are realistic: "The dangerous bridge is a secluded path, winding through the sparse forest." The distant bridge is connected to the secluded path, and it winds through the sparse bamboo forest. Highlight dangerous bridges, quiet paths and sparse forests. "The bursts of flowers divide the bitter festivals, and the lightness and humility hold an open mind." A close-up of the joints of bamboo, full use of poetic imagination, seems to see the bitter knots of bamboo bursting out from the bamboo shoots, and the gentle skin of the bamboo is surrounding the empty heart of the bamboo. The poem highlights "bitterness" and "humility". The second floor describes the views from the bridge: when you lean down, you can see the trickle of silk, and when you look up, you can hear the rustling sound of bamboo. The sun is setting amid the steaming smoke, and the birds in the mountains are chirping and returning to their nests. Look down, look up, and use your hearing. The sun in the sky and the chirping of birds nearby enter the painting one by one, full of life. The scenery in the eyes is often the external display of the poet's inner world. Nature is beautiful, but aspiring poets cannot fly freely like birds and fall into her arms. They can only make friends with "prisoners" and have difficulty falling asleep amidst the sound of wooden fish in the temple. This strong contrast cannot help but make people feel... ***Ming, the sadness is beyond words. In the end, I expressed my feeling that "there is no need for shelter, but there is more shade for the habitat." The bitter bamboo here cannot be used as bamboo cutting for the ferry, but it just provides shade for people's habitat. As Mr. Wu Wenzhi pointed out: "The author used bamboo to describe himself, lamenting that although bamboo has the beauty of 'bitterness' and 'humility', it can only be used for people and birds to rest and provide shade, and will not be used at important ferries. There is a hidden meaning of self-destruction and unrecognized talent." ("Selected Works of Liu Zongyuan") In addition to praising the bitter bamboo bridge, the poem also writes about bamboo forests, paths, streams, bamboo rhymes, sunsets, and bird songs, so it naturally belongs to landscape poetry.
Predecessors spoke highly of the writing of group poems. Zeng Jifu's "Bi Mo Xian Lu" said: "Retired to Guozhou's "Twenty-one Odes of Three Halls" and Zihou's "Five Odes of Xun Gongyuan", which are taken from The rhymes are each precise and not arbitrary. If you look at the title, you can see its craftsmanship. "Sun Yuefeng commented: "The five poems are all based on Zen principles, and they are the most exquisite." Wang Sen believes that "the five poems are very famous. The idea is clear and the work is clear. However, talking about principles and realizing nothing is not like writing about things and emptying everything. Those who have eyes should argue about it. "Jiang Zhiqiao pointed out: "One of the five poems is "Zen Chamber". "Professor Sun Changwu also criticized "Pure Land Hall" and "Zen Hall": "This kind of poetry is written quite like the metaphysical poetry of the Six Dynasties, and it tells mediocre and outdated Buddhist principles in the form of poetry." (Liu Zongyuan) "Biography") Because its content promotes Buddhist principles, this poem is generally not selected in today's anthologies. Professor Wu Wenzhi has a unique discernment and has annotated two poems, "Furong Pavilion" and "Bitter Bamboo Bridge" in the "Selected Works of Liu Zongyuan", a world literary masterpiece library. The two poems are similar in style and have different characteristics. As far as the title of the poem is concerned, the former is bright and the latter is dim. "Furong Pavilion" depicts hibiscus and promotes Buddhist principles at your fingertips. "Bitter Bamboo Bridge" has a profound meaning. It grows from the bitter bamboo and expresses the resentment of being demoted. To understand the group of poems, the key is to have a correct evaluation of Liu's belief in Buddhism. There is no need to keep it taboo, Liu Zongyuan’s belief in Buddhism exists objectively and cannot be simply denied or affirmed. First of all, Liu Zongyuan was demoted to Yongzhou, which was a huge blow to him. The mental torture was beyond human endurance. It is understandable that he worshiped Buddhism because he diverted his attention and avoided conflicts in order to seek relief and peace of mind. Secondly, although Buddhism does not mean superstition, it does contain elements of superstition. The "three emptinesses" and the Western Pure Land he promoted in his poems reveal a negative philosophy of life that avoids reality, which should be criticized. Thirdly, he has a process of understanding Buddhism. Through studying, sublating, borrowing from other mountains, he absorbs the content in Buddhism that is similar and useful to Confucianism, and interprets it with Confucianism. This is worthy of recognition. In addition, he also criticized Buddhism. For example, he expressed dissatisfaction with the monks and nuns who "have no husband and wife, father and son, and do not work for farming and sericulture"; he criticized Zen Buddhism for its excessive talk, which resulted in absurdity and lack of precepts; Those who are "cluttered" will firmly oppose it.