1. The famous saying when sending a monk back to Japan is: pity for the shadow of a lamp can bring light to thousands of miles away.
2. Original text:
Sending a monk back to Japan
Dynasty: Tang Dynasty
Author: Qian Qi
I live in the country according to fate, and my journey here is as if I were traveling in a dream. The sky is floating in the sky and the sea is far away, but the method of death is light.
The water and moon penetrate the Zen silence, and the fish and dragons listen to the sound of Sanskrit. But pity for the shadow of a lamp can make your eyes bright for thousands of miles.
3. Interpretation:
As long as there is a chance, you can come to China at any time; the journey is foggy and the ship seems to be sailing in a dream. The sky and the sea rise and fall, and the boat sails to the far edge; transcending the world, you will naturally feel the lightness of the Dharma boat.
When the state of mind is calm and quiet, everything is as illusory as the moon and water; the fish and dragons in the sea will also come out to listen to the sound of your chanting. The most lovely thing is that there is a Buddhist lamp that illuminates the heart; sailing thousands of miles, the eyes are always bright and bright.
4. Appreciation:
This is a farewell gift to Japanese monks. The beginning of the poem is abrupt, it is originally a farewell, but the first two sentences do not say farewell, but start from the way they came. "Walking in a Dream" expresses the exhaustion and trance state of long-term boating and sailing, contrasting the hardships on the way back home, and opens the middle two couplets. The couplet describes the confused scene while sailing on the sea, implying that the journey home is far away. The "floating sky"-like sea road is far away and the sea is vast, embodying care and consideration for the monks on their long and bumpy journey. "Fa Zhou" is closely related to the identity of a monk, and also contains the connotation of boating in a sea of ??people and going along with the situation. It is ethereal and rich in meaning. The neck couplet states that the monk still did not forget to practice Dharma during the sea journey, sitting in meditation under the moon and chanting sutras on the boat. "Shuiyue" is a metaphor for Zen philosophy, and "fishes and dragons listening" are traveling across the sea. They also euphemistically express the monk's character of chanting sutras alone and adhering to Buddhist laws, which is rich in imagination. The last couplet uses "one lamp" to describe the loneliness of the monk on his way back, with only a solitary lamp accompanying him.
5. Author:
Qian Qi (722?-780), courtesy name Zhongwen, Han nationality, native of Wuxing (now Huzhou City, Zhejiang Province), was a poet of the Tang Dynasty. He failed several examinations in his early years. He became a Jinshi in the tenth year of Tang Tianbao (751) and was the uncle of the great calligrapher Huai Su. At first, he was secretary of the Provincial School, Lantian County Captain, and later served as Si Xun Yuan Wai Lang, Kao Gong Lang Zhong, Hanlin Bachelor, etc. He once served as a doctor who took the exam and was known as "Qian Kao Gong" in his old life. In Daizong's Dali, he was a Hanlin bachelor. He is one of the ten talented men in the Dali calendar and an outstanding one among them. He is known as "the crown of the ten talented men in the Dali calendar". He was also as famous as Lang Shiyuan and was called "Qian Lang". At that time, it was said that "there was Shen Song in the past and Qian Lang in the later period."
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