Where are the fallen leaves? Next sentence: How many floors are there on Hanyun Road.
Original text of the work:
Beiqingluo
Li Shangyin
The setting sun enters the west, and a lonely monk is visited in a thatched hut.
Where is the fallen leaf man? How many floors are there on Hanyun Road?
I am knocking the chime alone at night, leaning against a vine.
In the dust of the world, I would rather love or hate.
Translation
As the sun set over Kuanxi Mountain, I went to visit the lonely monk in the hut. The ground is covered with fallen leaves, where is the monk? The mountains are covered with cold clouds. How long will it take to walk on the mountain road?
In the first night, I only heard him knocking on the rock alone, leaning against a branch of ivy in leisure. The whole world is in the dust, why should I have love and hate?
Appreciation
The poet was exhausted in the fierce party struggle between Niu and Li. His wandering life and lonely situation made him feel the misfortune of living in the world of mortals. There is an urgent need to get in touch with the pure Buddhist world.
The first couplet describes the poet's search for a monk. When the red sun set in the valley, the poet entered the mountains to visit a monk living in a hut. "Thatched cottage" describes the simplicity of the monk's residence, and "lonely monk" describes the monk's unyielding loneliness. At this time, the poet was living in a difficult time when his relatives and friends were separated. He was looking for such a poor and lonely monk, obviously to get inspiration from him and relieve his own troubles. The poor people seek out the poor places, the lonely guests visit the lonely monks, and the lay people and the Buddha have an opportunity for spiritual communication.
About the author:
Li Shangyin, courtesy name Yishan, nicknamed Yuxi (Xi) Sheng and Fan Nansheng, is a famous poet in the Tang Dynasty. His ancestral home is Qinyang, Hanoi (now Jiaozuo City, Henan Province). He was born in Xingyang, Zhengzhou. He is good at poetry writing, and his parallel prose is also of high literary value. He is one of the most outstanding poets in the late Tang Dynasty. Together with Du Mu, he is known as "Xiao Li Du", and with Wen Tingyun, he is known as "Wen Li". Cheng Shi and Wen Tingyun have similar styles, and they are all ranked sixteenth in their families, so they are called the "Thirty-Sixth Body". His poems are novel in conception and beautiful in style, especially some love poems and untitled poems, which are sentimental, beautiful and moving, and are widely read. However, some poems are too obscure and difficult to understand. There is a saying that "poets always love Xikun and hate that no one writes Zheng Jian." Because he was caught in the partisan struggle between Niu and Li, he was very frustrated in his life. After his death, he was buried in his hometown Qinyang (now the junction of Qinyang and Boai County, Jiaozuo City, Henan Province). The works are included in "Li Yishan's Collected Poems".