Zhongnan Biye——Wang Wei
In his middle age, he was quite good at Taoism. In his later years, he came home to Nanshan.
Happiness comes and beauty comes alone, knowing success is empty.
Walking to a waterless place, sit and watch the clouds rise.
Occasionally I visited Lin Sou, chatting and laughing for a long time.
Wang Wei's poems and paintings are full of Zen spirit, and he is regarded as the "Buddha of Poetry" in the history of literature. He said two sentences: "Walking to a water-poor place, sitting and watching the clouds rise." What does "water-poor place" refer to? When climbing the mountain, I followed the stream upstream, and at the end the stream disappeared. One possibility is that this place is the birthplace of a mountain spring, hidden beneath the surface. Another possibility is that the stream that collected after rain dried up here. The climber walked until the water disappeared. He simply sat down and saw clouds rising on the mountain. It turns out that the water has reached the sky and turned into clouds, and the clouds can turn into rain. Then there will be water in the mountain streams again. Why despair?
The same is true for the realm of life. In the course of life, no matter whether you are dealing with love, career, knowledge, etc., you may move forward bravely, but later you will find that it is a dead end road that you cannot walk, and the sadness and loss of despair will inevitably occur. Don't be afraid to look to the side or back at this time, there may be another way leading to somewhere else; even if there is no way to go at all, look to the sky! Although the body is in a desperate situation, the mind can still swim in space, enjoy nature freely and happily, and experience the broad and profound realm of life without feeling that it is the end of the road.
"Walking to a waterless place, sitting and watching the clouds rise" There are two realms in it. First, don’t be disappointed when you are in a desperate situation, because that is the beginning of hope; the water in the mountains comes from rain, and the rising of clouds means that the water is coming soon. Another realm is that it doesn't matter even if it doesn't rain now, it will rain one day.
The process from water to cloud to rain is just like a person encountering great difficulties in the process of practice, including physical obstacles, psychological obstacles, and environmental obstacles. If you retreat because of this, you should return your thoughts to the point of view of your original intention. The initial intention is when the bodhicitta is first generated. When I first set my mind to it, I had nothing, and I didn’t understand the methods or concepts of practice. If you look back at the situation at that time and then look at the present, haven't you already come a long way? So don't despair, don't give up. This situation may occur at every stage of life. If we look at it in this poetic context, there will be a way to survive everywhere.
In addition, it is said that these two lines of Wang Wei's poems are still engraved on a pavilion in Yingtaigou, Beijing. If you are interested, you can go take a look and experience the artistic conception of these two poems for yourself.