Inscribed on the Zen Temple behind Poshan Temple
Chang Jian
Entering the ancient temple early in the morning, the first sun shines on the high forest. The bamboo path leads to a secluded place, and the Zen room is filled with flowers and trees.
The light of the mountain is pleasing to the birds, and the shadow of the pond is empty of the human heart. Everything is silent, except for the sound of bells and chimes.
Explanation of poetry
I walked to this ancient temple in the early morning, and the rising sun shone on the towering jungle. A winding path leads to a quiet distance, where is a Zen room covered in the shade of flowers and trees. The mountains are bright and clear, the birds sing happily, and the reflection in the deep pool makes people feel the ethereal state of mind. Everything was silent, only the long echo of the bell could be heard.
Poshan is located in today's Changshu, Jiangsu Province. The temple refers to Xingfu Temple. It was rebuilt from the alms house of Ni Deguang, the governor of Chenzhou during the Southern Qi Dynasty. It was already an ancient temple in the Tang Dynasty. The poem expresses the impression of the Zen courtyard after visiting the temple in the early morning. The writing style is simple, the description is clear, the interest is profound, the artistic conception is blended, and the art is quite complete. It is a unique masterpiece among the landscape poems of the Tang Dynasty.
This poem is about the Buddhist temple and Zen courtyard, and expresses the seclusion of the mountains and rivers. The poet climbed Poshan Mountain in the early morning and entered Xingfu Temple. The rising sun illuminated the woods on the mountain. Buddhists call the place where monks gather as a "forest", so "Gaolin" also means to praise the Zen monastery, and the scene of the illuminated mountain and forest shows the feeling of praising the Buddha. Then, the poet walked through the bamboo path in the temple and walked to the deep backyard. He found that the Zen room where he chanted sutras and worshiped Buddha was deep in the flowers and woods in the backyard. Such a quiet and beautiful environment made the poet marvel, be intoxicated and appreciate it with forgetfulness. He raised his eyes and saw the green hills behind the temple glowing with sunshine, and saw the birds flying and singing freely. When he walked to the clear pool, he saw the sky, the earth and his figure in the water, clear and empty, and the world in his heart Distracting thoughts were instantly cleared away. Buddhism is the empty door. Buddhism says that after a monk meditates, "even if he resumes eating and drinking, he will taste the joy of Zen" ("Vimalakirti Sutra: Convenient Products"), and his spirit will be extremely pure and joyful. At this moment, in this scene and in this situation, the poet seems to have realized the mystery of Buddhism Zen, free from all the troubles of the world, as free and carefree as a bird. It seems that all other sounds in nature and the human world have been silenced, and there is only the sound of bells and chimes. This melodious and loud Buddhist sound guides people into a pure and joyful state. Obviously, the poet appreciates the beautiful and unique residence of this Zen courtyard, appreciates the artistic conception of this Buddhism and forgets the worldly world, and expresses his feelings of escaping from the world.
This is a rhythmic poem, but the style of writing is similar to ancient style, the language is simple, and the meter is flexible. The first couplet uses flowing water pairs, but the second couplet does not, which is due to the need for creativity. This poem has been highly praised since the Tang Dynasty, mainly because of its beautiful and interesting conception. The poem begins with a morning visit to the mountain temple and ends with a praising detachment. It describes the scenery and expresses emotions simply, but the meaning is implicit. This euphemistic and implicit conception is just like what Yin Fan of the Tang Dynasty said when commenting on the artistic characteristics of Chang Jian's poetry: "Building poetry is like starting out in a village, but looking for wild paths, hundreds of miles away, before returning to the main road. Therefore, its purpose is far away, and its prosperity is remote. , good sentences come all the time, just about the meaning." ("Heyue Yingling Collection") pointed out incisively that the characteristic of Chang Jian's poems is that they are ingenious in conception, and are good at guiding readers into the beautiful scenery in ordinary times, and then understand the purpose of the poem, rather than relying on it. The descriptions and diction are astonishing. Therefore, the best lines in poems often seem to appear suddenly in front of readers, which is amazing. And its beautiful sentences, like the conception of the poem, are crafted with intention and the beauty lies beyond the words. Ouyang Xiu of the Song Dynasty was very fond of the two sentences "Zhu Jing" and said, "If you want to imitate his words and make a couplet, you can't do it for a long time, but you know that it is difficult for the creator to do it." Later, he stayed in a mountain house in Qingzhou and personally experienced the artistic conception and interest of the two lines "Bamboo Path". He even wanted to write such a poem, but he still "couldn't get a word" (see "Inscribed on Qingzhou Mountain House") ). Ouyang Xiu's experience vividly illustrates that the advantage of the two sentences "Bamboo Path" is not to describe the exquisite scenery and make people feel like they are there, but to arouse the intimate aftertaste of those who have experienced the scene. Therefore, it is difficult to create the meaning. Similarly, the two sentences "mountain light", which Yin Fan praised as "police policy", not only create warning words, but also have a deeper meaning and are intended to make people think. Precisely because the poet focuses on conceiving and creating ideas, the words he creates do not seek to be similar in form, but contain more metaphors, focusing on expressing the meaning, fascinating and thought-provoking.
Most of the landscape poems in the prosperous Tang Dynasty sing about seclusion, and they all have a leisurely and comfortable mood, but each has its own unique style and achievements. Chang Jian's poem is about enlightenment while traveling. It has the popular sentiment of the landscape poetry of the prosperous Tang Dynasty, but its style is elegant and clear. In terms of art, it is different from Wang Wei's sublime and Meng Haoran's plainness. It is indeed unique. Unique.
Chang Jian's information
Biography: Chang Jian, a famous poet of the Tang Dynasty. A native of Chang'an (now Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province). In the fifteenth year of Kaiyuan (727), he became a Jinshi. Before the twelfth year of Tianbao (753), he served as the captain of Xuyi (now Duyi County, Jiangsu Province). Later, he resigned and lived in seclusion in Ezhu (now southeast of Hubei). His official career was very unsuccessful, but he was quite famous for his poetry. Yin Fan compiled "The Collection of Heroes of Heyue" and ranked Chang Jian first, and his evaluation was very high. He is good at five-character poems and is famous for his landscape and pastoral poems with clear and distant artistic conception, indifferent style, alert language and exquisite conception. At the same time, frontier fortress poetry was also quite successful.
Theme
"Inscribed on the Buddhist Temple Behind the Poshan Temple" is a poem on the wall. This poem describes the quiet and refined scenery of the Buddhist temple behind the temple in the early morning, and expresses the author's feelings. The seclusion of mountains and rivers