The author of "Spring" is Wang Wei, who was selected as the No.71Volume 26 of the whole Tang Poetry. This poem describes the poet's experience of learning Zen in daily life, and reflects the poet's love for Buddhism and profound Buddhist attainments.
original text
What happened on spring day.
Author: Wei
Just read a biography of a monk and see the secret recipe of crossing the valley.
Pigeons can carve wars and tortoise shells can use beds.
The willow color reflects the green hills, and the pear flower hides the late birds.
Under the peaches and plums in the north window, sit around and burn incense.
To annotate ...
① Biography of the Eminent Monk: The Annals of Sui Shu contains fourteen volumes of Biography of the Eminent Monk; The Book of Changes in the Tang Dynasty recorded six volumes of Biography of Eminent Monks by Yu Xiaojing, fourteen volumes of Biography of Eminent Monks by Hui Jue, and thirty-two volumes of Biography of Continued Eminent Monks by Monks and Taoists.
(2) Breach of grain: refers to not eating grains. A practice of Taoism. You still have to take medicine when you cross the valley, and you must do some guidance and so on. Tao Hongjing: "Hong Jingshan's method of guiding the valley has been hidden for forty years, but it is strong when he is over eighty." Li Mingzhizhen's Compendium of Materia Medica Gu Erliang quoted Meng Wei as saying: "Green rice can penetrate the valley. Soak in pure bitter wine for three days, evaporate and hide. Traveling far, one meal a day, can take ten days; Eat again, not hungry for 490 days. "
(3) Carved pigeon-shaped staff: In the Han Dynasty, special gifts were given to the elderly aged 80 or 90, and jade staff engraved with pigeons and birds were presented. Because pigeons are birds that don't choke, I hope the elderly can eat without choking and live a long and healthy life. Pigeon shape: pigeon, bird name. Pigeons and pigeons were different in ancient times. Such as pheasant pigeons, turtledoves, turtledoves and so on. There are also non-turtledoves named after turtledoves, such as turtledoves (cuckoos). Today, it is a general term for some pigeons. Usually refers to two kinds of turtledoves: mountain turtledove and pearl-necked turtledove. Taiping Yu Lan (Volume 92 1) quotes Hanshu Continued Rites: "A jade staff ... nine feet long, decorated with a pigeon at the end, starts at the age of seventy. Pigeons are birds that can't suffocate; I don't want to embarrass the old man. " Later, "pigeon-shaped" refers to walking sticks used by the elderly.
(4) Turtle-shell bed: According to Records of the Historian, there are old people in the south who use turtles as beds. More than 20 years later, the old man died and the tortoise was still alive. It also means longevity here.
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This poem records a side of the poet's life, and also shows readers that his good Buddha is by no means empty talk. At the end of the sentence, it is obviously meditation to say "sit around and burn incense". The story recorded in Volume 1 of "Five Lights Meeting Yuan" says: "When you see it, you ask the venerable person:' Why do you do it yourself?' The scholar said,' If I don't do it, who will do it for me? It can be seen that Zen should have personal experience and pay attention to personal enlightenment, so meditation is also necessary. Isn't the founder of Dharma sitting in Songshan Shaolin Temple "sitting with his face facing the wall and being silent all day"? After the rise of Nanzong Zen, it emphasized pointing to the source of mind and realizing enlightenment. For meditation, it is often regarded only as a means, but not as very important. Huineng once said, "The Tao is enlightened by the heart. Why not sit down?" Although Wang Wei, a poet, has a profound understanding of Zen in the Southern Sect, he does not deny the meditation kung fu of the Northern Sect. The Book of the Old Tang Dynasty (volume 190) and Biography of Wang Wei said that he "lived in the capital with a dozen monks and took pleasure in metaphysical words. There is nothing in the den except a teapot, a mortar and a rope bed. After retiring from the DPRK, he burned incense and sat alone, taking meditation as his career ",which is an image explanation of his living condition." "In his poems, he either narrates that his love for death is fading and his meditation days are getting stronger (the third part of Six Casual Poems), or praises his friends that" if you want to meditate for a long time, you must travel to Changchun "(Lan Ruo, a Buddhist monk who has been blessed), and agrees with an isolated life:" Although you are connected with others, you will live in seclusion behind closed doors (Jeju once lived in the Zhao family) "Idle. "There is a light rain in the pavilion, and the yard is open during the day (Story) also proves this point.
Brief introduction of the author
Wang Wei (70 1-76 1), whose real name is Moggi, whose real name is Shi Fo and whose real name is Vimalakīrti. Vimalakīrti is a layman of Mahayana Buddhism, a famous bodhisattva at home, and his free translation is famous for its cleanliness and pollution-free. It can be seen that Wang Wei's name has an indissoluble bond with Buddhism.
Wang Wei's achievements in poetry are various, including frontier poems, landscape poems, metrical poems and quatrains. His poems were called by Su Shi as "paintings in poems and poems in paintings". He really has his unique attainments in describing natural scenery. Whether it is the grandeur of famous mountains and rivers, the grandeur of frontier blockades, or the quietness of small bridges and flowing water, it can accurately and concisely create a perfect and vivid image, with less pen and ink, high artistic conception and complete integration of poetry and painting.
Landscape pastoral poetry school is one of the two major poetry schools in the prosperous Tang Dynasty. The main writers are Meng Haoran, Wang Wei, Chang Jian, Zuyong, Pei Di and others. Among them, Wang Wei and Meng Haoran have the highest achievements and the greatest influence, also known as "Wang Meng".