The sweet-scented osmanthus falls when people are idle, the night is quiet and the spring mountains are empty.

When the moon comes out, birds startle the mountains, and they sing in the spring stream.

This is the first poem in the "Five Miscellaneous Poems on Yunxi by Huangfu Yue" written by Wang Wei about the Yunxi villa where his friend Huangfu Yue lived. It is called "Birdsong Stream". According to general understanding, this poem is a landscape poem, close to landscape sketching, and intuitively expresses the tranquility and beauty of spring mountains at night. In "Birdsong Stream", you can not only see the peaceful and beautiful scenery created by spring mountains, streams, bright moon, falling flowers, and birdsong, but also show the poet's lofty state of mind with ease and understanding, and clear sky.

If you connect the "leisure, tranquility, surprise, and scream" in the poem that correspond to the poet's state of mind, and then match it with Wang Wei's Buddhist monk's cultivation experience, we can see that Wang Wei is ostensibly describing scenes and expressing emotions. , actually contains the three realms of Buddhist practice.

The first level of realm: people are idle and osmanthus flowers fall, which expresses the realm of ease and accessibility;

The second level of realm: "the night is quiet and the spring sky is in the mountains", which expresses the tranquility and emptiness.

The third level: Although it is not famous, it contains the realm of "returning to one's true nature" that is ready to be revealed.

And "The moonrise scares the mountain birds, and they sing in the spring stream." It is an introspection of the degree achieved at the second level.

"The sweet-scented osmanthus falls when people are idle" shows a peaceful and accessible state of mind.

When all worldly thoughts stop, the falling osmanthus flowers can be seen clearly. The blooming and falling of the sweet-scented osmanthus is a natural cycle, without joy or sorrow, just like water falling, peacefully and properly. Wang Wei is known as the Poetic Buddha, and he naturally understands the Buddhist principles of reincarnation of life and death. According to Buddhism, the original life of human beings is the soul. The soul is in immortal reincarnation in a specific time and space. The external body is just a house where the soul lives. After a hundred years, the house will decay, just like the sweet-scented osmanthus. It falls. At this time, the soul is freed and enters the next reincarnation cycle. This small subtle sweet-scented osmanthus reminds people of its peaceful and natural changes, because its nature is quiet, and its harmony helps the inner peace. Therefore, the flower blooming and falling on people is like quietly observing the breath. The quiet and elegant osmanthus has a benign external environment, allowing Wang Wei to realize the natural cycle of life and the wonderful flavor of harmonious coexistence shown in Buddhism. What is displayed outside is the witty scene of "the osmanthus falls when people are idle". This is the first level of state of mind.

The quiet spring mountain sky at night shows the peaceful and clear state of mind.

The night in the mountains is extremely quiet. Such profound and vast silence is naturally very different from the tranquility of the sweet-scented osmanthus, which is one thing in the world. The deep and wide environment expanded and sublimated the inner realm of Buddha-nature cultivation for decades, allowing Wang Wei's perception to reach the realm of "emptiness" as the Buddhists call it. And this emptiness does not mean that external objects do not exist, the body does not exist, but that the noisy and prosperous world of mortals is nothing but a mirror; the gains and losses of fame and fortune are nothing to worry about. So, even though everything in the spring mountain is bustling with noise, my heart is empty.

However, this enlightenment needs the help of the night. This night is the best external environment to abandon the shadow of the senses. It is vast and far-reaching, and is the most suitable to enhance the understanding of the vast world. In this kind of internal and external response, the mind is instantly elevated to the realm of emptiness and clarity. Therefore, the poetic expression has the wonderful realization of "the quiet night and the spring sky".

This implies the positive impact of the environment on the mood. If it weren't for the night in the wilderness, maybe the state of mind would be different. The noise in the daytime is a natural manifestation of life. Because of the sunshine, under the eyes and ears, the emotions of the mountains and rivers are like the blooming of mountain flowers, the sudden passing of clouds, and the rushing of clear springs.

When the sun recedes, night falls, and everything is hidden from view, the peaceful state of falling osmanthus flowers can easily be suddenly sublimated into vast silence for Buddhists. When the inner silence reaches the extreme, the flowing peach blossoms turn a blind eye, and the brain is purified into an emptiness, the truth of the world will be clearly visible.

This spring mountain is usually understood as a mountain where all things in the world flourish in spring. However, if you understand it from another intention of the ancients, you will have a different feeling about this poem. If it is consistent with Wang Wei's decades of understanding of Buddhism, these spring mountains and spring streams have become his inner concern for the word "love" and his introspection.

In the eyes of poets, spring mountains are a metaphor for beautiful girls; spring streams are the expression of a woman's bright eyes.

The mountains and rivers between the eyebrows have always been the ideal of a beautiful woman in the poet's mind. The heights between the mountains and the mountains are the intoxicating rhythm of love between men and women. For thousands of years, men and women have been fascinated by it, even intoxicated and unable to extricate themselves.

In the distance, there is Sima Xiangru's "Phoenix Seeking Phoenix", in the middle there is Lu You's "Phoenix with a Hairpin Head", in the tragic scene there is Liang Zhuhua Butterfly, and there is also Nalan's ecstatic saying "Life is like a fairy". Just like the first time we met." This word of love has the magic power to destroy bones and soul, making people intoxicated and wasted. However, Buddhist practice is to constantly get rid of emotion and sublimate it into compassion.

Wang Wei thought that after decades of practice, he had downplayed the love between men and women, and even had no worries at all. Therefore, we have the contentment of "the quiet night and the clear spring sky". Since the "spring mountain" that represents love is empty, the inner realm is naturally empty and clear. Isn't this the realm of emptiness that the Buddhists call it? !

Wait a minute, this empty state is due to the help of Ye Jing. According to Zhuangzi, it still has some support. When the external environment causes interference, this state of mind may not be empty and clear. Therefore, there is the fluctuation of "the moonrise scares the mountains and birds sing in the spring streams".

The two words "moonrise" are extremely subtle. These two simple words use a vivid way to show the external environment that disturbs the state of mind. Why can the quiet scene of "moonrise" frighten a sleeping bird? It turns out that this moonlit night is the sustenance of lovesickness in people's minds. Look at the following verses and it will become clear.

"There is a bright moon on the sea, and it is the end of the world at this time. Lovers complain about the distant night, but they miss each other at night. The candles are extinguished and the light is full, and the clothes are covered with dew. I can't bear to give them away, but I still have a good night's sleep. "

This is a poem from Zhang Jiuling's "Looking at the Moon and Huaiyuan". This poem is recognized as a beautiful expression of the love between men and women, as well as the lingering pathos of "the willow branches on the moon, and the appointment after dusk", How many people can resist it?

Therefore, this silent "moonrise" is even more amazing than the tiger! The love root hidden deep in the poet's heart was immediately awakened and beating by the bright moonlight, so it turned into a mountain bird and chirped in the spring stream from time to time.

The use of spring stream is extremely subtle. Spring is the spring mountain, which is the intention of the beauty's pretty eyebrows to express her love. The stream is the stream between the two mountains, just like the affectionate eyes. . Chunjian, isn't it the love of mountains and waters? ! And the mountain birds chirping in the spring stream, aren't they the joyful cries of love?

However, Wang Wei actually used two words for spring in a poem of just twenty words. This shows that the word spring has a special meaning. Chunjian is understood as spring water. It is more reasonable to use spring mountain and spring stream to represent emotions. It is not enough to use one spring mountain, but also to use spring stream to describe all the mountains and rivers.

Therefore, after Wang Wei's second sentence "The night is quiet and the spring mountain is empty", he suddenly understood that the so-called emptiness he had was actually just emptiness on the surface, and there was actually still a root of love deep in his heart. Therefore, when I look back, I immediately understand that my so-called emptiness is displayed against the backdrop of the quiet night. In fact, it has not reached true emptiness. In such a state of mind, when bewitched by the moonlight, the emotions hidden in the spring mountains and streams are aroused, and they can't help but sing like cheerful mountain birds from time to time.

Such twists and turns are really wonderful, just like the sudden ripples of still water, stirring the silent situation into a vigorous spring tide, destroying the appearance of quiet space, revealing that the poet seems empty but not empty, and seems to be bright. The true state of non-existence.

This internal reflection really awakened the poet. I originally thought that after practicing Buddhism for decades, my love would have gone away. Who knew that when the moonlight that stimulated my love shone, the restless emotions in my heart would still sing like birds.

Facing your inner world is an opportunity to improve your mood. It was through this awakening that the third level Wang Wei expected to reach was about to emerge.

Returning to one’s true nature is the ultimate goal of Buddhism and Taoism. The cultivation of Dafa is to get rid of all desires and attachments, especially emotional attachments, and return to the truest and best state of origin. The state of emptiness achieved with the help of the external environment is not true emptiness.

The true emptiness is to be calm in the face of various temptations in reality; the superficial emptiness is to force people to be placed in an environment with little or no temptation. Have to give up.

Giving up because you can’t get it is not true giving up.

When gold and silver are placed in front of you and easily accessible without being tempted, when beautiful women surround you without being tempted, when the laurels of high names are placed in your hands but are not tempted, this is true renunciation. This kind of renunciation, in the words of Buddhism, In other words, there is no leakage. In Taoist terms, it means returning to true nature.

From Wang Wei's poems, we feel the poet's courage to introspect and his desire to pursue a return to his original state. This is also the greatest inspiration for all ascetics. Especially in the Dharma-ending period when material desires are rampant and all evils are rampant, this kind of revelation is even more meaningful.

This is also the significance of our re-examination of Wang Wei's "Birdsong Stream".