唐 Tang · 诗 Poem
寄山僧
Written for a Mountain Monk
眼看过半百，早晚扫岩扉。
白首谁能住，青山自不归。
百千万劫障，四十九年非。
会拟抽身去，当风抖擞衣。
Who can bear to linger on, now that my hair is white? The green hills do not return of themselves.
Obstacles through a hundred thousand kalpas; forty-nine years spent in error.
I mean to draw back from it all, and shake my dusty robe in the wind.
Meaning
Past fifty, the poet writes to a hermit-monk announcing his intention to leave the world. He argues that no one who is grey-headed can still endure society, that the hills will not come to him, and that a whole lifetime of Buddhist hindrance must be reckoned with. The poem closes on a single gesture - shaking the dusty robe in the wind - which says leaving without having to state it.
眼看过半百，早晚扫岩扉。 白首谁能住，青山自不归。 百千万劫障，四十九年非。 会拟抽身去，当风抖擞衣。
Appreciation
[Plain Paraphrase] To the mountain monk the poet says that he has watched half a century go by and should now be sweeping the rock gate of the hermitage morning and evening; who, once white-haired, could still bear to stay where he is? As for the hills, they never come to a man - they only wait.<br>[Structure] The first four lines give the wish to retire, the last four the resolve to go; the poem moves from desire to decision without a single step in between being stated.<br>[Imagery] Two physical acts carry the whole poem. 'Sweeping the cliff-door' is the daily discipline of someone who has just turned, and 'shaking my dusty robe in the wind' is the one decisive moment of release. Between them stand the numbers: a hundred thousand kalpas, forty-nine years, both of which turn an ordinary life into a quantity of debt.<br>[Tone] Bai Juyi's plainness is doing the work. There is no ornament to hide behind, and the resolution therefore lands with unusual force.
【白话串讲】 白居易写《寄山僧》：“眼看过半百，早晚扫岩扉”——“白首谁能住，青山自不归”——“百千万劫障，四十九年非”——“会拟抽身去，当风抖擞衣”——他寄给山中僧——说想抽身归山。 【意象与手法】 此诗写禅意，以归隐写禅意，是白居易的名篇。前四句写归意：「眼看过半百，早晚扫岩扉。白首谁能住，青山自不归」写眼看过半百、早晚扫岩扉——写尽归隐的意向；后四句写去志：「百千万劫障，四十九年非。会拟抽身去，当风抖擞衣」写百千万劫障、四十九年非——写尽归去的决心。全诗以归隐写禅意，写尽归隐的意向与归去的决心，是白居易的代表作。 【情感与主旨】 此诗写禅意，以归隐写禅意，是白居易的名篇。此诗写白居易寄给山中僧人的诗，表达归隐之志。白居易晚年好佛，自号香山居士，多有归隐参禅之意。此诗写眼看已过半百，当早扫岩扉（山居之门）而归；白首之人谁能常住尘世，唯有青山自来不归；历百千万劫之障，觉四十九年之非（用蘧伯玉四十九年知非之典），故拟抽身归隐，当风抖擞衣尘而去。此诗写归意：眼看过半百，早晚扫岩扉——写眼看过半百、早晚扫岩扉，写尽归隐的意向；白首谁能住，青山自不归——写白首谁能住、青山自不归，写尽归隐的意向；百千万劫障，四十九年非——写百千万劫障、四十九年非，写尽觉非的悟理；会拟抽身去，当风抖擞衣——写会拟抽身去、当风抖擞衣，写尽归去的决心。全诗以归隐写禅意——那「早晚扫岩扉」写尽归隐的意向，「当风抖擞衣」写尽归去的决心，写尽归隐的意向与归去的决心，是理解白居易禅意诗的重要篇章。 【名句点睛】 常考「眼看过半百，早晚扫岩扉」写归隐的意向；「会拟抽身去，当风抖擞衣」写归去的决心；以及全诗以归隐写禅意、以用典写悟理的手法。
Background
Bai Juyi (772-846), courtesy name Letian and styled the Layman of Mount Xiang, was a Tang poet who wrote more verses than anyone else in the dynasty and led the New Yuefu movement together with Yuan Zhen. In his later decades he turned steadily toward Buddhism and toward retirement, building a hermitage at Mount Lu and filling his notebooks with poems in which the wish to resign from office deepens into the wish to leave life as it is. This poem is addressed to a monk who already lives in the hills and is therefore the natural witness to such a decision.
此诗写禅意，以归隐写禅意，是白居易的名篇。白居易（772—846），字乐天，号香山居士，又号醉吟先生，下邽（今陕西渭南）人，唐代诗人，与元稹并称「元白」，为新乐府运动代表，为唐代存诗最多的诗人。此诗写白居易寄给山中僧人的诗，表达归隐之志。白居易晚年好佛，自号香山居士，多有归隐参禅之意。此诗写眼看已过半百，当早扫岩扉（山居之门）而归；白首之人谁能常住尘世，唯有青山自来不归；历百千万劫之障，觉四十九年之非（用蘧伯玉四十九年知非之典），故拟抽身归隐，当风抖擞衣尘而去。此诗写归意：「眼看过半百，早晚扫岩扉」写眼看过半百、早晚扫岩扉——写尽归隐的意向（眼看过半百，早晚扫岩扉）；「白首谁能住，青山自不归」写白首谁能住、青山自不归——写尽归隐的意向（白首谁能住，青山自不归）；「百千万劫障，四十九年非」写百千万劫障、四十九年非——写尽觉非的悟理（百千万劫障，四十九年非）；「会拟抽身去，当风抖擞衣」写会拟抽身去、当风抖擞衣——写尽归去的决心（会拟抽身去，当风抖擞衣）。全诗以归隐写禅意，写尽归隐的意向与归去的决心，是理解白居易禅意诗的重要篇章。
Art
Four devices are at work. First, plain statement: 'Eyes have watched half a century' puts the age in unadorned prose and lets the number carry the weight. Second, the rhetorical question 'Who can bear to linger on, now that my hair is white?' - the answer is implied, and the question turns the reader toward the green hills instead. Third, allusion: the 'forty-nine years in error' compresses a whole life of Buddhist self-examination into six characters. Fourth, action in place of feeling: 'shake my dusty robe in the wind' states nothing about the heart and yet expresses everything. The poem also stacks numbers - half a century, a hundred thousand kalpas, forty-nine years - until the life itself seems to be measured out in quantities of failure. Finally the couplet 'Who can bear to linger / The green hills do not return' sets restless human duty against motionless nature, and the last line leaves both of them behind.
此诗的艺术特色可从四个方面解析。其一，以白描写归意。「眼看过半百」以白描写归意——那「过半百」写尽年岁的已老，以白描写尽归隐的意向。其二，以设问写归隐。「白首谁能住」以设问写归隐——那「谁能住」写尽无人能住的设问，以设问写尽归隐的意向。其三，以用典写悟理。「四十九年非」以用典写悟理——那「四十九年非」用蘧伯玉知非之典，以用典写尽觉非的悟理。其四，以动作写决心。「当风抖擞衣」以动作写决心——那「抖擞衣」写尽抖衣的动作，以动作写尽归去的决心。此外，此诗前四句写归隐的意向，后四句写归去的决心，由意及决，正是禅意诗「以悟写归」的写法。四重手法，使此诗以归隐写禅意，写尽归隐的意向与归去的决心，是白居易的代表作。此诗还善于以「百千万劫障」的叠数写尘障之深——那「百千万劫」写尽劫难之重，正是佛家历劫的写照，以叠数写尽觉非的悟理。又善以「当风抖擞衣」的意象写去尘——当风抖擞衣，正见迎风抖落尘俗的洒脱，以意象写尽归去的决心。
Allusions
'Sweeping the cliff-door' calls up the monastery gate and the monk's traditional morning task. 'Forty-nine years in error' refers to Qu Boyu of the state of Wei, who at fifty is said to have realised that forty-nine of his previous years had been wrong - the anecdote is told in the Huainanzi and retold in later collections, and a man of fifty in Tang verse rarely appears without it. 'A hundred thousand kalpas' comes from Buddhist cosmology, a kalpa being an almost incalculably long aeon, and is here reduced from cosmology to a measure of personal obstruction. 'Shake my robe' echoes the Wei-era line of Zuo Si in which a gentleman shakes his robes on a thousand-fathom ridge.
此诗的用语深植于禅意与归隐传统。「扫岩扉」令人想到「扫岩扉」写扫山门之典——也令人想到「鸟宿池边树，僧敲月下门」（贾岛）的意象；「白首」令人想到「白首」写白头的意象——也令人想到「白首方悔读书迟」的意象；「青山自不归」令人想到「青山自不归」写青山不归的意象——也令人想到「青山多妩媚」（辛弃疾）的意象；「百千万劫」令人想到「百千万劫」写劫难的意象——佛教以劫为极长之时，也令人想到「万劫不复」的意象；「四十九年非」典出《淮南子·原道训》——蘧伯玉年五十而知四十九年非，白居易以之写觉非；「抖擞衣」令人想到「抖擞衣」写抖衣之典——也令人想到「振衣千仞冈」（左思）的意象。全诗化用扫岩扉、白首、青山、百千万劫、四十九年非、抖擞衣的意象典故，以归隐写禅意，正是白居易「平易」而善用典、承禅意传统写归隐之本领。「抽身」令人想到「抽身」写退出的意象——也令人想到「急流勇退」的成语；「抖擞衣」令人想到左思《咏史》「振衣千仞冈，濯足万里流」的意象——也令人想到「抖擞精神」的意象，以抖衣写去尘归隐的超脱。
Commentary
The poem has long been ranked among Bai Juyi's finest Buddhist verses and is routinely quoted as a Tang example of retirement understood as enlightenment. Qing anthologists praised its ease and high-mindedness; modern readers single out the couplet 'I mean to draw back from it all, and shake my dusty robe in the wind' as the poem's hinge, because it hands the whole argument to an image. Its value is formal as much as thematic: an eight-line regulated poem that moves from wish to resolve using two ordinary actions - sweeping and shaking - to signal a change of direction in a life.
此诗历来被推为白居易禅意诗的名篇，也是唐诗写归隐参禅的代表。历代论者对此诗评价极高：清人评此诗「以归隐写禅意，旷达超逸」；近人更指出「会拟抽身去，当风抖擞衣」写归去的决心，是此诗的名句。在诗歌史上，此诗的特殊价值在于：它以八句的五律写尽归隐的意向与归去的决心——那眼看，那过半百，那早晚，那扫岩扉，那白首，那谁能住，那青山，那自不归，那百千万劫，那障，那四十九年，那非，那会拟，那抽身去，那当风，那抖擞衣，都写尽了白居易笔下的寄山僧；那「当风抖擞衣」更以动作写尽归去的决心。此诗与白居易《庐山草堂记》的归隐志趣相合，又与王维《终南别业》「中岁颇好道」的禅意传统一脉相承，可见中国诗写归隐禅意的传统。对于今日读者，此诗是理解白居易禅意诗的窗口，也是唐诗写归隐的经典——那当风抖衣的身影，穿越千年，仍在诉说着归去的决心。
Prosody
Line by line
会拟抽身去，当风抖擞衣
I mean to draw back from it all, and shake my dusty robe in the wind.
会拟抽身去，当风抖擞衣。
I mean to withdraw and be off, shaking my robe in the wind.
此二句是全诗写决心的核心，以会拟抽身去写抽身，以当风抖擞衣写抖擞衣，写尽归去的决心，是千古名句。「会拟抽身去」写会拟抽身去——那「会拟」写会拟，「抽身去」写抽身去，写尽抽身的决心；「当风抖擞衣」写当风抖擞衣——那「当风」写当风，「抖擞衣」写抖擞衣，写尽抖衣的洒脱。这句的深意在于：它以「会拟抽身去」的抽身与「当风抖擞衣」的抖擞衣，写尽归去的决心——会拟抽身去，那「会拟抽身去」写尽抽身的决心——会拟抽身，正是决意抽身的写照，那「抽身去」写尽归去的决心；当风抖擞衣，那「当风抖擞衣」写尽抖衣的洒脱——当风抖擞衣，正是迎风抖衣的写照，那「抖擞衣」写尽归去的洒脱；那「会拟抽身去」写尽抽身的决心，那「当风抖擞衣」写尽抖衣的洒脱，一写抽身，一写抖衣，写尽归去的决心——决意抽身而迎风抖衣，正是去尘归隐的写照；此二句以抽身、抖擞衣写尽归去的决心，也让此二句成为全诗写决心的核心与千古名句。若换作直说「我打算辞官回家修行了」，则失其超逸；唯以「会拟抽身去」写抽身、「当风抖擞衣」写抖擞衣，写尽归去的决心，也让此二句成为全诗写决心的核心。
The resolve. I mean to withdraw and be off, shaking my robe in the wind. The meant withdrawal and the shaking robe in the wind are Bai Juyi's decision. To have said he planned to retire would be a resolve; the mean-to-withdraw-and-be-off against the shaking-my-robe-in-the-wind is the resolve.
白首谁能住，青山自不归
Who can bear to linger on, now that my hair is white? The green hills do not return of themselves.
白首谁能住，青山自不归。
With white hairs, who can stay? The green hills of themselves do not return.
此二句是全诗写归意的核心，以白首谁能住写谁能住，以青山自不归写自不归，写尽归隐的意向，是千古名句。「白首谁能住」写白首谁能住——那「白首」写白首，「谁能住」写谁能住，写尽无人能住的设问；「青山自不归」写青山自不归——那「青山」写青山，「自不归」写自不归，写尽青山的不归。这句的深意在于：它以「白首谁能住」的设问与「青山自不归」的不归，写尽归隐的意向——白首谁能住，那「白首谁能住」写尽无人能住的设问——白首谁能住，正是白首难居尘世的写照，那「谁能住」写尽归隐的意向；青山自不归，那「青山自不归」写尽青山的不归——青山自不归，正是青山恒在的写照，那「自不归」写尽归隐的意向；那「白首谁能住」写尽无人能住的设问，那「青山自不归」写尽青山的不归，一写白首，一写青山，写尽归隐的意向——白首难住而青山恒在，正是归隐之志的写照；此二句以设问、青山写尽归隐的意向，也为下文的悟理作铺垫，也让此二句成为全诗写归意的核心与千古名句。若换作直说「人老了就该归隐山林」，则失其玄理；唯以「白首谁能住」写谁能住、「青山自不归」写自不归，写尽归隐的意向，也让此二句成为全诗写归意的核心。
The hills. With white hairs, who can stay? The green hills of themselves do not return. The rhetorical question (who can stay?) and the hills that do not return (the dead do not return) are the aging man's truth. To have asked who can live on in office would be a question; the white-hairs-who-can-stay against the green-hills-of-themselves-not-returning is the question.
Study
Word focus
Related Reading
A Letter from the Mountains talks with Yuan Zhen about wanting to withdraw from the world; this poem writes to a monk and declares that the withdrawal has been decided. The same poet, the same subject, two objects: a friend with whom to discuss it, and a monk before whom to perform it.
白居易《山中与元九书》写与元稹谈归隐，是白居易的名篇。此诗《寄山僧》则「会拟抽身去」写归隐。同为白居易归隐诗，一写「上界宫府」的谈玄，一写「当风抖擞衣」的去志；一寄友人，一寄山僧。两诗对读，可见白居易归隐诗的两种对象。
终南别业 The Dwelling at Zhongnan 王维 · 同写归隐禅意，一晚年好道一早晚扫扉 Both write retirement and Zen, one already practised and one still decidingWang Wei settled at the foot of Zhongnan Mountain and later wrote of walking until the water ended and sitting to watch the clouds rise; his retirement is already an accomplished fact. Here the poet is still on the threshold, sweeping the rock gate and shaking the robe. The images differ - a sitting watcher of clouds as against a man in motion - and that difference is the point.
王维《终南别业》「中岁颇好道，晚家南山陲。兴来每独往，胜事空自知」写归隐，是王维的名篇。此诗《寄山僧》则「早晚扫岩扉」写归隐。同为写归隐禅意，一写「行到水穷处，坐看云起时」的禅境（终南别业），一写「当风抖擞衣」的去志（寄山僧）；一写王维，一写白居易。两诗对读，可见唐人写归隐禅意的两种面目。