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南北朝 Northern and Southern Dynasties · 文 Prose

洛阳伽蓝记·节选

Record of the Buddhist Monasteries of Luoyang (excerpt)

杨衒之

Yang Xuanzhi

咏史/怀才historical reflection/talent 山水/禅意landscape/chan mood

永宁寺，熙平元年灵太后胡氏所立也。
中有九层浮图一所，架木为之，举高九十丈，有刹复高十丈，合去地一千尺。
去京师百里，已遥见之。
绣柱金铺，骇人心目。
至于高风永夜，宝铎和鸣，铿锵之声，闻及十余里。

The Yongning Monastery was founded by the Dowager Empress Hu in the first year of Xiping.
Within it stood a nine-storeyed stupa of timber, rising ninety zhang high;
Its finial rose yet ten zhang more, a thousand feet above the ground.
A hundred li from the capital, it could already be seen afar.
Embroidered pillars and golden door-plates struck the eye with awe.
In the high wind, through the long night, the precious bells chimed in harmony;
Their clanging sound was heard more than ten li away.

Listen

Meaning

The Yongning Monastery was established by the Dowager Empress Hu in the first year of Xiping. Within it stood a nine-storeyed stupa built of timber, ninety zhang in height; its finial rose another ten zhang, so that together it stood a thousand feet above the ground. A hundred li from the capital, it could already be sighted from afar. Embroidered pillars and golden door-fittings struck the beholder with awe. And in the high wind through the long night, the precious bells chimed in harmony, their clanging sound reaching more than ten li away.

永宁寺，是熙平元年灵太后胡氏所建立的。寺中有九层佛塔一座，以木材架构而成，高达九十丈，塔刹又高十丈，合计离地一千尺。离京城百里之远，已经能遥遥望见。彩绣的梁柱、金饰的铺首，令人目夺神惊。至于长风永夜之中，风铎相互和鸣，那铿锵的声音，远传到十余里之外。

Appreciation

This passage is good at writing the majesty of a huge structure through numbers and the senses. 'Rising ninety zhang,' 'a thousand feet above the ground,' 'already seen a hundred li away' pile up measures layer by layer, shaping the stupa's towering height with exaggeration that yet stays grounded; 'embroidered pillars and golden door-plates struck the eye with awe' turns to visual splendour, and 'the precious bells chimed in harmony… heard more than ten li away' closes on the sense of hearing, weaving sound and colour. The brush moves between parallelism and prose: it uses prose for the numbers, parallelism for the splendour, relaxed and taut by turns. The subtle wonder is that it writes only the monastery's glory and not its rise and fall, which makes the later lament over 'ruins' all the heavier—using the extreme of a joyous scene to set off the depth of sorrow, a literary use of the historian's 'Spring and Autumn' method.

【白话串讲】北魏洛阳永宁寺塔高九十丈：“去京师百里，已遥见之”——离京城百里就能望见。“绣柱金铺，骇人心目”。杨衒之追记洛阳佛寺的繁华，其实是在凭吊一个覆灭的王朝。【意象与手法】此诗为南北朝杨衒之之作，精要赏析详见下方深度赏析。【情感与主旨】《洛阳伽蓝记》为东魏杨衒之（一作羊衒之）所撰，成书约在武定五年（547）后【名句点睛】此节选常入“南北朝散文”或“文言游记”单元。考点一

Background

The Record of the Buddhist Monasteries of Luoyang was written by Yang Xuanzhi of Eastern Wei (also given as Yang Xuanzhi), completed after about 547. The author had served as aide to the Protector-General; seeing the Buddhist monasteries thick in Luoyang at its northern-Wei height, and the city mounds and ruins after the Yongxi turmoil of 534, he wrote this book looking from present to past, recording monasteries to lodge the grief of 'the millet's fallenness.' The selected Yongning Monastery passage describes the house the Dowager Empress Hu founded in 516, its nine-storeyed stupa a symbol of the northern Wei's extreme devotion to Buddhism. Yang wrote as a historian, his narrative plain and clean yet his description picture-like, giving the book the merits of a gazetteer, a religious history and a literary sketch at once, hailed as one of the 'twin jewels of Northern-Dynasty topographic prose' (with Li Daoyuan's Commentary on the Water Classic).

《洛阳伽蓝记》（节选）为北魏杨衒之所作，是记洛阳佛寺的著作。杨衒之（生卒年不详），北平人，北魏散文家。此节选部分写永宁寺：永宁寺，熙平元年灵太后胡氏所立也；中有九层浮图一所，架木为之，举高九十丈，有刹复高十丈，合去地一千尺；去京师百里，已遥见之；绣柱金铺，骇人心目。全书写洛阳佛寺之盛，是《洛阳伽蓝记》中写永宁寺的名段。

Art

This passage is good at writing the majesty of a huge structure through numbers and the senses. 'Rising ninety zhang,' 'a thousand feet above the ground,' 'already seen a hundred li away' pile up measures layer by layer, shaping the stupa's towering height with exaggeration that yet stays grounded; 'embroidered pillars and golden door-plates struck the eye with awe' turns to visual splendour, and 'the precious bells chimed in harmony… heard more than ten li away' closes on the sense of hearing, weaving sound and colour. The brush moves between parallelism and prose: it uses prose for the numbers, parallelism for the splendour, relaxed and taut by turns. The subtle wonder is that it writes only the monastery's glory and not its rise and fall, which makes the later 'ruins' all the heavier—using the extreme of a joyous scene to set off the depth of sorrow, a literary use of the historian's 'Spring and Autumn' method.

《洛阳伽蓝记》此节选艺术上以记载的详实与描写的夸张见长。此节选六句，层层写来：首句记建寺——“永宁寺，熙平元年灵太后胡氏所立也”写寺之所立；中三句记浮图——“中有九层浮图一所，架木为之，举高九十丈”写浮图之高，“有刹复高十丈，合去地一千尺”写刹之复高；后二句写其高与饰——“去京师百里，已遥见之”写百里可见，“绣柱金铺，骇人心目”写绣柱金铺。全书记载详实、描写夸张，正是杨衒之《洛阳伽蓝记》的笔法。

Allusions

The 'Dowager Empress Hu' is Hu Chonghua, empress of the northern Wei Emperor Xuanwu, who ruled from behind the curtain and squandered on Buddhism; history records 'Buddhist monasteries seen one after another across the commanderies.' 'Stupa' is a transliteration of Buddha; 'finial' means the wheel-tipped spire—both Buddhist terms. The grief of 'the millet's fallenness' quietly inherits the motif of desolation from the 'Millet's Fallen' poem in the Songs of Chu. Though the excerpt does not say so plainly, the four words 'struck the eye with awe' already hide the historian's warning that extreme splendour must decline. Few allusions, yet deep historical insight—the wonder of topographic prose that governs the many by the few.

《洛阳伽蓝记》此节选用典少而记载自明。“伽蓝”为梵语，写佛寺；“熙平元年”写北魏年号（516年）；“浮图”写佛塔；“刹”写塔顶之柱；“绣柱金铺”写雕饰。全书记载永宁寺之建与浮图之高，不用深典而详实自见，正是杨衒之记洛阳佛寺的笔法。

Commentary

The Complete Library catalogue praises the Record of the Buddhist Monasteries of Luoyang as 'rich and fair, pretty and free, never tiresome even when long, able to stand against Li Daoyuan's Commentary on the Water Classic.' The Ming scholar Zhao Wanli, in his collated edition's preface, calls it 'plain in narrative, picture-like in scene.' Fan Wenlan says it 'preserves the richest materials on northern Wei Buddhism and society.' The modern scholar Cao Daoheng, on Six Dynasties prose, ranks Yang Xuanzhi with Li Daoyuan and Yan Zhitui as the three great prose masters of the Northern Dynasties. This Yongning passage is especially valued by anthologies; the Qing scholar Wang Mu also excerpted it. In sum, writing fine prose as a historian, this one record may stand as the crown of Northern-Dynasty prose.

《洛阳伽蓝记》是杨衒之的代表作，也是北朝散文中记载佛寺的奇书。此节选写永宁寺，向为论者称道。论者多赏其记载的详实——“永宁寺，熙平元年灵太后胡氏所立也”记寺之所立，时间人物分明；“举高九十丈……去地一千尺”写浮图之高，夸张而骇目。杨衒之以《洛阳伽蓝记》追记洛阳佛寺之盛，此节选正是其代表——记载详实、描写夸张，正是其寓兴亡之叹的笔法。

Prosody

Form Northern-Southern topographic prose (classical notebook style)散文（笔记）

Rhyme Prose, unrhymed, mixing parallelism and plain sentence《洛阳伽蓝记》为北朝散文笔记，此节选以散句记永宁寺，问以骈偶，音节疏朗。

Tone pattern Classical prose sentences, level-oblique where paired北朝散文以记载详实、文笔清峻见长。此节选记永宁寺，音节疏朗而详实。全篇以散体贯底，声调与记寺之旨相合，是北朝散文笔记中记佛寺的一路。

Reading note With the Commentary on the Water Classic, one of the twin jewels of Northern prose; historian's brush as fine writing.《洛阳伽蓝记》（节选）为北魏杨衒之所作，是记洛阳佛寺的著作。此节选记永宁寺：以“熙平元年灵太后胡氏所立也”记建寺之时与建者，以“举高九十丈……合去地一千尺”记浮图之高，以“去京师百里，已遥见之”“绣柱金铺，骇人心目”写其高与丽。记载详实、描写夸张，正是杨衒之《洛阳伽蓝记》的名段。

Line by line

永宁寺，熙平元年灵太后胡氏所立也。

The Yongning Monastery was founded in the first year of Xiping by the Empress Dowager Hu.

永宁寺，是熙平元年灵太后胡氏所建立的。

The Yongning Monastery was built in the first year of Xiping by the Empress Dowager Hu.

首句记建寺，是全节选记载的起点。“永宁寺”写寺名——“永宁寺”写永宁寺；“熙平元年灵太后胡氏所立也”记其所立——“熙平元年”写北魏熙平元年（516年），“灵太后胡氏所立也”写灵太后胡氏所建立。一句记建寺：永宁寺，熙平元年灵太后胡氏所立也。以“永宁寺”点寺名，以“熙平元年灵太后胡氏所立也”记其立寺之时与建者，正是杨衒之记载详实的笔法——建寺之人、之时，一一分明。

The monastery. The Yongning Monastery was founded in the first year of Xiping by the Empress Dowager Hu. The Yongning-Monastery and the first-year-Xiping-Empress-Dowager-Hu are the record. To have founded the monastery would be a founding; the the-yongning-monastery-was-founded-in-the-first-year-of-xiping-by-the-empress-dowager-hu is the founding.

中有九层浮图一所，架木为之，举高九十丈，有刹复高十丈，合去地一千尺。

Within it stands a nine-story wooden pagoda, ninety zhang high; its spire adds ten more, rising a thousand feet from the ground.

寺中有九层佛塔一座，以木架成，高度九十丈，塔顶有刹又高十丈，合计离地一千尺。

Within is a nine-story pagoda of timber, ninety zhang high; the spire adds ten more, rising a thousand feet from the ground in all.

中三句记浮图之高，是全节选描写夸张的核心。“中有九层浮图一所”写浮图——“中有”写其中有，“九层浮图一所”写九层佛塔一座；“架木为之，举高九十丈”写其高——“架木为之”写以木架成，“举高九十丈”写高度九十丈；“有刹复高十丈，合去地一千尺”写刹之复高——“有刹复高十丈”写塔顶之刹又高十丈，“合去地一千尺”写合计离地一千尺。三句记浮图之高：九层浮图、架木为之，举高九十丈、刹复高十丈，合去地一千尺。以“举高九十丈”写塔之高，以“有刹复高十丈”写刹之复高，以“合去地一千尺”写其总高，正是杨衒之描写浮图之高的夸张笔法——一千尺之塔，何其壮伟。

The pagoda. Within it stands a nine-story wooden pagoda, ninety zhang high; its spire adds ten more, rising a thousand feet from the ground. The nine-story-wooden-pagoda and the ninety-zhang-and-spire-ten-and-thousand-feet are the height. To have risen a thousand feet would be a rising; the within-it-stands-a-nine-story-wooden-pagoda-ninety-zhang-high-its-spire-adds-ten-more-rising-a-thousand-feet-from-the-ground is the rising.

去京师百里，已遥见之。绣柱金铺，骇人心目。

A hundred li from the capital it is already visible from afar; embroidered pillars and gold fittings strike awe into the heart.

离京师百里，已经远远望见它。绣饰的柱子、金饰的门铺，令人心惊目眩。

A hundred li from the capital it is already seen from afar; embroidered pillars and gold door-staples awe the heart and eye.

末二句写其高与饰，是全节选描写之骇的归结。“去京师百里，已遥见之”写百里可见——“去京师百里”写离京师百里，“已遥见之”写已经远远望见——离京百里，已可遥见；“绣柱金铺，骇人心目”写绣柱金铺——“绣柱金铺”写绣饰之柱、金饰之铺，“骇人心目”写令人心惊目眩。二句写其高与饰：去京师百里已遥见之，绣柱金铺骇人心目。以“去京师百里，已遥见之”写塔之高（百里可见），以“绣柱金铺，骇人心目”写装饰之丽，正是杨衒之写永宁寺之壮丽、骇人心目的笔法——其高其丽，皆骇人耳目。

The awe. A hundred li from the capital it is already visible from afar; embroidered pillars and gold fittings strike awe into the heart. The hundred-li-visible-from-afar and the embroidered-pillars-gold-fittings-awe-heart are the close. To have struck awe would be a striking; the a-hundred-li-from-the-capital-it-is-already-visible-from-afar-embroidered-pillars-and-gold-fittings-strike-awe-into-the-heart is the striking.

Study

Word focus

伽蓝 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “洛阳伽蓝记”之“伽蓝”，为梵语僧伽蓝摩之省，写佛寺，是全书记载之对象的关键词。“伽蓝”写佛寺——记洛阳之佛寺。这一词以梵语“伽蓝”写佛寺：不是汉称之寺，而是梵语之伽蓝；不是寻常之记，而专记佛寺。以“伽蓝”名书，正是杨衒之记载北魏佛教之盛的笔法。

浮图 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “九层浮图一所”之“浮图”，为梵语窣堵波之译，写佛塔，是全节选写塔的关键词。“浮图”写佛塔——九层佛塔一座。这一词写佛塔：不是寻常之塔，而是浮图；不是一般之筑，而是佛家之塔。以“浮图”写塔，正是杨衒之记载佛寺之详的笔法。

架木为之 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “架木为之”之“架木为之”，写以木架成，是全节选写塔之构造的关键词。“架木”写架设木材，“为之”写建成——以木架成。这一词写塔之构造：不是石砌之塔，而架木为之；不是寻常之筑，而以木架成。以“架木为之”写塔之构造，正是杨衒之记载详实的笔法——塔之材质，一一记载。

骇人心目 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “绣柱金铺，骇人心目”之“骇人心目”，写令人心惊目眩，是全节选写永宁寺之丽的归结词。“骇”写惊骇，“心目”写心与目——绣柱金铺，令人心惊目眩。这一词写观者之感：不是寻常之美，而骇人心目；不是可置之景，而震撼耳目。以“骇人心目”写永宁寺之丽，正是杨衒之写其壮丽极致的笔法——其丽之极，骇人耳目。