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宋 Song · 诗 Poem

寻隐者不遇

Looking for a Hermit and Not Finding Him

魏野

Wei Ye

隐逸reclusion 访而不遇a visit that finds no one home 七绝seven-character quatrain

寻真误入蓬莱岛，香风不动松花老。
采芝何处未归来，白云满地无人扫。

Seeking a true immortal, I strayed as if onto the isle of Penglai;
the fragrant wind does not stir, and the pine blossoms grow old.
Where has he gone to gather the magic fungus, and why is he not back?
White clouds lie all over the ground, and no one comes to sweep them.

Listen

Meaning

The poet sets out to visit a recluse and finds the place so unearthly that he feels he has wandered onto an immortals' island. The man himself is away gathering herbs, and the clouds lying unswept on the ground show how long the place has been without a human step.

为寻访得道的真人，不知不觉竟像误入了海上的蓬莱仙岛。这里香风静静不起，只有松花自开自落、渐渐衰老。那位真人到哪里采灵芝去了，为何至今还不回来？满地铺着白云，竟没有一个人来打扫。

Appreciation

Everything in the poem is stillness, layered three times over: a fragrant wind that does not move, pine blossoms growing old with no one to notice, white clouds lying thick on the ground. The word for straying at the very start makes the arrival accidental and the place all the more removed from the world. The third line asks a question and the fourth answers it not with information but with a scene, which tells us more than any statement could: no one has walked here for a long time, so the hermit is far away and long gone. The visit fails and yet nothing is lost, since in place of the man the poet receives the whole atmosphere the man lives in.

【白话串讲】魏野也写寻隐者不遇：“寻真误入蓬莱岛，香风不动松花老”——他误入仙境。“采芝何处未归来，白云满地无人扫”——采芝的人还没回来，白云铺满地，没人扫。和贾岛那首一样空灵。【意象与手法】全诗以“误”字发端，一路写景，一路悬想。“香风不动”是嗅觉与触觉的静，“松花老”是时间的静，“白云满地”是视觉的静，三重静叠加，隐者的居处便超出了尘世。第三句设问，第四句不答而以景作答：地上白云无人扫动，说明久无人迹，隐者去得远、去得久。以景语代结论，比明说“不遇”高明得多。【情感与主旨】魏野本人就是宋初有名的隐士，此诗写访隐不遇，实则写自己心之所向。诗中的隐者被称为“真”，被想象成采芝的仙人，行踪缥缈，不可捉摸；这份不可捉摸，恰恰是诗人所倾慕的自由。寻访落空，却并不失望，反在满地白云中得到了更完整的仙境体验，怅惘之外，更多的是神往。【名句点睛】 “白云满地无人扫”七字，被历代传诵。白云本在天上，此处偏说满地；地上之物本可扫，此处偏说无人扫。一个“扫”字把缥缈的云写成了可以堆积的实物，既极写此地的清幽无人，又暗示隐者久去未归，余韵袅袅，读之如置身云海。

Background

Wei Ye (960-1019), styled Zhongxian and calling himself the Retired Scholar of the Thatched Hall, came from Shanzhou in present-day Henan and was a celebrated recluse of the early Song. He sought no office, and when Emperor Zhenzong sent envoys to summon him during the western sacrifices he pleaded illness and firmly declined. He exchanged poems with Kou Zhun and Wang Dan, wrote in a spare and austere manner with something of the Tang about it, and his original Thatched Hall Collection was re-edited by his son as the Julu Dongguan Collection. This poem is preserved in the Anthology of Song Poetry.

魏野（九六〇至一〇一九），字仲先，号草堂居士，陕州（今河南陕县）人，宋初著名隐士。他一生不求仕进，耕织自给，于州城东郊筑草堂而居，吟咏不辍；真宗西祀汾阴时遣使征召，他上表以病力辞，得赐号而不出。与寇准、王旦等朝士往来酬唱而无干谒之色，卒赠秘书省著作郎。诗格清苦，有唐人风调，原有《草堂集》，其子魏闲重编为《巨鹿东观集》。北宋初诗坛承晚唐五代余绪，魏野与林逋同为隐逸诗人的代表，而魏野较林逋更近贾岛一路的清瘦。此诗写访隐者不遇，当为作者寻访一位修道之士而作；以其自身即处江湖之远，写寻隐之事遂无隔靴之病，字字皆从真境中来。又魏野虽隐而名闻于上：真宗尝遣使赍图召之，野藏图不启，其不欲见贵势如此。与之酬唱者如寇准，野尝以诗讽其早退，准不能用，后准贬道州，人始服野之先见。此等风节，与寻隐之作相表里——诗中那个不可寻见的高士，未始不是作者自许之影。又此诗旧有作寇准九僧诸说，然宋人以九僧体归之魏野，事迹章句皆合，今从通行之本。魏野有东观集行世，此类寻访不遇之作，正是其集中当行本色，非率尔操觚者可及。

Art

The first line enters the subject through the idea of straying in by mistake, the middle lines give scene and question, and the closing line answers with a scene rather than a statement. The hermit's person is never described; only his surroundings are, so that the man is drawn through his setting and the longing is conveyed precisely by the failure to meet.

此诗的章法是一个「寻」字的层层递进：起句「寻真误入」，以「误」字发端——本是有意的寻访，却说成无意闯入，一开篇便化熟径为奇境。次句写境之幽：香风是嗅觉，「不动」是触觉与听觉的静，「松花老」是时间的静，多重感官叠成一个「静」字。第三句设问——采芝何处、何以未归，悬想隐者之行踪；第四句不答，而以景语作答：满地白云、无人扫动，则久无人迹可知，隐者去之远、去之久尽在不言中。以景代答、以境写人，通篇不写隐者之形，只写隐者之境，用环境烘托人物，是此诗最得力的手法；而「不遇」的怅惘，终被仙境般的清绝化为神往。章法之外，此诗又善用感觉的分层：香风是嗅，不动是肤觉与听觉，松花老是目，白云满地仍是目——四层感觉皆静，而由微而著，境之清遂层层加浓。设问一句于四层静中稍作波澜，随即又以景语平之，如投石深潭，波纹一圈而止，此诗境之所以深厚而不散。又全诗无一动词正面写人，而句句有人：寻是人，采是人，扫亦是人——三个动作皆落空，而落空之处即高士所在。以不写写之，以不遇遇之，此其手法之高，后来访隐诸作多不能到。

Allusions

The true one of the first line is the Daoist perfected man, one who has nourished his original nature and attained the Way. Penglai, also called Penghu, is one of the three sacred mountains of the immortals in the sea off the Bohai coast. Gathering the magic fungus refers to picking the lingzhi, held by the ancients to be a divine plant conferring long life, so that herb-gathering became shorthand for seeking immortality and living in retreat; the phrase goes back to the Song of the Purple Fungus. In the last line one text reads everywhere instead of all over the ground.

诗中语语有据。①「寻真」之「真」即真人，道家称存养本性、修真得道者为真人，寻真即寻访得道之士。②「蓬莱」又称蓬壶，神话中渤海之上仙人所居三神山之一，见《史记·封禅书》，以仙岛喻隐者居处，极言其清绝出尘。③「采芝」指采摘灵芝，古人以芝为神草，服之长生，秦末四皓避世隐居作《紫芝歌》「晔晔紫芝，可以疗饥」，后世遂以采芝代指求仙隐居。④「白云」在隐逸传统中自有渊源：陶弘景答齐高帝诏书有「山中何所有，岭上多白云，只可自怡悦，不堪持赠君」，白云遂为隐者高致的象征。末句「满地」一作「遍地」。诸典又皆隐逸传统之公共符号：蓬莱喻其远，真人尊其道，采芝美其操，白云高其致——四典并用，而人终不出场，可见用典亦即写人之法。又白云意象自陶弘景以来，凡言隐者之高辄以云代言；此诗使白云满地至于可扫，则不惟用其高，且用其亲——云非远观之物，竟与隐者同居共处，化高致为日常，此其翻新处。

Commentary

His biography in the History of the Song calls Wei Ye a painstaking poet with the manner of the Tang and many arresting lines. This poem is unhurried and refined, and among early Song poets it comes closest to the Tang note.

《宋史》本传称魏野为诗精苦，有唐人风格，多警策句。此诗在宋初诸作中最近唐调，历来选宋诗者多取之，以为宋诗初期的难得的空灵之品。「白云满地无人扫」七字尤被历代传诵——论者谓其不减唐人高处，与贾岛「只在此山中，云深不知处」并称寻隐诗的双璧，一以问答藏不遇，一以景象写不遇，各臻其妙。今人论宋初隐逸诗，于魏野此篇多致意其「化虚为实」的手段：白云本天上之物，说满地已奇，更说无人扫，则奇而又奇，清幽之境遂如可触可履。宋初九僧与晚唐体诸家，多工于句而窘于篇，此诗独章法完足、意境浑成；其后苏轼访隐、道潜寻僧诸作，写不遇而境自足者，皆此一路。后人评骘，谓此诗无一字可移易于他诗——蓬莱岛之喻、松花老之时、白云满地之景，皆为此题此境而设，浑然不可拆解，此其所以传世。又此诗之传，于宋诗中可谓妇孺能诵：白云满地一语，后人以之入画入书，隐逸题材之山水小帧，往往题此二句于其上，诗与书画互相生发，其生命遂逾于文字之外。九僧一派，句工而境狭，得此一首，遂于诗史站稳一席，可谓以一诗存一派之目。

Prosody

Form Seven-character quatrain; the rhyme words dao, lao, and sao all belong to the rising-tone hao rhyme.七言绝句。

Rhyme One rhyme throughout, falling in three of the four lines.「岛」「老」「扫」同押上声皓韵，一韵到底，三句皆押（首句入韵、二四句用韵，第三句白句不押）。上声韵之语音曲折上扬复下收，正合山径纡回、云深不知之境；皓韵字音苍老，与「松花老」「白云老境」气味相投。

Tone pattern The measure is slow and unhurried.首句「寻真误入」平仄相间，如山径迤逦；次句「香风不动松花老」连续之平声后陡落上声「老」字，如入幽境忽尔驻足；第三句设问，语势上扬而不落韵，悬而不决；末句「白云满地无人扫」以「扫」之上声收煞，音节短促而余韵悠长。通体音节舒缓，诵之如行云徐度。

Reading note Plain description from beginning to end, colored by Penglai, pine blossoms, and white clouds. The disappointment of the missed meeting is carried entirely by a place without people, and the poem attains the leisurely remoteness of late Tang verse on reclusion.此诗通体白描，以蓬莱、松花、白云设色清绝，不遇之怅全托于无人之境，得晚唐隐逸诗闲远之致。论其律法，尤可注意者三：其一，全诗几乎全用名词性意象（岛、香风、松花、芝、白云）连缀，动词极少而极准（误、不动、老、归来、扫），是以静写静的当行手段；其二，第三句设问而不答，以第四句景语代答，问答藏于景中，章法之空灵本于贾岛而更进一层；其三，押上声韵而能不衰飒，反见清苍之气，可见韵部与意境的配合之妙。宋初诗多卑弱，此篇独有唐音，故尤可珍。又七绝而通押上声者，唐宋皆罕，此诗之韵即其气：上声之抑扬，正如山径之屈曲、白云之徐舒，声与境合，遂成定格，后来作者虽多，无能易其韵致者。

Line by line

寻真误入蓬莱岛，香风不动松花老。

Searching for a perfected man, he seems to have strayed onto the immortals' isle of Penglai; the fragrant wind hangs motionless and only the pine blossoms open, fall, and quietly age. The immortal island stands for the hermit's dwelling, the unmoving wind and aging blossoms for the length of the silence; before we see the man we see the purity of the place.

为寻访得道真人，恍若误入海上蓬莱仙岛，香风寂然不动，唯有松花自开自落、暗自老去。

Seeking the true man, I strayed into an isle like Penglai; the fragrant wind stirs not, and the pine flowers fall away unnoticed.

「寻真误入」以仙岛喻隐所，把有意的寻访写成无意的闯入，「误」字见景之出人意表，亦见人之惊喜。「香风不动」是静，「松花老」是时间之静——花开花落无人过问，境之清绝全由一个「老」字压成。未见其人，先见其境，隐者的品格已在景中。一联之内又有两重时间：香风不动是当下之静，松花老是积久之静——来客所见的片刻，已含主人经年的岁月，透视之妙如此，不见其人而其人之久于山中可知。

The seeking-the-true-man-strayed-into using the fairy isle for the hermit's place, turning the intentional seeking's into the inadvertent intrusion, the wu word's seeing the scene's beyond-expectation, and the person's surprise. The fragrant-wind-stirrs-not's the stillness, the pine-flowers-fall-away-unnoticed's the time's stillness — the flower's opening-and-falling's no-one's asking, the realm's clarity's all by the one lao word's pressed-out. Not-yet-seen-the-person, first-seen-the-realm, the hermit's character's already in the scene. One couplet's within the more's two-fold time: the fragrant-wind-stirrs-not's the present's stillness, the pine-flowers-fall-away's the accumulated-long stillness — the visitor's seen's instant, already containing the master's year's-long years, the perspective's wonder thus, the not-seen-the-person and yet the person's long-in-the-mountains's knowable.

采芝何处未归来，白云满地无人扫。

Where has that true one gone to gather the magic fungus, that he has still not returned? White clouds spread across the ground, and not a soul comes to sweep them. Emptiness is used to describe the hermit's freedom, and all the wistfulness of the failed visit settles into the idle drift of the clouds.

那位真人去何处采灵芝至今未归？满地白云铺展，竟无一人前来打扫。

Where has he gone to gather lingzhi and not returned? White clouds cover the ground, and no one is there to sweep them.

采芝未归、白云满地无人扫，以境之无人反写隐者之逸。「何处」一问，问者悬想之情可见；不答而以白云作答——白云满地而不扫，则人迹之罕、去日之久俱在言外。不遇之怅，尽在白云闲落之间，可谓以景语作结的极高境界。何处一问，问者之殷与答者之无并见；而以白云作答，答在有无之间——白云是隐者的替身，见云如见人，不遇之遇，其深乃过于遇，此结句所以为高。

The gather-lingzhi-and-not-returned, and the white-clouds-cover-the-ground-no-one's-there-to-sweep, using the realm's no-person's reverse-writing the hermit's ease. The where one question, the asker's longing's visible; no-answer-and-yet-the-white-clouds-answer — the white-clouds-cover-the-ground-and-yet-no-sweep, then the human-track's rarity and the gone-day's length's all within the unsaid. The no-meeting's wistfulness, all within the white-clouds'-idle-fall's between, may's called the scene-words'-close's extreme realm. The where one question, the asker's eagerness and the answerer's no-answer's both-seen; and yet using the white-clouds' answer, the answer's between-being-and-not-being — the white clouds' the hermit's double, seeing-the-cloud's like-seeing-the-person, the no-meeting's meeting, its depth's the more the meeting, this closing line's so's high.

Study

Word focus

误 The word for straying in works because the encounter is unsought; it conveys both how unexpected the scene is and how delighted the visitor. 「误入」之「误」，妙在不期而遇。本是有目的的寻访，着一「误」字，便成无意中的闯入——既是诗人自谦寻访之诚不逮，又是极言其境之出于想望之外：走着走着，人间忽然变成了仙岛。此字与「蓬莱岛」相扣，虚实之间的转换全靠它完成；寻常一个「入」字绝无此效果，「误」字一出，惊喜、恍惚、疑非人境之状俱见。误之一字，又使全诗之境由实入虚：以下蓬莱、采芝、白云，皆自这一误字生出，一字为全篇之钥。

老 The word for growing old presses long unattended years into the falling pine blossoms. 「松花老」的「老」字，把无人过问的漫长岁月压进松花之中。花本言开落，不言老；着一「老」字，则松花之自开自落已非一时，而是经春历夏、任其萎谢于地——时间在此境中不是流逝，而是堆积。此字与「香风不动」相辅：风不动，花自老，愈静愈久，愈久愈静，隐者居处的清绝由此写足。老字之于松花，犹迟暮之于人事：境之老大，正见主人忘世之久，一字而有二重光阴。

扫 The verb for sweeping is the boldest stroke, turning the intangible into something solid so that clouds can be piled up and swept away - the height of quiet seclusion. 「白云满地无人扫」的「扫」字最奇。白云本在天上，此偏说满地；地上之物本可扫，此偏说无人扫——一个「扫」字化虚为实，使缥缈的云有了可堆可扫的形质。白云满地而言扫，见此地之高寒清幽，云雾竟如尘埃落叶之寻常；无人扫，则久无人迹可知。七字之中，境与人、静与怅俱足，故为千古名句。一个扫字，又使全诗之眼落于人力之无：仙人之地，惟以无人为饰，愈扫不动，愈见其清。