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宋 Song · 诗 Poem

送赵先生

Seeing Off Master Zhao

张方平

Zhang Fangping

田园pastoral 边塞frontier 哲理philosophy 时序seasons

家住崆峒塞垣上，翩然游蜀遂忘归。
九还气足通神化，一日丹成是道机。
曾共灵龟波上隐，又随苍雀火中飞。
只于醉里藏身去，休入红尘作是非。

Your home lies on the frontier rampart beneath Mount Kongtong; you wandered lightly into Shu and forgot to return.
Ninefold cyclical breath now full, you commune with the spirit's transformation; one day the elixir formed—that is the pivot of the Way.
Once you hid with the spirit-tortoise upon the waves; again you rode the azure sparrow flying through the fire.
Only in drunkenness hide yourself away; do not enter the dusty world to make right and wrong.

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Meaning

Your home was on the frontier wall below Mount Kongtong, yet you drifted lightly into Shu and simply forgot to go back. Your ninefold cyclical breath is full enough to reach the spirit's transformation, and when the elixir is one day complete that will be the key to the Way. You once concealed yourself with the spirit-tortoise on the waves and flew with the azure sparrow through fire. The poet urges you to hide in drink and never step into the dusty world to stir up right and wrong.

你的家本在崆峒山下那一带边塞的城垣上，却翩然一路游到蜀中，索性把归去的事忘了。九转还丹的气机已经充足，足以通于神明的造化；只等一日丹成，那便是得道的枢机。你曾经与那灵龟一同隐没在水波之上，又曾随着苍雀一起在烈火之中飞腾。你只管在醉乡里把这一身藏起来吧，千万不要再走进红尘去招惹是非。

Appreciation

This regulated octave opens by placing Master Zhao between a Taoist birthplace and a far western wander, then builds his occult attainments through three escalating layers—geography, discipline, and vision. The final couplet suddenly drops the Taoist vocabulary and speaks in plain human counsel, creating a striking contrast that reveals the poet's real concern is not immortality but safety. The middle couplets pair water and fire in balanced antithesis, the most forceful writing in the poem.

【白话串讲】张方平送赵先生：“家住崆峒塞垣上，翩然游蜀遂忘归”。“九还气足通神化，一日丹成是道机”——“只于醉里藏身去，休入红尘作是非”——他写道家修炼的高人。【意象与手法】崆峒塞垣是极北的高寒，游蜀是极西的深远，一开篇便拉开万里的空间；灵龟属水、苍雀属火，一沉一飞，一冷一热，构成内丹家水火相济的图式；末以醉与红尘对举，醉是可藏之地，红尘是不可入之境。全诗前六句用道家语汇张开一片神异，尾联忽以人间语收拢，虚实相激而不脱节。【情感与主旨】敬其道术之高，更忧其身处之险。诗人不劝对方求仙，反劝对方藏身，说明他真正看重的不是丹成，而是保全；末句休入红尘作是非，看似说方外人，其实是一个久历朝堂者的血泪之谈。【名句点睛】「曾共灵龟波上隐，又随苍雀火中飞」以水火二象作对，奇诡而工稳，是全诗最见笔力处；「只于醉里藏身去，休入红尘作是非」则以极平淡的口语收束满纸仙气，恳切动人。

Background

Zhang Fangping (1007–1091), styled Andao, known as the Layman of Lequan, rose to the post of Participant in Determining Affairs and was posthumously honored as Wen-ding; his collected works, the Lequan ji in forty juan, survive. He twice served as prefect of Yizhou and spent long years in Shu, mixing closely with local figures; it was through his recommendation that Su Xun and his sons entered court service. This poem addresses a Master Zhao whose home was at Kongtong yet who traveled to Shu and would not return; the two likely met while Zhang was governing Shu. A companion piece in the same group, 'To Master Zhao,' depicts him as feigning madness in drunkenness and consorting with recluses, and the two should be read together as concerning the same man. Kongtong, in present-day Pingliang, Gansu, is where, according to the Zhuangzi, the Yellow Emperor sought the Way from Guangchengzi, and has been a Taoist sacred mountain since antiquity; in the Song it bordered the Xixia frontier, so 'frontier rampart' is a literal description of his borderland home. A man raised in that cold northern borderland who drifts south into Shu and forgets to return already bears the freedom of a transcendent. The Northern Song was an age when neidan (internal alchemy) flourished; Chen Tuan had retired to Mount Hua, and by the Xining era Zhang Boduan wrote the Wuzhen pian, spreading the language of the returning elixir through the literati. The phrases 'ninefold breath full' and 'elixir formed in a day' use exactly that contemporary vocabulary, showing Zhang Fangping was no outsider to the art. Yet the most thought-provoking turn is the closing couplet: since Zhenzong, the court had honored Taoism and built palaces, and many clerics moved through the gates of power; Zhang, at the center of government, knew how easily flatterers fell, so instead of urging Master Zhao to advance he urges him to hide in drink and shun the dusty world. The first six lines extol his mastery; the last two suddenly ask only for his safety—a gap that is the most practical refuge a hardened statesman could devise for a friend beyond the world.

张方平（一〇〇七至一〇九一），字安道，号乐全居士，官至参知政事，谥文定，有《乐全集》四十卷。他一生两度出知益州，在蜀日久，与蜀中人物往还甚密，苏洵父子即由他荐达于朝。此诗写一位家在崆峒、而游蜀不归的赵先生，二人相识大约就在他镇蜀之时。同组另有《赠赵先生》一首，写其佯狂沈醉、与逸民往还，可与此诗互为表里，当是同一人。崆峒在今甘肃平凉，《庄子·在宥》记黄帝问道于广成子于崆峒之上，自古便是道教圣山；宋代泾原一路正当西夏之冲，故诗云塞垣，是实写其乡在边地。一个生长于边塞高寒之地的人，翩然南下入蜀，且遂忘归，这行止本身就带着方外人的洒落。北宋是内丹学勃兴的时代。宋初陈抟隐华山，其后种放、张无梦相承，至熙宁间张伯端作《悟真篇》，还丹之说遂大盛于士林。诗中九还气足、一日丹成，用的正是当日流行的语汇，可见张方平于此并非门外汉。他晚年笃好佛老，手写《楞伽经》而苏轼为之作序，于道门丹诀亦颇留意，同组《送汾阳高士归三峰》即自记曾指九丹方，可为佐证。然而此诗最耐寻味处在尾联。真宗以下崇奉道教，宫观广建，道流出入权门者不少；张方平身在中枢，深知附势者之易败，故不劝赵先生求进，反劝他醉里藏身、莫入红尘。前六句极写其术之神，末二句忽然只求其身之安，这一落差，正是一个饱经政争的士大夫替方外朋友设想的最实在的去处。

Art

The poem's structure is a great opening and a sudden closing: the first six lines let loose, the final couplet reins in hard. The letting-loose has three layers. The first is geographical: Kongtong's frontier rampart at the far northwest, then traveling to Shu in the southwest, crossing ten thousand li in a single line, and the word 'lightly' makes the journey seem as weightless as wind. The second is temporal: 'ninefold breath full' and 'elixir formed in a day' compress long practice into an instant—nine revolutions of slow work against the sudden achievement of a single day. The third is visionary: the tortoise hidden on the waves, the sparrow flying through fire, one sinking one rising, water and fire, directly sketching scenes beyond ordinary men. Stacked together, Master Zhao is nearly written as a half-immortal. The closing uses but fourteen characters: 'only in drunkenness hide yourself away; do not enter the dusty world to make right and wrong,' the language suddenly plain, not a single Taoist term; the two function words 'only' and 'do not' advise and warn like an elder's charge. Such release then such restraint, the gap vast yet not jarring, because the word 'hide' in the third couplet already laid the groundwork—one who can hide on the waves should also be able to hide in drink. The strange realm and the ordinary realm are joined by that one word 'hide.' The antithesis is especially skillful: the second couplet pairs 'ninefold' with 'one day,' a numeric antithesis, more against less; 'breath full' against 'elixir formed,' a discipline pair; 'commune with transformation' against 'is the Way's pivot,' one moving one fixed. The third couplet pairs 'once' with 'again,' adverbs of time; 'spirit-tortoise' with 'azure sparrow,' numinous creatures, dark against azure; 'hidden on the waves' against 'flying through fire,' water against fire, sinking against rising, the most startling. Song regulated verse often grows flat in its middle couplets, but this poem is strange without being awkward. Note also the poem's person: not one 'you' appears, yet every line is 'you'—home, traveled, breath full, elixir formed, once, again, hide, do not enter: eight actions all belonging to the other. The poet withdraws entirely behind the scene, revealing himself only in the tone of the last two lines—that unanswerable remonstrance can come only from one who cares.

此诗的结构是一个大开大合：前六句尽力放，尾联猛力收。放的手段有三层。第一层是地理的放：崆峒塞垣在西北极边，游蜀则入西南腹地，一句之内跨过万里，且用翩然二字使这万里行程轻得像一阵风。第二层是功候的放：九还气足、一日丹成，把时间由长压到极短——九转是漫长的功夫，一日是刹那的成就，长短相激，遂觉神异。第三层是境界的放：灵龟波上隐、苍雀火中飞，一沉一举，一水一火，直接写出常人不能到的场景。三层叠上去，赵先生几乎已被写成半仙。收则只用十四字。只于醉里藏身去，休入红尘作是非，语言忽然变得极平常，连一个道家字面都不用；只、休两个虚字一劝一戒，语气像长辈叮咛。前面那样放，此处这样收，落差极大而不觉突兀，原因在于颈联的隐字早已埋下伏笔——能在波上隐的人，本该也能在醉里藏。奇境与俗境由一个隐字接通。对仗尤见工力。颔联九还对一日，是数字对，且一多一少；气足对丹成，是功候对；通神化对是道机，一动一断。颈联曾共对又随，是时间副词对；灵龟对苍雀，是灵物对，且颜色一暗一苍；波上隐对火中飞，则水火对、沉举对，最为奇警。宋人七律的中二联常患平顺，此诗偏能奇而不涩。还须留意全诗的人称。通篇不着一个你字，却句句是你：家住、游蜀、气足、丹成、曾共、又随、藏身、休入，八个动作全属对方。诗人自己完全退到幕后，只在末二句的语气里露出一点身影——那种不容置疑的劝止，唯有关切者说得出。以隐去自己的方式表达关切，是宋人赠答诗中较为高明的一种分寸。

Allusions

All the allusions are Taoist, in three strata: place, elixir formula, and reclusion. The Kongtong allusion is oldest: the Zhuangzi records the Yellow Emperor, nineteen years after becoming Son of Heaven, hearing that Guangchengzi was on Kongtong, went to ask the supreme Way; later ages took Kongtong as the place of seeking the Way. Opening with 'home at Kongtong' gives Master Zhao a Taoist native place: not an occasional student of the Way, but born beneath the Way's mountain. 'Frontier rampart' shows his land was a border, a Song idiom for the northwest, paired with Kongtong, one empty one real. 'Ninefold' is the nine-revolution returning elixir: the Baopuzi lists the nine-elixir methods, and the Cantong qi takes the returning elixir as its core, saying the elixir is complete after nine revolutions; 'breath full' also borrows the neidan idea of refining essence to breath. 'Spirit transformation' comes from the Xici's 'spirit and transform it,' originally the miracle of heaven and earth's generation, here borrowed for a state communing with creation. The 'pivot' of the Way is the hinge, a term common to both Chan and Taoism, meaning success or failure turns on a single shift. These three terms together merge external alchemy's furnace-fire with internal alchemy's climate, exactly the Song clerics' practice of both. The third couplet is the hardest to parse. The spirit-tortoise comes from the Zhouyi, where the turtle is a numinous thing for divination, and the Baopuzi takes turtle and crane as proofs of long life through breathing; the azure sparrow connects to the Vermilion Bird, the southern fire image. Neidan takes water and fire as the furnace and the four images as the medicines, the turtle belonging to water and the sparrow to fire, so 'hidden on the waves' and 'flying through fire' are exactly the two disciplines of water and fire. If not read as alchemy, they may simply be marvelous deeds—once with the tortoise sinking into water, again with the sparrow rising in fire, writing his passing in and out of water and fire unhindered. Both readings work. The closing 'hide in drunkenness' quietly takes up the Wei-Jin tradition of escaping fame through wine: Ruan Ji, amid dynastic change, drank wildly to avoid the rulers' suspicion, becoming the progenitor of later self-concealment. 'Dusty world' originally meant dust raised by carts and horses, and after Tang-Song meant the human world, set against the land of drink. The poet begins with Taoist terms and ends with Wei-Jin affairs, showing the remedy he prescribes for his friend beyond the world is ultimately human wisdom.

全诗用典皆属道家一路，而分属三个层次：地望、丹诀、避世。崆峒之典最古。《庄子·在宥》记黄帝立为天子十九年，闻广成子在崆峒之上，故往见之而问至道。后世遂以崆峒为问道之地。诗以家住崆峒起句，等于先替赵先生安一个道门的籍贯：他不是偶然学道，是生在道山之下。塞垣则见其地当边防，是宋人写西北的成语，与崆峒相连，一虚一实。九还即九转还丹。《抱朴子内篇·金丹》历叙九丹之法，《周易参同契》以还丹为要旨，谓丹经九转而功成；气足云者，则兼内丹家炼精化气之说。神化二字出《周易·系辞》所言神而化之，本谓天地生成之妙，此处借指与造化相通的境界。道机的机，是枢机、关键，禅道两家皆常用，谓成败系于一转之间。三个语汇连用，把外丹的炉火与内丹的气候合在一处，正是北宋道流兼修二者的实况。颈联两句最费推寻。灵龟自《周易》以龟为卜筮之灵物，《抱朴子内篇·对俗》又以龟鹤遐寿为导引养生之据；苍雀则可与朱雀相通，为南方火象。内丹家以水火为鼎炉、以四象喻药物，龟属水而雀属火，故波上隐与火中飞正是一水一火的两重功境。若不作丹法解，亦可视为传闻中的神异行迹——曾与灵龟同没于水，又随苍雀共腾于火，写其出入水火而无碍。两解并存，皆通。尾联的醉里藏身，则暗接魏晋以来以酒逃名的传统。阮籍身处易代之际，酣饮佯狂以避当道之忌，遂为后世晦迹保身的祖师。红尘一语本谓车马扬起的尘土，唐宋以后专指人世，与醉乡相对而言。诗人以道家语起、以魏晋事结，说明他给方外朋友开的方子，终究还是人间的智慧。

Commentary

Song poems to Taoists fall roughly into three kinds: one elaborates the splendor of rites and robes, slipping into ornateness; one lists names of elixir formulas and talismans, slipping into clutter; one starts from human affairs, using Taoist words for the self, and is often worthwhile. This poem is the third kind, and a properly orthodox example of it. Its merit first lies in offering no flattery: the first six lines, though they extol Master Zhao's marvels, are narration not praise—home, traveled, breath full, elixir formed, once, again, all in the tone of factual record, never cloying. Song occasional verse most easily falls into praise; this poem substitutes narration for commendation, the mark of one who knows measure. Next is the closing turn: after a page of immortal air, it ends with 'hide in drink, shun the dusty world,' as if admitting: however high the art, a man must still live in the world. This turn pulls the whole poem from the realm of wandering immortals back to the experienced world of the literatus, and quietly mirrors the poet's own plight. Zhang Fangping served three reigns—Ren-zong, Ying-zong, Shen-zong—and as censor-in-chief was punished for plain speech; in his later years he contested the New Policies, so 'right and wrong' was no abstraction to him. Spoken by his mouth, 'do not enter the dusty world to make right and wrong' carries a weight ordinary counsel to recluses lacks. Zhang's poetic fame was never great: the Song shi biography honors his judgment, and Su Shi's epitaph praises his far-sightedness, yet few anthologies of Tang and Song poetry record his poems. Fairly speaking, he was not good at striking lines, but what he accumulated in his breast was deep, so his observations on paper often hit the mark. Qian Zhongshu's Tan yi lu says Song poetry often wins by sinew, thought, and reason; by that measure, the strange thought of the third couplet and the settled conviction of the last are exactly the sinew. If fault is to be found, the tortoise and sparrow of the third couplet have no settled interpretation, leaving readers at a loss; this is the common ailment of Song poets importing religious terms—words clear to the in-group become riddles to later ages. Yet precisely for that reason such works have documentary value for understanding Northern Song Taoism and should not be lightly dismissed as mere poetry.

宋人赠道士诗，大略有三种写法：一是铺陈斋醮法服之盛，失之绮丽；二是罗列丹诀符箓之名，失之芜杂；三是从人事着眼，借道言身，则往往有味。此诗属第三种，且是其中路数颇正的一首。它的可观处，首先在于不作谀辞。前六句虽极写赵先生的神异，却句句是叙述而非奉承：家住、游蜀、气足、丹成、曾共、又随，皆如实记事的语气，读来不觉肉麻。宋人赠答最易堕入称扬的窠臼，此诗以叙代赞，是知分寸者。其次在于尾联的转折。满纸仙气之后，忽以醉里藏身、休入红尘作结，等于承认：术再高，人还是要在世上活。这个转折使全诗从游仙一路拉回到士大夫的经验世界，也把诗人自己的处境悄悄映了进去。张方平历仕仁宗、英宗、神宗三朝，为御史中丞时以直言得罪，晚年又与新法当事者龂龂争议，是非二字于他不是抽象概念。以他之口说休入红尘作是非，分量自与寻常劝隐语不同。张方平诗名素不显。《宋史》本传重其识量，苏轼为撰墓志亦称其虑事之远，而历代唐宋诗选本罕录其诗。平心而论，他不长于警句，但胸中所积厚，故议论落到纸上常能中的。钱钟书《谈艺录》谓宋诗多以筋骨思理见胜，若以此语衡量此诗，则颈联的奇思与尾联的定见，正是筋骨所在。若要指其不足，则颈联的灵龟苍雀究属何指，历来无确解，读者不免隔膜；这也是宋人以宗教语汇入诗的通病——当日圈内人一读便晓的字面，后世遂成谜语。然而正因如此，这类作品对了解北宋道教的实际形态反倒有其史料的价值，不宜仅以诗论诗而轻忽之。

Prosody

Form Seven-character regulated verse (qilü)七言律诗

Rhyme Rhymes with the level-tone wei rhyme (upper-level fifth wei): gui, ji, fei, fei (归, 机, 飞, 非). The first line closes on the oblique-tone word 'shang' (上) and does not enter the rhyme, the standard form of qilü.押平声微韵（上平五微）：归、机、飞、非。首句以塞垣上之上字收，仄声不入韵，为七律正格。

Tone pattern Oblique-onset, first line not entering rhyme. The first line 'home at Kongtong frontier rampart' is ping-ze-ping-ping-ze-ping-ze; the sixth syllable should be oblique but is level, a minor irregularity; the other seven lines observe the second-fourth-sixth syllable rules without error. 'One day the elixir formed' is ze-ze-ping-ping-ze-ze-ping; 'once with the spirit-tortoise' is ping-ze-ping-ping-ping-ze-ze; 'again with the azure sparrow' is ze-ping-ping-ze-ze-ping-ping—all conform.仄起首句不入韵式。首句家住崆峒塞垣上为平仄平平仄平仄，第六字当仄而用平，是一处小拗；此下七句的二四六字平仄悉合，粘对无失。一日丹成是道机为仄仄平平仄仄平，曾共灵龟波上隐为平仄平平平仄仄，又随苍雀火中飞为仄平平仄仄平平，皆合调无碍。

Reading note Aside from the one minor irregularity in the sixth syllable of the first line, the whole poem obeys the rules; the bonding and opposition are flawless, among the neater in Zhang Fangping's corpus. Its steadiness owes half to the antithesis of the middle couplets—ninefold against one day, breath full against elixir formed, tortoise against sparrow, hidden on waves against flying through fire—where part of speech, number, direction, and the five elements all correspond, so the prosody is held straight by the antithesis. Strange thought and strict meter together is the rarest state of qilü: the stranger the idea, the steadier the tone must be, or it lapses into miscellany. The rhyme deserves care: gui, ji, fei, fei all belong to upper-level fifth wei, a fine close syllable; the mouth narrows, the breath inward, the tone light and far—not as loud as the yang rhyme, not as heavy as the han rhyme. Used for a man who wanders far and passes through water and fire, it fits: light suits flight, fine suits hiding. The four rhyme words—return, pivot, fly, right-and-wrong—form a thread from journey to discipline, to marvel, to human affairs; the sound rises lightly and at the last word 'fei' (wrong) carries a sudden severity, and the poem closes. Rhythm-wise, the seven-character four-three pause runs throughout; the eight lines keep one beat, none read across. This regularity keeps the strange realm of the third couplet from running away: the plainer the syntax, the more bizarre the content, the more real it feels, as if passing through water and fire were ordinary. The last couplet keeps the same beat, yet with the two function words 'only' and 'do not' leading the lines the tone suddenly turns earnest—a fine example of changing voice without changing rhythm.此诗除首句第六字一处小拗外，通篇合律，粘对无一失误，在张方平集中属规整的一路。所以能如此稳，一半要归功于中二联的对仗——九还对一日、气足对丹成、灵龟对苍雀、波上隐对火中飞，词性、数目、方位、五行皆一一相当，格律遂被对仗撑得笔直。奇思与严律并存，是七律最难得的状态：意思愈奇，声调愈须端稳，否则便流为杂体。用韵尤宜细味。归、机、飞、非同属上平五微，韵母为齐齿细音，发声时口形收窄，气息内敛而微带上扬，音色轻细悠远，不像阳韵那样洪亮，也不似寒韵那般沉着。用它来写一个翩然远游、出入水火的方外人，正得其宜：轻则宜于飞，细则宜于隐。四个韵脚归、机、飞、非，恰好排成一条意脉——忘归、道机、火飞、是非，由行踪而功候，由功候而神异，由神异而人事，声音一路轻扬，落到末字非上忽然带出一点凛然，全诗于是收住。节奏上，七言四三的停顿贯彻始终：家住崆峒——塞垣上，只于醉里——藏身去。八句节拍如一，无一处跨读。这种整齐使颈联的奇境不至于失控：句式愈平常，内容愈骇异，读来反而更觉真切，仿佛出入水火本是寻常事。末联仍用同一节拍，却因只、休两个虚字领句，语气顿转恳切，是不改节奏而改声情的好例。

Line by line

家住崆峒塞垣上，翩然游蜀遂忘归。

Your home lies on the frontier rampart beneath Mount Kongtong; you wandered lightly into Shu and forgot to return. (The opening gives him a native place with a double identity: Kongtong is where the Yellow Emperor sought the Way, marking him as from the mountain of the Way; 'frontier rampart' shows his land was the cold northwest border, the opposite pole of Shu's warmth. The word 'lightly' makes a ten-thousand-li journey seem weightless, and 'forgot to return' means not that he could not go back but that he chose not to—no struggle, only ease.)

你的家本在崆峒山下那一带边塞的城垣上，却翩然一路游到蜀中，索性把归去的事忘了。

Your home lies by the Kongtong ramparts of the border; lightly you wandered into Shu and forgot to return.

起句先替人安一个籍贯，且这籍贯有双重身份：崆峒是《庄子》所记黄帝问道于广成子之地，一提便知其人来自道山；塞垣又点出那里正当西北边防，高寒荒远，与蜀中的湿润丰饶恰成两极。一句之内既立道门的出身，又立地理的高寒，用笔极省。次句写行踪。由西北到西南，横跨万里，本是极辛苦的长途，诗人只用翩然二字带过，那份轻捷便与常人的跋涉全然不同——是飞过来的，不是走过来的。而遂忘归三字更妙：不是回不去，是不想回；不是被留住，是自己忘了。遂字带着顺理成章的意味，仿佛蜀中好，那就不走了，全无勉强。两句合看，一句写他从哪里来，一句写他为什么不走，把一位方外人的来龙去脉交代清楚，同时也把他不受牵系的性情写了出来。送别诗从行踪起笔者多矣，能于起笔处兼写身份、地理与性情三事者不多。

The opening first assigns the man a native place, and this native place has a double identity: Kongtong is the place where, in Zhuangzi, the Yellow Emperor asked Guangchengzi the Way; the name at once tells that the man comes from the Way hills. The border ramparts point out that the place lies on the northwest frontier, cold and desolate, set against Shu's wet richness as two poles. In one line it at once establishes his Taoist origin and the coldness of the geography, the brush most spare. The second line writes his travels: from the northwest to the southwest, across ten thousand li, originally an extremely hard journey, yet the poet carries it off with only the two words lightly, that light quickness utterly unlike an ordinary trek - he flew over, not walked. The three words and forgot to return are finer still: not that he could not go back, but that he did not want to; not that he was kept, but that he forgot of himself. The word and carries the sense of things falling out as they should - since Shu is fair, then he does not leave, no forcing. The two lines together write where he came from and why he does not go, giving a clear account of the outsider's origin and course, and writing his temperament of being unbound. Many farewell poems begin from travels, yet few can write identity, geography and temperament all at the opening stroke.

曾共灵龟波上隐，又随苍雀火中飞。

Once you hid with the spirit-tortoise upon the waves; again you rode the azure sparrow flying through the fire. (The strangest and hardest couplet: the tortoise belongs to water, the sparrow to fire; one sinks into the waves, one rises in fire, writing a realm beyond ordinary men. Read as neidan it is the water-and-fire discipline; read plainly it is a marvel of passing unhindered through water and fire. The pairing is exact yet not stiff, and the plain adverbs 'once' and 'again' make it sound like ordinary experience. Note the word 'hide,' the hidden tenon of the whole poem: one who can hide on the waves can also hide in drink.)

你曾经与那灵龟一同隐没在水波之上，又曾随着苍雀一起在烈火之中飞腾。

Once you hid with the sacred turtle above the waves; again you flew with the dark sparrow through the fire.

这是全诗最奇的一联，也是最难索解的一联。灵龟属水，苍雀近于朱雀而属火；一句沉入波中，一句腾于火里，水火两极，隐飞两向，把常人不可到的境界一举写出。内丹家以水火为鼎炉、以四象喻药物，故此联很可能是以丹法的水火功候写其修炼所历；若不作丹解，径读为传闻中出入水火而无碍的神异行迹，亦自可通。两解并行不碍其奇。就笔法论，此联的对仗极工而不呆。曾共对又随，是先后；灵龟对苍雀，是灵物；波上隐对火中飞，则水对火、上对中、隐对飞，字字相当而意思相反。奇处在于诗人不作惊叹，只用曾、又两个平常副词把它说成寻常经历，仿佛这类事他做过不止一回。愈是淡淡地说，愈显其不可思议。更须注意隐字。它是全诗的暗榫：能在波上隐的人，才可能在醉里藏。奇境与末联的俗境，正靠这一个字接通。

This is the poem's strangest couplet and the hardest to construe. The sacred turtle belongs to water; the dark sparrow is near the Vermilion Bird and belongs to fire. One line sinks into the waves, the other soars in the fire; water and fire are two poles, hidden and flying two directions, writing at a stroke a realm ordinary men cannot reach. Inner alchemists take water and fire as the furnace and the four images as the medicine, so this couplet likely writes the stages of his refinement through the water-fire stages of the elixir; if not read as alchemy, taking it directly as the legendary miraculous passage through water and fire unharmed, it also stands. The two readings do not harm its strangeness. As for the brush, the parallel is most wrought yet not stiff: once you paired with again follow, earlier and later; sacred turtle paired with dark sparrow, numinous creatures; hidden above the waves paired with flying through the fire, water against fire, above against within, hidden against flying, each character matched yet the meaning opposite. The strangeness lies in that the poet does not marvel, but uses the two ordinary adverbs once and again to call it an ordinary experience, as if he has done such things more than once. The more lightly it is said, the more inconceivable it shows. Notice the word hidden: it is the poem's hidden joint - the man who can hide above the waves may also hide in drunkenness; the wondrous realm and the closing's mortal realm are joined by this single character.

只于醉里藏身去，休入红尘作是非。

Only in drunkenness hide yourself away; do not enter the dusty world to make right and wrong. (The first six lines release far, this couplet reins in near; the first six are full of Taoist terms, this uses none. The gap is the poem's whole intent: the art may commune with the spirit, but the body still needs a place to hide. 'Only' and 'do not' advise and forbid like an elder's charge. 'Make right and wrong' is striking—not 'caught in right and wrong' but 'make it,' warning that once in the dusty world you too may become part of it. For Zhang Fangping, who was punished for plain speech and contested the New Policies, 'right and wrong' was personal pain; the final 'hide' is where the poem's warmth lies.)

你只管在醉乡里把这一身藏起来吧，千万不要再走进红尘去招惹是非。

Hide yourself away only in drunkenness; do not enter the dusty world to stir up right and wrong.

前六句放得极远，此联收得极近；前六句满是道家字面，此联一个也不用。落差之大，正是全诗的用心所在：术可以通神化，身仍须找地方藏。只与休两个虚字，一劝一戒，把语气定在长辈叮咛的位置。只于是收拢一切可能，除此之外别无选择；休入则是断然禁止，不容商量。作是非三字尤其耐读——不说卷入是非，而说作是非，把人从被动的受害者写成可能的参与者：一入红尘，你也难保不成为是非的一部分。这话看似严，其实是极体贴的提醒。以张方平的身份读之，更觉沉重。他历仕三朝，为御史中丞时以直言得罪，晚年与新法当事者往复争议，是非二字于他是切身之痛。真宗以下崇道，道流出入权门者不少，一时荣宠而终归倾覆的例子他见得多了，故不劝赵先生求进，只劝他藏。满纸仙气，最后落到一个藏字，全诗的温度就在这里。

The first six lines are let go to the farthest; this couplet draws them in nearest. The first six lines are full of Taoist words; this one uses not a single one. The great drop is exactly the poem's intent: the art can reach spirit and transformation, yet the body still must find a place to hide. The two empty words only and do not, one urging one warning, fix the tone in an elder's charge. Only means gathering every possibility, no other choice; do not enter is a flat prohibition, no discussion. The three words stir up right and wrong are especially worth reading - not say being drawn into right and wrong, but say stirring it up, writing the man from a passive victim into a possible participant: once you enter the dusty world, you cannot guarantee not becoming part of the right and wrong. This seems severe, really a most thoughtful reminder. Read in Fangping's station, it feels the heavier: he served three reigns, offended as censor-in-chief through straight speech, and in old age disputed back and forth with the authors of the new policies; the words right and wrong are a personal pain to him. Under Zhenzong and after, the court honored the Way, and many Taoist priests moved in and out of the powerful gates; the examples of momentary favor ending in overthrow he had seen often, so he does not urge Mr. Zhao to advance, only urges him to hide. The page full of immortal air ends in the single word hide; the poem's warmth lies here.

Study

Word focus

遂 then / and so. In 'wandered lightly into Shu and forgot to return,' the word 'then' (sui) seems dispensable but is the joint of the opening couplet; it means 'thereupon, unexpectedly,' carrying an unresisting, yielding mood: he came to Shu, found it good, and so forgot to return—no weighing, no decision, no struggle to leave home. Swap it for 'actually' and it gains surprise; 'then' (bian) is too crisp; 'yet' (que) adds a turn implying a battle between staying and going. Only 'sui' is loosest, least forced, fitting a man beyond the world whose coming and going are no question. It links with 'lightly': 'lightly' writes the body's ease, 'sui' the mind's ease; together they fix his unbound nature and prepare the ground for 'hide in drink.' 翩然游蜀遂忘归的遂字，看似可有可无，实则是首联的关节。遂训作于是、竟然，带着顺势而然、不加抵抗的意味：来了蜀中，觉得好，于是就忘了归去——中间没有权衡，没有决断，也没有留恋故乡的挣扎。若换成竟，则有出人意料的语气，仿佛连他自己也吃惊；换成便，则太快太脆，少了那种自然滑过去的从容；换成却，就添出转折，暗示归与不归曾经交战。唯有遂字最松，最不用力，恰合一个方外人的性情：他的去留本不是问题，走到哪里就在哪里。遂字又与前面的翩然相衔。翩然写身之轻，遂字写心之松；身既无碍，心自无系。两处合力，把这个人的不受牵绊立住了，也为末联的醉里藏身预留了地步——一个连故乡都能忘的人，自然也能把自己藏进酒里。

藏 hide / conceal. The word 'hide' is the poem's landing point and its key. After a page of marvels, the refuge the poet finds for Master Zhao is but this one word 'hide'—showing what matters most is not attaining the Way but preserving the body. It echoes 'hide' in the third couplet: hidden on the waves is art, hidden in drink is affair; one is the realm of the Way, the other the means in the human world. The poet joins them into one line, as if saying: since you can vanish in the water, why not also dodge in wine. This word spares the poem much exposition; it need not explain how perilous the dusty world is, only hands the other an action—hide. Action beats reason because it can be done at once. 'Hide' carries a real sense of space: put this burdensome body somewhere away. 藏字是全诗的落点，也是通篇的密钥。满纸神异之后，诗人替赵先生指出的去处竟只是一个藏字，可见他心中最要紧的不是成道，是保身。这个字与颈联的隐遥相照应。波上隐是术，醉里藏是事；隐是道术里的境界，藏是人世间的手段。诗人把二者接成一条线，等于说：你既然能在水波里隐没，何不也在酒里躲一躲。奇境与俗境之间的桥，就架在这一对同义而不同界的字上。藏字还替全诗省去了大量说辞。它不必解释红尘如何险恶、是非如何缠人，只把一个动作交给对方——藏。动作比道理有力，因为它可以立刻执行。若换作醉里逃名、醉里销忧，逃与销都偏于情绪的消解，不如藏字那样带着实实在在的空间感：把身体这个累赘之物，找一处放起来。魏晋以来以酒逃名的传统，被这一个藏字重新说得极具体。

休 do not / cease. In 'do not enter the dusty world to make right and wrong,' 'do not' (xiu) is the only commanding word in the poem; it means 'do not,' used in speech, more intimate than 'mo,' more cutting than 'wu,' exactly the tone of an elder or close friend. Its force comes from position: the first seven lines set no prohibition, then the eighth suddenly forbids, and the tone turns strict. This turn is protection, not blame—one who has seen many fall has only this word to entrust. 'Do not' pairs with 'only' above: 'only' is the sole permission, 'do not' the sole prohibition; one opens one closes, narrowing the other's path to a single road—except the land of drink, go nowhere. Using 'mo' would be lighter and break the plain close; 'wu' would be too formal; 'not enter' would be statement, losing the charge. Only 'xiu' is spoken yet weighty, with a near-pleading warmth. 休入红尘作是非的休字，是全诗唯一带命令语气的字。休训作莫、不要，用于口语，比莫更亲切，比勿更斩截，正是长辈或密友说话的口吻。它的力量来自位置。前七句无一句设禁，一路是叙述、是称许、是想象；到第八句忽然出现一个禁止词，全诗的语调骤然转严。这一转不是责备，而是保护——一个见惯了倾覆的人，最后只剩这一句话可以嘱托。休字又与上句的只字构成一对。只于是唯一的许可，休入是唯一的禁止；一开一闭，把对方的去路收成了一条：除了醉乡，哪里都别去。这种把选择压到极窄的写法，正见叮咛之切。若改用莫入，语气稍轻，且与全诗口语化的收束略隔；改用勿入，则文气太正，像公文；改用不入，便成陈述，失了嘱托之意。唯有休字，既是口语，又有分量，还带着一点近乎恳求的温度。