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宋 Song · 诗 Poem

居忧过祥制示辰长老

Shown to Elder Chen While in Mourning, After the Xiang Rite

张方平

Zhang Fangping

山水landscape 咏史history 边塞frontier 哲理philosophy

流景无端隙驷驰，永怀顾复感慈闱。
幸兹门外车马少，更复朝中书信稀。
衰飒颠毛素丝短，芒佯病眼乱花飞。
舍西赖与招提接，时叩禅关话祖机。

Unbidden, fleeting time races on like steeds through a crevice; I cherish forever my parents' care and mourn my mother's gentle chamber.
Happily, few carriages and horses pass outside my gate, and letters from court grow ever rarer.
Decayed and gray, the white silk of my crown is short; my ailing eyes see wild flowers whirling in dazzlement.
Luckily my house westward adjoins the temple; from time to time I knock at the gate of Chan and talk of the patriarchs' wordless turns.

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Meaning

Written while Zhang Fangping was observing the mourning period for a parent and had passed the xiang sacrifice, this poem tells the elder monk Chen how he is faring. He laments that time flies like a steed passing a crack, while he forever cherishes the nurture his late mother gave him. Yet the quiet of the mourning household — few visitors, few letters — is counted a blessing, even as his hair whitens and his failing eyes see drifting motes. His consolation lies next door: he often calls at the monastery to discuss Chan with the abbot, turning grief into meditative calm.

流光如白驹过隙无情飞驰，我永怀父母鞠育之恩，感念亡母慈闱。幸而此时门外车马稀少，更有朝中书信渐稀。衰飒中颠毛素丝短少，病眼芒佯乱花飞动。舍西靠着与招提寺院相接，时时叩禅关门径，与长老话祖师机锋。

Appreciation

The poem unfolds in four layers — mourning, the stillness of the household, bodily decline, and the joy of Chan — moving from sorrow to serenity without ever breaking into loud lament. The opening couplet sets the tone of elegy by joining the swift passage of time to the memory of a mother's care; the second couplet finds a 'fortune' in the very desolation of the house. The parallel couplets are quietly wrought, pairing 'few carriages' with 'rare letters' and 'short white hair' with 'flying motes.' The whole piece begins in grief and ends in Chan ease, sorrowful without being wounded — a model of how Song poets 'dispelled feeling with reason.'

【白话串讲】张方平守丧期满，写给辰长老：“流景无端隙驷驰，永怀顾复感慈闱”——他思念逝去的母亲。“衰飒颠毛素丝短，芒佯病眼乱花飞”——“时叩禅关话祖机”——他叩问禅理。【意象与手法】章法以「丧中—门庭—衰病—禅悦」为次。首联以隙驷之叹起，落于顾复感慈闱的哀婉；颔联写丧中谢绝人事、门庭冷落，反以「幸」见静；颈联写己身衰病，素丝、乱花皆衰飒之象；尾联写与僧相接、叩禅遣哀。通篇以哀起以禅结。【情感与主旨】主旨是居丧中的哀婉与禅悦交织：既永怀慈母、感衰病之侵，又借叩禅关话祖机以求安心。体现宋人「以佛济儒」的切实丧礼实践，哀而不伤。【名句点睛】「舍西赖与招提接，时叩禅关话祖机」一联最见斤两，把丧中安慰落到实处，是宋人三教调和晚年心境的平实标本。

Background

The xiang rite refers to the sacrifices held during the mourning period: the lesser xiang at the thirteenth month and the greater xiang at the twenty-fifth month, after which the mourning garments could be removed. 'Residing in sorrow' (juyou) means observing the full period of mourning, during which a scholar-official was barred from office, feasting, and marriage. Zhang Fangping wrote this poem when a parent's mourning period was nearing its end, addressing it to Elder Chen, a monk whose temple stood next to his residence, to share the feelings of his mourning. In the Song dynasty it was common practice for literati to supplement the Confucian rites of mourning with visits to Chan masters to ease their grief — a habit begun by Pei Xiu and Bai Juyi in the Tang and greatly enlarged in Song times. Sima Guang and Su Shi likewise turned to Chan during mourning. Zhang Fangping, deeply versed in Buddhist doctrine in his old age, was one such practitioner, and this poem is precious evidence of how a Song statesman reconciled Confucian ritual with Buddhist consolation in the practice of daily life.

祥制指丧服祥祭之制，居忧即居丧。张方平《居忧过祥制示辰长老》当作于其遭母丧（或父丧）守制、祥祭既过之时，寄示辰长老（僧）以道丧中情怀。宋人居丧依礼守制二十七个月，祥祭为小祥（十三月）大祥（廿五月）之祭，过祥则丧期将毕。方平晚年深于佛理，丧中多与僧徒往还以求安心，此诗即其一。了解宋代士大夫「以佛济儒」的丧礼实践——居丧本儒礼，而叩禅关以遣哀——方能读懂「幸兹门外车马少」「时叩禅关话祖机」的慰藉。辰长老当为方平所礼之僧，舍西招提即可相接，平日过从甚密。此诗是理解方平晚岁儒释调和的珍贵标本。祥制为古代丧礼之制，父母之丧，期而小祥（十三月），再期而大祥（廿五月），大祥之后除服，其间依礼守制，不得任官、宴乐、婚嫁。张方平此诗题曰「居忧过祥制」，当作于其遭亲丧、祥祭既过而尚未除服之时。宋代士大夫居丧，儒礼之外，多参禅以遣哀、以安心，此风自唐裴休、白居易已启其端，至宋而大盛。方平晚年深于佛理，居忧之中时叩禅关、与辰长老论道，正见其「以佛济儒」的切实态度——儒主守礼，佛主安心，二者并行不悖，共同安顿丧亲之痛。

Art

The poem is a seven-character regulated verse in four couplets, ordered as 'mourning — stillness of the gate — decline of the body — delight in Chan,' a quietly dignified architecture. The first couplet opens with the sigh of time racing past and settles upon remembrance of the mother ('the gentle chamber'), striking an elegiac note at once. The second couplet describes the mourner's deliberate withdrawal from the world — carriages few, court letters rare — and turns it into a 'fortune' of quiet. The third couplet depicts his own decay: the white silk of thinning hair, the wild flowers flying before diseased eyes, both images of decline. The final couplet closes with his reliance on the neighboring temple, knocking at the gate of Chan to ease his grief. The four layers turn from grief to stillness, from stillness to emptiness, feeling gradually subsiding into the peace of Chan — precisely the ideal of 'grief without harm' and the Song manner of 'dispelling feeling with reason.' In the parallel couplets, 'outside the gate few carriages' answers 'at court rare letters,' writing the quiet of seclusion through the silence of human traffic; 'short white silk' answers 'flying wild flowers,' writing the encroachment of age through images of the body. The whole poem speaks of utmost grief in pale language, never wailing, yet the sorrow is deep of itself.

此诗七言四联，以「丧中—门庭—衰病—禅悦」为次，章法沉静。首联「流景无端隙驷驰，永怀顾复感慈闱」以时光飞逝起，落于对亡母（慈闱）的感念，起手便见哀婉。颔联「幸兹门外车马少，更复朝中书信稀」写丧中谢绝人事、门庭冷落，反以「幸」字见其得静。颈联「衰飒颠毛素丝短，芒佯病眼乱花飞」写己身衰病，素丝、乱花皆衰飒之象。尾联「舍西赖与招提接，时叩禅关话祖机」收结，写与僧相接、叩禅遣哀。通篇以哀起以禅结，哀而不伤，是宋人「以理遣情」的典型笔法。此诗章法以「丧中—门庭—衰病—禅悦」四层递转，由哀入静、由静入空。首联写流景与慈闱，是「哀」；颔联写车马书信之稀，是「静」；颈联写颠毛病眼，是「衰」；尾联写叩关话机，是「安」。四层之间，情绪由哀而渐趋平缓，最终归于禅悦的安宁，正合「哀而不伤」的诗教与「以理遣情」的宋调。对仗上，颔联「幸兹」对「更复」、「门外」对「朝中」、「车马少」对「书信稀」，以人事之寂写守制之静；颈联「衰飒」对「芒佯」、「颠毛」对「病眼」、「素丝短」对「乱花飞」，以形骸之衰写老境之侵，皆工稳而见沉痛。通篇以淡语写至哀，不号不恸，而哀婉自深。

Allusions

Several allusions call for explication. First, 'steeds through a crevice' comes from the Liji and the Zhuangzi — 'life is like a white colt passing a crack' — expressing the swiftness of time; 'flowing light, unbidden' adds that time goes without asking leave. Second, 'cherish and return' (gufu) derives from the Shijing's Xiaoya — 'he looked after me, he repeated his care' — denoting the toil of parental nurture, which Fangping applies to his late mother. Third, 'the gentle chamber' (ciwei) is the mother's quarters and thus a reverent name for the mother herself, paired in convention with 'the stern lord' for the father. Fourth, 'white silk' borrows the whiteness of the plain silk in the Shijing to figure gray hair, while 'crown-hair' means the hair of the head. Fifth, 'chaoti' is a general name for a Buddhist monastery, a shortening of the Sanskrit 'caturdisa.' Sixth, 'the patriarchs' turns' (zuji) means the sharp, enlightening words by which Chan masters receive students, so 'talking of zuji' means engaging in Chan inquiry. Beyond these, the image of 'wild flowers' before diseased eyes covertly plays on the Buddhist parable of the 'sky-flowers seen through a diseased eye,' doubling the decay of the body with the vanity of floating life — a buried thread that links this couplet to the Chan close, foreshadowing the poem's passage from Confucian grief to Buddhist emptiness. The allusions mix Confucian and Buddhist sources alike, revealing Fangping's aim of 'aiding Confucianism with Buddhism.'

诗中故实须辨。其一，「隙驷」用《礼》「人生如白驹之过隙」，言时光疾速；「流景无端」写光阴无情。其二，「顾复」出《诗·小雅》「顾我复我」，谓父母鞠育之恩，方平以之怀亡母。其三，「慈闱」指母亲所居，代称慈母。其四，「素丝」用《诗》「素丝五紽」及「唯丝色变」意，喻白发；「颠毛」指头发。其五，「招提」为寺院通称，出梵语拓斗提奢，方平借指辰长老之寺。其六，「祖机」指禅宗祖师之机锋，话祖机即参禅论道。诸语皆切居丧与参禅之实。诸典之外，尚可补辨者：「隙驷」语本《礼记·三年问》「若驷之过隙」及《庄子·知北游》「人生天地之间，若白驹之过郤，忽然而已」，张方平以之起兴，把居丧之痛置于「人生如寄」的宇宙尺度，遂使私哀带上一层哲理的苍凉。「顾复」出《诗·小雅·蓼莪》「父兮生我，母兮鞠我……顾我复我，出入腹我」，为孝子思亲之祖，方平拈以怀母，正切丧礼本旨。「招提」为梵语「拓斗提奢」之省，本义四方，后为寺院通称，唐杜甫「已从招提游」即用此义；「祖机」则指禅宗祖师接引学人之机锋，与「禅关」相扣，写其与辰长老参究话头、以证心源。诸典儒释兼用，正见方平「以佛济儒」的用心。「乱花」一语，暗用佛家「眼翳见空花」之喻，以病眼之翳花双关浮生之虚幻，遂使写衰病之句兼带禅意，与尾联「话祖机」遥相呼应，是全诗由儒入佛、由哀入空的伏笔。又「素丝」一典，兼取《诗·曹风》「素丝五紽」之白与鹤发之老，以发之短白写衰飒，尤为贴切。

Commentary

This poem and 'Sent to Dai Yuan' both belong to Zhang Fangping's late-life friendships beyond the secular world, but one was written amid mourning and one in leisurely retirement, the situations differing by a degree. That Song scholar-officials practiced Chan during mourning — from Pei Xiu and Bai Juyi down to Sima Guang and Su Shi — was a genuine fashion of the age, though some Confucians faulted it as 'disordering the rites with Buddhism.' The value of Fangping's poem is that it does not talk Buddhist doctrine in the abstract but grounds the comfort of mourning in daily fact: the temple adjoining his house, the knocking at its gate, the conversations with Elder Chen. The Qing editors of the Siku catalogue praised his prose as 'unimpeded and thorough,' and this poem shows the same character — grieving without drowning, still without going dry, Buddhist without becoming eccentric. Compared with Su Shi's 'Rhyming with Ziyou after the Bath,' a poem of Chan delight, Fangping's poem prizes the settling of the heart over the strangeness of enlightenment. It stands as a plain specimen of the late-life mind of 'harmonizing the three teachings' and offers rare verse evidence for the spiritual practice of Song literati mourning.

此诗与《寄代渊》同出方平晚年方外之交，而一丧中一闲居，情境更深一层。宋士大夫居丧而事禅，自裴休、白居易已开其端，至宋而大盛，司马光、苏轼居丧皆有参禅之作。方平此诗「幸兹门外车马少」以门庭冷落为幸，正见其借丧制谢绝世务、求得清静的用心；「时叩禅关话祖机」则写出儒礼之外别有一重精神依托。四库馆臣称其文「疏畅通达」，其诗亦如此，哀而不溺、结以禅悦，是通达处。与苏轼《次韵子由浴罢》一类参禅诗相较，方平此诗更重心境之安而非悟境之奇。清人论宋诗尚「达」，此篇丧中作而能达，正可为例。读此当知宋人「以佛济儒」非虚语，而是切实的丧礼精神实践。宋人论丧中参禅，历来有争议：儒者或病其「以佛乱礼」，然司马光、苏轼居丧皆有参禅之作，可见此乃一时风气。张方平此诗的可贵，在于不空谈佛理，而是把丧中的安慰落到实处——「舍西赖与招提接」写其与僧邻之便，「时叩禅关话祖机」写其过从之实，皆有具体生活为据，非泛泛酬赠可比。四库馆臣称其文「疏畅通达」，此诗正可见其通达：哀而不溺、静而不枯、禅而不诡，于儒礼与佛心之间觅得平衡，是宋人「三教调和」晚年心境的一份平实标本，亦为研究宋代士大夫丧礼精神实践提供了难得的韵语材料。

Prosody

Form Seven-character regulated verse (qiyan lüshi)七言律诗

Rhyme One level-tone rhyme in the wei rhyme group throughout, with rhyme words wei, xi, fei, ji.通押平声微韵，入韵字为闱、稀、飞、机，一韵到底。

Tone pattern Standard qiyan lüshi tonal alternation; the middle couplets — 'Happily, few carriages outside the gate, and rarer still the letters from court' and 'Decayed and gray... my ailing eyes see wild flowers fly' — observe strict parallelism of word class and opposition of tones.七律平仄，中二联「幸兹门外车马少，更复朝中书信稀」「衰飒颠毛素丝短，芒佯病眼乱花飞」讲对仗，词性相侔、平仄相对。

Reading note The poem uses the wei rhyme, a close-mouthed, faint and gathered sound in level tone, best suited to the elegiac stillness of a mourning poem. The first couplet opens with the rhyme word 'chamber,' setting the tender note of grief for the mother; the second couplet's 'rare' carries the quiet of the deserted gate; the third couplet's 'fly' turns to the winnowing images of decay; the final 'turns' closes with the calm of knocking at the Chan gate. Because the wei rhyme is never sonorous or expansive, it matches a poem that neither wails nor raves yet is deeply elegiac of itself. In the two parallel couplets, 'few carriages outside the gate' pairs with 'rare letters at court,' and 'short white silk of the crown' with 'flying flowers before diseased eyes' — both writing decline and quiet through concrete images, their weight held up by the gathered sound of the wei rhyme, so that though the poem depicts decay it never sinks. Song mourning poems prized 'thoroughness' (da); Fangping, aided by the faint delicacy of this rhyme, achieves grief without harm and a close in Chan joy, sound and feeling working as outer and inner. For appreciating the fitting form of a Song regulated verse on mourning, this poem serves: it wins not by startling feeling but by ritual propriety and a Chan heart.此诗微韵，属止摄合口三等，音色微细收敛，最宜写居丧诗的哀婉与沉静。首联以「闱」字起，定慈母之哀的柔情基调；颔联「稀」字承，写门庭冷落之静；颈联「飞」字转，写衰病乱花之飒；尾联「机」字合，写叩禅之安。微韵本不洪放，正合此诗不号恸、不狂放而哀婉自深的体貌。七律中二联对仗，「门外车马少」对「朝中书信稀」、「颠毛素丝短」对「病眼乱花飞」，皆以实象写衰静，赖微韵的收敛托住这份沉郁，故虽写衰飒而不颓丧。宋人居丧诗每尚「达」，方平此篇以微韵的幽细助其哀而不伤、结以禅悦的章法，声与情相表里。欲体会宋调七律写丧中情怀的得体之制，此篇可参：不以奇情动目，而以礼意与禅心胜。

Line by line

流景无端隙驷驰，永怀顾复感慈闱。

Unbidden, fleeting time races on like steeds through a crevice; I cherish forever my parents' care and mourn my mother's gentle chamber.

写光阴如白驹过隙无情飞逝，长怀父母鞠育之恩而感念亡母

The flowing light, without cause, gallops like a horse through a chink; I cherish forever the fostering grace, grieving the kindly chamber.

此开篇一联是全诗哀婉基调的定音，融时光之叹与亲情之悲于一炉。上句「流景无端隙驷驰」，隙驷用《庄子》《礼》「白驹过隙」之喻，言光阴如奔马穿隙，倏忽即逝，「无端」二字写其无情、非人所愿而自去，暗含丧亲之后觉岁月尤速的痛切；下句「永怀顾复感慈闱」，顾复出《诗经》「顾我复我」，指父母养育劬劳，慈闱代称母亲，方平说自己在流光中永怀鞠育之恩、感念亡母。一联而「景驰」对「怀永」，外之时间疾速与内之哀思绵长形成反向张力——景愈驰而怀愈永。尤为可味者，起手不直写哭丧，而先写时光，把丧亲之痛放到「人生如寄」的宇宙尺度上，遂使私哀带上一层哲理的苍凉。这是宋人「以理遣情」的起法，比直抒号恸更深沉，亦为后文「幸兹门外车马少」的谢绝人事先立一哀根。

The opening couplet is the drumbeat fixing the poem's mournful key, fusing the sigh at time's passage with the grief of kin. The first, the flowing light, without cause, gallops like a horse through a chink: the chinking horse uses Zhuangzi's and the Book of Rites' simile of a white colt crossing a gap, saying time gallops like a running horse through a crack, gone in a flash; the words without cause write its ruthlessness, going of itself against man's will, secretly holding the pain after losing parents that the years seem all the faster. The second, I cherish forever the fostering grace, grieving the kindly chamber: fostering comes from the Book of Songs' looked after me and cared for me, meaning the parents' toil of nurture; the kindly chamber stands for the mother; Fangping says that in the flowing light he cherishes forever the grace of nurture and grieves his departed mother. One couplet pairs the rushing light with the lasting grief, the outer time's speed and the inner sorrow's length forming a reverse tension - the faster the light rushes, the longer the grief endures. What is more to taste is that the opening does not directly write weeping for the dead, but first writes time, placing the pain of losing a parent on the cosmic scale of life as a sojourn, so that the private grief takes on a layer of philosophical desolation. This is the Song way of opening by sending off feeling through reason, deeper than directly wailing, and first establishing a root of grief for the later declining of human affairs.

舍西赖与招提接，时叩禅关话祖机。

Luckily my house westward adjoins the temple; from time to time I knock at the gate of Chan and talk of the patriarchs' wordless turns.

写舍西紧邻寺院，常去叩禅门与长老论祖师机锋

To the west of my house, by good fortune, adjoins the temple; I often knock at the Zen gate to speak of the patriarch's paradox.

此联是全诗归穴，由哀婉转入禅悦，章法上所谓「结以理遣」也。上句「舍西赖与招提接」，招提为寺院通称，方平说自家舍西便与寺庙相接，一「赖」字见其倚仗之切——丧中孤寂，幸得僧邻可近；下句「时叩禅关话祖机」，禅关指僧房门径，祖机指禅宗祖师机锋，方平写自己时时叩门、与辰长老参究话头。一联而由「空间之近」（舍接招提）写到「精神之往」（叩关话机），把丧中的安慰落到实处：不是泛泛信佛，而是实实在在的过从论道。尤为可味者，全诗前幅写流景、慈闱、车马少、素丝乱花，皆衰飒之象，至此联忽转禅悦之温，哀而不伤的脉络于此收束。宋人「以佛济儒」，此联正是最平实的一证——居丧是儒礼，叩禅是济之之方，一联而见三教调和的晚年心境，是方平方外诗中极具文献价值的一句。

This couplet is the poem's landing, turning from mourning to Zen delight, the structure of closing by sending off through reason. The first, to the west of my house, by good fortune, adjoins the temple: the temple is the general name for a monastery; Fangping says the west of his house adjoins the temple, and the word by good fortune shows the earnestness of his reliance - in the solitude of mourning, he is fortunate to have a monk neighbor near. The second, I often knock at the Zen gate to speak of the patriarch's paradox: the Zen gate means the monk's door, and the patriarch's paradox means the Zen patriarch's gong-an; Fangping writes that he often knocks, exploring and discussing the Zen words with the Elder Chen. One couplet moves from the nearness of space (the house adjoining the temple) to the going of the spirit (knocking at the gate and speaking the paradox), landing the comfort of mourning on solid ground - not vague faith in Buddhism, but a real exchange of the Way. What is more to taste is that the poem's first half writes the flowing light, the kindly chamber, the few carriages and horses, the disordered flowers, all withered images; only at this couplet does it suddenly turn to the warmth of Zen delight, and the vein of mourning without injury closes here. Song men used Buddhism to aid Confucianism; this couplet is the plainest proof - mourning is Confucian rite, and knocking at Zen is the way to aid it; one couplet shows the late-life frame of mind harmonizing the three teachings, the most document-valuable line of Fangping's poems to monks and Taoists.

Study

Word focus

闱 'Chamber' (wei), joined with 'gentle,' is the eye of this elegy: the mother's inner quarters and thus a reverent name for the mother, carrying the full ritual color of mourning. 「永怀顾复感慈闱」之「闱」字，是与「慈」配合的哀诗眼，代表丧亲之痛所系的具体对象。闱者，宫中之门也，古以「慈闱」专指母亲所居之室，遂代称慈母，与「严君」对举（父为严君、母为慈闱）。方平居忧之中，此字不是泛称「母」，而是带着居丧礼仪色彩的专有称谓，恰合「居忧过祥制」的诗题——他正以丧子之礼怀念母亲。此字之重，在它把私人哀思纳入礼的框架：感慈闱，即是行居丧之哀，儒礼与诗情在此合一。与首句「隙驷驰」的宇宙之叹对照，闱字落回人伦之亲，一大一小、一远一近，构成哀思的双重维度。宋人居丧诗最重「称情立文」，方平此「闱」字正见其礼意与深情的交融，比泛用「慈母」「亡亲」更得体、更切题，是挽悼诗中炼字的范例。

禅 'Chan' (dhyana, meditative stillness) names the spiritual refuge that answers 'the gentle chamber': the practice of probing the patriarchs' turns, by which Confucian mourning was consoled. 「时叩禅关话祖机」之「禅」字，是与「慈闱」遥相对应的精神归宿字，代表方平丧中别一重依托。禅者，静虑也，自达摩东来、六祖立宗，禅宗遂为士大夫精神退路之一；方平此字不是泛写「佛」，而是特指参究祖师机锋的禅宗实践，与「祖机」二字相扣。此字之妙，在它揭示了宋人「以佛济儒」的切实路径：居丧依儒礼（慈闱、祥制），而哀不能遣时则叩禅关（禅关、祖机），儒主礼、佛主心，互补而成。与诗中「衰飒颠毛」「乱花飞」的衰病之象对照，禅字带来一缕清凉安顿，使全诗哀而不伤。一字而系宋士大夫三教调和的晚年心境，比泛用「佛」「僧」等字更具思想史的准确性，是方平方外诗中「知佛」的炼字。