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宋 Song · 诗 Poem

腰疼山浮图下作

Composed Below the Stupa on Backache Hill

贺铸

He Zhu

游寺temple visit 自嘲self-mockery 归隐reclusion 佛禅Buddhism / Chan

兹山非峻极，名不载图谱。
投策一攀跻，未觉病腰膂。
苍松带寒日，交阴层窣堵。
俨然黄面师，粉绘色已古。
我贪五斗米，磬折向儿乳。
复著鞍马劳，疲筋剧笞楚。
此身异金石，能涉几寒暑。
诛茅结圆庐，宴坐此其所。
清心日焚诵，庶拔未来苦。
望尘彼何人，碌碌安足数。

This hill is not lofty, its name unrecorded in any gazetteer.
I tossed aside my staff and climbed; my aching loins scarce felt the ailment.
Dark pines bear the cold sun; their crossed shade wraps the layered stupa.
There stands, solemn, the yellow-faced master, his painted colors long since faded.
I covet the measly five pecks of rice, bowing low before milk-scented babes.
Again the toil of saddle and horse—my weary sinews smart like blows of the rod.
This body differs from metal and stone—how many winters and summers can it yet traverse?
I'll cut the brush and raise a round hermitage; here I'll sit in quiet contemplation.
With a cleansed heart, each day I'll burn incense and chant—perhaps to free myself from future sorrow.
Who are those on the road, chasing dust? Hustling and vain—scarce worth the count.

Listen

Meaning

While climbing a humble, unnamed hill and resting below its old pagoda, the poet reflects on his drained life as a petty official bound to a meager salary. He mocks his own servility in bowing to young superiors, laments the frailty of the mortal body, and finally vows to build a hermitage and chant scriptures to escape future suffering. The poem is a late-life record of a scholar weary of worldly toil and turning toward Buddhism.

苍翠的松树带着清冷的日光,枝叶交错的浓荫笼罩着层层佛塔。我贪图那微薄的五斗米俸禄,不得不向乳臭未干的儿辈之辈折腰行礼。我这肉身毕竟不同于金石,还能再经历几个寒暑春秋呢。我愿澄澈心志,日日焚香诵经,也许能超拔未来世间的苦难。

Appreciation

Written in the five-character ancient style, the poem uses plain description and self-narration, yet its feeling is deep and restrained, a strong work among He Zhu's ancient-style poems. The opening cools the scene with understatement, then the middle lashes the humiliations of office with stark, almost vulgar phrasing, and the close turns to a calm Buddhist vow. Layer by layer—from climbing, to livelihood, to life and death, to taking refuge—it coils onward in one breath, its plain, aged tone matching the poet's desolate state of mind.

【白话串讲】贺铸在腰疼山的佛塔下写诗：“兹山非峻极，名不载图谱”。“苍松带寒日，交阴层窣堵”——“我贪五斗米，磬折向儿乳”——“此身异金石，能涉几寒暑”——他叹自己为五斗米折腰。【意象与手法】此诗为五言古体,白描自叙为骨。前四联写景,「苍松带寒日」以「带」字写光线质感,古佛粉绘渲染苍古冷寂;中段「我贪五斗米,磬折向儿乳」以俗语入诗自嘲禄仕之辱;「此身异金石,能涉几寒暑」以设问逼出生死之思;末转「清心日焚诵,庶拔未来苦」,由沉郁归于静穆。全诗由游山而身世、而生死、而皈依,层层转进。【情感与主旨】此诗作于贺铸晚年,写游息腰疼山佛塔下之感。诗人借「五斗米」「磬折」自嘲禄仕之屈,痛陈簿书鞍马之劳,又以「此身异金石」叹生命有限,遂生诛茅结庐、焚诵修持之愿。自伤亦自遣,厌弃尘役而向往佛门,「庶拔未来苦」的谦退之辞,尤见虔诚而非投机。全诗于仕途失意之际寄心释老,是一代士人调和出处的心曲实录。【名句点睛】「此身异金石,能涉几寒暑」:一个「异」字将金石与血肉之易朽并峙,悲凉自生;设问不待回答而答案自明,把生命有限、劳役无已逼到眼前。语淡情沉,归佛之愿正从这一声叹息中生长出来。

Background

He Zhu, styled Fanghui, was from Gongcheng in Weizhou; born into a family of imperial in-laws, he held military posts in youth, and in the Yuanyou era was recommended by Su Shi and Li Qingchen to switch to civil rank, yet spent his life stuck in county posts, frustrated and unfulfilled, and in late life retired to Suzhou with a library of over ten thousand volumes, closeting himself to collate texts, styling himself 'The Old Man of Qinghu.' This poem is titled 'Composed Below the Stupa on Backache Hill'; the name Backache Hill appears in no gazetteers, perhaps a folk name for some small mound in Jiangnan, the poet using it to mock his own ailing loins; 'furtu' is the Buddhist pagoda, with a temple below, pines shading it, a painted Buddha before the pagoda with faded colors, the poet resting beneath and moved to verse. In the poem he uses 'five pecks of rice' to signify his salaried office, 'bowing' to write the posture of bending his back, bitterly recounting the toil of clerical and equestrian duties, then conceiving the wish to cut brush and build a hut, burn incense and chant, ending with 'who are those on the road chasing dust—hustling, scarce worth counting,' both self-hurting and self-comforting, a concentrated outpouring of He Zhu's late-life yearning for Buddhism and disgust with worldly toil. He Zhu's life is recorded in the 'Biographies of Literary Men' of the Song History and Zhong Zhenzhen's 'Chronology of He Zhu' (in the 'Annotated Collected Lyrics of He Zhu'); his poetry collection 'The Old Man of Qinghu's Collection' often annotates his travels, and this poem is dated roughly to the period before and after his retirement in Wu. It was common among Song scholars to turn to Buddhism and Daoism when frustrated in officialdom, and He Zhu's work can be read as a true record of such a state of mind.

贺铸字方回,卫州共城人,出身外戚之家,早年任武职,元祐中经苏轼、李清臣等荐举,改官文阶,然一生沉沦州县,郁郁不得志,晚年退居苏州,家藏书万余卷,杜门校雠,自号庆湖遗老。此诗题曰腰疼山浮图下作,腰疼山之名不见于舆地志乘,或即江南某地小丘的俗名,诗人借以自嘲腰膂之病;浮图即佛塔,山下有寺,苍松掩映,塔前塑有佛像,粉绘斑驳,诗人游息其下,感物抒怀。诗中以五斗米自喻禄仕,以磬折写折腰之态,痛陈簿书鞍马之劳,复生诛茅结庐、焚诵修持之想,最后以望尘彼何人,碌碌安足数作结,既自伤亦自遣,是贺铸晚年向往佛门、厌弃尘役心态的集中流露。贺铸生平见《宋史·文苑传》本传及钟振振《贺铸年谱》(收入《贺铸词集校注》),其诗集《庆湖遗老集》自注常记行迹,此诗系年大抵在退居吴中前后。宋代士人于仕途失意之际寄心释老,本是普遍风气,贺铸此作正可视为此类心曲的一篇实录。又按,北宋士人于仕途偃蹇之际寄心佛老,极为普遍,贺铸之皈依虽未落发,而其晚年焚诵晏坐,实与丛林为邻,此诗题名腰疼山,亦可见其以病自嘲、以闲自遣的生活态度,诗风之朴老,正与心境之苍凉相表里。

Art

This poem is in the five-character ancient style, throughout using plain description and self-narration as its backbone, yet its feeling is deep and restrained, a powerful work among He Zhu's ancient-style poems. The opening 'This hill is not lofty, its name unrecorded in any gazetteer' begins with a cool phrase, self-modest and self-restraining, pointing to an ordinary little scene; 'I tossed aside my staff and climbed; my aching loins scarce felt the ailment' writes declining sickness through the very act of climbing, not stating the pain yet the pain shows itself. 'Dark pines bear the cold sun; their crossed shade wraps the layered stupa' and 'There stands, solemn, the yellow-faced master, his painted colors long since faded'—four lines describe the scene; the words 'bear, cross, solemn, faded' are all tempered and flavorful, dark pines and cold sun, painted ancient Buddha, a scene of aged stillness preparing for the feeling below. 'I covet the measly five pecks of rice, bowing low before milk-scented babes' and 'Again the toil of saddle and horse—my weary sinews smart like blows of the rod'—four lines recount the bitterness of salaried office; 'covet' mocks himself, 'bowing' writes the bent body, 'milk-scented babes' means he must bow to welcome youngsters, 'smart like blows of the rod' compares the fatigue to the pain of flogging, a sharp simile. 'This body differs from metal and stone—how many winters and summers can it yet traverse' turns to deep words, using metal and stone as contrast to reveal the body's finitude. 'I'll cut the brush and raise a round hermitage; here I'll sit in quiet contemplation' and 'With a cleansed heart, each day I'll burn incense and chant—perhaps to free myself from future sorrow' turn to the Buddhist vow, the tone gradually calming, yet 'future sorrow' still carries dread. The closing couplet 'Who are those on the road, chasing dust? Hustling and vain—scarce worth the count' closes with a distant gaze; 'chasing dust' is both real scene and implied self-warning. The whole moves from climbing the hill to personal fortune, from fortune to life and death, from death to taking refuge, advancing layer by layer in one coiling breath, its tone plain and aged, representative of He Zhu's deepening late-life style.

此诗为五言古体,通篇以白描与自叙为骨,而情致沉至,是贺铸古体中的力作。开篇兹山非峻极,名不载图谱,以冷语起笔,自谦自抑,点明寻常小景;投策一攀跻,未觉病腰膂,则于登山一举中反写衰病,不写痛而痛自见。苍松带寒日,交阴层窣堵,俨然黄面师,粉绘色已古,四句写景,带、交、俨、古诸字皆炼而有味,苍松寒日、粉绘古佛,一片苍古冷寂之境,为下文感慨张本。我贪五斗米,磬折向儿乳,复著鞍马劳,疲筋剧笞楚,四句历数禄仕之苦,贪字自嘲,磬折写屈身,儿乳指稚子辈出而须折腰迎送,疲筋剧笞楚则以鞭笞之痛状劳顿,比况警切。此身异金石,能涉几寒暑,顿作深沉之语,以金石为衬,点破生命有限。诛茅结圆庐,宴坐此其所,清心日焚诵,庶拔未来苦,转入归佛之愿,语气渐趋平静,然未来苦三字仍带怖畏。尾联望尘彼何人,碌碌安足数,以远眺收束,望尘一笔,既是实景,又暗含自警自遣之意。全诗由游山而及身世,由身世而及生死,由生死而及皈依,层层转进,一气盘旋,格调朴老,是贺铸晚岁诗风趋于深沉的代表。又全篇二十句,叙事、写景、议论、抒怀四者环环相扣,由入山而及塔,由塔而及佛,由佛而及己,由己而及生死,转折处如层波叠浪,而一气贯注,不见斧凿痕,是贺铸古体中极见功力的一篇。

Allusions

The 'five pecks of rice' alludes to the 'Book of Jin, Biography of Tao Qian': Tao Yuanming, as magistrate of Pengze, unwilling to gird himself to receive the inspector, sighed 'I cannot bend my back for five pecks of rice to fawn on country bumpkins,' and resigned that very day. The poet borrows it to mourn his own bondage to salary, yet unable to be as decisive as Yuanming, hence the deeper pain. 'Bowing' (qingzhe) alludes to the 'Book of Rites, Qu Li'—'when standing, bend like a qing and let the pendant fall'—Zheng Xuan's note says 'qingzhe' uses the qing stone's bent shape to describe a bowing reverence; the poet uses it for the humiliation of scurrying in bowed posture. 'Yellow-faced master' refers to the Buddha; the Chan school colloquially calls the Buddha 'yellow-faced old man,' 'yellow-faced Gautama,' seen in the 'Wudeng Huiyuan' and similar records, used here for the ancient Buddha before the pagoda, familiar yet reverent. 'Cut the brush' (zhumao) alludes to the 'Chu Ci, Divination'—'rather cut the weeds and till by my strength'—later meaning to build a hut and live in retirement; Du Fu's 'Sigh at the Wind-Uprooted Nan Tree' also has 'cut the brush and choose a dwelling.' 'Sit in quiet' (yanzuo) is a Buddhist meditation term from the 'Vimalakirti Sutra, Chapter on Disciples'—'sit in quiet beneath the tree,' cross-legged, unmoved in mind. 'Chasing dust' originates from the 'Book of Jin, Biography of Shi Chong' attached account of Pan Yue: Pan Yue fawned on Jia Mi, and whenever he waited for his outing, with Shi Chong would 'bow at the sight of dust'; later 'chasing dust' became a metaphor for currying favor with the powerful; the poet reverses it here, saying he sees those chasing dust on the road and asks himself what their hustling amounts to, with both shame and transcendence. These allusions all draw on common books; since the allusions all fit his own situation—five pecks of rice is the real humiliation, bowing the real posture, cutting brush and sitting the real vow—though using allusion it does not feel like allusion, which is the highest use of reference.

五斗米典出《晋书·陶潜传》,陶渊明为彭泽令,不愿束带见督邮,叹曰吾不能为五斗米折腰,拳拳事乡里小人邪,即日解绶去职。诗人借以自伤为禄所系,然不能如渊明之决绝,所以尤觉沉痛。磬折典出《礼记·曲礼》立则磬折垂佩,郑玄注谓磬折以喻磬之屈折垂磬,形容鞠躬致敬之状,诗人以之状折腰趋走之辱。黄面师指佛像,禅门俗称佛为黄面老子、黄面瞿昙,见《五灯会元》诸录,用以称塔前古佛,亲切而带恭敬。诛茅典出《楚辞·卜居》宁诛锄草茅以力耕乎,后以诛茅指结庐隐居,杜甫《楠树为风雨所拔叹》亦有诛茅卜居之语。宴坐为佛家坐禅术语,出《维摩诘所说经·弟子品》宴坐树下,结跏趺坐,不动心念。望尘一词,本《晋书·石崇传》附潘岳事,潘岳谄事贾谧,每候其出,与石崇辄望尘而拜,后世以望尘为趋附权贵之喻,诗人此处反用,谓望见尘中奔走之人而自问其碌碌何为,含愧亦含超脱。诸典皆取常见书,参《晋书》(中华书局点校本)、《礼记正义》及《维摩诘所说经》鸠摩罗什译本。又此诗用典多取陶、庄、佛经,而其所以不显堆砌者,在于典故皆与自身处境合若符契,五斗米是实历之辱,磬折是实有之态,诛茅宴坐是实发之愿,故虽用典而不觉其为典,此方是用事之上乘。

Commentary

He Zhu's poetic style has long been praised by critics as having deeply learned from the Tang masters. The 'Complete Library Catalogue, Annotated Collation of The Old Man of Qinghu's Collection' says his poetry is deeply tempered, its manner mature, with a face of its own among Northern Song poets. The Song-era 'Wang Zhifang's Poetry Talk' records He Zhu's words that one should seek poetry in the ancients, and praised his poems as having the bone of Tang poetry, not comparable to the petty schools of the Jianghu. Lu You's 'Notes from the Old Scholar's Studio' also records Fanghui's poetic sayings, enough to show he was still esteemed by men of letters in the early Southern Song. His lyric fame surpasses his poetry—Zhang Lei called his lyrics 'splendid as entering the halls of Jin and Zhang, yet seductive as lifting the sleeves of Qiang and Shi'—yet his poetry is actually overshadowed by his lyric name, and scholars have recently begun to pay attention, such as Wang Mengyin's 'Annotated Collation of He Zhu's Collection' which annotates this kind of travel and lyric works in detail. As for this piece, it contains not a word of Buddhist hymn, yet the longing for the ancient Buddha, dark pines, burning incense and sitting is palpable—precisely the typical voice of scholar-officials from the Yuanyou era onward using Buddhism and Daoism to relieve official frustration; its value lies not only in craft but also as a fragment of mental history. Zhong Zhenzhen's 'Chronology of He Zhu' dates his Suzhou retirement works to the Zhenghe and Xuanhe eras; this poem is probably also from that time, its mood moving from indignation to calm, corroborating his 'Old Man of Qinghu' preface; modern study of He Zhu should view poem and lyric together to grasp the whole man.

贺铸诗风,历来评家多称其于唐人深造有得。《四库全书总目·庆湖遗老集提要》谓其诗锻炼功深,格调老成,在北宋诸家中自具面目。又宋人《王直方诗话》记贺铸语,谓学诗当求之于古人,尝评其诗有唐诗气骨,非江湖末流可比。陆游《老学庵笔记》亦记方回诗语,足见其人在南宋初犹为文士所称道。其词名尤著于诗,张耒称其词盛丽如游金、张之堂,而妖冶如揽嫱、施之祛,然其诗实为词名所掩,学者近年渐加留意,如王梦隐《贺铸集校注》(中州古籍出版社)即据《庆湖遗老集》详加笺释,于此类行役抒怀之作考订颇详。就本篇而言,全篇不着一字佛典颂赞语,而古佛苍松、焚诵宴坐的向往之情溢于言表,正是元祐以还士大夫以佛老调剂仕途之闷的典型声口,其价值不仅在诗法,亦在心态史之一端。又钟振振《贺铸年谱》系其退居苏州诸作于政和、宣和间,此诗盖亦斯时所作,其中心境由愤激而趋平静,可与其庆湖遗老自序相印证;今人研究贺铸,诗与词并观,始能得其全人,此类作品正宜留意。

Prosody

Form Five-character ancient-style poem五言古诗

Rhyme Oblique-tone rhyme; the shang-sheng seventh-mu and qu-sheng seventh-yu merged (gu, lu, du, gu, ru, chu, shu, suo, ku, shu)仄声韵,上声七麌、去声七遇通押(谱、膂、堵、古、乳、楚、暑、所、苦、数)

Tone pattern Ancient style with free level-oblique, one rhyme throughout, the oblique rhyme creating a grave, heavy tone古体平仄自由,一韵到底,仄韵营造沉郁凝重之调

Reading note This is a five-character ancient-style poem of twenty lines in one rhyme throughout, using oblique-tone rhyme; the characters gu, lu, du, gu, ru, chu, shu, suo, ku belong to the shang-sheng seventh-mu of the Pingshui rhyme, and the final shu belongs to the qu-sheng seventh-yu, with shang and qu merged—common in ancient style. The oblique-tone rhyme characters mostly end in nasal or checked sounds, their sound-feeling low and suppressed, exactly matching the grave content of the title's backache, decline, toil, and mortality. As an ancient style, it is free of the level-oblique and antithesis constraints of recent style, yet the phrasing still shows tempering—such as 'Dark pines bear the cold sun; their crossed shade wraps the layered stupa,' where within five characters level and oblique alternate, the syllables flow smoothly; 'There stands, solemn, the yellow-faced master, his painted colors long since faded' again mixes four level and four oblique, giving a sense of cadence in reading. The whole uses ten coupled five-character lines as its frame: the first four couplets alternate scene and self-narration, the middle two couplets argue and sigh, the last four couplets turn to the Buddhist vow, and within the layering the music shifts from smooth to cadent to calm—a successful Northern Song ancient-style work that uses breath to move sound and sound to aid feeling.此诗为五言古体,二十句一韵到底,押仄声韵,谱、膂、堵、古、乳、楚、暑、所、苦诸字属平水韵上声七麌,末字数属去声七遇,上去通押,古体中原为常例。仄声韵字多收鼻音或促口,声情低抑,与诗题腰疼、衰病、劳役、生死之叹的沉郁内容正相契合。作为古体,通篇不受近体平仄对仗束缚,然句法仍见锻炼,如苍松带寒日、交阴层窣堵两句,五字之中平仄相间,音节流畅,俨然黄面师,粉绘色已古,复以四平四仄相参,诵读有顿挫感。全诗以十联五言为骨架,前四联写景与自述交错,中两联议论感慨,后四联转向归佛之愿,层递之中音律随之由舒缓而顿挫而趋于平静,是北宋古体以气运声、以声助情的成功之作。又古体不忌重韵叠字,此诗每联自成音节,前六联写景叙事,多用平仄相间的和谐句,后四联议论抒怀,则参以拗句促节,声情随文势而变,是北宋古体以声助情的典型做法。

Line by line

苍松带寒日，交阴层窣堵。

Dark pines bear the cold sun; their crossed shade wraps the layered stupa.

苍翠的松树带着清冷的日光,枝叶交错的浓荫笼罩着层层佛塔。

Green pines bear the cold sun; their interwoven shade veils the layered pagodas.

两句写塔前景物,着一带字,使寒日与苍松彼此倚存,光线仿佛有了质地;交阴层窣堵则以枝叶的纵横交错勾勒塔的层叠,光影浓淡相间。寒日已含岁月之感,古塔更增苍古之气,静穆之中自有一股摄人的力量,为下文粉绘色已古的佛像与自身衰老的感慨张本。此四句写景纯用疏笔,无一字及于感慨,而寒日、古塔、古佛的苍古氛围已自摄人,正是以境写情、情寓境中,下文身世之感由是自然引出,不见转折之迹。

These two lines write the scenery before the pagoda; the single word bear makes the cold sun and the green pines rely on each other, as if the light gained a texture. The interwoven shade veils the layered pagodas sketches the pagoda's layers through the crossing and interweaving of boughs and leaves, the light and shade alternating. The cold sun already carries the feeling of the years, and the ancient pagoda adds the air of age; within the stillness there is of itself a power that seizes the man, laying a ground for the later lament of the painted images' color grown old and one's own decline. These four lines write scenery purely with a sparse brush, not a word touching the lament, yet the age-old atmosphere of cold sun, ancient pagoda and ancient Buddha already seizes the man, exactly writing feeling through the realm and feeling lodged in the realm; the later feeling of lot is then brought out naturally, with no trace of a turn.

我贪五斗米，磬折向儿乳。

I covet the measly five pecks of rice, bowing low before milk-scented babes.

我贪图那微薄的五斗米俸禄,不得不向乳臭未干的儿辈之辈折腰行礼。

I crave the five pecks of rice, bowing like a chime before the nursling child.

此联自嘲极深而痛感极真。贪字自贬,实为无奈之词;磬折写鞠躬之态,向儿乳则点出屈身对象之卑微,愈卑愈见屈辱之甚。五斗米用陶潜事而反其洒脱,正因自知不如渊明,才更显仕途缚人的悲哀。两句以极俗之语写极痛之情,是贺铸古体朴老风格的集中体现。贪字非自污,乃自剖,向儿乳非怨愤,乃实录,两句以俗语入诗而情致沉至,正见贺铸古体不避俚俗、直写胸臆的风格,较之典雅一路的叹穷之作,更觉真切动人。

This couplet mocks itself most deeply, the pain most true. The word crave is self-deprecation, really a word of helplessness; bowing like a chime writes the posture of the bowing, and before the nursling child points out the meanness of the object before whom one bends - the meaner, the more the humiliation. The five pecks of rice uses Tao Qian's matter yet reverses his ease; precisely because one knows oneself not equal to Yuanming, the grief of officialdom's binding man appears the more. The two lines write the most painful feeling in the most vulgar words, the concentrated showing of He Zhu's plain old-style. The word crave is not self-defilement, but self-dissection; before the nursling child is not resentment, but a plain record; the two lines enter poetry with colloquial words and the feeling is deep, exactly showing He Zhu's old-style style of not shunning the vulgar and directly writing the breast, more truly moving than the elegant school's sighs of poverty.

此身异金石，能涉几寒暑。

This body differs from metal and stone—how many winters and summers can it yet traverse?

我这肉身毕竟不同于金石,还能再经历几个寒暑春秋呢。

This body is unlike metal and stone; how many winters and summers can it pass through?

此联是全诗转折的枢纽,由禄仕之苦跃入生死之思。金石喻坚固永恒,异字道破血肉之躯的脆弱,能涉几寒暑的设问,不待回答而答案自明,把生命有限、劳役无已的紧迫感逼到读者面前。语极平淡,情极沉痛,下文诛茅归佛之愿,正是从这声叹息中生长出来。两句以佛家无常之思写人生常情,不说伤而伤自深,不说悟而悟已寓,是诗中由苦闷走向解脱的桥段,以下诛茅、焚诵之愿,即从这一声设问中自然流出,转折天成。

This couplet is the hinge of the poem's turn, leaping from the hardship of official salary to the thought of life and death. Metal and stone meta-phor firmness and eternity; the word unlike speaks out the fragility of the fleshly body; the question how many winters and summers can it pass through needs no answer, the answer of itself clear, forcing upon the reader the urgency of life's limit and service's endlessness. The words most plain, the feeling most painful; the later wish to build a hut and return to the Buddha grows from this sigh. The two lines write the common lot of life through the Buddhist thought of impermanence, not speaking grief yet the grief of itself deep, not speaking awakening yet awakening already lodged, the bridge in the poem from grief to release; the later wish to build the hut and burn incense to chant flows naturally from this single question, the turn as if made by nature.

清心日焚诵，庶拔未来苦。

With a cleansed heart, each day I'll burn incense and chant—perhaps to free myself from future sorrow.

我愿澄澈心志,日日焚香诵经,也许能超拔未来世间的苦难。

With a pure heart, I burn incense and chant daily, hoping to draw out the suffering to come.

由戚戚自伤转而为向佛求解,清心二字收摄前文种种烦虑,日焚诵则见发愿之真切。庶字口气谦退,不敢必其效验,恰见宗教情怀的虔诚而非投机。未来苦三字将个人之愁推广到轮回之业,思理由近及远,结穴处反觉安顿,是此诗情感曲线的终点,也是归依之心的显影。清心两字是全诗结穴,把前文的五斗之贪、鞍马之劳、寒暑之虑一齐涤荡,日焚诵见其持久,庶字见其谦退,归佛之愿由此落到实处,诗境亦由沉郁归于静穆。

This moves from anxious self-grief to seeking release from the Buddha; the two words pure heart gather the earlier various troubles, and daily burning incense to chant shows the sincerity of the vow. The word hoping is a retiring tone, not daring to be sure of the efficacy, exactly showing the piety of religious feeling rather than opportunism. The three words suffering to come extend personal grief to the karma of rebirth, the thought and reason from near to far, and at the landing one feels settled, the end point of the poem's emotional curve and the revelation of the heart of refuge. The two words pure heart are the poem's landing, washing away together the earlier craving for the five pecks, the toil of saddle and horse, and the anxiety of winters and summers; daily burning incense to chant shows its endurance, and the word hoping shows its retiring, and the wish to return to the Buddha at last lands on solid ground, the poem's realm at once turning from melancholy to still dignity.

Study

Word focus

带 In 'Dark pines bear the cold sun,' the word 'bear' (dai) means to carry or wear, as if the cold sun's light is draped over the pine branches like a sash, at once connecting object and self. With 'bear,' the light is no longer ownerless shining but becomes the pine's adornment, the still scene thus gaining feeling; the word 'cold' first sets the emotional key, cold and warm reflecting each other, coloring the aged atmosphere of the ancient pagoda and Buddha. This word is the hinge of the two-line description, most showing the work of tempering. 苍松带寒日的带字,作带着、披着解,使寒日的光芒像衣带一样披在松枝之上,物我之间顿生牵连。着一带字,光不再是无主的照射,而成为松的妆饰,静景因此带上人情;寒字又先定下情绪基调,冷暖交映,为古塔、古佛的苍古氛围着色。此字是两句写景的枢纽,最见锻炼之功。带字写光之依附,亦写寒之侵人,光与寒同着一带字,便觉松有知、日有情,静物皆活,为古塔古佛的出场作了极自然的铺垫,是写景炼字的精到处。

异 In 'This body differs from metal and stone,' the word 'differ' (yi) states the fundamental distinction between man and metal-stone without adjectives, the difference self-evident. 'Differ' sets the immortality of metal-stone against the perishability of the flesh, flooding in a sense of time and desolation; the next line 'how many winters and summers' arises from 'differ,' the premise of the rhetorical question. One word, lifting weight as if light, drops a metaphysical proposition of life and death onto an everyday comparable pairing, plain yet forceful. 此身异金石的异字,道出人与金石的根本分别,不加形容词而差异自明。异字让金石之不朽与肉身之易朽并峙,岁月感、悲凉感一并涌出;下句能涉几寒暑即由异字引出,是设问的前提。一个异字,举重若轻,把玄学式的生死命题落到日常可比的对举上,朴素而有力。异字不事铺张而对比自明,金石之固与血肉之脆,尽在一字之间,是宋人诗中常见的以理入情之笔,然其情感浓度不减,正见贺铸既能说理,又不失抒情本色。

拔 In 'perhaps to free myself from future sorrow,' the word 'free' (ba) originally means to pull out, uproot; in Buddhist usage it is often paired with liberation, as in 'pull out suffering, give joy.' With this one word, suffering seems a deeply rooted plant that must be pulled out by force, concentrating the sincerity of the vow and the heaviness of karmic suffering in this single action. Connected with the previous line's 'burn incense and chant,' one inner one outer, the path and goal of cultivation are both clear—the word that clinches the whole poem. 庶拔未来苦的拔字,原指拔除、超拔,佛家用语中常与解脱连言,如拔苦与乐。着一拔字,仿佛苦是深植的根株,须用力拔出,发愿的恳切、业苦的沉重都凝于这一动作之中。与上句焚诵相承,一内一外,修持的途径与目标俱明,是收束全诗的着力字。拔字取义于佛家拔苦与乐之说,而着一拔字,仿佛以手援物,切实有力,与清心焚诵的内修功夫内外相济,一字而见修持之次第,用字之妙,非熟于内典者不能道。