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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

山中

In the Mountains

王维

Wang Wei

山水Landscape 秋景Autumn Scenery

荆溪白石出，天寒红叶稀。
山路元无雨，空翠湿人衣。

At Jing Creek the white stones show as the water thins;
The sky turns cold and the red leaves grow sparse.
The mountain path has had no rain,
Yet the emerald haze seems to dampen one's clothes.

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Meaning

On a late-autumn walk in the mountains, the poet sees a shallow stream baring its white stones and red leaves thinning in the cold. Though no rain has fallen on the path, the deep green of the hills seems to wet his clothes. The poem captures a moment of perfect fusion between observer and landscape, suffused with quiet Zen awareness.

荆溪的水浅了，白色的石头露出水面，天气转寒，山中的红叶也渐渐稀疏。山路上本没有下雨，可那空濛的翠色仿佛要滴落下来，沾湿了行人的衣裳。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] The Jing Creek shallows until its white stones emerge; with the cold of the season the red leaves thin out. The mountain path is dry — there has been no rain — yet the dense emerald of the hills feels as if it would soak the traveler's clothes. [Structure] Four lines, four scenes: the first couplet gives clear, cool visual facts, and the second shifts into a felt sensation that is not literally true, moving from the real to the virtual. [Imagery] Only two colors appear — white stone and red leaf — yet they set off the vast empty emerald that follows. The closing image converts sight into touch, the poem's greatest charm.

【白话串讲】王维写《山中》：“荆溪白石出，天寒红叶稀”——“山路元无雨，空翠湿人衣”——山路上本来没下雨，浓郁的翠色却打湿了衣裳——他写山中的空翠。【意象与手法】此诗是王维山水小诗中的精品，四句四景，一句一境，由实入虚，层层化开。前两句写眼前实景：水落石出、天寒叶稀，以「白石」「红叶」两点设色，疏朗明净，是秋山的具体写照；后两句转入幻觉般的虚境：「山路元无雨，空翠湿人衣」，山间并无雨滴，而满山青翠仿佛凝成湿润的空气，直欲沾湿人衣。一个「空」字点出禅意——翠色本不可见，却被写得可感可触；一个「湿」字更以触觉通于视觉，将视觉中的绿意化为触觉中的潮湿，正是「通感」手法的经典运用。全诗无一字写秋之萧瑟，而秋意自在；无一字言禅理，而禅机自现，物我两忘、声色俱寂，是王维「以禅入诗」最成功的短章之一。【情感与主旨】此诗写深秋山行所见，表现了王维归隐辋川后对自然山水的静观与领悟。诗人在辋川别业过着半官半隐的生活，常于山中独步，于水边静坐，此诗正是这种生活的如实记录。前两句以清冷的笔触勾画秋山，透出一种孤寂淡泊的心境；后两句却于空翠湿衣的奇妙感受中，见出诗人与自然完全融为一体的愉悦。全诗没有半点世俗的牵挂与烦恼，只有物我交融的宁静与安详，体现了王维「行到水穷处，坐看云起时」的禅悦境界，也是盛唐山水诗「以物观物」「忘我入化」审美理想的绝佳体现。【名句点睛】常考「山路元无雨，空翠湿人衣」的通感手法与禅意境界，以及前两句「白石出」「红叶稀」以少总多、以色写秋的精妙；同时注意「元」字作「本、原来」解的准确性，与「空」「湿」二字所营造的触觉幻境。

Background

Wang Wei (701-761) was the great High Tang poet, painter, and devout Buddhist. After a checkered official career he retired to his Wangchuan villa near Lantian, at the foot of the Zhongnan mountains, where he wrote landscape quatrains and the Wangchuan Collection with his friend Pei Di. Though not part of that collection, this poem shares its spirit. The Song critic Su Shi's famous verdict on Wang Wei — that there is painting in his poetry and poetry in his painting — is amply illustrated by these twenty characters.

此诗为唐代诗人王维晚年的山水名篇，约作于其隐居蓝田辋川别业时期。王维自开元末年历经仕途风波，至天宝年间已半官半隐，于长安附近的蓝田辋川购得宋之问旧墅，营建别业，与道友裴迪浮舟往来，弹琴赋诗，啸咏终日。辋川地处终南山麓，溪谷深邃，林木蓊郁，荆溪（又名辋水）蜿蜒其间，四时风景各异。王维在此写下大量山水诗与《辋川集》绝句，此诗虽未入《辋川集》，但写法与意境一脉相承。诗题《山中》，泛写山行所见，不作具体地名，正可见其写景的概括性与典型性。王维晚年笃信佛教，「晚年唯好静，万事不关心」，诗中那水落石出、天寒叶稀的秋山，与空翠湿衣的幻境，正是他静观万物、物我两忘心境的外化。值得注意的是，「元无雨」三字点出诗人对自然现象的理性判断（本没有雨），而「空翠湿人衣」又完全诉诸感官的直觉（却觉衣湿），理性与感性的这一层小小矛盾，正是全诗禅趣所在——诗人明知无雨，仍沉醉于翠色欲滴的幻觉之中，可见其与山水相契之深。此诗在宋代以后备受推崇，苏轼尝称王维「诗中有画，画中有诗」，此诗二十字间有色（白、红、翠）、有声（溪流）、有触（湿衣）、有禅，正是「诗中有画」的绝佳注脚。

Art

The poem's art is supreme economy. Two color notes, white and red, set off the emerald haze that dominates the second couplet. The verbs do quiet, precise work: the stones emerge as the water falls, and the leaves grow sparse as the cold deepens. The masterstroke is synesthesia: emerald, a color, dampens clothes, a sensation of touch. The word empty dissolves the green into an atmosphere, and the rational clause that the path has had no rain stages the small contradiction between knowledge and feeling that constitutes the poem's Zen charm.

此诗的艺术手法极为洗练精妙，可从三个层面解析。其一，以少总多的设色与构境。前两句「荆溪白石出，天寒红叶稀」，仅用「白石」「红叶」两个色块，便在纸面铺开一幅清旷的秋山图：溪水因秋浅而落，白石乃显；草木因霜寒而凋，红叶转稀。一「出」一「稀」两个动词，写尽季节流转的动势，以极少的笔墨勾勒出极丰富的画面，正是中国画「以白当黑」「计白当黑」的美学原则在诗中的运用。其二，通感手法的炉火纯青。后两句「山路元无雨，空翠湿人衣」，是此诗最见功力之处。翠色本是视觉形象，诗人却以「湿」这一触觉来写，仿佛那满山的浓绿不是被看见，而是被浸湿的；「空」字更将翠色虚化，使之弥漫成一种无质而有感的气体，色、触、虚、实四者通融，物我界限于此消解。这种通感与虚写的结合，是王维山水诗独有的「禅悟式表达」——他不写山的形状，而写山的「湿意」，因为形状是有限的，而禅境是弥漫的。其三，动静与疏密之妙。前两句有溪水之动、落叶之动，后两句却是凝定的翠色；前两句设色疏朗，后两句泼墨浓翠，疏密相间、动静相生，使二十字的小诗如一幅水墨横卷，尺幅千里。全诗无一议论、无一情语，而诗人的心境尽在景中，正是「不着一字，尽得风流」的典范。

Allusions

The title belongs to the hermit tradition running from Tao Yuanming's picking chrysanthemums by the eastern hedge to his casual sighting of the southern mountain. Jing Creek is the local stream of the Wangchuan valley, and its name also evokes the meditative associations of mountain streams in Buddhist texts. The word originally in the claim that the path has had no rain carries a hint of the Buddhist teaching that originally there is not a single thing, while the phrase empty emerald poetically enacts the Heart Sutra's insight that form is emptiness: the green is there to the senses, yet its nature is empty.

此诗虽不堆砌典故，却深植于中国山水诗与禅学的文化脉络。「山中」这一题目本身即是传统隐逸母题的载体：自陶渊明「采菊东篱下，悠然见南山」以来，山中即成为士人逃离尘嚣、栖心玄理的象征空间，王维此诗正是这一传统的延续。诗中「荆溪」实指辋川溪水，但「荆溪」一名亦使人联想到《庄子》与佛教经论中「荆溪」作为禅修静地之喻，暗含隐居清修之意。「元无雨」的「元」字，本义为「始、本原」，此处作「本来、原来」解，语出唐人熟语，却暗合佛家「本来无一物」的空观——山路本来无雨，而翠色湿衣，正是「色不异空，空不异色」的感性呈现，翠色之「有」与无雨之「无」在诗人心中圆融无碍。「空翠」一词尤具禅味：翠是山色之实有，空是万象之本质，二字并置，正是《般若心经》「色即是空」的诗化表达。至于「湿人衣」的幻觉，则令人联想到南朝民歌「青苔白石地，缘水绿杨堤」式的物色感发，又暗承谢灵运「昏旦变气候，山水含清晖」的山水审美传统。王维不显山露水地运用典故与佛理，而是将其融化为可感的景物与直觉，使典与情、禅与景浑然一体，正是他高于一般山水诗人之处。

Commentary

This quatrain is ranked with Wang Wei's Deer Enclosure and Birdsong Ravine as the crown of his landscape art, and Su Shi's judgment about painting within poetry fits its two colors and its wet haze. Ming critics praised the couplet about the rainless path and the dampening emerald for placing the reader bodily inside the scene. Its influence runs through Yang Wanli and Wang Anshi into later nature poetry, and its vocabulary of empty emerald and dampened clothes became standard for describing mountain atmospheres.

此诗历来被推为王维山水绝句的代表作，与《鹿柴》《鸟鸣涧》等同称辋川绝句之冠。苏轼评王维「诗中有画，画中有诗」，此诗正是最生动的例证——前两句如工笔勾勒，后两句如泼墨晕染，一幅秋山空翠图跃然纸上。清人沈德潜《唐诗别裁》评此诗「工于设色」，但更有论者指出其妙不在设色而在「空翠湿人衣」的虚写，明人钟惺谓「山路元无雨，空翠湿人衣」二句「使人身置其中」，即言其通感之真。此诗对后世影响深远：宋代杨万里「梅子留酸软齿牙」、王安石「两山排闼送青来」等句，均可窥见王维以通感写景的遗泽；明清山水诗与园林美学中「空翠」「湿人衣」更成为描写山林气象的习用语汇。从禅学维度看，此诗与《终南别业》「行到水穷处，坐看云起时」、《鹿柴》「空山不见人，但闻人语响」同一机杼，都是王维「以禅入诗」的产物，体现了盛唐山水诗由「写形」向「写意」、由「物我相对」向「物我两忘」的转型。对于今日读者，此诗是进入中国古典美学「意境」「通感」「禅悦」三重堂奥的最佳门径，短短二十字，含咏不尽。

Prosody

Form Five-character quatrain (wuyan jueju), oblique-start form with the first line not rhyming.五言绝句（仄起首句不入韵）

Rhyme The rhyme falls on the level-tone words xi (sparse) and yi (clothes), both in the wei rhyme group; the first line ends on the entering-tone word chu (emerge) and does not rhyme, as befits the oblique-start pattern. The slender, clear wei rhyme suits the cool, quiet autumn atmosphere.押上平五微韵，韵脚为「稀」「衣」。首句「出」字仄声（入声四质）不入韵，属首句不入韵之格。韵脚「稀」「衣」皆属微部，韵音细长清远，与秋山空翠的清冷意境相谐。

Tone pattern The tonal pattern runs: jing xi bai shi chu — ping ping ze ze ze; tian han hong ye xi — ping ping ping ze ping; shan lu yuan wu yu — ping ze ping ping ze; kong cui shi ren yi — ping ze ze ping ping. Three consecutive entering-tone words at the close of the first line give a brisk, angular sound, like stones breaking the water, before the cadence smooths out.荆溪白石出，平平仄仄仄；天寒红叶稀，平平平仄平；山路元无雨，平仄平平仄；空翠湿人衣，平仄仄平平。首句「白石出」三仄连用，拗峭生劲，是五绝中的「拗句」，然全诗读来仍流畅自然，正见王维于严守格律中偶作拗峭之笔，以声传境的匠心。

Reading note This is a model five-character quatrain: oblique start, first line unrhymed, level-tone wei rhyme — strict form with a limpid flow. The abrupt cluster of oblique tones in the phrase 'white stones emerge' mimics the hard gleam of exposed stone, while the final line's smooth pattern seems to let the emerald haze drift on. Read slowly and quietly, pausing slightly at 'emerge' and 'sparse', and softening the voice through 'empty emerald' and 'dampens clothes' to release the moist, meditative mood.此诗是标准的五言绝句，仄起首句不入韵，押平声微韵，格律严整而音节清畅。值得注意的是首句「荆溪白石出」连用三个仄声字（白、石、出皆为入声字），形成拗峭的声调，与后三句的平缓形成对比，恰如溪水初落、石骨嶙峋的视觉印象，可谓以声写形。末句「空翠湿人衣」以「平仄仄平平」的顺畅声调收束，仿佛翠色弥漫、余韵悠长。全诗韵脚「稀」「衣」皆清微之音，诵读时宜以平缓的语调，于「出」「稀」处稍作顿挫，于「空翠」「湿人衣」处放轻放柔，方能传达出诗中空濛湿润的禅意。王维五绝向以「淡而有味」著称，此诗声律与意境浑然一体，正是其「以声写境」功力的体现。

Line by line

荆溪白石出，天寒红叶稀。

At Jing Creek the white stones emerge as the water shallows; the sky turns cold and the red leaves grow sparse.

荆溪水浅，白色的石头露出水面；天气转寒，山中的红叶渐渐稀疏。

On the Jing Stream, white stones show; the weather turns cold, and the red leaves are sparse.

起笔两句写深秋山景，以极少的笔墨勾勒出极丰富的画面。「白石出」三字写出溪水因秋浅而落、水落而石现的动态过程，一个「出」字仿佛石头是从水底缓缓浮出，静中有动；「红叶稀」则点出霜寒叶落的季节特征，一「稀」字写尽秋意的萧疏。两句以「白」「红」两色对举，设色鲜明而清冷，一为石之固、一为叶之凋，一动一静、一存一衰，恰恰构成秋山最本质的两种表情。而「荆溪」「天寒」又暗暗点出时地：荆溪是辋川一带的溪水，天寒则是深秋的节气，诗人山行至此，目光由溪及山、由近及远，一句一景，景景相生。此二句看似纯写景物，实则已暗含诗人对季节流转的敏感与对万物凋零的静观，为后两句「空翠湿人衣」的奇境做好了铺垫。

The opening two lines write the deep autumn mountain scene, the richest picture sketched in the fewest words. 'White stones show' three words write the dynamic of the stream falling shallow in autumn, the water sunk and the stones revealed; the one word 'show' as if the stones were slowly rising from the stream bed, motion within stillness. 'The red leaves are sparse' names the season of frost and falling leaves, the one word 'sparse' writing the autumn's desolation to the full. Two lines, the two colors 'white' and 'red' set against each other, the coloring bright and cold, one the stone's fixedness one the leaf's falling, one motion one stillness, one being one decline, precisely the two most essential expressions of the autumn mountain. And 'the Jing Stream' and 'the weather turns cold' secretly name time and place: the Jing Stream a stream of the Wangchuan region, 'the weather turns cold' the deep autumn season, the poet walking the hills, the eye from stream to mountain, from near to far, one line one scene, scene giving birth to scene. These two lines, seemingly pure scene, secretly hold the poet's sensitivity to the season's turn and the calm observing of all things' falling, the groundwork for the later wonder of 'the empty green seems to wet my robe'.

山路元无雨，空翠湿人衣。

The mountain path has had no rain, yet the empty emerald seems to dampen one's clothes.

山路上本来并没有下雨，可那空濛的翠色仿佛要滴落下来，沾湿了行人的衣裳。

On the mountain road, no rain has fallen; yet the empty green seems to wet my robe.

这两句是全诗的诗眼，也是中国诗史上写「通感」最著名的句子之一。「元无雨」三字先作理性判断，明确告诉读者山间并无雨滴；「空翠湿人衣」却笔锋一转，以触觉写视觉——那满山弥漫的翠绿，仿佛凝结成湿润的空气，竟让人感到衣裳被沾湿。这一矛盾正是禅意的所在：诗人明知无雨，却在翠色氤氲中生出「湿衣」的幻觉，说明他已完全沉醉于山水，物我的界限在这一刻消解了。「空」字尤其精妙：翠色本是有形之色，着一「空」字，便化实为虚，使翠色弥漫成一种无处不在的气韵，既见山之深幽，又显心境之澄澈。全诗于此由实入虚、由色入空，二十字间完成了从「看山是山」到「看山不是山」的升华，正是王维「以禅入诗」的极致表现。

These two lines are the poem's eye, and one of the most famous lines of synaesthesia in Chinese poetry. 'No rain has fallen' three words first make the rational judgment, telling the reader plainly there is no rain on the mountain; 'yet the empty green seems to wet my robe' turns the brush, writing sight through touch — the green that fills the whole mountain, as if condensed into moist air, actually making one feel the robe wetted. This contradiction is precisely where the Chan meaning lies: the poet knows there is no rain, yet in the emerald haze he feels the illusion of the wet robe, showing he has sunk wholly into the landscape, and the boundary of self and world dissolves in this instant. The word 'empty' is the more exquisite: the green is a formed color, and with one 'empty' it turns the real into the void, making the green diffuse into an omnipresent breath, both the mountain's depth and the mind's clarity. The poem here turns from the real to the void, from color to emptiness, and between twenty words completes the elevation from 'seeing the mountain as mountain' to 'seeing the mountain not as mountain', the extreme of Wang Wei's 'poetry within Chan'.

Study

Word focus

空翠 Empty emerald: the vast, boundless green of the mountains, made intangible by the word empty, so that it seems an atmosphere one can feel rather than a color one sees — the Zen heart of the poem. 「空翠」二字是全诗最见匠心、也最具禅意的组合。翠，是山色的青绿；空，则是佛家「色即是空」之空。二字并置，便有了双重意味：从物象看，「空翠」指山间弥漫的浓翠之气，仿佛翠色不是附着于某一物，而是充盈于整个空间；从禅理看，「空」字点破翠色的本质——山色虽美，终归虚幻，与《心经》「色不异空，空不异色」正相呼应。正因为翠是「空」的，它才能弥漫、才能「湿人衣」，才能由视觉化为触觉。若换作「浓翠」「深翠」，则坐实于色相，禅意尽失；唯「空翠」二字，将山色的实有与佛理的空无熔为一炉，使全诗在写景之外平添一层形而上的意味，这正是王维炼字的高妙之处——他不是在雕琢辞藻，而是在以字构境、以字传禅。

湿 To dampen: used here of a color, this tactile verb performs the poem's synesthesia, letting the emerald haze soak the traveler's clothes though no rain has fallen. 「湿」字是此诗通感手法的落点，看似平常，实则千锤百炼。翠色本不可「湿」，诗人却以「湿人衣」写之，将视觉中的绿意转化为触觉中的湿润，打通了五官的界限，使读者仿佛亲身走进那空翠弥漫的山径。这一字妙在两点：其一，它写的是「幻觉的实感」——诗人明知无雨，衣裳未必真湿，但翠色之浓、山气之润，使他在精神上真切地感到「湿」；这种似真似幻的感觉，正是禅定状态下对自然最细腻的体认。其二，它使静态的景色获得了动态的生命力——翠色仿佛有重量、有水汽，能够「湿」人，山便不再是死的景，而是活的、与人相亲的境。一个「湿」字，让整首诗的境界由「目遇」升华为「身感」，物我至此完全交融。后来杨万里「入深翠更浓，湿我征衣」等句皆脱胎于此，可见此字影响之深远。

山中