one
Although I have traveled to many mountains, I still feel discouraged when I talk to people about mountains because I have not yet reached Emei. I have long wanted to visit Emei, but due to various reasons, I have never been able to do so. This regret has been with me through the 1980s and 1990s. During these twenty long years, the evening drums and morning bells in Mount Emei have always been ringing unhurriedly, and the Buddha's light and holy lamps have always been displayed intentionally or unintentionally; the tangerine flowers are blooming, and the rare beauty red is also revealed every year. person once. But I have long said goodbye to my vigorous youth, and my interest in mountaineering has changed from running and roaring to sitting on a stubborn rock, quietly watching the flowers bloom and fall, and the clouds rising and flying.
The ancients praised Mount Emei and left behind many masterpieces. These famous articles were all my delicacies to accompany wine on cold nights. Among them, my favorites are Li Bai's "Mount Emei Moon Song" and "Listening to Shu Monk Jun Playing the Qin". The first song was composed when he was twenty-five years old. The half-round autumn moon of Mount Emei sends our poet on his way to begin his journey of life that will never stop once he starts. Whenever I recite this poem, a boat on the Qingyi River from 1,200 years ago will appear in my eyes. Mount Emei is so big and the boat is so small. This kind of subversive nostalgia really made Li Bai uncomfortable for a long time. The second poem was written by Li Bai thirty years after he left Mount Emei. He chanted it over and over again, and I couldn’t help but copy it out:
A Shu monk holds the green feather in his arms and descends westward to Mount Emei.
Wave your hand for me, it's like listening to thousands of pines.
The guest's heart is washed by running water, and the sound of the frost bell is heard.
Unexpectedly, it was dusk in the green mountains, and the autumn clouds were dark.
This poem was written by Li Bai from Jingting Mountain in Xuanzhou, Anhui. Here he met the monk Guangjun whom he met in Mount Emei thirty years ago. Meeting an old friend in a foreign land, let alone in his twilight years when his hair is gray. Guangjun took off the Yaoqin in his backpack and played it gently. The long-lost Mount Emei, the original peaks, valleys, flowers and leaves, were all vividly reproduced in the melody of Shu music.
two
After chatting for a long time, readers thought I was talking outside the mountains. In fact, at this moment, I am in the Wannian Temple at the foot of Xixin Ridge in Mount Emei. The predecessor of this temple was Baishui Temple in the Tang Dynasty. Monk Guangjun was the eminent monk of Baishui Temple. There is a pool on the left side of the temple, the White Pool. Among the top ten scenic spots in Mount Emei, there is White Water and Autumn Wind. Autumn is to the mountains what eighteen-year-old is to a girl, it is the most colorful season. Autumn at Baishui Temple probably best represents the charm of Mount Emei. In October when the Frost Bell breaks, I stand by the White Pond and look at the Lion Rock, the Tianchi Peak, in front of the Bowl Mountain, the Merit Forest, and the forests everywhere are a symphony of colors. Overripe watermelon-like maple leaves, rouge-colored rock mulberries, glittering ginkgo trees like gold foil, lush Hinoki cypress, emerald-like phoebe, and bushes composed of water ash trees, in different shades of scenery. Eye-catching little white flowers bloom in the green, just like thousands of gulls flying in the boundless blue waves. Facing this burning autumn color spread among the endless hills and valleys, you will suddenly feel a panic in your heart. Such beautiful scenery can also burn you.
One night, or some nights, 1,200 years ago, Monk Guangjun was at this white pool, facing the mellow autumn scenery surrounded by mountains, and entertained our ancient poet Li Bai with his elegant music. . The cinnamon seeds of Sanqiu are fragrant without burning, and the autumn wind around my knees is smoother than my lover's first wash of hair. In this situation, Guang Jun's fingers are like flying, playing beautiful melodies one after another. It's like the autumn wind, swaying among thousands of red leaves; like the fragrant mash, it makes people feel intoxicated.
Judging from Li Bai's poems, Guang Jun belongs to the kind of artist who is grand and has a mysterious realm. In my opinion, these two points are also the characteristics of Mount Emei. During their time, Zen Buddhism had become popular in China. In the early stages of Zen, the purpose was to restore the true nature of the human heart, so that the blindly struggling life could have a happy ending. Guangjun is obviously an accomplished Zen master. What is revealed in the sound of the piano is his understanding of life, and he cares about the joys and sorrows of the world with the special emotions that must be relied upon when forging ahead...
From the moment I arrived at the foot of Xixin Ridge and wandered beside the white pool, the sound of Guangjun's piano has been ringing in my ears. I don’t know why, but I always feel that the sound of the piano is a symbol of Mount Emei. Previously, I had climbed to the Golden Summit and burned incense and worshiped the Buddha in Huazang Temple at an altitude of 3,777 meters. After that, I walked among the rocks. There were clouds and freezing rain. I couldn't see anything but the cold. Just when I was annoyed, a gust of wind suddenly came, and the clouds were pushed high into the sky, and thousands of peaks showed their sapphire blue silhouettes. Isn’t the contour line they represent under the sky of cumulus exactly the melody of the mysterious realm flowing from Zen Master Guangjun’s fingers?
three
Beside the white pool, there was a stone tablet "where Li Bai listened to Guangjun and played the piano in the Tang Dynasty". I don't know when it was erected or when it was destroyed. Most tourists who go to Mount Emei only want to visit Wannian Temple when they come to Xixinling. Compared with other temples in the mountain, this Wannian Temple has the most cultural relics. The two most famous ones are: a bronze statue of Samantabhadra that is 7.3 meters high and weighs 62 tons. It was built in the fifth year of the Taiping Xingguo period in the Northern Song Dynasty. It has a history of more than a thousand years. There is also a brick-built beamless hall with a bronze statue of Samantabhadra. It was built during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty and has a history of 400 years. Seeing these ancient Buddhist utensils can indeed calm one's mind and give rise to some otherworldly reverie. I am also a devout Buddhist worshiper, but after burning incense and bowing my head, I still want to trace the remains of Li Bai and Guang Jun.
In fact, the white pool is very small, only about ten square meters. If a pine nut falls into it, the ripples will ripple across the entire pool surface for a long time. I stood by the pool and saw many tourists walking in a hurry, unwilling to stop by the pool. It was inevitable that I would feel sad in my heart.
The understanding attitude towards things in the world and the ability to comprehend spiritual life are called the root of wisdom by Buddhists. The purpose of modern people's life is far different from that of the ancients. If we use the Zen standard for judging wisdom, most of it is blunt. This is indeed an embarrassment left to us by modern civilization. On the one hand, scientific and technological progress has expanded human living space, and the comfort of food, clothing, housing and transportation has been greatly improved. Due to overall development, the enjoyment of an ordinary person today has exceeded that of the emperors in ancient times. However, on the other hand, the spiritual life of mankind has greatly regressed. Artists who provide spiritual food for mankind have succumbed to commercial pressure and can no longer devote themselves to art unconditionally. Bodhidharma faced the wall for nine years before he realized the meaning of Zen; the blind man A Bing was poor all his life, but left behind "Two Springs Reflect the Moon"; Jia Dao "got two sentences in three years, and one chant made both of them shed tears"; Wang Xizhi spent his whole life trying to figure out a "Moon Reflected in Two Springs"; "Goose"; Cao Xueqin spent ten years eating porridge and hiding in a deserted village to write "Dream of Red Mansions"... This casual example is by no means an extreme case among ancient artists. The art that exists in agricultural civilization is pure and persistent. Monk Guangjun lives alone in this mountain, transforming Zen into a harp, flying waterfalls, birds chirping, woodcutter winds and pines roaring. The gathering and dispersing, the ups and downs, the ups and downs, and the rhythms last for a lifetime. How can you appreciate it? secret? Therefore, ancient artists made art for the sake of art and accommodated life within it. Most of today's artists do art for money and put fame and fortune at the top of their list. Therefore, they are never willing to do one thing for a lifetime. A painter can paint dozens of paintings a year, a writer can write several books a year, and a singer can release several albums a year. How much real art is there here? The sad thing is not that this phenomenon exists, but that this phenomenon has become the mainstream among artists.
Just like tourists, true art is almost disappearing in our time. Sensual pleasure has replaced spiritual pursuits, all of which are the result of technological development. For life, technology is a blessing; for art, technology is a plague! Under such circumstances, the destruction of the stone tablet "Where Li Bai listened to Guangjun and played the piano in the Tang Dynasty" was destroyed and never restored, so it cannot be considered a simple event.
Four
Sentiment is not like the flu, which can be contagious to others. My traveling companions are all enjoying themselves in this Wannian Temple. As the dojo of Samantabhadra Bodhisattva, Mount Emei is one of the four famous Buddhist mountains in China, but Mount Emei’s reputation is not only due to Buddhism. Its scenery and culture make people read it often, and it is not only eye-catching, but also admirable. Wandering in Wannian Temple, amidst the ethereal sound of Zen Master Guangjun’s piano, I recited this rhyme poem:
In order to go to Emei to taste snow buds, I passed Sanba in the third month of spring.
The peach gold eaves are covered with wind and rain, and the mist is dark and the green clothes are as bright as clouds.
In the ancient temple's Brahma Bell Bodhisattva Road, there are white clouds and azaleas.
Thousands of years after the Yao Qin was played, who would carry the lingering sound through the restaurant?
It was getting late, and in the purple shadow, I walked back home. In Mount Emei after the rain, the ravines and ravines are filled with the music and poetry of the piano passed down from generation to generation. As the car turned, a row of small wooden buildings appeared on the left side of the road. A signboard of "Emei Restaurant" was hung in front of one of them. I asked the driver to stop. Immediately, I found a place to drink with Li Bai.
§§Chapter 16 Infinite Jiangshan Yicaotang
one
The melancholy coming of spring brings me to Huanhua Township, where there are endless rivers and mountains and a thatched cottage.
The road is covered with drizzle and crisp mud, and the green shadows of bamboo fences and nanshi fill the windows.
Every time my arms are injured due to war, I have experienced vicissitudes of life and strengthened my heart.
Living in Jincheng, listening to Du Yu, the poet talks desolately alone.
Sitting in the teahouse of Du Fu's Thatched Cottage, I wrote this poem. In the past few years, I have been to Chengdu frequently with the help of Silver Wings, and I also took time to visit Du Fu's Thatched Cottage three times. As a poet, I have always wanted to write something about this thatched cottage, but for some reason I just couldn't find the feeling. Returning from Mount Emei this time, my heart feels like a boat on the Qingyi River, still sailing in the mist and rain of the prosperous Tang Dynasty. When I came to Du Fu Thatched Cottage in Chengdu, I carefully browsed the Chaimen flower path, passed through the clumps of smoky green bamboo, and watched the tall nan trees filling the courtyard with the spring light in the April mist and rain, and my heart suddenly felt... Endless melancholy arises. Hence, the poem above.
In the long history of China, poets are a tongue-tied bunch. China is known as a country of poetry. Poetry in China is more of a state of existence than an art. In ancient times, there were almost no officials in China who could not write poetry. Many great poets were produced among them, such as Qu Yuan, Song Yu, Bao Zhao, Yu Xin and so on. This situation was still prominent in the Tang and Song dynasties. In the Tang Dynasty, there were Zhang Jiuling, Wang Wei, Liu Zongyuan, Yuan Zhen, Bai Juyi, Han Yu, Du Mu, Li Shangyin, etc.; in the Song Dynasty, there were Wang Anshi, Yan Shu, Ouyang Xiu, Fan Zhongyan, Su Dongpo, Xin Qiji, Lu You, etc., all of whom have been regarded as eternal figures in the poetry world. characters, and at the same time they are all high-ranking officials. Compared with the above people, Du Fu's official position was humble. The so-called Ministry of Industry was at the level of a director at best compared to today. But when it comes to poetry, regardless of official status, being a minor official does not prevent him from obtaining the status of a "sage of poetry".
The Chinese nation is industrious, intelligent, and very outstanding, but at the same time it is extremely vain and exaggerates everything. For example, when it comes to saints, there are probably not as many saints in the world who have received this title combined as there are in China. Zhou Gongdan was the first sage among Chinese politicians, and Confucius was the first sage in Chinese culture, known as the "Eternal Master". In addition, there are many such as calligraphy sage, grass sage, poetry sage, chess sage, art sage, painting sage, song sage, etc. It has developed to this day and become more and more intense. The emergence of this phenomenon is actually the remnant of totem worship by ancient people. Saints are lofty and unattainable. We look up to them and feel ashamed of our own stupidity. But standing in Du Fu's Thatched Cottage, a question immediately came to mind: Why has no one ever called this thatched cottage the "Poetry Saint Thatched Cottage" instead of the "Ministry of Works Thatched Cottage"? With the title of Liandao Sage, he is still no match for a low-ranking Ministry of Works member, Wailang?
two
In the winter of 758 AD, Du Fu, who had abandoned his official position and became a wanderer after joining the army in Huazhou, came to Chengdu with his family and stayed by the Huanhua River. In the spring of the following year, with the support of friends, I selected a piece of land in the upper reaches of Huanhua River and built several huts. This was the original Du Fu Thatched Cottage. Du Fu lived here for three years and nine months and wrote more than 240 poems. After his death, the thatched cottage changed owners several times and finally fell into ruins. It was not until more than a hundred years later that Wei Zhuang, a poet of the late Tang Dynasty who came to Chengdu to serve as an official, found the ruins of a thatched cottage on the bank of Huanhua Creek. In memory of the sages, he built a thatched hut on the ruins. This was the first thatched cottage built by future generations to commemorate Du Fu. architecture. Another hundred and seventy years later, during the Yuanfeng period of Shenzong of the Northern Song Dynasty, a Jinshi official named Lu Dafang rebuilt Jincheng again on the ruins of the Weizhuang version of the thatched cottage, this time on a slightly larger scale. There is a portrait of Du Fu painted on the wall for people to pay homage to. Half a century later, in the early years of the Southern Song Dynasty, Zhang Tao, then the prefect of Chengdu, came to the Huanhua River. Faced with the dilapidation of the thatched cottage, he repaired it again, added 26 stone steles, and engraved a thousand Du poems. There are more than 400 poems, which took four months to complete. After this renovation, the thatched cottage gradually gained momentum and was much different from before. When the Yuan and Ming Dynasties changed dynasties, the thatched cottage was destroyed by war. In the early Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang's eleventh son Zhu Chun was granted the title of King of Shu and came to Chengdu, where he ordered the reconstruction of the thatched cottage, this time on a larger scale. Since then, to the end of the Ming Dynasty, the thatched cottage has been repaired and expanded seven times. Pavilions, ancestral halls, Qushui Garden, and thatched cottage have become a scenic spot. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, Zhang Xianzhong entered Sichuan, killing people like hemp, causing catastrophe in Sichuan, and the thatched cottage was also inevitable. In 1670, Cai Yurong, the governor of Chaochuan Lake during the reign of Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty, took office in Chengdu. He contacted Jin Ling, the chief envoy of Sichuan, and Ji Yingxiong, the prefect of Chengdu, to initiate the reconstruction. It was expanded five times during the Qing Dynasty. During the Republic of China, local people raised funds to rebuild the Gongbu Temple and the Poetry and History Hall in the thatched cottage. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the thatched cottage became the Du Fu Memorial Hall, and a management office was established, which was open to tourists. In 1961, Du Fu Thatched Cottage was announced by the State Council as one of the first batch of key cultural relics protection units in the country. The thatched cottage complex we see now was left over from the reconstruction in the 16th year of Jiaqing in the Qing Dynasty. This wear-style residential building is typical of Western Sichuan style. There are layers of pavilions and pavilions, beautiful halls and verandas, clear water and scattered flowers, and rain and red flowers. This scene is as luxurious as a royal palace, far from the poet's former residence.
three
Among the poets of the Tang Dynasty, there were two poorest ones, one was Du Fu and the other was Du Xunchuan. If we divide them into groups, they are all poor peasants. In New China, they can be regarded as proletarian poets. In the Song Dynasty, Yu Ruli, who had presided over the reconstruction of the thatched cottage, wrote twelve poems for the thatched cottage. The first two lines of the first poem "The brilliant poet lives in the west of Jincheng, only because of the good poetry, he lives in poverty." The opening line clearly points out Du Fu's Due to his identity, this "splendid poet" lives in poverty in the world. At the same time, he expressed a point of view: only by living in poverty can one write good poetry. Du Fu himself also said that "articles hate destiny". This is tantamount to telling people that literature is a career for the poor. This view is obviously contrary to Confucius's idea of "knowing the etiquette after the warehouse is full". The relationship between literature and wealth, that is to say whether Du Fu's theory is correct, is worthy of another article and will not be discussed here. Here, I would like to point out an interesting phenomenon. The Chinese poet, a skinny and poor old man, was homeless during his lifetime. He could not bear to give up his waist for five measures of rice. He suppressed the sorrow of poverty and coughed his teeth. In front of the noble officials, Why did this poet, who forced a smile and died of rotten beef poisoning on a hot day, live in a thatched cottage where he lived for more than three years, so grand and beautiful? In this thatched cottage, Du Fu wrote the heart-wrenching song "Song of Thatched Cottage Broken by the Autumn Wind". If the thatched cottage was like today, would Du Fu be so sad and regretful that he would curse the neighbor's children who took away the thatch?
There is only one answer: this thatched cottage was built by future generations. Judging from the reconstruction situations in the past dynasties listed in the second section, it is basically all done by the government. This leads to the second interesting question: Why were our officials so stingy during Du Fu's lifetime and allowed him to live in poverty and despair? But after his death, why did he have to spend so much money and take the trouble to repair and expand the Du Fu Thatched Cottage that no longer had Du Fu? Poverty during life and glory after death have reached the extreme. Is this absurd black humor or original Chinese characteristics?
As mentioned before, poetry in China is first and foremost a way of survival, and secondly art. Not to mention the fact that arty officialdom has become a chronic disease, even the emperor, who was born with the dragon race and is powerful all over the world, also wants to join the crowd of poets. Liu Bang, the founder of the Han Dynasty, and Zhu Yuanzhang, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, were almost illiterate. However, they both had poems handed down from generation to generation, and Liu Bang's "Song of the Wind" was not bad at all. Imperial poetry should be regarded as a special kind of Chinese poetry. Emperor Qianlong composed more than 10,000 poems, more than any other great poet in history. Although China's ruling class loves poetry, loving poetry and loving poets are two different things. In history, there were not many emperors who loved poets, but there were countless emperors who caused suffering to poets. Let’s not go too far, let’s talk about Mao Zedong, who founded New China. He himself was an excellent poet, but this did not prevent him from ruthlessly attacking tens of thousands of poets and writers such as Hu Feng and Ai Qing. There was never any moral impediment for rulers to brutally persecute defenseless civilians in order to consolidate their power.
Based on the above considerations, walking in Du Fu's thatched cottage, I did have the feeling of "the poet talking alone and desolate".
Four
As far as gardens are concerned, Du Fu Thatched Cottage is a scenic spot in the southwest. When *** visited the Thatched Cottage at the age of eighty, he said: "If you come to Chengdu and don't visit Du Fu Thatched Cottage, you haven't come to Chengdu." I don't know the exact meaning of this sentence. It can be understood as a tribute to Du Fu and a reminder to the Chinese people not to lose their sense of urgency. It can also be understood as a compliment to this piece of garden architecture. Yes, the farmhouse-style thatched cottage has a leisurely charm like a subtle and distant ink painting. In particular, the thatched cottage scenic spot and Qushui Forest Pond, which were built in 1996, are full of the artistic conception of Du's poems. Du Fu, who died in a boat on the Dongting Lake, never imagined that the humble residence he built with the help of friends would be transformed into a masterpiece of Jincheng, attracting dignitaries from all over the world and nobles from all over the world. From this point of view alone, it is the poet's honor that this place can be called "the only one in the world".
When I was in the thatched cottage, it was late spring, misty and rainy, and the garden was bustling with tourists. I observed carefully that the place with the fewest tourists was the Forest of Du Shi Steles. Ah, they don't come here to find poetry, just like the swimming fish and duckweeds. What they need is the spring stream here and the entertainment path. If you think about it carefully, you can understand that in Chinese history, poets are a fashion. Today, when the pursuit of profit has become the first choice in society, poets have long become marginalized figures in society. No one is willing to appreciate the sonorous melody anymore, and no one is idle to listen to the poet's appeal. Although this appeal comes from the heart and is full of sorrow, it does not resort to verbal violence. However, it still won't attract people's attention, because poetry that comes from emotion is, after all, too far away from the smell of copper.
