Rough were the mountain-stones, and the path very narrow;
And when I reached the temple, bats were in the dusk.
I climbed to the hall, sat on the steps, and drank the rain-washed air
Among the round gardenia-pods and huge banana-leaves.
On the old wall, said the priest, were Buddhas finely painted,
And he brought a light and showed me, and I called them wonderful.
He spread the bed, dusted the mats, and made my supper ready,
And, though the food was coarse, it satisfied my hunger.
At midnight, while I lay there not hearing even an insect,
The mountain moon with her pure light entered my door…
At dawn I left the mountain and, alone, lost my way:
In and out, up and down, while a heavy mist
Made brook and mountain green and purple, brightening everything.
l am passing sometimes pines and oaks, which ten men could not girdle,
I am treading pebbles barefoot in swift-running water -
Its ripples purify my ear, while a soft wind blows my garments…
These are the things which, in themselves, make life happy.
Why should we be hemmed about and hampered with people?
0 chosen pupils, far behind me in my own country,
What if I spent my old age here and never went back home?
Original Poem:
「山石」
韩愈
山石荦确行径微， 黄昏到寺蝙蝠飞。
升堂坐阶新雨足， 芭蕉叶大栀子肥。
僧言古壁佛画好， 以火来照所见稀。
铺床拂席置羹饭， 疏粝亦足饱我饥。
夜深静卧百虫绝， 清月出岭光入扉。
天明独去无道路， 出入高下穷烟霏。
山红涧碧纷烂漫， 时见松枥皆十围。
当流赤足蹋涧石， 水声激激风吹衣。
人生如此自可乐， 岂必局束为人鞿？
嗟哉吾党二三子， 安得至老不更归？
Interpretation:
This is a poem about a visit to a mountain temple written by the poet in the 17th year of Emperor Dezong’s reign (801 AD), when he was travelling from Xuzhou to Luoyang, and stayed overnight at the Huilin Temple in the north of Luoyang on the way. Through the description of what he saw, heard and felt from “arriving at the temple at dusk”, “lying quietly in the dead of night” to “leaving alone at dawn”, he expresses the poet’s love for nature and his longing for a free and peaceful life, as well as his desire for a free and peaceful life. It expresses the poet’s love for nature and his desire for a free and peaceful life, and expresses his indignation and resentment towards the bumpy career path.
The first eight lines describe what the poet saw, heard and felt before he entered the temple and went to bed. The first stanza describes the treacherous rocks and narrow mountain roads before the temple. The “bats flying”, which only appear at dusk, indicates the time of arrival at the temple. The phrase “rising to the hall” means that the monks are eager to arrange food and lodging, and the phrase “sitting on the steps” indicates that the main character has come to visit the temple and is very excited about the trip.
Then he writes that the main character stayed in the temple at night and was enchanted by the tranquillity of the temple. Lying quietly and listening to the nocturnal music played by the insects, the hero naturally dispels all his worries and his mind is extraordinarily pure. Do not feel “deep night” and the sound of insects began to “extinct”, the moon has climbed out of the mountains, shining into the window, it should be almost dawn. This shows that the main character did not sleep all night, naturally intoxicated.
When the hero sets out at dawn, a world of “fading smoke” is in front of him, and both the high and low parts of the mountain are wrapped in thick fog. Falling smoke is over, the sun rises in the sky, through the pine and oak bushes, the wind whisks the sleeves, the spring murmurs, shallow streams are very lovely, barefoot wading in the mountain streams, so that clear streams of water from the back of the foot flow, the mountain wind blowing the clothes. The main character has long since melted into nature, thoroughly intoxicated by nature.
The last summary of the whole text. “Life is like this”, sums up the whole experience of this visit to the Huilin Temple, expressing the love of natural beauty, human beauty and infinite yearning. This article is a poetic landscape travelogue, but it opens up a new field for traditional travelogue poems. It draws on the characteristics of landscape travelogue, narrating the story layer by layer according to the order of the journey, one sentence at a time, like a scroll.
