Farewell To a Japanese Buddhist Priest Bound Homeward

You were foreordained to find the source.
Now, tracing your way as in a dream
There where the sea floats up the sky,
You wane from the world in your fragile boat...
The water and the moon are as calm as your faith,
Fishes and dragons follow your chanting,
And the eye still watches beyond the horizon
The holy light of your single lantern. 

Original Poem:

《送僧归日本》
上国随缘住，来途若梦行。
浮天沧海远，去世法舟轻。
水月通禅寂，鱼龙听梵声。
惟怜一灯影，万里眼中明。

Interpretation:

The Tang Dynasty was a powerful period in China, and many Japanese envoys were sent to China, and many monks came with them to learn culture and skills and to seek Buddhist teachings, thus greatly promoting cultural exchange between China and Japan. This poem was presented by the author to the monks who were about to return to China, when the poet was in Chang’an.

The first two lines of the poem are not about the farewell, but about the return from the road, and then about the monk’s practice in the sea, sitting in meditation under the moon and chanting sutras on the boat. Finally, it describes the loneliness of the monk on his way home, with only a lonely lamp to accompany him. The second half of the poem is not about sending back, but about the sea scenery, which broadens the poem’s scope and is not constrained by the content, making the narrower topic rich in content and making it a good poem.

The first half of the poem is about the Japanese monks coming to China, and the second half is about the Japanese monks returning to China. In the second half of the poem, the Japanese monks return to China, and the poem is full of Buddhist terms, such as “follow the flow”, “Dharma boat”, “Zen silence”, “water moon” and “Brahma sound”, which are full of religious colors and have a strong Zen style. The poem’s natural and harmonious phrasing shows the poet’s profound knowledge and solid artistic skills.

About Author:

Qian Qi (钱起, 722-780 A.D.) was a poet of the Tang Dynasty, Han nationality, and a native of Wuxing (now Huzhou City, Zhejiang Province), who was one of the “Ten Talents of the Dali” and the “Champion of the Ten Talents of the Dali”. In his early years, he was unsuccessful in several examinations, but finally he was admitted as a scholar in 751 AD.

Poem translator:

Kiang Kanghu