They compete in
collecting
the most pretty things;1
8 “This spot is better than home!
8 “This spot is better than home!
Hanshan - 01
The trodden plants form three paths here,1
4 While the clouds I see are neighbors in four directions. There are birds to supply notes to accompany my song, But no one here to address my Dharma questions. Today the Shala tree
8 Makes several years a single spring. 2
1 A poetic cliché for a country recluse’s dwelling—there are no regular roads there, but visitors have formed three paths to his door with their passing.
2 Commentators do not agree on the identity of the tree mentioned here, suopo 娑婆. This is usually the sinicization of the Sanskrit word sahā, a term for our world of su ering (samsara). Xiang Chu suggests that it is an error for suoluo 娑羅, or Shala tree (shorea robusta), the tree under which the Buddha’s mother gave birth, and also used as a symbol of impermanence. However, the suggestion that it is extremely long-lived suggests a passage in Chapter One of the Zhuangzi that describes the chun 椿 tree, which takes eight thousand years as a single season of its life. Regardless, the line seems to suggest the readjustment of the recluse’s life to a more cosmic frame of time.
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16
寒山詩
HS 5
琴書須自隨，
祿位用何為。
投輦從賢婦，
4 巾車有孝兒。 風吹曝麥地， 水溢沃魚池。 常念鷦鷯鳥，
8 安身在一枝。 HS 6
弟兄同五郡，
父子本三州。
欲驗飛鳧集，
4 須旌白兔遊。 靈瓜夢裏受， 神橘座中收。 鄉國何迢遞，
8 同魚寄水流。
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Hanshan’s Poems 17
HS 5
I really should take up calligraphy and zither;
For what use is salary or position?
Heeding wise wife’s advice, I abandon my carriage,
4 And let my lial son drive my cart.
The breeze blows across my threshing oor, And water lls the pool where I raise sh.
I always am thinking of the wren—
8 Who is content to rest on a single branch. 1
HS 6
Like those “brothers,” all from ve commanderies, Or the “father and sons” from three prefectures,
I want to prove my piety with a gathering of ducks,
4 Must mark it with white hares at play.
A magic melon was received in a dream,
A sacred orange was collected from a banquet. How far away is my homeland!
8 I drift along the current with the sh. 2
1 A reference to Chapter One of the Zhuangzi, in which the modest wren is contrasted with greater and more ambitious creatures.
2 This is the most ba ing poem in the Hanshan collection, largely because it consists of a number of allusions strung together. The general import is a paean to lial piety, and I have translated a bit more freely than usual in order to bring the threads together. The narrative voice laments his inability to return home where he can look after his parents. Line 1 refers to a story about ve unrelated men from ve di erent places who swore brotherhood and who adopted a beggar woman as their mother. Later, they discovered that she was the mother of the local magistrate, from whom she had been separated when he was still a child. Line 2 similarly refers to three unrelated men who swore to form a family. The third was declared the father; when he made unreasonable demands of them, asking them to build their house in the middle of the river, their lial piety for their “father” resulted in land emerging mysteriously from the water. Lines three and four probably allude to a number of stories relating how birds and rabbits gathered at the mourning huts of lial sons. Line ve refers to Jiao Hua 焦華, a lial son who received a magic melon in a dream that subsequently healed his father’s illness. Xiang Chu suggests that line six combines two allusions: the story of Wang Lingzhi 王靈之, a lial mourner whose garden produced a magic orange that healed his own illness; and Lu Ji 陸績, who,
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18
寒山詩
HS 7
一為書劍客，
二遇聖明君。
東守文不賞，
4 西征武不勳。 學文兼學武， 學武兼學文。 今日既老矣，
8 餘何不足云。 HS 8
莊子說送終，
天地為棺槨。
吾歸此有時，
4 唯須一番箔。 死將餧青蠅， 吊不勞白鶴。 餓著首陽山，
8 生廉死亦樂。
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Hanshan’s Poems 19
HS 7
Once I was a student of book and sword,
And twice I encountered sagely lords.
But though I held the east, civil merit went unrewarded,
4 And though I fought in the west, martial deeds were not honored. I studied civil matters along with the martial ones,
Studied martial matters along with the civil ones.
And today I’ve already grown old;
8 Of what is left, all is unworthy of mention.
HS 8
Zhuangzi says about bidding farewell to life: “Make Heaven and Earth your co n. ” When it’s time for me to “go home,”
4 I’ll only need a bamboo mat.
When I’m dead, I’ll feed the green ies;
No need to bother the white cranes to mourn me. If I happen to starve on Shouyang Mountain,
8 If I’ve lived in virtue, I’ll be happy to die. 1
as a child, took some oranges from a banquet held by the warlord Yuan Shu 袁術
to give to his mother.
1 A reference to the two recluses, Boyi 伯夷 and Shuqi 叔齊, who starved to death on
Shouyang Mountain rather than change their allegiances from the Shang dynasty to the Zhou. They became model (if controversial) images of Confucian loyalty.
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20
寒山詩
HS 9
人問寒山道，
寒山路不通。
夏天冰未釋，
4 日出霧朦朧。 似我何由屆， 與君心不同。 君心若似我，
8 還得到其中。 HS 10
天生百尺樹，
翦作長條木。
可惜棟梁材，
4 拋之在幽谷。 年多心尚勁， 日久皮漸禿。 識者取將來，
8 猶堪柱馬屋。
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Hanshan’s Poems 21
HS 9
People ask the way to Cold Mountain;
No road passes through to Cold Mountain. In the summer the ice never melts;
4 The sun comes out, but the mists preserve their haze. How did someone like me get there?
Because my mind is not the same as yours.
If your mind were like mine,
8 You’d be able to get to the middle of it.
HS 10
Heaven gave rise to a hundred-foot tree
That was cut into long boards.
What a shame! Timber for main-beam and rafter
4 Has been dumped in some remote valley. Though many years pass, its mind is still strong; Its bark peels away as the days go by.
Yet one who knows its value may carry it away,
8 For it still might be used to prop up a stable.
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22
寒山詩
HS 11
驅馬度荒城，
荒城動客情。
高低舊雉堞，
4 大小古墳塋。 自振孤蓬影， 長凝拱木聲。 所嗟皆俗骨，
8 仙史更無名。 HS 12
鸚鵡宅西國，
虞羅捕得歸。
美人朝夕弄，
4 出入在庭幃。 賜以金籠貯， 扃哉損羽衣。 不如鴻與鶴，
8 颻颺入雲飛。
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Hanshan’s Poems 23
HS 11
I drove my horse past the ruined city—
A ruined city that moves this wanderer’s heart. High and low, the old crenelated parapets;
4 Large and small, the ancient tomb mounds. Bestirred, the shadow of this lonely tumbleweed,1 Amid the drawn-out moans of the mighty trees. Regrettable, all these commonplace bones,
8 That will never be recorded in the Transcendents’ history. 2
HS 12
A parrot dwelt in the Western lands,
But came here when snared in a huntsman’s net. Now lovely women play with it day and night,
4 And it ies in and out of the courtyard curtains. They’ve presented it with a golden cage; Imprisoned! It sheds its feathers.
It can’t come up to the swans and cranes
8 Who ap their wings and go soaring into the clouds.
1 The solitary tumbleweed was a standard image for the isolated or exiled poet.
2 That is, the dead have failed to study Daoism, attain immortality, and become
Transcendents (xian).
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24
寒山詩
HS 13
玉堂挂珠簾，
中有嬋娟子。
其貌勝神仙，
4 容華若桃李。 東家春霧合， 西舍秋風起。 更過三十年，
8 還成苷蔗滓。 HS 14
城中蛾眉女，
珠珮珂珊珊。
鸚鵡花前弄，
4 琵琶月下彈。 長歌三月響， 短舞萬人看。 未必長如此，
8 芙蓉不耐寒。
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Hanshan’s Poems 25
HS 13
Beaded curtains hang in a jade hall;
Within, a lovely maiden dwells.
Her features surpass goddess and Transcendent;
4 Her glories are like those of peach and pear. In the eastern house the spring mists gather; In the western lodge the autumn winds rise. When thirty years go by again,
8 She’ll be turned into pressed sugar cane. 1
HS 14
A lovely-browed maid of the town;
Her beaded girdle gleams and jangles. She toys with a parrot before the owers,
4 And plays her pipa under the moon.
Her sustained song echoes for three months; Her brief dance seen by ten thousand.
But it won’t be like this forever:
8 The lotus can’t endure the cold.
1 Cane stalks that have had all their juice pressed out, leaving them dry and wrinkled.
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26
寒山詩
HS 15
父母續經多，
田園不羨他。
婦搖機軋軋，
4 兒弄口㗻㗻。 拍手摧花舞， 搘頤聽鳥歌。 誰當來歎賀，
8 樵客屢經過。 HS 16
家住綠巖下，
庭蕪更不芟。
新藤垂繚繞，
4 古石豎巉嵓。 山果獼猴摘， 池魚白鷺㘅。 仙書一兩卷，
8 樹下讀喃喃。
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Hanshan’s Poems 27
HS 15
I carry on much of the legacy of my parents;1 I don’t envy others’ elds and gardens.
My wife works her loom—chak chak!
4 My baby tries to speak—gak gak.
I clap my hands, urging the owers to dance; I rest chin in hand, and listen to birdsong. Who comes to admire and congratulate me?
8 A woodsman stops by now and then.
HS 16
My house resides beneath the green cli s;
The weeds in my yard have never been mowed. Fresh vines hang down, wrapping around;
4 Old stones thrust up, jagged and sharp.
Monkeys pick the mountain fruits;
White herons pluck up the sh from the pond.
A book of the Transcendents—one or two chapters
8 I mutter to myself under the trees.
1 This line is somewhat open to interpretation. 續經 here may mean “to carry on an occupation. ” Some would change 續 to 讀 (“to read”) and interpret the line as “I am faithful in reading my parents’ scriptures. ” I think this less likely.
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28
寒山詩
HS 17
四時無止息，
年去又年來。
萬物有代謝，
4 九天無朽摧。 東明又西暗， 花落復花開。 唯有黃泉客，
8 冥冥去不迴。 HS 18
歲去換愁年，
春來物色鮮。
山花笑淥水，
4 巖岫舞青煙。 蜂蝶自云樂， 禽魚更可憐。 朋遊情未已，
8 徹曉不能眠。
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Hanshan’s Poems 29
HS 17
No stopping the four seasons;
Years depart and years arrive.
The ten thousand things will change and fade;
4 The nine Heavens neither decay nor crumble. The east will brighten and the west will darken; Flowers will fall, then bloom again.
Only the traveler to the Yellow Springs,1
8 Once departed in darkness, will not return.
HS 18
The year departs, traded for a new year of grief, Though spring now comes and everything looks new. Mountain owers laugh at the clear waters;
4 Cli s and peaks dance in the blue mist. Butter ies and bees speak of their own joy; Birds and sh are even more charming. But old friendship’s feeling never ends,
8 And I cannot sleep the whole night.
1 Yellow Springs is the traditional term for the underworld.
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30
寒山詩
HS 19
手筆大縱橫，
身材極瓌瑋。
生為有限身，
4 死作無名鬼。 自古如此多， 君今爭柰何。 可來白雲裏，
8 教爾紫芝歌。 HS 20
欲得安身處，
寒山可長保。
微風吹幽松，
4 近聽聲逾好。 下有斑白人， 喃喃讀黃老。 十年歸不得，
8 忘却來時道。
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Hanshan’s Poems 31
HS 19
Your calligraphy may be highly uent, Your stature utterly impressive.
In life a bounded body,
4 In death you become a nameless ghost.
It’s been often like this since ancient times, What use for you to struggle now?
Come up here, among the white clouds,
8 And I’ll teach you the Purple Fungus Song. 1
HS 20
If you want to nd a resting place, Cold Mountain will keep you long.
A gentle breeze blows the hidden pines:
4 The closer you come, the better it sounds. Below them sits a white-haired man Who’s mumbling out Daoist texts.
He’s not gone home for ten years now,
8 For he’s forgotten how he came.
1 A song supposedly sung by the “Four Whiteheads of Mount Shang” 商山四 皓, four recluses who ed civilization when the cruel rst emperor of the Qin established his authority. Originally the song suggested that the four recluses could live o of mushrooms they gathered in the mountains; however, later the text became associated with the use of mountain fungi in the concoction of elixirs of immortality.
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32
寒山詩
HS 21
俊傑馬上郎，
揮鞭指柳楊。
謂言無死日，
4 終不作梯航。 四運花自好， 一朝成萎黃。 醍醐與石蜜，
8 至死不能嘗。 HS 22
有一餐霞子，
其居諱俗遊。
論時實蕭爽，
4 在夏亦如秋。 幽澗常瀝瀝， 高松風颼颼。 其中半日坐，
8 忘却百年愁。
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Hanshan’s Poems 33
HS 21
Splendid and handsome, that lad on his horse; He waves his whip and points to the willows. 1 He claims that he will not die in the end,
4 And never looks for ways of escaping this world. 2 Flowers bloom ne throughout the seasons,
But one day they will all wither.
Clari ed butter and rock honey—3
8 These things he cannot taste ere he dies.
HS 22
There’s a Master who dines on clouds;
His dwelling disdains visits from the vulgar. Come to mention it, it’s really fresh and cool;
4 Like autumn in the midst of summer. Secluded creeks ow trickling on, Winds howl in the lofty pines.
I’ll sit half a day in the midst of this,
8 And forget the grief of a lifetime.
1 Willow trees were often planted around pleasure quarters in traditional Chinese cities; here, it suggests that the youth is living a life of pleasure.
2 Literally, “he will never use ladder or boat”—probably images here for vehicles that will convey him beyond the world of su ering.
3 Delicacies mentioned in the sutras to indicate the delights of enlightenment.
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34
寒山詩
HS 23
妾在邯鄲住，
歌聲亦抑揚。
賴我安居處，
4 此曲舊來長。 既醉莫言歸， 留連日未央。 兒家寢宿處，
8 繡被滿銀床。 HS 24
快搒三翼舟，
善乘千里馬。
莫能造我家，
4 謂言最幽野。 巖岫深嶂中， 雲雷竟日下。 自非孔丘公，
8 無能相救者。
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Hanshan’s Poems 35
HS 23
Your handmaid lives in Handan city, And the notes of my song rise and fall. Tarry in this place of leisure!
4 This tune has always lasted long.
And when you’re drunk, don’t speak of going home— The day lingers—it’s still not done.
My house is a place where you can rest;
8 Where embroidered coverlets cover the silvered beds.
HS 24
Whether you’re swift in rowing one of the three winged boats,1 Or skilled in riding a thousand-league horse,
You won’t be able to reach my home—
4 That is to say, it’s the most remote.
In my cli -side caves, in the deepest peaks, Clouds and thunder descend all day.
I am not like Master Confucius;
8 I have no skill to save you.
1 A winged boat was a type of swift battle craft. They were built in three di erent sizes.
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36
寒山詩
HS 25
智者君拋我，
愚者我拋君。
非愚亦非智，
4 從此斷相聞。 入夜歌明月， 侵晨舞白雲。 焉能拱口手，
8 端坐鬢紛紛。 HS 26
有鳥五色彣，
棲桐食竹實。
徐動合禮儀，
4 和鳴中音律。 昨來何以至， 為吾暫時出。 儻聞絃歌聲，
8 作舞欣今日。
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Hanshan’s Poems 37
HS 25
Wise ones, you’ve cast me o ; Foolish ones, I cast you o . I’m not foolish, nor am I wise;
4 So from now on, I’ll have no contact with you. When night comes, I sing of the bright moon; When dawn arrives, I dance for white clouds. How can I keep mouth and hands in order,
8 And sit in meditation, my hair in a tangle? 1
HS 26
There is a bird with multi-colored plumage, Who nests in paulownias and eats bamboo seeds. Its leisured movements are t for ceremony,
4 And its harmonious singing matches the pitch pipes. Why did it come yesterday?
It has showed itself to us for a time.
If it happens to hear the sounds of string and voice,
8 It will dance, delighting in today. 2
1 The speaker is unwilling to become a monk and undergo rigorous training that will suppress his natural joy. He will not even shave his head.
2 This riddle-like poem describes the feng 鳳 (often translated as a phoenix). Chinese lore notes that it roosts only in the paulownia tree, eats only bamboo seeds, and will show itself at the court of a virtuous ruler. One account has it descending and dancing at the court of a virtuous Zhou dynasty ruler.
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38
寒山詩
HS 27
茅棟野人居，
門前車馬踈。
林幽偏聚鳥，
4 谿闊本藏魚。 山果攜兒摘， 皋田共婦鋤。 家中何所有，
8 唯有一牀書。 HS 28
登陟寒山道，
寒山路不窮。
谿長石磊磊，
4 澗闊草濛濛。 苔滑非關雨， 松鳴不假風。 誰能超世累，
8 共坐白雲中。
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Hanshan’s Poems 39
HS 27
Eaves of rush, a rustic’s dwelling;
Before my gate, carts and horses are few.
The wood is secluded—it harbors birds throughout;
4 The valley stream is broad—has always kept sh. Hand in hand with my son I pick mountain fruit; Together with my wife I hoe the marshy eld. What is there within my house?
8 Just a bed frame piled with books.
HS 28
I climb up the Cold Mountain road,
The Cold Mountain road that never ends. Ravines are long and the rocks pile up;
4 The streambeds are broad, and the grass grows thick. The moss is slick—but not from the rain;
The pines moan—but they’re not relying on wind. Who is able to transcend the bonds of this world
8 And sit together with me amid the white clouds?
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40
寒山詩
HS 29
六極常嬰困，
九維徒自論。
有才遺草澤，
4 無藝閉蓬門。 日上巖猶暗， 煙消谷裏昏。 其中長者子，
8 箇箇總無裩。 HS 30
白雲高嵯峨，
淥水蕩潭波。
此處聞漁父，
4 時時鼓棹歌。 聲聲不可聽， 令我愁思多。 誰謂雀無角，
8 其如穿屋何。
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Hanshan’s Poems 41
HS 29
Always we encounter the Six Extremities;1 Vain to debate about the Nine Worries. 2 Men of parts are cast to the weedy marsh,
4 And even those without talent shut their rustic gates. The sun rises here, yet the cli s are still dark;
Mist fades way, though the valley is gloomy.
Here the sons of good families3
8 Must each of them go without trousers. 4
HS 30
White clouds lofty, toppling on high; Clear water driven into ripples in the pool. Here is where I hear the sherman
4 Who sings now and then as he plies his oars. Each note I cannot bear to hear,
For it causes me so many gloomy thoughts! Who says the sparrow has no beak?
8 Then how could it break into my house? 5
1 “Six extremities”: These are described the Hongfan 洪範 chapter of the Shangshu: unnatural death, illness, worry, poverty, physical deformity, and weakness.
2 “Nine worries” has not been satisfactorily explained. The surviving fragment of a text by Cai Yong 蔡邕 suggests that it was an enumeration of the su erings of poverty. Some commentaries take the phrase to mean “the nine networks,” and argue that it is another term for jiuzhou 九州, i. e. , the Nine Provinces of the empire. In that case, the line would refer to the futility of participating in politics and governance.
3 A Buddhist locution frequently found in sutra translations to indicate the virtuous young sons of householders. The poem situates the term within the rhetoric of Confucian talent-selection.
4 A mark of extreme poverty.
5 The last two lines adapt Shijing 17, “Dew on the Path” (行露). Here, the poet seems
to interpret it as an image expressing emotional intensity. Alternately, the two lines could be the song that the sherman is singing, expressing his own grief.
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42
寒山詩
HS 31
杳杳寒山道，
落落冷澗濱。
啾啾常有鳥，
4 寂寂更無人。 磧磧風吹面， 紛紛雪積身。 朝朝不見日，
8 歲歲不知春。 HS 32
少年何所愁，
愁見鬢毛白。
白更何所愁，
4 愁見日逼迫。 移向東岱居， 配守北邙宅。 何忍出此言，
8 此言傷老客。
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Hanshan’s Poems 43
HS 31
So remote, the road to Cold Mountain; So lonely, the banks of the chill stream. So raucous—birds are always here;
4 So desolate—no people at all.
So rushing—the wind strikes my face;
So profuse—the snow piles up on my body. Dawn upon dawn, I don’t see the sun;
8 Year upon year, I know nothing of spring.
HS 32
What is it that grieves the youth?
He grieves to see his temple hair turn white. But what is there to grieve in this white?
4 He grieves that his days are hastening on,
Until he is moved to a dwelling at Eastern Dai,1 Or keeps his house at North Mang. 2
How can I bear to utter these words?
8 These words that grieve an old man.
1 Another name for Mt. Tai in Shandong; one of the ve sacred mountains, it was believed to be the site of the court of the underworld.
2 The site of burial grounds for the wealthy north of Luoyang. Commonly used as a poetic substitution for “graveyard. ”
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44
寒山詩
HS 33
聞道愁難遣，
斯言謂不真。
昨朝曾趂却，
4 今日又纏身。 月盡愁難盡， 年新愁更新。 誰知席帽下，
8 元是昔愁人。 HS 34
兩龜乘犢車，
驀出路頭戲。
一蠱從傍來，
4 苦死欲求寄。 不載爽人情， 始載被沈累。 彈指不可論，
8 行恩却遭刺。
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Hanshan’s Poems 45
HS 33
I’ve heard it said that grief can’t be dispelled. And I always thought these words untrue; But yesterday morn I drove it away,
4 And today it once again enveloped me.
A month may end, but the grief can’t end;
The year renews, and the grief is new too.
Who would have thought that under this broad felt hat
8 Is a man who has grieved so long? 1
HS 34
Two turtles ride in a calf-drawn cart,
Driving out to take their pleasure on the road. A gu-beast suddenly appears at their side,2
4 And desperately wants them to give him a ride.
If they don’t take him, they are inhumane;
But once they take him, they’ll be unjustly blamed. Snap your ngers—not worth discussing! 3
8 Practice kindness and you’ll be attacked.
1 This type of hat was frequently worn by men who wished to keep their identity secret. It is mentioned a number of times in Tang sources as worn by those who have failed the examinations (thus keeping their faces covered from shame).
2 A gu is a mythical creature created by placing poisonous animals together until they devour each other. The last one left alive is a gu, particularly poisonous and deadly. It was supposedly used in assassinations.
3 “Snapping the ngers” tends to express strong emotion in Buddhist texts— amazement, admiration, or sorrow. It appears again in HS 226.
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46
寒山詩
HS 35
三月蠶猶小，
女人來采花。
隈牆弄蝴蝶，
4 臨水擲蝦䗫。 羅袖盛梅子， 金鎞挑筍芽。 鬬論多物色，
8 此地勝余家。 HS 36
東家一老婆，
富來三五年。
昔日貧於我，
4 今笑我無錢。 渠笑我在後， 我笑渠在前。 相笑儻不止，
8 東邊復西邊。
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Hanshan’s Poems 47
HS 35
In the Third Month, when silkworms are still small, Women come out to pick the owers.
Leaning against walls, they play with butter ies;
4 At the water’s edge they toss things at the frogs.
They carry plums in their gauze sleeves,
And dig up bamboo shoots with their golden hairpins.
They compete in collecting the most pretty things;1
8 “This spot is better than home! ”
HS 36
The old lady who lives to the east— She got rich a few years ago.
In former days she was poorer than me;
4 Now she laughs at me for being broke. She laughs at me for being behind,
I laugh at her for being in front.
If we don’t stop laughing at each other,
8 The east side—and the west side too. 2
1 This line refers to a collecting game popular with young women, in which players compete to gather the greatest number of distinctive plants and owers (usually referred to as “plant competition” (dou cao 鬬草).
2 I. e. , neither of us is better than the other.
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48
寒山詩
HS 37
富兒多鞅掌，
觸事難祇承。
倉米已赫赤，
4 不貸人斗升。 轉懷鉤距意， 買絹先揀綾。 若至臨終日，
8 吊客有蒼蠅。 HS 38
余曾昔覩聰明士，
博達英靈無比倫。
一選嘉名喧宇宙，
4 五言詩句越諸人。 為官治化超先輩， 直為無能繼後塵。 忽然富貴貪財色，
8 瓦解冰消不可陳。
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Hanshan’s Poems 49
HS 37
Wealthy men are really too busy;
In every a air, it’s impossible to please them. The rice in their granary is already rotting,
4 Yet they won’t lend anyone a single measure. More and more they harbor plots and schemes; They buy raw silk, but rst choose ne damask. 1 But when it comes to the day of their death,
8 They’ll have green ies as their mourners.
HS 38
In the past, I have seen all those clever gentlemen;
Erudite and penetrating, talent outstanding, no one to compare with
them.
Once they pass the exams, their splendid fame is bruited through the
world;
4 Lines from their pentasyllabic poems surpass those of all others.
In o ce, their governance and moral authority surpass all predecessors, They assume that only bunglers could follow in their wake.
But if they should achieve wealth and rank, they’ll covet riches and
sensual delights:
8 The tiles will shatter, the ice will melt: we simply can’t describe it.
1 They pretend to be interested in buying the expensive material (in order to impress the merchant) before settling on the cheaper kind.
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50
寒山詩
HS 39
白鶴㘅苦桃，
千里作一息。
欲往蓬萊山，
4 將此充糧食。 未達毛摧落， 離群心慘惻。 却歸舊來巢，
8 妻子不相識。 HS 40
慣居幽隱處，
乍向國清眾。
時訪豐干道，
4 仍來看拾公。 獨迴上寒巖， 無人話合同。 尋究無源水，
8 源窮水不窮。
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Hanshan’s Poems 51
HS 39
A white crane holds a bitter peach in its beak, And he takes a rest every thousand li.
He wishes to go to Penglai Mountain,1
4 And he has brought this for his provender.
But before he gets there his feathers snap o and fall, And his heart grieves as he loses his ock.
He ies back to his nest of old,
8 Where neither wife nor children recognize him.
HS 40
When I get too used to staying in this remote place, I’ll go o at once to the Guoqing assembly. Sometimes I take the way to visit Fenggan,
4 Or often come to see Shide. 2
Then I return alone and climb Cold Cli ; There’s no one whose talk is congenial!
For I’m searching for water that has no source;
8 Though a source may run out, this water will not.
1 A mythical island in the eastern sea, said to be home to Daoist immortals.
2 This is the only poem in which the putative author mentions his famous
companions.
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52
寒山詩
HS 41
生前大愚癡，
不為今日悟。
今日如許貧，
4 總是前生作。 今日又不修， 來生還如故。 兩岸各無船，
8 渺渺難濟渡。 HS 42
璨璨盧家女，
舊來名莫愁。
貪乘摘花馬，
4 樂搒采蓮舟。 膝坐綠熊席， 身披青鳳裘。 哀傷百年內，
8 不免歸山丘。
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Hanshan’s Poems 53
HS 41
In your last life you were greatly foolish,
And that is why you are not enlightened today. And you’re rather impoverished today
4 All because of things you did in your last life. And if you don’t practice in this life either, Your next life will be just as before.
There are no boats on either bank;
8 How broad the river—and so hard to cross!
HS 42
How radiant the maid from the house of Lu! We have always called her “Don’t-Grieve. ”1 She’s greedy for riding her ower-picking horse,
4 And loves to ply the oars of her lotus-gathering boat. Her knees rest on a mat of glossy bear fur;
Her body is cloaked in green phoenix robes.
But alas! Within a hundred years
8 She can’t avoid returning to a grave mound.
1 The girl “Lu Don’t-Grieve” is a stock gure for a beautiful maiden in pre-Tang popular ballads.
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54
寒山詩
HS 43
低眼鄒公妻，
邯鄲杜生母。
二人同老少，
4 一種好面首。 昨日會客場， 惡衣排在後。 只為著破裙，
8 喫他殘䴺 。 HS 44
獨臥重巖下，
蒸雲晝不消。
室中雖暡靉，
4 心裏絕喧囂。 夢去遊金闕， 魂歸度石橋。 拋除鬧我者，
8 歷歷樹間瓢。
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Hanshan’s Poems 55
HS 43
The wife of Master Zou, from Diyan;1 The mother of Mr. Du of Handan:
The two of them are about the same age,
4 And both of them not bad-looking.
Yesterday they went to a party:
The poorly dressed one was shoved to the back. Just because she wore a shabby skirt
8 They made her eat the table scraps.
HS 44
I lie alone below the layered cli s; The roiling clouds never fade all day. It’s dark and gloomy in my house,
4 But my mind is cut o from all the noise.
I dream I leave and stroll by golden towers; My soul returns, crossing a stone bridge. 2 I’ve cast aside all the things that annoy me—
8 Even the rattling of a gourd in the tree where it hangs. 3
1 The phrase diyan here has not been satisfactorily explained. Because it is in parallel position with the city name Handan, the poet is likely indicating a place name, but no such place has been identi ed.
2 Commentators associate this with a natural bridge formation located at Tiantai Mountain. See also HS 218 and HS 266.
3 The ancient recluse Xu You 許由 used to drink water with cupped hands. Someone presented him with a hollow gourd that he could use as a dipper. After he drank from it, he hung it in a nearby tree for safekeeping. At night, the gourd would strike the tree where it hung and make a noise that Xu You found distracting, so he threw it away.
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56
寒山詩
HS 45
夫物有所用，
用之各有宜。
用之若失所，
4 一缺復一虧。 圓鑿而方柄， 悲哉空爾為。 驊騮將捕鼠，
8 不及跛猫兒。 HS 46
誰家長不死，
死事舊來均。
始憶八尺漢，
4 俄成一聚塵。 黃泉無曉日， 青草有時春。 行到傷心處，
8 松風愁殺人。
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Hanshan’s Poems 57
HS 45
Now then: all things have their own use;
When you use them, nd what’s appropriate for each. If you use them and you fail to place them right,
4 Then there’s a gap, then there’s a loss. Use a round awl with a square handle— Alas! what you’ll do is vain.
Hualiu may be able to catch a rat,1
8 But he’ll never come up to a lame cat.
HS 46
Who can avoid death forever? Death ever makes all things equal. Now I realize that a six-foot man2
4 In an instant is reduced to a handful of dust. There is no dawning day at Yellow Springs, Though spring will come to the green grass. I travel to a place that wounds my heart—
8 The wind in the pines grieves me sore.
1 Hualiu is proverbial as the name for a ne horse.
2 The text has “eight feet,” but this is likely based on an older calculation of the foot
as about 10 English inches.
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58
寒山詩
HS 47
騮馬珊瑚鞭，
驅馳洛陽道。
自矜美少年，
4 不信有衰老。 白髮會應生， 紅顏豈長保。 但看北邙山，
8 箇是蓬萊島。 HS 48
竟日常如醉，
流年不暫停。
埋著蓬蒿下，
4 曉月何冥冥。 骨肉消散盡， 魂魄幾凋零。 遮莫齩鐵口，
8 無因讀老經。
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Hanshan’s Poems 59
HS 47
A red roan horse, a coral whip—
He gallops about the Luoyang streets, This conceited, lovely youth,
4 Who does not believe that things fade and age. But his white hair will surely grow,
And how can his rosy face last forever?
Just look there at the North Mang Hills—1
8 There’s your Penglai Island! 2
HS 48
I feel as if I’m drunk all day.
The owing years will not stop for a moment. We’ll be buried under the brambles and thorns,
4 While the moon of dawn fades darkly above. Bones and esh will melt away,
And our souls will seem to wither and die. 3 Then, even if you were cleverest of all,4
8 You never had a chance to read Laozi’s classic. 5
1 Burial grounds outside the capital in Eastern Han times; used as a poetic locution for a graveyard. See also HS 32.
2 The island of the immortals.
3 That is, both the hun soul and the various po souls—in traditional Chinese belief,
these various souls disperse upon death.
4 Literally, “have a mouth that can bite iron. ”
5 You never studied the art of Immortality. Compare to ending of HS 11.
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60
寒山詩
HS 49
一向寒山坐，
淹留三十年。
昨來訪親友，
4 太半入黃泉。 漸減如殘燭， 長流似逝川。 今朝對孤影，
8 不覺淚雙懸。 HS 50
相喚採芙蓉，
可憐清江裏。
游戲不覺暮，
4 屢見狂風起。 浪捧鴛鴦兒， 波搖鸂鶒子。 此時居舟楫，
8 浩蕩情無已。
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Hanshan’s Poems 61
HS 49
Sitting on Cold Mountain all along, Lingering here for thirty years. Yesterday I visited kin and friends—
4 Over half have entered the Yellow Springs. They slowly lessened like a guttering candle, Flowed o forever like a passing stream. This morning I faced my lonely shadow,
8 And my tears ran down unawares.
HS 50
They call to each other while picking lotuses, How charming in the clear river’s current! Playing about, they don’t notice the dusk,
4 But they can’t help but feel the storm wind rise. Billows surround the mandarin birds,
Waves are rocking the duck and drake.
Just then as they sit within their boat,
8 Their agitation just won’t end. 1
1 This poem grows out of the erotic trope of young women picking lotus owers in boats that is common in Chinese poetry. The image at the end suggests that the storm is an external manifestation of their emotional agitation (probably romantic feelings).
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62
寒山詩
HS 51
吾心似秋月，
碧潭清皎潔。
無物堪比倫，
教我如何說。
HS 52
垂柳暗如煙，
飛花飄似霰。
夫居離婦州，
4 婦住思夫縣。 各在天一涯， 何時得相見。 寄語明月樓，
8 莫貯雙飛鷰。 HS 53
有酒相招飲，
有肉相呼喫。
黃泉前後人，
4 少壯須努力。
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Hanshan’s Poems 63
HS 51
My mind is like the autumn moon
In a jade-green pool—clear, bright and pure. Nothing can bear comparison to it—
What would you have me say?
HS 52
Drooping willows are dark as mist,
Flying petals gust like sleet.
The husband lives in Parted-from-Wife Prefecture,
4 The wife dwells in Longing-for-Husband County. Each at one edge of the sky—
When will they get to see each other again?
Send word to her moonlit mansion—
8 Don’t shelter a pair of ying swallows! 1
HS 53
If you have ale, invite others to drink;
And if you have meat, call others to eat.
Whether you come to the Yellow Springs early or late,
4 When you’re young and hale, you must go all out!
1 Pairs of swallows nesting in the beams of a house in springtime were seen as symbols of conjugal happiness. Here, the poet wishes to prevent the swallows from reminding the lonely wife that her husband is out traveling and is not with her.
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64
寒山詩
玉帶暫時華，
金釵非久飾。
張翁與鄭婆，
8 一去無消息。 HS 54
可憐好丈夫，
身體極稜稜。
春秋未三十，
4 才藝百般能。 金羈逐俠客， 玉饌集良朋。 唯有一般惡，
8 不傳無盡燈。 HS 55
桃花欲經夏，
風月催不待。
訪覓漢時人，
4 能無一箇在。 朝朝花遷落， 歲歲人移改。
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Hanshan’s Poems 65
Jade belts only ourish for a time,
And gold hairpins will not adorn you for long. Ga er Zhang and Goody Zheng—
8 Once they’re gone, we’ll hear no more of them.
HS 54
Charming, this ne and stalwart man, His physical presence, how majestic! Not yet thirty in his years,
4 Yet skilled in a hundred arts.
His golden bridle follows after wandering heroes; His ne delicacies bring together good companions. He only has one kind of fault—
8 He does not transmit the Inexhaustible Lamp. 1
HS 55
Peach owers would like to last out the summer, But wind and moon urge them on without ceasing. If you look for the people who lived in the Han,
4 Not a single one is alive today!
Every morning, the owers age and fall; Every year, the people shift and change.
1 The Inexhuastible Lamp is the Dharma of the Buddha.
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66
寒山詩
今日揚塵處， 8 昔時為大海。
HS 56
我見東家女，
年可有十八。
西舍競來問，
4 願姻夫妻活。 烹羊煑眾命， 聚頭作婬殺。 含笑樂呵呵，
8 啼哭受殃抉。 HS 57
田舍多桑園，
牛犢滿廄轍。
肯信有因果，
4 頑皮早晚裂。 眼看消磨盡， 當頭各自活。 紙袴瓦作裩，
8 到頭凍餓殺。
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Hanshan’s Poems 67
The place where we drive up dust today 8 Was a great sea in the past.
HS 56
I see that girl from the family to the east; She’s seventeen years old or so. 1
Houses to the west vie in courting her;
4 They want to marry, live as husband and wife. Then they simmer a sheep, boil many living things; Together they indulge in reckless slaughter.
All smiles, they laugh delightedly;
8 But they’ll sob when they face calamitous tortures. 2
HS 57
Their farmstead has many mulberry trees and gardens; Oxen and calves ll its stables and paths.
Are they not willing to believe in karma?
4 When will their stubborn hides crack?
With their own eyes they’ll see their things melt away, Suddenly each will seek to preserve himself.
With paper trousers and pants fashioned of shards,
8 In the end they’ll all die of cold and hunger.
1 “Eighteen” by traditional Chinese reckoning, where one is already one year old at birth and adds a year at every New Year.
2 They will be reborn in a Hell realm because they took animal life.
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68
寒山詩
HS 58
我見百十狗，
箇箇毛鬇鬡。
臥者渠自臥，
4 行者渠自行。 投之一塊骨， 相與啀喍爭。 良由為骨少，
8 狗多分不平。 HS 59
極目兮長望，
白雲四茫茫。
鴟鵶飽腲腇，
4 鸞鳳飢徬徨。 駿馬放石磧， 蹇驢能至堂。 天高不可問，
8 鷦鵊在滄浪。
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Hanshan’s Poems 69
HS 58
I see over a hundred dogs,
Each ferocious, with bristling fur. Some of them lie, content to lie;
4 Some walk, content to walk.
But throw a piece of bone to them:
Showing their fangs, they’ll ght each other for it. When the bones you have are just too few,
8 You can’t be fair with so many dogs!
HS 59
As I gaze far, to my vision’s end,
The white clouds rise, all about me welling. Owl and crow sit plump and contented,
4 While simurgh and phoenix y about in their hunger. The swift horse is pastured on stony wastes,
While the lame ass can enter the hall.
High heaven will not hear your questions:
8 A wren is drifting on the waves. 1
1 It is unclear what bird is meant by the noun jiaojia here. It is likely to be the same as the jiaoliao (wren) mentioned in HS 5. Regardless, the context suggests a small and insigni cant bird.
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70
寒山詩
HS 60
洛陽多女兒，
春日逞華麗。
共折路邊花，
4 各持插高髻。 髻高花匼匝， 人見皆睥睨。 別求醦醦憐，
8 將歸見夫婿。 HS 61
春女衒容儀，
相將南陌陲。
看花愁日晚，
4 隱樹怕風吹。 年少從傍來， 白馬黃金羈。 何須久相弄，
8 兒家夫婿知。
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Hanshan’s Poems 71
HS 60
Luoyang has many girls
Who show o their beauty on a spring day. All of them pluck a roadside ower
4 And each takes it, inserting it in her high coi ure. Coi ures high, and the owers surround them— When men see them, the girls give them the eye. “Do not seek a useless love from us! 1
8 We’re just going home to see our husbands. ”
HS 61
The girls of spring show o their stunning looks, Go hand in hand along the south eld lanes.
Sad that the day grows late in their ower-viewing,
4 They hide under trees, in fear of the wind. A youth comes galloping up to them,
On a white horse with a golden bridle. “Why must you stay there teasing us?
8 Our husbands back home will nd out! ”
1 This is somewhat speculative based on the context. Chen is another term for “vinegar,” so chenchen lian literally means “sour a ection. ”
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72
寒山詩
HS 62
群女戲夕陽，
風來滿路香。
綴裙金蛺蝶，
4 插髻玉鴛鴦。 角婢紅羅縝， 閹奴紫錦裳。 為觀失道者，
8 鬢白心惶惶。 HS 63
若人逢鬼魅，
第一莫驚懅。
捺硬莫采渠，
4 呼名自當去。 燒香請佛力， 禮拜求僧助。 蚊子叮鐵牛，
8 無渠下觜處。
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Hanshan’s Poems 73
HS 62
A group of girls play in the setting sun:
When breezes come, they ll the road with their scent. Their embroidered skirts are worked with golden butter ies;
4 Inserted in their coi ures are jade mandarin ducks. Their pigtailed servants wear red silk aprons;
Their eunuch attendants have purple brocade robes. They have come to observe one who has lost his way:
8 His temples graying, his heart in turmoil.
HS 63
If you should meet a mountain goblin, The most important thing: do not panic. Force yourself to ignore him;
4 And if you call him by name, he’ll disappear. Burning incense to request the Buddha’s strength, Doing obeisance in seeking aid from monks: That’s a mosquito biting into an iron ox—
8 No place for him to sink his teeth!
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74
寒山詩
HS 64
浩浩黃河水，
東流長不息。
悠悠不見清，
4 人人壽有極。 苟欲乘白雲， 曷由生羽翼。 唯當鬒髮時，
8 行住須努力。 HS 65
乘茲朽木船，
采彼紝婆子。
行至大海中，
4 波濤復不止。 唯賚一宿糧， 去岸三千里。 煩惱從何生，
8 愁哉緣苦起。
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Hanshan’s Poems 75
HS 64
Surge upon surge, the Yellow River waters, Flowing eastwards, never ceasing.
Though you gaze far, you won’t nd them clear;
4 And every human life has its limits.
If you wished to ride the white clouds, How could you ever sprout wings? 1
You should, while you’re hair’s still black,
8 Exert yourself in every moment! 2
HS 65
Riding a boat of rotting timbers,
And gathering the seeds of the neem tree,3 We travel out onto the wide sea,
4 Where the billows never cease. Relying only on one day’s provision, We’re a thousand miles from shore. From where do these kleśa spring? 4
8 Alas! They arise from karmic woe.
1 That is, wish to become immortal. Immortals could often take the form of cranes.
2 This poem could be suggesting that since the search for immortality is futile, one should make sure one’s limited life is worthwhile (since this is a common poetic trope, that reading is more likely). If its attitude is Buddhist, it could also be
stressing the importance of cultivating practice while one is still young.
3 The neem or neemb is an Indian tree that produces leaves, owers, and fruit noted for their bitterness. A passage in the Nirvana Sutra compares the seeds to evil acts with evil karmic consequences—just as the bitter neem seeds produce a tree that is
bitter in all of its parts.
4 Kleśa ( fannao) are the factors that interfere with Buddhist practice and cause one
to generate bad karma.
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76
寒山詩
HS 66
默默永無言，
後生何所述。
隱居在林藪，
4 智日何由出。 枯槁非堅衛， 風霜成夭疾。 土牛耕石田，
8 未有得稻日。 HS 67
山中何太冷，
自古非今年。
沓嶂恆凝雪，
4 幽林每吐煙。 草生芒種後， 葉落立秋前。 此有沈迷客，
8 窺窺不見天。
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Hanshan’s Poems 77
HS 66
If you keep silent and never speak, What can be told to later generations? If you live as a recluse in forest thicket,
4 How can the sun of wisdom emerge? Emaciation does not make you a steadfast guard; Wind and frost will bring about early death.
If you use a clay ox to plow a stony eld,
8 You’ll never see a day for harvest. 1
HS 67
How very cold it is in the mountains! Always so—not just this year. Piled-up cli s are ever frozen in snow,
4 Remote forests are always emitting their mists. Grass grows only after “Grain in Ear,”
And leaves will fall before “Autumn Rises. ”2 And here is a traveler, thoroughly lost,
8 Who squints and squints and can’t see the sky.
1 E gies of oxen fashioned out of clay sometimes were featured at agricultural festivals. Thus to attempt to employ such an ox for real farming became proverbial for doing something useless. See also SD 29.
2 These are two of the twenty-four solar terms that mark the agricultural calendar. “Grain in Ear” begins June 6; “Autumn Established” begins August 7.
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78
寒山詩
HS 68
山客心悄悄，
常嗟歲序遷。
辛勤采芝朮，
4 披斥詎成仙。 庭廓雲初卷， 林明月正圓。 不歸何所為，
8 桂樹相留連。 HS 69a
有人坐山楹，
雲卷兮霞瓔。
秉芳兮欲寄，
4 路漫漫難征。 心惆悵狐疑， 年老已無成。 眾喔咿斯騫，
8 獨立兮忠貞。
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Hanshan’s Poems 79
HS 68
The mountain dweller is troubled in heart,
Always sighing at the passing of the years.
So he labors hard to pick his mushrooms and thistles—1
4 But how can his choices make him immortal? The courtyard is broad—the clouds are clearing; The forest is bright—the moon is now full. Why should I not go home now?
8 The cinnamon tree detains me. 2
HS 69a3
There is a person sitting in a mountain lodge,
Where clouds roil about (oh! ) and rose mists coil.
He holds a ower in his hand (oh! ), he wants to send it,
4 But the road is far and the journey hard.
His heart grieves sore and he hesitates,
He grows old with years yet has accomplished naught. The crowd laughs scornfully at his sad plight;
8 Yet he stands alone (oh! ), is loyal and pure.
1 Traditionally mentioned as ingredients in elixirs of immortality.
2 A cinnamon tree is said to grow in the moon, so the poet is saying he that the beauty of the moonlight detains him. I believe it not unlikely that HS 68 is two
quatrains that have been accidentally run together because of their shared rhyme.
3 HS 69 exists in a number of versions, possibly because it was originally composed in the meter and style characteristic of the Chuci collection (marked by the use of the metrical caesura particle 兮), and di erent editors of the collection were uncomfortable with it. 69a (the Sibu congkan version) shows some signs that someone attempted to revise a more eccentric poem to t the 8-line pentasyllabic format—including removal of the xi particle in some lines and shifting characters to ve-line forms (resulting in the awkward violation of poetic caesuras in lines four and ve).
4 While the clouds I see are neighbors in four directions. There are birds to supply notes to accompany my song, But no one here to address my Dharma questions. Today the Shala tree
8 Makes several years a single spring. 2
1 A poetic cliché for a country recluse’s dwelling—there are no regular roads there, but visitors have formed three paths to his door with their passing.
2 Commentators do not agree on the identity of the tree mentioned here, suopo 娑婆. This is usually the sinicization of the Sanskrit word sahā, a term for our world of su ering (samsara). Xiang Chu suggests that it is an error for suoluo 娑羅, or Shala tree (shorea robusta), the tree under which the Buddha’s mother gave birth, and also used as a symbol of impermanence. However, the suggestion that it is extremely long-lived suggests a passage in Chapter One of the Zhuangzi that describes the chun 椿 tree, which takes eight thousand years as a single season of its life. Regardless, the line seems to suggest the readjustment of the recluse’s life to a more cosmic frame of time.
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16
寒山詩
HS 5
琴書須自隨，
祿位用何為。
投輦從賢婦，
4 巾車有孝兒。 風吹曝麥地， 水溢沃魚池。 常念鷦鷯鳥，
8 安身在一枝。 HS 6
弟兄同五郡，
父子本三州。
欲驗飛鳧集，
4 須旌白兔遊。 靈瓜夢裏受， 神橘座中收。 鄉國何迢遞，
8 同魚寄水流。
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Hanshan’s Poems 17
HS 5
I really should take up calligraphy and zither;
For what use is salary or position?
Heeding wise wife’s advice, I abandon my carriage,
4 And let my lial son drive my cart.
The breeze blows across my threshing oor, And water lls the pool where I raise sh.
I always am thinking of the wren—
8 Who is content to rest on a single branch. 1
HS 6
Like those “brothers,” all from ve commanderies, Or the “father and sons” from three prefectures,
I want to prove my piety with a gathering of ducks,
4 Must mark it with white hares at play.
A magic melon was received in a dream,
A sacred orange was collected from a banquet. How far away is my homeland!
8 I drift along the current with the sh. 2
1 A reference to Chapter One of the Zhuangzi, in which the modest wren is contrasted with greater and more ambitious creatures.
2 This is the most ba ing poem in the Hanshan collection, largely because it consists of a number of allusions strung together. The general import is a paean to lial piety, and I have translated a bit more freely than usual in order to bring the threads together. The narrative voice laments his inability to return home where he can look after his parents. Line 1 refers to a story about ve unrelated men from ve di erent places who swore brotherhood and who adopted a beggar woman as their mother. Later, they discovered that she was the mother of the local magistrate, from whom she had been separated when he was still a child. Line 2 similarly refers to three unrelated men who swore to form a family. The third was declared the father; when he made unreasonable demands of them, asking them to build their house in the middle of the river, their lial piety for their “father” resulted in land emerging mysteriously from the water. Lines three and four probably allude to a number of stories relating how birds and rabbits gathered at the mourning huts of lial sons. Line ve refers to Jiao Hua 焦華, a lial son who received a magic melon in a dream that subsequently healed his father’s illness. Xiang Chu suggests that line six combines two allusions: the story of Wang Lingzhi 王靈之, a lial mourner whose garden produced a magic orange that healed his own illness; and Lu Ji 陸績, who,
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18
寒山詩
HS 7
一為書劍客，
二遇聖明君。
東守文不賞，
4 西征武不勳。 學文兼學武， 學武兼學文。 今日既老矣，
8 餘何不足云。 HS 8
莊子說送終，
天地為棺槨。
吾歸此有時，
4 唯須一番箔。 死將餧青蠅， 吊不勞白鶴。 餓著首陽山，
8 生廉死亦樂。
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Hanshan’s Poems 19
HS 7
Once I was a student of book and sword,
And twice I encountered sagely lords.
But though I held the east, civil merit went unrewarded,
4 And though I fought in the west, martial deeds were not honored. I studied civil matters along with the martial ones,
Studied martial matters along with the civil ones.
And today I’ve already grown old;
8 Of what is left, all is unworthy of mention.
HS 8
Zhuangzi says about bidding farewell to life: “Make Heaven and Earth your co n. ” When it’s time for me to “go home,”
4 I’ll only need a bamboo mat.
When I’m dead, I’ll feed the green ies;
No need to bother the white cranes to mourn me. If I happen to starve on Shouyang Mountain,
8 If I’ve lived in virtue, I’ll be happy to die. 1
as a child, took some oranges from a banquet held by the warlord Yuan Shu 袁術
to give to his mother.
1 A reference to the two recluses, Boyi 伯夷 and Shuqi 叔齊, who starved to death on
Shouyang Mountain rather than change their allegiances from the Shang dynasty to the Zhou. They became model (if controversial) images of Confucian loyalty.
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20
寒山詩
HS 9
人問寒山道，
寒山路不通。
夏天冰未釋，
4 日出霧朦朧。 似我何由屆， 與君心不同。 君心若似我，
8 還得到其中。 HS 10
天生百尺樹，
翦作長條木。
可惜棟梁材，
4 拋之在幽谷。 年多心尚勁， 日久皮漸禿。 識者取將來，
8 猶堪柱馬屋。
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Hanshan’s Poems 21
HS 9
People ask the way to Cold Mountain;
No road passes through to Cold Mountain. In the summer the ice never melts;
4 The sun comes out, but the mists preserve their haze. How did someone like me get there?
Because my mind is not the same as yours.
If your mind were like mine,
8 You’d be able to get to the middle of it.
HS 10
Heaven gave rise to a hundred-foot tree
That was cut into long boards.
What a shame! Timber for main-beam and rafter
4 Has been dumped in some remote valley. Though many years pass, its mind is still strong; Its bark peels away as the days go by.
Yet one who knows its value may carry it away,
8 For it still might be used to prop up a stable.
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22
寒山詩
HS 11
驅馬度荒城，
荒城動客情。
高低舊雉堞，
4 大小古墳塋。 自振孤蓬影， 長凝拱木聲。 所嗟皆俗骨，
8 仙史更無名。 HS 12
鸚鵡宅西國，
虞羅捕得歸。
美人朝夕弄，
4 出入在庭幃。 賜以金籠貯， 扃哉損羽衣。 不如鴻與鶴，
8 颻颺入雲飛。
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Hanshan’s Poems 23
HS 11
I drove my horse past the ruined city—
A ruined city that moves this wanderer’s heart. High and low, the old crenelated parapets;
4 Large and small, the ancient tomb mounds. Bestirred, the shadow of this lonely tumbleweed,1 Amid the drawn-out moans of the mighty trees. Regrettable, all these commonplace bones,
8 That will never be recorded in the Transcendents’ history. 2
HS 12
A parrot dwelt in the Western lands,
But came here when snared in a huntsman’s net. Now lovely women play with it day and night,
4 And it ies in and out of the courtyard curtains. They’ve presented it with a golden cage; Imprisoned! It sheds its feathers.
It can’t come up to the swans and cranes
8 Who ap their wings and go soaring into the clouds.
1 The solitary tumbleweed was a standard image for the isolated or exiled poet.
2 That is, the dead have failed to study Daoism, attain immortality, and become
Transcendents (xian).
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24
寒山詩
HS 13
玉堂挂珠簾，
中有嬋娟子。
其貌勝神仙，
4 容華若桃李。 東家春霧合， 西舍秋風起。 更過三十年，
8 還成苷蔗滓。 HS 14
城中蛾眉女，
珠珮珂珊珊。
鸚鵡花前弄，
4 琵琶月下彈。 長歌三月響， 短舞萬人看。 未必長如此，
8 芙蓉不耐寒。
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Hanshan’s Poems 25
HS 13
Beaded curtains hang in a jade hall;
Within, a lovely maiden dwells.
Her features surpass goddess and Transcendent;
4 Her glories are like those of peach and pear. In the eastern house the spring mists gather; In the western lodge the autumn winds rise. When thirty years go by again,
8 She’ll be turned into pressed sugar cane. 1
HS 14
A lovely-browed maid of the town;
Her beaded girdle gleams and jangles. She toys with a parrot before the owers,
4 And plays her pipa under the moon.
Her sustained song echoes for three months; Her brief dance seen by ten thousand.
But it won’t be like this forever:
8 The lotus can’t endure the cold.
1 Cane stalks that have had all their juice pressed out, leaving them dry and wrinkled.
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26
寒山詩
HS 15
父母續經多，
田園不羨他。
婦搖機軋軋，
4 兒弄口㗻㗻。 拍手摧花舞， 搘頤聽鳥歌。 誰當來歎賀，
8 樵客屢經過。 HS 16
家住綠巖下，
庭蕪更不芟。
新藤垂繚繞，
4 古石豎巉嵓。 山果獼猴摘， 池魚白鷺㘅。 仙書一兩卷，
8 樹下讀喃喃。
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Hanshan’s Poems 27
HS 15
I carry on much of the legacy of my parents;1 I don’t envy others’ elds and gardens.
My wife works her loom—chak chak!
4 My baby tries to speak—gak gak.
I clap my hands, urging the owers to dance; I rest chin in hand, and listen to birdsong. Who comes to admire and congratulate me?
8 A woodsman stops by now and then.
HS 16
My house resides beneath the green cli s;
The weeds in my yard have never been mowed. Fresh vines hang down, wrapping around;
4 Old stones thrust up, jagged and sharp.
Monkeys pick the mountain fruits;
White herons pluck up the sh from the pond.
A book of the Transcendents—one or two chapters
8 I mutter to myself under the trees.
1 This line is somewhat open to interpretation. 續經 here may mean “to carry on an occupation. ” Some would change 續 to 讀 (“to read”) and interpret the line as “I am faithful in reading my parents’ scriptures. ” I think this less likely.
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28
寒山詩
HS 17
四時無止息，
年去又年來。
萬物有代謝，
4 九天無朽摧。 東明又西暗， 花落復花開。 唯有黃泉客，
8 冥冥去不迴。 HS 18
歲去換愁年，
春來物色鮮。
山花笑淥水，
4 巖岫舞青煙。 蜂蝶自云樂， 禽魚更可憐。 朋遊情未已，
8 徹曉不能眠。
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Hanshan’s Poems 29
HS 17
No stopping the four seasons;
Years depart and years arrive.
The ten thousand things will change and fade;
4 The nine Heavens neither decay nor crumble. The east will brighten and the west will darken; Flowers will fall, then bloom again.
Only the traveler to the Yellow Springs,1
8 Once departed in darkness, will not return.
HS 18
The year departs, traded for a new year of grief, Though spring now comes and everything looks new. Mountain owers laugh at the clear waters;
4 Cli s and peaks dance in the blue mist. Butter ies and bees speak of their own joy; Birds and sh are even more charming. But old friendship’s feeling never ends,
8 And I cannot sleep the whole night.
1 Yellow Springs is the traditional term for the underworld.
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30
寒山詩
HS 19
手筆大縱橫，
身材極瓌瑋。
生為有限身，
4 死作無名鬼。 自古如此多， 君今爭柰何。 可來白雲裏，
8 教爾紫芝歌。 HS 20
欲得安身處，
寒山可長保。
微風吹幽松，
4 近聽聲逾好。 下有斑白人， 喃喃讀黃老。 十年歸不得，
8 忘却來時道。
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Hanshan’s Poems 31
HS 19
Your calligraphy may be highly uent, Your stature utterly impressive.
In life a bounded body,
4 In death you become a nameless ghost.
It’s been often like this since ancient times, What use for you to struggle now?
Come up here, among the white clouds,
8 And I’ll teach you the Purple Fungus Song. 1
HS 20
If you want to nd a resting place, Cold Mountain will keep you long.
A gentle breeze blows the hidden pines:
4 The closer you come, the better it sounds. Below them sits a white-haired man Who’s mumbling out Daoist texts.
He’s not gone home for ten years now,
8 For he’s forgotten how he came.
1 A song supposedly sung by the “Four Whiteheads of Mount Shang” 商山四 皓, four recluses who ed civilization when the cruel rst emperor of the Qin established his authority. Originally the song suggested that the four recluses could live o of mushrooms they gathered in the mountains; however, later the text became associated with the use of mountain fungi in the concoction of elixirs of immortality.
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32
寒山詩
HS 21
俊傑馬上郎，
揮鞭指柳楊。
謂言無死日，
4 終不作梯航。 四運花自好， 一朝成萎黃。 醍醐與石蜜，
8 至死不能嘗。 HS 22
有一餐霞子，
其居諱俗遊。
論時實蕭爽，
4 在夏亦如秋。 幽澗常瀝瀝， 高松風颼颼。 其中半日坐，
8 忘却百年愁。
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Hanshan’s Poems 33
HS 21
Splendid and handsome, that lad on his horse; He waves his whip and points to the willows. 1 He claims that he will not die in the end,
4 And never looks for ways of escaping this world. 2 Flowers bloom ne throughout the seasons,
But one day they will all wither.
Clari ed butter and rock honey—3
8 These things he cannot taste ere he dies.
HS 22
There’s a Master who dines on clouds;
His dwelling disdains visits from the vulgar. Come to mention it, it’s really fresh and cool;
4 Like autumn in the midst of summer. Secluded creeks ow trickling on, Winds howl in the lofty pines.
I’ll sit half a day in the midst of this,
8 And forget the grief of a lifetime.
1 Willow trees were often planted around pleasure quarters in traditional Chinese cities; here, it suggests that the youth is living a life of pleasure.
2 Literally, “he will never use ladder or boat”—probably images here for vehicles that will convey him beyond the world of su ering.
3 Delicacies mentioned in the sutras to indicate the delights of enlightenment.
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34
寒山詩
HS 23
妾在邯鄲住，
歌聲亦抑揚。
賴我安居處，
4 此曲舊來長。 既醉莫言歸， 留連日未央。 兒家寢宿處，
8 繡被滿銀床。 HS 24
快搒三翼舟，
善乘千里馬。
莫能造我家，
4 謂言最幽野。 巖岫深嶂中， 雲雷竟日下。 自非孔丘公，
8 無能相救者。
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Hanshan’s Poems 35
HS 23
Your handmaid lives in Handan city, And the notes of my song rise and fall. Tarry in this place of leisure!
4 This tune has always lasted long.
And when you’re drunk, don’t speak of going home— The day lingers—it’s still not done.
My house is a place where you can rest;
8 Where embroidered coverlets cover the silvered beds.
HS 24
Whether you’re swift in rowing one of the three winged boats,1 Or skilled in riding a thousand-league horse,
You won’t be able to reach my home—
4 That is to say, it’s the most remote.
In my cli -side caves, in the deepest peaks, Clouds and thunder descend all day.
I am not like Master Confucius;
8 I have no skill to save you.
1 A winged boat was a type of swift battle craft. They were built in three di erent sizes.
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36
寒山詩
HS 25
智者君拋我，
愚者我拋君。
非愚亦非智，
4 從此斷相聞。 入夜歌明月， 侵晨舞白雲。 焉能拱口手，
8 端坐鬢紛紛。 HS 26
有鳥五色彣，
棲桐食竹實。
徐動合禮儀，
4 和鳴中音律。 昨來何以至， 為吾暫時出。 儻聞絃歌聲，
8 作舞欣今日。
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Hanshan’s Poems 37
HS 25
Wise ones, you’ve cast me o ; Foolish ones, I cast you o . I’m not foolish, nor am I wise;
4 So from now on, I’ll have no contact with you. When night comes, I sing of the bright moon; When dawn arrives, I dance for white clouds. How can I keep mouth and hands in order,
8 And sit in meditation, my hair in a tangle? 1
HS 26
There is a bird with multi-colored plumage, Who nests in paulownias and eats bamboo seeds. Its leisured movements are t for ceremony,
4 And its harmonious singing matches the pitch pipes. Why did it come yesterday?
It has showed itself to us for a time.
If it happens to hear the sounds of string and voice,
8 It will dance, delighting in today. 2
1 The speaker is unwilling to become a monk and undergo rigorous training that will suppress his natural joy. He will not even shave his head.
2 This riddle-like poem describes the feng 鳳 (often translated as a phoenix). Chinese lore notes that it roosts only in the paulownia tree, eats only bamboo seeds, and will show itself at the court of a virtuous ruler. One account has it descending and dancing at the court of a virtuous Zhou dynasty ruler.
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38
寒山詩
HS 27
茅棟野人居，
門前車馬踈。
林幽偏聚鳥，
4 谿闊本藏魚。 山果攜兒摘， 皋田共婦鋤。 家中何所有，
8 唯有一牀書。 HS 28
登陟寒山道，
寒山路不窮。
谿長石磊磊，
4 澗闊草濛濛。 苔滑非關雨， 松鳴不假風。 誰能超世累，
8 共坐白雲中。
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Hanshan’s Poems 39
HS 27
Eaves of rush, a rustic’s dwelling;
Before my gate, carts and horses are few.
The wood is secluded—it harbors birds throughout;
4 The valley stream is broad—has always kept sh. Hand in hand with my son I pick mountain fruit; Together with my wife I hoe the marshy eld. What is there within my house?
8 Just a bed frame piled with books.
HS 28
I climb up the Cold Mountain road,
The Cold Mountain road that never ends. Ravines are long and the rocks pile up;
4 The streambeds are broad, and the grass grows thick. The moss is slick—but not from the rain;
The pines moan—but they’re not relying on wind. Who is able to transcend the bonds of this world
8 And sit together with me amid the white clouds?
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40
寒山詩
HS 29
六極常嬰困，
九維徒自論。
有才遺草澤，
4 無藝閉蓬門。 日上巖猶暗， 煙消谷裏昏。 其中長者子，
8 箇箇總無裩。 HS 30
白雲高嵯峨，
淥水蕩潭波。
此處聞漁父，
4 時時鼓棹歌。 聲聲不可聽， 令我愁思多。 誰謂雀無角，
8 其如穿屋何。
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Hanshan’s Poems 41
HS 29
Always we encounter the Six Extremities;1 Vain to debate about the Nine Worries. 2 Men of parts are cast to the weedy marsh,
4 And even those without talent shut their rustic gates. The sun rises here, yet the cli s are still dark;
Mist fades way, though the valley is gloomy.
Here the sons of good families3
8 Must each of them go without trousers. 4
HS 30
White clouds lofty, toppling on high; Clear water driven into ripples in the pool. Here is where I hear the sherman
4 Who sings now and then as he plies his oars. Each note I cannot bear to hear,
For it causes me so many gloomy thoughts! Who says the sparrow has no beak?
8 Then how could it break into my house? 5
1 “Six extremities”: These are described the Hongfan 洪範 chapter of the Shangshu: unnatural death, illness, worry, poverty, physical deformity, and weakness.
2 “Nine worries” has not been satisfactorily explained. The surviving fragment of a text by Cai Yong 蔡邕 suggests that it was an enumeration of the su erings of poverty. Some commentaries take the phrase to mean “the nine networks,” and argue that it is another term for jiuzhou 九州, i. e. , the Nine Provinces of the empire. In that case, the line would refer to the futility of participating in politics and governance.
3 A Buddhist locution frequently found in sutra translations to indicate the virtuous young sons of householders. The poem situates the term within the rhetoric of Confucian talent-selection.
4 A mark of extreme poverty.
5 The last two lines adapt Shijing 17, “Dew on the Path” (行露). Here, the poet seems
to interpret it as an image expressing emotional intensity. Alternately, the two lines could be the song that the sherman is singing, expressing his own grief.
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42
寒山詩
HS 31
杳杳寒山道，
落落冷澗濱。
啾啾常有鳥，
4 寂寂更無人。 磧磧風吹面， 紛紛雪積身。 朝朝不見日，
8 歲歲不知春。 HS 32
少年何所愁，
愁見鬢毛白。
白更何所愁，
4 愁見日逼迫。 移向東岱居， 配守北邙宅。 何忍出此言，
8 此言傷老客。
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Hanshan’s Poems 43
HS 31
So remote, the road to Cold Mountain; So lonely, the banks of the chill stream. So raucous—birds are always here;
4 So desolate—no people at all.
So rushing—the wind strikes my face;
So profuse—the snow piles up on my body. Dawn upon dawn, I don’t see the sun;
8 Year upon year, I know nothing of spring.
HS 32
What is it that grieves the youth?
He grieves to see his temple hair turn white. But what is there to grieve in this white?
4 He grieves that his days are hastening on,
Until he is moved to a dwelling at Eastern Dai,1 Or keeps his house at North Mang. 2
How can I bear to utter these words?
8 These words that grieve an old man.
1 Another name for Mt. Tai in Shandong; one of the ve sacred mountains, it was believed to be the site of the court of the underworld.
2 The site of burial grounds for the wealthy north of Luoyang. Commonly used as a poetic substitution for “graveyard. ”
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44
寒山詩
HS 33
聞道愁難遣，
斯言謂不真。
昨朝曾趂却，
4 今日又纏身。 月盡愁難盡， 年新愁更新。 誰知席帽下，
8 元是昔愁人。 HS 34
兩龜乘犢車，
驀出路頭戲。
一蠱從傍來，
4 苦死欲求寄。 不載爽人情， 始載被沈累。 彈指不可論，
8 行恩却遭刺。
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Hanshan’s Poems 45
HS 33
I’ve heard it said that grief can’t be dispelled. And I always thought these words untrue; But yesterday morn I drove it away,
4 And today it once again enveloped me.
A month may end, but the grief can’t end;
The year renews, and the grief is new too.
Who would have thought that under this broad felt hat
8 Is a man who has grieved so long? 1
HS 34
Two turtles ride in a calf-drawn cart,
Driving out to take their pleasure on the road. A gu-beast suddenly appears at their side,2
4 And desperately wants them to give him a ride.
If they don’t take him, they are inhumane;
But once they take him, they’ll be unjustly blamed. Snap your ngers—not worth discussing! 3
8 Practice kindness and you’ll be attacked.
1 This type of hat was frequently worn by men who wished to keep their identity secret. It is mentioned a number of times in Tang sources as worn by those who have failed the examinations (thus keeping their faces covered from shame).
2 A gu is a mythical creature created by placing poisonous animals together until they devour each other. The last one left alive is a gu, particularly poisonous and deadly. It was supposedly used in assassinations.
3 “Snapping the ngers” tends to express strong emotion in Buddhist texts— amazement, admiration, or sorrow. It appears again in HS 226.
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46
寒山詩
HS 35
三月蠶猶小，
女人來采花。
隈牆弄蝴蝶，
4 臨水擲蝦䗫。 羅袖盛梅子， 金鎞挑筍芽。 鬬論多物色，
8 此地勝余家。 HS 36
東家一老婆，
富來三五年。
昔日貧於我，
4 今笑我無錢。 渠笑我在後， 我笑渠在前。 相笑儻不止，
8 東邊復西邊。
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Hanshan’s Poems 47
HS 35
In the Third Month, when silkworms are still small, Women come out to pick the owers.
Leaning against walls, they play with butter ies;
4 At the water’s edge they toss things at the frogs.
They carry plums in their gauze sleeves,
And dig up bamboo shoots with their golden hairpins.
They compete in collecting the most pretty things;1
8 “This spot is better than home! ”
HS 36
The old lady who lives to the east— She got rich a few years ago.
In former days she was poorer than me;
4 Now she laughs at me for being broke. She laughs at me for being behind,
I laugh at her for being in front.
If we don’t stop laughing at each other,
8 The east side—and the west side too. 2
1 This line refers to a collecting game popular with young women, in which players compete to gather the greatest number of distinctive plants and owers (usually referred to as “plant competition” (dou cao 鬬草).
2 I. e. , neither of us is better than the other.
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48
寒山詩
HS 37
富兒多鞅掌，
觸事難祇承。
倉米已赫赤，
4 不貸人斗升。 轉懷鉤距意， 買絹先揀綾。 若至臨終日，
8 吊客有蒼蠅。 HS 38
余曾昔覩聰明士，
博達英靈無比倫。
一選嘉名喧宇宙，
4 五言詩句越諸人。 為官治化超先輩， 直為無能繼後塵。 忽然富貴貪財色，
8 瓦解冰消不可陳。
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Hanshan’s Poems 49
HS 37
Wealthy men are really too busy;
In every a air, it’s impossible to please them. The rice in their granary is already rotting,
4 Yet they won’t lend anyone a single measure. More and more they harbor plots and schemes; They buy raw silk, but rst choose ne damask. 1 But when it comes to the day of their death,
8 They’ll have green ies as their mourners.
HS 38
In the past, I have seen all those clever gentlemen;
Erudite and penetrating, talent outstanding, no one to compare with
them.
Once they pass the exams, their splendid fame is bruited through the
world;
4 Lines from their pentasyllabic poems surpass those of all others.
In o ce, their governance and moral authority surpass all predecessors, They assume that only bunglers could follow in their wake.
But if they should achieve wealth and rank, they’ll covet riches and
sensual delights:
8 The tiles will shatter, the ice will melt: we simply can’t describe it.
1 They pretend to be interested in buying the expensive material (in order to impress the merchant) before settling on the cheaper kind.
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50
寒山詩
HS 39
白鶴㘅苦桃，
千里作一息。
欲往蓬萊山，
4 將此充糧食。 未達毛摧落， 離群心慘惻。 却歸舊來巢，
8 妻子不相識。 HS 40
慣居幽隱處，
乍向國清眾。
時訪豐干道，
4 仍來看拾公。 獨迴上寒巖， 無人話合同。 尋究無源水，
8 源窮水不窮。
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Hanshan’s Poems 51
HS 39
A white crane holds a bitter peach in its beak, And he takes a rest every thousand li.
He wishes to go to Penglai Mountain,1
4 And he has brought this for his provender.
But before he gets there his feathers snap o and fall, And his heart grieves as he loses his ock.
He ies back to his nest of old,
8 Where neither wife nor children recognize him.
HS 40
When I get too used to staying in this remote place, I’ll go o at once to the Guoqing assembly. Sometimes I take the way to visit Fenggan,
4 Or often come to see Shide. 2
Then I return alone and climb Cold Cli ; There’s no one whose talk is congenial!
For I’m searching for water that has no source;
8 Though a source may run out, this water will not.
1 A mythical island in the eastern sea, said to be home to Daoist immortals.
2 This is the only poem in which the putative author mentions his famous
companions.
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52
寒山詩
HS 41
生前大愚癡，
不為今日悟。
今日如許貧，
4 總是前生作。 今日又不修， 來生還如故。 兩岸各無船，
8 渺渺難濟渡。 HS 42
璨璨盧家女，
舊來名莫愁。
貪乘摘花馬，
4 樂搒采蓮舟。 膝坐綠熊席， 身披青鳳裘。 哀傷百年內，
8 不免歸山丘。
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Hanshan’s Poems 53
HS 41
In your last life you were greatly foolish,
And that is why you are not enlightened today. And you’re rather impoverished today
4 All because of things you did in your last life. And if you don’t practice in this life either, Your next life will be just as before.
There are no boats on either bank;
8 How broad the river—and so hard to cross!
HS 42
How radiant the maid from the house of Lu! We have always called her “Don’t-Grieve. ”1 She’s greedy for riding her ower-picking horse,
4 And loves to ply the oars of her lotus-gathering boat. Her knees rest on a mat of glossy bear fur;
Her body is cloaked in green phoenix robes.
But alas! Within a hundred years
8 She can’t avoid returning to a grave mound.
1 The girl “Lu Don’t-Grieve” is a stock gure for a beautiful maiden in pre-Tang popular ballads.
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54
寒山詩
HS 43
低眼鄒公妻，
邯鄲杜生母。
二人同老少，
4 一種好面首。 昨日會客場， 惡衣排在後。 只為著破裙，
8 喫他殘䴺 。 HS 44
獨臥重巖下，
蒸雲晝不消。
室中雖暡靉，
4 心裏絕喧囂。 夢去遊金闕， 魂歸度石橋。 拋除鬧我者，
8 歷歷樹間瓢。
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Hanshan’s Poems 55
HS 43
The wife of Master Zou, from Diyan;1 The mother of Mr. Du of Handan:
The two of them are about the same age,
4 And both of them not bad-looking.
Yesterday they went to a party:
The poorly dressed one was shoved to the back. Just because she wore a shabby skirt
8 They made her eat the table scraps.
HS 44
I lie alone below the layered cli s; The roiling clouds never fade all day. It’s dark and gloomy in my house,
4 But my mind is cut o from all the noise.
I dream I leave and stroll by golden towers; My soul returns, crossing a stone bridge. 2 I’ve cast aside all the things that annoy me—
8 Even the rattling of a gourd in the tree where it hangs. 3
1 The phrase diyan here has not been satisfactorily explained. Because it is in parallel position with the city name Handan, the poet is likely indicating a place name, but no such place has been identi ed.
2 Commentators associate this with a natural bridge formation located at Tiantai Mountain. See also HS 218 and HS 266.
3 The ancient recluse Xu You 許由 used to drink water with cupped hands. Someone presented him with a hollow gourd that he could use as a dipper. After he drank from it, he hung it in a nearby tree for safekeeping. At night, the gourd would strike the tree where it hung and make a noise that Xu You found distracting, so he threw it away.
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56
寒山詩
HS 45
夫物有所用，
用之各有宜。
用之若失所，
4 一缺復一虧。 圓鑿而方柄， 悲哉空爾為。 驊騮將捕鼠，
8 不及跛猫兒。 HS 46
誰家長不死，
死事舊來均。
始憶八尺漢，
4 俄成一聚塵。 黃泉無曉日， 青草有時春。 行到傷心處，
8 松風愁殺人。
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Hanshan’s Poems 57
HS 45
Now then: all things have their own use;
When you use them, nd what’s appropriate for each. If you use them and you fail to place them right,
4 Then there’s a gap, then there’s a loss. Use a round awl with a square handle— Alas! what you’ll do is vain.
Hualiu may be able to catch a rat,1
8 But he’ll never come up to a lame cat.
HS 46
Who can avoid death forever? Death ever makes all things equal. Now I realize that a six-foot man2
4 In an instant is reduced to a handful of dust. There is no dawning day at Yellow Springs, Though spring will come to the green grass. I travel to a place that wounds my heart—
8 The wind in the pines grieves me sore.
1 Hualiu is proverbial as the name for a ne horse.
2 The text has “eight feet,” but this is likely based on an older calculation of the foot
as about 10 English inches.
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58
寒山詩
HS 47
騮馬珊瑚鞭，
驅馳洛陽道。
自矜美少年，
4 不信有衰老。 白髮會應生， 紅顏豈長保。 但看北邙山，
8 箇是蓬萊島。 HS 48
竟日常如醉，
流年不暫停。
埋著蓬蒿下，
4 曉月何冥冥。 骨肉消散盡， 魂魄幾凋零。 遮莫齩鐵口，
8 無因讀老經。
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Hanshan’s Poems 59
HS 47
A red roan horse, a coral whip—
He gallops about the Luoyang streets, This conceited, lovely youth,
4 Who does not believe that things fade and age. But his white hair will surely grow,
And how can his rosy face last forever?
Just look there at the North Mang Hills—1
8 There’s your Penglai Island! 2
HS 48
I feel as if I’m drunk all day.
The owing years will not stop for a moment. We’ll be buried under the brambles and thorns,
4 While the moon of dawn fades darkly above. Bones and esh will melt away,
And our souls will seem to wither and die. 3 Then, even if you were cleverest of all,4
8 You never had a chance to read Laozi’s classic. 5
1 Burial grounds outside the capital in Eastern Han times; used as a poetic locution for a graveyard. See also HS 32.
2 The island of the immortals.
3 That is, both the hun soul and the various po souls—in traditional Chinese belief,
these various souls disperse upon death.
4 Literally, “have a mouth that can bite iron. ”
5 You never studied the art of Immortality. Compare to ending of HS 11.
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60
寒山詩
HS 49
一向寒山坐，
淹留三十年。
昨來訪親友，
4 太半入黃泉。 漸減如殘燭， 長流似逝川。 今朝對孤影，
8 不覺淚雙懸。 HS 50
相喚採芙蓉，
可憐清江裏。
游戲不覺暮，
4 屢見狂風起。 浪捧鴛鴦兒， 波搖鸂鶒子。 此時居舟楫，
8 浩蕩情無已。
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Hanshan’s Poems 61
HS 49
Sitting on Cold Mountain all along, Lingering here for thirty years. Yesterday I visited kin and friends—
4 Over half have entered the Yellow Springs. They slowly lessened like a guttering candle, Flowed o forever like a passing stream. This morning I faced my lonely shadow,
8 And my tears ran down unawares.
HS 50
They call to each other while picking lotuses, How charming in the clear river’s current! Playing about, they don’t notice the dusk,
4 But they can’t help but feel the storm wind rise. Billows surround the mandarin birds,
Waves are rocking the duck and drake.
Just then as they sit within their boat,
8 Their agitation just won’t end. 1
1 This poem grows out of the erotic trope of young women picking lotus owers in boats that is common in Chinese poetry. The image at the end suggests that the storm is an external manifestation of their emotional agitation (probably romantic feelings).
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62
寒山詩
HS 51
吾心似秋月，
碧潭清皎潔。
無物堪比倫，
教我如何說。
HS 52
垂柳暗如煙，
飛花飄似霰。
夫居離婦州，
4 婦住思夫縣。 各在天一涯， 何時得相見。 寄語明月樓，
8 莫貯雙飛鷰。 HS 53
有酒相招飲，
有肉相呼喫。
黃泉前後人，
4 少壯須努力。
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Hanshan’s Poems 63
HS 51
My mind is like the autumn moon
In a jade-green pool—clear, bright and pure. Nothing can bear comparison to it—
What would you have me say?
HS 52
Drooping willows are dark as mist,
Flying petals gust like sleet.
The husband lives in Parted-from-Wife Prefecture,
4 The wife dwells in Longing-for-Husband County. Each at one edge of the sky—
When will they get to see each other again?
Send word to her moonlit mansion—
8 Don’t shelter a pair of ying swallows! 1
HS 53
If you have ale, invite others to drink;
And if you have meat, call others to eat.
Whether you come to the Yellow Springs early or late,
4 When you’re young and hale, you must go all out!
1 Pairs of swallows nesting in the beams of a house in springtime were seen as symbols of conjugal happiness. Here, the poet wishes to prevent the swallows from reminding the lonely wife that her husband is out traveling and is not with her.
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64
寒山詩
玉帶暫時華，
金釵非久飾。
張翁與鄭婆，
8 一去無消息。 HS 54
可憐好丈夫，
身體極稜稜。
春秋未三十，
4 才藝百般能。 金羈逐俠客， 玉饌集良朋。 唯有一般惡，
8 不傳無盡燈。 HS 55
桃花欲經夏，
風月催不待。
訪覓漢時人，
4 能無一箇在。 朝朝花遷落， 歲歲人移改。
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Hanshan’s Poems 65
Jade belts only ourish for a time,
And gold hairpins will not adorn you for long. Ga er Zhang and Goody Zheng—
8 Once they’re gone, we’ll hear no more of them.
HS 54
Charming, this ne and stalwart man, His physical presence, how majestic! Not yet thirty in his years,
4 Yet skilled in a hundred arts.
His golden bridle follows after wandering heroes; His ne delicacies bring together good companions. He only has one kind of fault—
8 He does not transmit the Inexhaustible Lamp. 1
HS 55
Peach owers would like to last out the summer, But wind and moon urge them on without ceasing. If you look for the people who lived in the Han,
4 Not a single one is alive today!
Every morning, the owers age and fall; Every year, the people shift and change.
1 The Inexhuastible Lamp is the Dharma of the Buddha.
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66
寒山詩
今日揚塵處， 8 昔時為大海。
HS 56
我見東家女，
年可有十八。
西舍競來問，
4 願姻夫妻活。 烹羊煑眾命， 聚頭作婬殺。 含笑樂呵呵，
8 啼哭受殃抉。 HS 57
田舍多桑園，
牛犢滿廄轍。
肯信有因果，
4 頑皮早晚裂。 眼看消磨盡， 當頭各自活。 紙袴瓦作裩，
8 到頭凍餓殺。
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Hanshan’s Poems 67
The place where we drive up dust today 8 Was a great sea in the past.
HS 56
I see that girl from the family to the east; She’s seventeen years old or so. 1
Houses to the west vie in courting her;
4 They want to marry, live as husband and wife. Then they simmer a sheep, boil many living things; Together they indulge in reckless slaughter.
All smiles, they laugh delightedly;
8 But they’ll sob when they face calamitous tortures. 2
HS 57
Their farmstead has many mulberry trees and gardens; Oxen and calves ll its stables and paths.
Are they not willing to believe in karma?
4 When will their stubborn hides crack?
With their own eyes they’ll see their things melt away, Suddenly each will seek to preserve himself.
With paper trousers and pants fashioned of shards,
8 In the end they’ll all die of cold and hunger.
1 “Eighteen” by traditional Chinese reckoning, where one is already one year old at birth and adds a year at every New Year.
2 They will be reborn in a Hell realm because they took animal life.
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68
寒山詩
HS 58
我見百十狗，
箇箇毛鬇鬡。
臥者渠自臥，
4 行者渠自行。 投之一塊骨， 相與啀喍爭。 良由為骨少，
8 狗多分不平。 HS 59
極目兮長望，
白雲四茫茫。
鴟鵶飽腲腇，
4 鸞鳳飢徬徨。 駿馬放石磧， 蹇驢能至堂。 天高不可問，
8 鷦鵊在滄浪。
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Hanshan’s Poems 69
HS 58
I see over a hundred dogs,
Each ferocious, with bristling fur. Some of them lie, content to lie;
4 Some walk, content to walk.
But throw a piece of bone to them:
Showing their fangs, they’ll ght each other for it. When the bones you have are just too few,
8 You can’t be fair with so many dogs!
HS 59
As I gaze far, to my vision’s end,
The white clouds rise, all about me welling. Owl and crow sit plump and contented,
4 While simurgh and phoenix y about in their hunger. The swift horse is pastured on stony wastes,
While the lame ass can enter the hall.
High heaven will not hear your questions:
8 A wren is drifting on the waves. 1
1 It is unclear what bird is meant by the noun jiaojia here. It is likely to be the same as the jiaoliao (wren) mentioned in HS 5. Regardless, the context suggests a small and insigni cant bird.
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70
寒山詩
HS 60
洛陽多女兒，
春日逞華麗。
共折路邊花，
4 各持插高髻。 髻高花匼匝， 人見皆睥睨。 別求醦醦憐，
8 將歸見夫婿。 HS 61
春女衒容儀，
相將南陌陲。
看花愁日晚，
4 隱樹怕風吹。 年少從傍來， 白馬黃金羈。 何須久相弄，
8 兒家夫婿知。
Unauthenticated Download Date | 11/18/17 8:42 AM
Hanshan’s Poems 71
HS 60
Luoyang has many girls
Who show o their beauty on a spring day. All of them pluck a roadside ower
4 And each takes it, inserting it in her high coi ure. Coi ures high, and the owers surround them— When men see them, the girls give them the eye. “Do not seek a useless love from us! 1
8 We’re just going home to see our husbands. ”
HS 61
The girls of spring show o their stunning looks, Go hand in hand along the south eld lanes.
Sad that the day grows late in their ower-viewing,
4 They hide under trees, in fear of the wind. A youth comes galloping up to them,
On a white horse with a golden bridle. “Why must you stay there teasing us?
8 Our husbands back home will nd out! ”
1 This is somewhat speculative based on the context. Chen is another term for “vinegar,” so chenchen lian literally means “sour a ection. ”
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72
寒山詩
HS 62
群女戲夕陽，
風來滿路香。
綴裙金蛺蝶，
4 插髻玉鴛鴦。 角婢紅羅縝， 閹奴紫錦裳。 為觀失道者，
8 鬢白心惶惶。 HS 63
若人逢鬼魅，
第一莫驚懅。
捺硬莫采渠，
4 呼名自當去。 燒香請佛力， 禮拜求僧助。 蚊子叮鐵牛，
8 無渠下觜處。
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Hanshan’s Poems 73
HS 62
A group of girls play in the setting sun:
When breezes come, they ll the road with their scent. Their embroidered skirts are worked with golden butter ies;
4 Inserted in their coi ures are jade mandarin ducks. Their pigtailed servants wear red silk aprons;
Their eunuch attendants have purple brocade robes. They have come to observe one who has lost his way:
8 His temples graying, his heart in turmoil.
HS 63
If you should meet a mountain goblin, The most important thing: do not panic. Force yourself to ignore him;
4 And if you call him by name, he’ll disappear. Burning incense to request the Buddha’s strength, Doing obeisance in seeking aid from monks: That’s a mosquito biting into an iron ox—
8 No place for him to sink his teeth!
Unauthenticated Download Date | 11/18/17 8:42 AM
74
寒山詩
HS 64
浩浩黃河水，
東流長不息。
悠悠不見清，
4 人人壽有極。 苟欲乘白雲， 曷由生羽翼。 唯當鬒髮時，
8 行住須努力。 HS 65
乘茲朽木船，
采彼紝婆子。
行至大海中，
4 波濤復不止。 唯賚一宿糧， 去岸三千里。 煩惱從何生，
8 愁哉緣苦起。
Unauthenticated Download Date | 11/18/17 8:42 AM
Hanshan’s Poems 75
HS 64
Surge upon surge, the Yellow River waters, Flowing eastwards, never ceasing.
Though you gaze far, you won’t nd them clear;
4 And every human life has its limits.
If you wished to ride the white clouds, How could you ever sprout wings? 1
You should, while you’re hair’s still black,
8 Exert yourself in every moment! 2
HS 65
Riding a boat of rotting timbers,
And gathering the seeds of the neem tree,3 We travel out onto the wide sea,
4 Where the billows never cease. Relying only on one day’s provision, We’re a thousand miles from shore. From where do these kleśa spring? 4
8 Alas! They arise from karmic woe.
1 That is, wish to become immortal. Immortals could often take the form of cranes.
2 This poem could be suggesting that since the search for immortality is futile, one should make sure one’s limited life is worthwhile (since this is a common poetic trope, that reading is more likely). If its attitude is Buddhist, it could also be
stressing the importance of cultivating practice while one is still young.
3 The neem or neemb is an Indian tree that produces leaves, owers, and fruit noted for their bitterness. A passage in the Nirvana Sutra compares the seeds to evil acts with evil karmic consequences—just as the bitter neem seeds produce a tree that is
bitter in all of its parts.
4 Kleśa ( fannao) are the factors that interfere with Buddhist practice and cause one
to generate bad karma.
Unauthenticated Download Date | 11/18/17 8:42 AM
76
寒山詩
HS 66
默默永無言，
後生何所述。
隱居在林藪，
4 智日何由出。 枯槁非堅衛， 風霜成夭疾。 土牛耕石田，
8 未有得稻日。 HS 67
山中何太冷，
自古非今年。
沓嶂恆凝雪，
4 幽林每吐煙。 草生芒種後， 葉落立秋前。 此有沈迷客，
8 窺窺不見天。
Unauthenticated Download Date | 11/18/17 8:42 AM
Hanshan’s Poems 77
HS 66
If you keep silent and never speak, What can be told to later generations? If you live as a recluse in forest thicket,
4 How can the sun of wisdom emerge? Emaciation does not make you a steadfast guard; Wind and frost will bring about early death.
If you use a clay ox to plow a stony eld,
8 You’ll never see a day for harvest. 1
HS 67
How very cold it is in the mountains! Always so—not just this year. Piled-up cli s are ever frozen in snow,
4 Remote forests are always emitting their mists. Grass grows only after “Grain in Ear,”
And leaves will fall before “Autumn Rises. ”2 And here is a traveler, thoroughly lost,
8 Who squints and squints and can’t see the sky.
1 E gies of oxen fashioned out of clay sometimes were featured at agricultural festivals. Thus to attempt to employ such an ox for real farming became proverbial for doing something useless. See also SD 29.
2 These are two of the twenty-four solar terms that mark the agricultural calendar. “Grain in Ear” begins June 6; “Autumn Established” begins August 7.
Unauthenticated Download Date | 11/18/17 8:42 AM
78
寒山詩
HS 68
山客心悄悄，
常嗟歲序遷。
辛勤采芝朮，
4 披斥詎成仙。 庭廓雲初卷， 林明月正圓。 不歸何所為，
8 桂樹相留連。 HS 69a
有人坐山楹，
雲卷兮霞瓔。
秉芳兮欲寄，
4 路漫漫難征。 心惆悵狐疑， 年老已無成。 眾喔咿斯騫，
8 獨立兮忠貞。
Unauthenticated Download Date | 11/18/17 8:42 AM
Hanshan’s Poems 79
HS 68
The mountain dweller is troubled in heart,
Always sighing at the passing of the years.
So he labors hard to pick his mushrooms and thistles—1
4 But how can his choices make him immortal? The courtyard is broad—the clouds are clearing; The forest is bright—the moon is now full. Why should I not go home now?
8 The cinnamon tree detains me. 2
HS 69a3
There is a person sitting in a mountain lodge,
Where clouds roil about (oh! ) and rose mists coil.
He holds a ower in his hand (oh! ), he wants to send it,
4 But the road is far and the journey hard.
His heart grieves sore and he hesitates,
He grows old with years yet has accomplished naught. The crowd laughs scornfully at his sad plight;
8 Yet he stands alone (oh! ), is loyal and pure.
1 Traditionally mentioned as ingredients in elixirs of immortality.
2 A cinnamon tree is said to grow in the moon, so the poet is saying he that the beauty of the moonlight detains him. I believe it not unlikely that HS 68 is two
quatrains that have been accidentally run together because of their shared rhyme.
3 HS 69 exists in a number of versions, possibly because it was originally composed in the meter and style characteristic of the Chuci collection (marked by the use of the metrical caesura particle 兮), and di erent editors of the collection were uncomfortable with it. 69a (the Sibu congkan version) shows some signs that someone attempted to revise a more eccentric poem to t the 8-line pentasyllabic format—including removal of the xi particle in some lines and shifting characters to ve-line forms (resulting in the awkward violation of poetic caesuras in lines four and ve).
