I have included as 69b a more
consistent
version taken from other
editions.
editions.
Hanshan - 01
”
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).
I have included as 69b a more consistent version taken from other
editions.
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80
寒山詩
HS 69b
有人兮山陘，
雲卷兮霞纓。
秉芳兮欲寄，
4 路漫兮難征。 心惆悵兮狐疑， 蹇獨立兮忠貞。
HS 70
豬喫死人肉，
人喫死豬腸。
豬不嫌人臭，
4 人反道豬香。 豬死拋水內， 人死掘土藏。 彼此莫相噉，
8 蓮花生沸湯。
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Hanshan’s Poems 81
HS 69b
There is a person (oh! ) in a mountain gorge,
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 (oh! ) and the journey hard. His heart grieves sore (oh! ) he hesitates,
Yet he stands alone (oh! ), is loyal and pure.
HS 70
Pigs eat the esh of dead men; People eat the innards of dead pigs. Pigs do not abhor the stink of man;
4 And men, for their part, say pigs are fragrant.
When a pigs die, they’ll throw them in the water; When people die, they dig a hole and hide them away. If both would just stop eating each other,
8 Lotus owers would grow in boiling soup.
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82
寒山詩
HS 71
快哉混沌身，
不飯復不尿。
遭得誰鑽鑿，
4 因茲立九竅。 朝朝為衣食， 歲歲愁租調。 千箇爭一錢，
8 聚頭亡命叫。 HS 72
啼哭緣何事，
淚如珠子顆。
應當有別離，
4 復是遭喪禍。 所為在貧窮， 未能了因果。 塚間瞻死屍，
8 六道不干我。
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Hanshan’s Poems 83
HS 71
How happy we were with undi erentiated selves! We didn’t eat, we didn’t piss.
Then we encountered somebody who drilled away,
4 And so we got these nine holes. 1
Now every day we work for clothes and food, And every year we deplore our taxes.
And a thousand will ght over a single copper,
8 Shouting together with all their might.
HS 72
Why are you all sobbing like that, With your falling tears like pearls?
You ought to know there is separation;
4 And you’ll encounter loss and misfortune too. What you do comes from your poverty,
And you have yet to understand karmic laws.
I contemplate the corpses amid the grave mounds,
8 And the Six Paths have no e ect on me. 2
1 This is an allusion to a passage in the Zhuangzi, in which the gods of the North and South provide the god Undi erentiated (hundun) with the holes he supposedly needs to see, hear, and eat (the so-called seven holes of the human head: ears, eyes, nostrils, and mouth). After they nish their operation, Undi erentiated dies. Zhuangzi uses it as a parable of the evils of distinction and di erentiation in human society; the poet here sees it as a symbol for su ering in the samsaric world—the “holes” are the passages through which sensual awareness reaches our consciousness. He also adds two holes, as in some Chinese lists: the urethra or vaginal opening and the anus.
2 The Six Paths are the six realms of possible rebirth in samsara: Hell, hungry ghosts, animals, humans, angry gods, and gods. The poet here is engaging in a form of meditation in which the practitioner observes the decay of human bodies in order to break attachment to the esh.
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84
寒山詩
HS 73
婦人慵經織，
男夫懶耨田。
輕浮耽挾彈，
4 踮躧拈抹弦。 凍骨衣應急， 充腸食在先。 今誰念於汝，
8 苦痛哭蒼天。 HS 74
不行真正道，
隨邪號行婆。
口慙神佛少，
4 心懷嫉妒多。 背後噇魚肉， 人前念佛陀。 如此修身處，
8 難應避柰河。
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Hanshan’s Poems 85
HS 73
Wives grown indolent at wheel and loom! Husbands too lazy to weed your elds! You lightly play with your slings and darts,
4 Shu e your slippers and twang your lutes. When bones are chilled, then clothes are a must; If you want a full belly, food should come rst. For who now is concerned for you,
8 In your bitter pain as you sob to the blue skies?
HS 74
They don’t practice the Way of True and Right,
But follow the wicked—these “practicing grannies. ” Seldom their mouths give thanks to gods or Buddhas,
4 While their hearts often dwell on jealousy. Behind others’ backs they chew sh and esh, While they chant the Buddha’s name in public. With this way of “cultivating the self ”
8 They’ll never escape the Hopeless River. 1
1 Nai he, an expression that means “there is nothing you can do,” is used as a pun to name a river of Hell that all souls must cross on their way to judgment and rebirth. See also HS 237.
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86
寒山詩
HS 75
世有一等愚，
茫茫恰似驢。
還解人言語，
4 貪婬狀若豬。 險巇難可測， 實語却成虛。 誰能共伊語，
8 令教莫此居。 HS 76
有漢姓傲慢，
名貪字不廉。
一身無所解，
4 百事被他嫌。 死惡黃連苦， 生憐白蜜甜。 喫魚猶未止，
8 食肉更無猒。
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Hanshan’s Poems 87
HS 75
There’s a kind of fool in the world, Muddle-headed, exactly like an ass.
He may understand what you have to say,
4 But he’s porcine in his greed and lust.
He’s a deep one—you can’t fathom him,
And his “words of truth” will turn to falsehood. Who can have a word with him
8 And convince him to not live here?
HS 76
There’s a man with the surname “Haughty,” “Greedy” his name, “Corrupted” his style. 1 His whole body a mass of ignorance,
4 Others doubtful about everything he does. Death he loathes, as bitter as goldthread;2 Life he loves, as sweet as white honey.
He still hasn’t stopped eating his sh,
8 Nor is he surfeited on esh.
1 “Style” (zi) indicates the individual’s formal name, used by others out of courtesy. 2 Goldthread (huanglian) is a plant (coptis chinensis) whose bitter root is used in
traditional medicine.
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88
寒山詩
HS 77
縱你居犀角，
饒君帶虎睛。
桃枝將辟穢，
4 蒜殼取為瓔。 暖腹茱萸酒， 空心枸杞羹。 終歸不免死，
8 浪自覓長生。 HS 78
卜擇幽居地，
天台更莫言。
猨啼谿霧冷，
4 嶽色草門連。 折葉覆松室， 開池引澗泉。 已甘休萬事，
8 采蕨度殘年。
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Hanshan’s Poems 89
HS 77
Suppose that you live with a rhino horn,
And use tiger-eyes for your sash;
Use peach tree branches to ward o pollution,
4 Fashion a necklace of garlic bulbs;
Warm your bellies with prickly-ash wine, Clear your minds with goji berry porridge. 1
In the end you’ll return; you can’t avoid death.
8 In vain is your search for long life.
HS 78
I found a plot for my home in a remote place— Tiantai—what more need be said?
Gibbons cry, their sound chill in the valley mist.
4 The color of the peaks reaches my weedy gate. I pluck leaves to thatch my home in the pines, Dig a pool, channel the stream water there. Already content to give up all a airs,
8 I’ll pass my last years gathering mountain greens.
1 This poem mentions a variety of remedies and talismans meant to protect the life and longevity of the wearer/consumer.
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90
寒山詩
HS 79
益者益其精，
可名為有益。
易者易其形，
4 是名之有易。 能益復能易， 當得上仙籍。 無益復無易，
8 終不免死厄。 HS 80
徒勞說三史，
浪自看五經。
洎老檢黃籍，
4 依前注白丁。 筮遭連蹇卦， 生主虛危星。 不及河邊樹，
8 年年一度青。
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Hanshan’s Poems 91
HS 79
By “bene t,” I mean “bene t one’s essence”; This could be called “bene cial. ”
By “change” I mean “change one’s form”;
4 This is termed “changeable. ”
If you can bene t, if you can change,
Then you’ll be placed on the roster of Transcendents; But with no bene t and no change,
8 You’ll never escape the calamity of death. 1
HS 80
Vain to toil in reading the Three Histories;2 A waste to peruse the Five Classics.
I’ll be listed in tax rolls until I’m old,
4 Always registered as a commoner. 3
Casting my fate, always “obstruction” comes up;4
A life ever governed by the “barren” and “danger” stars. 5 It would be better to be a riverside tree,
8 That gets to turn green once every year.
1 This very Daoist poem is a versi cation of a passage from “The Private History of Emperor Wu of the Han” (Han Wudi nei zhuan 漢武帝內傳), in which the Queen Mother of the West explains to the emperor the secrets of longevity.
2 These are the rst three of the o cial histories: Shi ji, Han Shu, Hou Han shu.
3 That is, no matter how hard the speaker studies, he will never pass the examinations
and will always keep his commoner status.
4 A reference to hexagram #39 in the Yijing: jian or “obstruction”.
5 Xu (“barrens”) and wei (“danger”) are two of the twenty-four asterisms that are used
in Chinese astrology. They govern disaster and loss.
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92
寒山詩
HS 81
碧澗泉水清，
寒山月華白。
默知神自明，
觀空境逾寂。
HS 82
我今有一襦，
非羅復非綺。
借問作何色，
4 不紅亦不紫。 夏天將作衫， 冬天將作被。 冬夏遞互用，
8 長年只這是。 HS 83
白拂栴檀柄，
馨香竟日聞。
柔和如卷霧，
4 搖拽似行雲。
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Hanshan’s Poems 93
HS 81
Clear stream water in the emerald dale; Moonlight white on Cold Mountain.
In the silence, I know Spirit is itself bright;
I look into Emptiness: realms ever more quiet.
HS 82
Today I have a jacket,
Not fashioned of gauze or patterned silk. You may ask what color it is—
4 It’s not crimson, nor is it purple.
In summer it makes do for a shirt,
In winter it makes do for a coverlet. Winter and summer, I switch its uses—
8 Through my long life I only have this.
HS 83
A white y-whisk, with sandalwood handle;1 One can smell its fragrance throughout the day. Gentle it is, like billowing mist,
4 Wafting gently, like moving clouds.
1 Fly whisks were commonly used by abbots and other authority gures in the Buddhist church as an aid to rhetorical gestures in their sermons and conversations.
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94
寒山詩
禮奉宜當暑，
高提復去塵。
時時方丈內，
8 將用指迷人。 HS 84
貪愛有人求快活，
不知禍在百年身。
但看陽燄浮漚水，
4 便覺無常敗壞人。 丈夫志氣直如鐵， 無曲心中道自真。 行密節高霜下竹，
8 方知不枉用心神。 HS 85
多少般數人，
百計求名利。
心貪覓榮華，
4 經營圖富貴。
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Hanshan’s Poems 95
O ered politely, it’s good for dealing with the heat; Raised aloft, it can remove dust too.
And sometimes, within the abbot’s cell,
8 It’s used to point the way for those who are lost.
HS 84
Greedy and covetous, there are people who seek for happiness, Unaware that disaster resides within their mortal bodies.
Just look at a single ame that oats upon the froth;
4 Then you’ll realize how Impermanence defeats and ruins us.
An upright man’s willful force is as straight as iron;
And through his never-crooked mind the way is naturally true. Dense in growth with lofty joints, that bamboo under the frost:1
8 We can know then that it’s not a waste to exert the mind and spirit.
HS 85
So many di erent kinds of men:
With many schemes they seek fame and pro t. Their minds are greedy as they seek their glory,
4 Laying plans, plotting for wealth and status.
1 Because of bamboo’s ability to withstand cold weather, it became a symbol for thriving under adversity. Here there are other plays on words as well: “dense in growth” could mean “careful in conduct,” and “lofty joints” could mean “lofty self-restraint. ”
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96
寒山詩
心未片時歇，
奔突如煙氣。
家眷實團圓，
8 一呼百諾至。 不過七十年， 冰消瓦解置。 死了萬事休，
12 誰人承後嗣。 水浸泥彈丸， 方知無意智。
HS 86
貪人好聚財，
恰如梟愛子。
子大而食母，
4 財多還害己。 散之即福生， 聚之即禍起。 無財亦無禍，
8 鼓翼青雲裏。
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Hanshan’s Poems
97
Their minds never have a moment’s rest, Rushing about like a surging fog.
A large family’s truly all around them;
8 A hundred assents to every summons.
But seventy years have not passed by
When the ice melts away and the tiles will shatter. He’ll die, and all earthly a airs will end;
12 Who then will stand to inherit?
It’s like water soaking a ball of mud— You’ll know then there’s no wisdom in it.
HS 86
Greedy people who like to hoard wealth Are just like the owls who love their chicks. When the chick gets big it eats its mother;
4 When wealth is great it will harm you. Get rid of it, then good fortune is born; Collect it and disaster arises.
No wealth, and then no disaster—
8 You can beat your wings amid the blue clouds.
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98
寒山詩
HS 87
去家一萬里，
提劍擊匈奴。
得利渠即死，
4 失利汝即殂。 渠命既不惜， 汝命有何辜。 教汝百勝術，
8 不貪為上謨。 HS 88
嗔是心中火，
能燒功德林。
欲行菩薩道，
忍辱護真心。
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Hanshan’s Poems 99
HS 87
You’re away from home ten thousand leagues, Drawing your sword to strike the Xiongnu. 1 If you get the advantage, then he will die;
4 If you lose it, you will perish.
Since you don’t care if he lives or dies, What guilt does your own life bear?
I’ll teach you the art of a hundred victories:
8 Not coveting is the best plan of all.
HS 88
Anger is a re in the mind
That can burn down your forest of merit. If you wish to travel the Bodhisattva’s path, Forbear, and protect your true mind.
1 The Xiongnu were northern nomads frequently involved in border wars during the Han dynasty. After the Han, they became a standard literary term for enemy peoples to the north, particularly in frontier poetry.
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100
寒山詩
HS 89
汝為埋頭癡兀兀，
愛向無明羅剎窟。
再三勸你早修行，
4 是你頑癡心恍惚。 不肯信受寒山語， 轉轉倍加業汨汨。 直待斬首作兩段，
8 方知自身奴賊物。 HS 90
惡趣甚茫茫，
冥冥無日光。
人間八百歲，
4 未抵半宵長。 此等諸癡子， 論情甚可傷。 勸君求出離，
8 認取法中王。
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Hanshan’s Poems 101
HS 89
All of you bury your heads away, foolish and muddle-headed. You love to seek the cavern of the demon Ignorance.
Over and over, I’ve urged you to start your practice early;
4 It’s you who are dim and stupid, your minds lost in a daze. You’re unwilling to put your trust in Cold Mountain’s words; More and more, ever increasing, your evil karma ows on. Just wait until your head’s cut o and you are split in two;
8 Then you’ll know that your own Self is just a slave, a bandit.
HS 90
How limitless the Three Evil Paths;1 Murky and dark without a sun. Eight hundred years of human life
4 Don’t ll out half a night-time there. All the fools of this type
To tell the truth, are really pathetic. I urge you sir, to seek release,
8 And acknowledge the Prince of the Dharma. 2
1 The three unfortunate paths of rebirth: animals, hungry ghosts, and the Hell realms.
2 The Buddha.
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102
寒山詩
HS 91
世有多解人，
愚癡徒苦辛。
不求當來善，
4 唯知造惡因。 五逆十惡輩， 三毒以為親。 一死入地獄，
8 長如鎮庫銀。 HS 92
天高高不窮，
地厚厚無極。
動物在其中，
4 憑茲造化力。 爭頭覓飽暖， 作計相噉食。 因果都未詳，
8 盲兒問乳色。
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Hanshan’s Poems 103
HS 91
In the world there are men with “great understanding” Who are foolish—only su er and toil.
They don’t seek the good of their future lives;
4 Only know how to create evil karma. The Five Perversions, the Ten Evil Acts, The Three Poisons they take as kin. 1 And once they die, they enter Hell,
8 Held there as long as good-luck silver. 2
HS 92
The Heavens are high—high and forever; The Earth is deep—deep and endless. Living things dwell between them,
4 And rely on them to produce transformations. They vie in seeking contentment and warmth, Lay plans to devour each other.
Of causes and results they understand little:
8 Blind men asking about the color of milk.
1 The Five Perversions are: Killing one’s father, killing one’s mother, killing an arhat, destroying the harmony of the sangha, and shedding the blood of a Buddha. The Ten Evil Acts are: killing, robbery, illicit sex, wild speech, lying, slander, attery, greed, anger, and perverse views. The Three Poisons are greed, anger, and ignorance.
2 Silver kept in one’s warehouse permanently for emergencies; such silver was also thought to suppress bad luck and preserve good fortune. The term literally means “suppression warehouse silver. ”
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104
寒山詩
HS 93
天下幾種人，
論時色數有。
賈婆如許夫，
4 黃老元無婦。 衛氏兒可憐， 鐘家女極醜。 渠若向西行，
8 我便東邊走。 HS 94
賢士不貪婪，
癡人好鑪冶。
麥地占他家，
4 竹園皆我者。 努膊覓錢財， 切齒驅奴馬。 須看郭門外，
8 壘壘松柏下。
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Hanshan’s Poems 105
HS 93
The various kinds of people in the world, To tell the truth, have their di erent aspects. Old lady Jia had so many husbands,
4 While Old Huang never had a wife at all. The Wei clan’s boy was quite charming, While the Zhong family girl was ugly indeed. If he decides to head o to the west,
8 Then I will run to the east. 1
HS 94
A worthy gentleman controls his greed, While the fool is fond of his alchemy. 2 He’ll occupy the elds of others,
4 Claim bamboo and gardens as his own. Flexing his arms, he seeks out wealth; Grinding his teeth, he drives a worn-out nag. He should look beyond the city walls,
8 At the mounds piled up below pine and cypress. 3
1 This poem simply emphasizes the arbitrary aspects and tastes of human beings. Commentators spend much energy linking each of the four people mentioned in lines 3–6 with speci c historical actors, with greater or less plausibility; but I suspect the author is mostly using each surname in the manner of a “Mr. Smith” or a “Miss Jones. ” The last couplet should not be taken as the author’s preference, but simply as another example of human perversity—if someone does one thing, someone else is bound to do the opposite.
2 I. e. , experiments in creating gold. 3 Grave mounds.
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106
寒山詩
HS 95
嗊嗊買魚肉，
擔歸餧妻子。
何須殺他命，
4 將來活汝己。 此非天堂緣， 純是地獄滓。 徐六語破堆，
8 始知沒道理。 HS 96
有人把椿樹，
喚作白栴檀。
學道多沙數，
4 幾箇得泥丸。 棄金却擔草， 謾他亦自謾。 似聚砂一處，
8 成團也大難。
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Hanshan’s Poems 107
HS 95
“Mid shouting and bustle you buy sh and esh, And bear it back home to feed wife and child. But why must you take the life of another
4 And use it to sustain your own existence? Those aren’t conditions that lead to Heaven; They’re purely the dregs of Hell. ”
The words of Xu Six have hit the mark,
8 You’ll know then that this makes no sense. 1
HS 96
There are people who would call the ailanthus2 By the name of white sandalwood.
There are many who study the Dharma,
4 But only a few who will nd nirvana.
They’ll cast away gold and carry weeds instead, Deceiving others and deceiving themselves. Like piling up sand in one place—
8 You can’t make it form a ball.
1 The identity of Xu Six is not known. It may just be another one of Hanshan’s hypothetical speakers. Here he lectures the poem’s persona on vegetarianism.
2 A tree known not just for its unpleasant odor but for the uselessness of its wood.
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108
寒山詩
HS 97
蒸砂擬作飯，
臨渴始掘井。
用力磨碌甎，
4 那堪將作鏡。 佛說平元等， 總有真如性。 但自審思量，
8 不用閑爭競。 HS 98
推尋世間事，
子細總皆知。
凡事莫容易，
4 盡愛討便宜。 護即弊成好， 毀即是成非。 故知雜濫口，
8 背面總由伊。 冷暖我自量， 不信奴脣皮。
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Hanshan’s Poems 109
HS 97
Steam sand, planning to make rice— Digging a well only when you thirst.
Use your strength to polish a piece of tile—
4 When will it ever become a mirror? 1
The Buddha’s words hold all things equal, Always possess the nature of True Suchness. 2 If you really think carefully about it,
8 It’s useless to vie and struggle.
HS 98
Examine the a airs of this world: Carefully, so you know all: Common a airs are hardly easy;
4 All love to seek what they prefer.
In defense they’ll turn the bad to good,
In slander they’ll turn what is true to false. So you know that those who endlessly debate
8 Are just secretly choosing what they want. I’ll judge the hot and the cold for myself: In this I won’t trust what those guys say.
1 A proverbial expression for useless e ort in seeking enlightenment—most famously expressed in a story in which the early Chan master Mazu Daoyi 馬祖道一 persuades Nanyue Huairang 南嶽懷讓 that meditation is like polishing a tile to create a mirror.
2 “All things equal” explains the Sanskrit term samatā, which can mean equanimity as well, the ability to not cling to things. True Suchness (zhenru) is bhūtatathatā, a Mahayana term used to express ultimate reality.
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110
寒山詩
HS 99
蹭蹬諸貧士，
飢寒成至極。
閑居好作詩，
4 札札用心力。 賤他言孰采， 勸君休歎息。 題安糊䴵上，
8 乞狗也不喫。 HS 100
欲識生死譬，
且將冰水比。
水結即成冰，
4 冰消返成水。 已死必應生， 出生還復死。 冰水不相傷，
8 生死還雙美。
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Hanshan’s Poems 111
HS 99
Stumbling along, those poor scholars,
Their hunger and cold have reached the extreme. In their idleness they like to write verse,
4 Toiling away, using all their brains.
They’re low-ranking, so who will prefer their words? But I urge them not to sigh about it.
If you were to write your verse on a cake,
8 A dog wouldn’t eat it if you asked him. 1
HS 100
Would you know a likeness for life and death? Then try comparing water to ice.
Water freezes and turns to ice;
4 Ice melts and returns to water. Already dead; you’ll live again. Another life; you’ll die once more. Ice and water won’t harm each other:
8 Life and death are a paired delight.
1 Or “even a begging dog wouldn’t eat it. ”
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112
寒山詩
HS 101
尋思少年日，
遊獵向平陵。
國使職非願，
4 神仙未足稱。 聯翩騎白馬， 喝兔放蒼鷹。 不覺大流落，
8 皤皤誰見矜。 HS 102
偃息深林下，
從生是農夫。
立身既質直，
4 出語無諂諛。 保我不鑒璧， 信君方得珠。 焉能同泛灩，
8 極目波上鳧。
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Hanshan’s Poems 113
HS 101
I think back on the days of my youth, When I’d go hunting toward Pingling. 1
A position as state courier was not my wish,
4 And I never thought the Transcendent Way worth praising. I galloped about upon my white steed,
Called out hares, let loose my gray hawk.
Then unawares, I went into a great decline:
8 White-haired, who is concerned for me?
HS 102
I hid away in a deep wood,
Taking up life as a farmer.
I established myself as upright and straight,
4 Never uttered attery or slander.
I protect my unexamined jade,2
I’ll leave it to you to nd the pearl. 3
How can I join them in the drift and ow?
8 At the edge of my sight, those ducks on the waves.
1 A fashionable suburb of the capital in Han times; later, it was used in poetry to describe neighborhoods of the elites.
2 Probably a reference to the famous piece of jade discovered by Mr. He 和氏 in the Warring States period. He attempted to persuade di erent rulers of its value, but instead found himself brutally punished. Finally the value of the jade was discovered and was fashioned into a precious disk. Since then, the story has become a metaphor for unrecognized talents. Here, the speaker says he prefers to live as a recluse rather than seek o ce.
3 I take this to refer to the active desire to attain o ce or status. Various commentators nd speci c allusions here, but none strike me as satisfactory.
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).
I have included as 69b a more consistent version taken from other
editions.
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80
寒山詩
HS 69b
有人兮山陘，
雲卷兮霞纓。
秉芳兮欲寄，
4 路漫兮難征。 心惆悵兮狐疑， 蹇獨立兮忠貞。
HS 70
豬喫死人肉，
人喫死豬腸。
豬不嫌人臭，
4 人反道豬香。 豬死拋水內， 人死掘土藏。 彼此莫相噉，
8 蓮花生沸湯。
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Hanshan’s Poems 81
HS 69b
There is a person (oh! ) in a mountain gorge,
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 (oh! ) and the journey hard. His heart grieves sore (oh! ) he hesitates,
Yet he stands alone (oh! ), is loyal and pure.
HS 70
Pigs eat the esh of dead men; People eat the innards of dead pigs. Pigs do not abhor the stink of man;
4 And men, for their part, say pigs are fragrant.
When a pigs die, they’ll throw them in the water; When people die, they dig a hole and hide them away. If both would just stop eating each other,
8 Lotus owers would grow in boiling soup.
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82
寒山詩
HS 71
快哉混沌身，
不飯復不尿。
遭得誰鑽鑿，
4 因茲立九竅。 朝朝為衣食， 歲歲愁租調。 千箇爭一錢，
8 聚頭亡命叫。 HS 72
啼哭緣何事，
淚如珠子顆。
應當有別離，
4 復是遭喪禍。 所為在貧窮， 未能了因果。 塚間瞻死屍，
8 六道不干我。
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Hanshan’s Poems 83
HS 71
How happy we were with undi erentiated selves! We didn’t eat, we didn’t piss.
Then we encountered somebody who drilled away,
4 And so we got these nine holes. 1
Now every day we work for clothes and food, And every year we deplore our taxes.
And a thousand will ght over a single copper,
8 Shouting together with all their might.
HS 72
Why are you all sobbing like that, With your falling tears like pearls?
You ought to know there is separation;
4 And you’ll encounter loss and misfortune too. What you do comes from your poverty,
And you have yet to understand karmic laws.
I contemplate the corpses amid the grave mounds,
8 And the Six Paths have no e ect on me. 2
1 This is an allusion to a passage in the Zhuangzi, in which the gods of the North and South provide the god Undi erentiated (hundun) with the holes he supposedly needs to see, hear, and eat (the so-called seven holes of the human head: ears, eyes, nostrils, and mouth). After they nish their operation, Undi erentiated dies. Zhuangzi uses it as a parable of the evils of distinction and di erentiation in human society; the poet here sees it as a symbol for su ering in the samsaric world—the “holes” are the passages through which sensual awareness reaches our consciousness. He also adds two holes, as in some Chinese lists: the urethra or vaginal opening and the anus.
2 The Six Paths are the six realms of possible rebirth in samsara: Hell, hungry ghosts, animals, humans, angry gods, and gods. The poet here is engaging in a form of meditation in which the practitioner observes the decay of human bodies in order to break attachment to the esh.
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84
寒山詩
HS 73
婦人慵經織，
男夫懶耨田。
輕浮耽挾彈，
4 踮躧拈抹弦。 凍骨衣應急， 充腸食在先。 今誰念於汝，
8 苦痛哭蒼天。 HS 74
不行真正道，
隨邪號行婆。
口慙神佛少，
4 心懷嫉妒多。 背後噇魚肉， 人前念佛陀。 如此修身處，
8 難應避柰河。
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Hanshan’s Poems 85
HS 73
Wives grown indolent at wheel and loom! Husbands too lazy to weed your elds! You lightly play with your slings and darts,
4 Shu e your slippers and twang your lutes. When bones are chilled, then clothes are a must; If you want a full belly, food should come rst. For who now is concerned for you,
8 In your bitter pain as you sob to the blue skies?
HS 74
They don’t practice the Way of True and Right,
But follow the wicked—these “practicing grannies. ” Seldom their mouths give thanks to gods or Buddhas,
4 While their hearts often dwell on jealousy. Behind others’ backs they chew sh and esh, While they chant the Buddha’s name in public. With this way of “cultivating the self ”
8 They’ll never escape the Hopeless River. 1
1 Nai he, an expression that means “there is nothing you can do,” is used as a pun to name a river of Hell that all souls must cross on their way to judgment and rebirth. See also HS 237.
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86
寒山詩
HS 75
世有一等愚，
茫茫恰似驢。
還解人言語，
4 貪婬狀若豬。 險巇難可測， 實語却成虛。 誰能共伊語，
8 令教莫此居。 HS 76
有漢姓傲慢，
名貪字不廉。
一身無所解，
4 百事被他嫌。 死惡黃連苦， 生憐白蜜甜。 喫魚猶未止，
8 食肉更無猒。
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Hanshan’s Poems 87
HS 75
There’s a kind of fool in the world, Muddle-headed, exactly like an ass.
He may understand what you have to say,
4 But he’s porcine in his greed and lust.
He’s a deep one—you can’t fathom him,
And his “words of truth” will turn to falsehood. Who can have a word with him
8 And convince him to not live here?
HS 76
There’s a man with the surname “Haughty,” “Greedy” his name, “Corrupted” his style. 1 His whole body a mass of ignorance,
4 Others doubtful about everything he does. Death he loathes, as bitter as goldthread;2 Life he loves, as sweet as white honey.
He still hasn’t stopped eating his sh,
8 Nor is he surfeited on esh.
1 “Style” (zi) indicates the individual’s formal name, used by others out of courtesy. 2 Goldthread (huanglian) is a plant (coptis chinensis) whose bitter root is used in
traditional medicine.
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88
寒山詩
HS 77
縱你居犀角，
饒君帶虎睛。
桃枝將辟穢，
4 蒜殼取為瓔。 暖腹茱萸酒， 空心枸杞羹。 終歸不免死，
8 浪自覓長生。 HS 78
卜擇幽居地，
天台更莫言。
猨啼谿霧冷，
4 嶽色草門連。 折葉覆松室， 開池引澗泉。 已甘休萬事，
8 采蕨度殘年。
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Hanshan’s Poems 89
HS 77
Suppose that you live with a rhino horn,
And use tiger-eyes for your sash;
Use peach tree branches to ward o pollution,
4 Fashion a necklace of garlic bulbs;
Warm your bellies with prickly-ash wine, Clear your minds with goji berry porridge. 1
In the end you’ll return; you can’t avoid death.
8 In vain is your search for long life.
HS 78
I found a plot for my home in a remote place— Tiantai—what more need be said?
Gibbons cry, their sound chill in the valley mist.
4 The color of the peaks reaches my weedy gate. I pluck leaves to thatch my home in the pines, Dig a pool, channel the stream water there. Already content to give up all a airs,
8 I’ll pass my last years gathering mountain greens.
1 This poem mentions a variety of remedies and talismans meant to protect the life and longevity of the wearer/consumer.
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90
寒山詩
HS 79
益者益其精，
可名為有益。
易者易其形，
4 是名之有易。 能益復能易， 當得上仙籍。 無益復無易，
8 終不免死厄。 HS 80
徒勞說三史，
浪自看五經。
洎老檢黃籍，
4 依前注白丁。 筮遭連蹇卦， 生主虛危星。 不及河邊樹，
8 年年一度青。
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Hanshan’s Poems 91
HS 79
By “bene t,” I mean “bene t one’s essence”; This could be called “bene cial. ”
By “change” I mean “change one’s form”;
4 This is termed “changeable. ”
If you can bene t, if you can change,
Then you’ll be placed on the roster of Transcendents; But with no bene t and no change,
8 You’ll never escape the calamity of death. 1
HS 80
Vain to toil in reading the Three Histories;2 A waste to peruse the Five Classics.
I’ll be listed in tax rolls until I’m old,
4 Always registered as a commoner. 3
Casting my fate, always “obstruction” comes up;4
A life ever governed by the “barren” and “danger” stars. 5 It would be better to be a riverside tree,
8 That gets to turn green once every year.
1 This very Daoist poem is a versi cation of a passage from “The Private History of Emperor Wu of the Han” (Han Wudi nei zhuan 漢武帝內傳), in which the Queen Mother of the West explains to the emperor the secrets of longevity.
2 These are the rst three of the o cial histories: Shi ji, Han Shu, Hou Han shu.
3 That is, no matter how hard the speaker studies, he will never pass the examinations
and will always keep his commoner status.
4 A reference to hexagram #39 in the Yijing: jian or “obstruction”.
5 Xu (“barrens”) and wei (“danger”) are two of the twenty-four asterisms that are used
in Chinese astrology. They govern disaster and loss.
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92
寒山詩
HS 81
碧澗泉水清，
寒山月華白。
默知神自明，
觀空境逾寂。
HS 82
我今有一襦，
非羅復非綺。
借問作何色，
4 不紅亦不紫。 夏天將作衫， 冬天將作被。 冬夏遞互用，
8 長年只這是。 HS 83
白拂栴檀柄，
馨香竟日聞。
柔和如卷霧，
4 搖拽似行雲。
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Hanshan’s Poems 93
HS 81
Clear stream water in the emerald dale; Moonlight white on Cold Mountain.
In the silence, I know Spirit is itself bright;
I look into Emptiness: realms ever more quiet.
HS 82
Today I have a jacket,
Not fashioned of gauze or patterned silk. You may ask what color it is—
4 It’s not crimson, nor is it purple.
In summer it makes do for a shirt,
In winter it makes do for a coverlet. Winter and summer, I switch its uses—
8 Through my long life I only have this.
HS 83
A white y-whisk, with sandalwood handle;1 One can smell its fragrance throughout the day. Gentle it is, like billowing mist,
4 Wafting gently, like moving clouds.
1 Fly whisks were commonly used by abbots and other authority gures in the Buddhist church as an aid to rhetorical gestures in their sermons and conversations.
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94
寒山詩
禮奉宜當暑，
高提復去塵。
時時方丈內，
8 將用指迷人。 HS 84
貪愛有人求快活，
不知禍在百年身。
但看陽燄浮漚水，
4 便覺無常敗壞人。 丈夫志氣直如鐵， 無曲心中道自真。 行密節高霜下竹，
8 方知不枉用心神。 HS 85
多少般數人，
百計求名利。
心貪覓榮華，
4 經營圖富貴。
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Hanshan’s Poems 95
O ered politely, it’s good for dealing with the heat; Raised aloft, it can remove dust too.
And sometimes, within the abbot’s cell,
8 It’s used to point the way for those who are lost.
HS 84
Greedy and covetous, there are people who seek for happiness, Unaware that disaster resides within their mortal bodies.
Just look at a single ame that oats upon the froth;
4 Then you’ll realize how Impermanence defeats and ruins us.
An upright man’s willful force is as straight as iron;
And through his never-crooked mind the way is naturally true. Dense in growth with lofty joints, that bamboo under the frost:1
8 We can know then that it’s not a waste to exert the mind and spirit.
HS 85
So many di erent kinds of men:
With many schemes they seek fame and pro t. Their minds are greedy as they seek their glory,
4 Laying plans, plotting for wealth and status.
1 Because of bamboo’s ability to withstand cold weather, it became a symbol for thriving under adversity. Here there are other plays on words as well: “dense in growth” could mean “careful in conduct,” and “lofty joints” could mean “lofty self-restraint. ”
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96
寒山詩
心未片時歇，
奔突如煙氣。
家眷實團圓，
8 一呼百諾至。 不過七十年， 冰消瓦解置。 死了萬事休，
12 誰人承後嗣。 水浸泥彈丸， 方知無意智。
HS 86
貪人好聚財，
恰如梟愛子。
子大而食母，
4 財多還害己。 散之即福生， 聚之即禍起。 無財亦無禍，
8 鼓翼青雲裏。
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Hanshan’s Poems
97
Their minds never have a moment’s rest, Rushing about like a surging fog.
A large family’s truly all around them;
8 A hundred assents to every summons.
But seventy years have not passed by
When the ice melts away and the tiles will shatter. He’ll die, and all earthly a airs will end;
12 Who then will stand to inherit?
It’s like water soaking a ball of mud— You’ll know then there’s no wisdom in it.
HS 86
Greedy people who like to hoard wealth Are just like the owls who love their chicks. When the chick gets big it eats its mother;
4 When wealth is great it will harm you. Get rid of it, then good fortune is born; Collect it and disaster arises.
No wealth, and then no disaster—
8 You can beat your wings amid the blue clouds.
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98
寒山詩
HS 87
去家一萬里，
提劍擊匈奴。
得利渠即死，
4 失利汝即殂。 渠命既不惜， 汝命有何辜。 教汝百勝術，
8 不貪為上謨。 HS 88
嗔是心中火，
能燒功德林。
欲行菩薩道，
忍辱護真心。
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Hanshan’s Poems 99
HS 87
You’re away from home ten thousand leagues, Drawing your sword to strike the Xiongnu. 1 If you get the advantage, then he will die;
4 If you lose it, you will perish.
Since you don’t care if he lives or dies, What guilt does your own life bear?
I’ll teach you the art of a hundred victories:
8 Not coveting is the best plan of all.
HS 88
Anger is a re in the mind
That can burn down your forest of merit. If you wish to travel the Bodhisattva’s path, Forbear, and protect your true mind.
1 The Xiongnu were northern nomads frequently involved in border wars during the Han dynasty. After the Han, they became a standard literary term for enemy peoples to the north, particularly in frontier poetry.
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100
寒山詩
HS 89
汝為埋頭癡兀兀，
愛向無明羅剎窟。
再三勸你早修行，
4 是你頑癡心恍惚。 不肯信受寒山語， 轉轉倍加業汨汨。 直待斬首作兩段，
8 方知自身奴賊物。 HS 90
惡趣甚茫茫，
冥冥無日光。
人間八百歲，
4 未抵半宵長。 此等諸癡子， 論情甚可傷。 勸君求出離，
8 認取法中王。
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Hanshan’s Poems 101
HS 89
All of you bury your heads away, foolish and muddle-headed. You love to seek the cavern of the demon Ignorance.
Over and over, I’ve urged you to start your practice early;
4 It’s you who are dim and stupid, your minds lost in a daze. You’re unwilling to put your trust in Cold Mountain’s words; More and more, ever increasing, your evil karma ows on. Just wait until your head’s cut o and you are split in two;
8 Then you’ll know that your own Self is just a slave, a bandit.
HS 90
How limitless the Three Evil Paths;1 Murky and dark without a sun. Eight hundred years of human life
4 Don’t ll out half a night-time there. All the fools of this type
To tell the truth, are really pathetic. I urge you sir, to seek release,
8 And acknowledge the Prince of the Dharma. 2
1 The three unfortunate paths of rebirth: animals, hungry ghosts, and the Hell realms.
2 The Buddha.
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102
寒山詩
HS 91
世有多解人，
愚癡徒苦辛。
不求當來善，
4 唯知造惡因。 五逆十惡輩， 三毒以為親。 一死入地獄，
8 長如鎮庫銀。 HS 92
天高高不窮，
地厚厚無極。
動物在其中，
4 憑茲造化力。 爭頭覓飽暖， 作計相噉食。 因果都未詳，
8 盲兒問乳色。
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Hanshan’s Poems 103
HS 91
In the world there are men with “great understanding” Who are foolish—only su er and toil.
They don’t seek the good of their future lives;
4 Only know how to create evil karma. The Five Perversions, the Ten Evil Acts, The Three Poisons they take as kin. 1 And once they die, they enter Hell,
8 Held there as long as good-luck silver. 2
HS 92
The Heavens are high—high and forever; The Earth is deep—deep and endless. Living things dwell between them,
4 And rely on them to produce transformations. They vie in seeking contentment and warmth, Lay plans to devour each other.
Of causes and results they understand little:
8 Blind men asking about the color of milk.
1 The Five Perversions are: Killing one’s father, killing one’s mother, killing an arhat, destroying the harmony of the sangha, and shedding the blood of a Buddha. The Ten Evil Acts are: killing, robbery, illicit sex, wild speech, lying, slander, attery, greed, anger, and perverse views. The Three Poisons are greed, anger, and ignorance.
2 Silver kept in one’s warehouse permanently for emergencies; such silver was also thought to suppress bad luck and preserve good fortune. The term literally means “suppression warehouse silver. ”
Unauthenticated Download Date | 11/18/17 8:42 AM
104
寒山詩
HS 93
天下幾種人，
論時色數有。
賈婆如許夫，
4 黃老元無婦。 衛氏兒可憐， 鐘家女極醜。 渠若向西行，
8 我便東邊走。 HS 94
賢士不貪婪，
癡人好鑪冶。
麥地占他家，
4 竹園皆我者。 努膊覓錢財， 切齒驅奴馬。 須看郭門外，
8 壘壘松柏下。
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Hanshan’s Poems 105
HS 93
The various kinds of people in the world, To tell the truth, have their di erent aspects. Old lady Jia had so many husbands,
4 While Old Huang never had a wife at all. The Wei clan’s boy was quite charming, While the Zhong family girl was ugly indeed. If he decides to head o to the west,
8 Then I will run to the east. 1
HS 94
A worthy gentleman controls his greed, While the fool is fond of his alchemy. 2 He’ll occupy the elds of others,
4 Claim bamboo and gardens as his own. Flexing his arms, he seeks out wealth; Grinding his teeth, he drives a worn-out nag. He should look beyond the city walls,
8 At the mounds piled up below pine and cypress. 3
1 This poem simply emphasizes the arbitrary aspects and tastes of human beings. Commentators spend much energy linking each of the four people mentioned in lines 3–6 with speci c historical actors, with greater or less plausibility; but I suspect the author is mostly using each surname in the manner of a “Mr. Smith” or a “Miss Jones. ” The last couplet should not be taken as the author’s preference, but simply as another example of human perversity—if someone does one thing, someone else is bound to do the opposite.
2 I. e. , experiments in creating gold. 3 Grave mounds.
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106
寒山詩
HS 95
嗊嗊買魚肉，
擔歸餧妻子。
何須殺他命，
4 將來活汝己。 此非天堂緣， 純是地獄滓。 徐六語破堆，
8 始知沒道理。 HS 96
有人把椿樹，
喚作白栴檀。
學道多沙數，
4 幾箇得泥丸。 棄金却擔草， 謾他亦自謾。 似聚砂一處，
8 成團也大難。
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Hanshan’s Poems 107
HS 95
“Mid shouting and bustle you buy sh and esh, And bear it back home to feed wife and child. But why must you take the life of another
4 And use it to sustain your own existence? Those aren’t conditions that lead to Heaven; They’re purely the dregs of Hell. ”
The words of Xu Six have hit the mark,
8 You’ll know then that this makes no sense. 1
HS 96
There are people who would call the ailanthus2 By the name of white sandalwood.
There are many who study the Dharma,
4 But only a few who will nd nirvana.
They’ll cast away gold and carry weeds instead, Deceiving others and deceiving themselves. Like piling up sand in one place—
8 You can’t make it form a ball.
1 The identity of Xu Six is not known. It may just be another one of Hanshan’s hypothetical speakers. Here he lectures the poem’s persona on vegetarianism.
2 A tree known not just for its unpleasant odor but for the uselessness of its wood.
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108
寒山詩
HS 97
蒸砂擬作飯，
臨渴始掘井。
用力磨碌甎，
4 那堪將作鏡。 佛說平元等， 總有真如性。 但自審思量，
8 不用閑爭競。 HS 98
推尋世間事，
子細總皆知。
凡事莫容易，
4 盡愛討便宜。 護即弊成好， 毀即是成非。 故知雜濫口，
8 背面總由伊。 冷暖我自量， 不信奴脣皮。
Unauthenticated Download Date | 11/18/17 8:42 AM
Hanshan’s Poems 109
HS 97
Steam sand, planning to make rice— Digging a well only when you thirst.
Use your strength to polish a piece of tile—
4 When will it ever become a mirror? 1
The Buddha’s words hold all things equal, Always possess the nature of True Suchness. 2 If you really think carefully about it,
8 It’s useless to vie and struggle.
HS 98
Examine the a airs of this world: Carefully, so you know all: Common a airs are hardly easy;
4 All love to seek what they prefer.
In defense they’ll turn the bad to good,
In slander they’ll turn what is true to false. So you know that those who endlessly debate
8 Are just secretly choosing what they want. I’ll judge the hot and the cold for myself: In this I won’t trust what those guys say.
1 A proverbial expression for useless e ort in seeking enlightenment—most famously expressed in a story in which the early Chan master Mazu Daoyi 馬祖道一 persuades Nanyue Huairang 南嶽懷讓 that meditation is like polishing a tile to create a mirror.
2 “All things equal” explains the Sanskrit term samatā, which can mean equanimity as well, the ability to not cling to things. True Suchness (zhenru) is bhūtatathatā, a Mahayana term used to express ultimate reality.
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110
寒山詩
HS 99
蹭蹬諸貧士，
飢寒成至極。
閑居好作詩，
4 札札用心力。 賤他言孰采， 勸君休歎息。 題安糊䴵上，
8 乞狗也不喫。 HS 100
欲識生死譬，
且將冰水比。
水結即成冰，
4 冰消返成水。 已死必應生， 出生還復死。 冰水不相傷，
8 生死還雙美。
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Hanshan’s Poems 111
HS 99
Stumbling along, those poor scholars,
Their hunger and cold have reached the extreme. In their idleness they like to write verse,
4 Toiling away, using all their brains.
They’re low-ranking, so who will prefer their words? But I urge them not to sigh about it.
If you were to write your verse on a cake,
8 A dog wouldn’t eat it if you asked him. 1
HS 100
Would you know a likeness for life and death? Then try comparing water to ice.
Water freezes and turns to ice;
4 Ice melts and returns to water. Already dead; you’ll live again. Another life; you’ll die once more. Ice and water won’t harm each other:
8 Life and death are a paired delight.
1 Or “even a begging dog wouldn’t eat it. ”
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112
寒山詩
HS 101
尋思少年日，
遊獵向平陵。
國使職非願，
4 神仙未足稱。 聯翩騎白馬， 喝兔放蒼鷹。 不覺大流落，
8 皤皤誰見矜。 HS 102
偃息深林下，
從生是農夫。
立身既質直，
4 出語無諂諛。 保我不鑒璧， 信君方得珠。 焉能同泛灩，
8 極目波上鳧。
Unauthenticated Download Date | 11/18/17 8:42 AM
Hanshan’s Poems 113
HS 101
I think back on the days of my youth, When I’d go hunting toward Pingling. 1
A position as state courier was not my wish,
4 And I never thought the Transcendent Way worth praising. I galloped about upon my white steed,
Called out hares, let loose my gray hawk.
Then unawares, I went into a great decline:
8 White-haired, who is concerned for me?
HS 102
I hid away in a deep wood,
Taking up life as a farmer.
I established myself as upright and straight,
4 Never uttered attery or slander.
I protect my unexamined jade,2
I’ll leave it to you to nd the pearl. 3
How can I join them in the drift and ow?
8 At the edge of my sight, those ducks on the waves.
1 A fashionable suburb of the capital in Han times; later, it was used in poetry to describe neighborhoods of the elites.
2 Probably a reference to the famous piece of jade discovered by Mr. He 和氏 in the Warring States period. He attempted to persuade di erent rulers of its value, but instead found himself brutally punished. Finally the value of the jade was discovered and was fashioned into a precious disk. Since then, the story has become a metaphor for unrecognized talents. Here, the speaker says he prefers to live as a recluse rather than seek o ce.
3 I take this to refer to the active desire to attain o ce or status. Various commentators nd speci c allusions here, but none strike me as satisfactory.
