Wang Wei: Wang River Country House
辋 川 别 业
不 到 东 山 向 一 年
归 来 才 及 种 春 田。
雨 中 草 色 绿 堪 染
水 上 桃 花 红 欲 燃。
优 娄 比 丘 经 论 学
伛 偻 丈 人 乡 里 贤。
披 衣 倒 屣 且 相 见
相 欢 语 笑 衡 门 前。
Wang Chuan Bie Ye
Bu dao dong shan xiang yi nian
Gui lai cai ji zhong chun tian
Yu zhong cao se lu kan ran
Shui shang tao hua hong yu ran
You lou bi qiu jing lun xue
Yu lu zhang ren xiang li xian
Pi yi dao xi qie xiang jian
Xiang huan yu xiao heng men qian.
Wang River Country House
Almost one year since last arriving in the eastern mountains
Return just at the right time for the spring fields
Fallen rain on grass, green colors dye and stain like a painting
Water on the peach blossoms, their red a burning flame
Youlou and Biqiu study the high level Buddhist sutras
Hunchbacked old man in your hometown wise and virtuous
Over the shoulder clothes, sandals worn reversed, just to see one another
Joyous words with one another, laughter in front of the flimsy front door.
Notes:
Eastern mountains: A place for yinju: rural seclusion to meditate and study the sutras. Also an allusion to Tao Yuangming‘s poem Drinking Wine: No.5
Peach Blossoms: literary allusion to Tao Yuanming’s famous poem “Peach Blossom Water Source”
Youlou and Biqiu: Two famous highly accomplished Buddhist monks. Wang Wei is referring to himself and his friend.
Hunchbacked old man: Kongzi (Confucius) and his famous student Zhongyi were walking in the forest with a group of students. They happened upon an old hunchbacked man catching cicadas with a bamboo pole, one end covered with a sticky substance in order to snare the insects. Zhongzi asks the old man how he came up with this clever method of catching cicadas. The old man replied that he had a very deep dao (道). With the withered bamboo branch, like his arm, he could catch each cicada, and because the cicada flies and knows the whole world, the old man too can know the whole world. Kongzi was delighted with this old man’s explanation, telling his students that one should just do one thing well, concentrate on this one thing to achieve everything.
Sandals worn reversed: Wang Wei was in such a hurry to meet his friend, he only got half dressed.
Flimsy front door: (could also be a flimsy front gate) in this remote village front doors and gates do not need to be solid or locked, as everyone knows everyone else