[updated September 2022]
Listen to Zheng Wujing Play the Qin
听 郑 五 愔 弹 琴
阮 籍 推 名 饮
清 风 满 竹 林。
半 酣 下 衫 袖
拂 拭 龙 唇 琴。
一 杯 弹 一 曲
不 觉 夕 阳 沉。
余 意 在 山 水
闻 之 谐 夙 心。
Ting Zheng Wu Tan Qin
Ruan ji tui ming yin
Qing feng man zhu lin.
Ban han xia shan xiu
Fu shi long chun qin.
Yi bei tan yi qu
Bu jue xi yang chen.
Yu yi zai shan shui
Wen zhi xie su xin.
Listen to Zheng Wujing Play the Qin
Ruan Ji’s reputation for drinking wine and playing the qin:
Cool breezes filled a bamboo forest.
Halfway drunk, sleeves totally rolled down
His qin music soft, with a dragon and stars carved into its wood.
One cup of wine for every song
Suddenly notice the setting sun gone.
Mountain water beyond meanings and desires
Your music in harmony with a heart-mind of early morning.
Notes:
Qin: Ancient stringed musical instrument. Also known as a guqin.
Ruan Ji (210-263): He was one of the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove. Together they tried to create an environment and situations for wise and free men, enjoying life, and contemplating the many wonders of Daoism. As junzi, or sublime men, they preferred a life of solitude to the bustle of court life which was considered the life of dust and dirt. Ruan Ji was famous for writing a guqin melody famously called “Drunken Ecstasy”. In his poetry, we can find angry criticism and satire of Confucian scholars and rulers.