Complete Notes on the Song Dynasty - (Second Edition) (Nine)

Author: Zhu Yian
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-01-01
Features: Wang Rong once held office in Guanzhou and wanted to cross Guanjiang. For seven days, the wind prevented him from crossing. The elders said, "Your luggage must contain treasures. This river god is extremely spiritual; you should offer something to him to be allowed to cross." When Wang Rong checked his luggage, he found nothing but a jade dust tail, which he offered to the river god. The wind remained unchanged. He then offered a Duan inkstone, but the wind grew stronger. He tried offering an Xuan paper tiger curtain, but it had no effect. At night, he lay down and thought, "I have a calligraphy fan by Huang Luzhi inscribed with a poem by Wei Yingwu: [Alone, I pity the grass growing by the streamside, with yellow orioles crying in the deep trees above. The spring tide brings rain in the evening, making the wild boat cross without a rower]. I took it out and, in a moment of clarity, thought, 'I still don’t recognize it, how could a ghost recognize it?' He held it to offer to the river god. Before the incense was collected, the sky and water were reflected like two mirrors facing each other. A gentle south wind came, and the boat crossed with a single wave." I observed that the Jiang River god was some eccentric ghost of a migrated official. Otherwise, how could he have such a deep craving?
When Su Dongpo first did not recognize Qin Shaoyou, Shaoyou knew he would pass through Weiyang again and wrote a message in Su’s style on the wall of a mountain temple. Su Dongpo indeed could not distinguish it and was greatly startled. When he met Sun Shenlao, he showed him hundreds of Shaoyou’s poems and verses, and sighed, "The person who wrote on the wall could not be this fellow!"
I once visited Jingde Temple in Linchuan and climbed the pavilion with Xie Wuyi and others. We saw the eighteen Arhats painted by Chan Yue, which were very extraordinary, but the fifth scroll was missing. I improvised a satirical verse: [The eighteen Arhats heard the root of saliva, and the few monks in the mountain gate are in chaos. I don’t know where they go for lunch, but I haven’t seen the fifth Arhat in the Yun Tang.] The next day, a woman came to pay respects and said, "I am the wife of a soldier in the southern camp. I am widowed and eat vegetarian food. Last night, I dreamed a monk came and said, 'I am originally a monk from Jingde Temple, but I lost my way. Can you help me return to the temple?' When I woke up, my neighbor asked for food, and when I entered their door, I saw a painted monk on the wall, exactly like the one in my dream. At that time, Zhu Shiyi was governing Linchuan and was amazed. He sent someone to bring her back and kept her in the pavilion. When I was young, even the arhats feared my ridicule; when I grew old, even someone like Fan Ji was mocked—how strange!
When Su Dongpo was depressed in Qiantang, he dreamed the Emperor Shenzong summoned him to the palace. Court ladies surrounded him, and a red-clothed woman held a pair of red boots, asking him to inscribe them. When he woke up, he remembered one couplet: [The silk of a cold woman is accumulated by weight and inch; her steps reach where clouds and thunder rise.] After finishing, he presented it to the emperor, who greatly admired his speed. A court lady handed it out, and Su noticed a six-line poem in the hem of her skirt: [A hundred layers of ripples, water wrinkled like a girl of sixteen; the clouds are light as a brocade. Standing in the grand hall with the wind, I faintly hear the jingle of jade pendants.]
Su Dongpo wrote a poem about the crabapple: [I’m afraid the night will be too deep for the flowers to sleep, so I’ll burn silver candles to illuminate the red stems.] This story is found in The Outer Biography of Lady Tai Zhen, which says: "The emperor ascended the and summoned Lady Tai Zhen. She was still half-asleep and was helped by attendants. Her drunken face was smudged with makeup, her hair disheveled, and she could no longer kneel. The emperor laughed, 'She is indeed drunk—just like a crabapple not fully asleep!'"
He wrote a poem about a nun: [I should have made her a celestial robe of white silk, but not let red cream stain her divine nature.] This is recorded in the edict of Empress Wu Zetian in the second year of Changshou, which says: [All nuns in the world should wear robes of fine white silk.]
He wrote a poem about olives: [When the faint sweetness returns to the cheeks, I’ve already lost the sweetness of cliff honey.] This is mentioned in The Guiguzi, which says: [Night-shining blue is the firefly. is honey. Cliff honey is cherry.]
He wrote a poem about a scholar: [In life, all is enough, except for one death.] This is found in the Records of Liang Monks, which says: [Emperor Liang held a banquet in the Eastern Mansion, and all the nobles gathered. He summoned and said, ' has sharp wit; let’s tease him.' stepped forward, and the emperor said, ' has come far, but he only lacks one death.' immediately replied, 'I have been a guest in Your Majesty’s service for thirty years, and my gratitude is great. I owe nothing except one death.']
Li Bai wrote a poem: [The lotus flowers bloom daily, now they are broken-hearted grass. Serving others with beauty, how long can it last?] Tao Hongjing’s Annotations on Immortal Formulas says: [The broken-hearted grass cannot be eaten. Its flowers are beautiful and are called lotus flowers.]
P29-30