Complete Notes on the Song Dynasty: Volume 2. Nine

Author: Zhu Yian, Fu Xuanzong, et al
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-01-01
Features: Wang Rong once held office in Guanzhou and wanted to cross Guanjiang River. However, a storm lasted for seven days, preventing him from crossing. The elders said, "You must have treasures in your luggage. This river deity is extremely powerful; offering them should help you cross." When Wang Rong checked his luggage, he found nothing but jade dust at the end of his tail, which he offered to the deity. The storm continued. He then offered a fine inkstone, but the storm grew even stronger. He tried offering a silk bag with a tiger pattern, but it had no effect. At night, he lay awake and thought, "I have a calligraphy fan by Huang Luzhi inscribed with Wei Yingwu's poem: [Alone, I pity the grass growing by the streamside, with yellow orioles crying in the deep trees above. Spring tide brings rain in the evening, making the wild boat cross the river unattended]. I took it out and, in a moment of clarity, thought, 'I still don’t recognize it, how could a ghost recognize it?' He offered the fan to the deity. Before the incense was extinguished, the sky and water reflected each other like two mirrors facing each other. A gentle south wind came, and the boat crossed the river with a single sail. I observed that the river deity was some ghost of a Yuyou (a banished official), otherwise, why would it have such a deep craving?
When Su Dongpo first met Qin Shaoyou, Shaoyou knew he would pass through Weiyang again and wrote a poem in Su’s style on the wall of a mountain temple. Su Dongpo couldn’t distinguish it and was greatly surprised. Later, when he met Sun Shenlao, he showed him hundreds of Shaoyou’s poems and verses, and exclaimed, "Could the person who wrote on the wall be this person?"
I once visited Jingde Temple in Linchuan and climbed the pavilion with Xie Wuyi. We saw the eighteen Arhats painted by Chan Yue, which were quite extraordinary, but the fifth scroll was missing. I improvised a teasing verse: [The eighteen Arhats heard the root of saliva, but the small assembly of Bodhisattvas is in disarray at the mountain gate. I don’t know where they go for lunch, but the fifth Bodhisattva in the Yun Tang is missing.] 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 and ask you to lead me back to the temple. Can you?' When I woke up, I went to the neighboring house for food and found a painting of a monk on the wall, exactly like the one in my dream. At that time, Zhu Shiyi was governing Linchuan and found it strange. He sent someone to bring her back and kept her in the pavilion. When I was young, even the Bodhisattvas feared my ridicule; but when I grew old, even someone like Fan Ji was mocked—how strange!
When Su Dongpo was in decline in Qiantang, he dreamed the Emperor Shenzong summoned him to the palace. Court ladies surrounded him, and a red-clothed lady presented a pair of red boots, asking Su 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 bring clouds and thunder to rise.] After finishing, he presented it to the emperor, who greatly admired his speed. A court lady handed it back and noticed a six-line poem tucked in the hem of her skirt: [A hundred layers of ripples, like water wrinkles at the age of twenty-eight, stretching vertically like clouds. Standing in the grand hall, she carries the sound of jade pendants swaying.]
Su Dongpo wrote a poem titled "Blossoms of the Chinese Dogwood": [I fear the flowers may fall asleep at night, so I will burn silver candles to illuminate their red stems.] This story is found in The Outer Biography of Lady Tai Zhen. It says: "The Emperor Zhenzong ascended the Fragrant Sand Pavilion 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, saying, 'She is indeed drunk—just like a sleeping Chinese dogwood!'
He wrote a poem titled "The Nun’s Child": [She should wear white silk as a celestial robe, but let no red ointment stain her divine nature.] This is recorded in the edict of Empress Wu Zetian in the second year of Changshou: "All nuns in the empire should wear fine white silk robes."
He wrote a poem titled "The Olive": [When the sweetness returns to my cheeks, I have already lost the honey from the cliffs.] This is mentioned in The Ghost Valley Master. It says: [Night-shining blue is the firefly; is honey; cliff honey is cherry.]
He wrote a poem titled "To a Scholar": [In life, I have had enough, but I lack only one death.] This is recorded in The Historian of Liang Dynasty Monks. It says: "Emperor Shizu hosted a banquet at the Eastern Mansion, and all the nobles gathered. He summoned and said, 'The Mahayana has sharp arguments—let’s tease him.' Bada ran to the outer steps, and the emperor said, 'The Mahayana has come from afar, but he only lacks one death.' Bada immediately replied, 'I have traveled for thirty years as a guest in Your Majesty’s service, and my gratitude is great. I owe nothing, but only 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 noted in Annotations on Immortal Recipes: [The broken-hearted grass cannot be eaten, though its flowers are beautiful and named lotus flowers.]
P29-30