[updated September 2022]
Shen the Fourteenth
沈 十 四 拾 遗 新 竹 生 读 经 处 同 诸 公 之 作
闲 居 日 清 静
修 竹 自 檀 栾
嫩 节 留 馀 箨
新 丛 出 旧 栏
细 枝 风 响 乱
疏 影 月 光 寒
乐 府 裁 龙 笛
渔 家 伐 钓 竿 何 如 道 门 里
青 翠 拂 仙 坛.
Shen Shi Si Shi Yi Xin Zhu Sheng Du Jing Chu Tong Zhu Gong Zhi Zuo
Xian ju ri qing jing
Xiu zhu zi tan luan
Nen jie liu yu tuo
Xin cong chu jiu lan
Xi zhi feng xiang luan
Shu ying yue guang han
Yue fu cai long di
Yu jia fa diao gan
He ru dao men li
Qing cui fu xian tan.
Shen the Fourteenth (Who Awaits for the Imperial Examination) Amid New Bamboo Sprouts, Reading Buddhist Sutras With Friends, Then Writing Poetry Together
Days spent in still, pure leisure
Naturally slender, elegant bamboo, wingceltis and golden rain trees.
First year bamboo still with their outer sheaths
New sprouts reemerge from within old stone borders.
Young, thin branches make random and jumbled echoes in the wind
Sparse shadows, frigid moonlight.
Music government officials cut them into bamboo flutes
Fishermen cut them down to make their poles. Would they not be better used, growing naturally along pathways inside my gate
Their emerald green touching the altars of Paradise.
Notes:
Wingceltis trees: These native trees were used to make fine paper when mixed with straw.
Golden Rain trees: They are noted for their large yellow flowers, and also known as the Chinese Lantern tree.
Lan (栏): They are stone barriers, sunk deep into the ground, surrounding a stand of bamboo to prevent it from spreading to all directions.
Inside my gate: Also could be interpreted as growing naturally inside Buddha’s gate. Perhaps a reference to his garden as sacred ground, reflecting the spirituality of above and below. Reminds me of the discussion of “dragon veins” in the book Taoism: The Road to Immortality by John Blofeld (pages 7-8).
Altars of Paradise: Compare the xian (仙) of the penultimate character, meaning a celestial- spiritual being-existence, with the xian (闲) of the first character, meaning idleness- leisure, or unoccupied.
Commentary:
In lines three and four, Wang establishes the metaphor of humans as bamboo. His secular friends, like the bamboo, are beginning their lives and careers, and yet are controlled and contained by the strong borders of social mores and conventions.
In lines five and six, Wang Wei is describing the life of rural seclusion in which his Buddhist friends live. He uses the words, “thin”, “random and jumbled”, “sparse” and “frigid” to characterize their existence. He also uses the words xiang (响) (echo), which is a reflection of sound, and ying (影) (reflection) which is an echo of light.
In the last two couplets, Wang compares and contrasts the bamboo used for practical purposes, and then as objects of beauty in an earthly paradise. They have to be cut down in order to be utilized in worldly affairs. Or they can be appreciated in the process and experience of beauty, or in the service of achieving spiritual enlightenment, in his garden. This is Wang Wei’s contribution to the concept of arete. See the discussion of arete in the Artistic and Philosophical Foundations section of this website.