A Visit to Master Guo Rong

Making the Best of It

Making the Best of It, makes for a good alternate title since Master Guo Rong was not at the temple when Meng Haoran came to visit. He stayed for the day, for he left at sunset. And, on the way down, he loved to listen to the sound of the river.

过 融 上 人 兰 若
Guo Rong Shangren Lan Ruo
To Master Guo Rong in the Wooded Forest
.
山 头 禅 室 挂 僧 衣
Shantou chan shi gua seng yi
On top of the mountain, there hangs a monk’s robe in a room for meditation,
.
窗 外 无 人 溪 鸟 飞
Chuang wai wuren xi niao fei.
Outside the window, not a soul can be seen while birds fly over a stream.
.
黄 昏 半 在 下 山 路
Huang hun ban zai xia shan lu
At dusk, half-conscious and making my way down,
.
却 听 泉 声 恋 翠 微
Que ting quan sheng lian cui wei.
Listening to the sound of the river in the blue mountain mist.
(Steeping back to listen to the sound of the bell in the blue mountain mist.)

Meng Haoran

The Sound of the River at Dusk

Meng Haoran (孟浩然, c. 689–740), a Chinese poet of the Tang dynasty, makes a poem about a visit to Master Guo Rong, even though he is not there. A trip down the mountain, a setting sun, birds flying over a smooth flowing stream. You know what Meng means when stops to listen halfway down.

Those of you who like to hike mountain trails will know what Meng Haoran is speaking of when he walks down from a mountain top at dusk, listening to the river flowing over the rocks. The occasion, a visit at a Buddhist Temple. The place was Baima Mountain east of Luoyang. But Master Rong was not there. The temple dates to the early Han dynasty.

Lan Ruo, literally “orchid like,” a metaphor for a peaceful place, a wooded forest, and eventually a spot for Buddhist meditation. It has also come to mean a Temple Retreat.

Last line.

Que (while, or stepping back) ting (listen) quan (spring, the stream) sheng (sound, tone) lian (loving, longing) cui wei (blue mountain mist). Some translators suggest that Meng heard the sound of the temple bell signalling the end of the day.

This poem was not included in the Anthology of 300 Tang Poems.

却 听 泉 声 恋 翠 微
Que ting quan sheng lian cui wei.
Pausing to listen to the sound of the river at a bend on the way