"Remembering the Night Tour of Chengtian Temple" is a travelogue written by Su Shi when he visited Chengtian Temple at night in Huangzhou, although it is only 84 words, it is a classic in Su Shi's prose.
This travelogue is concise and rich, the mood is beautiful, the emotion is sincere, it starts from the beginning, ends at the end, intentionally speaking, the intention is exhausted, such as the flow of clouds and water, naturally, in one go.
When I first read this article, the first feeling I had was that Su Shi was chatting with a friend, and the author just told him about his night tour of Chengtian Temple, and told us what he felt that night: "Where is the moonless?" Where is there no conifer? But few idle people are like my two ears. That's it.
Although this article has been nearly a thousand years ago, today, after reading the article, we will still be touched by the infused words in the article, as if Su Shi is talking to us face to face.
The temporal and spatial dialogue without a sense of violation and the text affinity without a sense of time isolation are the vitality of this article to maintain its youth forever.
The original text of the "Night Tour of Chengtian Temple" is as follows:
On the night of October 12, the sixth year of Yuanfeng, he undressed and fell asleep, entered the house at the moonlight, and happily set off. Those who have nothing to do with it, so they go to the Chengtian Temple to look for Zhang Huaimin. Huai Min also did not sleep, and walked in the atrium.
Under the garden, such as the water is empty, the algae and the water are crossed, and the shadow of the bamboo cypress is also covered.
What night without the moon? Where is there no bamboo cedar? But few idle people are like my two ears.
The title of the article is "Remembering the Night Tour of Chengtian Temple", which opens with clear meaning, pointing out that this is an article describing the night tour of Chengtian Temple, and the first sentence points out the time of the event "October 12, 196th year of Yuanfeng". The title contrasts with the opening sentence, and the time, place and reason of Su Shi's night tour are self-evident.
When Su Shi wrote this, it was his fourth year after he experienced the "Wutai Poetry Case" and then came to Huangzhou and served as the deputy envoy of the regiment. What kind of official position is the deputy envoy of the regimental training? Just an assistant to a local military commander. Su Shi held this position, and there were two special restrictions, one was not allowed to issue documents, and the other was not allowed to leave the place casually.
For Su Shi, who has a strong sense of meritorious service and writing, the sudden ups and downs of his career and life encounters almost made Su Shi feel at a loss, and this confusion lasted for four years, for Su Shi at this time, he even felt that such a confused life was still far away.
Huangzhou's demeaning life, even with a broad mind and optimistic feelings, the shadow that is suppressed in the heart is difficult to shake off.
In Huangzhou, Su Shi worked on the eastern slope and built a house in Lingaoting, and sometimes he would go to the monastery to participate in the Zen Enlightenment Path, just as when he first came to Huangzhou, he lived in the Dinghui Temple.
The sixth year of Yuanfeng was the fourth year of Su Shi's residence in Huangzhou, but he was not depressed because of this, but treated the ups and downs of life with a new attitude towards life, organically combining the perseverance spirit of the Confucian way of poverty and happiness, the attitude of Lao Zhuang's free and free life, and the Zen concept of treating all changes with a normal mind, both clinging to life and transcending external objects.
Therefore, even when he was degraded, he still wrote this "Night Tour of JichengTian Temple" with a lot of fun, peace of mind and openness.
October 12 is the late autumn weather, the night is cool, and the night is particularly clear. On that late autumn night, perhaps Su Shi remembered the dusty past, or he was a little tired after reading and writing, and was about to go to bed, when he suddenly saw the bright moonlight climbing up the window, and he found that the moonlight like water was so beautiful.
This seductive, bright, beautiful, and lovely moonlight made Su Shi suddenly feel extremely excited and joyful, and he was suddenly drowsy, so he got up happily and walked out of the door.
However, just after walking out of the door, Su Shi found himself alone. Because he went outside, he suddenly felt that no one could share this beautiful moonlit night with him, and no one could talk to him for a long time. In fact, loneliness has become the norm of Su Shi's life in Huangzhou.
In the cool night air, this may suddenly add a little loneliness, sentimentality and melancholy. He wandered aimlessly under the moonlit night, he didn't know where to go, as he walked, he suddenly found that not far in front of him was the Chengtian Temple, and he suddenly remembered that there was a friend zhang Huaimin in the Chengtian Temple who was "the same fallen man in the end of the world" like him.
Zhang Huaimin was a friend that Su Shi met during his time in Huangzhou, a person worthy of friendship, and Zhang Huaimin also came to Huangzhou because he was degraded.
Between Su Shi and Zhang Huaimin, there are too many similarities, a sense of identity, and a sense of closeness to the fallen people in the end of the world, so that they have found a common language.
Therefore, Su Shi came to the Chengtian Temple to find this friend on this moon night, even if the night was already deep, for the close friend, the late night disturbance was not inappropriate, let alone the offense to the friend.
"Huaimin also did not sleep, and walked in the atrium", what made Su Shi happy was that when he arrived at the Chengtian Temple, he found that Zhang Huaimin had not slept, so the two of them began to walk in the courtyard like moonlight. Su Shi and Zhang Huaimin have a similar situation, and their understanding of things has an empathetic side. These two sentences seem to be narratives, which actually point out Zhang Huaimin's state of mind that cannot sleep at night like Su Shi.
This article is titled "Remembering the Night Tour of The Heavenly Temple", which is actually just a stroll in the courtyard under the moon. Although it was only a stroll, for Su Shi and Zhang Huaimin, who were "also fallen people in the end of the world", their hearts were filled with the same complex emotions: joy and sadness, frustration and sadness, resentment and worry.
For these two people with the same fate, when they meet late at night, they will have a long conversation and a lot of things.
But Su Shi did not mention a word about their long conversation in this eighty-word article, he only used affectionate pen and ink to depict the moonlight of the night, as well as the shadows of bamboo and cypress trees under the moonlight. The so-called all scenery language is love language, at this time a thousand words can not match the gentleness of the night and the beauty of the moonlight, all the words are integrated into this cold moonlight.
Su Shi cherished ink like gold, and in just eighteen words, he created a moonlight like water, a bamboo shadow mottled, and a quiet and charming night view of Chengtian Temple: the clear moonlight sprinkled on the ground where the Chengtian Temple fell, and the moonlight on the ground was white and vast, just like the water, and what was even better was that there were water plants floating in the water in turmoil, which was a dreamlike dynamic description, and it was appropriate to write a trace of the night
wind.
And when Su Shi carefully watched the water and grass floating in the moonlight again, he suddenly realized that "the garden is like water in the air, the algae and the water are crossed, and the shadow of the bamboo cypress is also covered." This is not water grass duckweed at all, nor is it empty pool of water, but moonlight like water, and the shadows of bamboo and cypress trees reflected in the moonlight.
The brilliance of Su Shi lies in the fact that the shadows of bamboo and cypress trees and the moonlight contrast with each other, and the rhetorical techniques of exquisite, novel anthropomorphism and metaphor appropriately render the quietness and solemnity of the scenery. It also reflects the cool and clear characteristics of the moonlight, setting off the leisurely mood of the night tourists.
The courtyard of Chengtian Temple under the moonlight is like a pool of clear water, and the shadows cast by bamboo and cypress trees in the moonlight are like some water grass duckweed growing vertically in this clear water. Su Shi depicts for us a realm of clarity and transparency, full of harmony between light and shadow, and harmony between movement and stillness.
This realm is not only a vivid portrait of the natural and harmonious beauty of the moonlit night scenery of Chengtian Temple; at the same time, it is also a portrayal of the true state of mind of two night tourists wandering in the beautiful moonlight, because they have forgotten the gains and losses of Vanity Fair and the hustle and bustle of the world, and feel pleasant and unworldly.
The most beautiful thing in the text is the eighteen words describing the moonlight, Su Shi feels like he is in a dream, he feels that water is a colorless, transparent, objectively existing thing, but it looks as if there is nothing, isn't the moonlight just like this?
Su Shi felt that the courtyard at this moment seemed to be filled with clear and clear moonlight water, and there were many intertwined water plants in the water.
"Algae and jingle cross in the water, cover bamboo cypress shadow also", is a combination of dynamic and static description, but also a description of the moonlight through the ages. With his otherworldly artistic expression and ingenious creativity, Su Shi keenly captures this fleeting beauty, which is Su Shi's new interpretation of literature and aesthetics.
"The garden is like water and empty, the algae are crossed, and the bamboo and cypress shadows are covered." While creating a cool and clear realm, it also reveals Su Shi's complex inner state of mind, why do you say so? It turns out that the answer is in the last two rhetorical questions.
Su Shi closely followed the previous article and asked two questions in a row: Why is there no moon at night? Where is there no bamboo cedar? He expressed his affirmation in the form of rhetorical questions, in fact, saying that the bright moon exists all the time, and bamboo cypresses are born everywhere. The rhetorical question sentence can better express Su Shi's optimism and openness to enjoy himself in an unsatisfactory environment.
"What night and moonless?" Where is there no bamboo cedar? But less idle people are like my two ears", just as the so-called all scenery language is love language. These three sentences are the strong expression of Su Shi's feelings. Yes, the moon and the bamboo cedar are eternal objective beings, and what is missing is only for people with leisure and elegance like them to pay attention to and appreciate.
Just as the so-called "brilliant pole, return to the plain", the word "idle" in the last sentence of the whole text, the semantic pun, in addition to leisure, I am afraid that there is a grudge that is idle and idle.
Su Shi expressed his deep feelings in his chest in the face of infinite space and vast areas: Bright moon, bamboo shadow, and bai shadow are the most common natural scenes, and this beauty is everywhere in life, but it needs a person to discover and appreciate beauty, and even more needs a pair of eyes to discover and appreciate beauty.
And he and Zhang Huaimin are the "idle people" who can discover the beauty of life, they know how to appreciate and appreciate the beauty of nature, only people like the two of them can discover and appreciate the beauty of this natural harmony. Obviously, Su Shi presents himself as an "idle person" here.
But in fact, this is just a helpless self-relief for Su Shi. It is precisely because of Su Shi's life experience in Huangzhou that he has this leisure to appreciate the beauty of nature. The life experience of Huangzhou is the passive acceptance of Su Shi after experiencing the ups and downs of the eunuch sea and the nine deaths.
In this sense, Su Shi's "idle person" is just a person with a heart who has "experienced prosperity and can also keep loneliness", which must also be a person who strives to embrace life and strive to love life.
Su Shi, the literary scholar who made the Chengtian Temple thousands of years ago, the literary artist who created a well-known literary masterpiece in Huangzhou, may not have a vigorous legend.
But it was the leisure and calmness of this night tour of Chengtian Temple that allowed Su Shi to find a space for peace and tranquility, which was enough to gently support Su Shi's bitter and even crumbling body and soul.