In 1960, if you walked the Ivy League campus with a copy of Jack Kerouac's Dharma Wanderer, you would see many students with long hair, no shoes, singing, playing guitar, and running around with a book of poetry.
You join them in the crowd, listen to the long-haired young man on the opposite side pluck the strings, and then slowly turn the page, and on the title page of the book a name from the East appears - "To the Cold Mountain".
Cold Mountain and Find. Photo courtesy of Tiantai County Media Center
Who is Hanshan?
Seeing the name Hanshan, I'm afraid you're at a loss, what the hell is this buddy doing?
Although many people do not know him in China, in foreign cultural circles, his reputation may be much greater than that of Li Bai and Du Fu.
Later generations speculated based on historical sources that he lived in the same era as Wang Wei, Meng Haoran, Li Bai, and Du Fu.
Hanshan was a monk with a strange temper and often "looked at the sky and cursed" in various temples, and all the monks thought that he was a "mad monk", and according to the current words, he had a brain disease.
Hanshan did not defend with others, laughed and left, wandering around. Later, Hua Yuan came to Guoqing Temple, and there was a monk in Guoqing Temple who cooked called Zhide, and when he saw Hanshan dying of hunger, he gave him some leftovers. Then the two became close friends, discussing life, Buddhism, and literature all day long, coarse tea and light rice, and chanting poetry.
Kokuseiji Temple. Photo courtesy of Tiantai County Media Center
It is recorded that Hanshan wrote more than 800 poems in his lifetime, but only more than 340 can be seen today. His poems, like his people, are hidden between the mountains and wilderness, scattered in the long river of history.
Why is he on fire?
The reason still has to start with Hanshan's poems, who talk about good and evil, life and death, detachment, and retribution, which is completely different from the philosophical discussion of today's Zheng'er Eight Classics.
The fool reads my poem, puzzled but scornful.
The moderation reads my poems and thinks about the clouds.
Shangxian read my poem and smiled all over his face.
——Hanshan, "Lower Foolishness Reads My Poem"
But Hanshan's poetry fascinated Wang Anshi, Zhu Xi, Lu You, Dong Qichang and other great literati. If that's all, it's far from being "fire".
We should look into it
It is the "cold mountain" that belongs to the whole world
Japan
Great Zen poet Hanshan
During the Song and Yuan dynasties, "Hanzan poetry" was introduced to Japan along with Zen Buddhism, and Japanese cultural circles accepted Buddhism and Zen Buddhism, and also widely disseminated Hanshan's poetry. In Japan, the Hanzan poetry collection has been continuously reprinted after publication, and there are many annotated versions of the Mitsuhanzan poetry collection, which shows the flourishing of research.
In the depths of the poetic soul of Hanshan, there is a shimmering sad life experience and epiphany, which is very consistent with the national characteristics of the Japanese.
Publications related to "Cold Mountain". Source: Taizhou News
Together with Mori Ogai, who is known as the three great writers of modern Japanese literature, he reorganized and recreated the story of Hanzan and wrote a short story, making it the first work of Japanese Zen novels.
"Cold Mountain Found" by Mori Ouwai. Taken from the Amazon platform
Every year on New Year's Day and Chinese New Year's Eve, many Japanese tourists come to Kanzanji Temple to listen to the bells that span time and space.
Today, there are "Kanzan" restaurants all over Japan, and there are also many sake named after "Kanzan". Japan's "Hanshan" culture is endless.
United States
The originator of hippies, Hanshan
In the middle of the twentieth century, the world changed, and a new generation of young Americans experienced the loss of spiritual faith brought about by the war, forming the so-called "Beat Generation".
When their faith is confused, they try to find spiritual sustenance, in addition to rock and poetry, they are also fascinated by others, and Hanshan enters their spiritual world through poetry.
In 1953, the 23-year-old American poet Gary Snyder learned about Hanzan at a Japanese painting exhibition and was shocked by the East. From then on, he began to translate Hanshan poems, which were translated into English and French, and were accepted by young readers, and became popular in the West for a while.
Hanshan picked up the portrait. Source: Taizhou News
This is not difficult to understand, in the eyes of Snyder at that time, Hanshan was bohemian, wandering east, secluded in the mountains and forests, accompanied by grass and trees, and lived off the appearance of an ancient "hippie".
Hippies on the streets of San Francisco. Source: People's Network
At that time, in the minds of many American "Beat Generation", Hanshan became the spiritual idol of hippies.
"Hanshanzi Poems" has also been translated into English, French, Czech and other languages because of the popularity of hippies, and is popular in Europe and the United States.
The Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac. Taken from the Amazon platform
From the "Beat Movement" of the fifties and sixties to the present, American academics have been enthusiastic about Hanshan culture.
In the 90s of the 20th century, the title page of the novel Cold Mountain by American novelist Charles Fraser quoted the Hanshan poem "Men ask the way to Cold Mountain/Cold Mountain: there's no through trail".
People asked about Hanshan Road, but Hanshan Road did not lead.
In summer, the ice is still unreleased, and the sunrise is hazy.
It seems that I and Yu Junxin are different.
If your heart is me, you have to be in it.
——Hanshan "People Ask Hanshan Road"
The novel was made into the classic film "Cold Mountain" and won several Oscars in 2004.
The Eagles perform on stage. Source: The Bund Pictorial
Today, Zhejiang Tiantai, who has lived in seclusion in Hanshan for many years, has incorporated the harmony culture represented by Hanshan Zhide into the humanistic spirit generally recognized and accepted by the locals, and has become a powerful cultural source and distinctive spiritual symbol for building a harmonious society.
Harmony with marriage customs. Photo by Wang Gang
The American magazine "Details" once commented: hippie - how this once underground concept has shaped American culture in many ways. This is a meaning that hippies did not expect.
Coincidentally, Hanshan ——。 This is an achievement that Hanshan never expected.
View of the rooftop. Photo courtesy of Tiantai County Media Center
Most T'ien-t'ai men
Don't know Han-shan
Don't know his real thought
And call it silly talk.
As written in the Hanshan poem
Maybe until today
We still don't understand his meaning
But the fusion of cultures and the collision of ideas
Let Hanshan become a spiritual idol of hippies
It has also become one of the representatives of Chinese folk traditional culture
Hanshan is a symbol of Chinese harmony culture
It remains to be excavated and carried forward
Dedicated to Hanshan
Source: China News Network Zhejiang Branch (preparation), World Chinese Weekly, Guangming Daily, Zhejiang Daily, etc
Editor: Zhou Wei Liang Xiaolu