Zhang Ji's bell - Liu Boyi

In the past, there was a Fengqiao Town in the west of Suzhou City, and there was a Hanshan Temple in Fengqiao Town, and now the developing Suzhou City has long wrapped up Fengqiao Town and Hanshan Temple.

Among the many well-known ancient temples in China, Hanshan Temple is insignificant in terms of its historical inheritance and the scale of its land, but in terms of the popularity of Hanshan Temple at home and abroad, it is indeed a national treasure-level famous temple, because it is related to the Tang Dynasty poet Zhang Ji's "Fengqiao Night Berth".

According to legend, Zhang Taiyan's wife Tang Guoli once said, "If it is not a crab in Yangcheng Lake, why should I live in Suzhou in life." Although I also like to eat, but I travel to Suzhou on business, I still have Fengqiao and Hanshan Temple in mind, and I have been alone in Fengqiao for two nights to see the fishing fires and the silent and solemn temples in the night. Due to the lighting of electricity, the original dark temple is crystal clear, like a fairyland, and the fishing fire point has long been obscured by modern civilization.

During the first year of the Tang Dynasty, Zhang Ji, who lived in Nanyang, Henan, went to Beijing to take the exam. Seeing his companion "spring wind triumphant horseshoe disease", Zhang Ji, who was famous for Sun Shan, was depressed and quietly went out of the city, he did not take the land route back to his hometown, but took the wooden boat of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal straight down to Suzhou and Hangzhou, getting farther and farther away from his hometown.

At this time, it was already autumn winds and geese were chilling. One evening, Zhang Ji's wooden boat came to the outside of Gusu City, and saw the Maple Bridge bending like a bow moon, hanging above the canal, and among the smoke trees on the shore, there were temples looming, and from time to time there were leisurely bells.

This scene touched the poet's lonely heart in the cold window and the frustrated heart of the field, and several times of heat and coldness in several lifetimes suddenly surged into the poet's heart, making the poet sigh a lot and it was difficult to sleep. So the cold moon reflected the poetic heart, turned into a wave at the bottom of the pen, leaving behind the "Fengqiao Night Berth" that has been recited for thousands of years: the moon is falling and the frost is full of frost, and the river maple fishing fire is sad and sleeping. Hanshan Temple outside Gusu City, midnight bell to the passenger ship.

These 28 words condensed the difficult life of the wandering students, expressed the sigh of ambition and lack of way to serve the country, gave Hanshan Temple and Fengqiao fresh life, and the broken moon, crows, frost, temples, fishing fires, and midnight have become symbols of mourning, making people's hearts immersed in desolation for a long time.

If Suzhou is compared to a Jiangnan beauty, then "Fengqiao Night Berth" tells us that she was born in Shuxiangmendi, and Zhang Ji's depiction of Suzhou under the moon, Fengqiao, and Hanshan Temple, as well as the state of mind that encountered difficulties, has been forever fixed in the literary world.

Hanshan Temple was founded during the Liang Tianjian period, and the high monk Hanshan was an abbot here during the Tang Dynasty, so the original name of Miaoli Puming Pagoda Temple was changed to Hanshan Temple. Facing the Hanshan Temple, I imagined that this temple had been built and destroyed several times, and people probably wouldn't ask about it, because it was just a change of the temple; but with poetry, it couldn't be the same day, because it was the poem that made the temple get the best decoration and let the temple name be fixed forever.

Many dignitaries and dignitaries, literati and inkers came to visit, and they could not help but chant poems and wave, but it was rare for poetry to surpass Zhang's successor. Zhang Ji's poems are really touching and hairy, like the bells of Hanshan Temple, which are both high-pitched and charming.

The bell of Hanshan Temple is huge, it is difficult for three people to hold, every year on the night of the Chinese New Year's Eve New Year's Eve, the temple will ring the bell one hundred and eight times, praying for the wind and rain, and world peace.

Ordinary people ring the bell, but also knock, remove a trouble, climb the bell tower to ring the bell pilgrims and tourists are naturally endless, because there are many people, the provisions of each tourist can only knock, I am also very interested, drum full force, knocked a little, the ear suddenly there is a roar, reverberating sound, the heart seems to be less than a trouble that plagues themselves all year round.

Bells in China's ancient traditional culture, has always had a special meaning, "bell ringing Ding food" is the symbol of ancient royal aristocracy, "Ding food" represents people's pursuit of material, "bell ringing" symbolizes people's yearning for spiritual life, after the introduction of Buddhism, the temple's morning bell and twilight drum gave a new meaning to the bell, and the bell of Hanshan Temple became famous for poetry.

Being able to ring the bell and listen to the bells at Hanshan Temple is undoubtedly the enjoyment and satisfaction of life.

There are losses and gains in life, and the examinee Zhang Ji lost the opportunity to become an official in the examination, but he got a good poem. More than 1200 years have passed, when I took the exam with Zhang Ji, who was the winner of the exam? No one knows, the name that is really remembered by history is "Zhang Ji the Fallen", remembering the frustrated poet on the passenger ship on autumn night, a reader who sleeps on the side of the small cabin.

Sometimes, like Zhang Ji, we still hear the faint bell, but the bell does not necessarily come from the Hanshan Temple in Suzhou, but from the autumn night of the Tang Dynasty, which was struck by Zhang Ji and struck our hearts.

From: 2021-10-12Jianghai Evening News