Old cobblestone road on Plum Pass Méiguàn 梅關

Slideshow  Google Map  Timeline  Timemap  Text Mode  Comments (0)

Crossing Dayu Ridge

---Su Dongpo  In a flash the filth is gone,   Body and mind purged of illusion. Vast here, between heaven and earth, Only me...alone...unbowed! Today the ridge mounted, Self and world forever forgotten. Immortal winds sooth my topknot, Assuring me a long life.

Guò Dàyǔ Lǐng

---Sū Dōngpō Yī niàn shī gòuwū, Shēnxīn dòng qīngjìng. Hàorán tiāndì jiān, Wéi wǒ dú yě zhèng. Jīnrì lǐng shàngxíng, Shēnshì yǒng xiāng wàng. Xiānrén fǔ wǒ dǐng, Jíefà shòu chángshēng

Translator:

Dongbo 東波

Notes: In September of 1094 in the Northern Song, 蘇軾 Su Shi on his way to exile in Huizhou, and eventually Hainan, made the difficult trip over the Dayu Ridge大庾嶺 and through the Meiguan 梅關, the Plum Pass, the southern pass through which, once crossed, few returned alive. There he composed this somewhat defiant poem commemorating the event. He then continued on to the Nanhuasi 南華寺 to pay his respects to the stupa of 慧能, Huineng, the Sixth Patriarch of Chan Buddhism.

Related Items:

Dàyǔlǐng, Big Rice Barrel Ridge 大庾嶺

Dàyǔlǐng, Big Rice Barrel Ridge 大庾嶺

Guǎngdōng 廣東

Jiāngxī 江西

Méiguān 梅關