By Lang Shiyuan （About 727—780）Tang Dynasty

Original Poem, Lyrics of the Song in Chinese and Pronunciations

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柏林寺南望

郎士元（About 727—780）

溪上遥闻精舍钟 - Xī shàng yáo wén jīngshè zhōng，
泊舟微径度深松 - Bó zhōu wēi jìng dù shēn sōng。
青山霁后云犹在 - Qīng shān jì hòu yún yóu zài，
画出西南四五峰 - Huà chū xīnán sì wǔ fēng。
青山霁后云犹在 - Qīng shān jì hòu yún yóu zài，
画出西南四五峰 - Huà chū xīnán sì wǔ fēng。

溪上遥闻精舍钟 - Xī shàng yáo wén jīngshè zhōng，
泊舟微径度深松 - Bó zhōu wēi jìng dù shēn sōng。
青山霁后云犹在 - Qīng shān jì hòu yún yóu zài，
画出西南四五峰 - Huà chū xīnán sì wǔ fēng。
青山霁后云犹在 - Qīng shān jì hòu yún yóu zài，
画出西南四五峰 - Huà chū xīnán sì wǔ fēng。

The Main Meaning of the Poem and the Lyrics of the Song in English

When I was on the far away brook, I heard the bell from the temple,
Berthed my boat I walked along through the pine forest,
Clouds over the green mountains after a rain,
Sketched (out) four or five peaks in the Southwest.

Clouds over the green mountains after the rain,
Sketched (out) four or five peaks in the Southwest.

When I was on the far away brook, I heard the bell from the temple,
Berthed my boat I walked along through the pine forest,
Clouds over the green mountains after a rain,
Sketched (out) four or five peaks in the Southwest.

Clouds over the green mountains after the rain,
Sketched (out) four or five peaks in the Southwest.

Hello, friends, have you ever travelled by boat on a brook? Today, I would like to introduce a new Chinese classical poem Bailin Si Nan Wang – Looking Over the South From Bailin Temple, which was created by a Tang Dynasty Poet Lang Shi Yuan, to write about how he was attracted by the sound of the bell from a Temple when he was travelling by a boat on a brook, so that he went up the mountain to go to the temple through a pine forest in the rain and what he saw when he looked over from the temple.   

At first, let us learn about the poet together.

About the Poet

In Chinese history there was a special cultural phenomenon. That is, most of the great poets, calligraphers and litterateurs were not professionals, they had other careers and worked on these things as their hobbies. Except for folk songs and the lyrics of folk songs, most of the poets, calligraphers and litterateurs were officers or officials, they did these as their hobbies in their free time.   

The author of this poem Lang Shining was just one of them. He was born in today’s Ding County of Heibei Province during the Tang Dynasty (618 - 907), but there was no detailed record of his date of birth or death. Anyway, we know that he had passed the imperial examination in 762, in the Middle Tang Dynasty and then worked in many different positions as a official/officer, his highest position being that of Cishi of Ying Zhou (in today’s Hubei, its seat of the local government was in today’s Wuchang of Wuhai City), which is a feudal provincial or prefectural governor.

Most of his poems are about sending off or giving as a present. There are also some frontier-style poems and landscape poetry which is very good.

This poem, Bailin Si Nan Wang – Looking Over the South From the Bailin Temple is just one of little poems which is pretty, pure and fresh.

Now let us learn the poem together.

Enjoy the Poem

This is a little poem with just 4 lines and 20 Chinese characters. Despite this, this poem creates several dynamic pictures and reaches the general aesthetic requirements of Chinese arts: there should be painting in a poem and there should be poetry in a painting, which was stated   clearly by Wang Wei（701 or 699－761）in the Tang Dynasty (618 - 907) and be pursued by Chinese artists since that time.

Let us enjoy the poem together.

The title: 柏林寺南望 Bǎilín Sì nán wàng.
柏 Bǎi means "cypress "; 林lín means "forest"; 寺Sì means "temple".   柏林寺 Bǎilín Sì is the name of the temple. 南 nán means "south"; 望 wàng means "look over". The title means looking over to the south from the Bailin Temple.

Usually, when people read this, they would like to know what the poet looked over. However, the poet did not write this directly but he write the first line from the time ahead he was already in the Bailin Temple.

The first line: 溪上遥闻精舍钟 - Xī shàng yáo wén jīngshè zhōng。溪xī means "brook, rivulet, small stream"; 上 shàng here means "above, over"; 遥yáo means "distant, far, faraway"; 闻 wén means "heard " 精舍jīngshè means "vihara, temple"; 钟zhōng means "bell". This line means when I was on the brook, I heard the bell from the temple.

The second line:泊舟微径度深松- Bó zhōu wēi jìng dù shēn sōng. 泊 bó means "moor, berth"; 舟zhōu means "boat";微 wēi means "tiny, small"; 径jìng means "path, pathway"; 度dù means "pass, walk" 深 shēn means "deep", here means "dense or thick" ; 松sōng means “pine” 深松shēn sōng means dense pine forest. This line means, I berthed my boat and walked through the pine forest.   

The third line:青山霁后云犹在 -- Qīng shān jì hòu yún yóu zài。青qīng means blue or green; 山shān means mountain, hill ; 霁jì means   clear up after rain or snow, rain stop; 后 hòu means after, later; 云yún means cloud; 犹yóu means still; 在zài means stay ( there ). This line means, the clouds were still there after the rain.

The last line:   画出西南四五峰 --   huà chū xīnán sì wǔ fēng。 画huà means paint, draw, sketch; 出chū means out, leave, here means complete; 画出 huàchū means draw up, sketch out; 西xī means west; 西南xīnán means southwest; 四sì means four; 五wǔ means five; 峰fēng means peak. This line means the flowing clouds were just like the brusher of an artist and sketched a few peaks in the southwest.

I am sure that after reading this short poem, which embraces so few Chinese characters, there are certainly a few pictures with the sounds in your mind:

In a little boat on a small steam, a poet was attracted by the melodious sound of the bell from a far temple, so that he could not help stopping his boat and walking along the tiny bath through a thick pine forest to seek the bell. But while he was in the forest, a summer rain shower dropped from the sky and wet his clothes, and even though he could go back to his boat, he did not because he was enjoying the beautiful view in the mountains by the brook and the wonderful sounds of the bell. He then got the best reward from mother nature after a long distance walk from his boat to the temple on the mountain: the rain stopped and the clouds sketched out a dynamic and fabulous picture with four or five peaks in the southwest in the sunshine for him.

Until now, we can imagine four or five or more single pictures and also we can imagine a grand three dimensional landscape and get the enjoyment of beauty. Right?

Inspiration:

1.It is similar to English, verbs are the most important words to express people’s thoughts and feelings in the Chinese language, especially in poetry. We can not use any words else, but we cannot have without verbs. In this poem, the last verb and verb phrase “ 画 – sketch, draw, paint   ”, “ 画出 – sketch out, draw up ” endued the clouds a human ability and action to sketch a beautiful pictures with the four or five green peaks in the white clouds bathed in the golden sunshine after the summer rain… It sounds like the mother nature is rewarding the poet for his pursuit of the beautiful things.

2.Only those people who have not only beautiful dreams in their hearts, but who are also fearless of danger and difficulties, keep walking steadfastly on their travels to pursue their dream,   no matter what have happened in their long road for a long time, can see the final beautiful future and victorious results.

I re-read this poem and created a piece of Chinese music for it and translated it into English in China in April, 2007. But then, I just sang it in Chinese. The first time sang it in English was at my first art exhibition in the USA on Sept 4, 2009 and got the first applause from native English speakers, which has really encouraged me and inspirited me so much. Since then, I have been going on the road studying, exploring and trying to find the best methods to help native English speakers to learn Chinese culture, arts and language.

With this dream, last week, I re-created a new painting with the style of blue and green mountain and water painting and re-sang the poem with my own music. I do hope that my effort will be of some help in your study of Chinese culture.

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please write to shirley@ebridge.cn. You are also welcome to publish your opinions on the message board on the web site www.ebridge.cn.

Shirley Yiping Zhang
Nov 12,in China
Nov 16, in the USA
March 28,2016 in China
Dec, 2012 in China
April 22, 2007 in China