94 LING YIN MONASTERY POEM. 



The balcony views the Sun from azure sea appearing; 17 

 The gateway fronts the Tide up 18 Crooked Stream 



careering. 

 Beneath the Moon's soft rays the cassia blossoms fall, 

 And wafted to the clouds the fragrance floats o'er all. 

 Scaling to pagod high to orchid roots I cling; 

 In hollow log I bring cool draughts from distant spring. 19 

 E'en when the white frost falls the hillsides blossom 



freer, 

 And when the pure ice forms the leaves are not yet 



sere. 

 To visit wondrous things delighted once mine eyes, 

 And speculation deep my breast did tranquillize; 

 But soon I take the road to T'ien-t'ai's 20 height serene, 

 And crossing o'er the Bridge of Eock I shall be seen. 



17 This couplet is said to have been composed in the following way. 

 Sung Chih-wen, who was lodging in the Monastery, had written the 

 first two lines, and was racking his brains as to how to proceed, when 

 a bonze walked up, looked at what he had written, and suggested the 

 third and fourth lines, which were accepted. The story goes that 

 this bonze was no other than the' famous Lo Pin-wang ,|£ ^ f£, who 

 was then living in retirement. 



This Lo was a native of I-wu in the province of Chekiang, who 

 early distinguished himself as a poet, and received an appointment 

 under the Emperor Kao Tsung. On the death of this monarch in 

 A.D. 684 he espoused the cause of the legitimate heir, as opposed to 

 that of the Empress Wu Hou who usurped the throne for twenty 

 years. Some say he perished with others of his party : others that he 

 retired to a monastery, and became a Buddhist monk. Hence the 

 story about this couplet. 



18 The Crooked Stream is the Che-chiang (gfr j£), otherwise known 

 as the Chientang River, which is noted for its great Tidal Wave or 

 Bore, to which reference is here made. 



19 What is said about the "hollow log " may refer to conducting 

 water from a spring on the hillside through hollowed bamboo stems, 

 which is done to this day, for the use of the Monastery. 



20 On the T'ien-t'ai hills in the prefecture of Taichow in the 

 province of Chekiang there have been famous Buddhist monasteries 

 for centuries. The poet may be speaking figuratively of entering 

 upon a lofty state of Buddhist contemplation ; or he may be expressing 

 his intention of going literally to T'ien-t'ai. On the hills there a 

 famous Stone Beam Bridge ^J ^ f^| exists, to which reference may be 

 intended in the next line. This bridge and its environs are thus 

 described in Edkins's " Chinese Buddhism" : — 



"After penetrating several miles farther to the north-west in this 

 hilly and desolate region, Chi-k'ai arrived at the remarkable rock 

 bridge where the Fang-kwang Monastery now stands. The loud roar 

 of the waterfall, and the close-set woods on the hills around, the two 

 mountain brooks uniting before they reach the cataract, then passing 

 beneath the natural bridge down the fall, and thence pursuing their 

 way to the north, united to give this spot an air of grandeur in the 

 hermit's mind. It seemed a home for supernatural beings." 



