廬山記 1.10.6

1.10.6

錫名普照寺。 本朝陳尚書恕布衣時遊焉。 其子恭公秉政。 請錫御書度僧。 今有陳氏祠堂。 有保大中移寺等三碣。 好事者刻。 白樂天遊大林寺詩。 并前後序。 坎石于屋壁。 凡遊人在二林。 望上化成樓閣隱隱在雲靄中。 有若圖畫。 自東林徑去猶半日之久。 既至化成。 其僧必訊客曰。 翌日上山與否。 蓋過上化成。 山路彌險。 中間往往不可假肩輿矣。 直上十里。 道中過雞冠石。 次四望石。 次瀉油石。 次香爐峯。 山南山北。 皆有其形圓聳常出雲氣。 改名以象形。 李白詩曰。 日照香爐生紫煙。 遙看瀑布掛長川。 即謂在山南者也。 孟浩然詩云。 桂席數千里。 好山都未逢。 艤舟尋陽郭。 始見香鑪峯。 即此峯也。 東林寺正在其下。 過香鑪峯。 至峯頂院。 院傍盤石極平廣。 下視空闊。 無復障蔽。 張野山記云。 峯頂有大石。 可坐數百人。 蓋謂此也。 峯下有藏經嵒。 即會昌所以藏東林之經也。 有南唐廣道庵基。 峯頂之南十里。 有香積庵。 過香積。 下視五老峯。 望落星石在水中。 如覆盃。 直下山二十里。 則山南棲賢之澗。 東萬壽源也。 路極險。 人罕由之。 予熙寧四年九月。 與數道人。 飯于峯頂。 由香積路策杖而下。 其至棲賢。 則日夕矣。 峯頂院之前。 有辟蛇。 行者飲牛池。 遠公始居山多蛇虫。 行者不知何許人。 甞侍遠公。 善驅蛇。 蛇為之盡去。 故號辟蛇行者。 常耕于峯頂。 有辟蛇行者田。 塍龍髣髴可辨。 今無耕者。 說者曰。 蓋山神云。 故至今山。 雖高深。 樵蘇弋獵之人。 不聞罹蟲蛇之毒。 山中人言。 山有一虎。 亦未甞傷人。 深蹊土中。 但時有行跡。 人謂之遊山虎。 或為遊山之客道。 此事恐涉譏嫌。 亦謂之巡山虎也。 由峯頂五里。 至大林。 今名寶林寺。 梁天監二年。 刺史簫綱所造。 中廢。 唐初復興。 故有虞世南撰。 復寺記古有平雲庵。 遠法師果園廢寺基。 辟蛇行者葬牛塚。 皆在絕頂。 而反平廣延袤不知其極。 昔謝靈運登絕頂望諸嶠詩之。 積峽忽復啟。 平塗俄已閉。 巒隴有合沓。 往來無蹤轍。 晝夜蔽日月。 冬夏共霜雪。 正此處也。 又白樂天大林寺詩云。 人間四月芳菲盡。 山寺桃花始盛開。 長恨春歸。 無覓處。 不知轉入此中來。 且序其詩云。 余與河南元集虛范陽張允中南陽張深之廣平宋郁安定梁必范陽張持東林寺沙門法演智滿士堅利辨道深道建神照雲皐寂然息慈。 凡十有七人。 自遺愛草堂。 歷東西二林。 抵化成憩峯頂。 登香爐峯。 宿天林寺大林窮遠。 人跡罕到。 環寺多清流。 蒼石短松瘦竹。 寺中唯板屋木器。 其僧皆海東入。 山高地深。 時節絕晚。 于時孟夏如正二月天。 梨桃始華。 澗草猶短。 人物風候與平地聚落不同。 初到恍然。 若別造一世界者。 既而周覽屋壁。 見蕭郎中存魏郎中弘李補闕渤三人姓名文句。 余與集虛輩嘆且曰。 此地實匡廬間第一境。 由驛路至山門。 曾無半日程。 自蕭魏李今垂二百年。 寂而無繼者。 嗟乎名利之誘人也。 韓退之題西林寺。 故蕭郎中舊堂詩云。 郎有女能傳業。 伯道無兒可保家。 偶到匡山曾住處。 幾行哀淚落煙霞。 注云。 公有女為尼。 在江州。 今好事者榜其詩。 於西林韓集中無蕭郎中名。 或疑是蕭頴士非也。 頴士困躓不達。 正所謂蕭郎中存也。 凡峯頂大林之景。 白公道之備矣。 予甞九月遊二林。 秋暑未可以却扇。 明日至大林。 流泉成凝氷矣。 又甞三月遊焉。 桃梨飄零。 牡丹微開。 與公所見者略同矣。 由寶林一里。 至擲筆峯。 其峯下臨大壑。 群峯嶻𡸖不可名狀。 昔遠公製涅槃經疏。 于此疏成。 故以名其峯。 其間一峯名文殊臺。 即昔藏文殊像。

It was granted the name Puzhao Temple. In our dynasty, Minister of Revenue Chen Shu visited here when he was still a commoner. When his son, Duke Gong, took charge of the government, he requested the bestowal of imperial calligraphy and the ordination of monks. Today, there is a Chen clan ancestral hall, as well as three tablets recording the temple's relocation during the Baoda era and other matters. Curious visitors have carved Bai Letian's poem on visiting Dalin Temple, along with its preface and postscript, into stones embedded in the building's walls. Whenever sightseers are at the two Lin temples and gaze up at the upper Huacheng pavilions looming faintly among the clouds and mist, it is like a painted picture. Going straight from Donglin Temple still takes half a day. Once one arrives at Huacheng, the monks invariably ask the guests: "Will you climb the mountain tomorrow or not?" This is because once past Upper Huacheng, the mountain path becomes ever more perilous, and in the middle stretches, palanquins can rarely be used. Climbing straight up for ten li, on the way one passes Cockscomb Rock, then Four-Vistas Rock, then Spilling-Oil Rock, and next Incense Burner Peak. Both south and north of the mountain, there are peaks of this name; their shape is round and towering, and they constantly emit cloudy vapors, hence their name was changed to depict their shape. Li Bai's poem says: "The sun shines on the Incense Burner, giving rise to purple smoke; / From afar, I watch the waterfall hanging over the long river." This refers to the one south of the mountain. Meng Haoran's poem says: "A journey of several thousand li with cassia mats, / Yet not a fine mountain was met; / Mooring the boat at the outer walls of Xunyang, / Only then did I first see Incense Burner Peak." This is this very peak. Donglin Temple lies directly below it. Passing Incense Burner Peak, one reaches the Peak-Top Cloister. Beside the cloister, a massive boulder is extraordinarily flat and broad; looking down, the view is vast and open, without any further obstruction. Zhang Ye's mountain record says: "On the peak's summit is a large rock that can seat several hundred people." This is what it refers to. Below the peak is the Scripture-Hiding Cliff, which is where the scriptures of Donglin were hidden during the Huichang era. There is the foundation of the Southern Tang Guangdao Hermitage. Ten li south of the peak's summit is Xiangji Hermitage. Passing Xiangji and looking down at Five Elders Peak, one sees Luoxing Rock in the water like an overturned cup. Descending directly twenty li down the mountain brings one to the ravine of Xixian on the mountain's southern side, and east to Wanshou Spring. The path is extremely treacherous and rarely traveled by people. In the ninth month of the fourth year of the Xining era, I and several men of the Way took our meal at the peak's summit, and descended with walking sticks by way of the Xiangji path; when we reached Xixian, it was already evening. In front of the Peak-Top Cloister is Snake-Repelling Practitioner's Ox-Watering Pond. When Master Yuan first resided on the mountain, there were many snakes and reptiles. The practitioner was of unknown origin; he once attended Master Yuan and was skilled at expelling snakes, so the snakes completely left on his account. Thus he was called the Snake-Repelling Practitioner. He regularly farmed on the mountain's summit; there are the fields of the Snake-Repelling Practitioner, where the winding ridges of the dikes can still be faintly discerned. Nowadays no one farms there. Commentators say: "He was likely the mountain spirit." Therefore, down to the present day, although the mountain is high and deep, one never hears of woodcutters, foragers, or hunters suffering from the venom of reptiles or snakes. People in the mountain say that there is a tiger on the mountain, yet it has never harmed anyone. In the soil of deep pathways, only its footprints occasionally appear; people call it the Mountain-Touring Tiger, or, as some say for the sake of mountain tourists, fearing that such a phrase might carry a teasing undertone, it is also called the Mountain-Patrolling Tiger. Going five li from the summit brings one to Dalin, now named Baolin Temple. It was built in the second year of the Tianjian era of the Liang dynasty by Regional Inspector Xiao Gang. It fell into ruin midway, but was revived at the beginning of the Tang; therefore, there is a record of the temple's restoration written by Yu Shinan. In ancient times, there were Pingyun Hermitage, the foundation of Master Yuan's abandoned orchard temple, and the ox burial mound of the Snake-Repelling Practitioner, all located on the highest summit; yet the land, on the contrary, is flat, broad, and expansive, extending without known limit. Formerly, Xie Lingyun wrote in his poem on climbing the highest summit to look at the peaks: "Stacked ravines suddenly open up again; / The level path abruptly closes behind. / Peaks and ridges merge in dense confusion; / Going and returning leave no tracks or ruts. / Day and night veil sun and moon; / Winter and summer share frost and snow." It refers precisely to this place. Furthermore, Bai Letian's poem on Dalin Temple says: "In the human realm, in the fourth month, the fragrant blossoms are all gone; / In the mountain temple, peach blossoms are just bursting into full bloom. / Always lamenting that spring had returned with nowhere to seek it, / Little did I know it had turned and entered right into here." Moreover, his preface to the poem says: "I, along with Yuan Jixu of Henan, Zhang Yunzhong of Fanyang, Zhang Shenzhi of Nanyang, Song Yu of Guangping, Liang Bi of Anding, Zhang Chi of Fanyang, and the śramaṇas of Donglin Temple—Fayan, Zhiman, Shijian, Libian, Daoshen, Daojian, Shenzhao, Yungao, Jiran, and Xici—seventeen people in all, started from the Yiai Thatched Cottage, passed through the two Lin temples, reached Huacheng, rested at the summit, climbed Incense Burner Peak, and lodged at Dalin Temple. Dalin is secluded and distant, and human footprints rarely reach it. Encircling the temple are many clear streams, dark rocks, short pines, and slender bamboos. Inside the temple there are only wooden-board rooms and wooden utensils; its monks are all men from the eastern sea. The mountain is high and the terrain deep, and the seasons arrive exceedingly late. At that time, in the first month of summer, the weather was like the first or second month: pears and peaches were beginning to blossom, and the ravine grass was still short. The people and the seasonal conditions were different from the settlements on the plains. When we first arrived, we felt enchanted, as if we had stepped into an entirely different world. Afterward, looking all around at the building's walls, we saw the names and verses of three men: Bureau Director Xiao Cun, Bureau Director Wei Hong, and Rectifier of Omissions Li Bo. Jixu and the others sighed with me, saying: 'This place is truly the foremost site in Kuanglu. From the post-road to the mountain gate does not even take half a day's journey. Yet from Xiao, Wei, and Li down to the present, nearly two hundred years have passed, and it has been desolate without successors. Alas, how fame and profit entice people!'" Han Tuizhi's poem inscribed on the old hall of the late Bureau Director Xiao at Xilin Temple says: "The Bureau Director had a daughter able to carry on his work; / But Badao had no son to preserve his family line. / Chancing to visit the place where he once lived on Kuang Mountain, / A few lines of sorrowful tears fall amid the mists and clouds." The commentary states: "The gentleman had a daughter who became a nun in Jiangzhou." Nowadays, curious people display this poem at Xilin. In Han's collected works there is no mention of the name of Bureau Director Xiao, and some suspect it was Xiao Yingshi, but this is incorrect. Yingshi suffered hardships and never achieved success; it refers precisely to the so-called Bureau Director Xiao Cun. The scenery of Dalin on the peak's summit is described completely by Lord Bai. I once toured the two Lin temples in the ninth month, when the autumn heat was not yet enough to put away the fans; the next day when I arrived at Dalin, the running springs had already turned to solid ice. Again, I once toured there in the third month, when the peach and pear blossoms were falling and peonies were beginning to open, which was broadly similar to what the gentleman observed. Going one li from Baolin brings one to Throwing-Brush Peak. Below this peak lies a great abyss, and the surrounding peaks are jagged and towering beyond description. Formerly, Master Yuan composed a commentary on the Nirvāṇa Sūtra here; when the commentary was completed, he threw his brush down, which is why the peak was named after it. Among them is a peak named Mañjuśrī Terrace, which is where a statue of Mañjuśrī was formerly enshrined.