孟郊诗
Poems of Meng Jiao
Index
送晓公归庭山
Escorting my enlightened master back to Ting Mountain
（一作归稽亭）
(Written on returning from Ji Tower)
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庭山何崎岖 寺路缘翠微 秋霁山尽出 日落人独归 |
Ting Mountain -- what towering crags. Temple road rises into blue-green heights. In autumn's clarity, mountain shows entire. At sunset, a man returns alone. |
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云生高高步 泉洒田田衣 枯巢无还羽 新木有争飞 |
Cloud-born, high, high steps. Stream's spray, fruitful fields below. Withered nest with no returning wing. In the young trees are the struggles of flight. |
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兹焉不可继 梦寐空清辉 |
How can one go on from here, where Sleep's dreams are empty purifying gleams? |
-- 孟郊
废话
I have translated 晓公 as "my enlightened master." 晓 is not a family name. But it could be "Master Wisdom" or "Master Dawn." 稽亭 I translate as "Ji Tower" as 稽 is a family name. It also means "to abase oneself upon the ground." Catholic monks did this. But I'm not aware of it being done by Buddhists. Still, it could be "Tower of Abasement." "Withered nest" could describe the state of this temple. Some temples were, are, very small and housed only one monk. It could be that students no longer come here, going to new temples to learn how to fly.