孟郊诗

Poems of Meng Jiao


Index

寿安西渡奉别郑相公

Long life and peace -- parting at the western ford with Minister Zheng


洛河向西道
石波横磷磷
清风送君子
车远无还尘

On Luo River, upstream to the west,
Rocky waves churn violently.
Pure breezes accompany a gentleman
On a far journey of no return.

春别亦萧索
况兹冰霜晨
零落景易入
郁抑抱难申

Spring partings can be as bleak as any
On such a morning of ice and frost.
Soon, you'll enter into a bleak landscape.
Still our gloom is hard to explain.

百宵华灯宴
一旦星散人
岁去弦吐箭
忧来蚕抽纶

After many nights of lamplit feasts,
Suddenly wandering beneath the stars.
Years passed like arrows from a bowstring.
Grief comes like a silkworm's cocoon.

绵绵无穷事
各各驰绕身
徘徊黄缥缈
倏忽春霜宾

Continuous, unending, events
Swirl one by one into our life.
In our distraction, old age comes softly
And, suddenly, spring is turned to frost.

相为物表物
永谢区中姻
日嗟来教士
仰望无由亲

In the way all things depend upon each other,
I've been always grateful for our familial connections.
I sigh to have found such a teacher and
Look up to a relative I did not expect.

东都清风减
君子西归朝
独抱岁晏恨
泗吟不成谣

As virtue and simplicity wane in the eastern capital,
Gentlemen are returning to the west.
Lonely, cherishing year's end's sadness,
My sad chants are tearful offkey songs.

贵游意多味
贱别情易消
回雁忆前叫
浪凫念后漂

Precious wanderings fill thoughts with delight.
Poor farewells are soon forgotten.
Returning geese remember their former calls.
Waterfowl miss their former waters.

悠悠孤飞景
耸耸衔霜条
昧趣多滞涩
懒朋寡新僚

Far away, alone on high landscapes.
Excited by the feelings of frosty paths.
Dark interests make many sluggish.
Lazy friends isolate new colleagues.

病深理方悟
悔至心自烧
寂静道何在
忧勤学空饶

Profound unease leads to enlightenment.
Regrets arrive to purify the heart.
Silent, tranquil, how to stay upon this Way?
Diligence in studying what is of value.

乃知减闻见
始遂情逍遥
文字徒营织
声华谅疑骄

Let understanding diminish knowledge.
Begin to follow your own free spirit.
Struggling with one's writing is in vain and
Reputation is a doubtful source of pride.

顾惭耕稼士
朴略气韵调
善士有馀食
佳畦冬生苗

Instead of dreading a farmer's life,
Let its simplicity flavor your poetry.
The virtuous have plenty to eat as
The best land blossoms even in winter.

养人在养身
此旨清如韶
愿贡高古言
敢望锡类招

Cultivated men cultivate their bodies.
This aim is pure and beautiful.
I wanted to send you these high old words.
Forgive the impertinence of such a gesture.

-- 孟郊


废话

It seems to me that Minister Zheng is being forcibly retired, perhaps for being Buddhist, and is not looking forward to his rural future. His impending farming life is not likely to put his hands to the plow. It's more a matter of his living in the big house while slaves do the plowing. In the Tang, even the nuns had slaves. Bai Juyi did a bit of plowing but mostly supervised the workers. Meng Jiao has done his own plowing. But Minister Zheng is a man of the world and dreads the isolation. Meng Jiao, as a concerned but not especially close friend and as a relative by marraige, is trying to show Zheng the beauty that is in the world beyond the court.

I find the first line of the last quatrain interesting. It makes me wonder what physical discipline Meng Jiao pursued. Probably it was some form of qigong descending from Bodhidharma's training of the monks to make them fit for extended meditation. Possibly some form of Shaolin, the forms of which sprouted from the qigong. Certainly not any form of internal boxing, none of which existed prior to the nineteenth century. The nascent ideas of internal boxing which led to xingyi, bagua, and taijiquan, first appear in the historical records only in the early eighteenth century.


Index