Chinese Literature

Confucius:Classic of Poetry(Shi Jing) question

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 00:25:01 +0000

I've heard that there are old Viet Folk-Songs in Classic of Poetry(Shi Jing) right? I'm curious about this because I have no idea what is Viet Folk-Songs. Please help.Thank you

A Short Poem by Cao Cao!

Tue, 17 Aug 2010 02:45:13 +0000

I guess a lot of us have heard of Cao Cao, who is a a brilliant ruler, strategist and poet in the Three Kindoms. This is a poet written by him. I really think he is great!

A Short Poem by Cao Cao

One should sing in front of the wine,

Since how long the life will be.

‘Tis like the dawn dew;

The days gone are bitterly so many.

Though at times I’m excited or agitated,

I still can’t forget my sorrows.

How can I abandon my grievance?

The sole thing is Du Kang.

So black is your garment;

So carefree is my mind.

But for your sake,

I keep thinking till now.

“Yao, yoa,” the deer bells,

Grazing fern in the fields.

I have venerable guests;

Zithers and flutes playing.

So bright is the moon;

When can I get it?

Woe comes from my heart,

And won’t stop or go away.

Guests come across fields

To greet me from afar.

Now we talk and feast,

Thinking of our old friendship.

The moon’s bright, stars scarce;

Crows and magpies fly southward.

They hover thrice round the trees;

On which bough can they perch?

Mountains can’t be deemed too high;

Water can’t be deemed too deep.

Duke Zhou spat out what he’s chewing,

And so all hearts under heaven went to him.

Source: http://www.chinaliterature.net/

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Mon, 16 Aug 2010 03:13:28 +0000

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See Official Du Off To Shuzhou by Wang Bo

Mon, 09 Aug 2010 08:39:09 +0000

This is the English version of <<送杜少府之任蜀州>> translated by me.

See Official Du Off To Shuzhou by Wang Bo

The town you go to guards the region of Sanqin,

Far through the wind and smoke I try to see Wujin.

How bad I am really feeling when you do part,

For we are both the officials away from home.

If close friends within bounds of four seas existing,

Though at edge of the world it seems under next door dome.

Don�t at the crossroad where with each other we part

Cry like children with tears our handkerchiefs wetting!

I am Chinese and you could visit my China Literature blog to learn more about Chinese Literature

[discuss] A zen poem--Common Be Way

Mon, 02 Aug 2010 20:19:23 +0000

春有百花秋有月　夏有涼風冬有雪　若無閑事罣心頭　便是人間好時節
－－無門關之十九．平常是道【宋．慧開】

Common Be Way

Spring petals, autumn moonlights,
Summer breezes or winter flakes
The heart without dirts reflects
Mark on earth good times.

--From the 19th zen poem of �to the limitless universe� by Master Hui Kai ("Wisdom opens" in Chinese), Song dynasty, China

***

Above is my understanding to the zen poem. I wonder what more visions about the third line "若無閑事罣心頭" could be.

Please feel free to give your opinion about the line. Thanks in advance.

Notes:

1) Original Chinese text the poem comes from: http://www.cbeta.org/result/normal/T48/2005_001.htm

南泉因趙州問。如何是道。泉云。平常心是道。州云。還可趣向否。泉云。擬向即乖。州云。不擬爭知是道。泉云。道不屬知。不屬不知。知是妄覺。不知是無記。若真達不擬之道。猶如太虛廓然洞豁。豈可強是非也。州於言下頓悟。
　
無門曰。南泉被趙州發問。直得瓦解冰消分疏不下。趙州縱饒悟去。更參三十年始得。頌曰。

　春有百花秋有月　　夏有涼風冬有雪
　若無閑事挂心頭　　便是人間好時節

Simple English text about the paragraphs can be seen: http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/zen/mumonkan.htm

2) Links about the author, Master Hui Kai (慧開)

續傳燈錄卷第三十五
http://www.cbeta.org/result/normal/T51/2077_035.htm

增集續傳燈錄卷第二
http://www.cbeta.org/result/normal/X83/1574_002.htm

五燈會元續略卷第二上
http://www.cbeta.org/result/normal/X80/1566_002.htm

五燈嚴統卷第二十二
http://www.cbeta.org/result/normal/X81/1568_022.htm

3) My understanding or translation to another zen poem by Jia Dao (賈島):

尋隱者不遇【唐．賈島】

松下問童子　言師採藥去　只在此山中　雲深不知處

Visit but to none
by Jia Dao, Tang dynasty

Voices came through pines,
�Where is your master, boy?�
�Master went for mountainy herbs;
Clouds secluded Master from us.�

Huajiao (Sichuan Pepper) reference

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 19:27:34 +0000

I just did two quarters of Chinese literature (survey style)at my university. During the first quarter we read something that referred to "peppered beer" which would have been Sichuan pepper since the peppercorn had not yet been introduced in to China. I think it was the Shi Jing but, I don't have a full copy and I can't find it in any of the snippets I have. Does anyone know where this reference might be. I suppose it may also be translated as peppered wine, but since they were actually using grains it is really a beer (like Sake is usually called wine because of its alcohol content and ceremonial use but is really a beer made of grain).

I found a Sichuan Pepper beer and I wanted to send some to my professor with the quote but, I can't find the quote now. Thanks for looking!

How convert Legge's romanization?

Sun, 20 Jun 2010 18:59:27 +0000

Real simple: I'm plunging into Legge's translations of the classics, but his romanization makes comprehension difficult when you're used to Pinyin (or even Wade-Giles).

I've searched Google quite a bit for a good Legge conversion chart, but haven't found anything beyond one that has I Ching hexagrams converted into Legge, Pinyin, and Wade-Giles.

Surely there's something better than that. Anybody?

Thanks in advance!

Hokkien Poetry from Taiwan

Tue, 01 Jun 2010 03:07:24 +0000

Question about 'Li Xuan Man Yan'

Wed, 26 May 2010 22:34:49 +0000

Hi, All!

In article The Essence of Chinese Weiqi Chess (Go) Is Not About Winning or Losing from ClearHarmony I meet this:

Li Xuan Man Yan stated that "Weiqi was not from the human world originally. It was found first in the tomb of Emperor Zhou Muwan, located in Sichuan Province and later in a stone chamber on Shang Mountain. It was a tool for immortals to cultivate temperament and enjoy the Tao."

What is 'Li Xuan Man Yan'?

From this site I received such a reply:

Quote

"Li Xuan Man Yan" is an ancient book mentioned in an article written in Qing dynasty.
The surface meaning of Man Yan can be translated into vicissitudes/unpredicted, while Li Xuan is someone's study room name.

I hope, you can tell me more about it.

1) "Li Xuan Man Yan" is an ancient book -> century?
2) ...mentioned in an article written in Qing dynasty -> What is a article written in Qing dynasty (1644-1912) which mentioned 'Li Xuan Man Yan'. Who is the autor?
3) How to translate a more precise title "Li Xuan Man Yan"?

Best regards,
Konstantin

Chinese poetry in Jay Chou's music

Mon, 17 May 2010 07:27:20 +0000

I've never actually studied the Chinese rap and pop artist Jay Chou (周杰伦）'s music until recently. Most of Jay Chou's music reflected a certain degree of satire criticizing the society. However, what I found are some very good poetry in the lyrics of the song. Most his song's lyric was written by Fang Wen Shan 方文山, a Taiwanese lyricist, who was also awarded the 19th Music Lyricist Award in Taiwan. He was a talented music lyricist and talent for music literature.

Below is a lyric from Jay Chou's music 《兰亭序》 Lan Ting Xu. If you well know, "Lan Ting Xu" is a work of calligraphy by Eastern Jin calligraphy artist Wang Xizi 王羲之. The music is a satire that criticizes the simplified Chinese characters of PRC, as opposed to the traditional Chinese characters used in Taiwan.

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kyw_y_DJ_Dg"]http://www.youtube.c...h?v=Kyw_y_DJ_Dg[/url]

The lyric poetry is as follow:

蘭亭臨帖行書如行雲流水
月下門推心細如妳腳步碎
忙不迭千年碑易拓卻難拓妳的美
真跡絕真心能給誰

牧笛橫吹黃酒小菜又幾碟
夕陽餘暉如妳的羞怯似醉
摹本易寫而墨香不退與妳同留餘味
一行硃砂到底圈了誰

無關風月我題序等妳回
懸筆一絕那岸邊浪千疊
情字何解怎落筆都不對
而我獨缺妳一生的了解

無關風月我題序等妳回
懸筆一絕那岸邊浪千疊
情字何解怎落筆都不對
而我獨缺妳一生的了解

無關風月我題序等妳回
懸筆一絕那岸邊浪千疊
情字何解怎落筆都不對
獨缺妳一生了解

彈指歲月傾城頃刻間湮滅
青石板街回眸一笑妳婉約
恨了沒妳搖頭輕嘆誰讓妳蹙著眉
而深閨徒留胭脂味

人雁南飛轉身一瞥妳噙淚
掬一把月手攬回憶怎麼睡
又怎麼會心事密縫繡花鞋針針怨懟
若花怨蝶你會怨著誰

無關風月我題序等妳回
懸筆一絕那岸邊浪千疊
情字何解怎落筆都不對
而我獨缺妳一生的了解

無關風月我題序等妳回
手書無愧無懼人間是非
雨打蕉葉又瀟瀟了幾夜
我等春雷來提醒妳愛誰

Will translate it when I have the time... do enjoy it. Many of Jay Chou's music (esp. those sentimental classical style do have poetry in them).