25. Ascending the Pagoda of Cien Temple with Gao Shi and Xue Ju
A poem by Cen Can, translated by Hyun Woo Kim
The tower’s vigor seems to spurt upward,
Lonely and high, soaring towards the Heavenly Palace.
Having climbed up, it is out of this world;
The stone stairs whirl in the air.
The loftiness weighs down Shenzhou;
The steepness is like the skills of a demon.
In the four corners, the white son is blocked;
The seventh floor rubs the vault of heaven.
The connected mountains resemble waves,
running busy, like the morning sun.
The blue pines run along the road;
The view of the palace, how brilliant!
The colors of the autumn come from the west,
To Dimly fill up Guanzhong.
On the northern hill of the Five Mausoleums,
For ages, the color blue is dense.
The pure truth could be realized already;
The fortunate tie has been looked up since early.
I swear that I will hang up my headdress and leave,
To find enlightenment and acquire what is without end.
「 與高適薛據同登慈恩寺浮圖」
塔勢如湧出
孤高聳天宮
登臨出世界
磴道盤虛空
突兀壓神州
崢嶸如鬼工
四角礙白日
七層摩蒼穹
連山若波濤
奔走似朝東
靑松夾馳道
宮觀何玲瓏
秋色從西來
蒼然滿關中
五陵北原上
萬古靑濛濛
淨理了可悟
勝因夙所宗
誓將挂冠去
覺道資無窮
From Hyun Woo:
Today’s poem is what Cen Can wrote after ascending a tower at Cien Temple. It used to be one of the highest building in East Asia and still stands in its place to this day. When Cen Can writes that he “will hang up [his] headdress”, he is using an idiom which refers to quitting a government job to become a commoner. Looking down at the world from high up in the tower must have ignited in his heart a will to live a monastic life.
Cen Can never became a Buddhist monk, though. I presume that one of the reasons must have been his family and relatives. He had been born in an affluent family, but the family’s wealth disappeared soon after the unexpected death of Cen Can’s father. The whole family relied on Cen Can later on.
Another reason was the age in which Cen Can lived. It was an age torn by wars, both civil and international. Cen Can worked as an official until two years before death, often dispatched to the farthest outposts of the Tang Empire. He would serve in military missions that took place in Central Asia or direct restoration projects in regions that had suffered the ravages of war.
While Cen Can could not become a monk as he had wished, his fate brought a rather pleasant surprise for the Chinese literature. What he experienced in the frontiers of the empire was something truly unique. Although not so apparent in today’s poem, he would later be known as one of the Frontier Poets, whose poems were rich with vivid imagery and experiences from the “Wild West” of medieval East Asia.
P.S. Do you notice with whom Cen Can ascended the pagoda from the poem’s title? We will soon read poems from one of them, Gao Shi. By the way, Cen Can was also a friend of Li Bai, while Gao Shi befriended Wang Changling and Du Fu. Do poets always know each other?
P.P.S. Meanwhile, Xue Ju seemed to have been just some guy who was not so interested in literature, but somehow managed to hang out with two of the most famous Tang poets.
If you enjoyed my work, you can buy me a cup of tea. I am not a coffee person, by the way.
Oh thank you so much, what a beautiful poem, transcendent