Tsiosophy

Biographies of Lu Yü: Translations and Texts

壺蘆居士繙譯

Lu Yu, Sage of Tea
Tang dynasty, 9th-10th c.
porcelain

Transmitted Records of the Great Tang Dynasty
Author unknown, 9th century C.E.
Number twenty-four

Lu Hongjian was fond of tea. He wrote the Book of Tea in three volumes; the book was popular in its time. It was common for the tea guilds to commission pottery kilns to make porcelain figures of him to set upon the brazier and cauldron to exert his influence as the God of Tea. During business, either leaf tea was offered to the figure or brewed tea was used to pour over it.

大唐傳載
不著撰人名氏, 第九世纪公元
第二十四

陸鴻漸嗜茶，撰《茶經》三卷，行於代。常見鬻茶邸燒瓦瓷為其形貌，置於竈釜上，左右為茶神。有交易則茶祭之，無則以釜湯沃之。
 

 
Li Zhao (flourished circa 818-821 C.E.)
Supplement to the Dynastic History of the Tang
Chapter two
“Lu Yü takes a surname and a given name”

A Buddhist monk from Jingling discovered a foundling boy on a riverbank and raised him as his disciple. When he was a little older, the boy divined the Book of Changes and received the hexagram jian 漸 from the hexagram jian 蹇 and the oracular words: “Hong jianyü lu, qi yü keyong wei yi, The wild goose gradually draws near land, its feathers can be used for rites.” Thus, he took the surname Lu, the given name Yü, and the sobriquet Hongjian.

Yü possessed erudition and many ideas, and so it was a shame that only one thing completely engaged his genius – namely, spreading the art of tea. The potters of Gong county made many porcelain figures of him, calling them each Lu Hongjian. When someone bought many tens of tea implements from a shop, he got a Hongjian figure. When city tea traders did not make a profit, they then poured tea over it. In the Jianghu region, Yü was called Master Jingling. In the Nanyüe region, he was called Old Man Mulberry. Yü had a close friendship with Yan Lugong and was a friend of Master Xüanzhen, Zhang Zhihe. When he was young, he worked for the Zen master Zhiji. One day, Yü heard that the Zen master had passed away. He wept in deep lament and composed a poem to express his feelings:

“I do not desire cups of white jade
Nor covet wine vessels of yellow gold.
I do not yearn for court matins
Nor long for evening audiences.
I do have a thousand yearnings, ten thousand longings
For the western waters of the River
Flowing just beyond the walls of Jingling.”

Lu Yü died at the end of the Zhenyüan reign period.

李肇撰
唐國史補
卷中

陸羽得姓名(氏)
竟陵僧有於水濱得嬰兒者，育為弟子，稍長，自筮得《蹇》之《漸》繇曰：「鴻漸於陸，其羽可用為儀。」乃令姓陸名羽，字鴻漸。羽有文學，多意思，恥一物不盡 其妙，茶術尤著。鞏縣陶者多為甆偶人，號陸鴻漸，買數十茶器得一鴻漸，市人沽茗不利，輒灌注之。羽於江湖稱「竟陵子」，於南越稱「桑薴翁」。與顏魯公厚 善，及玄真子張志和為友。羽少事竟陵禪師智積，異日在他處聞禪師去世，哭之甚哀，乃作詩寄情，其略云：「不羨白玉盞，不羨黃金罍。亦不羨朝入省，亦不羨暮 入臺。千羨萬羨西江水，曾向竟陵城下來。」貞元末卒。
 

 
Zhao Lin (jinshi degree, 834 C.E.)
Stories of Cause and Consequence
Chapter three

Imperial Instructor to the Heir Apparent Lu Hongjian was named Yü. His ancestry is unknown. A monk from the Longxing Monastery at Jingling, who was surnamed Lu, found a baby boy on an embankment and raised him. Accordingly, he gave his last name Lu to the child. When the boy was grown, he was intelligent, gifted, and accomplished. His erudition was imaginative and his words forceful. In debate, he was witty and articulate. In the evening, he was an expansive and fine companion.

Other narratives of his life include those of Master Cao on the maternal grandfather’s side of the Yü family; the Yang family in-laws; Cao Huitan, whose sobriquet is Zhongyong, on the maternal grandfather’s side of the Hong family. Those friendships were sincere and profound. Maternal grandfather kept a letter composed by Master Lu.

By nature, Lu Yü was fond of tea and introduced the art of tea. To this day, families of the tea guilds commission pottery figures of his likeness and set them among the braziers, saying “That which is felicitous to tea, attains prosperity.”

I still remember knowing, when I was young, an old monk from Fuzhou who was a disciple of Brother Lu. He always chanted

“I do not desire wine vessels of yellow gold
Nor covet cups of white jade.
I do not yearn for court matins
Nor long for evening audiences.
I do have a thousand yearnings, ten thousand longings
For the western waters of the River
Flowing just beyond the walls of Jingling.”

and captured all of the emotion of Brother Lu’s poem.

Small Portrait of the Tang Eremite Lu Yu Hongjian

趙璘撰
因話錄
卷三

太子陸文學鴻漸名羽，其先不知何許人。竟陵龍興寺僧，姓陸，於堤上得一初生兒，收育之，遂以陸為氏。及長，聰俊多能，學贍辭逸，詼諧縱辯，蓋東方曼倩之 儔。與餘外祖戶曹府君，外族柳氏，外祖洪府戶曹諱澹，字中庸，別有傳。交契深至。外祖有牋事狀，陸君所撰。性嗜茶，始創煎茶法，至今鬻茶之家，陶為其像， 置於煬器之間，雲宜茶足利。余幼年尚記識一復州老僧，是陸僧弟子。常諷其歌云：「不羨黃金罍，不羨白玉杯，不羨朝入省，不羨暮入臺。千羨萬羨西江水，曾向 竟陵城下來。」又有追感陸僧詩至多。
 

 
Ouyang Xiu (1007-1072 C.E.) and Song Qi (998-1061 C.E.), compilers
New Dynastic History of the Tang, 1060 C.E.
Chapter One hundred ninety-six
Historical Biography, Chapter One hundred twenty-one
Eremites

Lu Yü, whose sobriquet was Hongjian (an alternate given name was Ji and the sobriquet was Jici), a native of Jingling, Fuzhou. His paternity was unknown, but it was said that there was a monk who discovered him on a riverbank and raised him. When he was older, he used the Book of Changes to divine the hexagram jian 漸 from the hexagram jian 蹇 which read: “Hong jianyü lu, qi yü keyong wei yi, The wild goose gradually draws near land, its feathers can be used for rites.” And so, he took Lu as his surname as well as his given name and sobriquet from it.

When he was young, his master taught him Buddhist scripture, to which he responded, “To end relations with one’s brethren and sever posterity, do these fulfill the obligations of filial piety?” His master was furious and made him handle manure to repair the plaster as punishment. He made him herd thirty head of cattle, but Yü secretly used a bamboo stick to practice writing characters on the bovines’ backs. He obtained a copy of “Ode on the Southern Capital” by Zhang Heng, but he could not read it; and so, he knelt repectfully, imitating the file of schoolboys, mumbling as if reading fervently. His master restrained him, ordering him to pull rank weed and grass. Prevented from learning characters, he became befuddled, as if at a loss, insufferably passing each day. His master whipped him, making him moan, “The months and years are passing by; how will I ever survive not knowing writing and books?” Sobbing unbearably, he ran away to hide, becoming an actor and writing several thousand jokes and japes. During the Tianbao reign period, officials of Fuzhou appointed Yü master of entertainments at a banquet. Governor Li Qiwu recognized his talent, rewarding him with books, and recommending him to boarding school at Mount Huomen.

In appearance, he was ugly. He stuttered but was persuasive. Hearing people do good, he felt good. Seeing people oblivious and foul, he admonished the most offensive. When amongst friends but happened to think of something, he withdrew aside and departed, leaving people to wonder if he was angry. When devoted to someone, rain and snow, tigers and wolves could not force him to forsake him. At the beginning of the Shangyüan reign period, he went into seclusion along the Tiaoxi Stream. He called himself Old Man Mulberry and closed his door to write books. Alone in the wilds, he chanted out loud, knocking about the trees, wandering aimlessly, wretched and weeping before returning home. So then, he was known as the modern day Jieyü. After a long time, he received an official post by imperial decree, and Yü became Imperial Instructor of the Heir Apparent and was appointed Great Supplicator at the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. He declined the offices. At the end of the Zhenyüan reign period, he died.

Lu Yü was fond of tea. He authored the Book of Tea in three chapters, explaining the origins of tea, its methods, implements and equipage, and especially its preparation so that All under Heaven knew the virtues and wisdom of drinking tea. At the time, the tea guilds commissioned a ceramic figure of Yü to set among the braizers to offer libations to it as the God of Tea. There once was a Chang Boxiung, who because of Yü’s revelations, zealously extolled the merits of tea. The Censor-in-Chief Li Jiqing made an imperial tour of inspection of Jiangnan and stopped in Linghuai. He knew that Chang Boxiung excelled at brewing tea and so summoned him. Boxiung carried his implements in front of him, and because of this, Jiqing drank two bowls of tea. Upon reaching Jiangnan, someone recommended Yü to him, and so he summoned him. Dressed in rustic clothes, Yü entered ahead of his equipage, and therefore Jiqing regarded him with contempt. Yü blamed him, and in revenge wrote The Ruination of Tea. Later, tea became the fashion, and in time, even the Uighurs entered the capital, driving their horses to market for tea.

歐陽修 宋祁撰
新唐書
卷一百九十六
列傳第一百二十一
隱逸

陸羽，字鴻漸，一名疾，字季疵，複州竟陵人。不知所生，或言有僧得諸水濱，畜之。既長，以《易》自筮，得《蹇》之《漸》，曰：「鴻漸於陸，其羽可用為儀。」乃以陸為氏，名而字之。
幼時，其師教以旁行書，答曰：「終鮮兄弟，而絕後嗣，得為孝乎？」師怒，使執糞除圬塓以苦之，又使牧牛三十，羽潛以竹畫牛背為字。得張衡《南都 賦》，不能讀，危坐效群兒囁嚅若成誦狀，師拘之，令薙草莽。當其記文字，懵懵若有遺，過日不作，主者鞭苦，因歎曰：「歲月往矣，奈何不知書！」嗚咽不自勝，因亡去，匿為優人，作詼諧數千言。
天寶中，州人酺，吏署羽伶師，太守李齊物見，異之，授以書，遂廬火門山。貌侻陋，口吃而辯。聞人善，若在己，見有過者，規切至忤人。朋友燕處，意有 所行輒去，人疑其多嗔。與人期，雨雪虎狼不避也。上元初，更隱苕溪，自稱桑薴翁，闔門著書。或獨行野中，誦詩擊木，裴回不得意，或慟哭而歸，故時謂今接輿 也。久之，詔拜羽太子文學，徙太常寺太祝，不就職。貞元末，卒。
羽嗜茶，著經三篇，言茶之原、之法、之具尤備，天下益知飲茶矣。時鬻茶者，至陶羽形置煬突間，祀為茶神。有常伯熊者，因羽論複廣著茶之功。御史大夫 李季卿宣慰江南，次臨淮，知伯熊善煮茶，召之，伯熊執器前，季卿為再舉杯。至江南，又有薦羽者，召之，羽衣野服，挈具而入，季卿不為禮，羽愧之，更著《毀 茶論》。其後尚茶成風，時回紇入朝，始驅馬市茶。
 

 
Xin Wenfang (active circa 1304-1324 C.E.)
Biographies of the Talents of the Tang Dynasty, 1304 C.E.
Chapter three
Lu Yü

Yü, his sobriquet was Hongjian; parentage unknown. Early in life, the Zen master Zhiji discovered the foundling on a riverbank and raised him as his disciple. When he was grown, he was ashamed to take the tonsure, and so using the Book of Changes, he divined the hexagram jian 漸 from the hexagram jian 蹇 which read: “Hong jianyü lu, qi yü keyong wei yi, The wild goose gradually draws near land, its feathers can be used for rites” and began using the characters for his surname and given name.

He was learned, and there was nothing in which he did not excel. By nature, he was witty. When he was young, he hid among theater actors and composed Mocking Banter of a myriad jokes. During the Tianbao reign period, the local bureau appointed him master of entertainments, but he later went into seclusion. In antiquity, people called this “to cleanse oneself of a humble past.” At the beginning of the Shangyüan reign period, he built a hut along Tiaoxi Stream, closing his door to read books and talking and gathering with eminent monks and lofty scholars all day long. In appearance, he was ugly; he stuttered but was eloquent. Hearing people do good, he felt good. Regarding friends, although obstructed by tigers and wolves, he would not desert them.

He called himself Old Man Mulberry and also Master of East Ridge. He was skilled in ancient tunes, songs, and poems, the epitome of elegance. He authored a great many books. He went back and forth by skiff among the mountain temples wearing only a gauze kerchief and straw sandles, a coarse cloth shirt and shorts. He knocked about the forest, dabbling in flowing streams, wandering in the wilderness, reciting ancient poems, unwilling to leave until dark. Filled with grief, he wailed and wept, and finally returned home. At the time, he was compared to Jieyü. He and the Buddhist priest Jiaoran shared a close rapport. He received an official post by imperial decree as Imperial Instructor of the Heir Apparent.

Lu Yü was fond of tea. He created a profound and subtle way and wrote the Book of Tea in three volumes which described the origins, methods, and equipage of tea. In time, he was known as the Immortal of Tea, and All under Heaven benefited from drinking tea. The tea guilds commissioned a ceramic figure of Yü and offered libations to it as a deity. When someone bought ten tea implements from a shop, he got a Hongjian figure.

Early on, the Censor-in-Chief Li Jiqing conducted an imperial tour of inspection in Jiangnan. Liking tea, he knew of Yü, and so he summoned him. Yü, in rustic clothes, entered ahead of his equipage. Li said, “Master Lu excells at tea; All under Heaven knows this. The water from Zhongling on the Yangzi is also exceptional. Now these two marvels have come together in a rare moment of providence. You, honored recluse, must not miss this opportunity.” When the tea was over, Li ordered a servant to give money to Lu Yü. Humiliated, Lu Yü blamed Li Jiqing, and in revenge wrote The Ruination of Tea.

He was a worthy traveling companion of Huangfu Zai. Once, the minister Bao Fang was in Yüe, and Yü went to serve him. Huangfu Zai composed a preface for him, saying “Gentleman Yü studies the philosophies of both Confucius and Buddha, and esteems song and poetry. Be it boating to a distant cottage or a lonely island, he is compelled to roam. Whether weir fishing or angling from a jetty, he goes where he wishes. Yüe is a strategic land of mountains and waters and therefore bears a heavy badge of office. Lord Bao appreciates and admires Master Yü; he shows him the utmost respect. It is a rare treat to taste the fish of Jinghu, much like grasping the reflection of the moon in a stream.” Composed for the Book of Tea to spread its fame.

辛文房
唐才子傳
卷三
陸羽

羽，字鴻漸，不知所生。初，竟陵禪師智積得嬰兒於水濱，育為弟子。及長，恥従削發，以《易》自筮，得《蹇》之《漸》曰：『鴻漸於陸，其羽可用為儀。』始為 姓名。有學，愧一事不盡其妙。性詼諧，少年匿優人中，撰《談笑》萬言。天寶間，署羽伶師，後遁去。古人謂『潔其行而穢其跡『者也。上元初，結廬苕溪上，閉 門讀書。名僧高士，談宴終日。貌寢，口吃而辯。聞人善，若在己。與人期，雖阻虎狼不避也。自稱『桑薴翁』，又號『東崗子』。工古調歌詩，興極閑雅。著書甚 多。扁舟往來山寺，唯紗巾藤鞋，短褐犢鼻，擊林木，弄流水。或行曠野中，誦古詩，裴回至月黑，興盡慟哭而返。當時以比接輿也。與皎然上人為忘言之交。有詔 拜太子文學。羽嗜茶，造妙理，著《茶經》三卷，言茶之原、之法、之具，時號『茶仙』，天下益知飲茶矣。鬻茶家以瓷陶羽形，祀為神，買十茶器，得一鴻漸。 初，禦史大夫李季卿宣慰江南，喜茶，知羽，召之。羽野服絜具而入，李曰：『陸君善茶，天下所知。揚子中泠水，又殊絕。今二妙千載一遇，山人不可輕失也。』 茶畢，命奴子與錢。羽愧之，更著《毀茶論》。與皇甫補闕善。時鮑尚書防在越，羽往依焉，冉送以序曰：『君子究孔、釋之名理，窮歌詩之麗則。遠野孤島，通舟 必行；魚梁鉤磯，隨意而往。夫越地稱山水之鄉，轅門當節鉞之重。鮑侯知子愛子者，將解衣推食，豈徒嘗鏡水之魚，宿耶溪之月而已。』集並《茶經》今傳.
 

 
Tianmen County Annals of the Qianlong Reign Period
Chapter Seventeen
Recluses

Lu Yü, courtesy name Hongjian. Lu was upright and resolute, innately profound. Although a solitary man, there was never a day when he neglected to be trustworthy and dutiful. Indeed, his Autobiography reveals this was so. Yü described himself as intelligent and inquisitive, industrious in his focus and zeal. His resolve was absolute and endless, and he conducted himself with determination and conviction. Somber by nature, he was, however, easy-going in the company of others. He had the love of learning of Shen Zhilian, the obsession of Ruan Dongping, the tenacity and authority of Zhuang Qiyüan, and the destructive passion of Wang Changshi. Is this not worthy and virtuous? Is this not the manner of the lofty and detached? When he was raised in the Zen of Master Ji, the foremost Perfection was revealed as ending the cycle of birth and death – Nirvana. But how is this not comparable to following the footsteps of Zhi Daolin? Thus, his adherence to the Confucian canon was unwavering, and though he endured humiliation and servitude, he was unrepentant. He attended the academy on Fire Gate Mountain, built a thatched cottage on the banks of Reed Stream, and was a reclusive, independent man of ease. In the dusty world, he was once an actor and a master of entertainments, and he met celebrated high officials like Li Qiwu, Cui Guofu, and Zou Fuzi who befriended him throughout his life. Ultimately, he was summoned to court as Imperial Instructor to the Heir Apparent, a post that he declined. Have his works been transmitted correctly? They are most certainly preeminent and exceptional. The Book of Tang recorded that “Three days after his birth, geese came to protect him. As an adult, he cast a divination and received the character ‘gradually’ from the hexagram ‘to proceed in stages’ from which he derived his surname Lu.” In his Autobiography of the Imperial Instructor, he states, “Indeed, it is not known where he is from.” After a hundred years or more, there was then Xiyi Chen Tuan, a rare man of antiquity who received a surname. Fate is often inexplicable. A bibliography of Lu Yü’s writings are in the classics, records, and annals, and his autobiography is found in numerous compendia.

乾隆《天門縣志》
卷十七
隱逸 陸羽

陸羽字鴻漸，性介而情深，雖獨行未嘗一日忘忠孝也。觀其“自序”盡之矣。羽自言慧而通，其用功專而銳，其立志窮而不變，其為人果於自信，勇於為人而慵於周旋。有沈織廉之好學，阮東平之興致，庄漆園之解粘釋縛，王長史之終為情死。是殆庶乎？狂狷者流耶！當其養於積公之禪，名蘭勝果以証無生，何遽不若支道林之躅？乃執儒典不屈，至淪辱厮養不悔。負書火門，結廬苕溪，自位於放人佚士，同塵於伶人樂師，一時名流達官如李齊物、崔國輔、鄒夫子諸人，皆握手如平生。終以文學征於朝不赴。遺文垂后其亦矯乎？克自振拔者矣。《唐書》謂其“生三日而雁銜以來。及長，佔於‘蹇’之‘漸’而得姓名。”即“文學自傳”亦曰：“不知何許人也”。后百余年有希夷摶冒陳，得姓蓋古之異人，常有不可解於造物如斯者。所著書目在經籍志，自傳在余編。

Source

Qialong Tianmen xianzhi 乾隆天門縣志 (Tianmen County Annals of the Qianlong Reign Period, 1767; reprint Jiangsu guji chuban she江蘇古籍出版社, 1922), Zhang Biao章鑣 (js 1742, died 1768) and Zhang Xüecheng章學誠 (js 1778, 1738-1801), ch. 17.
 

 
An Anthology of Poetry and Biographical Sketches from Hubei
Chapter Twenty-eight
Tianmen

Lu Yü, courtesy name Hongjian. Yü, a man of the Kaiyüan reign period. He was awarded the offices of Imperial Instructor to the Heir Apparent and Great Invocator of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, which he declined. He was upright and resolute, innately profound. Although a solitary man, there was never a day when he neglected to be trustworthy and dutiful. Indeed, his Autobiography reveals this was so. Yü described himself as intelligent and inquisitive, industrious in his focus and zeal. His resolve was absolute and endless, and he conducted himself with determination and conviction. Somber by nature, he was, however, easy-going in the company of others. He had the love of learning of Shen Zhilian, the obsession of Ruan Dongping, the tenacity and authority of Zhuang Qiyüan, and the destructive passion of Wang Changshi. Is this not worthy and virtuous? Is this not the manner of the lofty and detached? When he was raised in the Zen of Master Ji, the foremost Perfection was revealed as ending the cycle of birth and death – Nirvana. But how is this not comparable to following the footsteps of Zhi Daolin? Thus, his adherence to the Confucian canon was unwavering, and though he endured humiliation and servitude, he was unrepentant. He attended the academy on Fire Gate Mountain, built a thatched cottage on the banks of Reed Stream, and was a reclusive, independent man of ease. In the dusty world, he was once an actor and a master of entertainments, and he met celebrated high officials like Li Qiwu, Cui Guofu, and Zou Fuzi who befriended him throughout his life. Ultimately, he was summoned to court as Imperial Instructor to the Heir Apparent, a post that he declined. Have his works been transmitted correctly? They are most certainly preeminent and exceptional. The Book of Tang recorded that “Three days after his birth, geese came to protect him. As an adult, he cast a divination and received the character ‘gradually’ from the hexagram ‘to proceed in stages’ from which he derived his surname Lu.” In his Autobiography of the Imperial Instructor, he states, “Indeed, it is not known where he is from.” After a hundred years or more, there was then Xiyi Chen Tuan, a rare man of antiquity who received a surname. Fate is often inexplicable. A bibliography of Lu Yü’s writings are in the classics, records, and annals, and his autobiography is found in numerous compendia.

Yü wrote his Autobiography of the Imperial Instructor Lu for which the source is the New History of the Tang Dynasty by Song Zijing. According to Stories of Cause and Consequence by Zhao Lin, “Master Ji, a monk surnamed Lu from the Hidden Dragon Monastery at Jingling, found a baby boy on an embankment and raised him. Accordingly, the monk gave his last name Lu to the child.” The boy was intelligent and gifted, but at first Master Ji did not allow him to study the Confucian classics and found a hundred ways to humiliate him. But in the end, Yü was insistent and eventually went to Fire Gate Mountain to study with the academician Master Zou, and in time he became close friends with the poet monk Jiaoran. Yü’s scholarly vision was erudite and untrammeled. Witty and lighthearted, unbound by convention, he was an exemplary man of East Asia. His writings include The Bonds between Ruler and Subject, Unraveling Origins, Genealogy of Four Surnames South of the Yangzi River, A Record of Famous People from North and South, A Record of Successive Officials in Wuxing, The Interpretation of Dreams, and the Book of Tea which is his only extant work. He wrote the poem entitled Song and the verse “I have only a thousand longings, ten thousand yearnings for the western waters of the River.” In his hometown, there is Overturned Cauldron Island and the Spring of Master Lu, places for the serving and connoisseurship of tea. Yü wandered about Jianghu, the riverine south. During the An Lushan Rebellion on the Central Plains, he wrote Four Lamentations; and during the invasion of the JiangHuai region by Liu Zhan, he composed the ode, The Obscuring of Heaven.

The Imperial Instructor Lu wrote poems of linked verse with Yan Zhenqing, Wu Yün, Li E, Yang Ping, Geng Wei, Huangfu Ceng, Liu Qüanbai, and the monk Jiaoran. Though the poems are not wholly complete, the collection expresses the zenith of the age. The poem Climbing Mount Yan to View Stone Vessel Rock contains the lines, “Idle steps drawn by the deep pines, the kudzu tender and fragile to the touch.” From Singing to the Wind at the Water Pavilion, “Shaking the flagstaff, the cicada stridently shrieks, parting the curtain, all worries disappear.” From Seven Character Verse, “The gentleman, masters, and recluses of the Han all followed the teachings of Confucius of Lu, a mild yearning in admiration and in vain, how regretful the mispoken words.” From the untrammeled lines of “Opening the Border Lands, “In the old forests of the border lands, strange rocks lay scattered about” and “Deep valleys possess perilous streams and tumbled cliffs.” Accounts of the Sea and Splintered Events contains the dramatically powerful couplet from Inscription on the Spring at Kangwang Valley, “Swiftly flowing from a thousand high rocks, chasing the boat from Jiujiang.” From the especially fine literary style of Seven-Character Verse written on East Mountain at Kuaiji, “Moon-colored, the cold tide enters Shan Stream, the cries of the black apes break west of the Green Woods. The ancients followed its eastward flow, the river weed floats year after year through the emptiness.” From the poem West River in Notes on Jingling Poetry, “I do not covet wine vessels of yellow gold nor covet cups of white jade. I do not long for court matins nor long for evening audiences. I have only a thousand longings, ten thousand yearnings for the western waters of the River.” And from Sipping Tea on a Moonlit Night, “Drifting blossoms invite the traveler to drink and talk, to stay a while longer.”

湖北詩征傳略
卷二十八
天門

陸羽字鴻漸
羽，開元時人。詔授太子文學，徙太常寺太祝，不就。性介而情深，雖獨行未嘗一日忘忠孝也。觀其“自序”盡之矣。羽自言慧而通，其用功專而銳，其立志窮而不變，其為人果於自信，勇於為人而慵於周旋。有沈織廉之好學，阮東平之興致，庄漆園之解粘釋縛，王長史之終為情死。是殆庶乎？狂狷者流邪耶！乃執儒典不屈，至淪辱厮養不悔。負書火門，結廬苕溪，自位於放人佚士，同塵於伶人樂師，一時名流達官如李齊物、崔國輔、鄒夫子諸人，皆握手如平生。終以文學征於朝不赴。遺文垂后其亦矯乎？克自振拔者矣。《唐書》謂其“生三日而雁銜以來。及長，佔於‘蹇’之‘漸’而得姓名。”即《文學自傳》亦雲“不知何許人也”。后百余年有希夷摶冒陳為姓，蓋古之異人常有不可解，於造物若斯者。

羽嘗自撰《陸文學傳》，宋子京《唐書》本之。趙隣《因話錄》：“竟陵龍蓋寺僧積公陸某，於堤上得一初生兒，育之。遂從其姓”。穎悟多能，積公初不令習儒，百方挫辱而終不懈。遂至火門山從鄒夫子學。旋與皎然為莫逆交。學瞻詞逸，詼諧縱橫，東方曼倩之籌也。其遺文如《君臣契》、《源解》、《江西四姓譜》、《南北人物志》、《吳興歷官記》、《佔夢書》，《茶經》，唯《茶經》行世。嘗作《歌》雲：‘千羨萬羨西江水，獨向竟陵城下來。’”“故有覆釜洲陸子泉，皆烹茶品茶處。羽放跡江湖，當安祿山亂中原，為《四悲詩》﹔劉展窺江淮，作《天之未明賦》。

陸文學嘗與顏真卿、吳筠、李萼、楊憑、耿湋、皇甫曾、劉全白、釋皎然諸公，為聯句詩不盡可傳，然亦可匯紀以志一時之盛。《登峴山觀石尊》雲：“鬆深引閑步，葛弱供險捫。”《水亭詠風》雲：“動枓蟬爭噪， 開簾客罷愁。”《七言》雲：“漢朝舊學君公隱，魯國今從弟子科。隻自傾心慚濡煦，何曾將口恨蹉跎。”《辟疆園》逸句雲：“辟疆舊林間，怪石紛相向。”又雲：“絕壑方險尋，亂崖亦危造。”出《海錄碎事》，其《題康王谷》有“瀉從千仞石，寄逐九江船”一聯，殊有筆力。又有七絕雲：“月色寒潮入剡溪， 青猿叫斷綠林西。昔人已逐東流去，空見年年江草齊。”則在會稽東小山作也。神韻尤佳。《竟陵詩話》《西江》雲：“不羨黃金罍，不羨白玉杯，不羨朝入朝，不羨暮登台，千羨萬羨西江水，獨向竟陵城下來。”《月夜啜茗》雲：“泛花邀過客，代飲引清言。”

Source

Hubei shi zheng zhuanlüe 湖北詩征傳略 (An Anthology of Poetry and Biographical Sketches from Hubei, 1881), Ding Suzhang 丁宿章 (active 1875-1908), comp. (Xiaogan: Dingshi Jingbei caotang chuban丁氏涇北草堂出版, 1881), ch. 28.

13. November 2013 by Steven D. Owyoung
Categories: Literature, Translation |

The Autobiography of Imperial Instructor Lu

壺蘆居士繙譯

The Autobiography of Imperial Instructor Lu

The given name of Master Lu is Yü and his courtesy name is Hongjian.  It is not known where he is from.  Some say that his courtesy name is Yü and that his given name is Hongjian, not knowing which is right.1  He is as ugly as Zhongxüan and Mengyang and stutters like Xiangru and Ziyün,2 but he is talented and persuasive and sincere in character.  In temperament, he is biased and irascible and often subjective.  When his friends admonish him, however, he is at once liberal and respectful.  Whenever he is at a gathering and happens to think of something, he leaves without speaking, causing people to wonder if he is scornful.  But when he makes a promise to someone, he keeps his word, even though the path is a thousand li3 in length, filled with ice and snow, and infested with tigers and wolves.

At the beginning of the Shangyüan reign period,4 Lu Yü built a hut on the banks of Tiaoxi Stream.5  Closing his door, he now reads books for pleasure.  He does not mix with riffraff, but spends long days talking and gathering with eminent monks and lofty scholars.  It is his habit to roam about in his skiff to mountain temples, wearing only a gauze kerchief, plaited sandals, a short shirt and briefs, and loincloth.  He often walks alone in the wilds chanting Buddhist scripture and reciting ancient poetry.  Knocking about the trees with his staff and dabbling his hand in flowing water, he aimlessly wanders from dawn to dusk until the day is utterly dark, wailing and weeping, then finally returning home.  Thus, people of Chu6 say among themselves, “Master Lu is now today’s Jieyü.7

Beginning at the age of two,8 desolate and exposed,9Lu Yü was raised at the Zen Buddhist Monastery10 of the great teacher Priest Jigong11 in Jingling.  From the age of eight, he learned composition, and Jigong revealed to him through the scriptures the Buddhist calling of renouncing the world.  In response, the boy said, “Without brothers, to have no descendants, to don monks’ robes and be tonsured, to call oneself a Buddhist – if the Confucians were to hear this, would they praise it as filial piety?  May Yü be taught the writings of the sage Confucius?”12

Jigong replied, “Virtuous, indeed!  You are filial, but you really do not yet know the Way of the tonsure and the robes of the West.13  Its name is truly great!”  Jigong insisted on teaching the Buddhist scriptures without submitting to the will of the boy.  The boy insisted on learning the Confucian canon without submitting to the will of the teacher.  Then, Jigong feigned disaffection for the boy and assigned him a sequence of demeaning tasks to test him: sweep the temple grounds, clean the monks’ privy, mix mud with his feet and plaster the walls, carry tiles on his back and build rooms, and tend thirty head of cattle.

In Jingling and Xihu,14 there was no paper for the boy on which to write and learn calligraphy.  So, using a bamboo stick, Lu Yü traced characters on the backs of the cattle.  One day, he questioned a scholar about calligraphic characters and was given a scroll of the poem “Ode on the Southern Capital” by Zhang Heng.15  Not knowing the characters in the poem, he sat alone in the pasture, imitating the dark robed student boys, sitting up straight, the scroll unrolled, just silently moving his mouth.

When Jigong learned of this, he feared the boy was being imbued with heretical teachings, departing from the Way, ever distant with every day.  So, the boy was again confined to the temple grounds and ordered to cut brambles and weeds under the direction of the senior disciple.  Occasionally, written characters would come to mind and he would fall into a stupor as if lost and disheartened, standing like a wooden post, passing the day unmoving.  The disciple thought he was lazy and whipped him.  And so, the boy cried without restraint, lamenting, “Alas, the months and years are passing by and I fear I will never know writing and books!”  The disciple thought the boy harbored resentment and again whipped his back, breaking the cane before releasing him.

Weary of these chores, the boy escaped from the senior disciple and ran away.  With just a roll of clothes, he joined an itinerant troupe of actors for which he wrote the play Mocking Banter in three acts and played the leading roles of the blockhead, the phony civil servant, and the character who conceals the pearl.  Priest Jigong pursued the boy and caught up with him, saying, “When I think of you lost to the Way!  Alas, what a pity!  Our founding master16 said that of the twelve hours of a disciple’s time, period was allowed for the study of non Buddhist teachings in order to subdue heretical thoughts. Because our monastery has so many people, you may now follow your desire.  You can throw away all those song and dance books!”

During the Tianbao reign period,17 people of the ancient capital of Ying18 held a banquet at Canglang19 to which the district official invited Lu Yü to be master of ceremonies.20  At the time, Master Li Qiwu,21 of Honan, who was demoted and serving as governor of Jingling, perceived Lu Yü’s extraordinary talent. Taking Lu Yü’s hand and patting his back, Li then personally presented a collection of poetry to him.  Thereafter, the Han and Mian region was transformed.22. Later, Lu Yü carried his books to Mount Huomen to study with Master Zou23 in the countryside.  When Cui Guofu,[24] a director of the ministry of rites, assumed the office of prefect of Jingling, Lu Yü accompanied him here and there for all of three years.  He gave Lu Yü a white donkey, a black humped ox,25 and a bookcase of pagoda wood with a beautiful grain.  The white donkey and the humped ox were presents to Cui Guofu from Li Cheng,26 prefect of Xiangyang; the fine-grained case of pagoda wood27 was from the late vice-president Lu28 of the chancellery.  Since Lu Yü had already admired these things, it was fitting that a rustic such as he ride and keep them.  So, Cui Guofu especially gave them to him.

At the beginning of the Zhide reign period,29 the people of Qin30 crossed south over the Yangzi River, and Lu Yü also crossed31 and met the Buddhist monk Jiaoran32 of Wuxing:33 the commoner and the priest ignored their difference in age.34

Ever since he was young, Lu Yü had enjoyed writing, mostly satirical protests.  Seeing people do good, he felt good.  Seeing people doing evil, he felt shame.  Bitter words grate on the ear.  There was nothing and no one that he would not confront; things that an ordinary person would perforce shun.  In response to the An Lushan35 rebellion, he wrote the poem “Four Lamentations.”  In response to the revolt of Liu Zhan36 in the Jianghuai,37 he wrote the ode “The Obscuring of Heaven.”  Both these events moved him to cry and weep.  Other writings include The Bonds between Ruler and Subject in three volumes, Unraveling Origins in thirty volumes, Genealogy of Four Surnames South of the Yangzi River in eight volumes, A Record of Famous People from North and South in ten volumes, A Record of Successive Officials in Wuxing in three volumes, A Critical History of Huzhou Prefecture in one volume, The Book of Tea in three volumes, The Interpretation of Dreams, first, second, and third parts, in three volumes, all of which is kept in a coarse cloth sack.

Written in the autumn of 761, the xinchou year of the Shangyüan reign period at the age of twenty-eight.38

陸文學自傳

陸子名羽，字鴻漸，不知何許人也。或雲字羽名鴻漸，未知孰是？有仲宣孟陽之貌陋，相如子雲之口吃，而為人才辯篤信，褊躁多自用意，朋友規諫，豁然不惑。凡與人宴處，意有所適，不言而去，人或疑之，謂生多瞋。及與人為信，雖水雪千裏，虎狼當道，而不愆也。上元初，結廬於苕溪之濱，閉關對書，不雜非類，名僧高士，談宴永日。常扁舟往來山寺，隨身惟紗巾藤鞋短褐犢鼻，往往獨行野中。誦佛經，吟古詩，杖擊林木，手弄流水，夷猶徘徊，自曙達暮，至日黑興盡，號泣而歸。故楚人相謂，陸子蓋今之接輿也。始三歲惸露，育乎竟陵大師積公之禪院。自幼學屬文，積公示以佛書出世之業。子答曰：「終鮮兄弟，無複後嗣，染衣削發，號為釋氏，使儒者聞之，得稱為孝乎，羽將授孔聖之文可乎？」公曰：「善哉子為孝，殊不知西方染削之道，其名大矣。」公執釋典不屈，子執儒典不屈，公因矯憐無愛，曆試賤務。掃寺地，潔僧廁，踐泥汙牆，負瓦施屋，牧牛一百二十蹄。竟陵西湖無紙，學書以竹畫牛背為字，他日問字於學者，得張衡《南都賦》，不識其字，但於牧所仿青衿小兒，危坐展卷，口動而已。公知之，恐漸漬外典，去道日曠，又束於寺中，令其翦榛莽，以門人之伯主焉。或時心記文字，懵然若有所遺，灰心木立，過日不作，主者以為慵惰鞭之。因歎歲月往矣，恐不知其書，嗚咽不自勝。主者以為蓄怒，又鞭其背，折其楚乃釋。因倦所役，舍主者而去，卷衣詣伶黨，著《謔談》三篇。以身為伶正，弄木人假吏藏珠之戲。公追之曰：「念爾道喪，惜哉！吾本師有言，我弟子十二時中，許一時外學，令降伏外道也。以我門人眾多，今從爾所欲，可緝學工書。」天寶中，郢人酺於滄浪道，邑吏召子為伶正之師。時河南尹李公齊物出守見異，捉手拊背，親授詩集，於是漢沔之俗亦異焉。後負書於火門山鄒夫子別墅，屬禮部郎中崔公國輔出守竟陵郡，與之遊處凡三年，贈白驢烏、幫牛一頭，文槐書函一枚。白驢、幫牛襄陽太守李憕見遺，文槐函故盧黃門侍郎所與，此物皆已之所惜也。宜野人乘蓄，故特以相贈。洎至德初，秦人過江，子亦過江，與吳興釋皎然為緇素忘年之交。少好屬文，多所諷諭。見人為善，若已有之；見人不善，若已羞之。苦言逆耳，無所回避，由是俗人多忌之。自祿山亂中原，為《四悲詩》，劉展窺江淮，作《天之未明賦》，皆見感激當時，行哭涕泗。著 《君臣契》三卷，《源解》三十卷，《江表四姓譜》八卷，《南北人物誌》，十卷，《吳興曆官記》三卷，《湖州刺史記》一卷，《茶經》三卷，《占》夢上中下三卷，並貯於褐布囊。上元辛醜歲，子陽秋二十有九。

Source

Lu Wenxüe zijuan 陸文學自傳 (The Autobiography of Imperial Instructor Lu, 761), Wenyüan yinghua 文苑英華 (Beautiful Blossoms from the Literary Garden, ca. 1009), Li Fang 李昉 (925-996) et al., comps., ch. 793.

Figure

Small Portrait of the Tang Eremite Lu Hongjian, Tang chushi Lu Hongjian xiaoxiang 唐處士陸鴻漸小像, ink rubbing of an engraved image on a stone stele originally installed in the Lugong ci 陸公祠 or Shrine of Master Lu.  The shrine was once built in 1783 on the moat outside the north gate of the Jingling city walls.  In 1988, the shrine was rebuilt on the site of the former West Pagoda Temple, Xita si 西塔寺.

Notes

16. October 2013 by Steven D. Owyoung
Categories: Literature, Translation |

Wandering Immortal

壺蘆居士繙譯

Guo Pu of the Eastern Jin

Wandering Immortal

The bustling capital is a pitfall for wayward gentlemen.
The mountain forest is seclusion for hermits.
No need to exalt the vermillion gate;
It is incomparable to embracing Penglai,
Where right from the Source I ladle pure water,
Where from the hills and mountains I gather cinnabar mushrooms.
Spirit Stream conceals me well:
No need to climb the Ladder of Clouds.
Lacquer Garden had Chuangzi;
Master Lai, a reclusive wife.
Advancing ensures seeing the dragon but
Retiring is like a ram butting a fence.
On the high Path, I abandon the swirling dust,
Bidding farewell to Boyi and Shuqi.

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01. February 2013 by Steven D. Owyoung
Categories: Literature, Translation |

Excerpt from the Rhapsody on the Capital of Shu

壺蘆居士繙譯

Yang Xiong of the Han dynasty

Excerpt from the Rhapsody on the Capital of Shu

…Thus,
The Five Grains are abundant,
The squashes and gourds, aplenty, and
The many plants yield thatch and hemp.
Everywhere is ginger and gardenia,
Monkshood and great garlic,
Flowering shrubs and wormwood,
Pepper and riverweed.
The sundry gels, pastes, and sweet wines,
All gathered, presented, and stored.
In winter, the bamboo nurtures shoots
To accompany the daily dishes.
The Hundred Flowers burst forth in spring
Filling the air with gentle perfume.
Tendrils and tea, lushly profuse,
Jade green, russet, and celadon,
Glorious as luminous dragon scales,
Spread like rich embroidery and
Vast prospect without end…

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22. November 2012 by Steven D. Owyoung
Categories: Literature, Translation |