原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
含詞賦 With rhapsody
背陰山賦
Rhapsody on the Shaded Mountain
形多凸凹，勢更崎嶇。形多凸凹，势更崎岖。
峻如蜀嶺，高似廬巖。峻如蜀岭，高似庐岩。
非陽世之名山，實陰司之險地。非阳世之名山，实阴司之险地。
荊棘叢叢藏鬼怪，石崖磷磷隱邪魔。荆棘丛丛藏鬼怪，石崖磷磷隐邪魔。
耳畔不聞獸鳥噪，眼前惟見鬼妖行。耳畔不闻兽鸟噪，眼前惟见鬼妖行。
陰風颯颯，黑霧漫漫。阴风飒飒，黑雾漫漫。
陰風颯颯，是神兵口內哨來煙；阴风飒飒，是神兵口内哨来烟；
黑霧漫漫，是鬼祟暗中噴出氣。黑雾漫漫，是鬼祟暗中喷出气。
一望高低無景色，相看左右盡猖亡。一望高低无景色，相看左右尽猖亡。
那裡山也有，峰也有，嶺也有，洞也有，澗也有；那里山也有，峰也有，岭也有，洞也有，涧也有；
只是山不生草，峰不插天，嶺不行客，洞不納雲，澗不流水。只是山不生草，峰不插天，岭不行客，洞不纳云，涧不流水。
岸前皆魍魎，嶺下盡神魔，洞中收野鬼，澗底隱邪魂。岸前皆魍魉，岭下尽神魔，洞中收野鬼，涧底隐邪魂。
山前山後，牛頭馬面亂喧呼；山前山后，牛头马面乱喧呼；
半掩半藏，餓鬼窮魂時對泣。半掩半藏，饿鬼穷魂时对泣。
催命的判官，急急忙忙傳信票；催命的判官，急急忙忙传信票；
追魂的太尉，吆吆喝喝趲公文。追魂的太尉，吆吆喝喝趱公文。
急腳子，旋風滾滾；急脚子，旋风滚滚；
勾司人，黑霧紛紛。勾司人，黑雾纷纷。
逐句解 Line by line
形多凸凹，勢更崎嶇。
形多凸凹，势更崎岖。
Its form all hollows and swellings; its slopes yet more jagged and steep.
凸凹 (tū āo) protruding and sunken; 崎嶇 rugged. 更 gèng, 'still more.'
峻如蜀嶺，高似廬巖。
峻如蜀岭，高似庐岩。
Sheer as the ranges of Shu; lofty as the cliffs of Lu.
蜀嶺 the mountains of Shu (Sichuan), a byword for precipitousness; 廬巖 the crags of Mount Lu. 似 sì.
非陽世之名山，實陰司之險地。
非阳世之名山，实阴司之险地。
No famed mountain of the world of light, but truly a place of peril in the shadow-realm.
The couplet marks the scene as belonging wholly to the dead.
荊棘叢叢藏鬼怪，石崖磷磷隱邪魔。
荆棘丛丛藏鬼怪，石崖磷磷隐邪魔。
In thickets of bramble lurk ghosts and monsters; on glittering rock-faces hide demons and fiends.
磷磷 (lín lín) glinting, of stone. 藏 here cáng, 'to conceal.'
耳畔不聞獸鳥噪，眼前惟見鬼妖行。
耳畔不闻兽鸟噪，眼前惟见鬼妖行。
At the ear no cry of beast or bird is heard; before the eye are only ghosts and goblins moving.
The absence of living creatures underscores the sterility of the land of the dead. 行 xíng.
陰風颯颯，黑霧漫漫。
阴风飒飒，黑雾漫漫。
A shadow-wind, soughing and sighing; a black mist, spreading and vast.
颯颯 the rustle of wind; 漫漫 boundless.
陰風颯颯，是神兵口內哨來煙；
阴风飒飒，是神兵口内哨来烟；
The soughing shadow-wind is the smoke whistled forth from the mouths of spirit-soldiers;
A conceit turning wind and mist into the exhalations of infernal beings.
黑霧漫漫，是鬼祟暗中噴出氣。
黑雾漫漫，是鬼祟暗中喷出气。
the spreading black mist is the breath spewed out in the dark by lurking fiends.
鬼祟 skulking demons; 暗中 zhōng, 'in the dark.'
一望高低無景色，相看左右盡猖亡。
一望高低无景色，相看左右尽猖亡。
As far as one looks, high and low, there is no fair prospect; glancing left and right, all is wild desolation.
猖亡, wild and forlorn (a variant of 淒涼). 盡 jìn, 'utterly'; 相 xiāng.
那裡山也有，峰也有，嶺也有，洞也有，澗也有；
那里山也有，峰也有，岭也有，洞也有，涧也有；
There are mountains there, and peaks, and ridges, and caverns, and ravines;
那裡 'there.' The parallel enumeration builds by sheer accumulation.
只是山不生草，峰不插天，嶺不行客，洞不納雲，澗不流水。
只是山不生草，峰不插天，岭不行客，洞不纳云，涧不流水。
only the mountains grow no grass, the peaks pierce no sky, the ridges bear no traveler, the caverns hold no cloud, the ravines run no water.
A negative catalogue: each feature is stripped of its living function. 行 xíng, 'to travel.'
岸前皆魍魎，嶺下盡神魔，洞中收野鬼，澗底隱邪魂。
岸前皆魍魉，岭下尽神魔，洞中收野鬼，涧底隐邪魂。
Before the banks, all is goblins; below the ridges, all is demon-spirits; within the caverns wild ghosts are gathered; at the bottom of the ravines lurk evil souls.
魍魎 (wǎng liǎng) sprites of hill and stream. 盡 jìn; 中 zhōng.
山前山後，牛頭馬面亂喧呼；
山前山后，牛头马面乱喧呼；
Before the mountain and behind, Ox-Head and Horse-Face raise a wild clamor;
The infernal warders again, here in tumult rather than in rank.
半掩半藏，餓鬼窮魂時對泣。
半掩半藏，饿鬼穷魂时对泣。
half-hidden, half-revealed, hungry ghosts and destitute souls weep now and again to one another.
藏 here cáng, 'concealed.' 餓鬼 the hungry ghosts (preta) of Buddhist cosmology.
催命的判官，急急忙忙傳信票；
催命的判官，急急忙忙传信票；
The life-hastening magistrates, in frantic haste, pass on their summons-warrants;
信票 the warrant-slips that authorize a soul's seizure.
追魂的太尉，吆吆喝喝趲公文。
追魂的太尉，吆吆喝喝趱公文。
the soul-pursuing marshals, shouting and bawling, hurry along their official dispatches.
趲 (zǎn) to press or hurry forward. 公文 official documents — the bureaucratic idiom pervades even hell.
急腳子，旋風滾滾；
急脚子，旋风滚滚；
Quick-foot runners, in whirlwinds rolling and rolling;
急腳子 'swift-footed' couriers; 子 here zi, an agentive suffix.
勾司人，黑霧紛紛。
勾司人，黑雾纷纷。
arrest-office men, in black mist thick and thronging.
勾司人 the 'summoning-office' agents who fetch the dead. The rhapsody closes on the ceaseless traffic of infernal officialdom.
總評 Commentary
The rhapsody renders the sunless mountain as a bureaucratic hell in perpetual motion — not a static waste but a landscape swarming with warrant-bearing magistrates, soul-hunting marshals, and quick-foot couriers. Its most inventive stroke is the negative catalogue: mountains that grow no grass, ravines that run no water, each natural feature stripped of the function that would make it alive. Wind and mist are reimagined as the very breath of demons, so that the setting itself seems exhaled by the dead.