原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
含詞賦 With rhapsody
道場莊嚴
The Splendor of the Ritual Site
唐王大駕早到寺前，吩咐住了音樂響器。下了車輦，引著多官，拜佛拈香。三匝已畢，擡頭觀看，果然好座道場。但見：唐王大驾早到寺前，吩咐住了音乐响器。下了车辇，引著多官，拜佛拈香。三匝已毕，擡头观看，果然好座道场。但见：
幢幡飄舞，寶蓋飛輝。幢幡飘舞，宝盖飞辉。
幢幡飄舞，凝空道道彩霞搖；幢幡飘舞，凝空道道彩霞摇；
寶蓋飛輝，映日翩翩紅電徹。宝盖飞辉，映日翩翩红电彻。
世尊金像貌臻臻，羅漢玉容威烈烈。世尊金像貌臻臻，罗汉玉容威烈烈。
瓶插仙花，爐焚檀降。瓶插仙花，炉焚檀降。
瓶插仙花，錦樹輝輝漫寶剎；瓶插仙花，锦树辉辉漫宝刹；
爐焚檀降，香雲靄靄透清霄。炉焚檀降，香云霭霭透清霄。
時新果品砌朱盤，奇樣糖酥堆彩案。时新果品砌朱盘，奇样糖酥堆彩案。
高僧羅列誦真經，願拔孤魂離苦難。高僧罗列诵真经，愿拔孤魂离苦难。
逐句解 Line by line
唐王大駕早到寺前，吩咐住了音樂響器。
唐王大驾早到寺前，吩咐住了音乐响器。
The Tang king's great carriage had come early to the temple gate, and he gave order to still the music and the sounding instruments.
樂 in 音樂 ('music') is yuè.
下了車輦，引著多官，拜佛拈香。
下了车辇，引著多官，拜佛拈香。
Descending from the palanquin, he led his many officials in worship of the Buddha and the offering of incense.
著 in 引著 ('leading') is the durative zhe.
三匝已畢，擡頭觀看，果然好座道場。但見：
三匝已毕，擡头观看，果然好座道场。但见：
Three circumambulations completed, he raised his head to look, and it was indeed a fine ritual site. Behold:
三匝 ('three circuits') is the reverent circumambulation of the images. The lead-in 但見 ('behold') ushers in the descriptive fu.
幢幡飄舞，寶蓋飛輝。
幢幡飘舞，宝盖飞辉。
Pennons and streamers fluttering in the dance; jeweled canopies flashing bright.
幢幡飄舞，凝空道道彩霞搖；
幢幡飘舞，凝空道道彩霞摇；
Pennons and streamers fluttering in the dance — they seemed to hold the air, band upon band of colored cloud a-sway;
寶蓋飛輝，映日翩翩紅電徹。
宝盖飞辉，映日翩翩红电彻。
jeweled canopies flashing bright — they caught the sun, wave upon wave of crimson lightning shot through.
世尊金像貌臻臻，羅漢玉容威烈烈。
世尊金像貌臻臻，罗汉玉容威烈烈。
The World-Honored One's golden image, its features serene and full; the arhats' jade countenances, awesome and fierce.
瓶插仙花，爐焚檀降。
瓶插仙花，炉焚檀降。
In vases, immortal flowers; in censers, sandalwood and jiangzhen incense burning.
檀降 is sandalwood (檀香) together with jiangzhen incense (降香), a fragrant wood; 降 here is read jiàng.
瓶插仙花，錦樹輝輝漫寶剎；
瓶插仙花，锦树辉辉漫宝刹；
In vases, immortal flowers — brocade trees glimmering, spread through the precious temple;
寶剎 ('the precious temple') reads 剎 as chà, not shā.
爐焚檀降，香雲靄靄透清霄。
炉焚檀降，香云霭霭透清霄。
in censers, sandalwood and jiangzhen incense burning — fragrant clouds curling thick, piercing the clear empyrean.
時新果品砌朱盤，奇樣糖酥堆彩案。
时新果品砌朱盘，奇样糖酥堆彩案。
Fresh seasonal fruits heaped on vermilion trays; wondrous sugar-pastries piled on painted tables.
高僧羅列誦真經，願拔孤魂離苦難。
高僧罗列诵真经，愿拔孤魂离苦难。
Eminent monks ranged in rows, chanting the true scriptures, praying to pluck the forsaken souls from their tribulation.
難 in 苦難 ('suffering, tribulation') is nàn, not nán.
總評 Commentary
The fu describing the ritual site is a set-piece of Buddhist ecphrasis, cataloguing the assembly's splendor in cascading parallel clauses — fluttering pennons and flashing canopies likened to drifting cloud and crimson lightning, the serene gold of the Buddha and the fierce jade of the arhats, flowers and incense, heaped fruit and pastries. The rhetoric is all surface magnificence until the final couplet, which turns abruptly to purpose: the eminent monks chant 'to pluck the forsaken souls from their tribulation.' The descriptive display is thus grounded, at its close, in the rite's true object — the deliverance of the dead — and the passage modulates from spectacle to prayer.