Canonical Classics ← 第八十一回
第八十一回
鎮zhèn海hǎi寺sì心xīn猿yuán知zhī怪guài
黑hēi松sōng林lín三sān眾zhòng尋xún師shī

At the Sea-Calming Monastery the Mind-Ape Knows the Fiend · In the Black Pine Wood the Three Seek Their Master

削壁懸崖
模式 Mode Read Study
拼音 Pinyin Off
字體 Script 繁
原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition 含詞賦 With rhapsody

削壁懸崖 Sheer Walls And Hanging Cliffs

崎qí嶇qū峻jùn嶺lǐng,削xuē壁bì懸xuán崖yá。崎qí岖qū峻jùn岭lǐng,削xuē壁bì悬xuán崖yá。
直zhí立lì高gāo峰fēng,灣wān環huán深shēn澗jiàn。直zhí立lì高gāo峰fēng,湾wān环huán深shēn涧jiàn。
松sōng鬱yù鬱yù,石shí磷lín磷lín,行xíng人rén見jiàn了le悚sǒng其qí心xīn。松sōng郁yù郁yù,石shí磷lín磷lín,行xíng人rén见jiàn了le悚sǒng其qí心xīn。

逐句解 Line by line

崎qí嶇qū峻jùn嶺lǐng,削xuē壁bì懸xuán崖yá。 崎qí岖qū峻jùn岭lǐng,削xuē壁bì悬xuán崖yá。

Rugged steeps and ridges, pared walls and hanging cliffs.

削 is xuē, pared or cut away as with a blade — the reading the base already gives here, though the same character a few dozen passages back needed pushing to it by hand.

直zhí立lì高gāo峰fēng,灣wān環huán深shēn澗jiàn。 直zhí立lì高gāo峰fēng,湾wān环huán深shēn涧jiàn。

Peaks standing bolt upright, gorges winding and deep.

Eight characters of pure topography, arranged as two matched pairs — up against down, straight against coiling.

松sōng鬱yù鬱yù,石shí磷lín磷lín,行xíng人rén見jiàn了le悚sǒng其qí心xīn。 松sōng郁yù郁yù,石shí磷lín磷lín,行xíng人rén见jiàn了le悚sǒng其qí心xīn。

Pines darkly massed, rocks in glittering scree — the traveller sees it and his heart shrinks.

行 is xíng again, here in the word for a traveller. 悚其心, his heart shrinks with dread, is the line the whole description has been building to.


總評 Commentary

Three lines of landscape and then, in the last four characters, a person. The mountain has been described in the abstract until somebody looks at it and is frightened.

That is the standard architecture of these set pieces and it is very effective here. The poem does not say the mountain is terrible; it says a traveller's heart shrinks, which is a report of an effect rather than a judgement.

The character for pared walls takes its cutting sense from the base here, where the same character in the monks' description of shaving their heads had to be pushed to it by hand. Context decides, and the machine gets it right in one place and wrong in the other.