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宋 Song · 诗 Poem

安国寺

The Anguo Temple

李洪

Li Hong

禅趣Zen Flavor 题咏Inscription 哲理Philosophy

塔上犀牛谁捉得，人中龙种偶相逢。
寂寥千载传心印，鴈塔光明閟旧踪。

The rhinoceros on the pagoda—who can catch it?
In the midst of men, the dragon seed, met by chance.
Lonely for a thousand ages, the seal of the heart transmitted;
The wild-goose pagoda's light, hidden from the old traces.

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Meaning

A seven-character quatrain inscribed on the Anguo Temple. The poem opens with a question: 'the rhinoceros on the pagoda—who can catch it?'—using the Zen koan of the Chan master who demanded his rhinoceros fan, the rhinoceros that cannot be caught standing for the formless Dharma-body that cannot be grasped. 'In the midst of men, the dragon seed, met by chance' writes the chance encounter with a man of worth, the 'dragon seed' the rare and noble being. 'Lonely for a thousand ages, the seal of the heart transmitted' writes the transmission of the Buddha-mind across the ages; and 'the wild-goose pagoda's light, hidden from the old traces' the ancient radiance of the temple hidden in its traces. The poem turns the temple's pagoda image and the Zen koan into a meditation on the ungraspable truth and the transmission of the mind.

佛塔上镌刻的犀牛，谁能将它捉得？人间如龙一般杰出的人物种性，竟偶然于此相逢。千载寂寥之中，唯有以心印心之法脉绵延相传；雁塔之上光明犹存，而旧日的踪迹却已深藏不露。

Appreciation

This seven-character quatrain is a typical Chan poem, its first couplet asking, its second sighing, its structure 'rising from the object and entering the principle.' The first line, 'the rhinoceros on the pagoda—who can catch it?' rises on the void, setting the still carved image of the pagoda into the active question of 'who can catch it,' giving the motionless thing sudden motion and Zen mechanism—the method of bringing the Chan 'word-head' into the poem, at once rousing contemplation. The second line, 'in the midst of men, the dragon seed, met by chance,' points with the word 'chance' to the wonder of the encounter, the 'dragon seed' from the History of the Jin's 'the dragon among men' and the Buddhist 'seed of the Buddha,' man and thing set against each other, the rhinoceros on the pagoda and the dragon seed among men, one uncatchable and one unattainable, the whole mechanism in the words beyond. The third and fourth lines turn to the thousand ages: the transmission of the seal of the heart, the hidden light of the old traces.

【白话串讲】李洪写安国寺：“塔上犀牛谁捉得，人中龙种偶相逢”。“寂寥千载传心印，鴈塔光明閟旧踪”——他写寺中的古迹。【意象与手法】起句以「谁捉得」凭空设问，暗用盐官齐安禅师「犀牛扇子」公案，使塔上雕刻之象忽然具备禅机与动感。「偶相逢」点出机缘凑泊，「龙种」兼涵人中豪杰与佛门种性之义。后联「传心印」「閟旧踪」以光明与隐闭对举，一显一藏，回环往复，理趣与禅趣兼融。【情感与主旨】诗题咏佛寺而不及香火钟磬，专从塔象与心印着笔，以塔上犀牛不可捉、人间龙种偶相逢写因缘之妙，以千载心印相传、旧踪隐閟难寻写对法脉薪传的景仰与怅惘。立意在传灯证悟而不在游赏，机锋暗转，禅意绵邈。【名句点睛】「塔上犀牛谁捉得」化用禅门公案，把凝固的雕刻之象置于「捉得」的诘问中，暗喻法身无形无相、不可执取，突兀峭拔，一句便参出全篇禅机。

Background

Li Hong, a Southern Song poet, courtesy name Keda, self-styled the Sleeping Hut Hermit, a native of Poyang (present-day Poyang, Jiangxi), active in the Longxing and Qiandao reigns of Emperor Xiaozong, his life recorded in his collected works Yun'an Leigao and the Sequel to the History of the Song. Li Hong's family was eminent: his father Li Tao devoted his life to compiling the Long Draft of the Continuation of the Comprehensive Mirror for Aid in Government, one of the great historians of his age; Li Hong inherited the family learning, versed in both letters and history, fond of Buddhism and Daoism, and his collection has many inscriptions on Buddhist temples and poems of exchange with the clergy, of which 'The Anguo Temple' is one. The name Anguo Temple was borne by many temples in the Song, in Jiangxi and the two Zhe circuits; the one the poet sings is hard to identify, but the opening on the 'rhinoceros on the pagoda' is clearly connected with the form of the local pagoda and the Chan koan, for in the Southern Song the bodies of Chan temple pagodas were often carved with images of strange beasts, the rhinoceros having its ground. The poem was written on the poet's travels or a visit to the temple, the rhinoceros image on the pagoda giving rise to his meditation.

李洪，南宋诗人，字可大，自号睡庵居士，鄱阳（今江西鄱阳）人，其行迹约当孝宗隆兴、乾道年间，生平见于其《芸庵类稿》及《宋史翼》所载。李洪家世通显，其父李焘以毕生之力撰《续资治通鉴长编》，为一代史学巨擘；李洪承家学之绪，兼通文史，性好佛老，集中颇多题咏佛寺、丛林往还之作，《安国寺》即其一。《芸庵类稿》今有辑佚本传世，集中此类题寺诗往往不作寻常纪游，而于景物描绘中寄寓禅理机锋。安国寺之名，宋代江南多处皆有，江西、两浙所在多有，诗人所咏者今虽难以确指，然诗中以「塔上犀牛」起兴，显然与当地佛塔形制及禅门公案相关，盖南宋禅寺塔身每镂刻异兽图像，犀牛之象实有所本。诗中「传心印」「鴈塔」等语，皆出佛典，《传心法要》《大唐西域记》诸书均可征引，可见诗人于内典浸染之深。此诗约作于诗人宦游或游方访寺之际，触景生情，由塔上犀牛之象生发「谁捉得」之诘问，暗合禅门话头之机锋，复以「人中龙种偶相逢」自况其与高僧贤者邂逅之缘，故全篇虽仅四句，而禅意绵邈，回环往复，此种以禅语入景、以诘问传神的写法，与南宋士大夫普遍濡染禅悦、以谈禅为风雅的时代风气密切相关，而李洪之禅趣尤见真切，非徒作口头禅者可比，是其题寺诗中以少胜多的代表之作。

Art

The art is the typical structure of the Chan poem, 'rising from the object and entering the principle.' The first couplet rises on the void: 'the rhinoceros on the pagoda—who can catch it?' sets the still carved image into the active question, giving the motionless thing sudden motion and Zen mechanism, the Chan 'word-head' brought into the poem. The second line 'in the midst of men, the dragon seed, met by chance' sets the uncatchable rhinoceros against the unattainable dragon seed, the mechanism in the words beyond. The second couplet turns to the thousand ages: 'lonely for a thousand ages, the seal of the heart transmitted' writes the transmission of the mind in the loneliness of the ages; 'the wild-goose pagoda's light, hidden from the old traces' the ancient radiance hidden in the traces. The whole poem is 'the object to rise, the principle to enter,' the abstract truth of the Dharma given a visible form through the pagoda and the rhinoceros.

此诗七绝四句，前联设问，后联感慨，章法上以「偶相逢」领起全篇，又以「谁捉得」之反诘开宗，一实一虚，一景一理，构成禅诗典型的「即物起兴、由象入理」结构。首句「塔上犀牛谁捉得」凭空发问，突兀而起，将佛塔上凝固的雕刻之象置于「捉得」这一动作性的诘问之中，使静止之物忽然具备动感与禅机，此正是禅门「话头」入诗之法，令人蓦然参省。次句「人中龙种偶相逢」以「偶」字点出机缘之妙，「龙种」语出《晋书·隐逸传》宋纤事，又暗合佛门「佛种」「种性」之说，人、物对举，塔上犀牛与人间龙种互为映照，一不可捉，一不可求，机锋全在言外。三四句转写千年法脉，「寂寥千载」四字以时间之绵长映衬佛法传承之庄严，「传心印」直用禅门「以心印心」之典，化用无痕；结句「鴈塔光明閟旧踪」以光明与閟藏对举，光明者，塔相庄严、佛法如炬；閟旧踪者，昔日法缘之踪迹已隐閟难寻，光与閟、显与隐之间，透出诗人对法脉薪传既景仰又怅惘的复杂心绪。全诗意象取譬皆出佛门，而遣词则全用唐人绝句清空之笔，且全诗四句两两相生，前联以不可捉之物写不可求之缘，后联以不言之法脉写不可觅之踪，章法回环，机锋暗转，禅理不著一字尽得风流，可谓「理趣」与「禅趣」兼融之佳构。

Allusions

The allusions are all from the Buddhist scriptures and the Chan records. The first line's 'rhinoceros on the pagoda' touches the 'rhinoceros fan' koan of the Tang Chan master Qiyan of Yanguan, recorded in the Jingde Transmission of the Lamp, volume seven: Qiyan called his attendant to 'bring the rhinoceros fan'; the attendant said 'it is broken'; the master said 'the fan is broken, return me the rhinoceros cub'; the attendant had no answer, and many later pondered it. The poet transforms this koan, asking 'who can catch it' of the rhinoceros on the pagoda, taking the meaning of 'the rhinoceros cub cannot be caught'—the Dharma-body is formless and imageless, cannot be grasped. The second line's 'dragon seed' comes from the History of the Jin, the 'Biographies of the Recluses,' where the governor of Jiuquan called the recluse Song Xian 'the dragon among men,' and in the Chan and Buddhist texts it touches the 'seed of the Buddha' and the 'dragon of the lineage.'

诗中典故皆出释氏经典与禅门灯录，须一一溯源。首句「塔上犀牛」关涉唐代盐官齐安禅师「犀牛扇子」公案，《景德传灯录》卷七载：齐安唤侍者「将犀牛扇子来」，侍者云「破也」，师曰「扇子既破，还我犀牛儿来」，侍者无对，后人于此参究者甚众。诗人化用此典，以「谁捉得」诘问塔上之犀牛，正取公案中「犀牛儿不可捉」之禅意，谓法身无形无相，不可执取。次句「人中龙种」出《晋书·隐逸传》，酒泉太守马岌称隐士宋纤为「人中之龙」，后世因以「人中龙」誉非常之人；「龙种」又通佛门「种性」之说，《华严经》屡言佛种相续、如来性起，二义融摄，既赞其人为人中之杰，又许其具有佛种善根。三句「传心印」乃禅宗根本命题，《五灯会元》卷一载世尊灵山会上拈花示众，迦叶微笑，世尊云「吾有正法眼藏，涅槃妙心，实相无相，微妙法门，不立文字，教外别传，付嘱摩诃迦叶」，是为以心传心之始；黄檗希运《传心法要》亦专论「心印」之义，谓诸佛与祖师唯以此心印相印，心心不异。结句「鴈塔」出《大唐西域记》卷六所载印度「雁塔」因缘，谓昔有沙门见雁堕地以为舍身供养之征，遂立塔表敬，后世因以「雁塔」通称佛塔；唐代长安大慈恩寺雁塔为玄奘译经之所，新进士又有「雁塔题名」之俗，见《唐摭言》，故「鴈塔」一辞兼有释门庄严与文士风流双重意蕴。「閟」字出《说文》「闭门也」，引申为幽深隐闭之义，诗人取以状塔中旧迹之深藏，用字古雅，出处分明。

Commentary

Li Hong's poem has rarely been specially noticed by the poetic commentaries, yet its Zen flavor among the temple inscriptions has been praised by those who have touched it. The Siku General Catalogue, in its entry on the Yun'an Leigao, says that the brothers of Li Hong's family were all famous for their writing and that his poetry 'now and then shows a clear, refined charm'—though a general comment, the two words 'clear, refined' may well be applied to this poem. Li E's Record of Song Poetry of the Qing, in its entry on Li Hong, says the author 'was at pains to avoid the stale phrase,' and this poem's opening 'the rhinoceros on the pagoda—who can catch it?' rising on the void, fits his self-confessed aim of avoiding the stale. Chen Yan's Selected Masterpieces of Song Poetry, discussing the Song quatrain's taste for bringing Zen words into poetry, may serve to place this piece in its line.

李洪此诗历代诗话鲜有专论，然其题寺诗之禅趣，自来论者有所称许。《四库全书总目》卷一百六十著录《芸庵类稿》云，李洪兄弟并以文章名世，其诗亦时露清隽之致，虽为总论，而「清隽」二字正可移评此诗。清代厉鹗《宋诗纪事》卷四十六录李洪诗，其小传称作者务去陈言，观此诗发端「塔上犀牛谁捉得」七字，凭空翻空，正合「去陈言」之自道。近人陈衍《宋诗精华录》论宋人绝句贵在以禅语入诗而不堕理障，又言宋人绝句善于写景而每带禅机，此诗首句设问、结句藏锋，实为「带禅机」之典型。钱锺书《宋诗选注》虽未选此篇，然其论南宋诗人渐流为语录、偈颂，而优秀者能融化禅语于流丽之中，颇足借观；此诗于公案话头信手拈来，而音调浏亮、字面清丽，正与钱氏所称道之妙合。又《宋诗钞》所收南宋诸家题寺绝句，如杨万里、陆游集中多此类以禅句写景之作，李洪此诗置之其间，机锋之锐利不让二公，而气象之凝练尤为独到。综而论之，自来评家虽未专为此诗立说，然其「清隽」「融禅于丽」之特点，实与宋代诗学之主流评价若合符契，尤须指出者，此诗题咏佛寺而不及香火钟磬，专从塔象与心印着笔，立意在传灯证悟而不在游赏，与一般寺观题咏之格局迥异，故特为拈出，允为南宋题寺绝句中理趣兼备之佳作。

Prosody

Form Seven-character quatrain (regulated quatrain, beginning on an oblique tone without the first line in rhyme)七言绝句（近体七绝，仄起首句不入韵式）

Rhyme Rhymes on the dong rhyme of the level tone: feng, zong; the first line's 'de' is an entering-tone word of the zhi rhyme, oblique and not entering the rhyme上平二冬韵，「逢」「踪」二字入韵；首句「得」为入声职韵，仄收不入韵

Tone pattern The tones of the whole fit the standard form of the seven-character quatrain beginning on an oblique tone without the first line in rhyme, the first word of each line 'not bound by the pattern,' the even tones of the close clear and bright全诗平仄为「仄仄平平平仄仄，平平平仄仄平平。仄平平仄平平仄，仄仄平平仄仄平」，合仄起首句不入韵之定格，首字「寂」以入声代平，属可平可仄之字位，余皆合律

Reading note A seven-character quatrain whose first couplet rises on the void of the koan and whose second turns to the transmission of the mind, its even rhymes carrying the clear, serene Zen tone.此诗为七言绝句，近体律绝之格法严谨。韵脚「逢」「踪」同属《平水韵》上平二冬韵，「逢」字《广韵》作符容切，属冬韵；「踪」字即容切，亦属冬韵，两韵字同押一韵，声韵洪远，与全诗写寺宇庄严、法脉绵长之气象相称。首句「得」为入声职韵，仄收不入韵，故全诗为仄起首句不入韵式，首联遂可自由对仗而不受韵束，诗人乃以「塔上犀牛」对「人中龙种」，一句一典，工稳而不板滞。平仄方面，「塔、得、寂、载、印、鴈、閟、旧」皆为仄声，其中「塔、得、寂」为入声字，声调短促，铿锵有力，与「牛、龙、逢、寥、千、心、光、明、踪」等平声字相间，仄仄平平交替，节奏顿挫分明。尤可注意者，第三句「寂寥千载传心印」中「寂寥」为叠韵联绵词，其音感与「传心印」之禅意相映，声情合契；末句「光明」两平连用，「閟旧踪」三字两仄一平，收束处一顿一挫，结音在平声「踪」字上扬，余韵袅袅，与「旧踪」之幽隐意境若合，可谓格律与诗意兼美。

Line by line

塔上犀牛谁捉得，人中龙种偶相逢。

The rhinoceros on the pagoda—who can catch it? In the midst of men, the dragon seed, met by chance. (The first couplet rises on the void: the 'rhinoceros fan' koan brought into the poem, the uncatchable rhinoceros and the unattainable dragon seed set against each other, the mechanism in the words beyond.)

佛塔上镌刻的犀牛，谁能将它捉得？人间如龙一般杰出的人物种性，竟偶然于此相逢。

The rhinoceros on the pagoda - who can catch it? The dragon-seed among men, I chanced to meet.

首联以反诘发端，突兀峭拔。塔上犀牛本为雕刻之象，诗人却以「捉得」相问，将死物问成活物，暗用盐官齐安禅师「扇子既破，还我犀牛儿来」之公案，谓法身真如无形无相、不可把捉，一「谁」字更添空茫渺远之感。次句「偶」字是全诗眼目，点出与高僧贤者相逢纯系机缘凑泊，而非人力可期；「龙种」既称人之杰出，又涵佛门种性之义，与「犀牛」一虚一实、一兽一人，两两对举，禅机即在句读之外，令读者于反复吟咏间蓦然参省。

The opening couplet begins in a rhetorical question, abrupt and steep. The rhinoceros on the pagoda is originally a carved image, yet the poet asks who can catch it, asking a dead thing as if a living one; it secretly uses the gong-an of Chanyuan Qi'an's the fan being broken, return to me the rhinoceros, saying the dharma-body suchness has no form and no appearance, cannot be grasped, and the single word who adds the sense of vast distance. The second line's word chanced is the poem's eye, pointing out that the meeting with the eminent monk and worthy is purely the concurrence of karmic conditions, not what human effort can expect; dragon-seed at once praises the man's eminence and carries the meaning of the Buddhist seed nature, and with the rhinoceros - one void one solid, one beast one man - paired against each other, the Zen paradox lies beyond the line's reading, making the reader, in repeated chanting, suddenly awaken. This couplet uses the contrast of chanced meeting and the thousand silent years, the suddenness of one meeting set against the long transmission, writing the rarity of the encounter in a temple poem, the meeting by chance against the dharma's enduring lineage.

寂寥千载传心印，鴈塔光明閟旧踪。

Lonely for a thousand ages, the seal of the heart transmitted; the wild-goose pagoda's light, hidden from the old traces. (The second couplet turns to the thousand ages: the transmission of the Buddha-mind in the loneliness of the ages, the ancient radiance of the temple hidden in its traces.)

千载寂寥之中，唯有以心印心之法脉绵延相传；雁塔之上光明犹存，而旧日的踪迹却已深藏不露。

Through a thousand silent years, the mind-seal passes on; the Wild Goose Pagoda's light hides the old traces.

转句以「寂寥千载」宕开时空，将一朝相逢之机缘置于佛法千年传承的大背景之下，气象顿觉恢弘；「传心印」直用灵山拈花、以心传心之典，不着议论而正法相续之庄严自见。结句「光明」与「閟」对举，塔相光明朗照而不眩，旧踪隐閟而不亡，一显一藏，正合禅门体露真常而实相无相之旨。诗人对古塔法脉既欣慕其光明常照，又怅然于迹隐难寻的复杂心绪，尽在十四字回环之中，收束处余味袅袅，令人低徊不尽。

The turning line opens up time and space with through a thousand silent years, placing the chance of a single meeting under the great background of the Buddha's thousand-year transmission, the气象 at once grand. The mind-seal directly uses the allusion of the灵山's holding up the flower and the mind transmitting the mind, no argument yet the dignity of the correct dharma's continuity of itself appears. The closing line pairs light and hide: the pagoda's form shines luminous yet not dazzling, the old traces hidden yet not lost, one manifest one hidden, exactly suiting the Zen tenet of the body revealing the true constancy while the real mark has no form. The poet's complex frame of mind, at once admiring the ancient pagoda dharma-lineage for its light ever shining and grieving that the traces are hidden and hard to find, all lies in the fourteen characters' circling; the closing curls with aftertone, making the reader linger without end.

Study

Word focus

偶 By chance. The word of the wonder: 'in the midst of men, the dragon seed, met by chance'—the chance encounter with the man of worth, the wonder of the meeting that cannot be sought, the mechanism of the poem's second line. 「偶」字为全诗诗眼。前句问塔上犀牛谁可捉得，已示法身不可强求；此句着一「偶」字，点出龙种相逢纯系机缘凑泊，不期然而然。禅门讲时节因缘，佛经谓此有故彼有、此生故彼生，一切妙悟多在「偶」然之间触发，不可预计，不可预约。若易「忽」「恰」诸字，虽亦表不意，终欠「偶」字所蕴含的因缘和合、数理前定之味。诗人于佛门贤者邂逅着一「偶」字，既见其谦抑，不作我慢之态，又暗涵万法因缘生之深理，一字之安，全篇遂活，此即古人所谓诗眼之用，可与前句「谁捉得」之空茫互为表里。

閟 Hidden. 'The wild-goose pagoda's light, hidden from the old traces'—the ancient radiance of the temple hidden and stored in its old traces, the light that cannot be seen yet is present, the Chan flavor of the close. 「閟」字出《说文》「闭门也」，本义为闭藏，引申为幽深、隐秘，是此诗用字最古僻处。诗人不取寻常「闭」「掩」等字，而独用「閟」，正为状佛门古迹之深藏不露：塔身光明可以朗照，而「旧踪」则閟而不宣，如禅宗所谓无门为法门、密意不传，唯待有缘者自参自证。且「閟」字古奥，与「鴈塔」之「鴈」（雁之古字）相配，使结句平添一种渊穆古厚之气，与全诗谈禅之旨相称。若易以「闭」，则浅直无味；易以「藏」，则熟滥少骨，独「閟」字以古语写禅机，方见诗人炼字之深功。

传 Transmitted. 'Lonely for a thousand ages, the seal of the heart transmitted'—the transmission of the Buddha-mind from mind to mind across the ages, the seal of the heart that the koan of the rhinoceros guards. 「传」字一义双关，是全诗枢纽。就字面言，「传心印」谓佛法以心印相传，灵山拈花、迦叶微笑，达摩西来，历祖相承，唯此一心印；就音律言，「传」作平声，正应七绝第三句之平仄安排，使「寂寥千载」之仄声连用后得一声舒展，声情与义理俱畅。禅宗讲「传」，重在「不传之传」，无心而传、传而无传，《传心法要》所谓心心不异即此义；诗人着一「传」字，既将千载法脉一线贯串，又暗涵「传而不传、不传而传」之禅机，与首句「捉不得」遥相呼应——可得者非真，可传者非心，全诗机锋于此一字处流转回荡。

寂寥 Lonely. The word of the thousand ages: 'lonely for a thousand ages'—the loneliness of the transmission of the mind through the ages, few who know it, yet the truth unbroken. 「寂寥」为叠韵联绵词，音声舒缓，意境空阔，是全诗气氛之基调。诗人以之状千载法脉之传承，不写香火鼎盛、僧众云集之热闹，而特写法堂寥落、古意萧森之清寂，正合禅门以静为体、以寂照觉之旨。妙在「寂寥」之后紧接「传心印」，以极静之景承极重之法，愈显正法薪传之不易，《楞严经》所谓动静二相、了然不生，此句恰以动静相形之笔传其幽旨。叠韵之音与千载之概相合，声情绵长，令人读之恍入古寺无人之境。若易以「萧条」等词，则意尽于荒凉，转失禅家冲淡之致，故知「寂寥」二字实为全诗定调之眼。

安国寺