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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

送上人

Seeing Off the Monk

刘长卿

Liu Changqing

孤云将野鹤，岂向人间住。
莫买沃洲山，时人已知处。

A lone cloud carries the wild crane —
how could it dwell in the world of men?
Do not buy a mountain at Wozhou:
the world already knows that place.

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Meaning

A four-line farewell to a departing monk. He is a lone cloud bearing a wild crane — no dweller in the dusty world. The poet then turns to warn him: do not buy land on famous Wozhou Mountain, for its fame has made it common. Beneath the praise lies a warning against a fame-seeking 'reclusion': true retreat lies in the mind, not in celebrated places.

你像那孤云一般托着野鹤，岂肯久住在这纷扰的人间。劝你莫要花钱去买那沃洲山，那已是时人都知晓的所在，去了反失了隐逸的本意。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] A lone cloud carries the wild crane — how could it dwell in the world of men? Do not buy a mountain at Wozhou: the world already knows that place. [Structure] Twenty characters in two layers. The first couplet praises through image: a lone cloud and a wild crane — the monk's freedom in two words, sealed by the rhetorical question 'how could it dwell in the world of men?' The second couplet turns to warning: 'do not buy a mountain at Wozhou' — blunt, almost peremptory — with the reason in 'the world already knows that place'. [Technique] The poem's turn from praise to admonition is its whole art. Image first, reason after: because the cloud-and-crane couplet has already established the monk's transcendence, the warning never sounds preachy — it sounds like one free man advising another. 'Do not buy' reverses the very allusion it invokes. [Emotion] The warmth is in the warning: only a true friend would tell a departing monk that the famous mountain is no longer a place for reclusion. Plain words, deep meaning — the mark of Liu Changqing's five-character quatrains.

【白话串讲】刘长卿写《送上人》：“孤云将野鹤，岂向人间住”——“莫买沃洲山，时人已知处”——他送僧人——孤云将野鹤。【意象与手法】前两句写僧人不慕人间、来去自如；后两句笔锋一转，劝其莫买众人皆知的沃洲名山，暗含对趋名慕利之隐的警醒。意象空灵而理趣深远。【情感与主旨】刘长卿送僧人归山之作，以孤云野鹤喻其超然物外，既见赞许，复寄微讽，是五绝中以淡语寄深意的名篇。【名句点睛】常考“孤云将野鹤，岂向人间住”以孤云野鹤写超然；“莫买沃洲山，时人已知处”写对趋名之隐的警醒。

Background

Liu Changqing (c. 726–786), courtesy name Wenfang, was from Xuanzhou (some sources say Hejian). A jinshi of the Tianbao era, he rose to Governor of Suizhou and is known as Liu Suizhou; a master of five-character verse who called himself 'the Great Wall of five-character poetry'. The monk (shang ren) he sees off is unnamed. Wozhou Mountain, in Xinchang, Zhejiang, was made famous by the Eastern Jin monk Zhi Dun (Zhi Daolin), who 'bought the mountain' to dwell in reclusion; by Liu Changqing's day it was a celebrated Buddhist site. The poem's blend of praise and warning reflects Liu's own career of setbacks and his bent for mountain retreat.

《送上人》为唐代诗人刘长卿的一首五言绝句，收于《唐诗三百首》五言绝句类。刘长卿（约726—约786），字文房，宣城（一说河间）人，天宝年间进士，官至随州刺史，世称刘随州。他工于五言诗，尝自诩「五言长城」，其五绝尤为后人推重。此诗所送之「上人」即对僧人的尊称，具体所指已不可考，当是刘长卿送别一位归山修行的高僧所作。诗中首以「孤云将野鹤」起兴，状写僧人超然物外的行迹；末以「莫买沃洲山」作诫，于劝勉之中暗藏对趋名慕利之世的讽喻。「沃洲山」在今浙江新昌县境，相传东晋高僧支遁曾于此栖隐，为江南著名的佛教胜地。刘长卿一生宦途偃蹇，两遭贬谪，其诗多写迁谪之思与山林之想，此诗正是其淡泊襟怀与佛禅意趣的自然流露，在唐人送僧诗中别具一格。全诗二十字，意象超然，理趣深长，足以代表刘长卿五言短章的清澹一格。读者每诵此诗，辄见云鹤高翔之姿与诗人心怀淡泊之致。

Art

The poem's art is compression. In twenty characters it completes praise, turn, and warning. The first couplet uses 'lone cloud' and 'wild crane' — two images of utter freedom — and the word 'carries' (jiang) makes the cloud bear the crane, so the pair moves as one: the monk's unbounded progress. The rhetorical question 'how could it dwell in the world of men?' closes the praise with a lift. Then 'do not buy' lands flat and blunt, and the reason — 'the world already knows that place' — is delivered in five plain syllables. The contrast between the ethereal images and the plain, almost prosy warning is the poem's tension; argument becomes poetry because the images have already prepared the ground.

此诗艺术上以「以象寓理、欲扬先抑」见长。全诗四句二十字，结构分两层：前两句「孤云将野鹤，岂向人间住」写僧人行迹之超逸，以「孤云」「野鹤」两个意象并置起兴——孤云无系无绊，野鹤不慕稻粱，二者皆是自由不羁之物的象征，以此状写上人飘然尘外之姿，「岂向人间住」更以反问加重语气，衬出僧人本非凡俗中人。后两句「莫买沃洲山，时人已知处」陡然转折，由赞许转入劝诫：沃洲山虽为名山，然众人皆知、游者如织，若栖身于此，反失隐逸之真趣。「莫买」二字直截了当，近乎劝谕，与前文空灵之象形成张力。全诗前虚后实、先扬后抑，以云鹤之象写其高致，以买山之诫醒其本心，二十字内完成「写照—设问—劝诫」的完整脉络，转折处尤见匠心，是刘长卿以短章驭繁意、淡语寓深机的代表作。全篇无一闲字，而象、理、情三者浑融，允称五绝佳构。其淡而有味、含而不露之处，尤耐反复咀嚼。

Allusions

The central allusion is 'buying the mountain'. Zhi Dun (Zhi Daolin), the Eastern Jin monk famous for his pure conversation and his work on the Prajna school, retired in his later years to the Wozhou hills, where he built a temple; 'Zhi Dun buying the mountain' became a literary tag for lofty reclusion. Wozhou Mountain, in modern Xinchang, Zhejiang, remained a celebrated Buddhist site — Bai Juyi's 'Record of the Wozhou Mountain Monastery' praised it as the eyebrow of the southeastern landscape. Liu Changqing reverses the allusion: what was bought for quiet is now known by all, so buying there would be a false reclusion, another form of fame-seeking. 'Lone cloud' and 'wild crane' are the conventional Tang images of monks and recluses — unattached, unlanded, unowned.

诗中「沃洲山」一词，典出东晋名僧支遁（支道林）栖隐沃洲之事。据《世说新语》及僧传所载，支遁字道林，陈留人，善谈玄理，为般若学六家七宗之一，晚年居于会稽剡山一带，尝于沃洲小岭立寺行道，「买山而隐」「支遁买山」遂成为后世称颂高士隐居的典故。沃洲山在今浙江新昌，因支遁之故，成为江南佛教名山，历代题咏不绝，白居易《沃洲山禅院记》即盛赞其「东南山水越为首，剡为面，沃洲、天姥为眉目」。刘长卿此处反用「支遁买山」之典而别出新意：支遁买山是为求清静之地，而沃洲山如今已是时人尽知的名胜，若再效买山之迹，反成趋名之举。这一化用，以名山反衬真隐之难，既见出诗人对隐逸本义的理解，又暗含对时人附庸风雅的讽喻，用典活而不滞，翻出新境。此典之用，妙在活用而不蹈袭，翻出新意而不失本义，足见诗人炼意之深。如此用典，方称活学活用，不愧名家手笔。

Commentary

This quatrain is collected in the Three Hundred Tang Poems and has long been valued for what critics call plain words with deep meaning. Readers have noted its unusual shape: a farewell poem that begins in praise and ends in warning, so that friendship takes the form of a caution. The reversal of the 'buying the mountain' allusion — praising the reclusion while rejecting its famous site — shows Liu Changqing's compression at its best, and is often compared with Wang Wei's 'Bamboo Lodge' and Li Bai's 'Sitting Alone at Jingting Mountain' as three faces of the Tang reclusion poem.

这首送僧诗之所以耐读，在于它把「送别」写成了「醒心之语」。起句以「孤云将野鹤」状写上人，意象超然，一片赞许之情；「岂向人间住」以反问出之，更见其本非凡俗。然而若仅止于此，不过是一般的恭维颂美。妙在三四句一转：诗人不劝僧人多住名山宝刹，反劝其「莫买沃洲山」——因为沃洲山「时人已知处」，早已名满天下。这一劝，看似悖于常情，实则深见诗人对隐逸的透彻理解：真正的栖隐，不在山林之有名无名，而在心地之能否超然；若一味趋附名山胜迹，纵得清幽之地，亦不过是另一种趋名逐利。故「莫买」之诫，正是对上人的深情点拨，也是诗人自道其淡泊之志。全诗语淡而味厚，意象空灵而不失理趣，将友情、禅意与人生之思熔铸于二十字中，是盛唐五绝中以议论入诗而仍具诗味的上乘之作。诵读此诗，恍如与高僧于山中话别，语淡而意远，余味不尽。此诗之妙，正在此耐人寻味处。

Prosody

Form Five-character quatrain (jueju), four lines, oblique-tone (ze) opening pattern; a regulated-form quatrain五言绝句（近体绝句，仄起式）

Rhyme Oblique-tone (ze) rhyme — unusual for a quatrain — on zhu and chu, both departing-tone finals (the yu rhyme class of the Pingshui rhyme dictionary); a single oblique rhyme throughout, low and firm, suiting the admonitory tone.全诗押仄韵「住」（去声七遇韵）、「处」（去声六御韵），韵脚「住」「处」均属仄声韵，一韵到底。五绝押仄韵本不多见，此诗以「住」「处」收束，声调沉实内敛，恰与劝诫的郑重口吻相合，避免了平韵的悠扬流利，而添了几分警醒的力度。

Tone pattern The first line ends on an oblique tone with the crane image, the second rises on a rhetorical question, and the closing two lines land on two oblique rhyme beats; the whole reads like earnest advice spoken low — firm, hushed, and final.句式上，首句「孤云将野鹤」仄起仄收，以意象开篇；次句「岂向人间住」以反问振起；三四句「莫买沃洲山，时人已知处」连用仄声韵脚，收束有力。全诗四句之内，平仄交替、以仄声韵脚统摄，读来如叮咛低语，沉静而恳切。绝句本以平韵谐畅为常，此篇独用仄韵，声情与辞情相凑，是五绝中以声韵助意境的佳例。

Reading note Breaking the quatrain's usual bright level-tone close, the poem chooses oblique rhymes to give the warning gravity; image first, reason after, so that the cloud-and-crane couplet keeps the admonition from sounding preachy. The sound of the poem is the sound of a friend speaking plainly at parting.此诗为五言绝句，属近体诗，却突破了一般绝句「以景结情」的常规，而采用「以象起兴、以理收束」的写法。全诗二十字，前两句纯以「孤云」「野鹤」写象，意象空灵；后两句转为劝诫之辞，理趣深长。五绝体制短小，最忌直说，诗人却能于议论中不失诗味，其关键在于：一是以云鹤之象先立其境，使后文之诫不流于空泛说教；二是「莫买」「岂向」等虚词的精心锤炼，使转折处语气生动；三是「沃洲山」典故的活用，以名山之实衬真隐之难，化说教为有意味的警醒。全诗以淡语写深情，以短章寓远思，正见刘长卿「五言长城」的功力，与王维「空山不见人」一类以境胜者，同为盛唐五绝中不可多得的精品。

Line by line

孤云将野鹤，岂向人间住。

A lone cloud carries the wild crane — how could it dwell in the world of men?

你像那孤云托载着野鹤，飘然来去，岂肯在这扰攘的人间长久停留居住。

A lone cloud bearing a wild crane — would it dwell in the human world?

开篇两句以上人归山点题，却不着一字写离情，而以「孤云」「野鹤」两个意象并立起兴，气象高远。孤云无系无牵，野鹤不栖凡木，二者皆是超然物外的象征，以此状写上人，既见其行迹之飘然，亦见其心性之清高。「将」字用得极妙，有「携带、托载」之意，写云与鹤相随，实则以物象写僧人行止的自在无碍。「岂向人间住」以反问作结，语气既赞叹又带几分不平——以云鹤之姿，本不当久居尘世。两句之中，以象写人、以问见情，境界空灵，已为上人归山作了极好的铺垫，也暗含诗人对尘网中人的自省。

The opening two lines name the master's return to the hills, yet not one word of parting feeling, but rising through the two images of 'a lone cloud' and 'a wild crane', the air lofty. The lone cloud unbound, the wild crane roosting on no common tree, both symbols of the beyond-the-world; so figuring the master, both showing the drifting of his track and the loftiness of his mind. The word 'bearing' is exquisite, meaning 'carrying, supporting', writing cloud and crane together, in fact writing through the object the ease and freedom of the monk's going. 'Would it dwell in the human world?' closes in counter-question, the tone at once admiring and holding a touch of discontent — with the cloud-and-crane look, he should not long dwell in the dust. Two lines, writing the man through image, showing feeling through question, the realm ethereal, the groundwork for the master's return to the hills, and secretly the poet's self-reflection on the man in the net of the world.

莫买沃洲山，时人已知处。

Do not buy a mountain at Wozhou: the world already knows that place.

劝你莫要去买那沃洲山，那是如今时人都已知晓的所在，去了反而得不到真正的清静。

Buy not the Wozhou Hills; the world's men already know the place.

末两句翻进一层，以劝诫作结，是全诗着力之处。沃洲山因东晋支遁栖隐而著称，本是以隐逸知名的胜地，诗人却劝僧人「莫买」，理由是「时人已知处」——名山既已众人皆知，则趋之者众，清静已失，栖身于此反失隐逸本义。这一劝，看似悖于常理，实则深见诗人对隐逸的独到理解：真隐不在山林之名，而在心地之超然；若慕名山胜迹而往，纵得幽静，亦是另一种趋名。诗人不直说「你当择地而隐」，而以「莫买」之诫点醒之，语气恳切而意味深远。四句之中，前扬后抑、以象寓理，由写照而及于劝诫，尺幅虽小，转折自多，正见刘长卿五绝于极短篇幅内寄寓深意的功力。

The last two lines turn up one layer, closing in exhortation, the part where the poem puts its force. Wozhou Mountain was famed for Zhi Dun's reclusion in the Eastern Jin, originally a resort known for reclusion, and the poet exhorts the monk 'buy not', the reason being 'the world's men already know the place' — since the famous hill is known to all, the seekers are many, the quietness lost, and dwelling there misses the true meaning of reclusion. This exhortation, seemingly against the reason, in fact shows the poet's peculiar understanding of reclusion: the true reclusion lies not in the fame of the hills, but in the mind's transcendence; if one goes seeking the famous resort, though the quiet be found, it is another kind of fame-seeking. The poet says not plainly 'you should choose a place and dwell in seclusion', but awakens him through the warning of 'buy not', the tone earnest and the meaning far. Within four lines, the first raising the later suppressing, the meaning held in image, from the portrait to the exhortation; the small frame, the turns of itself, precisely showing Liu Changqing's five-word quatrain's power of entrusting deep meaning within the shortest space.

Study

Word focus

孤云将野鹤 'A lone cloud carries the wild crane' — two images of utter freedom fused into one movement. 'Lone' and 'wild' stress their apartness from the flock; 'carries' makes cloud and crane move as one — the monk's unbounded progress in three words. 「孤云」「野鹤」为全诗立骨之象，妙在一个「将」字。云本无心，鹤本高逸，「孤」「野」二字更见其特立独行、不与众同；「将」字以物拟人，写云与鹤相携而行，实则以物象写上人行止之自在、心性之超然。三字连用，意象空灵而气韵高远，为全诗奠定了清空之境，亦是唐人写僧道高士最常用的比兴手法。读者读此三字，便觉超然尘外之致扑面而来。

岂向人间住 'How could it dwell in the world of men?' — the rhetorical question closes the praise with a lift: not that the monk cannot stay, but that he disdains to. Five words holding praise, wonder, and a hint of self-reproach for the dusty world. 「岂」字以反问出之，语气顿挫，将上人本非尘世之人的意思表达得斩截而有余味。着一「住」字，更见其行迹之飘忽：非不能住，而是不屑于住、不肯久住。「人间」二字与下句「沃洲山」遥相映衬，一尘俗一山林，正见出上人之所去所就。五字之内，赞叹、超逸、怅然之情并见，是诗中含情最浓处。此种以问代叙之笔，最见诗人运思之妙。

莫买 'Do not buy' — the poem's pivot, flat and blunt. It reverses the 'Zhi Dun buying the mountain' allusion: reclusion needs no purchase, and a famous mountain would burden rather than free the true hermit. 「莫买」是全诗的文眼，直截了当，近乎劝谕。买山隐逸本有「支遁买山」之典，诗人却劝其「莫买」，一个「莫」字，否定了趋附名山的常情，透出对隐逸真义的独到理解——真隐不待买山，名山反累其真。「买」字更暗含机锋，点破时人以财货求隐逸之名的可笑，语浅而意深，是全诗警醒之所在。一字千钧，正是全诗点睛之处。

时人已知处 'A place the world already knows' — the reason for the warning. Wozhou's fame has drawn crowds and killed its quiet; five plain words expose the vanity of retreat in celebrated spots and set the true reclusion — of the mind — against the false. 「时人已知」四字，是「莫买」的理由所在，也是全诗转折的关键。沃洲山因支遁而名满天下，「时人」既知，则游者如织、喧嚷已生，清静之趣荡然无存。「已知」二字轻轻一点，便戳破名山隐逸的虚妄，与前文「孤云野鹤」的绝世之姿形成强烈对照：真高士不求人知，而名山已是「人知」之地。四字之中，见出诗人对真隐与伪隐的清醒辨析。语浅意深，警醒之意自在言外。

送上人