I passed by 蘇州 last month & had a chance to see 寒山寺. This temple is not that famous comparing to 金山寺 or 普陀寺. However, it became well known after 張繼 composed the poem "楓橋夜泊":月落烏啼霜滿天，江楓漁火對愁眠。
姑蘇城外寒山寺，夜半鐘聲到客船。
The gate of the temple is very humble. There are only three green characters 寒山寺(white base) on a brown wall. It looks very spartan & gives you a cool feeling. Inside the temple, it is spacious & nice, 給你一种佛道温暖的感覺. Several buildings spread around the temple: 大雄宝殿, 寒拾殿, 罗漢堂, 天王殿, 楓江楼 etc. The most notable one is 普明宝塔, it is high & can be seen from far away. 鐘楼 itself is a little two level pagoda with a bell in the second level. There were a lot of visitors inside the temple. I noticed a group of Japanese high school kids with uniform. They said they learned "楓橋夜泊" in the class. Apparently 寒山寺 is well known in Japan. As far as I can remember, we didn't have this poem in our high school textbook, though it is included in 唐詩三百首. Later I learned that some Japanese have a tradition to come here on New Years' eve to 敲鐘. By doing that they believe it can shave 10 years from their age, .ie. make them younger. It is kind of odd that Chinese never really get serious about 寒山寺. Perhaps, 遠來的和尚會念經. In Tang dynasty, Two monks 寒山& 拾得 were in charge of this temple. To Japanese, 寒山& 拾得 were the monks from afar, they have got to be superior. The bell 張繼 heard is not in the temple now. It is said that the bell was carried to Japan when 拾得 visited there. Japanese couldn't locate the original bell since then. 伊藤博文 recasted a new one & sent to 寒山寺 in 明治38 年四月(around AD 1906).
Mark Yang mentioned 李香蘭 & 中國之夜 some time ago. There is one song related to it is 苏州夜曲. I checked the lyrics, the last sentence is something like "鐘が鳴ります寒山寺（かんざんじ） <寒山寺的钟声在繞樑回蕩>". However, in the Chinese version of 苏州夜曲, it becomes "水鄉苏州,花落春去,相思長堤,細柳依依." It sounds nice, but it just repeats the first section, omits the third section of the lyrics & rids of 寒山寺completely.
The temple is well kept & its surroundings are beautiful & romantic. 張繼 may not be that famous as we think, but "楓橋夜泊" sure puts 寒山寺on the romantic map of the world. Nowadays, everytime I read "楓橋夜泊", it reminds me of 寒山寺, 楓橋, water way, sunset & especially its haunting bell.
5 comments:
I am familiar with this poem by Chang Tzi. When I was growing up, on the wall in my house, there was this poem calligraphed by my father. And more than once I have heard my father and his friends "sing" (I wish I could use a better verb) this poem in Taiwanese. It appeared this was one of their favorite poems. I think it was popular in Taiwan even before the Japanese came. The Japanese appreciation of Chinese literature seems different from us Chinese as we were schooled to know our own. Well, the way we appreciate our own culture was pretty much at the mercy of the "wise" people who dictated what we should learn in school. In my opinion, at the time when we were in high school, we were taught that the greatest poets were the ones who praised the loyalty to "ruler" and affirmed patriotism. Example, Du Pu was considered superior to Li Pai, according to our standard textbook. If we were asked to recommend what Chinese literature high school kids should learn today, we probably would differ greatly from those who dictated our learning.
As for why the japanese high school kids were interested in Hun-San temple, I am not sure whether they got it from learning in school, or the good job done by the Chinese tourist bureau, or from the Japanese tour book, or even from their tour guide. But, in my experience, almost every foreign tour spots I have been, I have always encountered Japanese students. And I always wondered why not students from Taiwan.
「姑蘇城外寒山峙，夜半鐘聲到客船」，我第一次看到這首詩是在高中物理上，聲學中的一個習題。 它問為什麼，聲音會在這種情行下達到達船上。聲學我大半已經忘記。大慨與折射及溫度有關。 但根據幸峰的描述，寒山峙並不在山頂上。所以答案應該是半夜比較安靜，「信號雜音比」較大，就這麼簡單。這大慨是物理老師所不想看到的答案。
我喜歡這首詩，因為它能用28個字就吐出了中年人的孤獨的心聲。也許我們在中年並沒有孤獨過，但任然可以體會的出來。就像沈迷在一本小說中一樣，到了另一個生活的環境。或許是在我們大腦已 hardwire這萬古已來所留下來的公產，可以互相體會不同時代不同背景的感情。「古人曾見今時月，今月曾經照古人」，即使是這樣平淡的句子，每在月下，我都感到震撼。
Can't agree more with Mark Yang's remark that those simple poems can really shake your soul. They are timeless and they don't come along often. The also make you humble and purified.
Because of temperature gradient, the sound wave refracts and propagates from higher elevation downward to the gound during nighttime and propagates the other
way around during daytime. It doesn't matter how high 寒山寺 is, but rather the elevation difference between the temple and the river. If it's more than 50 meters, say, you might hear the effect. I had my personal experience. When I was
in 景美國小, I used to hike to a near-by hill during daytime. I heard the bell sound up there, while I couldn't hear the sound
in the street. Maybe Mark Lin can let us know the elevation difference between the temple and the river before we can argue whether it's real effect or just a
mater of S/N ration.
Happy Lunar New Year ( Jan. 26 )!
寒山寺 is not near the top of a mountain. It is not even in the hill (半山腰). It is right on the flat land near 苏州, about 5 km distance. 普明塔 is about 24 meters high, bell tower is about 8 meters above the ground & 楓橋 is about 600 meters from 寒山寺. I don't know exactly what the physics problem ask in the textbook. If we can hear the bell louder or more clear in the evening than that of daytime, it may be caused by both the inversion layer of the air & S/N ratio. The inversion layer of course is caused by the temperature anomoly related to the altitude. The wave can be refracted from A to B even A & B are in the same altitude. If you live near an amphitheater, you will notice that in summer time, the firework sounds much louder & clear in the evening. Also in the evening, the noise generated by people, bicycles & cars is reduced substantially. This enhances the "寒山寺 Effect".
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