百步洪 The 100-Step River Rapids’ Ride

https://soundcloud.com/user-312174614/the-100-step-river-rapids-ride

百步洪

(王定国访余于彭城，一日，棹小舟与颜长道携盼、英、卿三子，游泗水，北上圣女山，南下百步洪，吹笛饮酒，乘月而归。余时以事不得往，夜著羽衣，伫立于黄楼上，相视而笑。以为李太白死，世间无此乐三百余年矣。定国既去逾月，复与参寥师放舟洪下，追怀曩游，以为陈迹，岿然而叹。故作二诗，一以遗参寥，一以寄定国，且示颜长道、舒尧文邀同赋云。)

原作: 苏轼（字子瞻, 号东坡居士; 11世纪北宋）

新版及赏析: 闵晓红(2023)

长洪斗落生跳波，轻舟南下如投梭，

水师绝叫凫雁起，乱石一线争搓磨。

有如兔走鹰隼落，骏马下注千丈坡。

断弦离柱箭脱手，飞电过隙珠翻荷。

四山眩转风掠耳，但见流沫生千涡。

险中得乐虽一快，何异水伯夸秋河。

我生乘化日夜逝，坐觉一念愈新罗。

纷纷争夺醉梦里，岂信荆棘埋铜驼。

觉来俯仰失千劫，回视此水殊委蛇。

君看岸边苍石上，古来篙眼如蜂窠。

但应此心无所住，造物虽驶如吾何。

回船上马各归去，多言饶饶师所呵。

The 100-Step River Rapids’ Ride

written by Su Shi (11th AC, social name 'Dongpo')

Revision+ annot. by Julia Min (2023)

(Intro: My friend Wang Dingguo came to visit me in Peng City, Xuzhou. Tied up with work, I arranged for Yan Changdao and three courtesans—Pan, Ying, and Qing—to accompany him on a Hundred-Step Rapids Ride. They boated down the River Si, paid homage to Mount Saint, then rode the rapids for the thrill of it—a happy day of flute music and wine, returning in the moonlight. I greeted them at the Yellow Pavilion in my light robe, and we carried on the joy with more drinks. It felt like catching Li Bai's spirit, missing for over 300 years. How could I have missed it! Dingguo's been gone a month now, and the yearning's grown strong, so I invited my monk friend Can Liao for another Rapids trip. What an experience! Here's the result—two poems: one for Can Liao, one for Dingguo. I've also shared them with Yan Changdao and Shu Raowen for their thoughts.)

The river suddenly plunges over treacherous stones,

A small boat, a shuttle in a loom, darts down alone -

Like a falcon diving for the rabbit that breaks free,

Like a stallion galloping down a long rugged slope,

Like a string snapped on the qin, lightning in a bottle,

Like dew rolling off lotus leaf, the flight of an arrow.

Her crew cry out orders as the wild geese take wing.

Southward they zig-zag, leaping down the stream.

The surrounding hills reel round, ears filled with wind

Till the rapids end, whirlpools of white foam swirling.

The thrill of danger is pure joy, the swifter the better,

It’s nothing but the River Lord, exulting in his water.

My own life is swept away with nights and days.

One flash of thought may drift to a place far away.

We strain for fame in a big sea of drunken dreams.

A palace fallen to thistles and thorns, who foresees?

All lifetimes spin like whirlpools till awakening,

A close call, if blessed, from torrents to still stream.

You can see both banks lined with dark green stones,

Riddled like a honeycomb, deep with punters’ holes.

I’d free this self from an earthly being to a beingless,

To outwit the Creator’s design that navigates mankind.

We’d better stop for the shore, each to his own horse.

My friend Master Can has no patience for blabby talk.

Notes:

1. ‘the qin’: a Chinese musical instrument with 7 strings, very popular in the Song dynasty. In fact, it was considered a must for the gentlemen’s society. Yes, it was played by men, as music and art were regarded as two main qualities in a gentleman’s taste for life.

2. ‘River Lord’: referring to the Daoist saint figure Zhuang Zi’s book Rivers in Autumn, a story about the Lord of the Yellow River, who was very proud of His destructive power when His river flooded in Autumn, until He reached the East Sea, where He realised His river was nothing compared with the broad sea. The implication here is that, as humans with limited senses in a short lifetime, we are like a frog at the bottom of a well, unable to see beyond the bigger picture of mankind and the universe.

3. ‘flash thought’: or ‘a flash of thought’, as against this physical body of this life, an invisible thought can travel far and wide, and much quicker than the rapids.

4. ‘being… beingless’: the same implication as above, a free soul detached from the physical world, the earthly joy and glory, to become an awakened spirit.

Appreciation:

Have you ever tried rafting down a river's rapids for the thrill of it?

If so, any hindsight gained about life and death?

The 100-Step Rapids Ride was a popular tourist destination in the southeast of Peng City. If every experience in this world is meant for us to learn and grow, then perhaps no one has gained a better insight into life than Su Shi on a rafting ride. This poem was written in 1078, when Su Shi was the governor of Xuzhou. We all know that Daoist philosophy has coloured his life like the yellow in the great artist Van Gogh’s works, evoking a feeling closer to nature, a cosy oyster cove. The conflict between returning to the mountains and pursuing glory has been a lifelong battle for Su Shi, a theme that runs through his artistic works. He is just one example among many, ancient and modern, of the everlasting conflict between physical pursuit and spiritual aspiration, which plays out every day. This world of Earth is perhaps, as some say, a school to help us transcend from physical to spiritual, so the presence of duality was born in the Creator’s work as the essence of every phenomenon. The theme reminds me of another poem by Su Shi, “To Zhang Woquan, at the Bracing Pavilion of Huangzhou” (《水调歌头 黄州快哉亭赠张偓佺》), which was written just a couple of years later.

Again, the poem is structured with a shift from scene to theme, with the first stanza describing what he experienced, followed by what he thought in the 2nd stanza. The rapids ride is highlighted by his wild imagination, a stream of consciousness that jumps from a falcon to a rabbit to lightning in a bottle. Vivid pictures flash one after another, matching the chasing pace of the leaping boat – a clever arrangement for a stronger artistic play on the readers’ heartbeats. Another feature is the Zen humour in quietude sensed in the concluding couplet about Master Can Liao, a poet and essayist among many of his Daoist monk friends. There’s a whole chapter about Can Liao visiting him at Huangzhou, followed by interesting and touching stories that I’d share at another time. 

Reference:

1. Blooming Alone in Winter by Gordon Osing, Julia Min and Huang Haipeng，published by the People's Publication House Henan Province in 1990 (《寒心未肯随春态》戈登.奥赛茵，闵晓红，黄海鹏) (““Baibuhong” --The great river falls suddenly to a tumult of waters,/ Southward a light boat flies, hurled like a shuttle, / Her crew crying out orders and excitements, the wild ducks rising,/ Scarcely missing the rocks scattered everywhere in their flying./ Like a rabbit breaks when the falcon dives for him,/ Like a stallion gallops down into a boundless valley,/ Like a string snapped on a qin, like an arrow shot from the hand,/ Like lightning they zig-zag, they drop, like a pearl off a lotus. / Between four walls of mountains they spin with wind-filled ears,/ Seeing nothing but swirling foam and countless whirlpools;/ But the danger is pure joy to them, the swifter the better./ What difference is it if the Autumn God exults in his river?// My own life is swept away with nights and days disappearing;/ I see now one thought may end in a far-away land./ We strain and squeeze for fame and power in a drunken dream,/ Who don’t foresee thorns and thistles will bury the palace doors./ When they wake up, they’ll have lost a thousand years./ Behind me here the river has never ceased winding./ You can see both banks lined with dark green stones/ Riddled with punting holes from way back, honeycombed./ Out there somewhere’s “the crowd”; why should I worry about changes?/ Did the creator, who sails the whole thing, aim my heart?/ Let’s leave the boat to her fate and return to the horses;/ My monk-friend won’t stand for long lessons on which world is home. ”)

2. picture from 无犀之谈 via Google；