Chapter 27 Chapter Twenty-Six

The stories of Su Dongpo in Huizhou are always inseparable from Chaoyun.After his death, Baihefeng's residence was turned into "Chaoyun Hall".Wang Chaoyun is from Hangzhou.On the way back to Beijing from Dongpo's first exile, her son died in infancy, which added a lot of bitterness to the journey.She followed him afterward.Now accompany him into exile again.Qin Guan once wrote a poem saying that she is as beautiful as a spring garden, and her eyes are like the morning light.She was still young, only 31 years old when she arrived in Huizhou.Su Dongpo is fifty-seven years old, but he has white hair and a beautiful face, and his love is still deep.She is bright, cheerful, vivacious, and spirited.Among the women Su Dongpo encountered in his life, she seemed to understand him best.She admired this great poet and tried her best to reach the same level as her husband in spirit.Su Dongpo lived in exile with Chaoyun in his later years. He not only wrote down his heartfelt thanks, but also wrote poems praising her, and shared their enthusiasm for an immortal friendship.

Su Dongpo often compares Chaoyun to the "Heavenly Lady Vimo".The scriptures record that the Buddha once incarnated as a sage in the forest and lived in a certain city. One day he discussed Buddhism with his disciples.A nymph appeared in the sky and sprinkled flower petals on them.The petals on the bodies of all the Bodhisattvas fell to the ground, except for one person.The petals were attached to his clothes, no matter how everyone patted them, they couldn't be waved away.The celestial girl asked, "Why do you wave the petals off his body?" Someone said, "The petals are not legal, so they stick to his clothes." If believers still have different visions, their thoughts, words and deeds are not legal. Only by eliminating all differences can we live according to the law. The Bodhisattva who does not have flower petals has eliminated all other appearances. Just like fear, unless people are afraid first, fear It will not penetrate the heart. If believers are afraid of death, sight, smell, taste, and touch will all have the opportunity to deceive them. Those who conquer fear can transcend all senses."

When Su Dongpo arrived in Huizhou, he wrote two poems to Chaoyun, in which love sentiment and religious sentiment are intertwined, which is very excellent.The first poem was written within two weeks of his arrival, praising her not like Bai Juyi's concubine Xiaoman leaving the elderly lord, but rather like Tongde accompanying Lingxuan all his life.He regretted that Chaoyun's child died and did not grow up, and compared Chaoyun to the celestial maiden Vimo.Putting aside her old long-sleeved dance clothes, she is now busy reading scriptures and making alchemy.When the elixir is refined, she will say goodbye to him and go to the fairy mountain, no longer like Wu Yang's fairy, thinking about the marriage in the world.

The sublimation of passion is more evident in the next verse.Emotion and religion are mixed very skillfully: Chaoyun is also very interested in Taoist longevity techniques.When he arrived in Huizhou, Su Dongpo felt that he should practice alchemy seriously.Whether he lives on the left bank or the right bank, his study in Huizhou is always called "Si Wu Xie Zhai".Scholars usually use one or two words to express their outlook on life when they choose the name of their study.Today Su Dongpo not only believes in a simple life and innocent thinking, but also believes that "thinking innocent" is the basis of a simple life.Controlling the mind in order to achieve immortality is the conclusion he obtained by combining the teachings of Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism.But the inscription he wrote for "Si Wu Xie Zhai" has more meaning than that.The article pointed out that he devoted himself to cultivating the "inner alchemy" of the lower abdomen.This is a rhyming inscription, and he is quite proud of it; but he uses all Taoist esoteric terms, and the reader will not be able to understand it if it is not translated into English.Simply put, he wants to absorb the aura of food and the essence of medicinal herbs; with the help of lead and mercury, he needs to nourish the righteousness.It is also useful to bask in the sun and moonlight.What he planned to refine was "Si Wu Xie Pill".He believes now is the time.He said in a note that Bai Juyi also practiced alchemy but failed: he built a cottage on the top of Lushan Mountain with a built-in alchemy furnace, and the first day he accepted a new official position, both the alchemy furnace and the alchemy pot broke down at the same time.It can be seen that longevity and glory cannot have both.Man must decide whether to live an active life on earth, or to run away from everything and pursue eternal life.Now Su Dongpo believes that he has bid farewell to glory and hopes that his pursuit of immortality will be successful.

We have no way of knowing how much confidence he has in the possibility of refining the inner alchemy.He was a keen observer, and although he often took danmer and played Taoism, he saw that the foundation of health lay in following a few simple rules of common sense.In a short letter he wrote to Taoist Lu, a tuberculosis patient, he said, "Ji Zhongsan said: Keep it as one, raise it as a harmony, and make peace and benefit day by day, which is the same as Dashun." The convenience and activities you can enjoy, that is, drinking spring water, basking in the sun and so on. Su Dongpo pursues immortality, and Chaoyun also cooperates with him on the other hand.Around the second year of Shaosheng (1095), Su Dongpo began to sleep alone.He wrote to a friend and said: "There is no other way to keep in good health, sleep peacefully without thinking, and be self-confident." In another letter to Zhang Lei, he admitted that he had slept alone for a year and a half, and felt that it had benefited a lot.He said that abstinence is difficult at first, just like vegetarians cut off meat. He also recommends the following methods: For example, a person who cuts off meat should not aspire to never eat. He should try it for three months first, which is easier to implement.After three months have passed, it can be extended for another three months, and so on.

Chaoyun is in a dilemma about religion.She has formally learned Buddhism from Bhikkhuni Yichong.Buddhism has a special set of views on sexuality.Buddhism correctly stated that the world we perceive with our senses is an illusion, and only "Buddha" is absolutely real.Our consciousness is wrapped in the habit of perception, and we must work hard to break the habit of perception and escape the illusion of the sensory world in order to be liberated.Regardless of what Confucian critics might say, both Su Dongpo and Chaoyun—now his wife—were considered Buddhists.Together they built the release pool.Su Dongpo said that Chaoyun likes to do good deeds, which is the teaching of Buddhism.

Su Dongpo's self-denial is very strict, and it doesn't stop there.In the second half of the second year of Shaosheng (1095), he suffered from hemorrhoids and lost a lot of blood.He healed himself.Not only did he read all the medicine books, but he often added notes to explain the properties of various confusing herbs.He has a theory about hemorrhoids, saying that a small bug gnaws in the body, and the most natural treatment is "the host is dry, and the guest abandons himself."He cut off all food, not even rice, and only ate unsalted flour bread, flax, and Poria cocos.After a few months, he recovered temporarily.

At this time, he became more and more suspicious of his achievements in alchemy.He found himself too excitable to be immortal.He wrote to his younger brother to discuss the method of cinnabar preservation, saying that Ziyou had a calm temperament and a higher possibility of success.He wrote poems and talked about ancient books, saying "Golden pills cannot be made, and the sea of ​​​​clouds is small in the safe period."What's the use even if the golden elixir is refined?All it takes is a deep breath to control the cum, which he's already done. He is not sure about his future.As soon as he arrived here, he said that he wanted to settle down in Huizhou.On the other hand, he didn't know where he would be demoted next.If he wanted to live in Huizhou forever, he would first build a house and ask his descendants to move here from Yixing.In September of the second year of Shaosheng (1095), the royal family paid homage to the ancestors, and as usual, they should amnesty the world.It was not until the end of that year that he knew that Minister Yuanyou was not included in the amnesty.This news at least has the effect of calming the nerves and making him calm down.He wrote to Cheng Zhicai and said: "Seeing recent events, I no longer have the hope of returning to the north. However, the center is very safe, and it is not a good idea. But for example, I was originally a Huizhou scholar, and I did not rank first. Why not." To a friend Sun Xie (Zhikang) wrote in his letter: "There is no day for returning to the north today, because he claims to be a benefactor." To Cao Fu Sixun, he wrote: "There is a recent report that will never be repeated. Sit firmly Here, let’s do whatever you want. Nowadays, they are all monks, but they eat some wine and meat.”

Now that everything is settled, he resolves to build a house.In the second half of that year, he wrote a long letter to Wang Gong: "When a certain came here in August, he came here alone with his youngest son. He did not lose his place, and since he abandoned this and the world, he was at peace physically and mentally. The child is also detached. The son would not have been born without this father, hehe. The son can’t help but get books, he is very comfortable, and he has no way. Going to the north and south, he will have a destiny, and this heart does not want to return. Next year, he will build a house and be a Huizhou native.”

In March of the following year, Su Dongpo began to build a house on the top of a four-foot-high hill in the east of the river, which was very close to the city wall of Guishan.After long-term wars and famines, this house is still there today, and it is called "Chaoyun Hall".It is called "White Crane Residence" in Su Dongpo's works, and it can see the beautiful scenery of the river turning from the north to the northeast.On a mere half-acre lot, and constrained by the hillock behind and the steep slope below, the layout of the house had to accommodate a small and limited amount of land, wide on one side and narrow on the other.There are already two huts at one end of the city wall, one belongs to Zhai Xiucai, and the other belongs to Mrs. Lin, an old woman who makes wine. They are good neighbors and good friends.He dug a well four feet deep.Mr. Zhai and Mrs. Lin also got a lot of convenience.On the other hand, Su Dongpo can drink on credit.Later he left here and continued to give gifts to the old lady.

The house is very delicate, with a total of twenty "rooms", which in Chinese means a spatial unit.The small open space at the southern end is planted with oranges, grapefruits, lychees, red bayberries, loquats, several juniper trees and gardenias.A prefect looked for flower and fruit trees for him, and Su Dongpo asked him to find medium-sized ones, because he couldn't wait for the small trees to grow up when he was old, and it was difficult to transplant big trees.When it comes to big trees, Su Dongpo once asked his friends to mark the location first, and then dig out the trees.When transplanting a big tree, the Chinese often cut off a big root and a middle root, cover it with soil, and let the big tree adapt slowly.In the second year, cut the big root on the opposite side and cover it with soil.In the third year, the orientation of the trunk is marked, and when transplanted to a new location, the orientation of the trunk should be exactly the same as the original.Now Su Dongpo's "Siwuxie Zhai" stands on Baihe Peak, and another hall is called "Deyoulin Hall".Confucius said that "virtue is not alone, there must be neighbors", and the name comes from this.Coincidentally, these two names both have four characters, and common study names mostly have three characters. Su Dongpo named the study with four characters, which created a new fashion at that time.The neighbor's house was to the northeast behind his house and was completely blocked by his house.The front door on the north overlooks the river, and you can see the countryside several miles away. The scenery is magnificent, and you can even have a panoramic view of Baishui Mountain and Luofu Mountain in the distance. When he was on the beam, he wrote a Fu, which fully described the scenery on all sides.Laying beams, like laying foundations, is a big event in the community.Neighbors brought chicken and pork to celebrate.There are six verses in this hymn, all of which begin with colloquial terms, like "Anchor Carrier" or "hey ho" in Shakespeare's poem: These six verses describe the scenery in front of the house from the east, west, south, north, upper and lower sides respectively.There is a Buddhist temple hidden in the tall forest on the mountain to the east. When he sleeps in spring, he hears the bell of the temple.Looking to the west, you can see the arch bridge spanning the emerald green stream. The county magistrate came to visit him at night, and the lights on the causeway were faintly visible.There are old trees reflected in the deep river water in the south, and there are two orange trees in his own orchard.The best scenery is in the north, where the river surrounds the foot of the mountain and turns to the county town.There is a good fishing spot on the nearby shore, and he can spend the whole morning by the water without feeling that time flies. He asked God to bless everyone.May the farmer's barn be always full, the sea be free from storms, the air in the countryside be clean, and the inhabitants always be healthy; with a good harvest, may Mrs. Lin's fine wines be always on credit to customers.Finally, I pray to God to bless all my friends and wish them a long life and good luck. At this time Su Dongpo encountered a sad tragedy.In the second year of Shaosheng (1095), the new residence was about to be completed on July 5th, but Chaoyun died of plague.This is an area where dysentery is endemic, and she may have died of dysentery.Su Dongpo's son Su Guo went out to move wood, and she was not buried until August 3rd.She is a devout Buddhist, and she recited a verse from the "Diamond Sutra" before she died: