清涼山志 - Qingliang Shan Zhi
In the opening illustration, Mañjuśrī sits with his lion steed upon a rock. The rock is balanced precariously over a misty ocean, whose clouds surround the bodhisattva. The ocean may be a metaphor for existence within the cycle of death and rebirth, which is often referred to in Buddhist texts as “drowning in the sea of life and death”.
Following are two maps which show the geography of Mount Qingliang. The carefully labelled locations include the five major peaks of the mountain, the Hutuo River (滹沱河) running to the north, the myriad temples, a mountain pass, and a sal tree (娑羅樹) on the mountain.
The famous literatus Zhang Shangying (張商英), who wrote the introduction to the Illustrated Eulogies of Mañjuśrī’s Guidance (佛國禪師文書指南圖讚), also found in this exhibition, wrote a series of five lüshi (律詩), or regulated verse poems, for each of Mount Qingliang’s five peaks. These lüshi were collected in Volume 10, “Verses of Renowned Poets”, in Book Four of the Record (《清涼山志・貞・名公題詠》). The first of these, dedicated to the eastern peak, is rendered in translation below.
迢迢雲水陟峰巒，漸覺天低宇宙寬。
東北分明觀大海，西南咫尺望長安。
圓光化現珠千顆，聳日初昇火一團。
風雨每從岩下起，那羅洞裏有龍蟠。
Clouds and rivers are distant as I ascend the mountain peaks,
And begin to feel the lowness of the sky, the breadth of the cosmos.
To the northeast the great ocean can be clearly seen,
To the southwest the city of Chang’an seems an arm’s length away.
The round lights of stars appear like thousands of pearls,
And the towering sun, having just risen, is a ball of fire.
Each time the wind and rain pick up from below the rocks,
A dragon must be coiling in Nara Cave.
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