Wang Wei - Clear Waters
Ivan M. Granger March 28th, 2008
Cooling Off
by Wang Wei
English version by Willis Barnstone
Clear waters drift through the immensity of a tall forest.
In front of me a huge river mouth
receives the long wind.
Deep ripples hold white sand
and white fish swimming as in a void.
I sprawl on a big rock,
billows nourishing my humble body.
I gargle with water and wash my feet.
A fisherman pauses out on the surf.
So many fish long for bait. I look
only to the east with its lotus leaves.
— from To Touch the Sky: Poems of Mystical, Spiritual & Metaphysical Light, Translated by Willis Barnstone
/ Photo by mckaysavage /
One way to understand this poem is to read the “clear waters” as the mind when it is still and pure. The mind becomes free from the silt of projections, it becomes clear, empty, the “void” in which the fish swim.
The sand and the fish are white, hinting at the golden-white radiance often perceived in meditative ecstasy.
He “gargles” with water, suggesting the sense of drinking or swallowing a pure substance — the celestial drink. And he washes his feet, the foundation of awareness, in the purity of this “water.”
“So many fish long for bait.” The fish, here, are the remnants of darting thoughts. They long for “bait,” to be fed with constant attention, the busyness of the discursive mind. But the “fisherman,” the meditator, simply pauses, watching them without feeding them.
Wang Wei looks to the east, the direction of the rising sun and spiritual illumination, where the “lotus leaves” of the awakened consciousness open.
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Wang Wei |
Wang Wei is considered to be one of the three great poets of the Tang Period, along with Li Po and Tu Fu. Wang Wei was also a great painter of the era.
Wang Wei’s father was a local government official, and his mother was from a distinguished literary family.
Although Wang Wei’s poetry speaks of the Buddhist and Taoist ideals of retreat and life amidst nature, he served most of his life at the Tang court. Through his work, he gained wealth, and donated generously to Buddhist monasteries. Like many government officials, he created a large country estate, to which he returned whenever possible.
His wife died when he was still a young man. In 750, after a full career at the court, and following the death of his mother, Wang Wei retired to meditate and write and paint.
In the late 750’s, Wang Wei was captured by rebels of the An Lushan uprising — and he joined their rebellion. When Imperial control was restored, Wang Wei was briefly imprisoned for his collaboration, but he was officially rehabilitated and returned to government service until his death in 761.
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