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Tang Dynasty Jueju Liu Changqing

Seeing Off the Monk Lingche

送靈澈上人

Sòng Língchè shàng rén

A monk returns alone through distant hills at sunset. Follow the bell, bamboo hat, and lengthening path that turn a farewell into a quiet receding image.

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Read the original and its translation together. Open a line’s word meanings for a closer look.

About the text and pronunciation

The simplified view changes character forms, not the edition. Notes and sources retain the cited text.

The Chinese source is shown in traditional characters by default, with a simplified view available. Pinyin is modern standard Mandarin, a reading aid, not Tang or Song pronunciation.

Word by word, in the order of the line. A gloss is a crib. It is not the translation.

01

蒼蒼竹林寺，

cāng cāng zhú lín sì

Deep green, the Bamboo Grove Temple;

Word meanings — Line 1
  1. 蒼 cāng deep green
  2. 蒼 cāng deep green
  3. 竹 zhú bamboo
  4. 林 lín grove
  5. 寺 sì temple
02

杳杳鐘聲晚。

yǎo yǎo zhōng shēng wǎn

far away, the evening bell.

Word meanings — Line 2
  1. 杳 yǎo far away
  2. 杳 yǎo far away
  3. 鐘 zhōng bell
  4. 聲 shēng sound
  5. 晚 wǎn evening
03

荷笠帶夕陽，

hè lì dài xī yáng

Carrying your bamboo hat and the evening sunlight,

Word meanings — Line 3
  1. 荷 hè carry
  2. 笠 lì bamboo hat
  3. 帶 dài carry
  4. 夕 xī evening
  5. 陽 yáng sun
04

青山獨歸遠。

qīng shān dú guī yuǎn

you return alone, far into the green mountains.

Word meanings — Line 4
  1. 青 qīng green
  2. 山 shān mountains
  3. 獨 dú alone
  4. 歸 guī return
  5. 遠 yuǎn far

English translation by PoemWell.

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Original

蒼蒼竹林寺，

杳杳鐘聲晚。

荷笠帶夕陽，

青山獨歸遠。

Translation

Deep green, the Bamboo Grove Temple;

far away, the evening bell.

Carrying your bamboo hat and the evening sunlight,

you return alone, far into the green mountains.

Try it from memory

After reading, recall the underlined word or phrase in each line. Say its meaning before opening the answer. These prompts use the text edition printed above.

  1. Line 1 · What does the marked word mean?

    蒼蒼竹林寺，

    Pronunciation hint

    zhú

    Reveal meaning and translation

    竹 — bamboo

    Deep green, the Bamboo Grove Temple;

  2. Line 3 · What does the marked word mean?

    荷笠帶夕陽，

    Pronunciation hint

    dài

    Reveal meaning and translation

    帶 — carry

    Carrying your bamboo hat and the evening sunlight,

  3. Line 4 · What does the marked word mean?

    青山獨歸遠。

    Pronunciation hint

    dú

    Reveal meaning and translation

    獨 — alone

    you return alone, far into the green mountains.

One more question: what changes?

Compare the opening and closing lines. What changes in the scene, the speaker’s attention, or the feeling? Choose a Chinese word as evidence, then compare your reading with the notes. More than one answer may be reasonable.

Line-by-line notes →

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Line-by-line notes

Lines 1–2 — A temple seen and heard

蒼蒼 deepens the color around the Bamboo Grove Temple. 杳杳 gives the bell’s sound distance. The English uses short phrases for both, letting the setting and the evening bell be perceived before anyone takes a step.

Lines 3–4 — Carrying the light away

荷 is hè, “carry,” here. The monk has a bamboo hat, while 帶 extends the idea of carrying to the light that goes with him. This text follows 夕陽, evening sunlight. The familiar 斜陽 reading specifies its slant. The English gives the motion to an implied “you.” 歸 makes the journey a return for Lingche as he leaves the speaker's view. Read 青山 after 蒼蒼. The color holds together the temple we first saw and the mountains into which one person recedes.

Form and tone

This five-character quatrain begins with two compact phrases and ends in movement. Color brackets the poem, from 蒼蒼 to 青山, while the bell gives depth to a place the eye can barely reach. The final 遠 lets the parting continue beyond the last line.

See jueju for the larger formal pattern. Pinyin gives modern Mandarin pronunciation; a historical level/oblique grid is not inferred from those modern tones.

Historical context

上人 is a respectful title for a Buddhist monk. The poem’s named recipient is Lingche, but it gives no direct quotation from him and no reason for his journey. The selected text has 夕陽; the source note distinguishes it from the widespread 斜陽 reading.

Continue with Liu Changqing and the farewell reading path. Compare Sending Off a Monk and Yellow Crane Tower Farewell using the reading connections below.

Sources

送靈澈上人 — Chinese text. Checked against the linked Wikisource transcription. The displayed traditional text follows this reading. Punctuation and line breaks are editorial. Translation, glosses, and reading notes are original to PoemWell.

English translation, gloss, and notes by PoemWell. The translation is original to this site.

The Chinese source is shown in traditional characters by default, with a simplified view available. Pinyin is modern standard Mandarin, a reading aid, not Tang or Song pronunciation.

Updated .

Cite this reading

Liu Changqing. “Seeing Off the Monk Lingche” (送靈澈上人). PoemWell. English translation by PoemWell. Updated .

https://poemwell.org/poems/seeing-off-lingche

Credit the poet for the Chinese original and PoemWell for this translation and commentary. Use the permanent page link above; source editions are listed separately.