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Tang Dynasty Lüshi Qian Qi

Sending a Monk Back to Japan

送僧歸日本

Sòng Sēng Guī Rì Běn

A monk's sea journey becomes Qian Qi's meditation on dreamlike travel, moonlit water, chanting, and a lamp held in the mind across distance.

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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

上國隨緣住，

shàng guó suí yuán zhù

You stayed in the great realm as circumstances led you;

Word meanings — Line 1
  1. 上 shàng great
  2. 國 guó realm
  3. 隨 suí follow
  4. 緣 yuán conditions
  5. 住 zhù stay
02

來途若夢行。

lái tú ruò mèng xíng

the road that brought you here seemed traveled in a dream.

Word meanings — Line 2
  1. 來 lái coming
  2. 途 tú road
  3. 若 ruò like
  4. 夢 mèng dream
  5. 行 xíng travel
03

浮天滄海遠，

fú tiān cāng hǎi yuǎn

The blue sea stretches far, lifting toward the sky;

Word meanings — Line 3
  1. 浮 fú float
  2. 天 tiān sky
  3. 滄 cāng blue
  4. 海 hǎi sea
  5. 遠 yuǎn far
04

去世法舟輕。

qù shì fǎ zhōu qīng

leaving the worldly life, your Dharma boat rides light.

Word meanings — Line 4
  1. 去 qù leave
  2. 世 shì world
  3. 法 fǎ Dharma
  4. 舟 zhōu boat
  5. 輕 qīng light
05

水月通禪觀，

shuǐ yuè tōng chán guān

The moon in water opens into contemplation;

Word meanings — Line 5
  1. 水 shuǐ water
  2. 月 yuè moon
  3. 通 tōng connect
  4. 禪 chán meditation
  5. 觀 guān contemplation
06

魚龍聽梵聲。

yú lóng tīng fàn shēng

fish and dragons listen to your chanting.

Word meanings — Line 6
  1. 魚 yú fish
  2. 龍 lóng dragons
  3. 聽 tīng listen
  4. 梵 fàn Buddhist
  5. 聲 shēng voice
07

惟憐一燈影，

wéi lián yì dēng yǐng

I cherish that single lamp's glow,

Word meanings — Line 7
  1. 惟 wéi only
  2. 憐 lián cherish
  3. 一 yì one
  4. 燈 dēng lamp
  5. 影 yǐng glow
08

萬里眼中明。

wàn lǐ yǎn zhōng míng

bright in my eyes across ten thousand li.

Word meanings — Line 8
  1. 萬 wàn ten thousand
  2. 里 lǐ li
  3. 眼 yǎn eyes
  4. 中 zhōng within
  5. 明 míng bright

English translation by PoemWell.

Read the whole poem

Original

上國隨緣住，

來途若夢行。

浮天滄海遠，

去世法舟輕。

水月通禪觀，

魚龍聽梵聲。

惟憐一燈影，

萬里眼中明。

Translation

You stayed in the great realm as circumstances led you;

the road that brought you here seemed traveled in a dream.

The blue sea stretches far, lifting toward the sky;

leaving the worldly life, your Dharma boat rides light.

The moon in water opens into contemplation;

fish and dragons listen to your chanting.

I cherish that single lamp's glow,

bright in my eyes across ten thousand li.

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?

    上國隨緣住，

    Pronunciation hint

    suí

    Reveal meaning and translation

    隨 — follow

    You stayed in the great realm as circumstances led you;

  2. Line 5 · What does the marked word mean?

    水月通禪觀，

    Pronunciation hint

    tōng

    Reveal meaning and translation

    通 — connect

    The moon in water opens into contemplation;

  3. Line 8 · What does the marked word mean?

    萬里眼中明。

    Pronunciation hint

    yǎn

    Reveal meaning and translation

    眼 — eyes

    bright in my eyes across ten thousand li.

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 · Looking back before looking east

上國 is the speaker’s elevated name for the Chinese realm. 隨緣 brings attention to the conditions that shaped the monk’s stay. 來途 is the route by which he arrived. The title looks ahead to his return to Japan, while 若夢 casts the earlier crossing as something remembered like a dream.

Lines 3–4 · Distance and lightness

浮天 gives the sea an appearance of rising toward the sky. 遠 sets the vast distance against 輕, the lightness of the boat. 去世 describes leaving worldly life in this context. 法舟 lets the actual vessel carry the further sense of a vessel of Buddhist teaching, which the English preserves with “Dharma boat.”

Lines 5–6 · The sea participates

水月 is the moon seen in water. 通 makes that image open into the monk’s contemplation. 梵聲 gives the voyage a voice, which the English renders as chanting. 魚龍 are imagined listening. The landscape that first seemed so far away becomes an active setting for the monk’s practice.

Lines 7–8 · A lamp still in view

憐 expresses the speaker’s affection for the single lamp. Its glow can also suggest the light of the teaching. 萬里 is the immense distance across which the journey takes the monk, while 眼中 locates the brightness in the speaker’s eyes. The voyage stretches outward and the final image stays with the person seeing him off.

Form and tone

The five-character regulated verse develops through remembered arrival, imagined voyage, sacred responses, and a lasting image. Its middle couplets place sea and sky beside spiritual language. Modern pinyin is supplied without an unverified historical tone grid.

Historical context

Qian Qi's title explicitly identifies the monk's destination as Japan. The poem does not supply his name, and the annotation does not assign one. This farewell differs from a roadside cup of wine: the imagined ocean voyage becomes a way of honoring the traveler's religious vocation.

Sources

Chinese text follows the main readings of Song seng gui Riben, Quan Tang shi, juan 237: 隨緣住, 來途, 浮天, 法舟, 禪觀, and 一燈影. Punctuation is editorial. English translation and annotations 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

Qian Qi. “Sending a Monk Back to Japan” (送僧歸日本). PoemWell. English translation by PoemWell. Updated .

https://poemwell.org/poems/sending-a-monk-back-to-japan

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.