Gan Yu 6 - Chen Z'iang

Gan Yu – 6

I beheld the Dragon pass

Through the Cycle of Changes

To the point of knowing

The essence of the Yang

And also traveled to

Darkest depths of the

Stone Forest and into

The Cave’s deepest recess

Of which no record remains

Such was the knowledge

Of the ancients

Who attained the Way

Through living in the realm

Of cosmic Union and Change

They attained Dark Mysteries

Beyond ordinary comprehension

Today how can we begin to fathom

Such profound darkness

When the common sort are

Constrained by plain sight

Or act as if drunk with delight

In their pursuit of the Immortal Elixir

But on Kun Lun Mountain

There is a Tree of Jasper

To calmly pluck its fruit

It takes a hero

吾观龙变化

乃知至阳精

石林何冥密

幽洞无留行

古之得仙道

信与元化并

玄感非象识

谁能测沈冥

世人拘目见

酣酒笑丹经

昆仑有瑶树

 安得采其英

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The Gan Yu by Chen Zi'ang is a remarkable collection of 38 poems that were written in the earliest years of the Tang period. Often overlooked even by scholars of Chinese literature, these poems have remained somewhat overshadowed by the brilliance of the later Tang poets, such as Wang Wei, Li Bai and Du Fu, who came to prominence over the course of the ensuing years of the 7^th and 8^th centuries.  

A few years ago I translated most of the poems from Chen Zi'ang's Gan Yu cycle and recently I’ve had a chance to revisit the material.    In some ways these poems present a challenge to the translator and modern reader because they are steeped in Daoist wisdom and mystery, containing many references to people, places and events from China’s rich historical and spiritual past, some real, some legendary, often a mixture of both.  For instance the Kun Lun mountains mentioned in the last stanza are located in the heart of Daoist Paradise and the Stone Forest mentioned in the first stanza (shown in the photo above) is located in current day Yunnan Province.  In the world of the Gan Yu – both the mountains and the forest enjoy this remarkably complex status – being part of a landscape that is legendary, mysterious and vividly real at the same time. 

For me this is precisely how and why the Gan Yu poems come to life.  They are filled with metaphorical richness, not so much as a matter of literary or poetic technique, but as a matter of the poet’s personal beliefs.  In other words, the world as the poet encounters and describes it is everywhere rich in portent and meaning.  Daoist poetry, for that reason, cannot be fully appreciated separate and apart from Daoist cosmology.

Gan Yu, by the way, may be literally translated as “feelings encountered along the way.”  I’m not aware of any use of these two characters in the title of a Chinese poem prior to Chen Z’iang, but thereafter Gan Yu begins to appear in the work of other poets, becoming something of a sub-genre or distinctive style of poem.   Here for instance is a fine Gan Yu poem by another Tang poet – Zhang Jiu Ling, which I previously published on the blog.

The voice or style of a Gan Yu poem is both personal and contemplative – and is particularly well suited to a poet who is prone to musing in a spiritual vein.  I think John Donne is an example of an English language poet who writes Gan Yu's to great success.   Personally, I’m very fond of the Gan Yu, and I think it’s been an important influence in my own writing, having attempted a number of Gan Yu poems of my own over the years – for example my Gan Yu 24 here,  and A Poem About the Gan Yu here and another Gan Yu poem here.   

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About the Gan Yu: