前几日拍了一组昆明冬樱花含苞待放的照片,当日阳光明媚。今日气温骤降,寒风瑟瑟中,路过那株樱花树发现已经开了。
天气不晴朗,光线不佳,但盛开的樱花给人一丝暖意。
黄色的树叶,盛开的樱花,也算是冬日春城一景。
昆明是一座花的城市。据媒体报道,为迎接元旦与春节,近段时间以来,昆明绿化服务中心在北京路、广福路、一环路、机场路4条主要道路及8处立体花坛重新布置了冬季时令花卉,其中包括三色瑾、角瑾、虞美人、红色西洋杜鹃、羽衣甘蓝等。
花是美好的事物。张潮在其《幽梦影》里提到,昔人云:若无花月美人,不愿生此世界。予益一语云:若无翰墨棋酒,不必定作人身。
花月美人,花是排在第一位的。我们这个世界在佛经里被称为娑婆世界,娑婆汉译“堪忍”。
这世界是美丑并存的,甚至《维摩经佛国品》里面也有提到,舍利弗尊者怀疑佛陀的娑婆世界国土不净,于是佛陀以足趾按地,即时三千大千世界,无量庄严,大地金色,整个世界都变成清净庄严的国土。 一下子把舍利弗惊呆了。
这世界是否清净庄严每个人都有不同的感受。忽然想到威廉·布莱克长诗《Auguries of Innocence》的开头四行。
To see a world in a grain of sand,
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
And eternity in an hour.
从一粒沙子看到一个世界,
从一朵野花看到一个天堂,
把握在你手心里的就是无限,
永恒也就消融于一个时辰。
这四句在中国流传甚广,作者威廉·布莱克(William Blake 1757-1827),不仅是诗人还是一位水彩画家、版画家。但有意思的是,此诗虽然前四句家喻户晓,整首长诗却不在布莱克的代表作之列,评论家们也很少谈起。
这四句诗歌还有一个译本:一沙一世界,一花一天堂,双手握无限,刹那是永恒。很有禅的味道。全诗除去这四句,个人感受颇为平庸。
原诗附上:
Auguries of Innocence
William Blake
To see a world in a grain of sand
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
And eternity in an hour.
A robin redbreast in a cage
Puts all heaven in a rage.
A dove-house fill'd with doves and pigeons
Shudders hell thro' all its regions.
A dog starv'd at his master's gate
Predicts the ruin of the state.
A horse misused upon the road
Calls to heaven for human blood.
Each outcry of the hunted hare
A fibre from the brain does tear.
A skylark wounded in the wing,
A cherubim does cease to sing.
The game-cock clipt and arm'd for fight
Does the rising sun affright.
Every wolf's and lion's howl
Raises from hell a human soul.
The wild deer, wand'ring here and there,
Keeps the human soul from care.
The lamb misus'd breeds public strife,
And yet forgives the butcher's knife.
The bat that flits at close of eve
Has left the brain that won't believe.
The owl that calls upon the night
Speaks the unbeliever's fright.
He who shall hurt the little wren
Shall never be belov'd by men.
He who the ox to wrath has mov'd
Shall never be by woman lov'd.
The wanton boy that kills the fly
Shall feel the spider's enmity.
He who torments the chafer's sprite
Weaves a bower in endless night.
The caterpillar on the leaf
Repeats to thee thy mother's grief.
Kill not the moth nor butterfly,
For the last judgement draweth nigh.
He who shall train the horse to war
Shall never pass the polar bar.
The beggar's dog and widow's cat,
Feed them and thou wilt grow fat.
The gnat that sings his summer's song
Poison gets from slander's tongue.
The poison of the snake and newt
Is the sweat of envy's foot.
The poison of the honey bee
Is the artist's jealousy.
The prince's robes and beggar's rags
Are toadstools on the miser's bags.
A truth that's told with bad intent
Beats all the lies you can invent.
It is right it should be so;
Man was made for joy and woe;
And when this we rightly know,
Thro' the world we safely go.
Joy and woe are woven fine,
A clothing for the soul divine.
Under every grief and pine
Runs a joy with silken twine.
The babe is more than swaddling bands;
Throughout all these human lands;
Tools were made and born were hands,
Every farmer understands.
Every tear from every eye
Becomes a babe in eternity;
This is caught by females bright,
And return'd to its own delight.
The bleat, the bark, bellow, and roar,
Are waves that beat on heaven's shore.
The babe that weeps the rod beneath
Writes revenge in realms of death.
The beggar's rags, fluttering in air,
Does to rags the heavens tear.
The soldier, arm'd with sword and gun,
Palsied strikes the summer's sun.
The poor man's farthing is worth more
Than all the gold on Afric's shore.
One mite wrung from the lab'rer's hands
Shall buy and sell the miser's lands;
Or, if protected from on high,
Does that whole nation sell and buy.
He who mocks the infant's faith
Shall be mock'd in age and death.
He who shall teach the child to doubt
The rotting grave shall ne'er get out.
He who respects the infant's faith
Triumphs over hell and death.
The child's toys and the old man's reasons
Are the fruits of the two seasons.
The questioner, who sits so sly,
Shall never know how to reply.
He who replies to words of doubt
Doth put the light of knowledge out.
The strongest poison ever known
Came from Caesar's laurel crown.
Nought can deform the human race
Like to the armour's iron brace.
When gold and gems adorn the plow,
To peaceful arts shall envy bow.
A riddle, or the cricket's cry,
Is to doubt a fit reply.
The emmet's inch and eagle's mile
Make lame philosophy to smile.
He who doubts from what he sees
Will ne'er believe, do what you please.
If the sun and moon should doubt,
They'd immediately go out.
To be in a passion you good may do,
But no good if a passion is in you.
The whore and gambler, by the state
Licensed, build that nation's fate.
The harlot's cry from street to street
Shall weave old England's winding-sheet.
The winner's shout, the loser's curse,
Dance before dead England's hearse.
Every night and every morn
Some to misery are born,
Every morn and every night
Some are born to sweet delight.
Some are born to sweet delight,
Some are born to endless night.
We are led to believe a lie
When we see not thro' the eye,
Which was born in a night to perish in a night,
When the soul slept in beams of light.
God appears, and God is light,
To those poor souls who dwell in night;
But does a human form display
To those who dwell in realms of day.