Wiping the Dust at the Five-Hundred-Stone Grotto Heaven, Vol. 5

Ru Yan; the junior officer Ji Kun; the student Zeng Menong from Longxi; Zong Zao; and the Japanese scholar Nagai, intended to gather as many as twenty-one people. Those who promised but did not arrive are still reserved a seat. original: "擬彙為大". Definition: intended to be gathered together on a large scale.

The volume begins with my own humble work. I am but a hermit living in a remote island, surrounded by dust, speaking of poetry and books. If people in the marketplace saw this, they would likely mock me. Yet, these playful writings from my idle days have earned the praise of like-minded people across the sea. Could it be as the ancients said: those who love something deeply will guide others toward the Way? If I am remembered because of this, it is truly something I did not initially intend.

In the ninth month of this autumn, friends from the Lequn Hall in Singapore wrote a postscript for a painting of me selecting poetry. It says: "Last year, in the Dingyou year 1897, Master Shuyuan returned to Singapore to open the Five Hundred Stone Cave-Heaven. In the leisure between hosting guests, he solicited poems from friends at home and abroad, compiling several volumes of the Five Hundred Stone Cave-Heaven Feather-Duster. It contains work from over two hundred families, covering the four dynasties of Daoguang, Xianfeng, Tongzhi, and Guangxu, largely focusing on writers from Fujian and Guangdong. Nothing like this has existed before overseas." My friends asked me to compose a poem to record this event. Just then, Master Xu Lunting a native of Jinjiang, given name Yun arrived from Fujian. Since he could use Western photography methods, I asked him to take a picture, and my friends all requested to write poems for it. This will also serve as a historical record for those who write about the Five Hundred Stone Cave-Heaven in the future.