Manual of the Mustard Seed Garden, Volume 5

Page 19

The bustling city is far behind,

original: "朝市深" (cháoshì shēn). In Chinese literati culture, the "morning market" represents the noise and stress of official life and urban commerce, contrasted here with the depth of the secluded landscape.

A hundred miles of scenery unfold beneath the brush.

original: "筆底百" (bǐ dǐ bǎi...). This refers to the artist's ability to capture the feeling of a vast landscape (a hundred li) within the small physical dimensions of a fan.

Gazing at the last light of dawn,

What is that distant shadow?

One sees a small thatched boat.

Thatched boat蓬舟 (péngzhōu): A small boat with a woven bamboo or grass cover, frequently used in painting to symbolize the simple, unburdened life of a fisherman or a scholar in recluse.

The pool invites a calm mind,

As lotuses rise through the steaming mist.

original: "蒸荷" (zhēng hé). This describes the humid, misty atmosphere of a summer pond where the heat causes moisture to rise among the flowers.

With such natural charm,

One is fortunately blessed to find this ease.

A wild sentiment,

A rustic comfort;

original: "野情野適" (yě qíng yě shì). "Wild" (yě) here does not mean "untamed" in a dangerous sense, but rather "unspoiled" and "natural," far from the rigid etiquette of society.

This is why

I have composed this scene.