Birthday poem · November 2Frost’s Descent, the 18th solar term: the first frosts.
Birth character
遠 yuǎn · far
遠 combines a "walking" element with 袁 as a sound element; it means far.
遠上寒山石徑斜
“I go up a slanting stony path to the cold hill” — Du Mu, ‘Mountain Walk’
Other dates with this poem: June 24
The poem
“Written on the Wall at West Forest Temple” 題西林壁
- 橫看成嶺側成峯héng kàn chéng lǐng cè chéng fēngIt's a range viewed in face and peaks viewed from the side,
- 遠近高低各不同yuǎn jìn gāo dī gè bù tóngAssuming different shapes viewed from far and wide.
- 不識廬山真面目bù shí lú shān zhēn miàn mùOf Mountain Lu we cannot make out the true face,
- 只緣身在此山中zhǐ yuán shēn zài cǐ shān zhōngFor we are lost in the heart of the very place.
Why this poem
Su Shi on Mount Lu: its true face cannot be seen from inside the mountain.
This day in the Chinese calendar
Solar term: Frost’s Descent.