A Good Omen - 鳳兆吉瑞,太平廣世

Again, trying to avoid boredom during my jog. On my way back, after my theme was completed, I saw in the sky, a group of clouds appeared to be like a phoenix in flight. So, I went back to get my phone to take a photo. By the time the photo was taken, the image wasn’t as sharp as before. Still, a good omen in Chinese culture especially for me as the poem was written in my head before this cloud formation.

  

1南天莫見白雲飛 I don’t see white clouds flying at Heaven’s gate.
2逍遙仙鶴何踪去 And where are the fairy cranes of leisure?
3瑤池蟠桃看無席 There’s no peach party at the Jasper Pool,
4歌酒蓬萊未必聚 And at the merriment of the Blessed Isles – I don’t think so.
5極樂西土難有緣 Neither are they destined for Western Paradise
6東海龍宮素不居 Nor frequenting the Palace of the Dragon King’s Eastern Ocean.
7豁然抬頭壁一望 Lifting my head, suddenly, I espied on the wall,
8畫中自在清閑醉 Besotting in a painting of idyllic drunkenness.

1.Short for 南天門 The Southern Celestial Gates, the only entrance to Heaven where the Jade Emperor presides. Heaven, like its Earth’s counter part is filled with bureaucracy and rules and is not a place where one can do as he wishes.

2.It is a coincidence that 白雲飛 and 仙鶴 are mentioned together. 白雲飛 is the heroine of 仙鶴神針, The Romance of the Celestial Crane and Divine Needles, a martial arts story.

3. The Jasper Pool is located in the Kunlun Mountains where 西王母, the Queen Mother of the West holds court. Every 12,000 years she would throw a party for immortals to partake the peaches of immortality. It was on one such occasion that Monkey King ruined everything when he gobbled all the peaches and polished off all the elixir.

4. The Blessed Isles are where Earth Immortals reside. They can be more rambunctious than those residing in Heaven as they do not live in heaven and does not come under its direct jurisdiction. The most famous bunch are the fun loving Eight Immortals.

5.The Western Paradise is where Buddha holds sermons.

6.The eastern ocean is where the chief Dragon King resides in an underwater palace. Of course, being creatures of the sky, they would find the place confining.

7.Now we know that both the clouds and cranes are hiding in a painting for respite.

8. We don’t know who is drunk, the celestial creatures or the poet.

Thursday, February 13, 2020