Climbing the Pagoda of Ci'en Temple with Gao Shi and Xue Ju
English translation and interpretation are being reviewed.
孤高耸天宫。
登临出世界，
磴道盘虚空。
突兀压神州，
峥嵘如鬼工。
四角碍白日，
七层摩苍穹。
下窥指高鸟，
俯听闻惊风。
连山若波涛，
奔凑似朝东。
青槐夹驰道，
宫馆何玲珑。
秋色从西来，
苍然满关中。
五陵北原上，
万古青濛濛。
净理了可悟，
胜因夙所宗。
誓将挂冠去，
觉道资无穷。
English translation
The pagoda seems to well up from the earth, lonely and tall, piercing the heavenly halls.
Climbing it, one comes out of the world, the stone stair coils through empty air.
Abrupt and massive, it presses on the realm, its soaring height is as the work of demons.
Its four corners impede the white sun, its seven tiers graze the blue vault.
Looking down, I can point at the high-flying birds, bending my ear, I hear the terrible wind.
The linked hills are like waves, rushing eastward as if to do homage.
Green locusts line the imperial road, how delicate and bright the halls and lodges!
Autumn hues come from the west, gray and vast, they fill the land within the pass.
On the northern plain, the five tombs, for ten thousand ages a misty blue.
The pure principle can be fully grasped, the excellent cause is what I have long revered.
I swear to hang up my cap and go, the awakened Way is a store that never fails.
Meaning
The pagoda seems to have burst forth from level ground, soaring solitary and majestic into the heavens.
To climb it is to walk out of the world of men; one mounts the stairway winding in midair.
Towering aloft, it steadies the divine land; its grandeur surpasses even the craft of spirits.
Its four corners spread out and hold off the white sun; its seven storeys press against the blue vault.
Looking down, the birds in flight can be counted on one's fingers; listening below, one hears the mountain wind howling fiercely.
Hill linked to hill rises like tossing billows, surging and thundering eastward.
Green locusts line the straight imperial road; the towers and halls, how finely wrought they are.
The fair hues of autumn come from the west, spreading gray and boundless over the land within the passes.
North of Chang'an lie the five Han tombs, green through all the ages to come.
The pure truth of the Buddha is fully grasped; good roots have ever been trusted and followed.
I vow to retire from office and be gone, to follow the Way of the Buddha and find joy without end.
Background
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In the autumn of 752 (the eleventh year of the Tianbao era of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang), Cen Shen returned from Anxi to the capital to report on his administration, and invited his fellow officials and poet friends Gao Shi, Xue Ju, Du Fu, and Chu Guangxi on an outing beyond the city walls. Coming to Ci'en Temple and seeing the lofty, graceful pagoda, they climbed it step by step; moved by the sight, they intoned verses in turn to heighten the pleasure of the occasion. Gao Shi sang first, with "Ascending the Pagoda of Ci'en Temple with Various Gentlemen"; the others answered in reply, and Cen Shen thereupon composed this poem.