天竺桂花寄詩情

司馬一民

早晨起來推開窗，一陣桂香撲面而來。那便是杭州又到滿城桂花飄香時。只可惜，今年的桂花季似乎轉(zhuǎn)瞬即逝了。

桂花又名木樨、巖桂，系木樨科常綠灌木或小喬木。桂花在杭州已經(jīng)有近千年的栽培歷史了，早在南宋時期，滿覺隴已經(jīng)種植大片桂花，形成了一定規(guī)模。《咸淳臨安志》載：“桂，滿覺隴獨盛?！睗M覺隴的桂花可能與桂花作為杭州很多美食的配料有關(guān)，比如桂花糕、桂花酒、糖桂花，蜜汁藕片上撒的桂花，等等。

桂花是杭州的市花。1983年7月20日至23日召開的杭州市第六屆人大常委會第九次會議決定，將桂花確定為杭州的市花。30多年來，杭州全市遍植桂樹，每逢金秋時節(jié)，金桂、銀桂、丹桂相繼盛開，滿城桂花飄香。

近年來，杭州栽種桂花越來越多。可以毫不夸張地說，杭州市民在每一個桂花季，都能夠在自己的家門口享受金秋桂香帶來的清新和欣喜。

同樣在900多年前的桂花季，作為杭州通判（相當于副市長）的蘇東坡收到了上天竺寺僧人送來的桂花，他不忍獨享，分贈給他的朋友楊元素。

唐宋時期杭州城里桂花樹不多，在寺廟里倒不少，這從詩人們的作品中可以看出：唐代詩人宋之問的《靈隱寺》有“桂子月中落，天香云外飄”，白居易的《憶江南》有“山寺月中尋桂子，郡亭枕上看潮頭”。白居易還有《寄韜光禪師》“遙想吾師行道處，天香桂子落紛紛”……

蘇東坡《八月十七日天竺山送桂花分贈元素》這首詩，是在送楊元素桂花的同時附上的。文人雅士就是與眾不同，即使是一些隨性小事，那也是要講究儀式感的。一首名詩伴隨一段佳話流傳千古。

月缺霜濃細蕊干，此花元屬玉堂仙。

鷲峰子落驚前夜，蟾窟枝空記昔年。

破戒山僧憐耿介，練裙溪女斗清妍。

愿公采擷紉幽佩，莫遣孤芳老澗邊。

楊元素，即楊繪（1032—1116年），字元素，號先白，綿竹人，曾任御史中丞等職，時任杭州知州，是蘇東坡頂頭上司。

月缺，表明已過仲秋，八月十七日得到天竺山送來的桂花，距十五已過兩日，所以說月缺。霜濃細蕊干，是指霜降時節(jié)桂花摘下好幾天了，失去了部分水分。南宋時，從天竺到杭州城里，要下山行路至茅家埠，再乘船到涌金門或清波門上岸進城，不大方便，總需要一兩天時間，所以才會“細蕊干”。

“此花元屬玉堂仙”，從字面看是稱贊桂花的超俗，不比尋常，其實是用桂花暗喻蘇楊二人?！坝裉孟伞笔呛擦謱W(xué)士的別稱，蘇東坡和楊元素都曾為翰林學(xué)士。折桂指的是登科，蘇東坡以傳說與典故來說他和楊元素當年進士及第，即所謂蟾宮折桂轉(zhuǎn)用為“蟾窟枝空”，二人作為君子雅人，曾蟾宮折桂，一定是桂花的知音。同時，也可能有暗指楊元素的一些政治見解與蘇東坡相同的意思，蘇東坡和楊元素都與當朝宰相王安石政見不同，都被貶出京城，相同的政治見解、相似的境遇、相通的藝術(shù)品位，加深了他們之間的情誼。蘇軾所寫的這首詠桂花詩，描繪了桂花的形態(tài)和品格，同時以花酬知音。

熙寧七年（1074年）七月，楊元素接替陳襄為杭州知州，九月，蘇東坡由杭州通判調(diào)為密州知府，楊元素在西湖上為蘇東坡設(shè)宴餞別，二人有詞唱和。

蘇東坡曾作《南鄉(xiāng)子 · 和楊元素，時移守密州》：

東武望余杭，云海天涯兩渺茫。

何日功成名遂了，還鄉(xiāng)，醉笑陪公三萬場。

不用訴離觴，痛飲從來別有腸。

今夜送歸燈火冷，河塘，墮淚羊公卻姓楊。

此詞大意為，東武（屬密州）和余杭兩地相望，如同遠隔天涯，那是云海茫茫。不知什么時候才能功成名就，衣錦還鄉(xiāng)，到那時我與你同笑醉酒三萬場。我們不必用酒來訴說離情別緒，痛快的飲宴從來都另有緣由的。今夜掌燈送你歸去，走過河塘，恍惚間見你楊元素落淚如羊祜。

字里行間都是情。

天竺山，佛教名山，山上有著名三寺，通稱上天竺寺、中天竺寺、下天竺寺，均系杭州古代名剎。下天竺創(chuàng)建最早，距今已有一千六百六十余年，創(chuàng)建最晚的上天竺寺也有千年歷史。清高宗乾隆將三寺命名為“法喜寺”“法凈寺”“法鏡寺”，并親題寺額。蘇軾在杭州為官時與上天竺寺、孤山寺等僧人多有來往，有詩文唱和，留下《雨中游天竺靈感觀音院》等詩篇。所以便推測出，這些桂花是上天竺寺僧人派人送給蘇東坡的。

Tianzhu Temples， Osmanthus and Poems

By Sima Yimin

These days， when you open the window in the morning， you will most likely be greeted by a burst of osmanthus fragrance. It is that time of the year again when the whole city of Hangzhou is immersed in the sweet scent.

Also known as Muxi and Guiyan， Osmanthus fragrans， which literally means fragrant osmanthus， is an evergreen shrub or small tree， and it has been planted and cultivated for nearly a thousand years in Hangzhou. As early as in the Southern Song dynasty （1127-1279）， large swathes of land in Manjuelong， a mountainous area south of West Lake， had already been covered by osmanthus.

“Osmanthus flowers， growing most abundantly in Manjuelong，”according to Xianchun Linan Zhi， or Annals of Linan during the Reign of Xianchun， which recorded the affairs of Linan （present-day Hangzhou） between 1265 and 1274. It is thought that Manjilongs osmanthus may be the source of many osmanthus-flavored delicacies and drinks in Hangzhou， such as the osmanthus cake， the osmanthus wine， and the osmanthus-scented honey jam.Osmanthus is the city flower of Hangzhou. During the ninth meeting of the Standing Committee of the Sixth Municipal Peoples Congress of Hangzhou， which was held from July 20 to 23， 1983， it was officially decided that osmanthus would be the city flower of Hangzhou. For the next four decades， more osmanthus trees， in different varieties， have been planted across the cities Hangzhou has been planting osmanthus trees all over the city. With such an abundance of osmanthus， it is no exaggeration to say that the Hangzhou residents can enjoy the freshness and joy brought by osmanthus just at their doorstep during this period.

In the Tang dynasty （618-970）， and later the Song dynasty （960-1279）， osmanthus was far from common as it is today in the city of Hangzhou. Most seemed to have been planted in temples， as attested by poems written at the time. Both Song Zhiwen （ca. 656-712） and Bai Juyi （772-846） spoke of the fragrance and flowers of osmanthus while they were reminiscing about visiting temples and their monks.

In the year 1074， when Su Dongpo （aka Su Shi， 1037-1101） served as the controller-general or assistant prefect — roughly an equivalent of a vice mayor today — of Hangzhou， he received a bouquet of osmanthus flowers from the monks of the Upper Tianzhu Temple， located on the Tianzhu Mountain. He could not bear to keep it for himself alone and shared it with his friend Yang Yuansu （1032-1116）， who， also known as Yang Hui， was the Hangzhou prefect， Sus direct superior.

In fact， Su composed a poem especially for the matter， and the title of the poem explains plainly everything， which reads “Sharing with Yuansu Osmanthus Flowers Given by Tianzhu Monks on the 17th Day of Eight Lunar Month”. In it， Su said the flowers had already been dried a bit. It implies that they had most probably been sent out by the monks on the 15th， the Mid-Autumn Day： unlike the convenient transportation available today， it would take at least a day or two for one to travel from the temples on the Tianzhu Mountain.

Su also implicitly indicated in the poem that he and Yang shared quite some common ground when it came to how the country should be run， despite the fact that they worked together in Hangzhou for only a couple of months， for they had both been exiled after running afoul of the New Policies of Wang Anshi （1021-1086）. Yang became the prefect a month earlier and Su was transferred to another post in Shandong province the next month.

The Tianzhu Mountain has long been a well-known Buddhist mountain in Hangzhou， where the three famous “Tianzhu” temples， commonly known as Upper， Middle and Lower Tianzhu. While the Lower Tianzhu was founded some 1，660 years ago， the earliest among the three， the Upper Tianzhu， the “newest”， also boasts of a history of more than 1，000 years.