Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Hanshan Bell

Nî hâo (你好),

I'd like to share with you a great and inspirational melody. In East Asia, a few miles away from Suzhou, there is a Buddish temple named Hanshan (Chinese: 寒山寺, Pinyin: Hánshân Sì). One of the reasons why it is well known and famed is because of the poem "A Night Mooring by Maple Bridge" (楓橋夜泊). The text is about the feelings experimented by a dejected traveller who stopped a night in that beautiful place, and it shows a melancholic scene plenty of calm, peace, and easy-going people all around while hearing the bells of Hashan Temple

The song is one of the most beautiful and used by people interested in meditation, Reiki, relaxing, or whatever it brings a peace of far east culture. Here are the lyrics from:

月落烏啼霜滿天,
江楓漁火對愁眠。
姑蘇城外寒山寺,
夜半鐘聲到客船。
Yuè luò wū tí shuāng mǎn tiān,
Jiāng fēng yú huǒ duì chóu mián.
Gūsū chéngwài Hánshān Sì,
Yèbàn zhōngshēng dào kèchuán


Which it means: 

While I watch the moon go down, a crow caws through the frost; 
Under the shadows of maple-trees a fisherman moves with his torch;
And I hear, from beyond Suzhou, from the temple on Cold Mountain,
Ringing for me, here in my boat, the midnight bell.

But, surely, what makes the difference is the return on the poem made by a chinese chorus. Very close to the Gregorian Chants and halfway to New Age music, the melody manages to swamp the listener in a very deep and peaceful state. Now, I'd like to invite you all to listen to the following version of "A Night Mooring by Maple Bridge" performed by Jin Long Uen and Song Uei Liou:


Thanks for reading. Just for today I whish you all love and peace.

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