天竺桂花寄诗情

司马一民

早晨起来推开窗，一阵桂香扑面而来。那便是杭州又到满城桂花飘香时。只可惜，今年的桂花季似乎转瞬即逝了。

桂花又名木樨、岩桂，系木樨科常绿灌木或小乔木。桂花在杭州已经有近千年的栽培历史了，早在南宋时期，满觉陇已经种植大片桂花，形成了一定规模。《咸淳临安志》载：“桂，满觉陇独盛。”满觉陇的桂花可能与桂花作为杭州很多美食的配料有关，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日召开的杭州市第六届人大常委会第九次会议决定，将桂花确定为杭州的市花。30多年来，杭州全市遍植桂树，每逢金秋时节，金桂、银桂、丹桂相继盛开，满城桂花飘香。

近年来，杭州栽种桂花越来越多。可以毫不夸张地说，杭州市民在每一个桂花季，都能够在自己的家门口享受金秋桂香带来的清新和欣喜。

同样在900多年前的桂花季，作为杭州通判（相当于副市长）的苏东坡收到了上天竺寺僧人送来的桂花，他不忍独享，分赠给他的朋友杨元素。

唐宋时期杭州城里桂花树不多，在寺庙里倒不少，这从诗人们的作品中可以看出：唐代诗人宋之问的《灵隐寺》有“桂子月中落，天香云外飘”，白居易的《忆江南》有“山寺月中寻桂子，郡亭枕上看潮头”。白居易还有《寄韬光禅师》“遥想吾师行道处，天香桂子落纷纷”……

苏东坡《八月十七日天竺山送桂花分赠元素》这首诗，是在送杨元素桂花的同时附上的。文人雅士就是与众不同，即使是一些随性小事，那也是要讲究仪式感的。一首名诗伴随一段佳话流传千古。

月缺霜浓细蕊干，此花元属玉堂仙。

鹫峰子落惊前夜，蟾窟枝空记昔年。

破戒山僧怜耿介，练裙溪女斗清妍。

愿公采撷纫幽佩，莫遣孤芳老涧边。

杨元素，即杨绘（1032—1116年），字元素，号先白，绵竹人，曾任御史中丞等职，时任杭州知州，是苏东坡顶头上司。

月缺，表明已过仲秋，八月十七日得到天竺山送来的桂花，距十五已过两日，所以说月缺。霜浓细蕊干，是指霜降时节桂花摘下好几天了，失去了部分水分。南宋时，从天竺到杭州城里，要下山行路至茅家埠，再乘船到涌金门或清波门上岸进城，不大方便，总需要一两天时间，所以才会“细蕊干”。

“此花元属玉堂仙”，从字面看是称赞桂花的超俗，不比寻常，其实是用桂花暗喻苏杨二人。“玉堂仙”是翰林学士的别称，苏东坡和杨元素都曾为翰林学士。折桂指的是登科，苏东坡以传说与典故来说他和杨元素当年进士及第，即所谓蟾宫折桂转用为“蟾窟枝空”，二人作为君子雅人，曾蟾宫折桂，一定是桂花的知音。同时，也可能有暗指杨元素的一些政治见解与苏东坡相同的意思，苏东坡和杨元素都与当朝宰相王安石政见不同，都被贬出京城，相同的政治见解、相似的境遇、相通的艺术品位，加深了他们之间的情谊。苏轼所写的这首咏桂花诗，描绘了桂花的形态和品格，同时以花酬知音。

熙宁七年（1074年）七月，杨元素接替陈襄为杭州知州，九月，苏东坡由杭州通判調为密州知府，杨元素在西湖上为苏东坡设宴饯别，二人有词唱和。

苏东坡曾作《南乡子 · 和杨元素，时移守密州》：

东武望余杭，云海天涯两渺茫。

何日功成名遂了，还乡，醉笑陪公三万场。

不用诉离觞，痛饮从来别有肠。

今夜送归灯火冷，河塘，堕泪羊公却姓杨。

此词大意为，东武（属密州）和余杭两地相望，如同远隔天涯，那是云海茫茫。不知什么时候才能功成名就，衣锦还乡，到那时我与你同笑醉酒三万场。我们不必用酒来诉说离情别绪，痛快的饮宴从来都另有缘由的。今夜掌灯送你归去，走过河塘，恍惚间见你杨元素落泪如羊祜。

字里行间都是情。

天竺山，佛教名山，山上有著名三寺，通称上天竺寺、中天竺寺、下天竺寺，均系杭州古代名刹。下天竺创建最早，距今已有一千六百六十余年，创建最晚的上天竺寺也有千年历史。清高宗乾隆将三寺命名为“法喜寺”“法净寺”“法镜寺”，并亲题寺额。苏轼在杭州为官时与上天竺寺、孤山寺等僧人多有来往，有诗文唱和，留下《雨中游天竺灵感观音院》等诗篇。所以便推测出，这些桂花是上天竺寺僧人派人送给苏东坡的。

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.