吉祥寺會牡丹

司馬一民

不只是洛陽牡丹天下聞，在宋代，杭州牡丹也是天下聞。有蘇軾的《吉祥寺賞牡丹》為證：人老簪花不自羞，花應羞上老人頭。醉歸扶路人應笑，十里珠簾半上鉤。

吉祥寺如今早已湮沒，原址在今杭州仙林苑住宅小區。

此詩大意為：一個老人（指詩人自己）頭戴一朵鮮艷的牡丹花，自己一點都不感到難為情，倒是被插在老人頭上的牡丹花會不會感到難為情呢？賞花飲酒，醉步蹣跚地被人扶著回家，一路上肯定引來街上的人的嬉笑，十里長街，百姓們紛紛卷起珠簾，笑看這位醉里戴花的官兒。

吉祥寺中有一位叫守璘的和尚擅長種植牡丹花，他在寺中開了一個牡丹園，園中栽種了近百種牡丹，有幾千株，各種名貴的品種都有。每年春季牡丹花開的時候，杭州百姓蜂擁而至來觀賞牡丹，許多官員也與民同樂，來到吉祥寺趕赴牡丹之會。

熙寧五年（1072）三月二十三日，時任杭州通判的蘇東坡和知州沈立去吉祥寺僧人守璘的花園中賞牡丹，蘇東坡的這首詩就是當時賞花飲酒的快樂紀實。

《武林梵志》記載：“吉祥律寺，在安國坊。乾德三年，睦州刺史薛溫舍地為寺。治平二年，改曰廣福，其地多牡丹?！彼问夷隙珊螅鸪醢堰@一帶征用為文思院軍頭司，只保留了吉祥寺。明末清初，蔡啟僔（1618—1683年，字石公，號昆旸，德清人，清康熙九年狀元）題寫過“最吉祥處”四個字。

回過頭來再說吉祥寺的牡丹。蘇東坡有一篇文章《牡丹記敘》，記錄了當年杭州官民同賞牡丹的盛景：

熙寧五年三月二十三日，余從太守沈公觀花于吉祥寺僧守璘之圃。圃中花千本，其品以百數。酒酣樂作，州人大集，金盤彩籃以獻于坐者，五十有三人。飲酒樂甚，素不飲者皆醉。自輿臺皂隸皆插花以從，觀者數萬人。

這篇短文記錄了杭州近一千年前的牡丹花會盛況。州府官員到場，百姓踴躍參與，賞花、飲酒、作樂，從地位最低的小吏起，個個頭插牡丹花，花會現場居然有數萬人。如此壯觀的場面，完全可以與當下在杭州舉辦的各種花展相媲美。

在這次牡丹花會上，杭州知州沈立舉行了他的新書《牡丹記》的“首發式”，這本書有十卷，包括傳記、栽植技法、古今有關牡丹的詠歌詩賦和小說、筆記等，內容十分豐富，蘇東坡應邀為這本書寫了序。

蘇東坡與吉祥寺的牡丹頗有詩緣。熙寧五年（1072）冬至日，蘇東坡獨自去吉祥寺走了一圈，回來后作詩一首《冬至日獨游吉祥寺》：井底微陽回未回，蕭蕭寒雨濕枯荄。何人更似蘇夫子，不是花時獨肯來。

此詩大意為：春天還未歸來，沒有一點暖意，寒雨打濕了牡丹的枯枝。有誰像我這樣，明明知道還沒有到牡丹花開的時節，卻偏要獨自來牡丹園。

可見，吉祥寺牡丹花給蘇東坡留下的印象極為深刻。過了十來天，蘇東坡又一次來到吉祥寺，而且又作一首詩《后十余日復至》：東君意淺著寒梅，千朵深紅未暇裁。安得道人殷七七，不論時節遣花開。

此詩大意為：現在這個季節只有不怕寒冷的梅花還在盛開，其他各種各樣的花，東君都還沒有來得及剪裁。怎樣才能找到殷七七（傳說殷七七是一位能夠讓花隨時開放的奇異道人），請他幫忙讓牡丹在寒冷的冬天開放。

可見，蘇東坡迫切地渴望看到牡丹花的盛開。

熙寧六年（1073）春，牡丹花開時節，前一日，蘇東坡邀請新任知州陳襄一起到吉祥寺觀賞牡丹。第二天，蘇東坡早早來到吉祥寺等待陳襄的到來，可是左等右等就是不見陳襄的人影。正在焦急之時，衙役來報，陳襄因臨時有公務要處理，脫不開身。悶悶不樂的蘇東坡隨手寫了一首詩交給衙役，讓衙役帶回去交給陳襄——《吉祥寺花將落而述古不至》：今歲東風巧剪裁，含情只待使君來。對花無信花應恨，直恐明年便不開。

此詩大意為：今年牡丹花開得特別好，含情脈脈地等待您來觀賞，您答應來賞花而未來，失信于牡丹，它會怨恨于你，恐怕明年花不會再開了。

第二天，陳襄來到吉祥寺觀賞牡丹花，并即席賦詩《春晚賞牡丹奉呈席上諸君》，以此感謝蘇東坡和眾人：逍遙為吏厭衣冠，花謝還來賞牡丹。顏色只留春別后，精神寧似日前看。雨余花萼啼殘粉，風靜奇香噴寶檀。只恐明年花更好，不知誰與并欄干。

此詩大意為：我喜歡逍遙做官但不喜歡這身刻板的官服，等到牡丹快要謝了，我才趕來觀賞，總算是趕上了。連續下雨使得花萼里只剩下一點殘粉，可是一陣風吹來，還是會把花香傳遞到四面八方。很可能這里的牡丹明年開得比今年好，只是不知道到那時，能夠再在一起觀賞牡丹的人還有誰。

才思敏捷的蘇東坡當即和詩一首《述古聞之，明日即至，坐上復用前韻同賦》：仙衣不用剪刀裁，國色初酣卯酒來。太守問花花有語，為君零落為君開。

熙寧六年（1073）冬，蘇東坡與陳襄有詩唱和，主題都是歌詠牡丹，蘇東坡一共寫了四首。

蘇東坡和陳襄友情很深，熙寧八年（1075）七月，共事兩年的陳襄從杭州離任，此后蘇東坡屢屢回憶起與陳襄在吉祥寺參加牡丹盛會的場景。其中，蘇東坡在《惜花》中盛贊錢塘吉祥寺花為第一，并說：“壬子清明，賞會最盛。金盤彩籃以獻于座者五十三人，夜歸沙河塘上，觀者如山，爾后無復繼也。今年，諸家園圃花亦極盛，而龍興僧房一叢尤奇，但衰病牢落，自無以發興耳。昨日雨雹如此，花之存者有幾？可為太息也?！?/p>

而另一首詩《吉祥寺僧求閣名》說的是吉祥寺僧人求蘇東坡題寫寺閣名。估計蘇東坡當時一定會爽快地答應，可惜的是蘇東坡的墨寶并沒有留傳下來。

It is not only the peonies in Luoyang city， Central China’s Henan province that are world-famous. In the Song dynasty （960-1279）， Hangzhou’s peony flowers also enjoyed great fame， as evidenced by a verse composed by Su Shi （aka Su Dongpo， 1037-1101）. In “Appreciating Peonies at the Jixiang Temple”， he wrote：

Shy the old man’s not adorning his head with a flower，

Embarassed the flower’d be on his head.

As he returns home drunk， people’ll laugh at him，

Rolling up curtains along the ten-mile street.

A monk by the name of Shoulin， who was good at growing peony flowers， once opened a peony garden in the Jixiang Temple， with hundreds of types of and thousands of peony flowers planted. There was no lack of precious varieties. Each spring when peonies blossomed， the Hangzhou residents as well as its officials would flock to the temple to appreciate the flowers， and the “old man” who wasn’t embarrassed by putting on one flower on his head in Su’s poem was just one of them.

On the 23rd day of the third month in the lunar calendar in the year 1072， Su Dongpo， who was the assistant prefect of Hangzhou and Shen Li， the prefect， went to the garden to enjoy the peony flowers. The poem was a “record” of their merry-making at the time.

“Preface to On Peonies”， an essay by Su， also documented the magnificence of the “peony appreciation” at the time：

On the 23rd of the third lunar month， in the year of Xining [1072]， I came to Shoulin’s peony garden with Prefect Shen at the Jixiang Temple. The flowers in the garden are in the thousands， and the varieties are hundreds. With fine wine flowing and music playing， most of the officials — fifty-three in total — in Hangzhou have gathered on the occasion to appreciate the beautiful flowers. All those present are so happy that even colleagues who don’t usually drink are intoxicated， each adorned with a peony blossom. Tens of thousands of Hangzhou people have thronged to the temple to watch the flowers.

Such a spectacular spectacle can be easily compared with the scale of various flower exhibitions held in today’s Hangzhou.

As indicated by the title of the essay， it was written by Su at the invitation of Prefect Shen for his 10-volume new book On Peonies， which was “launched” at this peony flower appreciation meeting and covered such topics as biography， planting techniques， ancient and contemporary poetry， novels and writings about peony.

Su seemed to have a particular fondness for the peony flowers at the Jixiang Temple. In that winter， he went to the temple alone and composed a second poem “To the Jixiang Temple Alone on Winter Solstice Day”， in which he declared “who would be like Mr. Su， coming to the peonies not on their flowering time”， pining for peony blossoms and lamenting for its impossibility.

In fact， he returned to the temple just a little over 10 days later， leaving a third poem in which he wrote “if only I could find Yin Qiqi， and flowers would bloom at any time”. Yin Qiqi is a legendary Taoist monk， who is said to possess magic powers and make flowers open whenever he wishes.

In the following year， 1073， Su went to the temple several times to appreciate the peony flowers planted there， during which he composed a number of poems.

Unfortunately， the Jixiang Temple no long exists. What stands today on where it used to sit are residential complexes.