Posted 2016/11/9
Hanshan (Chinese: 寒山; literally "Cold Mountain", fl. 9th century) was a legendary figure associated with a collection of poems from the Chinese Tang Dynasty in the Taoist and Chan tradition. He is honored and respected by the common people as an incarnation of the Bodhisattva Manjusri in Zen lore. In Japanese and Chinese paintings he is often depicted together with his sidekick Shide or with Fenggan, another monk with legendary attributes.
Han Shan emerged as a hermit and poet of the T'ang Dynasty (618 - 906). Red Pine tells us that political intrigue may have led the handicapped young scholar-bureaucrat to flee the aftermath of the An Lu-shan Rebellion in 760 and retreat to the cold mountains of far eastern China - for his life.
Both Toaists and Zen Buddhists claim Han-shan as theirs. The poetry of Han-shan shows a familiarity with both traditions, though he seems to have enjoyed poking fun at Taoists and Buddhists alike.
An early biography places the dates of his life in the seventh century, but Red Pine (the translator of The Collected Songs of Cold Mountain) points out arguments that seem to suggest dates in the late eighth century.
It is difficult to speak of Han-shan's life with historical certainty since so much folk legend has also grown up around him. Autobiographical hints appear in several of his poems and there are a few historical references to him, as well as his two companions, Feng-kan (Big Stick) and Shih-te (Pickup).
As a young man, Han-shan was apparently a part of the privileged civil servant class, but he left his family and wealth at about age thirty to take up the life of a hermit poet, settling in a remote cave beneath a rocky overhang and enjoyed life style.It was from this natural retreat that Han-shan took his name, which means Cold Mountain or Cold Cliff. (Han-shan is known in Japan as "Kanzan.")
According to some legend that he have been handicapped and disabled and walk depending on wooden clogs as described in one poem.
About a day's journey away was the Kuoching Temple at Mount Tientai. It was there that he befriended Feng-kan (Big Stick) and Shih-te (Pickup). Many stories are told of the antics of these three, as they poked fun at the self-importance of many of the monks, while they themselves, in their foolishness, enacted the true Dharma or Way.
Traditionally, Han-shan is said to have lived to be 120 years old which can be demostrated in one of his poems he states that he is over 100 years old, so this may be true.
In the legendary stories surrounding Han-shan, he does not die; he disappears. A high official is said to have finally recognized that Han-shan, despite the crazy image he cultivated, was actually a great spiritual being. The official sent several people to Han-shan's isolated retreat to bring him back but, on seeing their approach, Han-shan wedged himself into a crack within the cliff wall, crying out "Thieves!" Then the crack closed around him. The fissure of that crack is still said to be visible.
After Han-shan's disappearance, the poems he had inscribed on local stones and trees were gathered together, along with the poems of his companions, Shih-te and Feng-kan, and they soon began to circulate.
Han-shan enjopyed great popularity in the West by the Beats. Gary Snyder did an early translation of Han-shan's poetry and Jack Kerouac dedicated The Dharma Bums to Han-shan.
