The author of To the Elder of Lin Dong is Su Shi of Song Dynasty. The whole poem is: the sound of the stream is wide and the mountain is not clean. When the night comes to 84 thousand, how will you mention yourself like a man tomorrow?
This is an enlightenment poem by Dongpo lay man to show his understanding of Zen. Lin Dong's elder will always be Lin Dong, and Mazu is thought to come to earth again. The first two sentences show the poet's thorough understanding of Zen Buddhism, and the last two sentences show his infinite understanding of Buddhist holy places. The sound of streams and mountains is beautiful, which is nothing more than a wonderful embodiment of pure and unspoiled Buddhism and Zen.
In the blurred night, in the mind of the awakened person, the shadow of the light mountain of that stream is simply singing the mysterious and boundless 84 thousand Dharma, which is profound and cheerful. How can I confess to others and say what to propose to others? This is clearly the rhetorical question of Dongpo, a Buddhist who has reached the Zen realm.
Because Zen advocates no writing, the Zen realm can only be understood, but can't be explained. It can only be verified by itself, but not by others. That is to say, words don't show things, words don't speculate, successors lose, and sentences lose.
Su Shi's preface:
Su Shi, whose name is Zizhan, whose name is Zhonghe, is a Taoist priest in Dongpo. He is called Su Xian, an important writer in the Song Dynasty, a representative figure with the highest literary achievements in the Song Dynasty, the Han nationality, a native of Meishan, Meizhou in the Northern Song Dynasty, and a scholar in the Jiayou period. His poems have a wide range of themes, are fresh and vigorous, are good at exaggeration and metaphor, and have a unique style. He is also called Su Huang with Huang Tingjian.
He is an uninhibited poet and a representative of the uninhibited school together with Xin Qiji. Su Xin, also known as Su Xin, is also a painter and calligrapher, including Seven Chapters of Dongpo, Yi Zhuan of Dongpo, Dongpo Yuefu and so on.