贾岛的一生行迹（779-843）
贾岛（779-843），字阆仙，一作浪仙，范阳（今北京）人。早年出家为僧，法名无本，后遇韩愈劝其还俗应举。他一生穷困，苦吟成癖，"推敲"典故千古流传，与孟郊并称"郊寒岛瘦"。晚年任长江主簿，卒于普州，世称"贾长江"。
范阳（779） · 范阳少年
唐代宗大历十四年（779年），贾岛出生于范阳（今北京一带）一个贫寒之家。幽州地处北疆，民风任侠尚武，少年贾岛却独爱诗书，在贫寒中磨砺出孤傲奇崛的性情。
长安（遇韩愈）（811） · 为僧与还俗
唐宪宗元和六年（811年）前后，贾岛以僧人身份来到长安，骑驴吟诗时冲撞了京兆尹韩愈的仪仗，一句"僧敲月下门"的斟酌成就"推敲"佳话。韩愈爱其才，劝他还俗应举。
长安（下第）（815） · 长安苦吟
唐宪宗元和十年（815年）前后，还俗后的贾岛屡应进士试不第。他滞留长安，栖身青龙寺、延寿坊等处，与姚合、张籍、孟郊等诗友唱和，以苦吟自遣，穷愁度日。
长安（寄韩愈）（819） · 长安苦吟
唐宪宗元和十四年（819年），韩愈因谏迎佛骨被贬潮州，八千里路云和月。困守长安的贾岛闻讯，写下《寄韩潮州愈》，心随恩师的孤舟直到岭南潮水尽头。
渭城（825） · 长安苦吟
唐敬宗宝历元年（825年）前后，贾岛在渭水之滨送别远行的友人，秋风萧瑟中写下《忆江上吴处士》。此诗以"秋风生渭水，落叶满长安"写尽帝都秋色，成为贾岛流传最广的名句。
终南山（830） · 长安苦吟
唐文宗大和四年（830年）前后，贾岛入长安城南的终南山寻访隐者不遇，写下言简意深的五绝《寻隐者不遇》。白云深处的隐者，正是他一生向往而不得的超脱之境。
长江县（837） · 蜀中末路
唐文宗开成二年（837年），五十九岁的贾岛因谗受谤，被责授遂州长江县主簿，远赴蜀中。长江县地处涪江之畔，山深寺古，他在此清点户籍文书之余，依然不改苦吟本色。
普州（843） · 蜀中末路
唐武宗会昌三年（843年）初，贾岛由长江主簿迁普州司仓参军，未及到任（一说刚到任不久）即病逝于普州，享年六十五岁。一代苦吟诗人客死蜀中，身后家无一钱，唯有病驴一张、古琴一张。
The Life Journey of Jia Dao, Who Weighed Each Word
Jia Dao (779-843), 'Cold Island' to Meng Jiao's 'Cold Shan,' was a monk under the name Wuben who met Han Yu on a donkey — 'push, or knock?' — came back to the world, and spent the rest of it failing examinations and polishing syllables. Ending as registrar of Long-jiang county in Shu, he died poor in Puzhou: the patron saint of every poet who revises.
Timeline of the Journey
- 779 · 范阳 — Born poor in Fanyang, the martial north; the solitary boy loved only books, and grew the angular pride of the frontier scholar.
- 811 · 长安 — The monk Wuben on his donkey, weighing 'push' against 'knock' under the moon — into the marshal's escort, and out of it a friend: Han Yu told him to hang up his robe.
- 815 · 长安 — Layman again, examinations failing year on year; lodgings at Green Dragon Temple, verse with Yao He and Zhang Ji — 'having failed' as a genre.
- 819 · 长安 — Han Yu exiled for the Buddha-bone to eight thousand li; Jia Dao sent his heart after him 'to the end of the tide at Chaozhou.'
- 825 · 渭城 — 'The autumn wind rises on the Wei; fallen leaves fill Chang'an' — the farewell at the river that gave the capital its own autumn back.
- 830 · 终南山 — Into the South Mountains after a hermit who was not home — white clouds, and the answer lost somewhere below them: five lines that every child learns.
- 837 · 长江县 — Slandered at fifty-nine into the registrar's post at Chang-jiang county, deep in Shu — riverside documents by day, the 'mountain temple' poem by night.
- 843 · 普州 — Died at Puzhou on promotion he never enjoyed, sixty-five, penniless: 'Jia of the Long River,' buried by friends and readers.
'Under the moon, a monk knocks at the gate.' Two verbs weighed in the night made the Chinese word for revision itself — tuǐqiāo — and keep Jia Dao at every writer's elbow forever.
