From last Issue: How Can One Make Tea with Cold Water? The Child with a Bright Mind and Sharp Ears. The Principles for Composing Poems, Verses, and Prose Are the Same.

How Could Little Sister Su Be Ordinary?

Matching couplets can be very humorous and refined. It should not be vulgar. Let me tell you a story. Sister Su was Su Dongpo's younger sister. Her father was Old Quan Su, and her two elder brothers were Su Dongpo and Su Che. The three of them were called "The Three Sus." They were genius-scholars well known in Sichuan at that time. Sister Su's face was rather long, Su Dongpo liked to make fun of it. He said, "A teardrop of lovesickness that fell last year, till now has not reached the chin." See how far and how long has this teardrop been falling!

There was another genius named Qin Shaoyou. He admired the Three Sus' writings very much and wanted to marry Sister Su. However, he had heard that Sister Su was rather ugly, so he wanted to have a look at her first. If she was really ugly, then he wouldn't want to marry her. He still judged people by their looks. So, he was trying to figure out a way to catch a glimpse of her, to see whether her eyes and nose grew in the proper places, and whether her features were those of a normal human being. He dressed up like an old Taoist cultivator, putting on a Taoist hat, and so on. Then he found out what time Sister Su usually went to the temple to offer incense. When she showed up, he approached her and asked for alms. He said, "Miss, I wish you plenty of blessings, a long life, and many sons." His meaning was, "You have great blessings, and you will live for a long time and have many sons." Sister Su replied without hesitation, "Crazy Taoist, what virtue and what ability have you to ask for alms?" Her meaning was, "What kind of virtue and ability do you have that you dare to ask me for alms?"

Hearing her reply, Qin Shaoyou was impressed and thought she was quite learned. Her face was a little too long, but it was okay. So he brought the engagement presents and went to request Sister Su's hand in marriage. Old Quan Su granted his request because Qin Shaoyou was also a well-known scholar of the time. On the night of the wedding, since Sister Su did not know how learned Qin Shaoyou was, she made a couplet for him to match, stipulating that he could enter the bedroom only if he came up with the match. What was the couplet? Sister Su said, "A single hand pushed out the moon in front of the window." This sounded quite ordinary, but it was hard to find the words to match. Qin Shaoyou walked in circles around the garden for maybe a few hours and still was not allowed into the bedroom. Su Dongpo saw this and wanted to help him out of his predicament. He tossed a stone into a water urn, then turned around and walked away with his hands clasped behind his back. A sudden inspiration hit Qin Shaoyou, and he made a match which said, "A fistsize stone shattered the sky at the bottom of the water." A stone had shattered the reflection of the sky in the water.The sky seemed to be in the water urn. A stone the size of a fist was thrown into the urn, and it shattered the sky in the water. The "moon" matched "sky"; and “the moon in front of the window" matched the sky at the bottom of the water." So the couplet "A single hand pushed out the moon in front of the window" matched "A fistsize stone shattered the sky at the bottom of the water." He gave his answer to Sister Su. Sister Su took a look and said, "Oh! You did not match this. Someone helped you!" However, she accepted it and he was allowed to go into the bedroom. Therefore, in matching couplets, if you do not apply considerable mental effort, you won't be able to come up with a match.

Drunken Bodhi Was Still Empty When He Walked Away

I remember a story about Venerable Ji. His fiancee's uncle was pressing his fiancee to get married. So she made a couplet of eleven characters, each of which has a radical of precious cover" (which has the implication of home). If anyone could match this couplet, she would agree to marry him. The couplet said, "Living here as a guest, accompanied only by the empty loneliness of the chilly window."No one could come up with a match. None of the first, second, and third graduates of the national academy could match it. So she could not get married. When the Venerable Ji came back to town, he matched it with, "Having gone far away to escape the path of delusion, I retired to the lotus path of leisure." Each of the eleven characters in the match has the "walking" radical. So he came up with the match, but he also slipped away.

The Most Wonderful Composition Cannot Be Faked

Matching couplets is not only a game of words, it is also a very good way to train your thought. In coming up with a match, you must consider whether the characters match, whether the tones coordinate, and whether the match makes sense. So, it is very difficult. For example, there is a matched couplet with the first line: "The bamboo has no heart. However, (bamboo) firecrackers explode from the heart." The second line says, "Flowers fear fire. But the flowers (flames) of the lamp grow in the fire."These are all excellent matches. There is another match with the first line: "The shadow of the willow was cast on the ground; the horse seemed to have climbed the tree."The bottom lines goes, “The silhouette of the flowers was reflected in the pond; the fish seemed to have ascended the branches." There is yet another excellent match with the top line, "Two boats sail side by side. The oars are fast, but the sails are faster." “The oars are fast" (lu su in Chinese) refers to a person named Lusu (same pronunciation but different characters) of the Three Kingdoms Period who was rather stupid; while "The sails are faster” (fan kuai in Chinese) refers to Fankuai (again, same sound but different characters) who was a brave, great general. The second line of the match says, "The eight instruments are played together. The clear sound of the flute surpasses the harmonious sound of the pipe." "The clear sound of the flute” (di qing) refers to a person named Diqing, while the harmonious sound of the pipe” (xiao he) refers to someone named Xiaohe. These are the perfect use of characters having the same sounds. When you understand how to use characters with the same sounds, it will be of great help to you in composing poems and verses as well as in matching couplets.

There is no other principle in learning than settling the mind. What does this mean? If you want to be learned, you should not let your mind run outside. That is to say, do not engage in too much false thinking; be concentrated and do not go seeking outside. You should find the mind which has run outside and bring it back. Everything is made from the mind—this is true learning.

Making Matches Based on Inspirations from Scenes

"The clouds of the ten directions gather together. The moon and stars compete to shine. Only the sincere and honest ones can find the empty nature, pass the test, and return home." The clouds of the ten directions gather together. People gather together like clouds converging in the sky. When clouds converge, that means the rain is coming. When it rains, all the flowers, grass, and plants will be moistened. However, when the clouds accumulate, the moon and stars compete to shine. The stars and the moon each reveal their brilliance, hoping their light will not be covered by the clouds. Under such circumstances, who has the brilliant light? Only the sincere and honest ones can find the empty nature, pass the test, and return home. Only sincere and honest people, people who behave and are not pretentious, can come to this Buddha-selecting site, pass the test, and return to our original hometown. That is the general meaning.

This is not a matching couplet. It is a poem inspired by some scenes. This poem rhymes; the character for "shine" and the character for "return" rhyme. When recited, it has a pleasant sound and is not awkward or stiff. If you talk about east in the first sentence and west in the second sentence, this is not in accord with the principles of rhyming. The characters should have similar sounds. It is said, "Off by a hairsbreadth at the beginning, one will miss by a thousand miles in the end." The learning and knowledge of China is "as coarse as the headrope of a fishing net and as fine as an ox hair." Therefore, matching couplets reveals people's wisdom.

The Joyful and Relaxing Samadhi of Matching Couplets

During other activities such as Dharma talks, Sutra lectures, meditation, or recitating the Buddha's name, you fall asleep spontaneously. But in matching couplets class, I believe no one will fall asleep. Once your enthusiasm catches on, you won't want to go to sleep for several days. After you have savored the fun of matching couplets, and when you have acquired the skills, you will not be able to stop even if you want to. It is like eating honey. After you have tasted it, you will always want to eat it.

You should prepare a notebook and write down the good matches. If you want, you can also write down those that are not so good. The good ones can be your guides, the poor ones can be examples of what you should not do. In matching couplets, aside from making sure that the meaning agrees and the characters match, the most important thing is to write properly. Do not scribble and do not write simplified characters. Whatever we do, we should do it properly and not be deviant and improper. This kind of learning opens people's wisdom. This is a force for activating our inherent wisdom and ability.