You’ve probably seen that post floating around Tumblr a while ago:
my favorite thing i’ve learned in college is that way back in ancient china there was this poet/philosopher guy who wrote this whole pretentious poem about how enlightened he was that was like “the eight winds cannot move me” blahblahblah and he was really proud of it so he sent it to his friend who lived across the lake and then his friend sends it back and just writes “FART” (or the ancient Chinese equivalent) on it and he was SO MAD he travels across the lake to chew his friend out and when he gets there his friend says “wow. the eight winds cannot move you, but one fart sends you across the lake”
So I got curious, and I did some research, and apparently, the poet was Su Dongpo, also known as Su Shi (8 January 1037 – 24 August 1101), and he wasn’t just a poet - he was a writer, poet, painter, calligrapher, pharmacologist, gastronome, and a statesman of the Song dynasty.
That particular event happened while he was assigned to an official post at Guazhuo, and the “friend who lived across the lake” was actually Chan master Foyin, who was the master of a temple on the mountain on the opposite shore.
A translation of the poem Su Dongpo sent to master Foyin:
“Bowing with my highest respect
To the deva of devas
Whose fine light illuminates the whole universe,
The eight winds cannot move me,
For I am sitting upright on the golden purple lotus blossom.”
Foyin wrote “Pi” on the poem (”fart”, but also “nonsense”), and sent it back, and the rest is history.
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