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Sun T’i (fl. 720) was a native of Shantung and served in several prominent posts in the capital, including the Secretariat. Here, while waiting to be recalled from an assignment in Chekiang province, he visits a Taoist temple at the foot of East Peak, fifteen kilometers south of Shaohsing. The Taoist immortal Wang Tzu-ch’iao was said to have lived here during the Han dynasty, and brightly colored clouds were often reported in its vicinity. Hence its name: Yunmen (Cloud Gate). As Sun looks south into the myriad peaks of the Kuaichi Range he feels the first cool air of autumn rising from the lake region to the north. Seeing the images of wild geese on the wall and, outside, two constellations that were associated with this region to which officials out of favor were banished, he dreams of returning to the capital, but apparently as an immortal.

Spending the Night at Yunmen Temple Pavilion

SUN T’I

At Incense Pavilion below East Peak

the flowers in the mist were from another world

I held up a lantern on a deep mountain night

and pulled back the curtain on a lakeland fall

the swans stayed behind on the walls

the Dipper and the Ox spent the night in the window

the road to Heaven seemed so close again

I dreamed I was traveling with clouds