What is Bai Juyi's poem Flowers Are Not Flowers?

The original text of "Flowers Are Not Flowers" by Tang Dynasty poet Bai Juyi is as follows:

Say it's flowers, not flowers, say it's fog? Not fog. It came in the middle of the night and left at dawn.

When did a short and beautiful spring dream come? When they leave, they are like clouds in the morning.

In the vernacular, it means it is a flower, not a flower. Is it fog? Not fog. Come at midnight and leave at dawn. It seems like a short and beautiful spring dream when you come? Gone like a morning cloud, nowhere to be found.

Extended data

Bai Juyi, a so-called Buddhist in Xiangshan, is a person who practices Bodhi fruit bodhisattva at home. The expression of this poem is also closely related to Bai Juyi's identity. In fact, flowers are not flowers but fog, which is the best explanation for the author's practice and enlightenment. In other words, flowers don't grow because people give them names.

When there are so many spring dreams, this sentence just named the author's spiritual life as a dream, such as fog and electricity. It is also the author's feeling for his "past" and for those who still don't understand after understanding life and the truth that flowers are not flowers and fog is not fog.

The same is true where a cloud can't be found. The author realizes that things are impermanent, just like flowers and fog. This poem expresses the feeling that life is like a dream, like fog, like electricity, and shows a kind of nostalgia and regret for the beautiful people and things that once existed and disappeared in life.

Refer to Baidu Encyclopedia-Flowers are not flowers