From afar, the mountains show their hue;
Up close, the stream no sound does brew.
Spring departs, yet flowers still stay;
Men approach, but birds won’t stray.
画
远看山有色，
近听水无声。
春去花还在，
人来鸟不惊。
There are different accounts regarding the authorship of this poem. One theory attributes it to Wang Wei of the Tang Dynasty, but it is not found in his collected works or in Quan Tangshi (Complete Tang Poems). Another theory suggests it was originally part of a gatha (Buddhist verse) composed by Zen Master Chuan of the Southern Song Dynasty to annotate the Buddhist scripture Vajracchedika Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra (Diamond Sutra).
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