First, to understand the training, we must first learn the basic skills. Enlightenment of temperament > This is very necessary. "Cloud is to rain, snow is to wind, and night is to clear sky. Come and swallow, stay with birds and insects ... "Chinese" The sky turns north and the sun rises. The east wind is weak and it is foggy. The frost on the wild bridge is slipping, and the snow on the river is melting ... "These are all things that couplets learners should master, from which they can get training in pronunciation, vocabulary and rhetoric, especially the use of neat words, which is of great help to the rhetorical composition of couplets. Some literary friends may think that couplets only need written knowledge, historical knowledge and literary knowledge. In fact, this is only an inevitable condition for learning couplets well, but you must really understand the basic knowledge of Pingze couplets. Without even-leveled couplets, it is impossible to make them.
Second, if you want to use leveling, you should master the leveling framework. In 1992, Bald Pen mentioned that the parallel lines of couplets originated from metrical poems, but they were different from metrical poems, because metrical poems only contained five words and seven words, and couplets absorbed the long and short sentences of lyrics and songs in the long-term development. Metric poems have been formatted, and the sentence patterns and syllables of couplets are more vivid and active than the flat tones of metrical poems.
First, the leveling rule in the sentence (the above couplet is taken as an example):
Two words: Nuo Nuo.
Three words: smooth and steady, smooth and steady.
Four words: flush.
Five words: plain, plain (plain)
Six sentences: occasionally.
Seven words: plain, plain (plain)
The level of more than eight words depends on the rhythm.
Influenced by the regular poems since the Tang Dynasty, five-character and seven-character sentences mostly adopt the flat format in brackets.
Second, the rule of flat feet (positive case, the above couplet as an example)
(The last two sentences are not the same as equality.)
One side: Xu
Two sentences on each side: Ping, Ping.
Three sentences on each side: Ping and Ping
Four sentences on each side: even, even.
Five sentences on each side: even, even.
Six sentences on each side: flat and even, flat and even.
Seven sentences on each side: flat and flat, flat and flat.
Eight sentences on each side: Ping, Ping, Ping, Ping.
The basic framework of the format we use in couplets is:
Four-character couplets:
Flat tone
It's flat
Five-character couplets:
Very flat, very flat.
be plain and simple
Or:
Flat and light.
It is flat.
Six-character couplets:
Very flat, very flat.
Very simple, very simple.
Or:
Flat and uniform
Average, average, average.
Seven-character couplets:
Flat and flat, flat and flat.
Pingping Pingping Pingping Pingping Pingping Pingping.
Or:
Flat and light, flat and light.
Ordinary, ordinary, ordinary.
Change the grid:
Flat and uniform.
It is flat. It is flat.
Eight-character couplets:
Flat and light.
Even, even, even.
Or:
Flat and light, flat and light.
Pingping Pingping Pingping Pingping Pingping Pingping.
Nine-character couplets:
Flat and light, flat and light.
Ping, ping, ping, ping.
Or:
Flat and light.
Very simple, very simple.
Flat and light, flat and light.
It is flat. It is flat.
Cross:
Flat flat flat flat flat flat flat flat flat flat flat flat flat flat flat flat flat flat flat flat flat.
Pingping Pingping Pingping Pingping Pingping.
Sentence pattern:
Flat flat flat flat flat flat flat flat flat flat flat flat flat flat flat flat flat flat flat flat flat.
Pingping Pingping Pingping Pingping Pingping.
Three three four sentence patterns:
Pingping Pingping Pingping Pingping Pingping Pingping.
Flat, flat, flat.
Eleven-character couplets:
Fair, fair, fair, fair.
Pingping Pingping Pingping Pingping Pingping Pingping.
Or:
Flat flat flat flat flat flat flat flat flat flat flat flat flat flat flat flat flat flat flat flat flat.
Flat, flat, flat, flat.
Five or six sentence patterns:
It is flat. It is flat.
Plain, plain, plain.
Twelve-character couplets:
Very flat, very flat.
Plain, plain, plain.
Or:
Plain, plain, plain.
Ordinary, ordinary, ordinary.
Although there is no fixed format, long couplets must be parallel, staggered and coordinated, otherwise they cannot be counted as couplets. In fact, for people who are proficient in compound sentence, they can break through the shackles of compound sentence format, but the syllable part must be strict.
Mr. Qi Gong used a section "bamboo pole" to describe the basic framework of couplet leveling, namely:
Pingping Pingping Pingping Pingping Pingping Pingping Pingping Pingping Pingping Pingping Pingping Pingping Pingping Pingping. .........
All kinds of sentence patterns can be cut off from the pole, which is the simplest framework for couplet creation.
Couplets are a literary form that pays attention to meter. To appreciate and write couplets, we must understand its basic metrical requirements. The so-called couplet law refers to some basic rules and formats of couplet writing, and its core requirement is antithesis. The basic meter of couplets can be summarized as six elements and six taboos.
Generally speaking, the basic meter of couplets has six elements, namely, word equivalence, content correlation, part-of-speech equivalence, structural proportionality, rhythm correspondence, balance and harmony. The author believes that these six elements can be understood from three aspects: foundation, grammar and temperament:
1. The number of words is equal and the content is related.
These are two basic elements of couplet rhyme. Equal number of words means that if the first part consists of several clauses, then the second part should also consist of several clauses with equal number of words. In short, if the number of words is not equal, it is hard to be called a veritable couplet anyway.
From the content point of view, the contents of the upper and lower links should be interrelated in order to achieve the opposite or complementary effect. This relationship either sets off from the same angle, sets off each other and complements each other, which is the so-called "right"; Or compare and contrast each other from the perspective of opposition, which is the so-called "opposition." For example:
Sense of accomplishment; Solemn achievement. (right)
Peace of mind; Want to talk again. (against)
There are also several couplets that are linked together, that is, the so-called "serial pairs" or "flowing pairs". For example:
Except sweet, bitter, salty and sour;
Nothing more than rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar and tea.
If the content of the couplet is irrelevant, it will make people feel awkward and stiff, and the couplet will not have its due literary effect, so it is difficult to be called a qualified couplet. Of course, there is also a special form of couplets, which is the so-called "unfeeling pair". It means that couplets are neat in form (literal meaning) and irrelevant in content (meaning), thus causing a special effect. Love-less antithesis mainly uses the formal characteristics of couplets (antithesis) to reflect a kind of literary interest and skills, and the content is secondary. For example:
Flowers began to bloom in front of the court;
Your Excellency, Mr. Li (often without love)
The tree is half dead, resting on the axe;
Really irrelevant. (often without love)
In a word, words are equivalent and content is related, which is the minimum requirement of couplets in form and content, and reflects the most basic correspondence and relevance, so it is called the basic element.
2. The parts of speech are equivalent and the structure is commensurate.
These are two grammatical elements and two key elements of couplets. Part-of-speech equivalence means that the relative words of the upper and lower parts should be the same or similar as much as possible. Such as noun to noun, verb to verb, and so on. For example:
The five aggregates are empty and comfortable;
I don't want to see Tathagata.
In this couplet, Wu and Yi are numerals, Yun and Xin are nouns, Jing and Bu are adverbs, Kong and Luan are adjectives, Guan and Jian are verbs, and Yu Zi and Tathagata are nominalizations. Generally speaking, the requirements for function words are loose, while the requirements for content words are strict. In the specific antithesis, in addition to the part of speech, the role of words in sentences can be properly considered, and the requirements for modifiers are loose and the requirements for head words are strict.
Structural symmetry means that the grammatical structure of the sentences corresponding to the upper and lower links should be as same as possible. For example:
Always be United in humiliation;
Everything is fate.
The upper and lower parts of this couplet are both subject-predicate-object structures, in which "one heart" is biased towards "everything" and "humiliation" is a verb-object structure.
3. The rhythm is corresponding, even and gentle.
These are the two elements of metrical association. Rhythm, originally a musical term, refers to the phenomenon of regular alternation of strength and length in music. In antithesis, it refers to the regular pause in antithesis. Rhythm is corresponding, which means that the upper and lower couplet should be as consistent as possible in the pause of rhythm. For example:
Leak-fly-go;
Return empty-hearted.
Use-divine power-protection-Buddhism;
Set-Menglan basin-cross-kindness.
But the author thinks that rhythm can be divided into broad sense and narrow sense. Generalized rhythm includes semantic rhythm and prosodic rhythm. The narrow sense of rhythm refers to the semantic rhythm. Semantic rhythm is mainly divided according to sentence structure, which refers to the division of syllable pauses or intervals according to semantics. Rhythm rhythm refers to the tone requirement of a certain position (flat arrangement) in a sentence from the perspective of flat requirements. The author thinks that in order to make the concept clear, semantic rhythm and rhythm rhythm are best represented by "rhythm" and "step" respectively. Examples are as follows:
At the same time-smell-give notes; Diddy bodhi. (rhythm)
At the same time-smell-remember; Second time -depo-ti. (Step)
Of course, rhythm and pace are closely related and often consistent.
Flat and even harmony, also known as flat and even harmony, in a narrow sense refers to the two major requirements of couplets in tone: flat and even opposition and flat and even alternation. In a broad sense, it also includes other flat problems such as the flat arrangement of sentence endings (see six taboos). Flat tone means that the sound should be flat between the steps of the upper and lower couplet and the feet of each clause, that is, the upper couplet is flat tone, the lower couplet is flat tone, and vice versa. There is a saying that the arrangement of steps is "135 regardless, 246 is clear", because in fact, the whole step does not necessarily need to be flat and relative, but it can be flat and relative at the step position. The so-called step position is the last word of each step and the key sound that determines the nature of the whole step. Because most Chinese characters are two-character steps, the step position generally refers to the second, fourth and sixth words of each sentence. So there is a saying that "135 doesn't matter, 246 is clear". For example:
Heart-external-real model-there is; Air-invisible-empty.
○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○967 )
The first 35 words of this couplet are not necessarily flat, but the last 46 words are flat. However, not all the steps are in the position of 246, mainly because of the sentence patterns of couplets, in addition to the antithesis sentence patterns in regular poems, there are also sentence patterns such as words, songs, fu, parallel prose and even prose, as well as the use of titles and proper nouns. For example:
Building-mandala altar-practicing dharma;
In-Alonso's place-meditation.
Straight heart-is the foundation of all things;
Greed is the root of all suffering.
Deep heart-diligence-mantra-doctrine;
Go all out-promotion-fingerprints-practice.
The steps of the above link are not necessarily in the position of 246.
The alternation of flat words, compared with flat words, is actually two aspects of the same problem, that is to say, flat words should be used alternately between sentences connected up and down and their own steps (or phonemes). Alternation can only be ignored between the foot of each clause and the previous step. For example:
The real body has passed the mortal world; Xiao Zhi can't stand tipping.
○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○967
Believe in Buddha at first; Deep understanding has no magic.
△○△△○△○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○
The requirements of leveling and leveling coordination are not absolute. Sometimes, in order not to damage the meaning of the law, there will be leveling and leveling dislocation or leveling and leveling dislocation in some places, and they can also be accommodating. In the case of using special rhetorical devices such as parallelism, rhyme and quotation, and using fixed sentence patterns such as idioms and allusions, the metrical requirements of flat tones can be appropriately relaxed.
Generally speaking, there is a progressive relationship between the above six elements of couplet rhythm. In a sense, part of speech is the basis of structural proportion, structural proportion is the basis of rhythm correspondence, and rhythm correspondence is the basis of balance and harmony. These two basic elements are unnecessary.
Some co-authors regard the concept of equivalence as one of the elements of couplet, which the author thinks is inappropriate. Because the strength is equal, it is only a further rhetorical requirement on the basis of content-related, that is to say, the meanings of up and down links should basically match, and the more they match, the more difficult it is to confront. If the upper link is too strong and the lower link is too weak, or the lower link is too strong and the upper link is too weak, it will affect its symmetry. Therefore, the strength is mainly related to the problem of a wide range of work. Similarly, conceptual equivalence is only a further rhetorical requirement on the basis of part-of-speech equivalence, that is to say, the upper and lower couplets are not only parts of speech, but also the concepts or meanings represented by words are equivalent, and they should be as close as possible or opposite. This is only related to a wide range of issues. If the two words * * * belong to the same concept, the smaller the scope, the more difficult it is to confront, and vice versa. For example, "China" is something like "rooster"; "Dawn" to "rooster" is reduced to a natural thing; "Grass" is reduced to "rooster" as a creature; "Horse" to "rooster" is reduced to an animal; "Old duck" to "rooster" is reduced to birds, even poultry. Secondly, if the conceptual relationship between the two words is contradictory (the so-called "contradictory concept"), it will be more difficult to fight, such as "being" against "nothing", "truth" against "falsehood", "life" against "death" and "wisdom" against "stupidity".
In a word, the six elements of couplet rhyme are related to whether a couplet is qualified or not. In this regard, it is still necessary for couplets to further form a * * * knowledge and clearly define it on the basis of full discussion.
In the author's view, in addition to the above six elements, there are six more important taboos in the basic meter of couplets, that is, six situations that should be avoided as much as possible. Now briefly described as follows:
1. Avoid simultaneous arrival.
This is in terms of the relationship between the footing of the upper and lower clauses. Strictly speaking, horseshoe rhyme can be used as a rule for arranging horizontal lines at the end of a couplet composed of multiple clauses. The so-called horseshoe rhyme refers to the sentence that the feet are flat and arranged like a horse stance, and the hind feet follow the footprints in front. The sharing format is: sharing, sharing, sharing, sharing, sharing, sharing, sharing, sharing, sharing, sharing and sharing. However, the author thinks that starting from the present situation and development trend of couplets, considering the characteristics of "couplets have no definite sentences and sentences have no definite words" and the complexity of couplets' sentence patterns, the metrical requirement for the feet of sentences to be parallel can also be "no simultaneous stop" as a rule. To be precise, this rule has two requirements: (1), two or three terms on each side, and all terms cannot be settled at the same time. (2) If there are more than four clauses on each side, it is required that each clause cannot have three consecutive sentences (unless the upper and lower clauses are connected together and the middle clause can be used) or three or more sentences can be settled at the same time. This rule is concise in theory and flexible in application, which not only embodies the combination of principle and theory, but also accommodates several main different opinions on the issue of horizontal footing. Take one-fifth of the long couplets on each side as an example. According to the law of "horseshoe rhyme", there are only two orthography methods, namely, occasionally flat, occasionally flat (in the middle clause), and there is another variant, * *. According to the law of "not staying at the same time", then it is flush, flush (middle section), flush and flush.
Step 2 avoid ending at the same time
This is based on the relationship between the upper joint foot and the lower joint foot. Accurately speaking, this rule also has two requirements: (1) No matter how long a couplet is and how many clauses there are, the last word of the couplet is required to be silent; The bottom line requires a flat tail. Generally, it can't end with a dull voice, but with a squeaky voice. (2) The upper and lower couplet cannot end at the same time, that is, the last word of the upper and lower couplet cannot be homophone or homophone.
3. Avoid three flat tails or three narrow tails.
It means that the last three words of a sentence should be avoided as much as possible. For example, "sitting on the lotus platform because of the deep", if you change "sitting" to "boarding", it will become a three-level tail. For example, "Only by practicing according to law can you enter the Tao". If you change "can" to "can", it will be three tails. There is no difference between the monotony of three flat tails or three flat tails. In order to reflect the consistency in theory, both should be taboo, not just three flat tails without three flat tails.
4. Avoid loneliness or loneliness
It means that in a five-word or six-word sentence, try to avoid having only one flat or vague phonetic word in the whole sentence. For example, "everything goes well", if it is changed to "everything goes well", it is loneliness; Another example is: "Bodhi is ripe now". If it is changed to "Bodhi is round now", it will be lonely. Here, the author will briefly discuss the problem of loneliness. In the author's view, the couplet method does not have to completely follow the traditional poetic method. From the perspective of couplet law, it is more concise and reasonable to define "if a sentence of five or six words has only one flat sound". Because: First, this definition is generally a bit loose in terms of standards, which is in line with the development trend of couplet law. Secondly, according to the traditional poetic method, the so-called solitude should be outside the foot of the sentence, but there is a big difference between couplets and modern poems, that is, the requirements for the flatness of the ending words (the foot of the sentence) are different, and no rhyme is required, so the ending words (the foot of the sentence) do not need to be drawn separately in couplets. Third, literally, loneliness is a kind of. If the literal meaning of loneliness is completely consistent with the actual meaning, it will be beneficial to understanding and operation. The isolation of traditional poetry rhythm is: in a sentence pattern with five characters on the same level and seven characters on the same level, if only one word in the sentence is a flat word except rhyme, it is a crime of "isolation". This definition has actually killed loneliness in one or two sentences (specifically, the five words "Ping Ping" have been changed to "Ping Ping" and the seven words have been changed to "Ping Ping". Therefore, the word "Gu Ping" must be supplemented with explanations so that people can actually understand and operate it. Fourthly, in the five-character couplet, if only "even flat" is flat, then let's look at "even flat" and compare these two formats. Judging from the rigidity and monotony of ping and ping, what is it? Fifth, modern poetry is mainly composed of five or seven words. Therefore, in the six-character couplet, the concept of loneliness in the rhythm of traditional poetry cannot be explained, and loneliness may also exist in the six-character couplet.
5. Avoid homophones and ectopic homophones.
Overlapping or overlapping words are allowed in sentences. Folding in half and overlapping words are commonly used rhetorical devices in couplets, but attention should be paid to the consistency of the upper and lower couplets when overlapping. For example, "many things" is the opposite of "rolling", in which "many things" is the antonym of overlapping words; Another example is:
To cultivate is to cultivate the mind, and to be ethereal is nirvana.
Seeing the cause is like seeing the fruit, and the fruit is bitter like hell. (Note: The couplets quoted without the author or source are all from the book Touching Collection-800 Buddhist Couplets, the same below. )
Among them, "repair" is relative to "mirror", "reality" is relative to "ru" and "faith" is relative to "Guo". However, we should try to avoid "homophony" and "homophony" in couplets. The so-called homonym means that the same word is linked up and down in the same position, such as "law" versus "world" and "enlightenment" versus "magic". However, some functional words are allowed, such as:
Fish that slip through the net, sometimes on earth.
There are no birds in the sky.
Buddhists view reality and do not live in caves.
All beings play in vain without knowing it.
The so-called ectopic reduplication means that the same word appears in different positions of the upper and lower links. For example:
Don't be greedy if the industry can't flow.
Don't hate people because of the same fate.
If the word "Mo" in the bottom line is changed to "No", it will be different from the word "No" in the top line. However, there is a special format of "ectopic copy" that is allowed, such as:
There is no full moon, it follows you.
Although flowers bloom and fall, you let them develop.
The "it" in couplets is "you", that is, heterotopia and mutual emphasis. Another example is:
All methods are unified and there is no difference.
Single-minded, color is empty.
The "one" and "ten thousand", "heart" and "law", "emptiness" and "color" in couplets are ectopic and focus on each other. Another example is:
A person lives forever.
One person through the ages (Lin Sen holds a couplet by Dr. Sun Yat-sen)
The four words in the couplet are "foreign countries attach importance to each other"
6. Avoid synonymous opposition
Synonymous opposition, often called crossing hands. The so-called "avoiding synonymous opposition" refers to the relative sentences of the upper and lower parts, and its meanings should be avoided as much as possible, such as "rising sun" to "rising sun", "history books" to "history books", "China's outstanding works of past dynasties" to "Chixian Spring". Of course, there are also some non-central words with their hands crossed, or the proportion of their hands crossed in couplets is very small and harmless. Some sentences with similar meanings are relative and good. For example:
The heart is empty, and it becomes the right path.
All the roots and dust prove Tong Yuan.
The meaning of this couplet is quite close, but it is not synonymous after all.