Liu Yifei

兰若词 → English translation→ English

Original lyrics

兰若词

既然此生已错过

告诉我你梦到什么

你说爱恋只是场错

我似曾记得

陷战人间几回合

葛藤花又爬满兰若

月照轻纱夜风灵波

要发生什么

掌心的线断了连络

似幽魂飘过

惹来太多牵扯

一滴泪滑落

有意碰落他的烛火

都快忘记相逢为何

心事难说破

情比纸伞斑驳

他写聊斋时遣词了太多寂寞

如果来世也错过

兰若寺会记载什么

尘埃落定花开无果

我怎么躲呢

夜雾中谁哼着歌

时而平静时而曲折

过客总是醉或梦着

传成了传说

掌心的线断了连络

似幽魂飘过

惹来太多牵扯

一滴泪滑落

有意碰落他的烛火

都快忘记相逢为何

心事难说破

情比纸伞斑驳

他写聊斋时遣词了太多寂寞

为我逆天有何不可

你总该记得

曾经为情所惑

凡人总难舍

爱过恨过也就罢了

偏要回眸动了心魔

这千年寂寞

奈了红尘几何

剩一世无双的你仍眷恋着我

Translation

Temple Poem

Since we've missed the chance to be together in this life

Tell me what has been in your dreams

I seem to recall that

You said love is just a mistake

In this world, how many rounds have we been mired in battle?

The kudzu 1

vines and flowers have sprawled all over the temple2

once again. The silk shines on the silk gauze

The night wind flows like the river waters

What is about to happen?

The thread in the palm of my hand has broken and it drifts past me like a ghost

Dragging me into too many matters (relationships)

A teardrop rolls down, knocking down the flame of his candle

I'm almost at the point of forgetting how we met

Why is it so difficult to speak our minds?

Love is more mottled than a paper umbrella

There was too much loneliness in his choice of words when he wrote the strange tales of liaozhai 3

If we miss the chance to be together in the next lifetime as well,

What will be recorded in the Lanre Temple?

The dust has settled. The flower blossoms without bearing fruit.

How do I avoid this fate?

In the night time fog, who is humming a song?

Sometimes tranquil, sometimes tortuous.

The passing guests are always drunk or dreaming

And the story is spread around till it becomes a legend.

The thread in the palm of my hand has broken and it drifts past me like a ghost

Dragging me into too many matters (relationships)

A teardrop rolls down, knocking down the flame of his candle

I'm almost at the point of forgetting how we met

Why is it so difficult to speak our minds?

Love is more mottled than a paper umbrella

There was too much loneliness in his choice of words when he wrote the strange tales of liaozhai

Why can't you defy the will of heaven for me? You should definitely remember

That you once indulged in and was lost in love.

For the ordinary mortal, it's always hard to give it up but after having loved and having hated, let it pass.

Yet we just had to glance back at each other and set the demons in our hearts into motion. This millenium of loneliness...

How many times have we endured this world of mortals?4

What remains is the unequaled you, who continues to be fond of me.

1. 葛 refers to kudzu, or the Japanese arrowroot. Interestingly, 葛藤 (kudzu vine) is a metaphor for complicated, tangled up matters or relations.
2. 兰若 comes from 阿兰若, which is transliterated from the Sanskrit term "Aranya". It refers to a quiet tranquil place free of distress and distractions. Generally, it is used to speak of any temple. However, there are temples specifically named 兰若寺 (Lanre Temple). There are also temples of other names suspected of being the 兰若寺 of 《聊斋志异·聂小倩
3. 聊斋 is short for 《聊斋志异》 (Strange Tales of Liaozhai), a collection of supernatural stories written by Qing Dynasty novelist 蒲松龄 (Pu Songling). One of the stories is titled 倩女幽魂, from which the game that this theme song is for derives its name. (The game is called "倩女幽魂 Online", or, in English, "A Chinese Ghost Story Online".) Though the term 兰若 appears multiple times throughout the different stories of Liaozhai, it is worth noting that 兰若寺 (Lanre Temple) appears and is of importance in this particular story.
4. 红尘 is literally red dust and metaphorically refers to the world of ordinary mortal men. When horses and carriages passed over the unpaved earthen roads in the olden days, dust would rise. These 'roads' represented the figurative roads to fame and fortune that the common man pursues.