Question on: 饮酒

[Guest realmayo]

I have a question about one line of this poem I've just read. Nice poem.

结庐在人境，而无车马喧。

问君何能尔？心远地自偏。

采菊东篱下，悠然见南山。

山气日夕佳，飞鸟相与还。

此中有真意，欲辨已忘言。

The line is: 心远地自偏。

The question is:

Must 远地 stick together (I know that, together, they can mean "a far-away-place")?

Or, is another possible reading, breaking it up, to join 远 with 心 ... and 地 with 自?

ie: grammatically, can I also read it as: 心远 ____地自 ____ 偏?

Or -- is there a reason why 远 should directly link with 地 and not with 心.

Please note: this isn't a direct question about the *meaning* but about the interation of the characters instead.

Thanks in advance anybody!

[monto]

心远 ____地自 ____ 偏?

I think so. As in summer

心静-自然-凉

[skylee]

Also take a look at this -> http://www.chinese-poems.com/wine.html

[Guest realmayo]

Monto, Skylee, thank you both for your replies!

If you have time, would be you able to talk me through this line and tell me what the characters are doing to one another (or at least, could be doing to one another)? For me, this is just as interesting as the "meaning".

I mean: is 远 describing 心? => "remote/distant heart"?

is 自 describing 地? => "place where-one's-self-is"?

and is 地自 linked to 偏 as in: "place where-one's-self-is is distant(偏)" ?

OR:

心 heart

远地 in a distant place

自 oneself

偏 remote.

I get the same sense from both: "if one has a remote/distant heart/spirit ... one will always be far away"

But my question is more about the grammar. How much can I pick and choose which characters affect which other characters, and how much does the word-order or other things restrict this?

Sorry if I haven't expressed myself at all clearly...

[skylee]

Consider -

when one's heart (心) is distant (遠) the place he lives in (地) naturally (自) feels distant (偏) too

當一個人把他的心放在遠方，他自然會覺得彷彿置身遠方 (所以便聽不到車馬的喧鬧聲音)。

I can't explain the grammar or word order. You need someone trained in Chinese grammar (not me).

[Guest realmayo]

ah, excellent thanks. I hadn't thought of 自 as 'naturally'.

[monto]

心远地自偏

春来草自青

慧者心自清

自 in these means 自然 or 自然而然地 which "naturally" fits better.