Sing with great vitality and morale

Mount Tai has been considered a sacred mountain in history. Chinese emperors used to climb up the mountain when they practiced the Bongseon ritual to Tenjin (sky god) and themselves. On the northern and southern parts of the mountain covering a wide range of land, Je Country and Lu Country, each, were located in the Warring States period. The exceptional landscapes of the mountain wrapped with holy energy are part of the Creator’s blueprint. The rugged mountainous terrain explains how starkly the sunny spot and the shade are different just as the wee hours and nighttime are. Puffy clouds clean off the stains of the mind. Chirping birds flap their wings to reach home at the top of the trees in the forests. All such sceneries enticed the attention of the poet. 　

Nevertheless, the poet would not have dreamed of reaching the peak merely because of its grand terrains and outstanding views. The poet was only a 24-year-old man who made up his mind to build worldly wisdom of life by wandering about every corner of the world and reading 10,000 books although he failed at the first state examination. Reaching the top of the best of the best mountains, he showed his strong determination to overlook ordinary mountains. This only describes how ambitious he was about cutting the world out from his own perspective to rule the whole of it. He converted Confucius’ phrase “After climbing up Mount Tai, the world become small” into a novel line “Let me look down at ordinary mountains to figure out how small they are.” The phrase may mean that only a man with an unusual level of wisdom and taste can read the bigger picture.