蘇軾平生行跡,幾半天下,所至之處,尤喜游寺。所作游寺詩,集中在他外任或貶謫之時,即鳳翔、杭州、黃州、嶺南四個時期。蘇軾這四個時期的游寺詩的書寫旨趣、格調均呈現出不同的特征,頗為鮮明地反映了他禪悟的進階,亦典型地體現出北宋文人游寺詩創作的三種類型,即紀實繪景型、闡理寫心型、明心見性型。

Su Shi travelled extensively in China, with his particular interest in visiting temples. During his exiled and relegated periods, he composed a number of temple-visiting poems in places such as Fengxiang, Hangzhou, Huangzhou, and Lingnan. These poems manifest themselves in different literary tastes and aesthetic characteristics. They not only represent Su Shi’s progress of Chan enlightenment but also embody the three paradigms of Northern Song literati’s temple-visiting poetry, namely, realistic delineation of scenery, elaboration of truth and description of heart, and seeing the nature of mind.