Recently, there has been a discussion on the cultural phenomenon of "lying flat" on the Internet, some people have simulated the philosophy of survival with "Buddhist life", and some people have taken out examples from history, saying that they have existed in ancient times, such as the "Seven Sages of the Bamboo Forest" in the Wei and Jin Dynasties.
However, although the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Forest have left behind a number of absurd stories of literati and scholars, the characters involved are all political figures, some of whom are rich second generations, and their concept of behavior is extended from political factors to ideological behavior, which is different from the attitude of young people who advocate "lying flat" because life is embarrassing by material conditions, but it is also for survival, and look at the Ruan Nationality in the Seven Sages, what does his way of dealing with the world enlighten us?
During the wei and Jin dynasties, the political situation was turbulent, and the Sima family, which was plotting to usurp the throne, seized power, but constantly preached the famous religion, and etiquette and famous religion became the ideological tools controlled by the rulers, and under the watchful eye of the ambitious Sima clan, everyone was in danger. This is very unpleasant in the eyes of most of the literati who are full of sages and have the heart to help the world, they are yang and yin, but they secretly break the famous religion with nature, and some of them are represented by the "Seven Sages of the Bamboo Forest".
Portrait of the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Forest. （Wikimedia Commons）
The "New Language of the World" records a large number of anecdotes of Wei and Jin scholars. (Chinese Encyclopedia)
The "Seven Sages of the Bamboo Forest" refers to the seven literati during the Wei and Jin dynasties: Ruan Yuan, Ji Kang, Shan Tao, Xiang Xiu, Liu Ling, Wang Rong, and Ruan Xian. The seven of them befriended each other and often traveled together in the bamboo forest. Wandering skeletons, drinking and singing, informal, transcendent outside the world.
Later generations often only remember the cynical and absurd stories of "Liu Linghe", thinking that all of them were songs that were far away from the world and could indulge in wine and meat, but why did they appear in the Wei and Jin dynasties when Confucianism was popular, and became the polemic figures of the dispute between "famous religions" (social ethical responsibilities) and "nature" (natural natural feelings)?
Social Responsibility v.S. Personal Interests
First of all, there are two points of understanding: first, the seven sages and seven figures, their ideological schools, attitudes to the regime are different, roughly can be divided into two or three views, in short, seven people are not a monolith; second, seven people are not secluded, but seven people have served as officials or dealt with official figures, eaten imperial food, and Ruan Zhi has been an official for a long time in his life. Due to the limitation of space, it is difficult for seven people to discuss each column, so we may wish to discuss the two more opposing representatives of "Ji Nguyen" and "Ji Nguyen".
Ruan (210–263), courtesy name Emperor Sizong, was a native of the Chen Liuwei clan (present-day Kaifeng, Henan), and his father Ruan Yu (阮瑀) was a Cao Cao official, one of the "Seven Sons of Jian'an", and was a famous descendant, so his theory was partial to the middle school of the clan.
Because of his family lineage, he often introduced people to officials, and in his early years he also had the ambition of Ji Shizhi, but in order to save his life under the Sima regime, he quickly chose Taoguang to cultivate obscurity and practice in disguise: simply put, "Hea lived and became an official", often drunk to avoid taking a stand, when necessary, he asked for a vacant post, and he never "denied the characters" in the political arena (see "The World Speaks New Language virtues", which means that he is cautious in his words and deeds, and does not comment on political figures), and in the official field, "mood and anger are not colorful", so he cannot end well.
However, Nguyen Can Usually Be a Soft Bone, but he is not indifferent to human morality, and two things can be seen. Another case of son killing his mother occurred, and Ruan Zhi at first judged that "killing the father is still justified, and killing the mother will not be able to talk about it", and Sima Zhao blamed him for acquiescing in killing the father, but Ruan Zhi replied that the animals and animals know their mothers but do not know that they have a father, killing their fathers is still equivalent to animals, and killing a mother is really inferior to an animal!
In the "Ruan Nationality's Loss of Mother" incident that caused a sensation in the political arena at that time, Ruan Yuan's philosophical concepts can be seen even more. Ruan Lost his mother, but he did not weep for his mother's filial piety, but still played chess and drank with people, but he was soon injured by vomiting several liters of blood, which was incomprehensible to the Han Wei people who were heavy on filial piety at that time.
At that time, Ruan's friend, Pei Kai, who came to mourn, said that "People outside Ruan Fang, so they are not revered." I am a layman of my generation, so I regard myself as a ritual" as an evaluation ("The New Language of the World") as an evaluation( "The New Language of the World" is that Ruan Zhiyi has long been detached from the world, and Nguyen believes that human morality is natural, and his feelings for his mother are not limited by red tape at all, and it is not filial piety to not observe the funeral rites, and he has his own nostalgia for his mother, and he will vomit blood out of sad reactions.
Ruan Zhi also had a favorable condition, he and Sima Zhao played from fine to large, so even though sima Zhao was repeatedly advised to kill Ruan Zhi for disobedience, Ruan Zhi continued to drink unharmed. Moreover, during the Cao Wei dynasty, when Sima Zhao pretended to let Jiu Xi, Ruan Even helped Sima Zhao write a resignation. He indulged in alcohol and indulged in his life, but he was helpless, because there was a gap between reality and his own moral values, and his inner contradictions were large, but he knew where he could only go by stepping on the line, it was two feet on both sides of Confucianism, but the focus was on Confucianism.
Some people say that "lying flat life" means "Buddhist life"? (Online image)
Ji Kang refused to become an official and broke off friendship with his friends
The other, Ji Kang (223-262), a famous Writer of the Wei and Jin Dynasties, had a different fate. Ji Kang was not of a high birth and was politically related to the Cao Wei sect, but he made the most direct and violent attack on the famous Confucianism, repeatedly writing that Confucianism is a product of man and has nothing to do with nature, and once criticized the monarch, believing that the benevolent and righteous religion was a tool created by the monarch for "selfish relatives" ("Taishi Zhen"), opposing the monarch as a subject and challenging the central position of Confucian ethics.
In his famous "Letter of Renunciation with Shan Juyuan", he refused Shantao's invitation to serve as an official, and also used this to scold Confucian ethics again, and even broke off relations with Shantao, scolding Shantao for being an official with a fishy smell of officialdom, and wanted to drag him into the water. In the letter, Ji Kang said that he liked to sleep lazily and could not accept working for the official on time; on weekdays, he liked to come and go freely alone, and did not want to be an official and someone to follow people; he did not like to attend other social occasions, but he had a lot of social rewards to go to as an official, and so on. His harsh words annoyed the clan led by Sima Zhao, and eventually he was involved in the Lu'an Incident, where the chancellor Sima Zhao, fearing that his influence of speech would threaten the Sima regime, executed him at the suggestion of Zhong Hui, leaving him in prison to sing in Guangling.
As I pointed out at the beginning of this article, the case of the "Seven Sages of the Bamboo Forest" involves the impact of changes in the political environment on the ideological circles, while "Lying Flat" is a protest by contemporary young people against the rapid development of the capital economy and the inequality caused by the "inner volume" caused by the inequality between the rich and the poor.
Ge You lie down is not surprisingly also made into a "lie flat" emoji. (Weibo @ Eighteen Sons Of Kinming)
Reduce temporary materialism to make life better in the future
In a short article on the mainland Internet entitled "Lying Flat is Justice", it is said that "Lying Flat" is to withdraw from the labor market, reduce consumption and life desires, and maintain the comfort of personal life; later, "Lying Flat" was extended to passively fight against society with no desire and inaction, endless, excessively fierce but not necessarily able to see the rewards of the competition, the article refers to "only lying flat, talent is the measure of all things".
"Lying flat" can be considered on several levels. Although they all suppress material desires to the minimum to save themselves, the narrow sense can refer to only maintaining basic living needs or only the lowest consumption; and in a broader sense, it is to reduce their responsibility to society, not to have children, to work only to do basic work, not to seek promotion (because there will be less free time, wages may not necessarily increase reasonably), and reduce unnecessary expenses (such as not buying a house, because they have become a lifelong house slave).
However, on the positive side, if "lying flat" is only a temporary choice for young people due to a temporary lack of economic ability, he can reduce unnecessary expenses in the time of "lying flat", accumulate capital, and let himself have capital to do other work that is meaningful to him in the future; "lying flat" reduces the time vacated after material desires, can practice his interests, enrich his life (one of the sayings of "lying flat" is only to reduce unnecessary expenses), accumulate experience to broaden his horizons, and the "lying flat" in that time You can prepare for a better life in the future.