Zhang Wei: Indifference is also a kind of enterprising

After Wang Wei's death, Emperor Daizong, who was very fond of poets, asked the poet's younger brother Wang Jin to search for his poems. Wang Jin, who was the prime minister at the time, echoed: After many changes, especially after the "Anshi Rebellion", his brother's poems have not survived. What is this concept? Wang Wei has more than 400 poems in existence, and if he calculates according to this calculation, the total number of his creations in that year should be around 4,000, which seems unlikely. The tang dynasty poet with the largest total number of poetry creations was Bai Juyi, who not only created for a long time, but also for poetry madness: "Drunken madness and poetry magic hair, day and afternoon sorrow to the west of the day." Even so, he wrote more than 2,800 poems. Su Shi, the first prolific poet of the Northern Song Dynasty, has written more than 2,700 poems, more than 350 words, and more than 4,800 articles, which is already quite amazing. Wang Jin's statement is obviously a bit exaggerated. Because the poet's death at that time was not too long, and he did not go through the big ups and downs like Su Dongpo, the work would not be too lost.

It is also possible that a considerable part of Wang Wei's poetry is lost and does not exist, which may seem difficult for many people to understand, because poets always attach great importance to personal works, and the accumulation of the soul is of course extremely important compared to other worldly things in real life. Unless he was forced to do so, he would cherish and strive to preserve it, which was very different from some other worldly work. With the invention of movable type printing in the Song Dynasty, more and more ancient poets compiled poetry collections either by themselves or by others. Even in the Tang Dynasty, where printing was not well developed, Bai Juyi and Li Shangyin compiled their own poetry collections many times. Why did Wang Wei, who had not experienced the great ups and downs of his life, lose most of his poems? But on the other hand, his favorite and most valued "Renchuan Beiye" has been operating hard for many years and can still be abandoned. Wang Weisheng is indifferent and cold, and may not pay special attention to all tangible and intangible accumulations.

In addition to looking down on the accumulation of words, as far as the writing itself is concerned, Wang Wei is often in a state of minimalism and lyricism. In his lifetime, he basically did not have long poems and long texts, and the number of seven poems was significantly less than that of five poems, which shows that he also chose simplicity in form. He believed in Buddhism and practiced Zen and talked about enlightenment, which was characterized by less and simplicity. A careful study of the Buddhist scriptures may bring them to this level. In terms of real personnel disputes, he pays more and more attention to avoidance and forbearance. For the benefactor Zhang Jiuling, who promoted him, he was much grateful, and once wrote: "Where is the thought? Looking forward to the deep thorn gate. There is no acquaintance in the world, and I have been thinking about the old grace all my life. ("Sending Jingzhou Zhang Cheng Xiang") For the traitor Li Linfu, he responded with indifference, no aggression, and even very obedient, and left behind a poem that sang harmony with Li Linfu: "Tianzi Xing Xinfeng, Jingqi Weishuidong." In the cold mountain sky battle, Wengu Mantle city. Looking at his life, he suffered the most in the "Anshi Rebellion", but this was mostly caused by his own weakness, and the other party did not impose much damage. Despite this, under the coercion of the coercion, it was still in a state of fear, and that kind of house arrest life was really torturous, so as far as the mental path was concerned, it was more difficult and tortuous than Du Fu, who was in chaos at the same time.

For the career he worked hard to pursue as a teenager, the later Wang Wei gradually appeared as a dispensable and casual encounter, which was unified with his philosophy of life and overlapped with a side of the self he was looking for. His original image of life, the character, was excavated and produced a great effect, and the result was a mutual understanding of the long and short: the fierce conflict was avoided, life was saved; the pulse of the heart and the waves of emotion became weaker and smaller, and it returned to plainness and leisure. Although this can also reach another realm and style in aesthetics, it has a unique value, but after all, it makes us feel some gaps and regrets. Perhaps this expectation is a bit excessive, just an aesthetic luxury.

It is undeniable that omission is also a kind of skill and cultivation, and it also requires a kind of tempered resilience. This attitude and way of doing so is true in every aspect of Wang Wei's life, from life to writing, even beyond the ordinary and unexpected. For example, for Li Linfu's fierceness and Zhang Jiuling's acquaintance, in the strong contrast between the two, it seems that some corresponding emotional elements of the poet's psychology have not been stimulated, and we cannot see the surge of the soul from the work, and there are few words of indignation. His words at this time were largely speechless, and he was out of the matter. "Walk to the bottom of the water and sit and watch the clouds rise." Occasionally valued Lin Shuo, talking and laughing without repayment. ("The End of the South Farewell") "People idle and laurel flowers fall, and the night is quiet in the spring mountains." The moonrise frightens the mountain birds, and when the song is in the spring stream. ("Huangfu Yue Yunxi Miscellaneous Five Songs: Birdsong Stream")

It should be known that during the period of Li Linfu's dictatorship, when Zhang Jiuling was degraded, how many things were hidden between love and hate and estrangement were omitted and simplified. Dodging, emptiness, sitting, doing nothing, far away, so much so that you fall in love with the cold and emptiness, entering and enjoying a kind of "Zen realm". In this way, political enemies do not become enemies, and poets can be ignored in the competition of their colleagues. A person is not defended, the danger is reduced, and the unexpected opportunity may come, which makes us see something strange happen next: after the political patron is degraded, Wang Wei can get several promotions.

Wang Wei's opportunities in the official arena are, in the final analysis, one and the same as his artistic opportunities. Indifferent, calm and inactive, there is another possibility of enterprising. This is a very specific situation. "Zen" itself is greatly simplified and omitted, and the obscurity of "epiphany" and "enlightenment" is not so much a profound philosophy and religion as a more open and inclusive and extremely vague mental zone, where more words can be contained. Perhaps this secularized interpretation leads to a lot of misunderstandings, but objectively it does.

Wang Weizhi's poems cannot have too many long systems, because everything exists only in simplicity and province, and in this extreme subtraction it causes speculation and conspiracy to recreate.

To this day, the so-called "subtraction" of some modern poets has a similar tendency and function. But the opposite effect of all this also exists: once the negativity reaches an extreme, it will inevitably breed unbearable lightness. That is to say, they themselves may be so light as to be dispensable. (Zhang Wei)