Text/ Zhong Guangwu
Perhaps, it was the spring rain in the north draped in morning light that opened Zhu Xi's heart.
In the spring of the third year of Song Qingyuan (that is, 1197), the swallows cut willow silk, full of greenery, the spring breeze blowing, and the drizzle like a string. In the distant and unfamiliar Qilu land on the banks of the Weihe River, a person and a village met unexpectedly, this person is Zhu Xi, and this village is an ancient village with a history of nearly 5,000 years ( in the Han Dynasty, the villagers did not know their village name for filial piety). For Zhu Xi, who grew up in Jiangnan since childhood, the southern and northern countries, the vastly different environments, the very different regions, the encounters of ordinary people, the distance of thousands of miles, perhaps, it is the unforgettable spring rain that, in the depths of his heart, has produced a feeling of seeing each other and hating each other and being at home.
That night, the spring rain had been raining, and Zhu Xi had not slept all night. The rain fell into poetry, graceful and beautiful, he listened to the side of his ear, this northern spring rain actually contained too much of the charm of Jiangnan rain. The drizzle is like a March affair, wet and sad. The rain was like a thread, and the wisps of the past lingered in Zhu Xi's mind, before he lowered his eyebrows and thought about it again. In the winter of the second year of the Song Dynasty (that is, 1196), Zhu Xi offended his traitors by advocating "repairing government affairs, destroying Yidi, restoring the Central Plains, and destroying the enemy", and the Emperor of the Southern Song Dynasty listened to the rumors and attacked him with a group of "pseudo-academic rebellions against the party". Under this high pressure, Zhu Xi was dismissed from his post and exiled to other places after doing a "self-examination review" against his will. However, while fate closed one door for him, it opened another window for him. To Zhu Xi's relief and gratitude, the place of exile was the holy place he had longed for, the hometown of Confucius and Mencius, the founders of the Confucian school.
That winter, a rare heavy snow fell in Jiangnan, and the biting cold wind mixed with the cold snowflakes hit Zhu Xi's face, and the pain of knife cutting was like a knife. Zhu Xi, who was already sixty-six years old, bid farewell to his relatives in his hometown, packed his bags, and braved the snow to go north. Eight thousand miles of clouds and moons, thirty feats of dust and earth. The bumpy experience, the long road, the cold and warm of human feelings, and the coldness of the world made Zhu Xi, who was nearly ancient, feel a lot of emotions. In the past, the dancing young man has been frosted for the national youth silk. From jiangnan water town to the hinterland of Qilu, thousands of miles away, Zhu Xi went from snowy winter to early spring. The further north he went, the more he felt that Jiangnan was too crowded, and when he went out the door, he couldn't see the horizon all day, and a lot of his vision was blocked, and the vastness and distance of the northern wilderness made him rejoice.
"Friends come from afar, aren't they happy?" After a long trek, when Zhu Xi walked into Qilu and approached Qufu, the physical and mental fatigue suddenly disappeared, he could not hide the joy and piety in his heart, to the "Three Holes" to pay homage to his ancestor, the founder of Confucianism, the greatest thinker, politician and educator confucius in ancient China, Zhu Xi took an outing, strolling leisurely, the distant Nishan Rudai, the spring mood gradually thickened, and the Surabaya in front of him was clear and clear. The clear sky and beautiful suns and infinite scenery in the early spring of the north made his mood suddenly bright, and "Spring Day" blurted out: "The victorious day is looking for the Surabaya waterfront, the sky is new for a while, and when you know the east wind, thousands of purples and thousands of reds are always spring." However, the early spring weather in the northern inland, cold and dry, less rainy and windy, made Zhu Xi, who grew up in the relatively humid environment of Jiangnan from childhood, very uncomfortable. He thought of leaving, he was going to find a place with a suitable climate and a quiet environment, to shake off the worldly strife and live a life of seclusion. So, Zhu Xi picked up his bag again and went all the way east at the dawn of the dewy wet frost in early spring.
After several days of running, a great river stretched out in front of his eyes. This river is the Wei River. The grass on the embankment is green, and the flowers on the strange flowers can be slowly returned. On both sides of the Weihe River in spring, the spring rain is hazy, the grass is green, the spring breeze is harmonious, and the fall is colorful. The peach red compound contains the rain, and the willow green has more spring smoke. Warm rain and fragrant winds are frequent, and the blossoms are just a good spring light. The green mountains in the distance are reflected on the hazy river surface of the smoke and rain, like a dream, picturesque, this scene, let people feel like a fairyland. Perhaps, Zhu Xi of that era did not know that the great river in front of him was once the kingdom and paradise of dinosaurs before the Cretaceous Period of 65 million years. Perhaps, Zhu Xi of that era already knew that the river in front of him was the river that the legendary Ancient Yu Zhishui. Full of anticipation, he followed the direction of the Wei river, step by step, to the north.
Suddenly, his eyes were drawn to an ancient village surrounded by mountains on three sides and facing a river, and Zhu Xi found that the entire terrain here was distributed in a horseshoe shape from west to east, and this village was in the middle of the horseshoe shape, and to the east of the village was the Weihe River, which had been flowing endlessly for thousands of years. The core of geography is the gathering of tibetan wind and qi. The qi comes from the eight directions, the wind disperses, and the boundary water stops. And the place surrounded by mountains and rivers is often the place where the wind and qi are gathered. As the saying goes, southerners can look at geography, and northerners can recognize the weather. Zhu Xi was not only a Confucian scholar, he was also very accomplished in the geography of yin and yang. In Zhu Xi's view, this place is not only a place where Zhong LingYuxiu and the spirit of the people are brilliant, but also a treasure place for gathering blessings and blessings, and it is also the ideal place for Taoguang to cultivate obscure self-cultivation. As a result, Zhu Xi lived in seclusion in the Farin Temple in the west of the village (in the early years of the Han Dynasty, Qi Xiangcao's teacher Gai Gong and Zhang Liang's teacher Huang Shigong both lived in seclusion on the north and south mountains of the village). Near the village, there is not only the Farin Temple, but also three pagodas, which are Buddhist holy places where the pagoda temples coexist. The falin temple, when it was built, is said to be different. The Ming Dynasty Wanli "Anqiu County Chronicle" records that the temple was built in the first year of Jin Chongqing (1212). At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the "Anqiu Rural Chronicle" was recorded as the second year of Ming Zhengde (1507). Exactly when it was built is inconclusive. However, the author believes that the Ming Wanli "Anqiu County Chronicle" contains more close historical facts. The Three Pagodas, when they were built, are unknown, but it is known from the Chronicle of the Reconstruction of the Three Pagodas that the pagoda was destroyed during the campaign to destroy Buddhism initiated by Emperor Yuwen Yong of the Zhou Dynasty in the third year of the Northern Zhou Dynasty (574), and was rebuilt by the Sui Kai Emperor in the eighth year. The age of the destruction of the pagoda is nearly a hundred years earlier than the Big Wild Goose Pagoda in Xi'an.
The unique geographical location, the rich and thick historical and cultural atmosphere, the hospitable and simple and straightforward villagers, and the spring rain that poured down made Zhu Xi feel at home in his heart. Originally, the spring rain was a very common encounter for Zhu Xi, who was born in Jiangnan, but for the Qilu land where "spring rain is as expensive as oil", the spring rains of that year seemed to be really extravagant. But it was the spring rain that soothed Zhu Xi's burning heart, and he closed his eyes and smelled the familiar smell of his hometown in the deepest part of his memory. The mountains were hazy, the rain was hazy, and his heart began to quiet down. The time is light and the spring color is soft. The road of life is very long, there are flats, and there are more bumps. At any time, you can't give up the pace of chasing the sun.
Occasionally, Zhu Xi would also take advantage of a spring rain to come to the village for a walk, because only at this time could he truly appreciate the feeling of smoke and rain in Jiangnan and home. In the hazy haze of cooking smoke and rain, like an old farmer in the north, he wore a reed on his head and a cloak, and walked through the alleys with the fragrance of peach blossoms, leaving behind him a dog bark or two and the long song of geese and ducks. Willow wind, dotted pond rain. Walking on the rain-soaked bluestone paved street, the air filled with the aroma of rich sorghum wine, Zhu Xi knew that this village is a veritable wine country, since ancient times there has been a tradition of boiling pot wine (at its peak, there were nearly twenty large wine pots alone, and there were countless small pots). To the east of the village is the extensive Weihe Alluvial Plain, which produces high-quality wheat for koji and red sorghum, the raw material for winemaking. According to legend, as early as the Han Dynasty, Zhang Liang's teacher Huang Shigong taught his superb winemaking skills to the people here when he was living in seclusion on the Huanggong Mountain north of the village. The unique geographical environment, the sweet and clear water resources, the high-quality raw materials with full particles, and the superb ancient winemaking process make the red sorghum wine produced here mellow and long, and the lips and teeth remain fragrant. On both sides of the main street in the village, there are many wineries and shops, and the blue-gray walls are mottled, as if telling the long history of the village, and the bricks and tiles reveal the smell of fireworks for thousands of years. On the quaint streets, there is a continuous flow of people pushing carts, carrying burdens, carrying baskets, and carrying baskets, most of whom are businessmen who buy liquor from other places or nearby. Ancient villages are like a picture of history, and everyone, whether they are prominent and mediocre, is one of the bright colors.
Inside the Temple of Farin, there is an ancient locust tree that is old. Although this ancient locust tree has gone through thousands of years, it is still leafy and green, and the canopy is like an umbrella. There are three large dry holes above the ancient locust tree, and six small dry holes below, which can be easily accessed by both adults and children, known as "three doors and six holes". After Zhu Xi lived in seclusion at the Farin Temple, under this ancient locust tree, it became an ideal place for him to preach and teach and gather to give lectures. Zhu Xi was a great thinker, philosopher, and educator in Chinese history, and was the culmination of Confucianism after Confucius and Meng, known as "Zhu Zi". Promoting Confucianism is his lifelong pursuit, and his writings are quite numerous, including "Notes on the Collection of Chapters and Sentences of the Four Books", "Commentary on the General Book", "Zhou Yi Reading", "Notes on the Collection of Chu Ci" and other works. He never tires of learning and tirelessly teaches people. He said that to read, there must be three, that is, "the heart to, the eyes to the mouth." His "Persuasion to Learn Poetry/Occasional Success" is even more well-known: "Teenagers are easy to learn, an inch of time is not light, the pond spring grass dreams, and the leaves in front of the steps have autumn sounds." Under his inspiration, the people here respect etiquette and righteousness, the old and the young are humble and let go, and every household reads.
"For a few years, I didn't step on Xianzhou Road, and I dreamed of being among the ancient trees of Qingteng. Good to take advantage of the new autumn rain, the day cold pavilion under the murmur. In the fifth year of Song Qingyuan (1199), Zhu Xi, who was nearly ancient, felt that his body was sick and decided to return to his hometown and return to his roots. When the villagers heard the news, they replaced tea with wine, waved tears to say goodbye, and sent each other for ten miles. After Zhu Xi left, the village was called Zhu Zangzhuang (or Zhu Zangli). Later, in order to commemorate Zhu Xi, people gathered here to give lectures, and built the Zhuzi Ancestral Hall next to the ancient locust tree of the Farin Temple, and the village was renamed Zhuzi Village.
That nearly a thousand years of spring rain from ancient times to the present, that story of a person and a village encounter has also been circulating, although, the bucket turns to the stars, although, the time has changed...
(Image from the Internet)
【About the author】Zhong Guangwu, pen name Weishui Chenzhong. A native of Anqiu (now Xiashan District), Shandong. He has published more than 200 works in print publications or online media such as "Chinese Countryside", "Contemporary Essays", "Today's Headlines", "Weifang Radio and Television News" and so on.
Sponsored by the Shandong Provincial Prose Literature Society, Contemporary Prose is a bimonthly prose journal, which mainly publishes the works of members of the Shandong Provincial Prose Literature Association, and welcomes Shandong prose writers to apply to join the Shandong Provincial Prose Association. The Shandong Provincial Prose Literature Association holds various prose activities throughout the year to provide book publishing services for writers. Contact number: 18653131587; submission email: [email protected]
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