Su Shi, the great poet of the Song Dynasty, left more than 300 poems in his lifetime, most of which became classics. Today, when someone asks him which one of the best words is written:
The arrogant young man will say that it is his "Nian Nu Jiao Chibi Nostalgia". The old man who has gone through all the vicissitudes will say that it is his "Linjiang Immortals Drinking Dongpo At Night to Wake Up and Get Drunk".
Romantic and emotional friends said that it was his "Jiang Chengzi Yi Yi ZhengYue Twenty Night Dream". Only middle-aged people who have suffered setbacks and blows in their lives will say that the best written is his "Dingfeng Wave Mo Listens to the Sound of Forest Hitting Leaves".
The poem "Ding Feng Bo Mo Listening to the Sound of Lin Hitting Leaves" is recognized as a representative work of Su Shi during the fifth year of Emperor Yuanfeng of the Song Dynasty (1082 AD) when he was the deputy envoy of the Huangzhou Regiment.
This poem, which was also composed by Su Shi and is known as the "first word of the ages", "Nian Nu Jiao Chibi Huaigu" is a work of the same period. However, when you carefully examine these two words, you will find that the author's outlook on life and ideological realm reflected in the words are very different.
"Nian Nu Jiao Chibi Nostalgia" has been published for more than 900 years and has been praised by the world. Created at the same time as it, "Dingfeng Bo Mo Listens to the Sound of Leaves Beating Through the Forest", but it has been silent for more than 800 years. It was not until the 1920s, under the admiration of Hu Shi, that it gradually became well known.
Since the song "Dingfeng Bo Mo Listens to the Sound of The Leaves Of the Forest" is Su Shi's masterpiece, why has it been ignored for more than 800 years? Is the crazy and open-minded Su Shi in the word a real existence, or is the author's "self-whitewashed" image?
What is the significance of the appearance of this word for Su Shi himself? Let's explore these issues together!
Appreciation of "DingFengBo Mo Listens to the Sound of Leaves Beating through the Forest"
"Dingfeng Bo Mo Listens to the Sound of Leaf Beating Through the Forest" - Northern Song Dynasty Su Shi
On March 7, it rained on Sand Lake Road. The rain gear went first, the peers were all embarrassed, Yu Du was unaware, and it was already sunny, so he made this word.
Don't listen to the sound of leaves beating through the forest, why not groan and walk slowly. Bamboo cane mango shoes light victory over horses, who is afraid? A cloud of smoke and rain is a life of peace.
The steep spring wind blows wine awake, slightly cold, but the mountain head obliquely illuminates each other. Looking back at the place where it has always been, returning, there is no wind or rain or sunshine.
Vernacular Translation:
You don't have to listen to the rustle of drizzle through the dense forest and the rustle of the leaves. Sing happily, walk slowly in the rain, what's not to like. With a bamboo crutch, a miscanthus shoe, and a brisk race on horseback, what is there to be afraid of in your heart?
Let the misty smoke and rain fall on the coat, and walk through life like this. The cold spring breeze blew away the drunkenness, and I only felt a little cold. Behind the oncoming green mountains, the slanting sun sent new warmth.
Looking back at the weather-beaten road, there is no need at all. It is better to go home, there is no wind and rain, and it does not matter whether it is sunny.
According to Li Yibing's "New Biography of Su Dongpo", Su Shi was the first to arrive in Huangzhou by himself after the "Wutai Poetry Case" was degraded to Huangzhou. After "reporting" to Huangzhou Zhizhou, he followed him to a temple called Dinghuiyuan.
Because he was afraid of being ridiculed by others, Su Shi once went out day and night. It was not until his wife moved to the local area that he bought a field, built a hut, and lived a self-sufficient life in the "Sand Lake" thirty miles southeast of Huangzhou.
On the surface, Su Shi lived in Huangzhou for five years, and the local officials and the people loved him and took care of him in many ways, but in fact, he was always under the surveillance of local officials.
Once, because Su Shi could not sleep at night, he went out for a walk and wrote the famous "Linjiang Immortals Drinking Dongpo at Night and Waking Up drunk". As a result, it was mistaken for "fleeing" afterwards, and a lot of movement was made.
In the second year of Huangzhou, Su Shi fell seriously ill. When he was well, he looked in the mirror and found that his hair was already white.
Thinking of this time of being degraded, I didn't know when I would be able to regain it, so Su Shi was discouraged and lazy, and wrote a poem "Cold Food Rain", in which he said:
The king's gate is nine times deep, and the tomb is in the tens of thousands of miles; he is also trying to cry poorly, and the ashes of death cannot be blown.
Emperor Shenzong of Song had always taken good care of Su Shi, but now the emperor was too far away from him. Su Shi was worried that he would die of illness in Huangzhou, and he could not wait for the day when he would be re-favored by the emperor.
Thinking of this, Su Shi also wanted to shed tears for his future, but at this moment, he was already exhausted. The mood is also like dead ash, and it can't be blown up.
Because people from the outside did not understand the real situation of Su Shi, they misreported the news that Su Shi had died to the capital, which made Song Shenzong feel very sorry in his heart.
The various examples listed above are only to show that Su Shi's five years in Huangzhou were indeed not satisfactory. His heart was uncomfortable. However, his song "DingFengBo Mo Listens to the Sound of Penetrating The Leaves of the Forest" is not the same thing when he reads it.
Su Shi in "Dingfeng Bo Mo Listens to the Sound of Leaf Beating Through the Forest" is a dashing person who has been sent out of the world. He seems to be using this song to advise the world not to take the small wind and rain of life seriously.
March is a little sunny spring, and the weather has begun to warm up. People are walking in the dense forest, and raindrops hit the leaves, which have blocked most of the people. At this time the air is fresh and cool and picturesque. There's nothing wrong with singing and taking a walk.
If it rains heavily, don't worry. Ordinary people do not have high-headed horses, but they have green bamboo sticks and yellow straw shoes. The steps under your feet are brisk, and you can find shelter from the rain in the blink of an eye, so what is there to be afraid of?
Su Shi thought that he had a coat to shield himself from the wind and rain, even if he spent the rest of his life like this, he was also dashing. However, the dashing behavior he depicts in this poem does not match the real mentality he had most of the time when he was in Huangzhou.
Therefore, this poem looks more like Su Shi's words of relief written by Su Shi. I don't know if it is for this reason that in the more than eight hundred years since the advent of this word, not a single ancient word has quoted this word.
Comments on this poem began as early as the late Qing Dynasty. Before the twenties of the last century, only one word of this poem "Dingfeng Bo Mo Listening to the Sound of Leaf Beating Through the Forest" survived. Its modern fame was achieved by Hu Shi's promotion.
Hu Shi compiled a book of "Selected Words" that year, in which he praised Su Shi's contribution to the creation of bold words. Because this word was quoted in the process of discussion, I did not expect to promote this song "Dingfeng Wave Mo Listening to the Sound of Leaf Beating Through the Forest".
After the 1950s, more and more people in China studied this song "Dingfeng Bo Mo Listening to the Sound of Leaves Through the Forest". The further you go, the more famous it becomes. This poem is a word about the philosophy of life, and the word expresses a Taoist detached and open attitude towards life.
When Su Shi was in his hometown of Meishan, Sichuan, before he was twenty years old, he had already accepted the influence of Taoist thought, but until the beginning of his demotion to Huangzhou, he still did not jump out of the worldly vanity.
Su Shi himself was also relatively proud of his personality, because he had a smooth life before the age of forty, so once he was degraded, his vanity was strange, and he began to be afraid of being ridiculed, so he hid in the Dinghui Courtyard and did not dare to go out to see people during the day.
In fact, don't say that no one laughed at Su Shi because of this matter, even if it really existed, these small things were just a breeze and rain in life, and they couldn't turn over any waves at all.
But Su Shi couldn't understand it at first, and then he fell seriously ill and his heart was like ashes, and finally he thought about this matter thoroughly. So I wrote this song "DingFengBo Mo Listens to the Sound of The Leaves Of the Forest" to comfort himself, so that he can face the twists and turns of life correctly.
Although it was difficult to make such a transformation at the beginning, Su Shi repeatedly created such open poems for a long time, and the spirit in them also subtly reshaped himself. Therefore, Su Shi, who is not open-minded, is open-minded when he pretends to be pretending.
epilogue
When I read Influence before, I mentioned a "principle of commitment and consistency." It means that if a person makes a certain commitment, then he will unconsciously work in the direction of the commitment.
When Su Shi wrote "DingFengBo Mo Listens to the Sound of Leaf Beating Through the Forest", it is likely that it is really not as dashing as described in the words. Otherwise, how could he hide in the monk's temple because he loved face and did not dare to come out to meet people?
However, since Su Shi wrote this song "DingFeng Bo Mo Listens to the Sound of Forest Hitting Leaves", it is equivalent to making a "promise" to his own heart.
So later, Su Shi unconsciously followed the direction of his original "commitment" and practiced his life. Eventually, he became a "spiritual aristocrat" who was quiet and indifferent at heart and wild on the outside.