The reason why Su Shi is called Su Dongpo and goes to the spiritual level of Dongpo is related to a place and a poet.
This place is Huangzhou. As Su Shi said: "Ask Ruping's life merits, Huangzhou Danzhou Huizhou", Huangzhou is the first stop of Su Shi's derogatory journey, the landscape of Huangzhou degraded the impetuosity in Su Shi's heart, smoothed out the folds in Su Shi's heart, and during his time in Huangzhou, Su Shi became more mature, expansive and detached. In his body, a unique outlook on life was formed, and he became optimistic and free-spirited.
This poet is Bai Juyi. Su Shi had a deep relationship with the Tang Dynasty poet Bai Juyi, and for Su Shi, he and Bai Juyi were acquaintances of different generations. Su Shi is also a groupie, and it can be seen from his name "Dongpo" that Bai Juyi is his love bean, because Bai Juyi also has a poetic habitat - Dongpo.
Why do you say that? This matter has to start with Su Shi's disparagement of Huangzhou.
In Su Shi's journey to the palace, the Wutai poetry case was an important turning point. The cause of the Wutai Shi case is related to the change of law during the Northern Song Dynasty, it turned out that Su Shi had objections to the change of law presided over by Wang Anshi, so he applied for a local post, and from 1071 to 1079, Su Shi's footprints traveled to Hangzhou, Mizhou, and Huzhou.
As soon as Su Shi arrived in Huzhou, he wrote a letter of "Huzhou Thank You Above" and submitted it. This was originally an official document similar to a debriefing report, but Su Shi was originally outstanding, and his pen was often emotional, even if he was an official-like article, he couldn't forget to add a little personal color.
Su Shi mixed a lot of personal emotions and attitudes towards changing the law in this report, and Su Shi also said some stereotypes about changing the law, which were caught by some people in the law change school. Yushi Li Ding, Shu Ling, He Zheng and others also selected sentences from Su Shi's large number of old poems that they believed implied ridicule of the new law and impeached Su Shi. For a time, the imperial court was in an uproar, and the voices of Su Su rose one after another.
Su Shi and the "Eastern Slope"
Su Shi had only been in office in Huzhou for three months, when he was taken to Bianliang by officials of the imperial history platform, and dozens of people were implicated, which is the famous "Wutai poetry case" of the Northern Song Dynasty. Why is there the word "Wutai" in front of this case?
It turns out that "Wutai" refers to the Yushi Tai, and the "Hanshu Zhu Bo Biography" recorded: "In the Yushi Mansion, there are often thousands of wild wu, perched on it." Therefore, later people also called the Yushi Tai "Wutai", and because the cause of Su Shi's incident was caused by the impeachment of the Yushi Case, it was also called "Wutai Shi Case".
The "Wutai Poetry Case" was a turning point in Su Shi's life, and after many rescues, including Wang Anshi in Jiangning who wrote a letter to rescue him, Su Shi survived, but was demoted to the deputy envoy of the regiment training in Huangzhou (present-day Huangzhou District, Huanggang City, Hubei Province).
In February 1080, 45-year-old Su Shi arrived in Huangzhou. When he first arrived in Huangzhou, Su Shi lived in Dinghuiyuan and wrote down the famous poem "Bu Operator · Dinghuiyuan Residence", especially the last two sentences of the word: "Pick out the cold branches and refuse to live, the lonely sandbar is cold", the trust is suspicious, and the meaning is far-reaching.
Su Shi, who first arrived in Huangzhou, was just like the wild goose that was shocked, Su Shi expressed Lonely Hong's psychological activities in an anthropomorphic way, but in fact, he used objects as a metaphor for people, materialized his subjective feelings and real situation, showed superb artistic skills, and became an ancient famous phrase that has been sung for thousands of years.
Later, Su Shi moved to Lingao Pavilion on the edge of the Yangtze River and gradually began to adapt to the degrading life in Huangzhou, but his situation was still difficult and embarrassing, and the family lived in Lingao Pavilion, living a difficult and confused life.
In Huangzhou, Su Shi had no position and no source of income, and in order to support his family, he also began to engage in some production work, and this self-deprecating poem "First Arrival in Huangzhou" truthfully records Su Shi's state of mind at that moment:
Laughing at himself for a busy life, the old career turned absurd.
The Yangtze River goes around Guo Zhiyu Beauty, and the good bamboo is connected to the mountains and jue the fragrance of bamboo shoots.
The guest may not be placed outside, and the poet is used as Shui Cao Lang.
Only ashamed to do nothing, Shang Fei officials pressed the wine sac.
In the second year in Huangzhou, Su Shi rented 59 acres of wasteland outside Huangzhou with the help of friends. After that, Su Shi bought agricultural tools, worked himself, and ploughed the fields. With the gradual stabilization of life, Su Shi also came out of the shadow of the Wutai poetry case.
Hard work in exchange for the joy of a good harvest, when the harvest was happy, Su Shi could not suppress the joy in his heart, so he also drank to celebrate, and wrote the poem "Dongpo" to celebrate the event:
The rain washed the moonlight on the eastern slope, and the city was full of wild people.
Don't be afraid of the slope road, self-love is sonorous.
The "eastern slope" in Su Shi's poem refers to this land, because the wasteland reclaimed by Su Shi is just outside the east gate of Huangzhou, and it is a slope land. So, he thought of the story of the Tang Dynasty poet Bai Juyi planting flowers and trees on the eastern slope of Chungju, so he named this cultivated land "Dongpo", and he also called himself "Dongpo Jushi", which Su Shi only had during his time in Huangzhou.
According to some statistics, there are more than 70 names that Su Shi has used in his life and later generations have called him, such as Su Changgong, Su Hezhong, Su Xuzhou, Su Huizhou, Su Su, and Dasu.
But the name Su Dongpo is the most recognizable, so that when later generations mention Dongpo or the surrounding area of Dongpo, they will immediately think of Su Shi, a giant in the literary world of the Song Dynasty, and people prefer to call Su Shi Su Dongpo. Mr. Lin Yutang's "Biography of Su Dongpo", the note "Dongpo Zhilin", and the famous dish Dongpo meat, are actually named after Su Shi.
Baijuyi and the "Eastern Slope"
When the Tang dynasty poet Bai Juyi was in the history of Zhongzhou (present-day Zhongxian, Chongqing), he planted flowers in the eastern slope of Chungju. It turned out that Bai Juyi was transferred from Sima of Jiangzhou to serve as the assassin of Zhongzhou in the thirteenth year of Emperor Yuan of Tang Xianzong, and arrived in Zhongzhou (Zhongxian County, Chongqing) in the spring of the fourteenth year of Yuan He. During his two years or so in Chungju, Baek Juyi was conscientious in his work; In his spare time, he travels around the Chungju landscape and experiences the customs and people of Chungju.
Bai Juyi Ping Suri likes to raise flowers and plant trees, and after arriving in Chungju, Bai Juyi saw a lot of flowers and trees that he had never seen before, and the plants and trees in the south made Bai Juyi have a kind of surprise like opening a blind box. On the hillside east of Chungju City, he reclaimed wasteland and planted many flowers and trees with his own hands, and Baek Juyi wrote in the poem "Planting Flowers on the Eastern Slope": Buy flower trees with money, and plant them on the eastern slope of the city.
When spring is in full bloom, the eastern slope of Chungju is a scene full of flowers, and Baek Juyi, who is in the shape of a laborer, especially likes to come here after work, first to admire the flowers and plants, second to relax, and third to bring inspiration to poetry.
For Bai Juyi, the eastern slope of Chungju is his poetic habitat, and such leisure and life scenes are appropriately expressed in Bai Juyi's song "Step Dongpo":
Step upwards to the east, and uphill to the east. Dongpo loves what he loves, loves this new tree.
At the beginning of the planting year, it nourishes and spring twilight. Faith and intention are planted secondarily, and there are countless deeds.
The green shade is oblique, and the fragrance is gentle. New-leaved birds come down and wilted butterflies fly.
Idle with spotted bamboo cane, Xu dragging jute. If you want to know the frequency of exchanges, green into a white road.
Sometimes he would stay in Dongpo all day, intoxicated by the beauty of Dongpo and could not bear to leave, in his poem "Two Flowers Planted in Dongpo", he described his state of mind at that time as follows: Ba vulgar does not love flowers, but no one comes in spring, but he is too drunk and can not return for a day. Spring on the eastern slope is twilight, and the trees are like today. The desert flowers are gone, and the leaves are born.
More than two years passed in a hurry, and with a note of order, Bai Juyi was about to leave Chungju, where he had worked and lived for two years. But when he was about to leave Chungju and leave the eastern slope of his heart, he still had a lot of reluctance and nostalgia in his heart, especially the flowers, grasses, trees and trees that he personally planted in the eastern slope.
Therefore, Bai Juyi pinned his good hopes on the future Chungju thorn history, hoping that he was also a person who loved flowers and plants, hoping that he could take good care of the flowers and trees on the eastern slope, hoping that he could continue the habit of planting flowers and trees, so one of the songs "Don't Plant Flowers and Trees on the Eastern Slope" wrote:
The flower forest is good to live in Mo haggard, the spring solstice but know that it is still spring.
Upstairs next year's new taisho, you might as well still love flowers.
Even though Bai Juyi left Chungju to take up a post in Chang'an, he still missed the flowers and trees he planted on the eastern slope of Chungju, and whenever he and his friends enjoyed the flowers in Chang'an, he would always recall the vegetation of Chungju and the peach and apricot blossoms in the mountains and forests.
So a reminiscence poem "The New Flower Tree on the Eastern Slope of the Western Province to the Flower Memory of Chungju, Because of the Theme East Building" flowed from Bai Juyi's pen:
Every time you look at the danqing trees, don't forget the splendid forest in the sky. Today's eye in the West Wall,
Nanbin upstairs last year's heart. The flowers contain the spring meaning, and the touching things are shallow and deep.
The most remembered Dongpo is red and rotten, wild peach mountain apricot water forest ring.
Different eastern slopes, similar lives
Then again, the reason why Su Shi named the place of cultivation "Dongpo" and called himself "Dongpo Jushi", in addition to being similar to Bai Juyi's deeds of planting flowers and grass, there is also a deep reason, that is, Su Shi's identification and admiration for Bai Juyi's personality, which is a bit of a feeling of "meeting from different generations to become confidants".
Why do you say this, we have to start with Su Shi and Bai Juyi's thought change and cognitive level. Su Shi called himself "Dongpo Jushi", which means Su Shi's recognition and admiration for Bai Juyi's philosophy and attitude to life, and means a major change in Su Shi's thinking.
After coming to Huangzhou, although Su Shi lost the space for advancement, he had more time to rethink the meaning of life and the destination of life. Su Shi combined his Confucianism with traditional philosophical thought, and in the process of accepting Confucianism, he was also accepting himself.
Huangzhou was a stopover in Su Shi's life journey, where he spent nearly five years, which were not only the endless obscurity of his journey, but also the low tide of his life, and also the period of economic cultivation of farmland and thrift to feed and clothing. Therefore, Huangzhou is also a major transition period in Su Shi's life journey.
In Huangzhou, Su Shi had admiration for Bai Juyi, and if Bai Juyi's background in the history of Zhongzhou was contacted, it happened to coincide with Su Shi's background in Huangzhou, although they were people of different eras, but they had similar life experiences and career resumes.
Because of the assassination of Prime Minister Wu Yuanheng, Bai Juyi requested a thorough investigation of the matter, arrest the perpetrators, and return justice to the deceased. At this time, Bai Juyi demanded himself by the code of conduct of "reaching the rule and benefiting the world", but his actions were considered by the rulers to be overstepping the level of speech, which caused some people's dissatisfaction.
At this time, Bai Juyi's mother died, and his poems had words such as "flower viewing" and "new well", which made people with ulterior motives seize the opportunity and then hype it up. As a result, the so-called "Arai poetry case" was concocted, and Bai Juyi was degraded to Jiangzhou. In Jiangzhou, Bai Juyi also wrote the famous "Pipa Xing".
Bai Juyi did not usher in the dawn of Jiangzhou, and with a piece of paper, he came to Chungju again. Although Chungju is remote and the traffic situation is not good, Baek Juyi's dedication to his duties in Chungju has changed, and he has also emerged from the frustration of being demoted to Jiangju.
Baek Ju-yi's planting of flowers and trees in Chungju is a concrete embodiment of the change in mentality. At this time, Bai Juyi began to turn his eyes more to nature, hoping to seek a peace of mind in contact with nature.
And Su Shi, Su Shi in the Huangzhou period was very similar to the Lotte he had always admired in terms of encounter and mood, at this time, with the help of his friends, he had land that he could cultivate, and he could plant trees and flowers and grow food, and naturally thought of Bai Juyi's eastern slope of planting trees and flowers in Chungju.
Therefore, two years after Huangzhou, Su Shi intended to follow the story of Bai Juyi Zhongzhou planting flowers and trees, and also opened up wasteland outside Huangzhou City, cultivated here, named the land "Dongpo", and called himself "Dongpo", which is Su Shi's admiration and recognition of Bai Juyi's cultivation in the reclaimed land of the eastern slope of Chungju.
In fact, Su Shi did not call himself "Dongpo" as soon as he arrived in Huangzhou, but only had the name "Dongpo" after living in Huangzhou for two years. Before the Wutai poetry case, Su Shi was in the book business, full of self-confidence, and had the ambition to benefit the world.
However, after experiencing the Wutai poetry case, Su Shi cultivated in Huangzhou on the eastern slope, at this time he had a new understanding of his career and life, and also had a new understanding, his heart turned more to the interest of nature, and he had more opportunities to have close contact with nature.
As he wrote when he traveled to the Qingquan Temple in Huangzhou: Lanya short immersion stream under the mountain, the sand road between the pines is clean and mudless, and Xiao Xiao is shouting at dusk. Who says that life is no less? The flowing water in front of the door is still able to west! Hugh will sing yellow chicken with white hair.
The upper part of this poem describes the quiet and elegant scenery and environment of Lanxi, the scenery is natural and bright, elegant and beautiful; Xia Ying is an uplifting discussion by the lyricist, expressing insights about life and enlightening the mind. The whole word is allegorical to the scene, the writing of the scenery is pure white description, meticulous and elegant, the lyricism is natural and smooth, and it is timeless.
Su Shi expressed his positive and optimistic attitude towards life after being disappointed on the road with the heroic feeling of going along with adversity, and read it to urge people to forge ahead and inspire people.
For example, when he and his friends visited Huangzhou, a picnic in the wild could also make Su Shishi prosperous: snow foam milk flowers floating at noon, artemisia shoots to try the spring plate. The taste of the world is Qinghuan.
Su Shi wrote the vivid color of tea leaves and fresh vegetables, showing the joyful mood of the lyricist when he was in close contact with nature. Brew a cup of clear tea with snow foam and milk flowers, and taste the spring plate vegetarian dish with green artemisia shoots in the mountains.
While tasting the gifts of nature, Su Shi also automatically matched the aesthetic taste and attitude of life that was clear and leisurely. In Su Shi's view, the real taste is the gift from nature, and this light and fresh taste is pleasant.
Another example is Su Shi's writing in the term "Linjiang Immortal": "The night wind is quiet and flat, the small boat has passed away, and Jiang Hai parasitizes the rest of his life." After experiencing the "Wutai Poetry Case" that rewrote the fate of life and the trajectory of the palace, Su Shi had already had the intention of returning to seclusion when he first arrived in Huangzhou. At that time, Su Shi was full of ambition and at a loss, so he would reveal the idea of returning to hiding.
In fact, Su Shi's idea was also influenced by Bai Juyi's idea of returning to concealment. Su Shi envied Bai Juyi's pursuit of a leisurely life in his later years, and he praised Bai Juyi's morality.
In addition to praising Bai Juyi's personality and morality, Su Shi's biggest recognition of Bai Juyi is Bai Juyi's philosophy of life and attitude towards the world, Bai Juyi once said: "The big hides in the dynasty, and the little hides into Qiu Fan." Qiu Fan was too cold, and the city was too noisy. It is better to be hidden in the middle and hidden in the remaining officer. ”
The small is hidden in the wild, and the big is hidden in the city. In Bai Juyi's view, the leisure and dashing life does not have to go to the Linquan Wild Path to experience, the higher level of seclusion life is in the prosperity of the city, in the pure land of the soul, find a tranquility, find the destination of the soul.
Xiao Yin and Da Yin are exactly like the two ends of a line, but Bai Juyi did not hesitate at the ends of this line, unsteady, unable to find a suitable foothold. But after some rigorous scrutiny by Bai Juyi, he folded the line in half and focused his attention on the inflection point of the line, that is, the midpoint line, which he felt was the most suitable foothold.
In other words, at this time, Bai Juyi reached a tacit balance with the hidden life, and found a way of life that was more suitable for himself, that is, "Zhongyin" - the compromise point of this line.
Hidden is a way of survival between small and large hidden, which is a dynamic balance. In other words, Bai Juyi highly recognized the relaxed lifestyle, and his thinking shifted from "benefiting the world" to "being alone".
Different generations meet to become confidants
In Huangzhou, Su Shi is not only seeking a fertile ground for a soul, but he is trying to adapt to life in Huangzhou, and he wants to reconcile with himself, and even with life. Su Shi wrote in a poem during the Huangzhou period: Before becoming a small hidden chat, you can get long leisure and win leisure.
Su Shi agreed with Bai Juyi's "Zhongyin" mentality of the world, and continued to sublimate this principle in his later journey to the palace, he maintained his inner calmness, maintained an optimistic mentality, and combined with his own ideological cultivation, he reached the realm of expansiveness and detachment in his attitude towards the world, which further improved the depth and breadth of Bai Juyi's "Zhongyin".
Even Su Shi, who was either degrading or on the road of degrading later, even if his life was not as leisurely and happy as Bai Juyi, he still maintained an optimistic and open-minded state of mind, which was inextricably related to the "Zhongyin" he chose. It can also be said that Su Shi directly benefited from Bai Juyi's "Zhongyin".
In Huangzhou and beyond, Su Shi felt that he had a similar trajectory to Bai Juyi in terms of life encounters and mentality in dealing with people, and he told more than once about the aptitude and tacit understanding of meeting different generations and becoming confidants. That was Su Shi's life perception after experiencing the ups and downs of the world, and this realization often meant various spiritual experiences that were not told by outsiders.
Su Shi believes that he and Bai Juyi have many similarities in life encounters, and often compare Bai Juyi in his poems. For example, in the poem "Giving a Photo to Li Daoshi", "He should refer to the sages of Ji, knowing that he is an old resident of Xiangshan", and the poem "I am like a happy king remembered, and Hua Tuan appreciates Luoyang Spring" in the poem "Giving Goodness to Xiangchengjie", are all written proofs of Su Shi's admiration for Bai Juyi.
The "Xiangshan Jushi" and "Lotte" in Su Shi's poem refer to Bai Juyi himself, Bai Juyi settled in Luoyang Xiangshan in his later years, calling himself "Xiangshan Jushi", and Lotte is actually the character of Bai Juyi.
Make up a note. In 832, Yuan Shu died, Bai Juyi wrote an epitaph for Yuan Shu, and Yuan Shu's family members gave Bai Juyi as much as 6.7 million yuan for polishing his writing, and Bai Juyi gave all of it to Luoyang Xiangshan Temple.
Bai Juyi spent most of his later years in Luoyang, and he also sang poetry and harmony with his friend Liu Yuxi, often traveled around Longmen, and left behind self-narrative works such as "Chi Shang" and "The Legend of Mr. Drunken Yin".
In 845, 74-year-old Bai Juyi held the "Seven Elders' Meeting" in Luoyang, attended by Hu Qiao, Ji Jiao, Zheng Zheng, Liu Zhen, Lu Zhen, and Zhang Hun; In the summer of the same year, the seven elders and monks Ruman and Li Yuanshuang painted the "Nine Elders Picture". Bai Juyi believed in Buddhism in his later years and lived in Luoyang Xiangshan Temple, so he called himself "Xiangshan Jushi" and was a disciple of Monk Ruman.
In his later years, Su Shi degraded the official Huizhou, passing through Qianzhou, and remembered that when he was a child, his father told him that there was a Tianzhu Temple in Qianzhou, and on the wall of Tianzhu Temple was a poem written by Bai Juyi. Therefore, although he was on the road of derogation, Su Shi was still excited when he thought of this matter, and he planned to go to Tianzhu Temple to see the style of Bai Juyi's calligraphy.
Unfortunately, when Su Shi went in, he found that Bai Juyi's ink had peeled off the wall due to time, and only the stone carvings copied by later generations were still there, and the "Dongpo" of the Song Dynasty was looking at the "Eastern Slope" of the Tang Dynasty in Qianzhou, which cannot but be said to be a matter of self-arrangement. Although the authentic calligraphy of Bai Juyi in Qianzhou Tianzhu Temple has peeled off, the stone carvings copied are still there, and for Su Shi, although this trip is regrettable, it is still very satisfying.
Why did Su Shi go to the Tianzhu Temple in Qianzhou to see Bai Juyi's authentic calligraphy? This may really be what people call "meeting different generations to become confidants".
Perhaps, Bai Juyi is Su Shi's love bean; Perhaps, Bai Juyi's personality charm is a kind of role model power for Su Shi, Su Shi regards Bai Juyi as an idol, Bai Juyi's mental journey and life footprints, Su Shi also wants to experience.
Trivial poetry
In Huangzhou, Su Shi took the name "Dongpo", the landscape of Huangzhou degraded the impetuosity in Su Shi's heart, and the study of Confucianism and Taoism improved Su Shi's cultivation, and in one drop and one liter, Su Shi smoothed out the folds in his heart and became more mature, expansive, and detached. In his body, a unique outlook on life was formed, and he became optimistic and free-spirited.
Su Shi's soaring talent has been vividly reflected in Huangzhou, and in the breadth, dimension and depth of creation, Su Shi has expanded and extended infinite possibilities, and he has also broken through a point in the literary boundary of his era, and also pushed his own understanding a step forward. Although Huangzhou was Su Shi's place of disparagement, it achieved the first peak of his literary achievements.
In Huangzhou, Su Shi called himself "Dongpo", he re-recognized himself and repositioned his life, because Su Shi comprehensively considered the "Dongpo" life of the Tang Dynasty poet Bai Juyi in Huangzhou: Su Shi, a giant in the literary world of the Northern Song Dynasty, saw another self from Bai Juyi, a famous poet in the Tang Dynasty, and Su Shi also saw another true self from Bai Juyi's life opportunities and principles.
Judging from the above discussion, Su Shi's self-proclaimed "Dongpo" itself is an admiration, follow-up and imitation of Bai Juyi's life. Therefore, meeting different generations to become confidants is Su Shi's intentional powerful interpretation and footnote to Bai Juyi's life.