Four
The realistic choice of Tao Yuanming is the blessing of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the blessing of Chinese literature, and the blessing of Chinese poetry. Tao Yuanming can really afford this blessing, he used infinite longing to create an ideal world for the "Wei and Jin Romance", and built a monument for Chinese literature with the noble spirit of not staining the mortal dust and the "Peach Blossom Spring" of heaven on earth.
Talking about Tao Yuanming, most of the later generations talk about his poems, in fact, he is a great master who is unswerving, sincere and intoxicated with literature, and later generations have given him the reputation of "Mr. Jingjie". His poems are lined with real images of social life in the late Jin and early Song dynasties, and his writings exalt the beautiful hopes of pastoral poets to reconstruct order.
In 365 AD, Tao Yuanming (character Yuanliang) was born in a family of declining scholars in Chaisang, Xunyang (now Jiujiang, Jiangxi). At that time, the sixth emperor of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the Mourning Emperor Sima Pi, died of poisoning due to superstitious belief in the art of Fangshi and taking pills, at the age of 25; that year, Wang Xizhi had passed away for 4 years, and Gu Kaizhi was at the age of 17. On September 15, 427, 63-year-old Tao Yuanming died in Xunyang. At this time, the Eastern Jin Dynasty had collapsed 7 years ago, and history entered the period of Liu Yilong, the third emperor of the Southern Song Dynasty.
Looking through Tao Yuanming's life lineage, it can be summarized as a proud pursuit of ideals and a lifetime of vision and harmony. In this set of rhymes, the six emperors of the two dynasties are guarding the end and welcoming the beginning, large areas of mountains and rivers are torn apart, and most of the people are displaced. The change of the dynasty, the change of politics, and the reconstruction of the program, even if we read the history of war and chaos in the past dynasties, it is impossible to let go.
However, between the old and the new, people can re-align themselves, move them to understand current affairs, and reconstruct them to help them choose between refuge, so as to generate an ambition and ease that does not follow the crowd, does not go along with the voice, and does not settle with the situation. It can be said that Tao Yuanming's life passed in such an unpaid ambition and poverty, and Tao Yuanming's poems were immortalized in such a staggered intersection of time and space and sorrow and joy. And all of this needs to be retrieved and cracked from Tao Yuanming's family background, character resume and related achievements.
When it comes to Tao Yuanming's family affairs, his great-grandfather Tao Kan was prominent in the position of the great Sima of the Jin Dynasty, and his grandfather also served as a party of the Jin Dynasty. Therefore, in the Jin Dynasty society, which attached great importance to the gate valve, Tao Yuanming's family status could not be compared with Wang Xizhi and Gu Kaizhi. But the emaciated camel is bigger than the horse, and compared with the low-level poor family, Tao Yuanming belongs to the slightly cold class. This kind of embarrassment in political identity makes Tao Yuanming always in a dilemma.
Speaking of Tao Yuanming's resume, his life can be divided into two completely different stages. The first stage: ambitious, wandering officialdom, half-hidden and half-official. Tao Yuanming, who lost his father at the age of 9, spent his youth in the countryside of Chaisang, because of poverty and went out to make a living, at the age of 29, he was taken care of by Wang Xi's descendants and served as a sacrifice wine in Jiangzhou, and soon resigned and retired because of dissatisfaction with the darkness of officialdom, and when he entered the Eastern Jin Dynasty, he could only go home to mourn when his mother died, Liu Yu joined the army when he was in power, and then joined the army before Liu Jingxuan's account, and was reappointed as Pengze County Commander in August 405 AD. The second stage: stay away from current politics, plough the acres, drink and chant poetry. At the age of 40, Tao Yuanming, who had served as the county magistrate for less than three months, resolutely resigned and returned to his hometown, devoting himself to the creation of poetry and writing, while living a small peasant life at sunrise and sunset.
Talking about Tao Yuanming's story, there are many historical records and rumors, and the most widely circulated is the interesting story about him "not bending his waist for five buckets of rice". This story happened in the first year of Yixi (405) of Emperor Sima Dezong of Jin An, when Tao Yuanming, who had just passed the year of not being confused, took office as the commander of Pengze County, Xunyang County sent Liu Yun, the superintendent of post, to Pengze to inspect official business, and notified him in advance to receive him well. Tao Yuan knew that Liu Yun was treacherous and insidious, and often took bribes and extorted money under the pretext of official duties, and Peng Ze's people hated him to the core. Tao Yuanming tore up the official letter and said angrily, I will never pay for the five buckets of rice of the small county order, but flatter Liu Yun in a low manner. After speaking, he took off his official uniform, handed over his official seal, resigned and returned to his hometown, and never went out again. Later, this incident was rumored to be a beautiful talk and became an inspirational teaching material for Tao Yuanming to adhere to his integrity and reluctance to be associated with evil.
The above basic clues are just Tao Yuanming, who sketches a rough line. The reason why Tao Yuanming is often remembered and respected by later generations is because he is famous in the annals of history as a great pastoral poet, poet and essayist in ancient China. He grew up in the school of his grandfather under the influence of the classics, a wide range of ancient classics, the poetry and song of the greatest effort, with poetry and rhetoric are good and well-known in the literary world at that time, his "drinking", "return to the garden and pastoral residence", "Mr. Wuliu Biography", "return to the words" and other drinking poems, poetry, pastoral poems, catchy, artistic conception lofty, become the temple and folk at that time to recite the boutique; and other famous sayings and aphorisms, which have influenced and inspired Su Dongpo and other generations of literary masters, especially his masterpiece "The Story of the Peach Blossom Spring", which has made readers indulge in it and forget to return, and is regarded as a classic.
Picking chrysanthemums under the east fence Xiao Ping made
In fact, "The Story of the Peach Blossom Spring" is a prose by Tao Yuanming, which was written as the preface to "The Peach Blossom Spring Poem". The flashing sparks of thought, the surging poetic notes, and the dancing beautiful melodies in the text are all speaking for the beautiful word "Wei and Jin demeanor".
Tao Yuanming lived in the late Jin and early Song dynasties, the Wei and Jin dynasties had been stereotyped, and literati and doctors had been vying to emulate it for many years, and it could be regarded as the epitome of the grace and suaveness of a cultural group, which can be regarded as the most individualistic romantic period in the history of Chinese aesthetics. This turbulent time flowing through the wind and rain is like a freehand landscape painting full of mystery, its brush and ink are full of the silk of celebrities and scholars, its charm runs through the inner aesthetic yearning of various literary and artistic forms, and its spirit is publicized by celebrities who advocate nature and appreciate themselves frankly.
Gazing at this freehand landscape painting that carries the demeanor of the Wei and Jin dynasties, dissecting the reflection of life reflected by the language of its picture, and providing ideological guidance for it is the philosopher and thinker Wang Bi, etc., who only lived for 23 years old, when he penetrated the tentacles of thinking into the harmony of Confucianism and Taoism, and all things in heaven and earth were based on nothing, his thoughts, ontological metaphysical views, and complacent thinking methods designed an aesthetic outline for the poetry, painting, calligraphy and other literary and artistic creations involved in the demeanor of the Wei and Jin dynasties. Adding to the brilliance of his pen and ink are the writer and musician Ji Kang, who died young, together with the seven sages such as Ruan Ji and Xiang Xiu behind him, who brought literature and art into the ethereal and ethereal era of bamboo forests.
In this forest, Ji Kang set up the spiritual benchmark of the Wei and Jin literati's infinite yearning for freedom and dignity with an impassioned "Guangling San" performed with his life; Ruan Ji released the mournful and poignant poetic heart of famous scholars and the transcendent spirit of "pure emptiness and sparseness" with the five-character "Yonghuai Poem" of "soul drifting in the wind"; Xiang Xiu, Liu Ling, etc., galloped in the ideological garden of harmony with Confucianism and Taoism, pursued a free and smooth Gaoshi literary style, or sought drunkenness with drunkenness, released a kind of noble heart that transcended the ordinary world, or simple and free. Let go of a kind of eagerness to retreat, or a grand and bold pipa rhythm that creates a hollow valley orchid.
Based on this, Tao Yuanming captured the literati atmosphere, Gaoshi feelings, and family and country ideals that came from the Wei and Jin dynasties, and at the same time picked up a brush and dipped it in the spring light, held the field, and shook off the stars. It is this intense desert spring that has left a miraculous pen that can sweep down the history of Tao Yuanming's literary thoughts and the manifestation of the beauty of Datong in "The Story of the Peach Blossom Spring".
Around 421 A.D. (the second year of the usurpation of the throne by Emperor Liu Yu of the Southern Song Dynasty), Tao Yuanming wrote the glorious prose "The Story of the Peach Blossom Spring" after resigning from his official position and living in seclusion for 16 years. The story of the article is very simple, mainly about the Jin Dynasty Taiyuan (Eastern Jin Dynasty Xiaowu Emperor Sima Yao) years, a fisherman in Wuling County sailed along the stream, met a peach blossom forest, he was very surprised by the beautiful scenery in front of him, he went to the depths of the peach forest, after passing through a narrow cave mouth, the fisherman found a paradise far away from the world, the residents inside are happy, the fisherman stayed for a few days when he left, on the way back made many marks, and reported the situation he saw to the local Taishou. As a result, Taishou and others came here to search, but they couldn't find that paradise.
It is such a seemingly simple account, for the people in the deep chaos of the world and the dire situation, find a glimmer of life, a little hope of life, a paradise of survival, for the first time in the form of literary works, depict a real-life Elysium. If you want to talk about the great significance of this article, you need to take a good look at the three major scenery in the Peach Blossom Garden.
The first landscape: Introduce the main theme of Datong Thought into the earthly land, and outline the practical framework of an ideal society. Before Tao Yuanming, the interpretation of Datong thought and the ideal world was basically limited to theoretical cognition, and it can be traced back to the Datong chapter of "The Book of Rites and Rites". Confucianism, represented by Confucius, believes that the Datong society is the highest ideal society in which the world is for the public, the power is not for oneself, the belief is in harmony with oneself, the property is owned in the public, and the order is orderly. Later feudal rulers took Confucius's thought as a governing philosophy, but until the Eastern Jin Dynasty, it only stayed at the inheritance and recognition of concepts, and there was no situation mentioned by Confucius in the actual system. In addition, in some Xianxia novels or stories before Tao Yuanming, similar concepts have also appeared, because they are too suspenseful and bold, the ethereal fairy world is too far away from the world. Tao Yuanming's original idea lies in the fact that, through what the fishermen saw and heard, he vividly dropped the core and principles of Datong Thought from the sky into the Peach Blossom Spring, and vividly moved the scene and order of the ideal world from Taixu to the Peach Blossom Spring. While using literary works to interpret theoretical views and typical characters to reflect social life, the organic integration of Confucius and Lao Tzu's thoughts is realized, and a practical blueprint for Datong society to follow the ethical order is outlined.
The second landscape: implant the expectations of the Qingming and prosperous times into the fields around you to create an ideal model of real life. Before Tao Yuanming, the period closest to the prosperity and ideal life was the "rule of Chengkang" (King Cheng of Zhou and King Kang of the Western Zhou Dynasty), "the rule of Wenjing" (Emperor Wen of the Western Han Dynasty, Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty), "The Prosperous Era of Han Wu" (Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty), "Guangwu Zhongxing" (Emperor Guangwu of the Eastern Han Dynasty) and other stages, which together are less than 200 years, which can only be regarded as a drop in the ocean in the long river of history. Tao Yuanming's pioneering work lies in the fact that before and after his seclusion, he always had hope for the ruler, but when he had an in-depth understanding of the dark reality of the oppression and exploitation of the peasants by the Shi landlords, and had a personal experience of the people's ardent desire for a happy life, under the cruel fact that the expectation was hopeless, he could only imagine the appearance of a clear world - a paradise. In this paradise that connects the world, the land is flat, the houses are like houses, chickens and dogs smell each other, and they go back and forth to plant. There are not only beautiful scenery and quiet life, but also a harmonious relationship and an equal system, especially the life scene of yellow hair hanging down and enjoying themselves, as if people have seen the arrival of another prosperous era. This kind of utopian vision of an ideal life that does not exist in reality, and expresses the ideal life through literary works, and temporarily finds a place for the suffering souls to rest, which can be regarded as a valuable wealth in the history of mainland society and thought.
The third landscape: the carrier of spiritual sustenance falls into the pure habitat, lighting up an inextinguishable flame of fireworks in the world. Before Tao Yuanming, when the literati of all dynasties were looking for spiritual sustenance, most of them used poetry and words, lyricism with objects, and nostalgia with meaning, and the main body of spiritual expression was relatively single, and the information that people felt was simple and one-sided. Tao Yuanming's creativity lies in using the storytelling of literature to diffract the sublimeness of pursuit, using the white description of language to refract the darkness of society, and using the sense of substitution of rhetoric to reflect the vicissitudes of existence. In the work, the author borrows the penmanship of the novel, injects his own spiritual sustenance into the fisherman, and uses his experience as a clue to unfold the era, plot, environment, and result of the story, so that the three stories of fishing in the stream, the peach paradise, and the re-discovery of the lost are written both realistically and affirmatively, giving people the feeling that there is indeed a person and a thing, and a few words will introduce the reader into the unforgettable fairyland of the world. In the story, the author uses rhetorical techniques such as contrast and white description to express his thoughts and thoughts with the help of fishermen, etc., which not only appears peaceful and sincere, sincere and sincere, but also simple and natural, and has a rich atmosphere.
The triple scenery calls for prosperity, and the peach blossom source is sprinkled with true feelings. The Peach Blossom Spring, with its noble ideological realm, noble spiritual quality and profound artistic attainments, has achieved Tao Yuanming's greatness, opened a precedent for Chinese pastoral poetry, and enhanced a new realm of classical poetry. He is revered by later generations as the "originator of Chinese idyll", and he used literature to direct the enviable scene of paradise for the Wei and Jin dynasties.
Five
Count the people and things in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and look at the romance with literature and art. Wang Xizhi, Gu Kaizhi, Tao Yuanming as the representative of the Eastern Jin Dynasty historical figures, their romance, is to the exquisite classic works for themselves to set up the peak, we pay attention and appreciation, do not forget the ladder they climbed the peak, they saw the back on the road to see, they thought about the traces left when looking forward. This is the essence of being drunk, the connotation, and the charm.
Tao Qianqian talked about lice and Fan Zeng
Therefore, what I want to say about the "romance of the Wei and Jin dynasties" is actually the reminiscence or criticism of a dynasty by later generations, and the romantic factors, romantic stories, and romantic connotations that run through it reflect the excessive helplessness, sadness and hope of the literati. They live in troubled times, when their personal vision cannot be matched with political forces, when their personal voices cannot resonate with the melody of the times, when their personal ambitions cannot be blended with the actual situation, what they can do is to be obsessed with literature or art, and use the creation of genius to open up a sky of their own.
The "drunken through a thousand years" that I emphasize is actually the evaluation or praise of some historical figures by later generations, and the ideological, aesthetic and value identity that lies in it is full of nostalgia, devotion and inheritance of future generations. An era that does not need to be reproduced, some classics that cannot be reproduced, when history gives them the mission of choice, when reality gives them space to express, when life gives them the theme of thinking, their exploits are recorded by time, and after the great waves, time precipitation, and historical test, they have poetically inhabited us in front of us.
In fact, since the Jin Dynasty, political corruption, extravagance and spiritual decadence in the late Wei Dynasty have infiltrated all fields of ideology and society, especially the emperors of the Jin Dynasty have fueled the flames again and again, making the two evils instantly merge into one and become more and more intense. As a result, the arrogance and lasciviousness of the emperors quickly spread to all aspects of social life, and the consequences of the upward and downward effects were the dislocation and distortion of the entire group and individual outlook on life, the confusion and hesitation of the world outlook, and the turning and reorganization of values. In a word, the social flow of the Eastern Jin Dynasty was caused by the arrogance and lasciviousness of the emperors, the ideological flow of the Eastern Jin Dynasty was formed by the seclusion of scholars and doctors, and the artistic style of the Eastern Jin Dynasty was painted by the self-detachment of the scholars.
Therefore, in the passing years of history, the romance of the Wei and Jin dynasties is only a sick social phenomenon, which runs counter to the general trend of historical development, and should be recognized with a negative or critical attitude. The reason why some people still think about it is that they are actually trying to find some kind of ideal hope in this kind of romance. Looking at the history of mankind, no matter what dynasty, it needs the main theme, positive energy and spirit that are in line with the will of the people. This is because the main theme is the engine, which pushes the progress of history, the positive energy is the catalyst, which promotes social civilization, and the spirit and spirit are the lubricating oil, leading the wisdom of mankind.
On the pyramid of literature and art, Wang Xizhi's calligraphy, Gu Kaizhi's paintings, and Tao Yuanming's poems are all rare literary and artistic masterpieces. Their drunken romance lies in the fact that they shine with the brilliance of China's excellent traditional culture with their eternal artistic charm, outstanding artistic achievements and immortal artistic spirit. This kind of romance is worthy of praise, emulation, and interpretation. Because, in front of these fine products, we can find the cultural wilderness, the spiritual hometown, the original rhyme of art, and with the help of the great power of the classics, we will erect several eye-catching peaks for the literary plateau of the new era.
At present, although the attainments of "Orchid Pavilion Preface" cannot be reached, they can stand on the peak and "be at the top of the mountain" and set off again on the plateau; although the charm of "Luo Shen Futu" is difficult to replicate, it can use the power of mythology to "see all the mountains at a glance" and set off again towards revival; although the artistic conception of "The Story of the Peach Blossom Spring" cannot be found, it can "let the birds fly in the sky" in line with the rhythm of reality, and move forward with the beauty.
Overview of the wind and rain in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the three peaks stand in a thousand autumns.
About the Author:
Hu Zhengliang, born in December 1969, a native of Xuzhou, Jiangsu, holds a master's degree, is a member of the Chinese Writers Association, a well-known calligraphy art critic, a scholar and researcher of Kant's philosophy. He currently lives in Nanjing, Jiangsu.