[Qing Dynasty] Wang Yi Yun Shouping, "Taoyuan Tu", color on silk, 177×47cm. Private collections.
"The land is flat, the houses are like houses, and there are good fields, beautiful ponds, and mulberry bamboo. Strange traffic, chickens and dogs smell each other. Among them, men and women dressed like outsiders; yellow hair, and happy with their hair. ”
This is a beautiful "peach blossom garden" written by the Eastern Jin Dynasty scholar Tao Yuanming without war, people's autonomy, self-sufficiency, and everyone's self-enjoyment, and it is also very close to the ideal society of "small countries and widows" mentioned by Lao Tzu, which has attracted countless Chinese to think about and yearn for it.
Since the advent of "Taohuayuan", many modern people think that it is just Tao Yuanming's fictional utopia, but according to Mr. Chen Yinke's research in "The Circumstantial Evidence of Taohuayuan", "Taohuayuan" is both "an allegorical text and a documentary text", and the prototype of Taohuayuan is the Wubao organization in the north of the Wei and Jin dynasties. Because at that time, in order to avoid war, the leaders of the local Hao clan organized local people to move into the mountains and forests, or formed a dock fort according to the shape of the mountains and rivers. The best-governed Wubao was constructed by Confucian gentlemen, of which the "Wuxian Shan Duyi" established by Confucian Shengtian domain at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty was one of its representatives.
[Qing Dynasty] Wang Yi,"Peach Blossom Fishing Boat Diagram", color on paper, 28.5×43cm. Collection of the Palace Museum in Taipei.
Shi Zai, Tian Yu likes to read and is good at fencing. In order to avoid the scourge of war, he led hundreds of people to the Endless Mountain, "living in the deep and dangerous open land, working hard to support their parents", "rejecting Lulong in the north, guarding the key points in the south, being pure and vague, cultivating and then eating". There is no conclusive conclusion as to where the Infinity Mountain is. There is a saying that it is the panshan in Jixian County, Tianjin today. So what is "no end"? According to "Zhuangzi Zeyang", "There is no end, no beginning, and there is almost no time." The Southern Dynasty Qi Zhiming monk Shao Shao wrote "On the Orthodox Two Teachings", Yun: "The Tao often comes out of no beginning, into the endless, should not be the body, the dust is not reverie, this is also thought to be the teaching." ”.
Slowly, more and more people came to Wufeng Mountain, and in a few years, more than 5,000 people formed a bustling capital. This place is called "Endless Mountain Capital", and it is spontaneously formed.
The very intelligent Tian Domain said to his fathers and fellow villagers: "You have not been able to think of Tian Domain as a poor place, and you have come from afar to form a capital, but many aspects have not been unified, I am afraid that it is not the way of long-term peace, and I hope that you can recommend and choose a virtuous person as the lord of Yiyi." "Everyone said yes, and jointly elected Tian Yu as the lord of the capital." This shows that Tian Yu has realized that as the number of people increases, there is a need for a unified authority and an order that is accepted by everyone, and that he was democratically elected as the lord of the capital.
[Ming Dynasty] Zhou Chen, "Peach Blossom Source Map", color on silk, 175×85.3cm. Collection of Suzhou Museum.
Tian Yu, who had been elected as the lord of the capital, in order to avoid "the light and thin ones invading and insulting each other, stealing for a while, without deep foresight", after obtaining everyone's consent, began to formulate some rules, "which are to restrain each other from killing, stealing, and slandering, and the law is heavy until death, followed by the confession of guilt, more than twenty articles." It is also made into a marriage ceremony, and the business of teaching in schools is promoted. The class is crowded. It is convenient for all, and the Way is not to be left behind. ”
That is to say, Tian Yu formulated a law on "killing and injuring each other, committing theft, and slandering", and those who committed serious crimes should be executed, and those who were less serious should be compensated according to the severity of the crimes, and there were more than twenty specific articles. In addition, as a Confucian student, Tian Yu should have formulated the etiquette of marriage and dowry according to Confucian thought, established schools and taught content, and promulgated them publicly. Everyone obeys it accordingly, and [the local social atmosphere] is good enough to be left behind. The scene of chickens and dogs smelling and enjoying themselves in "Peach Blossom Garden" should not be unfamiliar to the men and women, old and young, and young in the endless mountain capital.
Born almost 200 years later than Tian, Tao Yuanming's ancestral home was Poyang, Jiangxi, and later moved to Xunyang. He once created a "pseudo-ancient poem", which wrote that "the resignation of the family is strict, and the future is endless". The "no end" in the poem, that is, the mountain without end. "Smell of Tian Zitai, righteousness for Shixiong, Si people have long been dead, the countryside is accustomed to its style." Tian Zi Tai ( 田子泰) is a character for Tian Domain.
[Qing Dynasty] Yuan Yao, Taoyuan Picture Scroll, color on silk, 220.20×597cm. Collection of the Former Palace Museum in Beijing.
Obviously, Tao Yuanming, who admired Tian Yu, knew his own people and had personally visited The Endless Mountain, so when he created the Book of Peach Blossom Origin, he would not fail to rub his ideal "Endless Mountain Capital" into his ideal world.
So, why does Tao Yuanming yearn so much for a beautiful peach blossom garden? Yearning for Lao Tzu's society of "small countries and widows"? This is probably related to Tao Yuanming's good way and cultivation.
Tao Yuanming is natural by nature and especially likes the secluded life in the mountains and forests away from the hustle and bustle. At the age of 27, he began to work in the fields, and when he was idle, he liked to stay alone in the empty hut and meditate. At the age of 29, because he wanted to support his family, he had to become a state liquor official, but he resigned and returned to the field because he was not accustomed to official life. His wife was like-minded and did not feel bitter because of her work in the fields.
At the age of 35, Tao Yuanming was forced by the pressure of life to become an officer in the town army, and 6 years later, he went to Pengze County, not far from home, to serve as a county order, but less than two months later he resigned and returned home, and his very famous poem "Return to Xi Ci (And Sequence)" was written at this time. From then on, he stayed at home until his death at the age of 63.
[Ming Dynasty] Qiu Ying,"Taoyuan Wonderland Map", green and green on silk, 175×66.7cm. Collection of Tianjin Museum.
During his period of seclusion, although Tao Yuanming lived a poor life, he took pleasure in suffering, and his cultivation realm continued to improve. Such a story is recorded in the history books. It is said that when Tao Yuanming was 50 years old, the head monk of Lushan Donglin Temple, Shi Huiyuan, invited 123 people to form the "White Lotus Society". These people were all very influential figures at that time, especially the "Eighteen Sages of the White Lotus Society" were very eye-catching.
Xie Lingyun, a great poet and official and secretary at the time, also wanted to join him, but hui yuan saw that his heart was mixed and refused. However, Hui Yuan sent someone to invite Tao Yuanming to participate, Tao Yuanming said that he liked to drink and it was inconvenient to join, and Hui Yuan actually broke the vow to prepare wine and food for him. As a result, after drinking wine, Tao Yuanming still did not join the "White Lotus Society", but always maintained a friend relationship with Hui Yuan.
Subsequently, since the Tang Dynasty, there have been interesting stories that have been widely circulated, saying that one day, Hui Yuan, Tao Yuanming, and Taoist Lu Xiujing talked about Xuan, and the conversation was very speculative. When Hui Yuan sent them out, he unconsciously broke the ring and sent hundreds of steps through Tiger Creek. (Hui Yuan once vowed that he would "not be able to leave the house, not to be vulgar, and to send guests to the Huxi Bridge.") Hearing the roar of the tiger, the three realized that they had crossed the boundary of Tiger Creek, so the three of them looked at each other and laughed. (According to this, "Three Laughs of Tiger Creek" became a famous theme of classical Chinese painting.) See image below)
[Yuan Dynasty] Yan Hui (paragraph) "Three Smiles of Tiger Creek", color on silk, 148.6×86cm. Private collections.
Some posterity has researched that Lu Xiujing lived in an era nearly a hundred years later than Hui Yuan and Tao Yuanming, if this story is true, then according to Hui Yuan's life, the corresponding character of the Taoist Lu Xiujing is more like Liu Yimin, a Pengcheng man who was in contact with Hui Yuan at that time, and this Liu Relic was also a very famous hermit at that time.
If Tao Yuanming was not a cultivator, how could he talk and linger with people like Hui Yuan and Liu Yimin? Or maybe Tao Yuanming's peach blossom source does not exist in the space where we are, but exists in another space?
Bibliography: Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms, Wei Shu, Biography of Tian Domain, Mr. Tao Jingjie's Chronology Examination, etc.
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