In ancient China, many outstanding poets appeared, and they showed the wisdom and creativity of the Chinese nation with their outstanding artistic creations. Their artistic treasures, each with different styles, make no one replace them, no one dislikes them, and give us the enjoyment of beauty. Tao Yuanming is such a unique poet.
He was born in idyllic poetry, was the founding father of idyllic poetry, and opened a unique idyllic school in the Chinese poetry scene. From him onwards, all those who wrote idyllic poems were not unaffected by him. His highly accomplished pastoral poems can be said to be the treasures in the field of chinese poetry. What I mean is to talk about his idylls, about his artistic achievements and styles. However, these contents are combined with Tao Yuanming, and it can be said that if you do not understand the characteristics of Tao Yuanming, it is difficult to appreciate the mystery of his poetry, so I have to introduce Tao Yuanming and his person in a small way.
There was a famous poet Meng Haoran in the Tang Dynasty, who was one of the representatives of landscape poetry in the Tang Dynasty. Once, in the early summer season, he returned to his rural South Garden, and then wrote a letter to his elder brother in the city, probably in his own countryside to understand the joy of Tao Yuanming's idyllic poetry, and sincerely expressed his admiration. He says in the poem
Try to read the biography of Gao Shi, the most Jia Tao Zhengjun.
Ri Yu is idyllic and calls himself the Emperor of Xi
The Biography of Gao Shi refers to the ancient hermit Gao Ren. Tao Zhengjun, in ancient times, called those who refused to be recruited as Zhengshi. Tao Yuanming had refused to be recruited many times, so he was also a recruit, and his name was Zhengjun to show honorific title. Tao Yuanming hid in the fun of the countryside all day long, which was the common people of the ancient era of Fuxi. It is worth noting here that tao Yuanming's fascination with pastoral fun is the meaning and fun of pastoral life.
And this kind of fun is associated with the Xihuang people, that is, the ancient life situation is connected. Tao Yuanming lived in the late Jin Dynasty and early Song Dynasty, but he closed himself in a pastoral garden and created a living world. There lived an ancient life, this is Tao Yuanming. Meng Haoran said that Tao Yuanming was a Xi Emperor, not Meng Haoran's contrivance, but Tao Yuanming's self-description. Tao Yuanming in a letter to his sons
"It is often said that in the middle of May and June, the north window lies down, and when the cool breeze temporarily arrives, he claims to be the emperor of xi."
In the summer of May and June, lying by the north-facing window, a cool breeze struck, refreshing, as if returning to the life of the Xi Emperor.
In the "Biography of Mr. Goyanagi", it is also said that in the situation of his return to the pastoral life, it is also said that "the poetry of the title is given to the poet, in order to enjoy his aspirations, and there is no people of the Huai clan?" The People of Gu tianshi? "
That is to say, drinking wine and chanting poetry, having fun in it, just like the people of the No Huai Clan Ge Tianshi. Whether Tao Yuanming is an ancient people, whether he is a Xihuang people, or a people without huaishi Ge Tianshi, he is not a nearby people.
Why did Tao Yuanming go beyond his own time, create an idyllic world of life, and be an ancient people? In fact, Tao Yuanming's ambitions are ambitious. Like ordinary intellectuals, he once wanted to do something, but the era in which he lived was dark and too muddy, and at the end of the Jin Dynasty and the beginning of the Song Dynasty, that is, the Jin Dynasty was about to perish, the new dynasty changed, and the internal struggle of the ruling class was very fierce. All this made Tao Yuanming discouraged, so he did not come out very late at the beginning, and when he was nearly middle-aged, he also went in and out several times, saw through the dark struggle in the official field, and finally dismissed the official and returned to the countryside, never to go out of the mountains again.
What was the officialdom and scholarly society like at that time? Tao Yuanming in the poem "Drinking" reveals that "the reputation of the same is destroyed"
There are good and bad, there are no standards, and the same praise and criticism are reversed. "The bird is exhausted" is to use up people's talents and get rid of them. All this can be summed up in one word, that is, "false" has no truth, and human nature has been distorted, alienated, and lost its truth. Therefore, Tao Yuanming said with a subjective sigh in the last sentence of this poem, "Xi Nong has been gone to me for a long time, and the whole world has rarely returned to the truth" The Fu Xi Shen Nong clan has been too far away from us, and now it is rare to see the truth in the whole society. So he's going to go back to the countryside. Why? In his own words, he summed up the very simple hut of "raising true and balanced maoxia, and calling himself good", and he wanted to cultivate health and goodness in the countryside. Here he seems to be back in the shennong era, human nature is real and not hypocritical, and society is pure rather than thin. People can find their own nature again and live freely. This is just like the scene he described in the poem "Persuading the Peasants", "Leisurely ancient, born of the people, proud and self-sufficient, hugging Pu Huizhen." At that time, metaphysics was popular, and Tao Yuanming was influenced by it, accepted the idea of metaphysical liberalism, and accepted the Taoist view of human nature and society, which was used to weave his ideal life realm of confrontation in real society. This is a real and simple state of life, and it is this kind of life that he pursues in the countryside. This is the so-called pastoral pleasure, so for Tao Yuanming, the pastoral is the true and pure world opened up outside the dirty officialdom and the hypocritical secular society, and it is the world of life that corresponds to reality.
The ideal of life put forward by Tao Yuanming in "The Tale of Peach Blossom Origin" is that there is no exploitation, no oppression, and the people are self-reliant. People have harmonious relations with each other, help each other, and everyone is free to live a self-sufficient life. Tao Yuanming talked in "The Tale of Peach Blossom Origin" that this world has been hidden for more than 500 years, and once it was opened by the world, but it was quickly closed again. Why? "Pure thin is different, spiral complex is also hidden" because the world of peach blossom source is simple, while the real world is thin, and pure and thin are different sources and cannot be merged. So it was open for a day and soon closed.
The relationship between Tao Yuanming's pastoral and reality is also the relationship between chun and thin, so his pastoral life and the ideal life of Taohuayuanji are in the same vein. It can be said that the pastoral life pursued by Tao Yuanming is the sublimation of the ideal in the Taohuayuan, but the realistic ideal of the utopia of Taohuayuan can be woven in her ideal, but it is difficult to achieve. His pastoral was really in the countryside at that time, and it was the pastoral life that was embarrassing under the oppression of who at that time. Intellectuals like Tao Yuanming, the so-called class of aspirants, are also often used to "hold hunger in the summer, and sleep without sleep in the cold night" and have no food to eat in the summer. Winter nights are long, but not covered by quilts.
Tao Yuanming really lives in the countryside, retreats to the world, and holds an ideal state of life. Wei Jin Metaphysics advocated "getting carried away" Tao Yuanming accepted this idea, and he pursued the meaning of life all his life. For example, in the "History", it is recorded that he had a piano, but there was no string, but he drank until he was happy to "stroke the piano to send its meaning" and said, "But the piano is interesting, and He Lao is on the string", as long as he experiences the fun in the piano, he gets this meaning, and does not necessarily need the sound on the string. Another example is his reading, he himself said that "good reading does not seek much understanding, only will understand, he gladly forgets to eat", reading he does not pursue a comprehensive understanding of the content of the book, but from the inside to find his place, once there is a will, that is to say, with his soul correspondingly, he is happy to even forget to eat. He did the same to drinking, he himself said "Ren Zhen has no first" to try to drink, as soon as he opened the drink, a hundred things were eliminated, and after drinking two cups, he didn't even know the sky (a realm of selflessness and seriousness) After entering this realm, he was completely natural and united with the Tao. There is no hypocrisy in this realm. What is true? Zhuangzi's "The worldly deeds of the liturgists, and the true ones receive from heaven and earth." "True corresponds to etiquette, and when we enter the realm of truth, we completely remove the distortion and meaning of all human nature by the ritual law and restore it to the nature of human nature, which is Tao Yuanming's intention from borrowing wine." Then his pursuit of intention in daily life is what he said earlier, in the summer, as soon as he lay down by the north window, a gust of north wind blew him up to the ancient times. This kind of intentional attitude to life seems to have installed a pair of wings on him, enabling him to spiritually transcend the reality of life at that time and enter a unique pastoral world. There I experienced, tasted, and enjoyed a kind of Zhuangzi's life. Although he is trapped in the reality of the countryside, he is always maintaining his living conditions, having it in poetry, praising it. Knowing this, we can appreciate Tao Yuanming's poetry, and we can appreciate the essence and mystery of his poetry.