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The little official in the "Book of Poetry and the North Gate" was praised by the Qing Dynasty scholar Fang Yurun as a frustrated sage. Because he faced the suffering of life, he only complained about the sky and did not distinguish others. In fact, there are many such people in history, such as Pan Yue, who wrote "Qiu Xingfu", but are they really so-called sages?
Link to the previous issue: In-depth interpretation of the "Book of Poetry , North Gate": The Poignant Life History of an Ancient Yamen Official
For the "Book of Poetry and The North Gate", the Qing Dynasty scholar Fang Yurun made the following analysis:
This wise man guards and does not see the work of the one who knows. Judging by the importance of his king's affairs and the troubles of government affairs, and if he can shoulder them with one body, he can think of it. However, Wei Zhijunshang could not sympathize with Zhou Zhi, making him "poor in the end", not enough to worry about his wife, and not enough to thank industriousness and suffering from compulsion. What is the meaning of the heavy persuasion, and Wei Nai ignores it. The reason why this poem is also written. However, wei's political affairs are not known! It is also normal for a husband to meet me as a soldier of the state, to repay him with a soldier of the nation, to meet me with a mediocre, and to repay him with a mediocre. And poetry is to follow the encounter, to do everything with all its heart, to do what should be done, to do what should be done. If there is no choice, it will be returned to heaven, and it will not dare to complain to people, but can it not be called virtuous? - "The Primitive Book of Poetry"
Fang Yurun said that the weiguo petty official written in "The North Gate" and the dual messenger of He Tianzi and the monarch were oppressed by the work of the drama and made him breathless. However, such a hard work can only be exchanged for a little meager Money, so that it is not enough to support the family, so the family members have thrown complaints to the small officials.
Internally and externally, the enemy suffered from the enemy. Caught in such a dilemma, the little official only complained about the sky and did not distinguish others, sighing "Heaven is real, what is it called" - "This is the quality of the sage", Fang Yurun said.
I have to admit that after reading "The North Gate", I did not have a remembrance and admiration for the sages. On the contrary, I even suspect that the little official's continuous cry of "Heaven is true, what is it called" is probably insincere.
Because these two sentences remind me of another person and another article:
The special taste of the house is smeared, and the vulgarity is aware of its restlessness. Smell the rest of the people, and the heavens and the earth are in one finger. He knew that he was safe and forgot about danger, so he was born and died. The bank toe is in the face of the traces, and it is not trampled and the bottom is obtained. The side feet and the spring are not walked, although the monkey ape does not walk. The turtle bones are in the ancestral circle, and the thoughts are reflexive in the green water. - "Autumn Xingfu"
This is the "Autumn Xingfu" written by the Western Jin Dynasty writer Pan Yue in 278 AD. If it were not for the splendid articles that gave him a halo, Pan Yue would probably become a clown in history.
According to the "Book of Jin", Pan Yue was a person who was "mild-tempered and tended to the world", and in order to offer flattery and favor to the powerful magnates of the dynasty, he even did not hesitate to pay homage to the dust. So absorbed in Lilu, even Pan Mu couldn't look at it anymore, and repeatedly reprimanded Pan Yue, asking him to be satisfied and avoid speculation and profit.
The 18th-century French writer Boufon famously said that "style is personality". It means that a writer's personality determines the movement of his thoughts and feelings, and thus indirectly determines the writer's literary style.
However, when we compare The personality of Pan Yue described in the biography of Zhengshi with the style of Qiu Xingfu, we find that the law of "style is personality" summarized by Bu Feng does not seem to work:
Pan Yue, who has always been lustful for profit, suddenly transformed himself into a believer in "Qiu Xingfu" and became a believer in Zhuangzi, saying that he would rather learn a turtle to live freely and happily in muddy water than lose his life, and was tied up by people and placed on the altar for all to see, as written in "Zhuangzi Qiushui". What's going on?
From the analysis of motivation, Pan Yue wrote "The turtle bones are in the zong qi xi, and the thoughts are reflexive in the green water", which is similar to the small official in the "North Gate" lamenting "The heavens are real, called He Zhao", there are two possibilities.
One possibility is that they really have insight into the laws of the world, see through the sufferings of life, and thus have a great understanding and can calmly face the misfortunes of their personal lives.
But it is also possible that the ideological realm of these two people is not as high as the tune they sing. Maybe they are just facing a difficult situation, helpless, so they want to find a reason to soothe their wounded hearts.
To Pan Yue, I am almost certain that he belongs to the latter situation. Because in that "Autumn Xingfu", Pan Yue wrote again:
Instead of sleeping, he wandered alone in Hua Province. The age of enlightenment is exhausted, and the head is humbled and introspective. Spotted sideburns to bear the benefactor, plain hair to hang collar. Yang Qun's escape track, Climbing the Clouds han to swim. The hustle and bustle of the ascending spring platform, the jiong of the golden sable.
A low-ranking official who served in the pro-noble court, when he looked up enviously at the big people who were in the official arena, even felt that the golden and mink tails on the hats of those officials were shining.
If this low-level official were Zhuangzi, it is hard for me to imagine that Zhuangzi would be ashamed of himself and discouraged because of the lowliness of his official position. But now, this low-level official was replaced by Pan Yue, who was known as a disciple of Zhuangzi, but he hung his head in frustration.
And even more unfortunately, when he hung his head for a moment, the afterglow of the corner of his eyes swept to his white sideburns, so a more cruel fact emerged: seeing the people around him soaring one by one, Pan Yue himself sank for ten years, and could not move, only in exchange for years and two sideburns.
It is no exaggeration to say that at the moment when he couldn't help but hang his head, Pan Yue not only exposed his inner frustration and vulnerability, but also smashed his own "Zhuangzi believer" personality at the same time.
But the question is, Ming Ming and Zhuangzi are not the same, but why does Pan Yue have to climb this Taoist sage? In fact, the answer lies in the self-prologue of "Autumn Xingfu":
There were four years in the Tenth Jin Dynasty, and two in the thirty years of Yu Chunqiu, and the first time I saw two hairs. Aether Washi and General of the Tiger Ben Zhonglang ( Tiger Ben Zhonglang ) , and lived in the province of scattered horses. High pavilions and clouds, Yang Jing Han Yao, The Crown of the Ale cicadas and attack the people of Qi, this place of wandering. Servant savages also, but they can't rest under the huts and forests, and the conversation is no more than the guests of the farmer's father. The regent is lacking, the molestation is in the column, the dream is happy, and the bandits are not even ning. For example, the fish cage bird of Yuchi Pond has the thought of the rivers and lakes.
Pan Yueqian said that he was not a noble family born with a golden key, but just a mountain and wild grass people, so it was very uncomfortable to be on an errand in a place like Sanqi Province where the pro-nobles gathered.
Although he pointed the crux of the problem to himself against his will, the truth revealed was that Pan Yue's ten years of career frustration should be largely attributed to the harsh reality of the solidification of the Western Jin class.
As Gao Shengli analyzed in the article "Pan Yue Deeds Second Examination":
Pan Yue was in the Western Jin Dynasty of the Gate Valve clan, under the cruel social reality of "no cold door in the upper grade, no scholar in the lower grade" ("Jin Shu Liu Yi Biography"), his ordinary family lineage was not enough to provide the enterprising assets on his career path, and because he was young, he was "famous in the world", so he was "sick by the public", and after he left the army, he was involved in the partisan struggle at that time, and he was late for many years. —— "Pan Yue Deeds Second Examination"
Putting aside the factors of the party struggle between the DPRK and China, we have to admit that Pan Yue, who has an ordinary family, has indeed been a victim of the politics of the warriors.
However, for the real reason for his misfortune, Pan Yue did not dare to openly admit it, let alone openly criticize it.
Because insisting on the politics of the clan was an unshakable basic national policy of the Western Jin Dynasty, it is very likely that he will bring himself the misfortune of killing himself by hastily challenging this principle of "political correctness"! Because of the guilt of words, Ji Kang's Yin Jian is not far away, can Pan Yue not be afraid?
Under the pressure of public opinion clamping down, even if he wrote an article to complain, Pan Yue did not dare to point directly to the authorities and write ink and tart. He had no choice but to find a step for his frustration and disguise himself as a disciple of Zhuangzi.
Even in order to avoid getting into trouble, Pan Yue also castrated Zhuangzi's hermit spirit, declaring that he should not be as high as Zhuangzi, and should not be as high as Zhuangzi, and throw contempt and criticism at people who are running on the road: "The special taste of gou and the house is scrawled, and the vulgarity is aware of its restlessness" - "Shi" and "Cain" are purely personal likes and dislikes, and have nothing to do with moral nobility or indecency.
When you look at such a Pan Yue, do you believe that he can be a hermit who lives in the forest?
Speaking of the little official in "The North Gate", although we cannot say for sure who he really is and what he has experienced, from the poet's words, all we can see is his lamentations and complaints about his public and private life over and over again.
In ancient China, in years of great calamity, people would often beg for the gods and Buddhas and seek religious protection.
The role of religion is not to change a person's situation but to change his state of mind, in other words, when you are in suffering, someone will give you an explanation of what happened to you in the name of the Buddha, telling you that suffering came because you had created sins in your past life, and as long as you can endure this suffering, you will be able to get a new life after reincarnation.
This explanation is like a shot of Durandine, temporarily anesthetizing your spirit at the bone of your tormented bones. "Heaven is real, it is called He Ya" - the "heaven" in the mouth of the little official, I think it is probably the role of the Buddha.
If the petty officer admits that his suffering is man-made, then he should complain, and even retaliate indignantly; but when the petty official cannot find it, or does not dare to face the initiators, he can only say that his suffering is predestined.
Since it is destiny, what can the little official do except calmly accept the arrangement of heaven?
— the end —
The text | Prince of Jin
Typography | cream belly
The picture | the network