Chapter 16 Tao Yuanmingyi

Who is Su Dongpo?Not to mention the Chinese people's evaluation of him, the French "Le Monde" selected the "Millennium Heroes" in the world, involving politics, military affairs, culture, and religion. Twelve were selected, and Su Dongpo was the only Chinese selected. So, who is Tao Yuanming?He was Su Dongpo's most admired person.When Mr. Dongpo mentioned him, he always used the tone of a student: "Yuanming my teacher", "I want to teach him in the evening."There are 109 Tao poems, each of which Dongpo sang in harmony.In Dongpo's view, Li Bai and Du Fu were still under Tao Yuanming.A person of Su Dongpo's level has obtained great spiritual nourishment from Tao's poems, how can we miss it today?If we miss Tao Yuanming, doesn't that mean that the Russians missed Pushkin, the British missed Shakespeare, and the Germans missed Holderlin?

There are many great poets in China, this is our blessing, we obviously cannot be in the midst of blessings and not know our blessings.A truly open era faces both the world and tradition.Busy with the world, kicking away the tradition, this kind of mentality should come to an end, right?About twenty years ago, a certain major newspaper had a catchy headline: "The Poet is the Monster of the Commodity Economy." After a whole generation, can we say the other way around: the commodity economy is the monster of poetry?The two monsters met in a specific historical period, and they learned to tolerate each other and coexist peacefully.Our goods are dazzling, and our life is full of poetry. The so-called open age is indispensable for both.

My personal interest in Tao Yuanming also has a long history.His poems and people have touched me for nearly thirty years.Holding Tao Shi in my hand today, my heart is still pounding, like seeing delicious food, like seeing a beautiful woman.I really want to write a biographical novel, take the title of Mr. Yuanming's autobiography: "The Biography of Mr. Wuliu".Mr. Yuanming said: "There are five willow trees near the house, so I thought they were named after them." I am very grateful to Teacher Wei Xinhong, who gave me a chance: to try first. German philosopher Heidegger called Holderlin "a poet among poets". Can we apply this to Tao Yuanming?

The praises for Tao Yuanming's personality have been endless throughout the dynasties, and can be summed up in three words: true temperament.To what extent is he "true" that countless scholars and literati worship him? Due to the differences in the evaluation standards, the evaluations of Yuanming in the past dynasties are also very different.Like other outstanding figures, he was also symbolized and obscured, and escaped from the literary world, influenced the political arena, and affected all aspects of business and social life.What is going on here? This article attempts to answer these questions from the perspective of individual interpretation.Although I am overwhelmed, I am respectful.

Let's start with life. Tao Yuanming lived a simple life.There is richness in simplicity. When Heidegger talked about Nietzsche and his life, he only used one sentence: He was born, he worked, and he died.In fact, Nietzsche's life is enough to write a thick book, and some chapters are very interesting: the story of him competing for beautiful women with the musician Wagner has attracted many people's relish.Including why Nietzsche went crazy is also of interest to readers.But these things are not enough to enter Heidegger's field of vision.The master talks about the master, strictly limited to the process of thinking. The book "Nietzsche" is more than a thousand pages long, without repetition or procrastination.Mr. Sun Zhouxing, the translator, said with emotion: This is the style of a master!

We are people who look up to the master, and it is gratifying to be able to look up. Keep looking up, let us ignore the trivialities in life and despise the vulgar tastes in life. There is a difference between a literati and a philosopher.Philosophers are like living in the clouds, while literati belong to the earth.Literary products and character are widely related.The biography and life of literati should be brought into view.However, there is a measure here. The several biographies of Tao Yuanming I have in hand, including "Tao Yuanming and His Poems" by famous masters such as Mr. Zhou Zhenfu, talk about officialdom and the background of the times, which takes a lot of space.The result: the hero himself appears somewhat vague.I don't know if this is a common problem in domestic biographical works.It is difficult for a reader like me to get excited when reading ancient biographies written by modern people.

When writing about literati, literati are the theme, and the era behind him should not cover him or cover him.The background is enlarged, and the people are reduced.For example, our common "literary law" written in textbooks: literary images obey and serve his era. Is literature the study of human nature, or the presentation of the times?this is a problem. In other words: Is it better for literature to be self-disciplined, or heterogeneous? Closer to home. Tao Yuanming was born in the third year of Xingning, Emperor Ai of the Eastern Jin Dynasty (AD 365). More than 50 years later, the Eastern Jin Dynasty died and Liu Song was established.Yuanming encountered troubled times all his life, warlords fought non-stop, and wealthy families were invincible.History textbooks have left names such as Huan Xuan, Liu Yu, Xie An, and Sima Daozi. This article does not intend to spend space on them.During Yuanming's lifetime, he avoided warlords and wealthy families in fear, so we have no reason to chatter about these people.

He wrote in the poem: There is no rhyme suitable for vulgarity, and sex is love for hills. Rhyme is Qiyun and temperament.Personnel is highly distorted, and Qiu Shan is more natural, so he "loves Qiu Shan".These three words are the portrayal of his life. He is very clear about the "suitable rhyme" in contrast.In addition to hearing and seeing, he also experienced it himself.These two different life states run through all his poems.In this sense, we might as well say that when he writes about nature, he writes about the world. There is no pure idyllic poet, and the idyllic being the idyllic is the "other" in the world.Today, isn’t there some scholars who strongly advocate: Rural China should be a reference for urban China?

Thousands of years of rural land, decades of urbanization... This is a heavy topic that cannot be avoided.We'll talk about that later. Tao Yuanming was born in Chaisang County, Xunyang County (now Jiujiang, Jiangxi Province), a place called Shangjingli.Jiangxi's landscapes are picturesque, and the ancient style still exists today.Chaisang is the seat of Xunyang County.Shangjingli (or Lili in other words) is very close to Chaisang City, where Yuanming's hometown is located, and it is also the place where the clansmen live together.His great-grandfather, Tao Kan, was originally a commoner, and became Da Sima through his own efforts.Da Sima is a marshal-level position in the army. Tao Kan obtained it through bloody battles in a commoner.He is good at martial arts, and he first served in the army, but he is full of bitter legends: his wife sold all the valuable things in the house, including the dining table and the grass and mats on the bed, just to invite someone to have a meal.That man still had a conscience: he had to eat, drink, and do things, so he found a job for Tao Kan in the army, so that Tao Kan had the opportunity to exchange the lives of his enemies for fame.