Chapter 17 Tao Yuanming II

In the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the Sima Dynasty lost the Central Plains and moved to the south of the Yangtze River.The royal family is weak, powerful officials fight each other, powerful and powerful rise together, and several forces fight.Tao Kan had seventeen sons, most of whom were generals, and they killed each other.Clansmen are either enemies or passers-by.Yuanming's branch is on the decline. Although his grandfather Tao Mao was the prefect of Wuchang, there is no official history.His father, Tao Yi, also served as a prefect for a short time, and died when he was eight years old.Mother Meng Shi, the youngest daughter of General Meng Jia, was virtuous and well-known. She lived until Yuanming was thirty-seven years old.The old house in Shangjing is quite large, as evidenced by his poems.But his father didn't leave much of an inheritance either.In his generation, the family situation went from bad to worse. "There are no servants and concubines in the family, and quinoa will not give them." Quinoa refers to food.

Looking at Yuanming's family history, it is not difficult for us to understand why he ran out to be an official several times.In the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the concept of family and family status was passed down from generation to generation in the collective subconscious, deeply rooted in the blood.The importance of the family is even higher than individual survival.Just like in modern Europe, big families still have badges that symbolize the glory of the family. We should understand the background under which Yuan Ming rebelled against the concept of family status. He moved home several times in his life, mainly to avoid wars.Xunyang was a battleground for military strategists at that time, and it fought two major battles.Yuanming hated war and wrote poems without mentioning it.

A little far from Chaisang, there is a Yuantian residence, which Yuanming lived in in his middle age.A place farther away is called Nancun, with a few thatched huts, where his family escaped from the war in Xunyang.When he was around fifty years old, he moved back to Shangjingli, where he had childhood memories and remains of his ancestors.Decades passed, and the old house was in a precarious state. He spent the last days of his life and died of poverty and illness at the age of sixty-three. Some people say that he only lived in his fifties, but more scholars disagree.In the careful and objective textual research, it is not difficult to see the hidden feelings of the scholars.I am no exception in writing this article.Outstanding people, the longer the life, the better.

We might as well write down these three place names: Shangjingli, Yuantianju, and Nancun in Chaisang.This is where great poets lived.He influenced all later great poets.Without his groundbreaking revelations, China's mountains, rivers, and rivers would not be as beautiful as they are today. He told us that the beauty of mountains and rivers does not care about famous mountains and rivers.To win the highest realm of aesthetics, the front and back of the house are all beautiful.Qu Yuan is great, but Qu Yuan's poems about Dongting Lake are difficult to understand.Tao Yuanming's poetic language shows skill in the ordinary, the so-called ingenuity seems clumsy, and the elephant has no form.Many of his handed down poems can be understood by people who don't know much about poetry.

His daily life is casual.He is self-cultivated and ethical, and he is casual.This kind of randomness is not casual in life.Unable to understand the filth of officialdom, he turned around and left.Su Dongpo admired him because Dongpo himself was unable to do this. He "repeatedly committed world troubles" and "nine deaths in the wilderness", but he never left the officialdom for a moment.Of course, the Northern Song Dynasty was different from the Eastern Jin Dynasty. As an official, Dongpo could still do things for the common people.And the bureaucrats of the Eastern Jin Dynasty were very powerful in amassing money, and they put on endless airs. Most of the officials crushed people to death.You can't become a rich family if you don't collect money, and you can't show your noble status if you don't put on airs.Such is the atmosphere in officialdom, it is hard to be a good official.But the warlords resumed their wars, and both good and bad officials were in danger of their lives.

Yuanming also wrote poems at will.Chaisang was not far from Mount Lu, and he did not go there to write a set of five-character poems.What he describes are all the surrounding scenery and ordinary landscapes.Su Dongpo admired him because he knew how difficult it is to reach such an artistic realm.Li Bai, Du Fu, including Dongpo himself, have written many famous mountains and rivers, but they are only close to the realm of Tao poetry.Wang Guowei, a master of Chinese studies in the early years of the Republic of China, talked about the highest state of poetry in his masterpieces: forgetting both things and myself, the poet and nature are integrated.And Tao Yuanming can be called the first person in the state of "no self".

Art is made for life, art is made for art's sake, Yuan Ming is neither.For him, poetry equals sounds of nature.Writing poetry, like drinking, is part of everyday life.It is as hard not to drink as it is to not write poetry.In fact, wine and poetry accompanied him all his life. The French painter Gauguin, who painted in Tahiti, became one with the natives.Tao Yuanming was in Chaisang and got along well with the peasants.He went to the fields to farm, not to experience life.He is an authentic peasant poet, put down the hoe and pick up the pen.Throughout the year, there are his figures in the fields.

He married two wives and had five sons.The family situation is difficult, and the wife has to go to the farm.In order to make a living, he "invested himself to study as an official"—put down his farm tools and went to the officialdom.From the age of twenty-nine to forty-one, in the thirteen years, he went out to "study an official" four times, and he was very awkward in his studies, and his "study performance" never improved.The last time I was a county magistrate, I only served for more than 80 days.It is too difficult for him to be an official, the more he lives, the harder it is to flatter him.The iron law of officialdom: To be a master, be a grandson first.Tao Yuanming also wronged himself sometimes, but his patience was limited. When his superior asked him to be his grandson, he threw away his official hat and walked away.

It is Yuanming's loveliness to go to the officialdom again and again.His sense of family responsibility can be seen from this.He doesn't expect to restore the glory of his ancestors, but he tries every means to keep his family well-off.Responsibility and individuality are a pair of contradictions.Some people endure humiliation and become grandsons, and when they live up to the day they become masters, they treat others as grandsons.This has been the case throughout the ages, so it is a normal phenomenon.It is also normal to criticize this phenomenon.Writing articles will not subvert history, and write villains as role models because of the large number of villains, right?

Tao Yuanming doesn't stick to his personality. Personality is natural, like a flower or a tree. Its growth habit is just like that.There are trees that are bent and long, and there are straight trees; there are flowers that are not afraid of wind, knife, frost and sword.Rather, in troubled times, Yuanming went out to be an official several times, but he wanted to adjust his personality appropriately.Gauguin didn't get married, he could do it according to his temper, but Tao Yuanming couldn't do it. Yuanming's so-called true temperament has its own particularity.He appears to be true in a specific living environment.This point must be carefully identified and must not be oversimplified.