Chapter 27 Tao Yuanming Twelve

Yuanming went down the mountain on a moonlit night, and later generations wrote poems saying: Drunken dancing goes down the mountain, and the bright moon chases people back. What Tan Daoji, he had long forgotten. However, we have to remember Wang Hong and Tan Daoji.Wang Hong, some records call him Wang Hong, he was kind to Yuan Ming, and we thank him.As for Tan Daoji, he also wanted to be nice to Yuan Ming, but his motives were impure.More on this later. After the age of fifty, Yuanming's material life had ups and downs, but generally speaking, it went downhill.The source of his family's livelihood is mainly farming, collecting some rents for the garden, and accepting some gifts from friends.The water conservancy was not repaired during the war, and it was completely dependent on the sky for food, and the family had too many people to make ends meet.The five sons may have all been farmers, and there is no record of being an official or soldier.The military service law draws one out of three. Maybe one of his sons served in the army, but not for long.It is not known that Yuanming helped his son through friends who were officials.In short, there is no shortage of food for the whole family.At the age of fifty-one, he wrote "Gao Ziyan and Other Shu", which was written to Tao Yan, Tao Qi, Tao Fen, Tao Yi, and Tao Tong. "Sparse" is a style of writing: letters that talk about the situation and reason.The father in poverty wrote letters to his sons, and every sentence came from the heart, which touched the Chinese people of later generations, and the middle school textbooks now have the full text.It said: "I am over fifty years old. I am young and poor. I always wander around because of my family's disadvantages."

At that time, Yuanming was suffering from a serious illness, and felt that his time was approaching.He told the truth all his life, and this letter from home really made people cry.Young and hungry, middle-aged, knocking on the door and begging for food with clumsy words.I was sick in my old age, but fortunately my relatives and friends did not abandon me and sent medicine stones one after another. "Every time I use my family's disadvantages, I wander around from east to west." Eight words, how much bitterness can be expressed.He lived too clearly: what kind of world this is, and what kind of person he is.

"Sex is clumsy, and there are many disobediences with things." Things means things, and they refer to people in the officialdom.Disobedience is rebellion, and they cannot get along.Another eight words describe the whole life of Yuanming. He said sadly: "I made you hungry and cold when you were young...Your generation is young and poor, and when you can avoid the labor of firewood and water, remember it in your heart...Although you are born differently, you should think that you are brothers all over the world." righteous." The eldest son, Tao Yan, was born to his ex-wife who died young, and the other four sons were born to the Zhai family.Tao Yan was twenty-three years old, and his youngest son Tao Tong was fifteen.

With five children who have worked since childhood, and a wife who has worked hard all year round and has a disheveled face, Yuanming's sorrow can be imagined.However, the tone of this family letter is tough and the gaze is upward.All those who blame Yuanming for not resigning from office should shut his mouth. Yuanming's choice was made by a warrior.What he sticks to is not wolf nature or tiger nature, but human nature. He wrote "Seven Poems on the Poor", in which there are a few lines: Once the official resigned and returned, it was difficult to be poor.The hungry and benevolent wife of the year shed tears on me.

Although the husband is ambitious, he always worries about his children... He wrote about the seven poor men in ancient times, who were "scholars" only if they had knowledge and integrity.Chanting the poor shows his determination.Confucius' grandson, Zisi, went to Weiguo to spread the thoughts of his teacher Mencius. He was impoverished and ate nine meals a month.Yuanming's gaze casts his eyes on these "resolutely poor" people, and his heart is clearly revealed.Later, when Su Shi was demoted to Hainan, he was also hungry and dizzy from hunger. He developed "wisdom" in a hurry and invented the "Sunshine Hunger Method" - hoping to directly convert the sun's heat energy into physical energy.

It is also said in "There is a meeting and writing": "Sun and wheat are enviable, but who dares to envy sweet and fat." Shu is the general name of beans. Yuanming envies eating coarse grains, so how dare he expect the delicacy of big fish and meat? What's worse is that Yuan Ming is no stranger to delicacy. The evening scene of Yuanming is not as good as every year, but it is not impossible to live on.No one died in the family, he still had wine to drink, and wrote many works handed down from generation to generation.It was a time when the imperial power was changing, and it was dark outside. Liu Yu proclaimed himself emperor, turned around and killed the heroes, Yuan Ming dismissed it.He has a political passion, but does not write political satire.He wrote "Gan Shi Bu Yu Fu", stating that he followed Sima Qian and Dong Zhongshu.He read "Historical Records" for decades, and yearned for Sima Qian who dared to look down on Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.They are both strong men.

Yuanming lived his life with relatives and friends, drinking, visiting, and entertaining guests.Whoever has something to do, whether it is a happy event, a funeral or a trouble, there is always his figure, his smiling face, his humorous conversation, his funny attire and behavior.How ordinary and extraordinary this man is.How many things in life are just talking and laughing.In the thousands of years of Chinese history, there are only a few people who have reached the realm of Yuanming.No wonder a great man like Su Dongpo must be called "My Master Yuan Ming". Tao Yuanming and Holderlin are both under the sky and above the earth, full of achievements and dwelling poetically.The difference is that Yuan Ming took root in the land of China and lingered in China's rural life.Maybe he lacks philosophical meaning and divine dimension, but he is full of natural breath and secular warmth.

He is amiable, like our relatives. He said: Landing as a brother... In today's indifferent world, these words bring tears to our eyes.I hope that the money society will not suppress emotions for too long! For an old man in his early sixties, his time is approaching.Yuan Ming also holds a normal heart towards death.He once argued with the so-called eminent monk named Huiyuan. He did not believe that "the soul of a person is immortal".When someone in the village died, a memorial service was held and several ceremonies were held, and Yuan Ming would attend.He is familiar with death, just as he is familiar with flowers fading and weeds dying.He is "existing towards death". Confucius said that if you don't know life, you can know death. Yuanming is slightly better, knowing both life and death.When he wrote elegy for himself, he was open-minded and plain, and he was alone through the ages, and Xiang Yu and Ji Kang were not as good.

Wang Hong, the governor of Jiangzhou, left, and soon Tan Daoji came.This is a typical mischievous person with many misdeeds as an official and a bad political reputation.Out of selfish considerations, he asked Yuanming to come out as an official and sent a lot of grain and meat.Yuanming doesn't accept it.The children want to eat meat, but they look away and press their lips together.Zhai took them out.Tan Daoji couldn't bear it, so he simply made it clear: In troubled times, there is a prosperous world, and now the emperor's grace is so powerful that the world is peaceful, and you Tao Qian, who is known as a sage, hides at home and suffers from poverty and starvation, and refuses my kindness. I'm afraid it's not good, right?