Guan Xiu, an outstanding poet among monks
Guan Xiu, whose common surname was Zhang and courtesy name Deyin, was from Lanhuo, Wuzhou (now Lanxi, Zhejiang). When he was 7 years old, he joined Zen Master Yuanzhen of He'an Temple in this county and became a child servant. Guanxiu has a very good memory. He can recite 1,000 words of the Lotus Sutra every day and has a photographic memory. Guanxiu was also elegant and good at reciting poems. He often discussed poems with the monks in silence across the fence, or recited to find a couple, or sang with each other, which surprised everyone who saw him. After Guanxiu received the ordination, his poetry became more and more famous and he was still famous far and near. Guanxiu once went to Yuzhang (today's Nanchang, Jiangxi Province) to preach the Lotus Sutra and the Theory of Faith in the Mahayana. "They were both masters of the profound meanings, lectured diligently," and were highly regarded by Wang Zhen, the prefect of the county. After Wang Zhen resigned, the new prefect Jiang You opened the altar for washing and repentance, and also asked Guan Xiu to be the supervisor of the altar.
Guanxiu is generous and informal. I once ate fruit while walking on the thoroughfare, as if there was no one around. At the beginning of Qianning (894-897), Guanxiu began to travel around the world. At that time, Qian Liu, the military governor of Zhenhai and the governor of Runzhou, pacified Dong Changgong, and was promoted to the military governor of Zhenhai, Zhendong and other armies, and was given the title of "Inspection Officer and Zhongshu Ling". Guan Xiu came from Lingyin Temple to express his congratulations with a poem. The congratulatory poem is: "You are born without freedom, and you have worked hard to walk in the forest hills for several years. The hall is full of flowers and three thousand guests are drunk, and the fourteen states are frosty with a sword. Laizi's clothes and palace are narrow, and Xie Gong's poems are shameful. He The title of Lingyan Pavilion in that year is unenviable to the thousands of marquises at that time." Qian Liu was naturally very proud when he saw Guan Xiu's congratulatory poem, but his feelings were still not enough. Because Qian Liu's "appetite" was already very big at this time, and he was no longer satisfied with ruling 14 states and being granted the title of "Wanhuhou". He wants to further expand his territory and strive to become the dominant overlord. So Qian Liu sent an order to Guan Xiu, asking him to change "Fourteen Prefectures" to "Forty Prefectures" before they could meet each other. Guan Xiu was extremely disgusted with Qian Liu's arrogant attitude toward guests, and was dissatisfied with Qian Liu's growing political ambitions, so he angrily declared: It is difficult to add more states, and it is difficult to change poems. Where can the lonely cloud and wild crane not fly? After saying that, he walked away.
Guan Xiu left Yuezhou and went to Jingzhou. Jingnan Jiedu envoy Cheng Ru was relatively polite to Guan Xiu and arranged for him to live in Longxing Temple. After a while, the relationship gradually became distant. One year, on Cheng Rui's birthday, more than a hundred people wrote poems to wish him a happy birthday, and Guan Xiu was among them. Because there were so many people presenting poems, Cheng Ru could not read them in person, so he entrusted his scholar Zheng Zhun to review them. Zheng Zhun was very jealous of Guan Xiu's poetic talent, so he ranked Guan Xiu third. Guan Xiu was very angry about this. In addition to being good at writing poems, Guan Xiu was also good at calligraphy, so he was named Jiang Xiu. Once, Cheng Ru asked Guan Xiu for advice on calligraphy. Guan Xiu was humiliated because he presented poems on his birthday. He took this opportunity to vent his anger and said, "This matter must be taught on the altar. An De hastily said it." !" Cheng Ru was very angry after hearing this, and some people around Cheng Ru also took the opportunity to say bad things, so Guan Xiu was expelled from Jiangling and sent to Gong'an County (a county under Jingzhou) for resettlement. Later, Guan Xiu's disciples persuaded him to enter Shu, and he went to Sichuan again.
After arriving in Sichuan, Guanxiu wrote a poem to Wang Jian, the former lord of Shu: "Hebei and Jiangdong are plagued by disasters, but I only hear that there is little dust in Shu. A bottle and a bowl are like hanging down, and thousands of rivers and mountains can be harvested." Come. There are many scenic spots in the secluded garden of Bahu. Those who feel ashamed of their talents can also come to Guokui Terrace."
Wang Jian wanted to consolidate his rule in Sichuan. We are spreading talents from all over the world. I am very happy to see Guanxiu come to Shu. Guanxiu lived in Shu, first living in Dongchan Temple, and then moved to the newly built Longhua Taoist Temple. Wang Jian respected Guan Xiu very much and frequently rewarded him, including "Long Tower to await imperial edicts", "Master of Distinguishing Causes and Effects", "Guidance and Enshrinement in Xianglin Hall", "Professor of Selections and Practices of Confucian Classics, Legal Theory and Taoism", A series of honorary titles such as "Master Xuanyi of the Three Religions", "Master Shouliangchuan Monk", "Master of Cizi Dashan", "Master Zenyue", etc., and he was awarded the political status of "three thousand households in the city". Guan Xiu presented the best line from Wang Jian's poem, "A bottle and a bowl will make you grow old, thousands of rivers and thousands of mountains will bring it." The scene is appropriate and the order is neat. Therefore, Guan Xiu is often called the "Monk De De Lai." In the second year of Qianhua (915), he finally lived there and lived for 81 years.
Guan Xiu was erudite and talented. "The Biography of the Talented Scholars of the Tang Dynasty" praised him as "a straightforward man with no parallel in the world. He has a high sense of thought and a wealth of knowledge. He is gifted with agility and speed, and his writing is fierce and sharp. Yuefu is an ancient Law, the sect at that time... He was one of the most powerful monks in the world. Those who are less worthy of comparison in the future are not as good as Fangzhi Daolin." Guan Xiu has 40 volumes of collected works, with a preface by Wu Rong, a famous poet at that time, which is called "Huashan Collection". Later, Tan Yu, a disciple of Guanxiu, edited it again and called it "Baoyue Collection".
Guanxiu is good at reciting poems. Although most of his poems are composed of chants about objects, scenery, or harmony with monks and lay poets, they often touch on worldly affairs. For example, he once wrote "Ci of Cool Officials" to satirize Gao Jixing of the festival town of Jingzhou: "...Wu Ji sang a song and broke the red bunch easily. Han E sang a song, and the highlights illuminated the house. Ning He had one song and two songs, which made him Thousands of people are crying! Not only are they crying, but their heads are white, and their clans are hungry. Therefore, the auspicious wind does not come, and the gentle wind remains unchanged. "When Guan Xiu was in Shu, he also wrote a poem to satirize Guixing. : "The brocade clothes are bright and the falcon (goshawk) is held in the hand. The appearance of the idle walk is so neglected. I don't know the difficulties of the harvest. What are the five emperors and the three emperors?" There are many similar poems in Guan Xiu's poems, such as his " "The Song of Wealth and Honor" also focuses on criticizing the nobles: "The flesh of Taishan is exhausted, the wine of the East China Sea is exhausted. The beautiful woman sings drunkenly, and the jade hairpin is broken. It is better to know that there is a man working in the field, and the back is split by moxibustion every day."
In Guanxiu's time, the world was in chaos, but the poet did not lose confidence in the future of the country because of this. He hoped that virtuous ministers and generals would come out to reinvigorate the government. For example, in his "Yangchun Song": "For the sake of speech, don't imitate Ruan Si Zong, and don't talk about right and wrong to this day. Your hands must be like Zhu Yun's generation, and your heroism is still there today. When a man marries his wife and relatives, he must be more generous than the virtuous ones. Count Yong Yong. Xifang and Du, Duke Yao of Wei and Song opened their mansions and sat in the heavenly palace. Why not say goodbye to God and go down to earth and endure the suffering of the people? He praised Zhu Yun, who was not afraid of the powerful and dared to offend Yan Zhijian, and hoped that famous ministers like Wei Zheng, Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui, Yao Chong, and Song Jing would save the people from the fire and water. These poems written by Guan Xiu are indeed fierce and sharp, which is beyond the comparison of ordinary poets and monks.
Guan Xiu is not only good at reciting poetry, but also good at calligraphy. Liu Jing's "Shu Exegesis" once compared Guanxiu's calligraphy with the calligraphy of Huaisu, Guangguang, Gao Xian, Yaqi, etc. The "Short History of Shu" written by Chen Si of the Song Dynasty also said: Guanxiu's "gongcaoli is comparable to Huaisu in southern China". The Song Dynasty's "Xuanhe Shupu" and the Yuan Dynasty's Tao Zongyi's "Shu Shi Hui Yao" even praised Guan Xiu as "his calligraphy is particularly extraordinary, and his cursive writing is even better. His majestic appearance can be imagined as a person... although it cannot be compared with his handwriting." Zhiyong, you must be extraordinary.” According to the "Xuanhe Shupu", the Imperial Mansion of the Song Dynasty collected 7 pieces of Guanxiu's cursive script and 1 piece of running script. As for the people, it is "the origin that has been passed down through generations."
Guanxiu is also good at painting. "Yizhou Famous Paintings" written by Huang Xiufu of the Song Dynasty records: Guanxiu "has a high reputation for poetry, which is well known by Yu Neixian. He is good at cursive calligraphy and painting, and was compared to Huai Su and Yan Liben by people at the time." The Song Dynasty's "Xuanhe Painting Book" and the Yuan Dynasty's "Pictures and Paintings" also introduced Guanxiu's paintings, saying that Guanxiu was best at painting Arhat portraits. Similar to what is said in the world." Guan Xiu once claimed that the Arhat he painted was obtained in a dream. Ouyang Jiong, a bachelor of the Hanlin Academy of Shu, adopted his words and composed a song called "Song of the Arhat in the Dream of Master Zenyue": "The eminent monk from Xiyue is well-known, and his noble feelings are steep and towering in Ling Qingqiu. Heaven taught water and ink to paint the Arhat, and the ancient appearance of Kui'an was born in the pen. At that time, he carried a large piece of silk on the high wall, burned incense and sat in the meditation room. Perhaps he saw Zhenyi in his dream, took off his cassock, touched the magic pen and threw it in the air, wandering around wildly. , It's not like the painter wasted his days. The strange stone arrangement is inlaid and withered, and the real monk is sitting in lotus position. Haiya. There are a thousand poems of five or seven characters, and there are thirty famous people in the Tang Dynasty, including Xiao Ziyun and Wu Daozi. , I have no friends in Sichuan. The famous poets and painters are all extraordinary. I look down upon you. Vimalakīrti in Wa Coffin Temple and Pratyekabuddha in Savatthi City are always the best in the human world. 1."
Guanxiu's paintings are also spread throughout the world. The Imperial Palace of the Song Dynasty has a collection of 30 paintings by Guanxiu (1 statue of Vimalakia, 1 statue of Subhuti, 1 statue of eminent monk, 1 statue of Tianzhu eminent monk, Arhat statue 26). However, Guo Ruoxu of the Song Dynasty recorded in "Historical Notes on Pictures": "The real version of the Arhat portrait painted by Guan Xiu was offered as an offering in Yuntang Courtyard of Xishan Mountain in Yuzhang. Prayers for rain will be received in this county, and all of them will come true." This statement It is obviously unbelievable, but it also reflects the profound impression that people at that time had on the statue of Guanxiu Arhat.