The poem Camellia has been written by several poets. Now I will introduce the one written by Master Guanxiu. On the surface, this poem describes a kind of plant. In fact, after understanding the poem, I found that camellia is just a metaphor, and what I really want to express is another layer of meaning. The content of "Camellia" is short, with only four lines, but it expresses what Guanxiu wants to express vividly. The first two sentences mainly describe the camellias blooming in this beautiful weather, but Guanxiu feels that such a beautiful camellia is lifeless and has no gorgeous feeling even if it blooms. Such a beautiful camellia has lost its beauty, which shows the suppressed feelings in Guan Xiu's heart. Guanxiu used "gorilla blood" to describe camellias. His original intention was to use camellias to express his satire on some phenomena in society. Because in the society at that time, the court did not do practical things for the people at all, but just squeezed the people everywhere, making people's lives more and more miserable. The description of the last two sentences mainly revolves around the word "resentment". The withering of camellias is due to the new camellias growing on the branches and leaves. The word "resentment" is integrated into this environment, which shows the resentment in Guan Xiu's heart. His resentment is fighting. Because of the imperial court's oppression of the people, the people were full of anger and resentment towards the imperial court. So to sum up this poem, it uses camellias to express Guanxiu's dissatisfaction with the inaction of the court at that time. Throughout Guanxiu's life, even though he was a monk, he always cared about the living conditions of the local people. He had a heart that loved the people, even though he was not a court official. Many of Guan Xiu's poems express similar emotions. Therefore, the camellia poem written by Guanxiu is very consistent with his own emotions.
Guan Xiu has made great achievements in painting, especially painting monks. Guanxiu's Sixteen Arhats is one of his representative works. But there are one or more versions of this painting, and the original one has been lost. The length of this work is about 92 centimeters and the width is about 45 centimeters. Because it was created during the Five Dynasties period, when Buddhism was very popular in society, it was favored by many painters. Guanxiu is one of them. The Sixteen Arhats are painted very realistically by Guan Xiu, because Guan Xiu's painting skills are so strong that he can draw such works. And the shapes are very different. Some have high nose bridges, some have big eyes. In short, each of the Sixteen Arhats has its own characteristics, which will attract people's eyes and not look too cliché. According to historical records, it is said that these Arhats were not imagined by Guan Xiu out of thin air, but what he dreamed of when he was dreaming. Although we don't believe in some things in dreams, these Arhats are Guanxiu's positive response to Buddhist thoughts. Of course, the original version of the Sixteen Arhats painting is no longer available, and they are all imitations. Among them, the most imitated Chengdu work is a work from the Song Dynasty. This work is the most similar to Guan Xiu's original work, but this work has now been exiled to Japan. The Sixteen Arhats painting of the Ming Dynasty was painted by Qiu Ying. His painting concept is somewhat different from Guan Xiu's. He mainly depicts the postures of Arhats, some of which are sitting on a stone with his back against a pine tree, and some of which are meditating. Some of them were talking about scriptures with each other. This scene gave people a sense of leisure and elegance. Guanxiu's Sixteen Arhats painting has been highly praised in history. One of its characteristics is that it is unique and innovative, so that it became a model for other painters to imitate in the future.