1\Location: The Wangchuan villa where Wang Wei lives is at the foot of Zhongnan Mountain (Zhongnan Mountain, fifty miles south of Chang'an County, Shaanxi Province, is one of the main peaks of the Qinling Mountains. The ancients also called the Qinling Mountains Zhongnan Mountain. The Qinling Mountains stretch for eight More than a hundred miles away, it is the watershed between the Wei River and the Han River). It is said that Wangchuan Villa is a very spacious place with mountains, lakes, woods and valleys, and several buildings are scattered at the foothills of Nanlantian Mountain. Although Wang Wei was a devout Buddhist, he also faced the situation of "half-official and half-hidden" after becoming an official. Some people say that the combination of his name Wei and the word Mojie means "Vimalakirti". That is taken from the layman Vimalakīrti in the Vimalakirti Sutra. Although Vimalakirti was a disciple of Buddhism, he lived a luxurious life like a secular nobleman
2\Historical background:
Wang Wei lived in the prosperous Tang Dynasty for most of his life. Like many historical figures, there are always disputes about the time of his birth and death. The view adopted by most people is that Wang Wei was born in the first year of Chang'an (701) of Empress Wu, the same year as Li Bai, and died in the second year of Shangyuan (761) of Suzong, at the age of sixty-one.
There is also controversy about Wang Wei’s birthplace. One theory is that he was originally from Qi County, Taiyuan (now Qi County, Shanxi Province), and later moved to Puzhou (now Yongji County, Shanxi Province); another theory is that his ancestral home is Qi County, Taiyuan, and he was born in Puzhou. What is certain is that Wang Wei is from Shanxi.
Wang Wei was born into a family of officials. Although his father died early and his family was in decline, he still received a good education and was able to recite poetry and compose at the age of nine. When he was fifteen years old, young Wang Wei came to Chang'an to seek fame and fortune, and often traveled between Chang'an and Luoyang.
Coming from his hometown to the prosperous imperial capital, he experienced a trip to a foreign land that he had never experienced before, and saw the beautiful people he had never seen before, and he became inspired by poetry. He writes about young knight-errants in Chang'an, about veteran generals who have made great achievements without reward, about his ideals of serving the country through meritorious service, and about his homesickness when living in a foreign land... These poems are full of youthful passion and romance, showing the extraordinary talents of a young man.
The name of young Wang Wei's poem spread rapidly. "Old Book of the Tang Dynasty" records the courtesy he received: "Whenever the king's prince-in-law came to the door of a noble family, he would all welcome him. King Ning and King Xue treated him like a teacher and friend."
Kaiyuan In the ninth year (721), Wang Wei passed the Jinshi title and embarked on an official career.
As for Wang Wei's application, "Ji Yi Ji" records an interesting anecdote: In the spring of this year, Wang Wei came to see the princess under the leadership of King Qi Li Fan. What kind of boy is this? "The wonderful years are pure and white, and the grace is beautiful", "the romance is subtle, and the language is humorous". He played the pipa with a mournful tone, which moved the whole audience and made the princess look at him with special eyes. When he recited his poems, the princess was shocked. She didn't expect that the masterpieces she had always thought were ancient poems were all written by this young man! Therefore, the princess recommended 21-year-old Wang Wei to be a Jinshi.
This anecdote is not recorded in official history and may not be true. But Wang Wei's first official position after becoming a Jinshi was indeed related to music - Tai Lecheng, who was responsible for managing the country's music and dance affairs.
"Thirty old masters of the Ming Dynasty, fifty young scholars". In the Tang Dynasty, it was not easy to obtain Jinshi, so much so that those who were fifty years old were considered young. At this time, Wang Wei was just in his early twenties, youthful and high-spirited.
However, Wang Wei, who had just entered his official career, hit a snag. Because the yellow lion dance by an actor in the department violated the ban, he was implicated and demoted. In the autumn of the ninth year of Kaiyuan, Wang Wei left Chang'an and went to Jezhou to join the army as Sicang, a minor official in charge of the granary.
Jeju is located southwest of today's Shandong Province. Wang Wei spent more than four years there. His life was lonely and boring, but the beautiful natural scenery still attracted him. He often traveled around Jeju and interacted with the local hermits and sages, singing poems and harmony with them.
In the spring of the fourteenth year of Kaiyuan (726), Wang Wei resigned from Sicang to join the army and left Jeju. During the trip, he was attracted by the pastoral scenery of Qishang and lived here for two years.
Perhaps he could not bear the loneliness of seclusion, so in the seventeenth year of Kaiyuan (729), Wang Wei returned to Chang'an to live leisurely. Returning to Chang'an this time, he met the poet Meng Haoran. Meng Haoran came to Chang'an to take the exam, but he stayed in Chang'an after failing. When Meng returned to Xiangyang, Wang Wei wrote a poem to say goodbye. The poem said: "Du Men doesn't want to leave, and has been alienated from the world for a long time. As a long-term strategy, I urge you to return to your old home." It means to persuade Meng Haoran to return to his hometown and live in seclusion, without having to work hard. He came to Chang'an to take an examination and seek an official position. The reason why he said this is because Wang Wei's own career and life were unsatisfactory: when he was in high school, he thought he would be able to achieve great things, but he was demoted; when he was young, he was idle at home, which naturally made him unhappy.
In the nineteenth year of Kaiyuan (731), Wang Wei's wife passed away. Wang Wei was only thirty-one years old at that time. After that, he stopped marrying and spent the rest of his life alone.
In the 21st year of Kaiyuan (733), Zhang Jiuling came to power, and Wang Wei's political enthusiasm that had cooled was reignited. In the autumn of a year later, he went from Chang'an to Luoyang, the eastern capital, and wrote a poem to Zhang Jiuling. He praised Zhang Jiuling for "doing nothing to sell public goods, but for the benefit of the common people." ?”
However, Wang Wei still had doubts about whether he could be appointed by Zhang Jiuling. So, after presenting poems to Zhang Jiuling, he immediately went to Songshan Mountain to live in seclusion. Songshan Mountain is close to Luoyang, so you can hide here and wait for your trip.
Luck came again, and Zhang Jiuling accepted him happily. In the twenty-third year of Kaiyuan (735), on the recommendation of Zhang Jiuling, Wang Wei left Songshan and went to Luoyang, the eastern capital, to serve as Youshi Shiyi and provide advice to those in power. The next year, he returned to Chang'an with Xuanzong and still served as You Shiyi.
However, history soon changed its direction. In the twenty-fifth year of Kaiyuan (737), Zhang Jiuling was demoted to the governor of Jing. Li Linfu, who was sweet-talking and secretive, gained the trust of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty and took control of the government. Some of the officials who were highly used by Zhang Jiuling in the past were demoted or died. In this chaos, Wang Wei's official position was promoted instead. In the autumn of this year, he moved to Hexi Jiedu Mansion and served as the censor and judge of Jiedu. He saved his life, but was once again expelled from Chang'an, the center of power.
Wang Wei didn’t say much about how he felt after experiencing another heavy blow. At the frontier, he seemed to be in high spirits. The endless desert and the strange and magnificent scenery attracted him, and the military life on the frontier also rekindled the passion of his youth. "The solitary smoke is straight in the desert, and the sun is setting in the long river." This is how the inspiration came. In less than a year, he left more than thirty frontier poems.
In the summer of the twenty-sixth year of Kaiyuan (738), 38-year-old Wang Wei returned to Chang'an and continued to serve as the censor. Two years later, he was promoted to the imperial censor. In the winter of this year, he went south on a business trip: from Chang'an to Lingnan via Xiangyang, Yingzhou, and Xiakou, where he presided over the selection of local officials in Lingnan.
While passing through Xiangyang, Wang Wei excitedly went to visit his friend Meng Haoran. The news he received was that Meng Haoran had passed away, and Wang Wei couldn't help crying. Meng Haoran was twelve years older than Wang Wei. Not only did the two have a deep friendship, but they also had many similarities in their poetry creation. Later generations collectively called them "Wang Meng" and were listed as representatives of the landscape pastoral poetry school of the Tang Dynasty.
In the spring of the twenty-seventh year of Kaiyuan (739), Wang Wei returned to Chang'an from Lingnan and began to live in seclusion in Zhongnan Mountain in the southern suburbs of Chang'an in the second half of the year.
About the third year of Tianbao (744), Wang Wei purchased the Wangchuan villa in Lantian that originally belonged to the poet Song Zhiwen of the early Tang Dynasty. After some renovations, Wangchuan Villa became a quiet place for Wang Wei to stay away from the world and enjoy the mountains and rivers. Green pines and bright moon, white rocks and clear springs, ancient trees and decaying willows, flying birds and lanterns, all made him intoxicated and obsessed. From then on, he often spent time leisurely here with his friend Pei Di, admiring the scenery and composing poems.
After that, Wang Wei successively served as Shi Yushi, Treasury Yuanwailang, and Treasury Department doctor. He didn't want to join the crowd, but he couldn't do it like Tao Yuanming, who didn't give up for five buckets of rice and completely retreat into the mountains and forests, so he used this semi-official and semi-hidden method to maintain his spiritual freedom in the turbid officialdom.
In the ninth year of Tianbao (750), the fifty-year-old Wang Wei lost his mother Cui, and spent the next two years in mourning in Dingyou, Wangchuan. Cui believed in Buddhism and studied with Zen Master Dazhao, a famous monk of his generation, for more than 30 years. He wore brown clothes and ate vegetarian food all his life, and he kept the precepts and meditated. He had a profound influence on Wang Wei. This can also be seen from Wang Wei's name. Wang Wei's given name was Wei, and his courtesy name was Mojie. The combination of his name and character is "Vimalakirti". There is a Sutra of Vimalakīrti in the Buddhist scriptures, in which Vimalakīrti has access to profound Prajna wisdom and is a great layman who was praised by the Buddha.
After Ding You served his term, Wang Wei served as a doctor in the Ministry of Civil Affairs, and later as a doctor in the Ministry of Culture and Affairs. In his spare time, he still returns to Wangchuan from time to time and wanders among the mountains, rivers and fields.
The "Poet's Jade Chips" compiled by Wei Qingzhi of the Song Dynasty commented on Wang Wei's "Autumn Water Lotus, leaning against the wind and smiling to himself", which can be said to be the most vivid and appropriate praise of Wang Wei during the Wangchuan period - Autumn Water Lotus , emerging from the mud but not stained, elegant and refined, naturally beautiful, smiling in the wind, charming and charming. This period was also the peak of Wang Wei's poetry creation. A series of poems such as "Wangchuan Collection" have become a symbol in the history of Chinese poetry: the landscape pastoral poetry that emerged from the Wei and Jin Dynasties received a comprehensive summary and significant improvement in Wang Wei.
Although Wang Weizhi was interested in mountains and rivers, and was obsessed with Buddhism to avoid worldly affairs, he was not outside the world, and he could not escape the troubles of the world.
In the fourteenth year of Tianbao (755), Anlu Mountain rebelled, and the Anshi Rebellion broke out, which completely changed the fate of the Tang Dynasty. The following year, An Lushan led troops into Chang'an City. Tang Xuanzong fled in a hurry with his beloved concubine, children and grandchildren. Wang Weihu was never able to catch up and was captured by thieves. Although he pretended to be ill, he was imprisoned in Luoyang Bodhi Temple. Forced by the sword, Wang Wei accepted the fake job he was given.
This incident made Wang Wei himself deeply ashamed, and also made him criticized by future generations. People in the Song Dynasty who advocated Neo-Confucianism even thought that Wang Wei had a bad character and did not even read his poems. Du Fu, a poet of the Tang Dynasty who was also captured by the rebels but luckily escaped, understood Wang Wei better. He wrote a poem to defend it: "One illness is related to the master, and three years have been the same." Du Fu compared Wang Wei to the Southern and Northern Dynasties. Yu Xin, who was sent to the north as an envoy and was forced to serve as an official, said that they were forced to surrender rather than surrendering voluntarily.
The facts are indeed as Du Fu said. There is Wang Wei's poem "Ningbi Pond" as evidence: "Thousands of households are sad and smoke is growing. When will hundreds of officials turn to the sky again? Autumn locust leaves fall in the palace, and orchestras are played at the head of Ningbi Pond." After An Lushan occupied Chang'an, in Ningbi Pond, Bichi held a banquet for all the ministers and invited Tang Xuanzong's Liyuan disciples to play music to add to the fun. Musician Lei Haiqing couldn't help but feel angry. He broke his instrument during the performance and cried in the direction of Xuanzong. As a result, he was brutally killed by An Lushan. Pei Di told Wang Wei, who was imprisoned in Bodhi Temple, the news. Wang Wei was deeply moved and wrote this poem, which shows his political attitude at the time.
It was this poem that saved Wang Wei's life later. In the second year of Zhide (757), the Tang army recovered Chang'an and Luoyang. Wang Wei and other officials who surrendered to Anlu Mountain were arrested. Because Tang Suzong had read "Ningbi Pool" and knew that Wang Wei still sided with the Tang Dynasty, and because Wang Wei's younger brother Wang Jin was willing to use his official position to atone for his brother's sins, Wang Wei was pardoned.
In the spring of the third year of Zhide (758), Wang Wei resumed his official position. His official position was Prince Zhongyun, and he was added as a bachelor of Jixian Palace. He was soon promoted to Prince Zhonghuzi and Zhongshusheren. In autumn, he was once again promoted to Prince Zhongyun. Appointed to give things. In the first year of Shangyuan (760), the sixty-year-old Wang Wei was appointed as Shangshu Youcheng. This was the highest official position he received in his life, so people also called him "Wang Youcheng".
After the pardon, Wang Wei's official position rose one after another. The poets Jia Zhi, Cen Shen, Du Fu and others at that time sang with him, and even the most popular powerful official Yan Wu interacted with him. In the eyes of ordinary people, Wang Wei had a successful official career and a proud life at this time, but in fact, Wang Wei's political enthusiasm had long since disappeared, and instead he focused more on Buddhism. He said to himself, "No matter how sad you are in your life, you can't sell it to Buddhism!" "The Biography of Wang Wei in the Old Book of Tang Dynasty" records that in his later years, Wang Wei "meeted a dozen monks in the capital and enjoyed mystical talks. He had nothing but a tea pot, a medicine mortar, a sutra case, and a rope bed." After that, I burned incense and sat alone, doing meditation and recitation."
In the spring of the second year of Shangyuan (761), Wang Wei's younger brother Wang Jin's term as governor of Shuzhou ended, but he was not recalled by the court. Wang Wei went to court, hoping to remove his official position and return him to the fields in exchange for Wang Jin returning to the capital. The deep brotherhood between the Wang brothers is evident. In July of this year, Wang Wei died of illness. "Old Book of the Tang Dynasty" records: "On his deathbed, Wei was in Fengxiang. Suddenly he took out his pen to write a farewell calligraphy on the Jin. He also wrote several farewell letters to his relatives. Many of his friends followed the Buddha's purpose of cultivating the mind and gave up their pens. Absolutely."
After his death, Wang Wei was buried in Wangchuan Villa, his favorite place during his lifetime. From then on, he rested beside the bright moon, the clear breeze, and the pine forest and mountain springs.
At the time of Emperor Daizong of the Tang Dynasty, Emperor Daizong liked Wang Wei's poems very much, praised Wang Wei as the "World Wen Zong", and ordered Wang Jin to compile his works into a collection. This is the "Collection of Wang Youcheng" that has been handed down, which contains more than 400 poems by Wang Wei.
In the prosperous Tang Dynasty, poetry was available in all styles. Wang Wei is good at all kinds of poetry styles and can be called an all-rounder. In "Collection of Tang Poems" by Gao Yu of the Ming Dynasty, Wang Wei was regarded as the famous master in the Five and Seven Ancients, Wang Wei was regarded as the authentic master in the Five, Seven Rhythms and Five Jue, and Wang Wei was regarded as the winger in the Seven Jue. In fact, Wang Wei's six character poems, miscellaneous style Yuefu and Chu Ci styles all have profound attainments. But it is Wang Wei's five-character poems that have the greatest influence and the largest number of surviving poems today, and people call him the "Five-Character Master".
The style and mood of Wang Wei's poems are obviously different from the previous ones to the later ones. Most of the early poems are full of pride, aggressiveness and impassioned sentiment. In the later period, he mostly turned to landscapes and pastoral areas to express his leisurely mood or Buddhist Zen philosophy. The greatest influence on later generations was his landscape idyll.
These poems are light but not thin, natural but not crude, full of words and infinite in meaning. They represent an ideal state pursued by Chinese classical poetry.
The Notes of Collection of Wang Youcheng by Zhao Diancheng of the Qing Dynasty says: "The poets of the Tang Dynasty must recommend Wang Youcheng as the authentic poet. At the same time, those who are comparable to him are Meng Xiangyang, Wei Suzhou, and Liuliuzhou, but they are not ahead of him. Meng Ge is clear and thin, the Wei body is dull and flat, the willow texture is quiet and exciting, but You Cheng is well versed in Zen philosophy, so his words have no back contact, sweetness penetrates the middle edge, the sound is outside the space, the shadow in the water, the fragrance is deep and solid Also, the fruit is to papaya, and the wine is to health. It makes people look for it in the distance, and it is impossible to get it. >Wang Wei's achievements in the art of poetry are closely related to his "eruditeness and versatility". He was proficient in music and was once Tai Le Cheng; he was also proficient in calligraphy and calligraphy; he was particularly talented in painting. He once said arrogantly that he was "a poet who was wrong in his previous life, and his predecessor was a painter". Later generations also regarded him as the Southern Sect. The ancestor of the painting school.
Wang Wei’s profound artistic qualities in painting, music, etc. enable him to capture the beauty and ever-changing nature of nature more accurately and meticulously than ordinary people. In his poetry, he also pays more attention to composition, layout, rhetoric and coloring. , paying more attention to the harmony of poetry tones, thus forming a unique style of "painting in poetry" and "music in poetry". It is in the interpenetration and development of poetry, painting and music that Wang Wei enriches and develops the lyrical art of Chinese classical poetry.
Later generations regarded Wang Wei as the "Buddha of Poetry", alongside Li Bai as the "Immortal of Poetry" and Du Fu as the "Sage of Poetry". Influenced by his mother, Wang Wei began to believe in Buddhism very early. Throughout his life, he has had a deep understanding of Buddhism, especially the practice of Zen. Wang Weixi socialized with monks, and more than ten of them can be seen in his poems and articles, including Zen Master Daoguang, the Master, Zen Master Daoyi, Master Yuan Gong, and Zen Master Shenhui. Because he was enamored with the Zen method of the Southern Sect, Wang Wei also responded to the request of Shenhui and wrote the "Inscription on the Sixth Patriarch Neng Zen Master" for Hui Neng, the sixth ancestor of the Southern Sect of Zen, which became the most original material for studying Hui Neng's life. Wang Wei himself became the first poet in the Tang Dynasty to preach the Nanzong doctrine.
As Jin Renyuan Haowen said, "Poetry adds beauty to Zen monks, and Zen is the poet's jade knife." Wang Wei's achievements in the art of poetry were largely due to Influenced by Zen thought.
Zen Buddhism is a Chinese version of Buddhism, which requires people to be free from worries, joys and sorrows in all situations, to be spotless, and to have no thoughts. Wang Wei is a Zen practitioner. He treats everything in the world with a Zen attitude, so he can use a quiet and calm leisure mood to observe the movement, stillness, life and rest of all things in nature, and dive into the depths of nature. , thus seeing the subtle creatures and subtle changes that are difficult to detect in the impetuous world. He likes to write about the quiet beauty of empty mountains, the blooming and falling of mountain flowers, and the moonlight and sun shadows in mountains and forests. He likes to use words such as "quiet", "yuan" and "idle", as well as "Zen" and "silence". , "empty" and other Buddhist terms, all of which give his poems a quiet and beautiful shape, a clear state, and a peaceful and joyful appearance that other poets cannot match.
Some Zen practice methods have similarities with Chinese poetry. Both poetry and Zen require keen inner experience, both emphasize revelation and metaphor, and both pursue implication. Therefore, Yan Yu, a literary critic in the Song Dynasty, said: "In general, the path of Zen only lies in wonderful enlightenment, and the path of poetry also lies in wonderful enlightenment." Wang Wei participated in Zen If you have it, you will naturally have a deep understanding of the method of grasping the world called "wonderful enlightenment", and integrating it into poetry will create a unique state of being born outside the image, entering the heart of poetry, and integrating the poetic realm and the Zen realm. .
During the Kaiyuan and Tianbao eras of the Tang Dynasty, Wang Wei was the most famous poet at that time, and Li Bai and Du Fu were not as good as him. In the "Collection of Heroes of Heyue" compiled by Yin Fan in the last years of Tianbao, Wang Wei was ranked as the first poet in the prosperous Tang Dynasty, but Li Bai was not mentioned. It was not until the Zhenyuan and Yuanhe periods that Li and Du's status in people's minds was higher than that of Wang Wei. The reasons for this phenomenon are quite complex. But in any case, Wang Wei's poetry is its own school in the entire Chinese classical poetry and has a long-lasting influence. Modern scholar Wen Yiduo once said: "Wang Wei established the authentic tradition of Chinese poetry for Chinese poetry." In other words, without reading Wang Wei, it is difficult to fully understand the essence of the art of Chinese poetry.