Sun Chuo: Preface to the Poems of Lanting on March 3rd
Sun Chuo
The ancients used water as a metaphor to talk about it. If it is not stopped, it will be clear, and if it is mixed, it will be turbid. Feelings migrate because of what they are used to, and things are excited when they touch. Therefore, if you are in the market, you will be filled with the heart of flexion; Walking leisurely in the forest, the ambition of Liao falls. Yang Zhan Xi Tang, Miao has been far away; Near the pavilion, I am deeply concerned and pregnant. In order to recover from the obscurity, I think about the way of lingering, and I borrow mountains and rivers repeatedly to ease my stagnation. One day is enough, when a hundred years overflow.
from the beginning of late spring, it started at the bank of Nanjian River. Chihiro mountains, long lakes and vast expanses of land, can be strong. It is a fragrant grass, a clear mirror, a view of flowers and trees, a view of fish and birds, and a common prosperity of things, which makes it salty. Therefore, harmony is based on alcohol and mash, and it is completely philosophical. How can I feel the second thing of Peng Yu? The spirit is shining, the scenery is rushing to the west, and the joy and the time are gone, and the sorrow is also related. Reciprocating, new things change, and today's traces are clear and old. The original poet's prosperity, I believe there is a reason for singing.
On the third day of March in the ninth year of Emperor Yonghe of the Eastern Jin Dynasty (353), Sun Chuo, Xie An, Wang Xizhi, Xu Xun, Zhi Dun, Sun Tong and other 41 people held a meeting in Lanting, Huiji (now Shaoxing City, Zhejiang Province). According to the custom of ancient people, they washed in the water on the first day of March to remove the ominous. They meandered through the water and composed poems, and compiled these poems into Poems of Lanting, for which both Sun Chuo and Wang Xizhi had prefaced. Wang Xizhi's Preface to Lanting Collection is called "the best running script in the world" by later generations because of its exquisite calligraphy, which leads to countless strange stories and legends for later generations. The original work was buried in Zhaoling as a burial object by Emperor Taizong, but his articles spread like wildfire and have always been popular. Sun Chuo's Preface to Lanting Poems is little known, but it was only by the Tang Dynasty's books "Gathering of Arts and Literature" and "A Record of Beginners" that it was preserved.
This article is similar in structure to Wang Xizhi's Preface to the Orchid Pavilion, that is, the full text is divided into two parts, one is to describe the scenery, the other is to explain the theory, but Wang Xuxian describes it first and then discusses it, while Sun Zuo does the opposite. At the beginning of the article, I put forward the idea that mountains and rivers can move people's temperament. Because of the different storage and flow of water, the clarity and turbidity are different; People have different temperaments and interests because of different circumstances. People who have been living in cities for a long time strive for fame in the DPRK, for the benefit of the city, for profit, and for sorrow. The way to get rid of them is to cultivate their temperament and relieve their depression through the natural taste of mountains and rivers. In this long discussion, the author not only pointed out that the landscape has the function of shifting people's temperament and solving people's worries, but also pointed out that the landscape can be bound to the value of Tao, "thinking about the way in ambiguity", and caring for the landscape can be "enough for a day, when it overflows in a hundred years", which is the highest enlightenment of the landscape. The second paragraph can be divided into two meanings. The first half describes the surrounding scenery and people's dynamics, and the dynamics are completely melted in the natural scenery: "Sit on the grass, look at the flowers and trees, watch the fish and birds", and people wander in the embrace of nature, so they are relaxed and happy, and they are in harmony with nature. As a result, the metaphysical thought of "everything is in harmony with me" came into being, which led to the final argument: in the face of such a natural age, people seem insignificant. All the world's rich and poor, life and death, sorrow and joy are insignificant. The debate between Dapeng and Bird in Zhuangzi's Happy Travel is no longer different from the eternal nature. For hundreds of millions of years, when the moon is long, the shortening of human life and the joys and sorrows of life all go with it, heading for the same destination. Therefore, Sun Chuo put forward the philosophy of life, which he thought was the inspiration given to people by Lanting Ya Ji and the true meaning of nature and life sung by poets at that time.
Sun Chuo was a famous metaphysical scholar at that time, and his thoughts were obviously influenced by Laozi and Zhuangzi. For example, his attitude towards objective things is equal and equal, and he treats life's joys and sorrows equally, all of which come from Zhuangzi's thought of uniformity of things. This is very different from the thought in Wang Xizhi's Preface to Lanting Collection. Although Wang Xizhi and Sun Chuo lived in the same mysterious era, their devotion to the world did not die out. Therefore, his Preface to the Orchid Pavilion is associated with the beautiful scenery and grand event in front of them, which means that things are moving with the times and old age is approaching. The elegance of life, the rare beauty of its moments, makes people sad, so they think that "a dead life is a false birth, and Qi Peng is a concubine." If we say that Sun Chuo's literary power is a philosophical attitude, Wang Xizhi's article is not without pessimistic shadow. However, what Sun Wen pursues is illusory Hyunri, while Wang Wen is based on real life, which not only shows that they have different views on life and the world, but also provides a glimpse of why Wang Xizhi's Preface to the Orchid Pavilion has always been read by people, while Sun Xinggong's article is seldom read by readers.