The poem "The mountains and rivers in the heart are not artificial" comes from "Shanglin Fu" by Sima Xiangru of the Western Han Dynasty.
The famous sentence "If you have mountains and rivers in your heart, don't make any pretense" expresses the author's inner experience and attitude towards the beauty of natural mountains and rivers. First of all, the phrase "landscape in the heart" in the poem implies that the author has a scene or impression of mountains and rivers deep in his heart. As a favorite theme of ancient Chinese literati, landscape represents nature, cleanliness, tranquility and beauty. The "landscape" here does not refer to specific mountains and rivers, but a spiritual symbol, which embodies the author's deep inner peace and expresses his desire and pursuit for the beauty of mountains and rivers.
The last sentence "without pretense" expresses the author's attitude and realm when appreciating the landscape. As opposed to pretentious, it means not deliberately artificial, pretentious or showing off. The author wants to emphasize the purity and nature of the soul and does not want to add extra decoration or artificiality. This attitude allows the author to better appreciate the beauty of the landscape and feel its tranquility and unique charm. This verse conveys the idea of ??speculative aesthetics that true beauty arises from within. The author regards landscape as an inner realm rather than an external display.
The point expressed in the poem is that the true inner state and emotional experience are in harmony with the external beauty and occur naturally, rather than being artificially manufactured or artificial. In the flashy and complicated real world, people often fall into false decoration and showing off, pursuing an unreal beauty. The author's meaning of "having mountains and rivers in your heart without any pretense" is calling people to return to inner peace and truth, and pursue the beauty as simple as the mountains and rivers.
He has a writing background of unpretentious landscapes
At that time, before writing this poem, Sima Xiangru had been appreciated by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty and was appointed as the prince's family order among the three princes. This was an important position in the feudal dynasty at that time responsible for processing memorials and formulating national laws. However, Sima Xiangru was demoted to Yunyang (located in today's southern Sichuan Province) due to political differences with Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. During this period of relegation, Sima Xiangru wrote "Ode to Shanglin", which expressed his yearning for the beauty of mountains and rivers and the tranquility of nature, and used it to express his mood and thinking.
Therefore, the writing background of Sima Xiangru's "Shanglin Fu" was not only the pursuit of landscape culture, but also the yearning for freedom and tranquility. Through this poem, he demonstrated his unique insights into the beauty of nature and inner realm, and also expressed his thoughts and reflections on the dilemma of officialdom.