Su Shi visited Chengtian Temple at night because his political opinions were not adopted by those in power, and his position in the imperial court was excluded and suppressed by the opposing parties. So he was forced to leave his officialdom with a sense of talent.
To sum up: Tao Yuanming's departure is decisive, while Su Shi's heart is unwilling and helpless; Tao left because of his correct "importune", and Sue left because of his dedication. What others do is someone else's business, and he seems to be more "easy-going".
Although Su Tao and his wife lived in seclusion outside the imperial court, their starting points were different. Tao's seclusion is the active "way out", the secluded Nanshan is the stage for the rest of his life, Su Shi's seclusion is the passive "retreat", and Chengtian Temple is just a "post station" on his way.
Dongpo and Tao Yuanming lived in different times. Su Dongpo lived in a great era. That era was the freest in China's history. Both Wang Anshi's political reform and Sima Guang's abolition of the law have the same purpose, that is, to make Qiang Bing rich and the people live and work in peace and contentment. Although Su Dongpo is incompatible with their political views, he has a stirring and sincere heart, a lofty ambition and a burning passion. The hope of positive progress. Therefore, even if his career is ups and downs, it is difficult and sinister, he will not put on clothes, leave his career and stay away from the world. Even if he lives in seclusion, he always walks into the secluded landscape with one foot and stays in his beloved world.
Compared with Su Dongpo's time, Tao Yuanming was much more unfortunate. He lived in the late Eastern Jin Dynasty, where rulers usurped the throne frequently, killing by nature, aristocratic corruption, strict gate system, sharp class contradictions and extremely dark politics. At that time, the dark reality had forced out Ruan Ji and Ji Kang, such "seven sages of the bamboo forest", and Tao Yuanming was also rejected by the gate system. No matter how excellent his poems, poems and essays are, he can't display his political ambitions. This is the reason why Tao Yuanming's career is blocked, and it is also the social root of Tao Yuanming's refusal to stay away from the secular world.
Su Dongpo and Tao Yuanming have different typical meanings. Su Dongpo is an outstanding genius and rare generalist in the cultural history of China. With his magical writing, profound knowledge, wise thinking, noble personality, rich experience and great achievements, he built a monument in the hearts of people of all ages in the long history of Chinese culture! There is no doubt that his achievements are far from those of any modern people. In the words of Lin Yutang's evaluation, "Su Dongpo is a hopeless optimist, a great humanist, a friend of the people, a great writer, a great calligrapher, an innovative painter, an experimenter in brewing, an engineer, a hypocrite, a practitioner, a Buddhist and a great Confucian politician. A political perseverer, a moonwalker, a poet and a humorous person. " His greatness lies in that he is better than anyone in the history of China.
Shan Ye's officialdom or hermits have more diverse talents, rich feelings, humorous language and open mind.
However, Tao Yuanming was only called a hermit at that time, and his literary creation was not highly praised because his plain and natural style did not conform to the gorgeous style advocated at that time. Xiao Tong was the first person to discover the literary value of Tao Yuanming. He respected both Tao Yuanming's personality and his literature. It was not until the Song Dynasty, especially after Su Shi and Zhu's promotion and interpretation of his works, that Tao Yuanming truly established his lofty position in the history of literature, and has maintained it to this day. Tao Yuanming is also a representative of the romantic life in Wei and Jin Dynasties, which is happy and advocates nature, and is the spiritual home of China literati. When many scholar-officials are frustrated or tired of officialdom, they often return to Tao Yuanming's precious spirit of not bowing their heads, looking for new life values from him and comforting themselves. Bai Juyi, Su Shi, Lu You and Xin Qiji. Not bowing down for five buckets of rice has become a fortress in the spiritual world of China literati to protect their freedom to choose their own sources, and plain has naturally become a lofty artistic position in their minds.
Su Dongpo and Tao Yuanming retired to the countryside for different reasons. Su Dongpo was forced to come to Huangzhou, a relegated place, in the case of Wutai Poetry Case, which not only led a hard life; And he may be sentenced to death by the court at any time and lose his life. Fortunately, Su Shi is a broad-minded person. As a talented politician, he can still enjoy suffering in Huangzhou. Neither disaster nor tribulation can kill his firm belief in life. Living an idyllic life in Huangzhou only shows that he can't realize his political ambitions politically and is down and out in his official career. He is not only satisfied with the leisure time of blowing wind, drinking and writing poems on a small night, but he will also realize his political ambition one day.
The biggest difference between Tao Yuanming and Su Dongpo is that he voluntarily resigned and retired. As long as he wants, he can always make a comeback and get tired of eating "five buckets of rice" Tao Yuanming saw the decay of society, but he had no power to change it, so he had to pursue his own moral perfection. He saw the social crisis, but couldn't find the right way to save it, so he had to turn to the return of human nature. After Tao Yuanming retired, he sought help willingly every day. Living a self-sufficient and carefree life, this isolated life makes him like a bird locked in a cage for a long time, and finally returns to nature at will. Undoubtedly, after he retired, he enjoyed a literati taste of "entertaining love poems and wine, respecting nature, enjoying family ties, experiencing agricultural interest, touching its pain and forgetting its worries". Tao Yuanming's thought can be summarized as: forget.
Comparing the lives of Su Dongpo and Tao Yuanming, we can also find that they have many similarities.
Their talents, their attitude of being an official and advancing and retreating have always been regarded as models by domestic scholars. As far as talent is concerned, they are all young, studious, knowledgeable and excellent in poetry and prose. They are all literati in the history of China literature. In life, they can maintain a loyal and independent personality in adversity and never go with the flow. In terms of being an official, they can all insist on being an official for the benefit of one party; In terms of attitude towards life, even if they live in seclusion in the countryside and lead a dull life, they can maintain an optimistic and open-minded attitude. The connotation of Mencius' saying that "poverty is the only way to protect yourself, and success is the best way to help the world" has been well reflected in them.
Su Dongpo and Tao Yuanming have similar life circumstances and aspirations of seclusion in the countryside. They all cultivated and built straw houses by themselves and lived a poor life. But Tao Yuanming's free and easy life is what Su Dongpo yearns for. It can be said that Tao Yuanming is pinned on mountains and rivers, and Su Dongpo is pinned on mountains and rivers. Su Dongpo has a "Jiangchengzi" as evidence: "I am drunk in my dream. Only deep. " The black magpie is very happy and the weather is sunny. //On the west side of Tang Xue, it is dark in spring, leaning on the north mountain, crossing the stream, looking south at the pavilion mountain and overlooking the city. It's all oblique days in Sichuan. I'm old, so I'm given the rest of my age. He also "implicitly" incorporated Tao Yuanming's "Coming Home" into the word "Shao": "Let the family sing children's songs, and time will follow Dongpo. All these indicate that Su Dongpo has a feeling that Tao Yuanming has devoted himself to the busy and dirty world, and his birth and death are accidental. In Huangzhou, Su Dongpo really lived a secluded life like Tao Yuanming. In just two years and seven months, there are as many as 47 poems by Su Dongpo and Tao Yuanming, almost equal to those by Tao Yuanming. Su Dongpo can be seen as "only Yuan Ming is the forerunner".
Su Dongpo's life realm is similar to that of Tao Yuanming. Tao Yuanming's life realm is admired by Su Dongpo. Therefore, after Su Dongpo arrived in Huizhou, he could actively follow in the footsteps of Tao Yuanming, such as "Luo Fu was in Sichuan as a child, and his dream swam from there." "I want to make a nine yuan and come back alone with Yuanming." "I am ashamed of this naive Sichuan Weng, who has been with me for thousands of years. Draw me and Yuan into a three-person picture. A bright spot in the poet's mind can be seen. Su Shi felt that he could draw a picture of three people with Ge Hong and Tao Qian, and walk leisurely, pursuing a simple, leisurely and detached pastoral life. This shows that he is determined to follow Yuan Ming's example. After experiencing life and death in unjust imprisonment, Su Dongpo's "joy in the fields and countryside" is a kind of rest for his soul. Therefore, we can often find Tao Yuanming in Su Shi. Although Su Dongpo's life realm is becoming more and more refined, it is slightly inferior to Tao Yuanming's. After all, their personalities and pursuits are very different. Because Tao Yuanming hid and volunteered not to be an official, Dongpo was helpless. No wonder Dongpo "is deeply ashamed of his profound knowledge and wants to be an evening teacher." "
When Su Dongpo and Tao Yuanming lived a life of "land to the tiller", their wives and concubines were able to live a poor life, enjoy humility and share joys and sorrows with them. Tao Yuanming resigned and lived a life of "land to the tiller". His wife Zhai always shares his interests and enjoys humility. At the beginning of his retirement, they were "former plowmen, later hoeing their wives". Willow and elm trees were planted behind the house, and peach and plum trees were planted in front of the house. Even in Tao Yuanming's later years, his life became poorer and poorer, and he fell into a situation of hunger and cold. His wife, Zhai, also accompanied him with no regrets. When Su Dongpo was demoted as the assistant envoy of Huangzhou Yingyong because of Wutai poetry case, he was short of money, unable to make ends meet, often worried about food shortage and lived in poverty. Under the guidance of farmers, Dongpo built five huts. With the help of his wife and concubine, Dongpo spent the most difficult four years in Huangzhou. After the death of his wife Wang Runzhi, Su Dongpo, who was relegated to Huizhou, gradually became "unknown" and "friends and relatives all his life".
Another obvious feature of Su Dongpo and Tao Yuanming's pastoral life is that they can praise labor, take part in productive labor in person, respect the working people, get close to them and have great fun living with them. As literati officials in feudal society, they could go out early and return late, and they could mingle with the working people, which was not easy at that time when social literati despised labor. This is also rare in the history of China literature. Their labor itself has progressive significance, and at the same time, it also makes their pastoral poems have the flavor of working life. It not only describes the poet's participation in labor, but also preaches the truth of eating by labor. This view is really rare. What is particularly rare is that their feelings for the working people are very sincere. Su Dongpo said that he was a "educated farmer", and Tao Yuanming said in his poem: "Me and." "The pot is close to the neighbor", "In the market revival, grass * * * comes and goes. Meet without gossip, the road is long in Sang Ma ". This shows the close relationship between the two poets and the working people.