"There is no vulgar rhyme, and nature loves Qiushan." The poet said that he didn't cater to the secular temperament, and he loved nature by nature. In the Book of Jin, he said that he was "outstanding and uninhibited, and Ren Zhen was complacent". Such a personality is incompatible with the secular world. How can the complicated officialdom and strict hierarchy make him willful? So he "fell into the dust net by mistake, for thirty years." The birds are in love with the old forest, and the fish in the pool are thinking about the past. " Thirteen years of being an official made him feel miserable. He was like a bird in a cage and a fish in a pond eager to be free.
Why does Tao Yuanming, who loves nature by nature, want to trap himself? There may be other reasons besides "poor family". If his shackles are only officialdom, he can decisively "gather his clothes and die at night". What really trapped him for a time was the shackles of the mind. In the Analects of Confucius, Zi Xia said, "If you are an official, you will learn, and if you learn, you will be an official." Very representative of Confucius' opinion, a gentleman only does two things: being an official and learning, and it is best to do both well. Tao Yuanming is a well-read man with the ambition of "helping the poor", from "state offering wine" to "Peng Zeling". When he realized the social reality that he could not change the corner of the court, the autocratic power of the gentry and the chaotic officialdom, he finally broke free from the cage of his mind, stopped being hard on himself and returned to nature.
Mr. Ye Jiaying commented on Tao Yuanming, saying, "Among China poets, Tao Yuanming is the most persistent poet who can master himself best."
so, what is Tao Yuanming's original intention? I think it's about loving nature and keeping integrity. If he doesn't resign, Tao Yuanming has two choices. First, he has to compromise on the affairs of powerful people. Second, he struggles in the mire of officialdom, both of which are against his true heart. So he "opened up wasteland and returned to the garden." A scholar from an official family needs great courage to carry a hoe to open up wasteland and cultivate land, and Tao Yuanming did it. Pastoral self-restraint, on the contrary, is tricky in officialdom. If you don't want to "bend your back for five buckets of rice and do things for the villains in the village", you can only be a self-restraint farmer.
being clumsy is a kind of simplicity. I still remember that in high school, my history teacher was a middle-aged man, and his wife had no job, but she had a field. He often works in the fields. In many cases, when he comes back from work, he puts his hoe outside the classroom, his trouser legs are still rolled, and his shoes are still stained with mud. As long as he stands on the podium, he smells like a scholar. He is familiar with the class and is comfortable with it. I still remember it. That kind of simplicity from the bones conquered one liberal arts student after another.
"There are more than ten acres of square houses and eight or nine thatched houses. The willow trees cover the eaves of the house, the peach and the Li Lieman before the pre-hospital. The nearby village of the nearby village faintly visible, the village drift Ni smoke. In the deep alley where dogs bark, chickens crow and mulberry trees jump. " Although the house is simple, the space is open, which is the opposite of the cramped officialdom. In front of the house and behind it, there are pink and green, smoke curling up, chickens crowing and dogs barking, which are full of life and poetic. Tao Yuanming finally returned to his home and his spiritual home. "Households are clean and miscellaneous, and the virtual room has spare time. After a long time in the cage, I am back to nature. " No worldly affairs, empty mind, of course, carefree, find the original nature of their own, there is no need to "violate their own illness", Tao Yuanming grasp himself, stick to his original heart. His true intention is not to be an official, but to be an official in a dirty society. If the social atmosphere is positive and intellectuals are useful, Tao Yuanming's choice will be different!
Wang Xiaobo said in the article "The Misfortune of Intellectuals": "In my opinion, the strength of an intellectual is only convincing people by reasoning. If he is unreasonable, he will have no strength but shortcomings. It is better to die than to live ... The biggest question is: When will this unlucky year pass? If we can catch up with this year, we will live; If you can't catch up, you don't have to drag on. "
Scholars who have been frustrated since ancient times can't see hope, and those who commit suicide have it, such as Qu Yuan; Crazy people have it, such as Ruan Ji; People who go with the flow are in the majority. However, Tao Yuanming chose to retreat to ploughing, which not only opened up a spiritual home for himself, but also found a way out for the aspiring frustrated literati in later generations: not to degenerate, not to insist, and to live happily and peacefully. After retiring, Tao Yuanming wrote a poem "Responsibility": "White hair is surrounded by temples, and the skin is no longer solid. Although there are five men, they are always bad at writing and writing. Shu is twenty-eight and lazy, so he has no horse. Xuanxing Zhixue, but don't love literature. Yong Duan is thirteen years old and doesn't know six or seven. Tongzi is nine years old, but he looks for pears and chestnuts. Heaven is so lucky, and it is in the cup. " In a playful style, he expressed his loving father's expectation and affection for his sons. Even if the sons are undeserving, he said, "It's a lucky day, and it's in the cup."
This kind of personality of "not degenerating, not demanding, happy and happy" not only made him adapt himself, but also influenced many frustrated people in later generations.
So, 6 years later, Su Shi said, "Yuan Ming is my teacher", and he learned wisdom from Tao Yuanming. Su Shi, who was banished to Huangzhou after the Wutai Poetry Case, had no food and clothing. He led his family to reclaim Dongpo to provide food and clothing, and wrote Dongpo: "The rain washed Dongpo with a clear moonlight, and the city people walked like savages. Don't be afraid to find the right slope and love the sound of dragging their sticks." Although his career was blocked and his life was difficult, he still loved life.
So Lu You "traveled thousands of miles all over the world, but he learned spring ploughing from his neighbor". Living in his hometown, he was "a drunkard who took the title of Hou one by one, worked alone, and was a fisherman by the river", but he definitely did not go along with the secular.
Therefore, Xin Qiji retired from the countryside twice for more than 2 years, and enthusiastically praised Tao Yuanming's spiritual character of being willing to be poor, despising officialdom, and not striving for power and profit: "When you are late, you don't complain about poverty, only fighting with chickens and drinking together." There is nothing between the Jin and Song Dynasties, and it is naturally above the Emperor. " Draw spiritual strength from Tao poetry.
Tao Yuanming broke free from the cage, returned to the countryside, hedged and planted chrysanthemums, plowed in the south, and kept to his original heart, but it also opened up a road of spiritual conversion for the frustrated feudal literati in later generations.