Emperor Guangwu and Yan Ziling were classmates and had a history of sleeping in the same bed. Master Yan honestly put his legs on the emperor's belly and slept soundly. The smell of Gao Shi's feet may not be as noble as his spiritual cultivation, but Liu Xiu finally tolerated it. In order to govern the country and bring peace to the world, he might have to do this. Even if they are the same bedfellows, he has to show his thirst for talents and the attitude of a polite corporal. . As the ninth emperor, the emperor also had to accept the reality that cultural people began to awaken to themselves. Some literati are no longer willing to imitate the kind of political figures who seek refuge with the monarch or princes and act as supported retainers, and have developed a strong desire to pursue individual spiritual freedom. The people on the rock had to put on their arrogant airs, and even the emperor might not be able to do so. The records in historical books and the spread among the people have made Master Yan's eccentric behavior a legacy for generations to come. This kind of respect and praise for literati and scholars, this kind of value recognized by the time and later generations is probably an extremely unique social phenomenon in traditional Chinese culture.
Zhuge Kongming could have written a continuation of this kind of story, but he couldn't stand Liu Xuande's sincerity when he visited the thatched cottage three times, which finally made him put down the airs that he used to be okay with. Perhaps this is another way of embodying the sentiments of a noble scholar, even if he is grateful and devoted himself to death. However, this is not the same as the so-called Zhongnan shortcut of those shameless people who use self-cultivation in the name of fame and reputation. After all, Kong Ming upright and upright, it is true that he was born, and his ability to help the world has been proven, so in the end it is still Admirable.
Literati in the Wei and Jin Dynasties developed a clear pursuit of individual spiritual freedom from the awakening of personal values. Picking chrysanthemums under the eastern fence, leisurely seeing Tao Yuanming in Nanshan refused to give up five buckets of rice for his pastoral dream of a peach blossom garden. , abandoned his official position, and wrote an article about his return to let literati from generation to generation ponder and sing.
The Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove's seemingly passive and secluded lifestyle attracted literati all over the world, but in fact it contained a deeper contempt for secular society, thereby maintaining the more sensitive personality of educated people. dignity. Ji Kang's "Book of Severing Diplomacy with Shan Juyuan" pushes this spirit to the extreme. With a glass of wine and a piece of music, the old wish is over. If you try your own selfish ideas, you can't tolerate what you don't like. Not only did the official refuse to fulfill his wish, but he also broke up with Shan Tao, who recommended him as an official. Although things didn't work out, he was content with them, so he didn't know what to do. Of course, those who don't understand his state of mind will never be close friends. In the end, Ji Kang made a natural pursuit of personality for his fame and education, and paid the price of his life for promoting his spiritual realm. It is definitely not as easy as people think it is just to drink and roll his eyes. He devoted his life to society and history. Put forward the question of the value of personality spirit. The form and spirit are in me and morality is achieved. What he hopes to pursue is the kind of spiritual beauty that transcends natural form and is highly pure. lt; brgt;
Wang Xizhi and Gu Kaizhi, who are famous in the history of art, are all figures of the moment, and their traces can be found from time to time in Shishuo Xinyu. Refinement and the extreme emphasis on the pursuit of spiritual temperament resulted in a deep appreciation of calligraphy and painting. For a time, it is not surprising that the theory of form and spirit, and the theory of imagery, these unique aesthetic standards of Chinese culture, were proposed. All this finally created the Wei and Jin style that our descendants praised, and it almost became the highest model for cultural judgment for generations. Deng Yizhe made this judgment in "Exploring the Theory of Painting": Although the figures in Han paintings are still, they are still moving, and the figures in Six Dynasties are still still, although they are moving. This is the most significant difference. Gai Han takes vividness, and Six Dynasties takes Shen Er. Indeed, if we consider the spiritual origin of the Wei and Jin Dynasties, it determined the development direction of Chinese culture to a considerable extent, and eventually became the most unique oriental cultural spiritual system that has rippled on the land of China for more than ten centuries. As far as the field of painting is concerned, the literati painting discipline is another expression language of this spiritual pursuit and a derivative of this spiritual release.
Since then, philosophy has further penetrated into aesthetics, including the Zen philosophy after the mid-Tang Dynasty and the theory of natural human nature associated with Wang Yangming’s theory of mind after the mid-Ming Dynasty. But both of them are inseparable from the foundation laid by the metaphysics of Wei and Jin Dynasties. Therefore, from the perspective of the philosophical foundation of Chinese aesthetics, it can be said that the metaphysics of Wei and Jin Dynasties have epoch-making significance in connecting the past and the future. Li Zehou said so in his history of Chinese aesthetics.
When we look at the history of Chinese art, especially the history of literati painting, we can clearly see the context in which they grew up together with each other. The style of the Wei and Jin Dynasties gave birth to literati painting, a wonderful branch of Eastern culture. Every spiritual upheaval in history since then gave birth to a large number of outstanding literati painting masters, from Wang Wei to Su Shi, or from the four masters of the Yuan Dynasty to the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Their works All are deeply imprinted with this spiritual pursuit.
When we turn our attention to today's Chinese painting world, we are deeply impressed by the modeling ability that is completely different from the ancients and the omnipotent and diverse production techniques, but the complicated and gorgeous surface cannot hide it. The single and pale cultural spirit cannot resist the few strokes of ancient masters. We can’t help but ask whether modern people’s spiritual desires can find a home in the spirit of traditional culture? Is the remaining sentiment just enough to make a depressing and indifferent historical review?