While living in seclusion in Wangchuan, Wang Wei created a number of exquisite landscape poems. He compiled the "Wangchuan Collection" by himself, which contains twenty five-character quatrains each of which he and his friend Pei Di sang in harmony with each other. The content mainly describes the scenery near Wangchuan Villa and expresses the taste of reclusive life. Let's take a look at "Xinyiwu" among them:
The hibiscus flowers at the end of the wood have red calyxes in the mountains.
There is no one in the Jianhu, opening and closing one after another.
In the silent mountain stream, the Xinyi flowers bloom and fall on their own, growing and dying on their own. They are not fake, have nothing to do with the world, and no one knows about them. This is a world far away from the hustle and bustle, and it is also the unique artistic conception of the poet Wang Wei that combines subjectivity and objectivity. It is simply a symbolic realm of the Buddhist concept of emptiness and annihilation. Therefore, Hu Yinglin, a literary critic in the Ming Dynasty, said that this poem is a work of "entering Zen". "When reading it, I forget my life experience and all my thoughts are silent." (Volume 6 of "Shisou") The artistic conception created by Wang Wei here, Born outside the image is a combination of poetry and Zen. It has great suggestiveness and strong artistic appeal. This kind of artistic achievement can only be attributed to his study of Buddhism and the influence of Buddhist thinking.
Wang Wei was called the "Poetry Buddha" by later generations. He believed in Buddhism at an early age. My mother, Ms. Cui, has been practicing Zen for more than thirty years. Wang Wei and his younger brother Wang Jin "both worshiped the Buddha and lived on a vegetarian diet, which is not as good as meat and blood" ("Old Book of Tang·Biography of Wang Wei"). When Wang Wei was 31 years old, his wife died and he no longer married. He lived alone in a single room, isolated from the world, and "had no descendants" ("Referring to Brother Biao"). He also wrote many poems and essays about Buddhism and had high attainments in Buddhism.
Among the Buddhist schools of the Tang Dynasty, Wang Wei believed in Zen, and mainly believed in Southern Zen. Nanzong Zen is the product of the combination of Buddhist thought and China's native Confucianism and Taoism. Its philosophy of life of letting one's fate prevail provides the latest and most complete way of life for Chinese scholar-bureaucrats and intellectuals. Some of the practice methods of Southern Zen are similar to poetry creation with Chinese characteristics. Yan Yu, a literary critic in the Song Dynasty, said: "In general, the path of Zen only lies in wonderful enlightenment, and the path of poetry also lies in wonderful enlightenment" ("Canglang Poetry Talk"). Miaowu is the insight into Zen, which can also be expressed as the sensitivity to art. Both poetry and Zen require keen inner experience, both emphasize revelation and metaphor, and both pursue implication. The Southern Zen School talks about "sudden enlightenment" and often uses visual expressions to teach the Dharma, with special emphasis on the role of intuition, suggestion, induction, and association in understanding. Wang Wei has gained experience in Zen practice, so he naturally has a deep understanding of this method of grasping the world. He integrated his understanding of Buddhism into his outlook on life, turned religious emotions into poetic thoughts, and created a poetic artistic conception of "emptiness", "silence" and "idleness". Zen Buddhism advocates the style of scenic mountains and forests, and it also guided and inspired Wang Wei to consciously get close to mountains and rivers and explore their aesthetic value.
Wang Wei described his inner experience in the poem "Zhuli Pavilion":
Sitting alone in the secluded bamboo, playing the piano and whistling loudly.
People in the deep forest don’t know that the bright moon comes to shine.
The poet sat alone in the deep bamboo forest, playing the piano and screaming. No one knew his existence, only the bright moon came to accompany him. Nature understands his inner loneliness best, and the clear brilliance of the bright moon brings him a kind of quiet happiness. Things and I are one and things and I are forgotten, Zen and poetry are in harmony. The same is true of "Lu Chai":
No one can be seen in the empty mountain, but the sound of people's voices can be heard.
Returning to the deep forest, the light shines on the moss again.
There is no one in the empty mountain. Only intermittent human voices can be heard floating in the deep forest. A ray of sunset shines on the moss deep in the dense forest, making it so trance-like and desolate. This is exactly the kind of empty and lonely realm far away from the hustle and bustle that Wang Wei pursues. Although lonely, it is also enriching.
Wang Yuyang of the Qing Dynasty said that Wang Wei's small poems "are like Zen in every word" and "the wonderful truth is spoken in a subtle way, which is no different from the World Honored One holding a flower or Kassapa smiling" ("Silkworm Wei Continue" arts"). In other words, Wang Wei's landscape poems have Zen interest, Zen joy, and Zen flavor. Their words are exhaustive and their meanings are endless, conveying the meaning of Zen. Naturally, it fully expresses the poet's unique taste for the beautiful scenery of mountains and rivers.
Wang Wei is also good at capturing the moving moments where sounds, colors, images, and feelings are intertwined, unifying them into the artistic conception that best conveys emotion, and expressing them with appropriate language. Please take a look at his landscape poem "Birdsong Stream":
The people are idle, the osmanthus flowers are falling, the night is quiet and the spring sky is empty.
When the moon comes out, birds startle the mountains, and they sing in the spring stream.
In the quiet mountain forest on a spring night, the four-season osmanthus falls silently. Suddenly the bright moon rises in the east, filling the empty mountains with light. The mountain birds are awakened and chirp in the mountain stream, which is particularly crisp and clear, and highlights the tranquility and beauty of the spring mountains on a moonlit night. Some versions of "Renxian" are called "human world", and its meaning can also be understood. "Osmanthus" can be interpreted as moonlight. The poet writes movement with stillness, and stillness with movement. The combination of movement and stillness brings readers into a more beautiful and profound artistic conception. The poet wrote by seizing the most expressive and imaginative moving moment of "the moonrise and the bird startling the mountain". This is a small scene of a moonlit night full of music. Compared with the emptiness and tranquility of Zen in "Xinyiwu", this poem is lively and lively, full of human atmosphere.
Wang Wei has a short poem describing the scenery of late autumn, called "In the Mountains":
White rocks emerge from Jingxi River, and the red leaves are sparse in the cold weather.
There is no rain on the mountain road, and the sky is green and people's clothes are wet.
Jingxi originates from the northwest of Lantian County, Shaanxi. Red leaves are maple leaves. I was walking in the mountains early in the morning, admiring the mountain scenery all the way. Suddenly I felt that my clothes were wet. I thought it was raining, but when I looked closely, there was no rain. There was only the unobservable mist in the mountains. Maybe my clothes were wet because of it! The poet condensed this feeling process of tourists into two poems, which is very interesting. This poem has colors: white stones, red leaves, and green orchid. There is a sound: the stream washes over the stone bed. There are also tourists’ feelings. Although the poem is short, it is rich in content. Zhang Xu, a calligrapher and poet in the Tang Dynasty, also wrote a poem called "A Guest in the Mountains" with seven unique features:
The mountain light and physical form bring out the spring light, so don't be tempted to return home because of the light shade.
Even if it is sunny and cloudy without any rain, my clothes will still be stained deep in the clouds.
The word "Zhangyi" in the poem is a literal representation, showing another scene of the deep mountains covered in clouds and fog. The "wet human clothes" in Wang Wei's poems are about hallucinations and illusions, and the poetic feelings given by the lush green mountains. The two poems have different tunes and similar works, and each is wonderful in its own way.
Wang Wei's five-character poem "Dwelling in the Mountains in the Twilight of Autumn" is a masterpiece that combines poetry and painting:
After the new rain in the empty mountains, autumn comes late. The bright moon shines among the pines, and the clear spring flows over the rocks. The bamboo noises return to Huan Nu, and the lotus moves off the fishing boat. The spring fragrance rests at will, and the king and grandson can stay.
This poem describes the scenery of the mountain village after the rain in the autumn evening. Write freely and speak naturally. In this poem, the coolness of autumn after the rain on the empty mountain, the clear light of the bright moon among the pines, the sound of the clear spring flowing on the rocks, the laughter of the girls returning from washing clothes in the bamboo forest, and the mood of the small fishing boat slowly passing through the lotus are all harmonious. Perfectly intertwined, it is like a fresh and beautiful audio painting, and also like a quiet and beautiful lyric. We seemed to be breathing the fresh air after the rain.
Some famous sentences by Wang Wei can trigger our wonderful reverie: "The pines are in the sound of wind, and the flowers have shadows in the pond." "Red peaches bloom in willows", "The sound of springs swallow dangerous rocks, and green pines are cold in the sun", "Egrets fly in the desert paddy fields, and orioles sing in the overcast summer trees", etc. There are paintings in the poems, and there is music in the poems.
Wang Wei's poems pursue the effect of freehand brushwork, pay attention to harmony, and fully convey the poet's subjective interest. There is a poem "Linhu Pavilion" in "Wangchuan Collection":
The light boat welcomes the guests and comes up the lake leisurely.
When the water is sprayed on the bottles in the pavilion, hibiscus blooms on all sides.
It expresses the poet's leisurely and quiet mood. "Mountain Dwelling" describes the poet's state of mind in more detail:
Loneliness covers the wood door, and the vastness faces the falling light. There are crane nests and pine trees everywhere, and few people visit the pigeon gate. The young bamboo contains new powder, and the red lotus sheds its old clothes. The lights on the ferry are lit, and water chestnuts are collected everywhere.
The boiling life further highlights the desolation of the poet's family. Is it a kind of envy, or is it really transcendent from reality? Hard to understand. Similar to it, there is a song "Wangchuan Leisurely Presents to Pei Xiu Caidi":
The cold mountains turn green, and the autumn water flows day by day. Leaning outside the firewood gate, listening to the evening cicadas in the wind. The sun was setting over the ferry, and a solitary smoke was rising in the ruins. When I get drunk again, I sing wildly in front of the five willows.
This poem describes the autumn evening scenery of Wangchuan River, which is quiet and elegant, just like in a painting. After Pei Di got drunk, he sang wildly in front of Wang Wei's door, which was very interesting. The couplet "Dutou" is said to be the swan song. Xiang Ling in "Dream of Red Mansions" once highly praised the picturesque poetry of this poem based on her own life experience. Wang Wei's poems are the easiest to bring readers into the poetic realm because "there are paintings in the poems". No wonder that when Xiang Ling asked Daiyu for poetry writing methods, the first thing Daiyu asked her to read was not the works of Li Bai or Du Fu, but "The Complete Works of Wang Mojie" (see Chapter 48 of "A Dream of Red Mansions").
The value of Wang Wei's landscape poetry
The value of Wang Wei's landscape poetry should first be understood in the history of the development of Chinese classical landscape poetry.
In the poems of the pre-Qin period (such as "The Book of Songs" and "Chu Ci"), there are some poems describing landscapes, but they are in a subordinate position in content and are not sung as independent aesthetic objects. It was not until the Jian'an period at the end of the Han Dynasty that the earliest complete landscape poem in the history of Chinese poetry appeared. This is the four-character poem "Viewing the Sea" written by Cao Cao:
To the east, face the Jieshi to view the sea. Where is the water? The mountains and islands are standing tall. There are many trees and lush grass. The autumn wind is bleak and the waves are rising. The movement of the sun and the moon can appear within it; the brilliant stars and stars can appear within it. Fortunately, even singing praises one's aspirations.
But such poems were rare at that time.
Landscape poetry began to rise after the Wei and Jin Dynasties. Due to the political darkness and social turmoil at that time, the scholar-bureaucrats wanted to live in seclusion and focus on the mountains and rivers to avoid disasters. When the Jin Dynasty crossed south, the beautiful natural mountains and rivers south of the Yangtze River attracted the scholar-bureaucrats even more. The prevailing metaphysical trend at that time combined the Confucian "religion of fame" with the Taoist "nature" and guided the scholar-bureaucrats to find the philosophy and interest of life from natural mountains and rivers. The advocating simplicity also brought about the development of euphemistic words praising landscapes (see Shishuo Xinyu). Beautiful lines about landscapes also appear in Xuanyan poems. After a long period of multi-faceted deliberation, the first landscape poet was finally produced, namely Xie Lingyun in the late Jin Dynasty and early Song Dynasty.
Xie Lingyun traveled to famous mountains and scenic spots for a long time and wrote a large number of landscape poems. His poetic language is rich and exquisite, he likes to carve, and pursues resemblance in form. The structure of the poems is often in the form of a journey, with a metaphysical poem at the end. His poems often have sentences but no chapters. Here are some poems: "Spring grass grows in the pond, garden willows turn into songbirds" describes the garden; "The wilderness and the sandy shore are clean, the sky is high and the moon is bright in autumn" describes the autumn; "The bright moon shines on the snow, the new wind is strong and sad" describes the winter; "The forest ravine collects the dim color, and the clouds collect the sunset" describes the twilight; "The green fields are beautiful in the spring evening, and the white clouds are high in the rocks" describes the spring scene. These exquisite poems are like exquisite landscape paintings. Xie Lingyun established the status of landscape poetry.
Subsequently, Xie Tiao, a poet of the Southern Qi Dynasty, also wrote some fresh and beautiful landscape poems, including some beautiful lines: "The remaining clouds disperse into clouds, the clear river is as quiet as practice", "The river flows day and night, and the guest's heart is still sad." , "I know the boat in the sky, and the trees on the river in the clouds" and so on. He Xun, a poet of the Liang Dynasty in the Southern Dynasty, also has some famous poems about the scenery: "The dew wets the cold pond grass, and the moon reflects the clear Huaihe River", "The wild shore is flat with sand, and the mountains are far away, and the fog floats", "The flowers on the shore bloom near the water, and the river swallows fly around the rafters" ", "The river is dark and the rain is about to come, the waves are white and the wind is beginning to rise", "the night raindrops are empty on the steps, and the light is dark when leaving the room". But their poems all have the problem of having no sentences and no chapters.
Landscape poetry did not become popular until the prosperous Tang Dynasty. Meng Haoran and Wang Wei pioneered the Landscape Poetry School, which was widely recognized by future generations of poets. Meng Haoran is slightly longer than Wang Wei, and his landscape poems are very artistic. For example, "Staying on the Jiande River":
Moving the boat to Yanzhu, the guests are worried about the new arrival at dusk.
The sky is wide and the trees are low, the river is clear and the moon is close to people.
It writes about the traveler's sadness and subtle feelings about nature. The first four sentences of "Looking at Dongting Lake as a Gift to Prime Minister Zhang":
The level of the lake in August is mixed with the clear.
The steam is rising over Yunmengze, and the waves are shaking Yueyang City.
The writing is heroic, powerful and majestic. The last four sentences of "Yuyan Qiantang Climbing the Barrier Tower to Watch the Tide":
The sun is shining, the autumn clouds are scattered, and the floating sky is wide.
The stormy waves come like snow, and it feels cold when you sit there.
Written with courage and feeling. The first four sentences of "Reporting an Old Tour to Guangling on the Tonglu River":
Hearing the ape's sorrow in the dark mountains, the Cangjiang River flows rapidly at night.
The wind rustled the leaves on both sides of the bank, and the moon shone on a lonely boat.
It is also written with great artistic conception.
Compared with Meng Haoran, Wang Wei created the artistic conception of the poem in which things and I forget each other, in his meticulous taste of the beautiful scenery of natural landscapes, in his skillful use of poetic techniques, in the number and number of landscape poems. The quality is much more outstanding. It can be said that Wang Wei is not only a comprehensive landscape poet, but also a pioneering poet. The "Wei Liu" (Wei Yingwu and Liu Zongyuan) poetry school of the mid-Tang Dynasty, up to Wang Shizhen's "Shen Yun Theory" of the Qing Dynasty, all inherited this legacy. Li Bai's landscape poems win with momentum and have a rebellious spirit. Du Fu's landscape poems are melancholy, concerned about the country and the people, and are broad and profound. Wang Wei's landscape poems have an ethereal artistic conception, full of Zen interest, and are thought-provoking. Although they do not have the shocking ideological aura in the poems of Li Bai and Du Fu, they greatly enriched the poetry garden of the prosperous Tang Dynasty in terms of artistic style. Without reading Wang Wei's landscape poems, one cannot fully understand the essence of Chinese poetry art.
Wang Wei's landscape poems also have contemporary value:
It can cultivate our love for nature. Let us more fully appreciate the beauty of nature, and then consciously protect the environment and nature, so that it can better benefit mankind.
Of course it can also cultivate our patriotic feelings. Patriotism is not abstract. Appreciating Wang Wei's masterpieces of landscapes can enhance our love for the magnificent mountains and rivers of our motherland and our deep attachment to every plant and tree in our hometown. Wang Wei's landscape poems contain rich nutrition of the traditional culture of the motherland. From this, we can gain the joy of exploration, enjoy the nourishment of the excellent culture of the motherland, and thus abandon the nihilistic attitude towards the traditional national culture.
It can cultivate our body and mind. Taste the beautiful artistic conception of Wang Wei's poems and daydream about the magic and mystery of nature, and you will get some kind of spiritual pleasure.