Today I finished studying "The Preface to the Lanting Collection" by Wang Xizhi of the Eastern Jin Dynasty with the students.
Wang Xizhi, a great calligrapher and calligraphy sage, his "Preface to the Lanting Collection" is known as "the best running script in the world". It is the favorite work of Emperor Taizong Li Shimin of the Tang Dynasty, and he will be designated to use it even after his death. It was buried with him. Since then, the original "Preface to the Lanting Collection" has not appeared in the world, which has become a sad thing for countless calligraphy lovers.
Perhaps because calligraphy is so famous, many people tend to ignore this article itself. In fact, the "Preface to the Lanting Collection" is also of high literary value and was selected into "Guwen Guanzhi". The sky is clear and the air is clear, the wind is gentle, the trees are lush and the bamboos are tall, the mountains are high, you look down for a lifetime, you are wild, the virtuous people are all here, suitable for all ages, the mood changes with the situation, the eyes are wandering, the water is flowing, these familiar idioms are all in the article appear in. One text can contribute so many idioms, and the only ones that come to my mind are Zhuge Wuhou's "Chu Shi Biao" and Wang Bo's "Tengwang Pavilion Preface" in the early Tang Dynasty.
However, "The Preface to the Lanting Collection" is not only ingenious in terms of wording, but also shows Wang Xizhi's talent in terms of article layout and ideological depth.
It can be said that without Wang Xizhi's "Preface to the Lanting Collection", the Lanting Gathering would have been just a very ordinary gathering of a group of literati during the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and the poems and essays written at the gathering would not have left any trace. But when Wang Xizhi wrote the "Preface to the Lanting Collection", the Lanting Collection was destined to become widely known.
Just like all great articles have a reason, in the ninth year of Yonghe in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, in late spring, on the third day of March, at Orchid Pavilion in Shanyin, Kuaiji, the sky was bright and clear, and the wind was gentle and gentle. Wang Xizhi took his son to attend this famous rally. As in the past, they talked about mysteries, drank water, drank wine and composed poems. Here, for the time being, there are no more tragic scenes of the Five Husbands in the North, no official intrigues, intrigues, power, money, and fame and fortune. There are only distant mountains, flowing water, breeze, and bamboo forests.
Temporary joy is also joy, and occasional forgetfulness is also forgetfulness.
Happiness is always short-lived, the wine has been exhausted, people are tipsy, the poems have been written and need to be compiled into a volume, so this task was given to Wang Xizhi, only the words are floating like floating clouds and as pretentious as a swimming dragon. , can be worthy of this grand event. Only celebrities from the Wang family in Jiangzuo can write such an article.
So Wang Xizhi took up his pen and wrote these words.
"In the ninth year of Yonghe, when I was in Guichou, at the beginning of late spring, I gathered at the Orchid Pavilion in Shanyin, Kuaiji, to do some bad luck. All the virtuous people arrived, and the young and old gathered together. There are high mountains, lush forests and bamboo trees here. , and there are clear and turbulent streams, which are reflected on the left and right, and they are like flowing water. Although there are no strings and bamboo strings, one wine and one chant are enough to express the tranquility of the day."
This is the day. , the sky is clear and the air is clear, and the wind is gentle and gentle. Looking up at the vastness of the universe and looking down at the abundance of categories, wandering your eyes and wandering your mind is enough to provide you with great visual and auditory entertainment, which is a joy to believe.
Mr. Today, all four are gathered together, which is indeed a joy to behold.
If the article ends here, it will be a masterpiece of landscape, which is not enough to be passed down through the ages. But Wang Xizhi decided to write more profoundly. He used notes to write down his feelings and express his inner feelings.
He started by talking about two different people.
"The lady's relationship with you will last forever. She may take the arms of others and realize the meaning within a room; or she may wander outside because of the entrustment. Although the interests are different, the calmness and restlessness are different, when they are Be happy with what you encounter, get what you have for a while, be content with yourself quickly, and don't know that old age is coming;"
Life is short and fleeting. Some people like to invite two or three close friends in a room, place three cups and two glasses of light wine, and talk about their ambitions; some people like to express their love for the mountains and rivers, and live an unfettered and free life. But no matter what kind of person they are, they are all the same when they are happy. I hope that happiness will be long-lasting and eternal, just like the flowing water at this moment, and the lush forests and bamboos at this moment, remembering the happy time, as if it will never fade away. .
But Wang Xizhi knew that this was impossible. Human beings are born animals that like the new and hate the old. As McDull said, happiness is the bite before eating. Schopenhauer also said that life is like a pendulum, swinging back and forth between pain and boredom. It hurts when you don’t get it, and you feel empty when you get it.
In the face of eternal time, happiness is always so short-lived. What is even more sad is that life is too short compared to all things. Time does not wait for us, and we will grow old before we have done many things.
So he wrote again:
"I am tired of what I am doing, and my emotions change with the situation, so I am filled with emotion. The things I admire and admire have become old traces, and they are still You can't help but be happy with it, it will be short-lived and will eventually end! The ancients said: "Death and life are also big things." "Isn't it painful!"
But Wang Xizhi's grief is not negativity, but love. Precisely because life is short, everything must be done vigorously, and precisely because life cannot last long, it is even more important to remain positive. The love of life. Some people indulge in pleasure because they lament that life is too short, while some people work hard because they cherish their time. Although we cannot change the length of life, we can expand the depth of life with love.
From Confucius's "The deceased is like a man, not giving up day and night", to Emperor Wu of Wei's "Singing over wine, the geometry of life", from "A hundred rivers east to the sea" in "Long Song Xing" "When will we return to the west?" to Zhuge Wuhou's "Sadly guarding the poor house, where will we return?" Countless sages have lamented the time and warned to cherish the time. Wang Xizhi in Orchid Pavilion also raised this kind of personal pain to human sorrow. Life and death are not the same. They are not similar to each other as others said, so they avoid letting go. You should cherish your time and make a difference while you are alive, so that even if you die, you will leave a reputation.
Therefore, Wang Xizhi wrote at the end:
“Every time I look at the reasons for people’s interest in the past, if they are combined into one, I will not fail to lament in the text, which cannot be described in my heart. I know that life and death are imaginary, and the mourning of Qi and Peng is an illusion. Looking at the present is the same as looking at the past, so I am sad! , It is the same. Those who read it later will also feel the elegance."
Wang Xizhi's emotions ranged from the joy of the Lanting gathering to the pain of a short life, and finally to peace and detachment. He felt that personnel changes, historical development, ups and downs, and prosperity were all inevitable. It is precisely because life is impermanent and time does not wait for me, so he wrote an article to record it, so that "those who read it later will also feel the elegance."