For thousands of years, Su Dongpo's poems and songs have swept countless readers. Anyone who has read Su Dongpo's poems and songs almost doesn't like them. Many people have been bathed in the aura of his talent all their lives and are willing to become his fans. Even many talented scholars have to admire Su Dongpo. For example, the great writer Lin Yutang.
Mr. Lin Yutang wrote a biography of Su Dongpo. His admiration and love for Su Dongpo in the book almost overflows from every word and sentence, revealing sincere and hard-to-hide love. In the preface, he said Su Dongpo: "Su Like Dongpo is an indispensable figure in the world. ..... Su Dongpo is an optimist whose nature cannot be changed, a moralist who sympathizes with others, a good friend of ordinary people, an essayist, a new painter, a great calligrapher, an experimenter of brewing, an engineer, a hypocritical opponent, a practitioner of yoga, a Buddhist, a scholar-bureaucrat, a secretary of the emperor, a drinker, a compassionate judge and a scholar-bureaucrat. He is a humorous person by nature ... Su Dongpo's personality is profound, broad and humorous, with a high degree of wisdom and childlike innocence-as Jesus said, he has the wisdom of a python and the tenderness and gentleness of a pigeon. In these aspects of Su Dongpo, no other poet can compare with him. "
Indeed, what attracts Su Dongpo is not only his poems, but also his broad mind and charming personality. The story between Su Dongpo and Zhang Dun can fully show Su Dongpo's generosity. They were friends when they were young. Later, because of Xining's political reform, Zhang Dun cleaned up his friend Su Dongpo. 1094, Song Zhezong appointed Zhang Dun as prime minister, and Zhang Dun was once relegated by conservatives. When he came to power, he began to take revenge. He demolished the archway of former Prime Minister Sima Guang and smoothed the tombstone inscription given to him by the court. Su Dongpo had opposed the political reform, and Zhang Dun demoted him to Huizhou as an agreement of Ningyuan Army, and then demoted him to Hainan.
1 100, Song Zhezong died, Song Huizong succeeded to the throne, the reformists lost power and influence, and they were also exiled to Leizhou, Guangdong. Zhang Dun's son Bird was a disciple of Su Dongpo when he was an examiner. When Zhang went to Leizhou to visit his exiled father, he wanted to see Su Dongpo by the way, but he was worried that the teacher would hold grudges. Later, he wrote a long letter to the teacher, hoping that the teacher would forgive his father. Su Dongpo wrote back and said, "Your father and I have been friends for more than forty years. Although there is a little misunderstanding in the middle, our friendship is decreasing instead of increasing. It is known that he was sent to the corner of the sea when he was in senior three. But what are the benefits of the past? Only those who save for a rainy day ... "In the letter, Su Dongpo also talked about Zhang Dun's advice to himself. This is Dongpo, who doesn't remember people's enmity or forget people's kindness.
Although Su Dongpo is passively involved in political struggles, he only treats people and waits for no one, and never bears a grudge against those who make him stumble. Wang Anshi, Yan and others have crowded out or framed him, but Su Dongpo never showed any resentment towards them personally, and later even became friends with Wang Anshi. This shows that in Su Dongpo's life dictionary, there are no "enemies", only "friends". Su Dongpo only hates those hateful things, but never puts his heart on one person. For the ups and downs of official career, Su Dongpo is also calm, drifting with the tide, not drifting with the tide. These personality characteristics are what fascinates him.