Su Dongpo is an optimist whose temperament is hard to change, a moralist who sympathizes with others, a good friend of ordinary people, an essayist, a new painter, a great calligrapher, an experimenter in brewing, an engineer, a hypocritical opponent, a practitioner of yoga, a Buddhist, a scholar-bureaucrat, a secretary of the emperor, an alcoholic, a compassionate judge and a political perseverer. But these may not be enough to outline the whole picture of Su Dongpo.
Su Dongpo's personality is profound, broad and humorous, and he has a high degree of intelligence and childlike innocence-as Jesus said, he has the wisdom of a snake and the tenderness and gentleness of a dove. In these respects, other poets can't compare with Su Dongpo. The combination of these qualities is rare between heaven and earth. And Su Dongpo is such a person! He is still naive and faithful all his life.
On one occasion, Su Dongpo said a few words to his younger brother Ziyou, which was the best and described himself appropriately: "The upper level can accompany the jade emperor, and the lower level can accompany beggars. There are no bad people in the world before me. "
Information about his colorful political career in his long life exists in various historical materials and his own voluminous works. His poems are close to a million words; His notes, his legacy, his personal letters, and a lot of gossip that he was regarded as the most beloved scholar at that time have been passed down to the present.
Within a hundred years after his death, there was not a biography that did not mention the poet. Ru Song is good at keeping diaries, especially Sima Guang, Wang Anshi, Herry Liu and Ceng Bu. Diligent biographers, such as Wang Mingqing and Shao Bowen.
Dongpo biography
Su Dongpo was born in the winter of Jingyou for three years (1036). When Su Dongpo was born, the Su family was finally a well-off family with its own land, perhaps richer than the average middle-class family.
Dongpo entered school at the age of six. This private school is not small, 100 students, only one teacher, a Taoist. Su Dongpo's extremely clever young mind was soon revealed.
Su Dongpo was eight to ten years old, and his father went to Beijing to take the exam. Finally, Su Xun went to Jianghuai area, and his mother was mainly responsible for disciplining children at home.
According to some written records, Su Dongpo could write amazing poems when he was ten years old.
When Su Dongpo was eleven years old, he entered a middle school and carefully prepared for the imperial examination. In Sujia, Dongpo grew up together and studied together, and his closest relative was his younger brother Zheziyou.
The love between their brothers and the deep brotherhood in the process of their future rise and fall are the themes sung by Su Dongpo all his life. The two brothers comfort each other when they are sad and help each other when they are in trouble.
When Su Dongpo's brothers were about twenty years old preparing for the exam, it was inevitable that the marriage problem came.
In the Northern Song Dynasty, it was a custom for wealthy businessmen with unmarried daughters in Kyoto to propose to their newly acquired unmarried children. Therefore, the season of imperial examinations is also the season of active marriage events. In Sue's parents' view, it is much better for their son to marry a local girl because they know the girl's family well. According to the custom of that year, the marriage of young people has always been arranged by their parents. ? In the first year of He Zhi in Song Renzong (1054), when Su Dongpo was eighteen years old, he married a young lady who lived in Nanqingshen, meishan town. The following year, my brother got married at the age of sixteen, and his wife was two years younger than him.
After the second son got married, the father and son set off for Beijing.
Su Xun accompanied his two sons to Beijing for scientific research this time, and he still intends to get a job. He is 47 years old, but he has been studying hard since he failed in the last imperial examination in Sun Shan. During this period, he wrote an important book, On the Way of Governing the Country and On War and Peace, which showed his insights. This book should impress the Kyoto literati. At that time, as long as there were strong recommendations from famous public officials, the court could appoint official positions. Su Xun gave his works to Zhang, who attached great importance to him and planned to let him become an official at once. But the old Soviet Union was not satisfied. Finally, Zhang wrote a letter to Ouyang Xiu, a literary master, and his friend Lei also wrote a letter of recommendation, urging Lao Su to be a "talented person".
In May of the first year of Injong Jiayou (1056), Susan arrived in Bianliang City and lived in a monastery, waiting for the autumn exam. This was a preliminary test of does, and only the candidates were selected to take the court examination supervised by His Majesty the Emperor personally the following spring. Among the 45 candidates who came to Beijing from Meizhou, Su's Kun Zhong was one of the thirteen candidates in the exam.
In the second year of Jiayou (1057), the day of entrance examination finally came. The emperor appointed Ouyang Xiu as the chief examiner and several other scholars as judges. The Su brothers are all scholars.
Su Dongpo's article was later passed on to his peers by Ouyang Xiu, and they enjoyed it for several days. That article is about political generosity and simplicity, which is Su Dongpo's basic political philosophy.
Su Dongpo's official career was about to begin when his mother died. According to Confucian etiquette, this is of course an extremely important thing. I haven't heard the good news from Kyoto when my mother died. Sue's father and son hurried home, only to find their mother gone when they got home. The house was in chaos, the fence fell down, and the roof leaked, like a refugee's house.
Su Dongpo lived in seclusion for two years and three months under the funeral instrument, which was the happiest day of his youth.
Dongpo often goes to the father-in-law's house of Qingshen. Qingshen is located in a beautiful mountain area, with a deep pool of Qingxi and a Buddhist temple on the top of the mountain. It makes people feel detached, detached from dust. Dongpo often goes to the temple with his cousins, sits on the dam near Cao Rui Bridge and enjoys outdoor dining. On summer nights, he sat outside the hut, eating melon seeds and fried broad beans.
Two months after the mourning period, the father and son set off for Beijing again. This time is naturally different from the last time. Three people are already famous books, and their career success is almost certain.
This time, my family moved eastward and went out of the Three Gorges by waterway. The total length of this trip is over 1 100 miles, of which 700 miles are by water and 400 miles by land. It starts in October and arrives on the following Tuesday.
Everyone in the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River knows its magnificent scenery. On the way, both were accompanied by their wives. They can drink and play cards on the boat and enjoy the beautiful scenery along the way. They often write poems and scenery and express their feelings.
When I arrived in Jiangling, the Su family abandoned the ship and went to Kyoto because of the drought. By the end of the voyage on the river, the two brothers had written hundreds of poems. These poems were published in another collection of poems, named "Southbound Collection".
In Xiangyang, he wrote several Yuefu poems, such as Ode to the Boatman and Here comes the Wild Eagle, in memory of Liu Biao, and On Blockage in memory of Meng Da's loss of fertile soil due to the incompetence of his two generals. There is a cloud in his poem:
The white horse is the gateway to the phoenix, and no one is idle.
Su Jia arrived in Beijing in February.
They bought a house with a garden, about half an acre big, near a goal, far from the busy street. There are tall old locust trees and willows around the house, and the unpretentious atmosphere is quite suitable for poets to live in.
After all the dust settled, the father and son waited for the appointment of the court. Of course, it will take some time.
During this period, the two brothers passed the exam twice again. First, they took the Kyoto ministerial exam. The other, and more important, is called "decision-making", which requires frank criticism of state affairs. On the recommendation of Minister Ouyang Xiu, the Su brothers all applied for approval.
Su Dongpo was awarded a title by the court, and only one other person won it in the Song Dynasty. He also submitted 25 articles on strategy, some of which have become compulsory papers in later schools. Later, the queen told people that Injong once said, "Today I chose two prime ministers for my descendants."
The literary names of Su and his son are getting bigger and bigger. They associate with famous contemporary artists, and their poems are appreciated by people. They are all famous literary wizards.
Su Xun was appointed as a captain and failed the examination, which was his original intention. Later, he got a new position to write biographies for the emperors of this dynasty. This is a writer's business, and he is naturally willing to accept it.
Su Dongpo was relaxed and happy at this moment, with lofty aspirations and brilliant talents. Even if Su Dongpo is brilliant, he will rise from the lower level in his official career. In the sixth year of Emperor Injong's reign (106 1), the court appointed him as a judge of Dali, who signed the book and had the right to co-sign the memorial.
Su Ziyou was also appointed as a military attache in Shangzhou, but his father was an official in Beijing, and one of the two brothers had to live in Beijing with his father, because in any case, the widowed old father could not live alone. Therefore, the son politely declined the outside work.
The two brothers broke up for the first time in their lives, and Ziyou later returned to Beijing. For the next three years, Dongpo was not at home, and Ziyou took his wife to serve his father. Letters from Kyoto to Fengxiang take ten days to arrive, and the two brothers often send each other a poem every month. From those poems, we can find how uneasy Su Dongpo was when he first entered the official career.
The two brothers often sing together. In the earliest peace poems written to his brother, Dongpo showed his perfect poetic talent.
He wrote the following poems with the rhymes of "mud" and "west" according to regulations:
What is life like everywhere? It should be like flying in snow. I accidentally left my fingers and claws in the mud, and Hong Fei was driving that complicated thing.
This seven-line poem became the masterpiece of Dongpo's poetry.
Now that Su Dongpo has settled down and has no heavy official duties as a judge, he will travel abroad and travel to the mountains in the south and east for a few days. He visited temples in Taibai Mountain and Heishui Valley, and Zhou Wenwang's hometown. Sometimes, when he has nothing to do, he will go to the famous Zhong Nanshan near Xi 'an to see rare manuscripts or authentic Wu Daozi of his friends.
Now he has tasted the life of being an official, but it is not as wonderful as he dreamed. As far away as Kyoto, he was harassed at sixes and sevens, and also served as a judge, countersigned official documents, and interrogated cases in other counties, which made him feel bored. Sometimes I feel lonely, but sometimes I raise my glass, the moon is dancing, and I feel happy and excited.
Some people are not busy and unhappy, and Su Dongpo is this type. At that time, there was a drought in Shaanxi, and it hadn't rained for a long time. Farmers are very worried about crops. They have no choice but to ask God for rain, which is the responsibility of parents and officials. Su Dongpo suddenly took action. Su Dongpo will now write a complaint and present it to the gods. He is going to use his eloquent wizard to pray for ordinary people.
On the seventh day of that month, he prayed for rain and returned to the city. It rained lightly on 16, but the crops were still not enough and the farmers were not satisfied.
Su Dongpo immediately drafted a play book and asked the emperor to restore the old name of the mountain god to the county magistrate. Then they fasted and bathed with the satrap, and sent envoys to tell the gods that they had won a higher title for God and got back a pot of "Dragon Water" from the pond in front of the temple.
On the 19th, Su Dongpo went out of the city to meet "Dragon Water". Everyone in the countryside is very excited, because this success is something they are very concerned about.
On the road, he saw a dark cloud floating low on the ground and spreading before him. He borrowed a basket from the farmer, grabbed some dark clouds with his hands and hid them tightly in the basket. When he arrived in the city, he prayed for the dark clouds in a poem: "You open the seal and let it go, but if you open it, it will still change. Yun Xi, go back to the mountain, don't be afraid of those dignitaries. "After praying, I went out of the city with the Song Taishou. When they went to the suburbs, a cold wind suddenly came. The flags and tassels on the spear fluttered violently in the wind. The dark clouds in the sky fell like a herd of wild horses. Thunder rumbled in the distance. Just then, a basin of "dragon water" was brought up. Su Dongpo and Song Taishou went to pick up "Dragon Water" and put it on the makeshift altar. Then they read an article about praying for rain. It seems that everything is needed, and it rains, and all parts of the country are blessed. After two days, it rained heavily again. For three days in a row, the withered stalks of wheat and corn stood up again.
Cheers are everywhere now, but the happiest person is the poet Su Dongpo. To commemorate this happy event, he renamed the pavilion in the back garden "Spanish Pavilion" and wrote an article "Spanish Pavilion", which was engraved on the pavilion.
Later, Su Dongpo became a satrap in other places, and he continued to pray as long as necessary.
Su Dongpo is said to be the fire of life, because he has been struggling with water or drought all his life. Wherever he is, he is either worried about the water use of the whole town or about digging canals and wells.
During Su Dongpo's stay in Fengxiang, something happened that made him a little disgraceful, that is, he was at odds with Chen Taishou at that time. Later, he asked Chen Taishou to send official documents to Beijing to explain Su Dongpo's disobedience. ? When the two men had an argument, they were angry and fierce. Su Dongpo's revenge will come soon. Chen Taishou built a "Lingxu Terrace" in Taishou House, so that he could go on stage to watch the beautiful scenery of the four fields in his spare time. Chen Taishou ordered Su Dongpo to inscribe words on the stone tablet of Lingxutai as a memorial to the construction of this station. Su Dongpo, who is young and versatile, took this opportunity to make a joke. Today, we can also read the article "The Story of Terraces in Xu Ling": ... However, after several generations, those who want to be like it, those who have broken houses, have become thorns and hills. What about this station? Husband and Taiwan Province haven't grown up enough to rely on, but the situation is that people are losing their jobs and coming and going. And if you want to be self-sufficient by boasting about the world, that's too much. The world has enough support and doesn't care about the survival of Taiwan Province. "
This narrative, originally written to celebrate, ponders its future collapse and destruction in silence, and contains the irony that the satrap doesn't know that there are mountains outside the city where he lives, which is rare in China's inscription.
Chen Taishou, an old man, is really generous enough to think that he is not satisfied. He carved the article on the stone tablet according to the original work. It can be seen that Chen Taishou is not bad.
After the two broke up, Dongpo also saw this situation, so he had a repair. A few years later, he also wrote an epitaph for Chen Taishou.
After Renzong's death, Su Dongpo was ordered to inspect the fortifications for transporting timber from the mountains in western Shaanxi in preparation for the construction of a mausoleum.
In the first year of Injong Yingzong (1064), he was dismissed from his original official position and was supervised by the court. The new owner, Yingzong, had long heard of Su Dongpo's fame and wanted to be an academician and a grass maker for the emperor. Han Qi, the prime minister, objected, and Su Dongpo took a post in the history museum after the examination according to law. Su Dongpo took this opportunity to read rare books, celebrity manuscripts and famous paintings. In May of that year, his wife Wang Fu died of illness, and Su Dongpo was deeply hurt. The following year (1066), my father Su Xun died. Su Dongpo and his younger brother took the coffins of their father and wife back to their hometown in Meizhou, Sichuan, and buried them in their ancestors. After more than two years of mourning, Su Dongpo continued to marry his ex-wife cousin Wang Runzhi. Wang Runzhi is eleven years younger than Su Dongpo and has a gentle personality. He admired Su Shi's talent from an early age. Naturally, he is obedient to her husband and keeps the house in good order.
Chen Jichang
Yao Chen, the son of Chen Taishou, later became Su Dongpo's lifelong friend.
Zhang Dun
At this point, Su Dongpo's nemesis Zhang Dun appeared in his later years. At that time, Zhang Dun was in a county in Hubei. Zhang Dun is really talented and generous, just the kind of person Su Dongpo likes.
Su Dongpo once predicted the future of Zhang Dun. This story is often mentioned. On the way to Lu Guan, Su Zhang and his wife went into the deep mountains, and then they went to Heishui Valley. At this time, they came to a deep valley with a narrow board on it, about 100 feet away. There is a deep water rolling and pouring, and the boulders on both sides are steep. Zhang Dun, a courageous man, suggested that Su Dongpo walk on the board and write a line on the cliff opposite the rock. Ordinary tourists often write inscriptions on places of interest. Su Dongpo refused to go there. Zhang Dun walked through the deep stream indifferently and intently alone, then stuffed his robe around his waist, grabbed a hanging rope, fell off the cliff and walked to the bank of the opposite stream. On the rock, he wrote six characters "Su Shi and Zhang Dun swam here". Then he casually walked back from the wooden bridge. Su Dongpo patted his friend on the shoulder and said, "You will kill someone one day." Zhang Dun asked, "Why?" Su Dongpo replied: "People who dare to make fun of their own lives naturally dare to make fun of other people's lives."
Wang Anshi