The Seven Sons of Jian'an and the Ten People in Dali
jian ān qī zǐ da li shi ren
Notes
(1) The Seven Sons of Jian'an: Eastern Han Dynasty There were seven literati during the Jian'an period of Emperor Xian of the last Han Dynasty: Kong Rong, Chen Lin, Wang Can, Xu Qian, Ruan Yu, Ying Jue, and Liu Zhen. Except for Kong Rong, all others were subordinates of the Cao family and his son. They gathered in Ye, the capital of Wei, and were also known as the "Seven Sons of Yezhong". They were literary representatives of the Three Kingdoms period. His poems are rich in content and vigorous in style, which make the listeners moved and form the character of Jian'an.
(2) Ten Dali poets: Ten poets during the Dali period of Emperor Daizong of the Tang Dynasty: Lu Lun, Ji Zhongfu, Han You, Qian Qi, Sikong Shu, Miao Fa, Cui Dong, Geng Mao, Xia Hou Shen, Li Duan. Most of them were under the sect of Guo Yan and were known as the "Ten Talents of Dali". The poems have neat rhythm and beautiful words, but the content of the poems is narrow and the style is not as good as that of the prosperous Tang Dynasty.
Language translation
There were seven outstanding talents during the Jian'an period of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and there were ten famous poets during the Dali period of the Tang Dynasty.
Character Stories
According to Cao Pi's "Classic Theory. "Thesis", literati look down upon each other, and this has been the case since ancient times. Everyone is good at showing off themselves, but writing is not a genre, and few people can be good at various genres, so each uses his own strengths and despises each other's shortcomings. As the saying goes: "If the family has a broken broom, it is worth a thousand gold." (A broken broom is regarded as a treasure of a thousand gold, that is, "the broken broom is treasured.") This is a lack of self-awareness! Today's literati include Kong Rong of Lu, Chen Lin of Guangling, Wang Can of Shanyang, Xu Qian of Beihai, Ruan Yu of Chenliu, Ying Yu of Runan, and Liu Zhen of Dongping. These seven literati have forgotten everything they have learned and have never plagiarized their writing. They all consider themselves to be horses galloping thousands of miles, galloping together with their heads held high, never giving in to each other. It is really difficult for them to convince each other! A gentleman first examines himself before judging others, so he can avoid this kind of disadvantage. I wrote the "Essay" in this way.
Wang Can is good at Ci Fu. Xu Qian often has the soothing literary style of Qi people, but he can rival Wang Can, but their other literary styles fail to match Ci Fu. The memorials and letters written by Chen Lin and Ruan You are among the best today. The writing should be gentle but not majestic; Liu Zhen should be majestic but not detailed. Kong Rong's articles are sublime and extraordinary; however, they cannot establish an argument, and reasoning is not as good as words.
According to "Old Tang Book." "Biography of Li Yuzhong", Li Duan, the father of Li Yuzhong, was good at writing poems. During the Dali period of Emperor Daizong of the Tang Dynasty, he became famous in the capital for his poetry and prose with Han You, Qian Qi, Lu Lun and others, and was known as the "Ten Talents of Dali". At that time, Guo Ziyi's youngest son, Guo Ai, married Princess Shengping, the daughter of Daizong. Guo Ai was wise and talented, especially fond of poets. Li Duan and other ten people were mostly guests of Guo Ai's family. Whenever poems were written at banquets, the princess would sit in the curtain and watch. Whoever wrote a beautiful poem would be rewarded with a hundred pieces of silk. Because Guo Yan was promoted to an official, he gathered the ten talented people and said, "The one who completes the poem first will be rewarded." At that time, Li Duan presented the poem first, and the princess immediately rewarded him with a hundred pieces of silk. Qian Qi said: "Li Duan is indeed talented, but this poem was probably pre-conceived! I hope that I can compose a poem with a new rhyme. Please use my surname Qian as the rhyme." Li Duan immediately folded paper, composed a poem and presented it to him. : "The square pond is like mirror grass, and the first moon is like an unstrung hook. The newly opened Jinqi teaches horse-training, and the old Tongshan promised to cast money." Guo Yan said: "This poem is even more skillful." Qian Qi and other talents were convinced. .
Explanation
Cao Pi believed that the article was "a great cause of governing the country and an immortal event." When life is at an end, glory and wealth are limited to oneself and have an expiration date, unlike articles that can be passed down through the ages. King Wen of Zhou was imprisoned and deduced the Eight Diagrams of the Book of Changes. When the Duke of Zhou became prominent, he formulated Zhou Rites. They did not stop working hard because of poverty, and did not change their minds because of comfort. The ancients despised jade and valued time, but most people today are unwilling to work hard. They are afraid of hunger and cold when they are poor, and indulge in pleasure when they are rich. This is a great pain for people with lofty ideals! Kong Rong and others are dead, and among the seven sons of Jian'an, only Xu Qian wrote the "Zhonglun" and became the official name of the family.
Li Duan, one of the ten talented men in the Dali calendar, wrote Qian Yun's poem on the spot at Qian Qi's request, which Qian Qi had to convince. In fact, it is not only the Seven Scholars of Jian'an and the Ten Talents of Dali who have the disadvantage of not giving in to each other, nor is it only the literati who are prone to the problem of cherishing their own faults and despising each other. Often people cannot see their own shortcomings and like to belittle others in order to improve themselves. This kind of jealousy is also Man's fatal weakness. If you change the habit of looking outward and look inward for your shortcomings unconditionally, you can break out of the self-centered frame and gradually improve yourself.
Xiangshan Poetry Price by Sun Ji 酤缗
xiāng shān shī jia sūn ji gūmin
Notes
(1) Xiangshan: Bai Juyi, courtesy name Letian , named Xiangshan Jushi, Taiyuan (now part of Shanxi). After passing through the six dynasties of Tang Shunzong, Xianzong, Mu Zong, Jingzong, Wenzong and Wuzong, he became the Minister of the Ministry of Punishment at the age of seventy-six. The style of poetry is simple and clear, and an old woman can understand it. He sang poems with Yuan Zhen and was called "Yuan Bai". He was also as famous as Liu Yuxi and was called "Liu Bai" in the world.
(2) Sun Ji: A native of the late Eastern Han Dynasty, the uncle of Sun Quan, Emperor Wu of the Three Kingdoms period.
(3) 酤缤: wine money. 酤, buy wine. Min, a rope worn with copper coins, refers to copper coins.
Language translation
One of Bai Juyi's poems was worth one gold, and Sun Ji pawned his robe to repay the wine money he owed.
Character stories
According to "Old Tang Book." "The Biography of Bai Juyi", Bai Juyi was extremely intelligent and broad-minded since childhood. When he was fifteen or sixteen years old, he took one of his articles and gave it to the author Gu Kuang. Gu Kuang was good at composition, but he was frivolous by nature, and none of his descendants' articles satisfied him. After reading Bai Juyi's article, I couldn't help but greet him at the door and treat him politely, saying, "I thought literati had disappeared long ago, but I see you again." Bai Juyi's writing is gorgeous, and he is especially good at poetry and prose. He wrote hundreds of poems, all of which were intended to satirize the ills of the time and remedy the shortcomings of political affairs. Therefore, virtuous gentlemen praised him, and these poems were often spread to the palace. Emperor Xianzong of the Tang Dynasty accepted the advice and thought about it in detail, eager to hear honest words. In the second year of Yuanhe, he recruited Bai Juyi to serve as a bachelor of Hanlin. In the third year of Yuanhe, he was appointed as Zuo Shiyi.
In the tenth year of Yuanhe, bandits killed Prime Minister Wu Yuanheng. Bai Juyi first wrote a letter urgently requesting that the bandits be captured to avenge the country's humiliation. The prime minister's position as a palace official is not that of an admonishment officer (Bai Juyi was the crown prince Zuo Zanshan at that time), and he should not report matters before the admonition officer. It happened that some people had always disliked Bai Juyi, accusing him of vain words and bad character. His mother died because he looked at flowers and fell into a well. However, Bai Juyi wrote poems "Appreciating Flowers" and "New Well", which violated filial piety, so he was demoted to the governor of Jiangbiao. Wang Ya, a member of Shushe, wrote a letter to discuss Bai Juyi's bad deeds and that he was not suitable to govern the prefecture and county. He was demoted to the rank of Sima of Jiangzhou.
In addition to Confucianism, Bai Juyi was especially proficient in Buddhist classics. He often forgot gains and losses, dealt with things naturally, and did not mind being demoted. He built a house in Yiai Temple in Lushan Mountain and became close friends with four monks, Couo, Man, Lang and Hui. When feeling transcendent and contented, one almost forgets one's own form. During the Huichang period of Emperor Wuzong of the Tang Dynasty, Bai Juyi resigned and retired during his tenure as Shangshu of the Ministry of Justice. He established an incense club with monk Ruman of Xiangshan Temple. He often traveled in sedan chairs, wore white clothes and held a walking stick, and called himself a layman of Xiangshan.
In the last years of Changqing reign of Emperor Mu Zong of the Tang Dynasty, Yuan Zhen, the observer envoy to eastern Zhejiang Province, wrote the "Preface to the Bai Family's Changqing Collection" for him, saying: "Bai Juyi could recognize the 'nothing' before he could speak. ' Two words. After learning to speak, he was diligent and intelligent, and he was very different from other children. At the age of 5 or 6, he was interested in poetry. Most of them responded with poems. When I was demoted to Jiangling, Bai Juyi was still in the Hanlin Academy and sent me dozens of poems. Young people from Ba, Shu, Jiang, and Chu to Chang'an competed to imitate them and wrote new poems. In the past twenty years, our poems have been written on the walls of palaces, Taoist temples, and hotels. Our poems have been copied and burned by shepherd boys and servants, and sold in the streets or exchanged for wine and tea. People are everywhere. There are even people who steal their names and sell them at will, but there is nothing they can do. There is also a businessman from Jilin State (now part of Korea) who is eager to buy. He said: "The prime minister of this country will exchange one gold for each article." , especially forged poems, prime ministers can often identify them. "Since the beginning of poems and articles, they have never been so widely circulated." According to "Jiang Biao Biography" by Yu Pu of the Western Jin Dynasty, Sun Quan's uncle Sun Ji loved it. When drinking, he once said: "I usually owe people wine debts everywhere, and I want to pawn this robe to repay the wine money."
Explanation
Bai Juyi's poems were very popular at the time, and were popular among the princes and princes. It is suitable for nobles, traders and pawns, and is suitable for all ages. The prime minister of Jilin Kingdom in the Korean Peninsula also spent a lot of money to buy it. However, his satirical poems also offended the powerful, who accused him of exceeding his authority and falsely accused him of hurting the famous religion by writing poems, and he was demoted to Jiangzhou Sima. Therefore, he couldn't help but sigh in "The Nine Books of the Yuan Dynasty": "I first got my name from the article, but in the end I offended the article." The famous line in "Pipa Xing": "We are both fallen people from the end of the world, so why should we know each other before we meet." It was him. works at this time.
At first, Bai Juyi risked his life to give advice in return for his promotion, which made Xianzong displeased. Thanks to Li Jiang, he persuaded Xianzong to open up a wide range of ways to give advice. But after he was demoted, he no longer had any interest in politics. "Since then, we have been apart from each other in our official career, and we have never talked about worldly affairs from now on." ("Head Topic") However, Bai Juyi was a diligent official who loved the people after all. During his tenure as the governor of Hangzhou, he dredged wells and repaired them. Dike, he wrote down the essentials of water control "Qiantang Lake Stone Notes" and published it on the stone, which is also known as "Baigong Dike". After being transferred to the governor of Suzhou, he evened out taxes and alleviated the suffering of the people. When he resigned due to illness, many people cried bitterly and chased him for more than ten miles. At that time, "one hundred thousand households in Suzhou were all crying like babies." (Liu Yuxi's "White Prefect's Journey") It can be seen that he was loved by the people.
Cultivating Buddhism enabled Bai Juyi to deal with difficulties calmly, so "the color of worry and joy was eliminated from the face, and the mind of right and wrong was eliminated from the heart." ("Yong Huai") In his later years, he became a Xiangshan layman who devoted himself to Buddhism. I have long been indifferent to worldly affairs, so I say, "People say when will the worldly affairs come to an end, I am the one who takes care of things in this world." ("A Hundred Days of Free Time, Young Fu Guan Stops His Joyful Words") and advises others to remember that most of the pain is caused by oneself. Chasing fame and wealth will only bring disaster to oneself. The poem goes: "Good luck, bad luck, misfortune, and blessings have their reasons, but you must know that you don't have to worry... There is not much in the name of a public weapon, but there is little in the way of benefit and disaster... I have a message for you." Remember, there are many people who bring their own suffering in this world." ("Two Poems of Feelings")
Bai Juyi also had another explanation for his poetic genius. It is said that the prime minister's housekeeper was a Zen monk in his previous life, the poet Wang Wei claimed to be a painter in his previous life, and Bai Juyi also meditated and entered concentration, using his destiny power to see the fate of poetry that he had carried for many lives. (〈Explanation〉: "Fang Chuan was a Zen monk in his past life, and he was a painter in his previous life. I have also determined the destiny of Madhyamaka, and many debts are songs. Otherwise, why chant wildly, and there will be more after illness than before illness." ) Therefore, Bai Juyi's natural intelligence, being able to read at six or seven months old, and recognizing pronunciation at the age of five or six, also had its origins in his previous life.
Sun Ji was an alcoholic and owed money to people everywhere, so he had to pay off his drinking debt with a cotton-padded jacket. As the saying goes: "Wine is a poison that penetrates the intestines, and sex is a steel knife that scrapes bones." Being greedy will not only cause trouble, but also harm the body. From a medical perspective, alcoholism reduces the function of the frontal lobe of the brain and can also cause high blood pressure, liver cirrhosis, gastric ulcers, etc. Tobacco and alcohol are harmful to the body and easily addictive, so you might as well stay away from them.