Introduction: Jia Dao became a monk in his early years, but his name was unoriginal. In the winter of the fifth year of Yuanhe (810), he arrived in Chang'an and met Zhang Ji. Below, I will bring you anecdotes and allusions about the poet Jia Dao. Welcome to read!
The fate of the world is not over
Jia Dao is a poet who is half layman and half monk.
After he failed in the literary field, he became a monk without a dharma title. To have no origin is to say that it has no roots, no roots, emptiness and annihilation. It seems that he will recite Buddha's name for the rest of his life. But later he met Han Yu and became his disciple. Under Han Yu's persuasion, he returned to secular life and took the imperial examination and won the Jinshi. As a monk, it is inevitable to think about the secular world, and it is difficult to abandon the Zen mind when you join the secular world. "When you are mad, you chant like crying; when you are sad, you sit down like Zen." (Yao He's "Ji Jia Dao") The secular flavor is very strong, and the monk flavor is not weak either. It was in this duality that he lived his life.
Jia Dao became a monk with a lot of complaints, so although he was in Buddhism, he could not forget the troubles of the world. When he was a monk in Luoyang, the authorities stipulated that he was not allowed to leave the temple in the afternoon. If it were another monk, he would not leave if he was not allowed to. The Buddha's kingdom is boundless, where can't we cultivate our mind and nature? Yet he felt that his freedom was restricted and intolerable. So he sighed: "Not as good as cattle and sheep, they still have to go home at dusk." He was very persistent, and once he moved forward, it was difficult to look back. Whether you are a monk or a layman, it is always challenging.
He is a poet who writes poems while walking, sitting or sleeping. He often goes crazy and gets into trouble. It is said that there were two traffic accidents. Once I was riding a donkey across the street and didn't pay attention to the pedestrians. At that time, the autumn wind was bleak and the yellow leaves were falling, so I casually recited the sentence "Falling leaves are all over Chang'an". Thinking about the first couplet, he suddenly said "autumn wind blows on the Wei River" as an objection. He was so happy that he ran into the "mayor"'s carriage and was detained overnight. Once, I visited Li Ning's secluded residence, and on the back of a donkey, I came across the sentence "The bird stayed in the tree by the pond, and the monk knocked on the door under the moon". Among them, the word "knock" is also intended to be the word "push", but it is not decided yet. He was in a daze and bumped into Han Yu's carriage again. Although the legend is not completely credible, his obsession is well-founded. He always wants to sell himself. "I have sharpened my sword for ten years, but I have never tried the frost blade. Today I show you my sword, who will have any injustice?" ("The Swordsman") Bullfighting was angry and heroic. In fact, he was as skinny as a stick, short of breath and weak. He was just trying to imitate himself and wanted others to appreciate him. If candidates in the Tang Dynasty wanted to stand out in the examination room, they often had to clear their joints and find strong backers. And he came from a humble background, had no relatives in the court, and lacked foreign aid, so he hated the injustice of this society. He believed that he had no way out because he was suppressed by the minister. He passed by Pei Du's courtyard and chanted: "Thousands of houses were destroyed to make a pond, and no peaches or plums were planted to plant roses. The roses fell when the autumn wind blew, and the thorns filled the courtyard before you knew it." ("Inscribed on Xinghua Garden Pavilion") Pei Du Pingding For meritorious service in the rebellion, he was granted the title of Duke of Jin. He gathered a lot of people and had a high rank in Chang'an. When Jia Dao saw him, he was filled with fire from within, so he pretended to write a poem to mock him. He despised the powerful and did not take them seriously. After his death, he lived in Fagan without a single residence. One day, Xuanzong went out incognito and went to the temple. Hearing someone reciting poetry, he followed the sound and went upstairs. When he saw the poem volume on the case, he took it and browsed it. Jia Dao was behind and snatched it away with one hand. He didn't know Xuanzong, so he glared and shouted: "Langjun has fresh food and fine clothes, how can you understand this?" Afterwards, he was very nervous and waited for punishment. The imperial court gave him a minor official position as chief registrar of Changjiang County and demoted him out of Chang'an. There are two poets in the Tang Dynasty whose works involve this matter. An Qi's poem goes: "Ride a donkey to attack Dayin, seize the scroll and disobey Xuanzong." Li Kegong's poem goes: "Xuanzong banished him to do other things, but Han Yu knew that he had already made a name for himself."
Jia Dao has a cousin. Called Wuwu, he is also a poet. At that time, the two of them became monks together. Jia Dao couldn't bear the loneliness and shot back with his sword; but Wu Wu was still clasping his palms to the Buddha. When Jia Dao returned to secular life, he made an appointment to remain a monk in the future, but he was caught up in the dust net as soon as he fell into the dust. There is no way to write a poem to remind him not to forget the appointment. Jia Dao said, how could I forget? "I have been thinking about famous mountains, and I will arrive at Songqiu in the morning and evening." ("Send to the Noble One") "Eventually there will be a haze, and the rooftop will be a close neighbor." ("Send to the Noble Master") He still yearns for the tranquility of Buddhism. feeling. But words are words and actions are actions, and the two are full of contradictions.
Jia Dao devoted his whole life to poetry. "Two sentences are harvested in three years, and one chant brings tears to the eyes", which has produced many fine works. Han Yu wrote a poem: "Meng Jiao died and was buried in Beimang Mountain, and the situation has been relieved for a while. Heaven is afraid that the article will be cut off, so Jia Dao is born and lives in the world." Jia Dao is as famous as Meng Jiao and has far-reaching influence. But throughout his life, he was in poverty, with a small official position and no salary to support himself. On the day of death, the family had no money, only a sick donkey and a guqin, which made people sigh: Did he feel that this life was worth it and left with a smile, or regretted returning to secular life and why not recite sutras? This is unknown.
Dare to say that Xuanzong did not understand poetry
There is a famous poem said to be by the great writer Han Yu, ① which was written as a gift and in praise of the poet Jia Dao. This poem titled "Gift to Jia Dao" says:
Meng Jiao died and was buried in Beimang Mountain, and the sun, moon, wind and cloud suddenly felt at ease.
Heaven is afraid that the article will be cut off, and Jia Dao will be reborn in the world!
It is not difficult to see that the person who wrote this poem really respected Jia Dao. Even if it was not written by Han Gong, people's admiration for Jia Dao's poems is an objective fact; not to mention the high regard for him by his contemporaries, there are very few later poets who are not obsessed with him.
Let’s not talk about those who are further away from Jia Dao’s era. For example, the “Yongjia Four Spirits” in the Southern Song Dynasty were enthusiastic about his works. Even in the late Tang Dynasty, there were many people who loved Jia Dao’s works.
The poet Li Dong even made a bronze statue of Jia Dao and placed it in the scarf he wore on his head. He held a rosary and recited "Jia Dao Buddha" no less than a thousand times a day. If he met someone who also liked Jia Dao's poems, Li Dong would hand-copy Jia Dao's poems and give them to him. Coincidentally, in the Southern Tang Dynasty, Sun Sheng, a poet who became a high official, also had a portrait of Jia Dao on the mural in his house, and he often paid homage to it all day long. Taking just these two examples, we can have a rough idea of ??Jia Dao's poetic achievements and his popularity among people.
Jia Dao, a native of Fanyang, also named Langxian. ② Because he failed to pass the Jinshi exam one after another, he became a monk in anger. Later, he met Han Yu, a great writer, and was lucky enough to be appreciated by Han, so he returned to secular life and took the exam again. But after that, he still went through several hardships and finally got what he wanted.
The protagonist of the famous "examination" story is Jia Dao. We will discuss it in detail in other chapters. ③ In addition, even if he sent poems to fellow monks, the same is true. His five poems The poem reads:
Gui Feng Ji's new color is a gift to the people of this thatched cottage.
Both men and women left the temple together, and Xun Ming said goodbye for the time being.
Walking alone, the shadow at the bottom of the pool is counted by the tree.
Eventually the haze will come, and the rooftop will be your close neighbor.
However, he actually included another five unique poems under the poem's neck couplet "Walking alone at the bottom of the pond, counting the shadows beside the trees" to show his painstaking pursuit:
< p> Two sentences are obtained in three years, and one chant brings tears to my eyes.If you don’t reward your close friend, you will return to your hometown and sleep in the autumn!
This not only shows his self-appreciation of his own works, but also shows his persistence and even obsession with poetry. He even took out the poems he had written during the year and respectfully placed them on several desks every New Year's Eve. He burned incense and lit candles before bowing to them. Then, Jia Dao got up, poured the wine on the ground, and murmured a prayer: "This is my beloved thing that I have worked hard on for a year!"
In fact, Jia Dao is not only not tired of writing poetry, , and he also cherished the poems he wrote; for this, he unintentionally offended the emperor.
One day, he made an appointment with several poetry friends to visit the Qinglong Temple where he lived. But after waiting and waiting, they didn't arrive, so Jia Dao took out the poem manuscript he carried with him, and while appreciating it, he made further refinements and revisions on his own.
The night has spread without hesitation, but the poet friends have not arrived yet, and Jia Dao estimates that they will probably not come. So he lay down on the table with his clothes and fell asleep, but soon fell asleep. When Jia Dao woke up, he found that a stranger had taken the poem manuscript out from under his shirt sleeve and was reading it - that was my hard work! With this thought in his mind, Jia Dao stood up with a "huh" sound, grabbed him from the man's hand without hesitation, and then said angrily: "Look at your bright clothes and your appearance." Someone with a fat head and big ears is not someone who understands poetry!" Even if the man wanted to snatch the poem, it was too late, so he said nothing, looked at Jia Dao coldly, and went downstairs.
In fact, this stranger who was ridiculed by Jia Dao was the current Emperor Xuanzong, Li Chen! Xuanzong always had the habit of traveling incognito. Now it was time for him to change into court clothes and go out for sightseeing. When he came to the downstairs, he suddenly heard someone reciting poetry, so he went upstairs. At this time, Jia Dao fell asleep due to overwork, so the above scene occurred.
When Jia Dao later heard that the stranger was the current emperor, he was so frightened that his legs trembled, and he hurried to the palace to kowtow and apologize. It is said that he was later demoted to the Yangtze River to serve as the chief secretary, which had a lot to do with this matter; but because of this, Jia Dao gained another elegant name in literary history: Jia Changjiang.
Later, many poets complained about him. For example, An Chengqi of the Tang Dynasty said in a poem that Jia Dao "seized the scroll to disobey Xuanzong"; ④ In this regard, Li Kegong also wrote a poem saying "Xuanzong was relegated" Go and do other things." However, the price paid by Jia Dao for daring to say that Emperor Xuanzong did not understand poetry was indeed not low; this is really something that makes people sigh!
A Yuan's note: ① This poem is not found in Han Wengong's poetry anthology, but it is found in "The Biography of Talented Scholars of the Tang Dynasty". Su Shi once believed that this was "entrusted by secular ignorant people", while "Tang Poetry Chronicle" held an ambiguous attitude; also, "Hun" was written as "Zhong". ② Langxian, one is called "Langxian". ③ See the book "It is not the monk who thinks about it alone". ④夿, a "mistake" seems to be inaccurate; this is based on the Jiguge edition of "Chronicles of Tang Poems". An Chengqi, "Chinese Writers' Dictionary" lists him as "Cheng Qi", which should be considered incorrect.
Editor's note: The above text is all from A Yuan (ie Chen Zhongyuan) "The Story of Tang Poetry. Dare to say that Xuanzong does not understand poetry - Jia Dao competed with the emperor for poetry drafts and was demoted"