When writing Preface to Lanting Collection, Wang Xizhi's feelings experienced four stages of change. First of all, I travel with celebrities and like to write poems. Then, all of a sudden, without any transitional feelings, I fell into "pain"-life is too short, and beautiful things, feelings and life can't last forever. Wang Xizhi knows that it is impossible to regard life and death as a whole and equate long life with short life, but he can't change the fact that life is short, just like knowing that it is a tragedy, but he can't do anything about it, turning pain into sorrow. Wang Xizhi knows that all we can do is cherish the present-this is a pity.
In such emotional changes, combined with Wang Xizhi's life experience, it is not difficult to see that Wang Xizhi always chooses between Confucianism and Taoism, and his outlook on life can be roughly divided into two stages-before writing the Preface to Lanting and after writing the Preface to Lanting.
First of all, Wang Xizhi's family is a noble family, and almost all his relatives have prominent official positions. Therefore, Wang Xizhi was influenced by the Confucian thought of being an official from birth, and thought that only by being a big official like a relative can he not be forgotten by the world and go down in history. So, he studied hard and practiced calligraphy, and the highest office reached the right army general. Therefore, influenced by Confucianism, Wang Xizhi's outlook on life before writing Preface to Lanting was mainly about being an official.
However, the situation in the Eastern Jin Dynasty did not allow Wang Xizhi to display his talents in the ruling and opposition circles. At that time, civil strife and disputes, intense political alternation, many gentry were involved in the whirlpool, suffered political oppression and killing, and the ruling and opposition parties were in power. At the same time, Wang Xizhi also encountered chaos. As a result, at the end of his life, "he was tired of what he did, and his feelings moved with the times." He seems to be tired of the fame he has gained. At the same time, I was exposed to Taoist thought, and combined with the topic of "life is short" widely discussed in the society at that time, I had the feeling that "the situation is short, and all shall be well." He believes that people's life has long been doomed by heaven, and they can't take anything away when they are born, and they can't take anything away when they die. It is better to live in seclusion in the mountains and create with celebrities such as Xie An. So in the last three years after writing Preface to Lanting Collection, Wang Xizhi said that he was ill and resigned. In the last eight years, Wang Xizhi died and was buried at the foot of waterfall mountain, which is one of the most blessed places in Taoism.
Being an official and carefree is probably the best summary of Wang Xizhi's outlook on life.