It’s late spring again. The appearance of spring that I have always longed for in my heart is hidden in Wang Xizhi's "Preface to the Lanting Collection". He not only presents a warm and joyful picture of friends gathering in spring, but also contains a philosophical thought that will trigger future generations' thinking.
On March 3, the ninth year of Yonghe in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, at the beginning of late spring, Wang Xizhi, Sun Chuo, Xie An, Zhi Dun and other celebrities and nobles gathered to visit the Orchid Pavilion in Shanyin, Kuaiji.
During the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the political power was in the hands of a few aristocratic families. The king was weak and the ministers were strong. Most of the scholars were demoralized by the bright and beautiful landscapes and their souls were old. The mentality is to live quietly.
The clans of the Eastern Jin Dynasty had deep roots and many people. They not only had a large family armed force, but also occupied most of the country's land. They had the right to annex land and were exempt from paying rent. In addition, the landlord class exploits the people greedily, so they live a prosperous life.
Wang Xizhi not only lived mainly in the most stable political period of the Eastern Jin Dynasty-the period of Emperor Mu, but was also born into a famous family in the Wei and Jin Dynasties-the Langya Wang family. At that time, the proverb "the king and his horse rule the world" was circulated in the society, which shows the great power of the family.
Growing up in such a famous family, with strong financial backing, Wang Xizhi was able to travel around without worries, accumulate inspiration for literary creation, and cultivate his taste.
Wang Xizhi and a group of literati had similar interests, and on the last day of the month, they made an appointment to gather at his Lanting Garden residence in Shanyin, Kuaiji, to drink Qushui.
The Qushui River Drinking Wine Cup is a traditional folk custom in ancient times, which can be traced back to the early Western Zhou Dynasty. Later, this tradition gradually developed into an elegant thing in the literati circle to pay for poetry, wine and singing.
On Shangsi Day every year (March 3), everyone gathers together and sits on both sides of the river. Wine glasses are placed on the upper reaches of the river. Get a drink and drink. The Qushui Shangqing is not only for celebration and entertainment of relatives and friends, but also for praying for blessings and avoiding disasters.
A group of literati composed 37 poems at the Lanting gathering, and compiled the poems into a collection - "Lanting Collection". With everyone's strong recommendation, Wang Xizhi wrote a preface to "Lanting Collection".
The description of spring in Orchid Pavilion at the beginning of "The Preface to the Orchid Pavilion Collection" makes people think of the most beautiful appearance of spring - beautiful mountains and rivers, making an appointment with a group of close friends, traveling around the mountains and rivers, and chatting about life. .
Kuaiji Mountain is a good place, with high mountains, lush forests and bamboos, and a rushing river. Under the bright sun, it looks like a shining silver ribbon, surrounding the Orchid Pavilion. Under the clear sky and gentle breeze, both the young and the older generation of sages happily attended the appointment. They were enjoying and playing by the water, holding square bottles in their hands, composing poems perceptually, and talking about their feelings.
The words between the lines are full of everyone’s leisurely mood and high spirits. The leisurely spring day has become particularly beautiful and pleasant because of their presence.
Although there is no excitement of playing music, in the world of poetry of literati, it is enough to survey the vastness of the world and overlook the variety of all things. It can also broaden your horizons and broaden your mind.
This is a carnival for a group of talented people. Unlike modern people, they need electronic devices and game props for entertainment. Give them a mountain, a pool of water, a pot of wine, a pen, a warm spring day, or even a pattering of rain, and they will be able to create literary works with great charm as a gift to nature. return.
However, in such a beautiful and beautiful time, the writing style of the second half of the article changed, and there was a feeling of "extreme joy and sadness". Wang Xizhi wrote:
"Although there are many different interests and different calmness and restlessness, when you are happy with what you encounter, you are temporarily satisfied with yourself, you are happy and contented, and you don't know that old age is coming; and you are tired of what you are doing. , Feelings change with the situation, and I feel grateful for it. It has become an old trace between looking up and down, and I can't help but feel happy about it; the shortcomings will change as time goes by, and it will eventually end."
It means that all living beings have different personalities, lifestyles and interests. When people feel happy and satisfied with the things they come into contact with, they become addicted to it, not knowing that aging is coming;
Things have changed, and when people's initial enthusiasm for what they have been pursuing has turned into indifference, Feelings arose spontaneously. The length of a person's lifespan is not up to him at all. Just as what he originally longed for has become a thing of the past, people will also reach the end of their lives.
Some people commented that this is Wang Xizhi’s emotion about happiness and sorrow, life and death. From this point of view, this "Preface to the Lanting Collection" is more than a simple travel prose describing landscapes.
Why did the transition from joy to sorrow occur? This is inextricably related to Wang Xizhi's personal situation.
Wang Xizhi has an upright character and does not adhere to etiquette. He has experienced a life path of rising from a scholar to an official and then quitting an official. He is an official who is close to the people, and he also has a good political vision. He is involved in the world and is born in the world, and he is an official without being obsessed with it.
After getting tired of the intrigues in officialdom, when Wang Xizhi was 53 years old, General Wang Shu became the governor of Yangzhou. Wang Xizhi had always looked down upon Wang Shu's character, and was even more ashamed to serve under his subordinates.
Therefore, Wang Xizhi resigned from office due to illness, and then fled to the mountains and forests to return to nature and recuperate his body and mind.
When reading "Preface to the Lanting Collection", I can clearly feel Wang Xizhi's yearning for nature, his love for mountains and rivers, and his desire for freedom. The lush forests, mountains, clear springs, and rapids... were clearly the spiritual home he had always longed for.
It is precisely because he has forgotten the landscape and devoted himself to creation that this preface appears so simple, beautiful and natural due to his pursuit.
The gathering at Lanting on March 3, the ninth year of Yonghe, deeply touched Wang Xizhi. He is satisfied with such a beautiful life. However, "one life lasts only one autumn." Beautiful things cannot last forever and will become clouds in an instant. This is exactly what Wang Xizhi couldn't let go of.
Wang Xizhi, who returned to nature, like many literati in the Wei and Jin Dynasties, began to explore the meaning of life.
Seeing this beautiful spring scenery, the kindness of nature to myself, and my bosom friends with the same interests, I really want time to stay at this moment. Wang Xizhi was immersed in this wonderful nature. The more he immersed himself in it, the more he wanted to preserve this wonderful experience.
However, in this vast universe, life is so short. If humans are compared with this eternal universe and eternal nature, they will eventually perish.
Everything in the world is changing rapidly, and people will age. When you get tired of the things you get or like, the previous happiness will disappear, and melancholy will follow; what you liked in the past will , will eventually become a thing of the past.
Wang Xizhi was not sad because of his personal gains and losses, but because he lamented the shortness of his personal life.
Then, he thought that life is endless from generation to generation. Even if times change and things are different, the joys, anger, sorrows and joys that trigger people's emotions will not change, and people's thoughts and interests will not change either. "Looking afterward" Today, we still look at the past as we see it today.”
Wang Xizhi hopes that future generations of readers will also feel emotional when reading this preface. The seemingly hopeless second half of "Preface to the Lanting Collection" actually hides Wang Xizhi's strong desire and nostalgia for life.
He sublimated his aesthetic appreciation of landscapes to his understanding of life, and associated it from his small self to the infinite universe. This exactly reflected that "life and death are both big things" and truly realized the ultimate goal of his happy life. Target.
The value of "Preface to the Lanting Collection" lies in its explanation of the inevitability of pain in life and the ephemerality of happiness.
On the surface, this seems to be decadent, pessimistic, and negative, but what Wang Xizhi wants to express is precisely its opposite, which is the strong desire and nostalgia for life and life.