Wang Yangming's creative field is a literary space stirred by the specific political situation and cultural tide in the Ming Dynasty, reflecting the entanglement of multiple forces such as academics, power, religion and cultural habits.
His academic position, official position, Confucian role, monastic activities, military achievements and political situation determine his poetic temperament and good thinking, and his rich information content is far from that of ordinary poets.
Yangming's conscious conscience and thinking map reflect the characteristics of Yangming's sage, and poetry is his heart. From the perspective of revealing its authenticity, Yangming's poems are his own people, from which we can feel his heroic temperament, sage style and his secular side.
As a first-hand record of his life and mental journey, Yangming's poems are more reliable and true than the Chronicle of Mr. Yangming compiled by Qian Dehong and others.
Wang Yangming's poetry creation has experienced a process from madness to holiness. This process is roughly similar to his knowledge change and basically synchronized.
Huang Zongxi said that Yangming's "learning begins with three changes": from poetry overflowing to reading Zhu's books, he couldn't get started, so he went in and out of Buddhism for a long time, and it was not until Longchang that he suddenly realized, "I am self-sufficient and don't want to go abroad"; Also known as Yangming's "Three Changes after Learning" (Book 10 of Ming Confucian Case). First, he learns by sitting still and clearing his head. Later, Jiang You specifically mentioned the word "to conscience". After living in Vietnam, he always knew right and wrong. He had nothing but nothing, and he got his heart as soon as he spoke.
There are also three changes in Yangming's poems. Each stage is not unrelated, but has its own weight, personality and style.
Zhan Ruoshui said that Wang Yangming had "five drowning" in his early years, that is, he was addicted to Ren Xia, riding and shooting, poetry, immortals and buddhas. Yangming's poems in the period of "five drowning" show the charm of a madman. However, there are not many poems left in the world at this time, especially those about Ren Xia and riding and shooting, which are completely absent in Yangming's literary works.
Ren Xia and riding and shooting are two sides of the same coin, which is a hobby of Yangming's mind. The poem Inscription on the Temple of Ma in the Dream reveals heroic spirit.
In the twelfth year of Hongzhi, the first four sentences of "Falling Horse" are about the experience of going to the border pass: "Zeng Beiguan first returned, and the horse flew sideways. The danger is getting worse every day, and no dust gets on people's clothes. " The image of being good at riding and shooting is vividly portrayed. The phrase "I am alive, I am as healthy as a pen" in the poem is exactly the portrayal of Yang Ming's words at this time.
For Wang Yangming, Taoism is the presentation of exquisite realm in poetry creation, the ladder leading to fairyland in real life, and the way of external transcendence. It has no metaphysical significance, nor is it a healing way to escape from the real world where right and wrong are unknown.
The epiphany of life and death in Longchang greatly shook Wang Yangming's body and mind, and he experienced a qualitative flip from the binary world of things and me to heaven and earth. After crossing the threshold of seeing the truth, Wang Yangming's life broke through the cocoon and was reborn in the main spirit. From then on, the scenery was instantly different, and poetry also had a perfect language with complete style.
"Night" understands the rhythm of everything in silence: "Only after silence do we know that the group is moving wildly, but when we are doing nothing, we are still frightened." This kind of body is the "knowledge" and "awareness" of the body, which embodies the profound encounter with the experience of conscience. The third part of "Three Poems to Cai Xiyan" reflects the heart with the moon: "After the enlightenment, there are no words in the six classics, and the moon is quiet and empty." The latter sentence is transparent inside and outside, slightly like Zen. Being alone, my heart is like a bright moon, my things are like me, and I am complete and complete, writing the realm of psychology and personal testimony.
The loneliness of life and death forced Wang Yangming's theory of conscience to appear. Wang Yangming's effort to achieve conscience is more natural and simpler than Zhu's understanding of things. Compared with the method of emphasizing literal expression and logical analysis, it is more inclined to see the natural principles in things through experience and intuition, which is a simple and convenient method.
So Wang Yangming said that most poems of conscience are quatrains. Two Answers to People's Conscience and Four Odes to Conscience Show Life have only one meaning, that is, the desire for one's own heart lies in one's own conscience, and the key point of seeking one's own heart lies in seeking the other's heart.
The fourth part of Four Conscience Shows Life borrows Zen vocabulary.