1644, Zhang Dai was 47 years old. For Ming history, the year of Jia was an earth-shaking year, and for Zhang Dai, this year was also a year in which his life was completely turned over. Zhang Dai died on 1680, that is to say, after his death in the Ming Dynasty, Zhang Dai was still alive for 36 years. Now we look at Zhang Dai's article, and all kinds of hardships in these 36 years are nothing more than a word "idiot"
Zhang Dai summed up his past years in his epitaph:
In the opening paragraph of Dang Epitaph written by Zhang Dai, Zhang Dai used the word 12 in succession. However, the ultimate destination of all these hobbies is "it is a dream to work hard for half your life." Because the later narrative is "1950 to 1950, the country broke and the family died." When Zhang Dai wrote this epitaph, it was 1665, and the time was changed to four years of Kangxi, while Zhang Dai was 68 years old at 1665. What he didn't expect was that he would live to be 83. This epitaph will not be used until 15 years later. However, it is in this epitaph that we see that Zhang Dai has no concern for his own death, and even when facing death, he is anxious. So we will see that Zhang Dai has such a passage behind the epitaph to describe himself:
Before almost calling himself "the old fairy is a thief", Zhang Dai was not soft on himself. If all the above fails, he will classify himself as a black sheep, a loser, a stubborn person and so on. In short, Zhang Dai can accept those derogatory terms in the world. The handsome boy in front has become a mass of mud here, curled up on the ground, and Zhang Dai doesn't care if anyone steps on it again.
Thirty-three years have passed in a blink of an eye from the year when I saw the snow in Huting (1632) to the year when I degraded myself to write an epitaph (1665). Zhang Dai, who is enjoying the snow in the lake, may have gone with the melting of the snow. The Zhang Dai we saw at 1665 is nothing more than Zhang Dai's skin. Great changes and transformations in this period did not take place until 1665. This skin named Zhang Dai has long lost the connotation of "infatuation" and "affection". Even when readers read this, they will involuntarily feel "like a lifetime ago".
In Peach Blossom Garden and West Lake Dream, we will see Zhang Dai, a son who came out of nowhere. In The Story of the Stone Chamber and The Story of the Continued Stone Chamber, we will see Zhang Dai as a historian. In Four Books, Anthology of Tianku and Ancient Road of Kuaiyuan, we will see Zhang Dai's ink flying. Only this Zhang Dai, in the second half of most of the time, infatuation and talent were abandoned together. We can only see Zhang Dai's folly in his later years in this epitaph, just like a glimpse. After an epiphany, Zhang Dai carved himself on the tombstone prematurely without any effort.
I read an article about Zhang Dai the day before. The words in it are too hard, and I can see a tear or two floating out from time to time. From the perspective of personal understanding, Zhang Dai and Zhang Dai's skin will not arouse others' sympathy so easily. We may think that the reverse of Zhang Dai's life experience is too intense, but Zhang Dai may never use the word "sadness" in exchange for others' tears.
It is difficult for us to understand the feeling of "extreme pain" in the experience of national destruction and death. However, it reminds me of the book "Exile of the Empire-Poems and Wars in the Southern Ming Dynasty", which mentions that there is a saying in Qian Guangxu's biography: "A gentleman should use his talents." ..................................................................................................................................................................................'s teachers and friends were half dead all his life, and he felt the pain of mountains and rivers, so he couldn't bear to look back. So they break the waves with the addiction of Buddha, just like a clan figure. "The biography of this character mentions that" the life of a teacher and friend is half dead "may be forgiven by readers, but if life really encounters such a change, it will no longer be the loneliness of living, but will arouse the desire to die and die early.
When reading the history of the late Ming dynasty, on the one hand, we will be unwilling to read the sufferings of the late Ming dynasty, on the other hand, we will see that there is a kind of heart that can't bear to read in those sufferings. Zhang Dai's attitude towards death in his epitaph is not his own, but that of a group of people. This group of people all recorded their own deaths in the destruction of the country. The attitude of scholars towards death in the late Ming Dynasty was different from that of the dying court in the late Ming Dynasty. Those scholars are happy in the face of death. This is just like what Zhang Dai wrote in his epitaph. This can't be done, that can't be done, and death can always be done!
When we read Zhang Dai's articles now, we can't help but take the great changes in his time as an important clue to understand Zhang Dai. We seem to have neglected Zhang Dai's play abuse in his time. There are many things I like and love in the first half of my life, but I feel like a dream when there is nothing in my palm in the second half.
Reading this epitaph, the important thing is the word "dream". It's just that Zhang Dai didn't say whether the dreamer was himself or those of us who watched it. In Mr. Qian Mu's Eighty Memories of Parents, Teachers and Friends, parents, relatives and friends, and the relationship between heaven and earth are all true feelings, vividly showing the process of arousing the soul of the old country. Throughout the ages, emperors have narrated for others, and only scholars have spoken for themselves. This is the power of a scholar!
Even if it is a "dream", it looks as if it is really a dream.