Author: Lei Wenchao
A person's epitaph is a summary and interpretation of his life. To write a person's epitaph well, you must not only describe his life clearly, but also allow readers to understand the person's life through the epitaph. In the history of Chinese literature, there is such a splendid story. From Du Fu to Li Shangyin, several generations of poetry greats traveled through the rise and fall of the entire Tang Dynasty. They cherished each other again and again, and they were congenial again and again, completing a generation. People’s interpretation and inheritance of the previous generation.
In the fifth year of the Dali reign of Emperor Daizong of the Tang Dynasty, Du Fu ended his life of poverty and poverty in Leiyang. When he was dying, Du Fu wished to be buried in Shouyang Mountain, but due to poverty, the Du family's children could only bury Du Fu with the help of Nie Ling in Leiyang. During his lifetime, Du Fu and his poetry received little praise. As time went by, decades later, under the strong advocacy of Bai Juyi and others, Du Fucai became highly regarded as the enlightener of realism themes. It was also at this time that Du Fu's remains were buried at the foot of Shouyang Mountain in Yanshi, Luoyang, Henan, by his grandson Du Siye, fulfilling his wish.
At the time of his burial, Yuan Zhen, who was being demoted, wrote the famous "Inscription and Preface to the Tomb of Du Jun, a Foreign Minister of the Tang Dynasty" for Du Fu. Yuan Zhen, who was born nine years after Du Fu's death, never really experienced Du Fu's life and never interacted with him, but he gave Du Fu a high evaluation in the atmosphere of "promoting Li and suppressing Du" at that time.
The prosperous Tang Dynasty inherited the music of Liang Qi, but it was so powerless and declining in this era of eunuch monopoly and separatist vassal towns. What people need to see and hear is Du Fu's shouts and cries that "there are tens of millions of mansions in Guangzhou, and all the poor people in the world will be happy." is his cry and cry: "If you have no home in your life, how can you live in peace?" "I feel the same way.
After experiencing the hardship of being relegated and reading about the hardships of people’s livelihood, Yuan Zhen wrote poems that were either tragic and stirring or downright clear. I had a soul dialogue with Du Fu decades ago that transcended time and space, transcended myself, and transcended each other’s experiences.
After that, Yuan Zhen’s literary creation also began to change. As the first person to give high praise to Du Fu, he inherited Du Fu’s mantle and began to lead the poetry that had fallen into silence into Realism from the heart has guided poetry to become a tool to reflect reality and call out the difficulties of people's livelihood.
In the fifth year of Emperor Wenzong's reign in the Tang Dynasty, Yuan Zhen, who was demoted four times in his life, died in Wuchang. His lifelong confidant, Bai Juyi, with great grief, personally wrote his epitaph.
The friendship and interaction between Yuan and Bai can be called a splendid story in the history of Chinese literature. In the 19th year of Zhenyuan, both Yuan and Bai were registered as scholars at the same time and merged into the Secretary Provincial School. Shulang got to know each other through this, which opened up a friendship that lasted throughout their lives. Their whole life was like that of Boya Ziqi, singing harmony with each other, uniting with their talents, and uniting with each other with their character and strength, and they have grown up together in decades.
After Yuan Zhen wrote the epitaph for Du Fu, under the initiative of Yuan and Bai, the vigorous New Yuefu movement began in the poetry world. They inherited Du Fu's mantle side by side, criticized the current ills, and reflected the people's livelihood. I hope to use poetry to awaken the ignorant people in power, speak out for the general public, and use poetry as a guide for politics.
However, precisely because of the satire of those in power in their poems, they began a wandering life of being constantly demoted. In the fourth year of Yuanhe reign of Emperor Xianzong of Tang Dynasty, Yuan Zhen was demoted to Jiangling and recalled four years later. After returning to Chang'an, he and Bai Juyi sang poems and wines, and planned to compile "Collection of Poems of Yuan Bai Returning to the Past". However, before the collection of poems was completed, he was demoted to Tongzhou again and began his relegated career for nearly twenty years. Almost at the same time, Bai Juyi was also demoted to Jiangzhou Sima. From then on, these close friends began a difficult life that was rarely seen again: "I don't know where I met you, in the sea of ??two leaves of duckweed." And the New Yuefu they advocated Sports also suffered a heavy blow during this period.
In this hardship, they used poetry as comfort and friendship to support the suffering. In the following decades, the two wrote more than 180 poems in harmony. The most famous one is Yuan Zhen's song "Wen Letian conferred the title of Sima in Jiangzhou":
The lamps are dim and there are no flames, and the buildings are shadowed. This evening I heard that the king was banished to Jiujiang.
Sitting up in shock while dying of illness, the dark wind blew rain into the cold window
In the fourth year of the reign of Emperor Wenzong of the Tang Dynasty, Yuan Zhen was demoted again. At the inn on the way, he met Bai Juyi again. The two lamented how difficult the current situation was and how uncertain their fate was, and they couldn't help but burst into tears. Unexpectedly, this meeting would be the farewell between the two of them.
A year later, Yuan Zhen died suddenly in Wuchang. What is left to Bai Juyi is the lament and longing of Zhong Qi, who has been dead for a long time and has no voice in the world. He wrote this in Yuan Zhen's epitaph:
His real intention was to bring peace to the people and govern the country, to the kings Yao and Shun, and to Yi Gao'er. Isn't it true that Heaven won't agree with you? Will the general be unfortunate? I have tasted that Duke Bei first used his straight bow to discipline people and worked diligently, but it was bumpy and bumpy. He was exiled to a miasmatic village for ten years and returned with gray hair. Then he used his power to help the world, and he changed it and made it clear. However, he was discordant and uneasy. The phase is only three months, so I left because the mat was not warm. Tongzhi advances and retreats, but the pawn does not gain the heart. Therefore, the use of legal principles is limited to cultivating one position and is not distributed to common officials; the benevolence and righteousness is limited to benefiting one party and is not spread throughout the world. Therefore, the public heart is not enough, the time is the same as the time, the position is the same as the position is not, the wealth is the same as the frivolity.
Which one? The time is on the way but the way is not, and the body meets but the mind does not meet. When I stick to my friend Juyi, I only know his heart, and I can only weep to moisten Han's heart.
In this big world, I am afraid that only the two of them can understand each other's thoughts. After Yuan Zhen died, Bai Juyi, who had paid attention to the suffering of the people and criticized the powerful, seemed to have died with him. The rest are "Xiangshan laymen" who live alone and live a leisurely life.
He wrote an epitaph for Yuan Zhen, which not only evaluated and interpreted the life of this close friend, but also acted like a mirror. Likewise, I made a farewell and summary of my past and career.
Fifteen years later, Bai Juyi, 75, died suddenly in Luoyang. After his death, his epitaph was written by Li Shangyin.
Bai Juyi was more than forty years older than Li Shangyin. When Li Shangyin's masterpiece was published, Bai Juyi had entered the last period of his life. He loved Li Shangyin's poetry and talent so much that he once joked when he was drunk: "After I die, I will be (reincarnated) as your son, I will be very satisfied."
However, when many Years later, because of Li Shangyin's running around, the child named Bai Lao by Li Shangyin lost the opportunity to become a talent because of poverty and became stupid and stupid. "As you grow older, you should cry more and more, and if you grow poor, you may be late in learning." Even Wen Tingyun also joked: "Isn't it peaceful to think that you are the successor of Lotte?" If Bai Juyi knew it under the spring, I don't know what he would think.
At the same time, Li Shangyin, who had been troubled by the political whirlpool of the late Tang Dynasty all his life, was puzzled by Bai Juyi. When he was young, he must have been deeply influenced by Lotte and deeply identified with him. Poems such as "Chong You Sen" and "Qujiang" are all full of allegories inherited from Du Fu and Yuan Bai and worries about the fate of the country. However, compared to Yuan Bai and others, Li Shangyin was more depressed and wandering. The biggest theme in his life was sadness and separation. We can only find the ambition and desire to support the country from his early works. A young man who has returned to heaven and earth.
During the Ganlu Incident, the young Li Shangyin was very angry at the chaotic political situation and wrote three poems "You Feelings". At this time, Bai Juyi wrote: Blessings and Misfortunes Unexpected words. This kind of Bai Juyi made Li Shangyin feel strange and sad. Is this the same Bai Letian who once wrote about the charcoal seller? In the troubled times, he could only stand alone, his knees cold.
So in Bai Juyi’s epitaph, we see Li Shangyin’s interpretation of Bai Juyi, which is more of his confusion: in the epitaph, he described Bai Juyi’s life and actions, including his His character of being loyal, honest, and outspoken and accepting of advice was highly praised, but Bai Juyi's achievements in poetry and prose were only briefly mentioned.
Perhaps a few years later, when Li Shangyin came to the end of his life, he finally got the answer, that is, life, originally untitled.
Twelve years later, Li Shangyin died of illness. After his death, poetry gradually declined. Another peak of Chinese culture: Song poetry began to appear on the stage.
From Du Fu to Yuan Zhen, from Yuan Zhen to Bai Juyi, and then from Bai Juyi to Li Shangyin, in the span of a hundred years, they completed the inheritance of poetry and culture through the special method of epitaphs.
Their lives are like-minded, and their poetry is the inheritance of their character and soul.
All this is in line with what Zhuangzi said 2,000 years ago: "It means being poor for fuel, and the fire is spreading, and you don't know how to use it up."