Biography of the character Tao Yuanming was born in about the third year of Xingning (365), the reign of Emperor Ai of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. He was born into a family of run-down officials. Great-grandfather Tao Kan was the founding father of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. He had outstanding military exploits and held the rank of Grand Sima, military commander of eight states, governor of Jingzhou and Jiangzhou, and was granted the title of Duke of Changsha. Both his grandfather Tao Mao and his father Tao Yi served as prefects.
When he was young, his family declined and his father died at the age of nine, so he lived with his mother and sister. Orphaned and widowed, most of them live in the home of their grandfather Meng Jia. Meng Jia is a contemporary celebrity. "He is not a stoic in his conduct, he is not boastful in his years, and he never looks unhappy. He likes to drink heavily, and does not mess up after too much. As for forgetting his pride, he behaves as if there is no one else." - "The Great General of the Jin Dynasty's Expedition to the West" "The Long History of Mengfu Jun". Yuan Ming "managed to live with his heart, and many people imitated his ancestors." - Tao Qinliyu. In the future, his personality and accomplishments will be very much like those of his grandfather. His grandfather had a large collection of books at home, which provided him with the conditions to read ancient books and understand history. In the Jin Dynasty when scholars regarded "Zhuang" and "Lao" as their sects and deposed the "Six Classics", he not only studied "Laozi" like ordinary scholar-bureaucrats "Zhuangzi", and also studied the "Six Classics" of Confucianism and "exotic books" such as literature, history and mythology. Influenced by the ideological trends of the times and his family environment, he accepted two different ideas, Confucianism and Taoism, and cultivated two different aspirations: "a strong ambition to travel to the world" and "a natural love for mountains and hills".
When Tao Yuanming was a boy, he had the ambition of "flying across the world with fierce ambitions, and thinking about distant places with his flying eagle" - the ambition of "Miscellaneous Poems". "With the wish, Ren Jiangzhou offered wine. At that time, the clan system was very strict. He was born in a commoner family and was looked down upon by others. He felt that he was "unworthy of his official position and had to relieve himself after a few days" - "Book of Jin·Biography of Tao Qian". After he resigned and returned home, the state called him again to be the chief clerk, but he also declined. In the fourth year of Emperor Long'an's reign (400), he went to Jingzhou and joined Huanxuanmen as a subordinate. At this time, Huanxuan was controlling the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River, waiting for the opportunity to usurp the power of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. Of course, he was unwilling to join the ranks of Huanxuan and become the confidant of this ambitious man. He wrote in his poem: "How can I leave here and go as far away as West Jing." - "Going on leave in the seventh month of Xin Chou's year and returning to Jiangling for a night trip to Tukou" expresses regret for the official Huanxuan. "Born of long-term travel and love, how can I be drowned in nourishment?" - "Two Poems from the Capital City Still Blocking the Wind from Guilin in the Fifth Month of the Gengzi Year" expresses a profound sigh about the official life that is dependent on people. In the winter of the fifth year of Long'an, he resigned and returned home because of his mother's death. In the first month of the first year of Yuanxing (402), Huanxuan raised his troops to confront the imperial court, invaded Jiankang, and seized the military and political power of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. In the second year of Yuanxing, Huan Xuan publicly usurped the throne in Jiankang, changed the country to Chu, and imprisoned Emperor An in Xunyang. He worked hard in his hometown and financed his own business. He closed his door and chanted: "I sleep under the Hengmen, and I am isolated from the world. No one knows that the Jing Fei is always closed during the day." This expressed his disdain for Huan Xuan's proclaimed emperor. In the third year of Yuanxing, Liu Yu, General Wu of the Jianjun Army and Governor of Xiapi, joined forces with Liu Yi, He Wuji and other officials to raise troops from Jingkou (now Zhenjiang, Jiangsu) to attack Huan and ping the rebellion. Huanxuan was defeated and went west, taking Emperor An, who was imprisoned in Xunyang, to Jiangling. He left home and joined the army under Liu Yu's curtain (it is said that Tao Yuanming joined Liu Yu's army after he captured Jiankang). When Liu Yu led his troops to attack Huan Xuan, he imitated the story of Tian Chou who was loyal to the Eastern Han Dynasty and traveled in disguise. He disguised himself and traveled privately. He ventured to Jiankang and told the story of Huan Xuan's kidnapping of Emperor An to Jiangling. He reported to Liu Yu and completed his mission. Willingness to fight against the usurper. He was so happy that he wrote a poem to clarify his ambition: "Forty years old, I am unknown, and I am not afraid of this. I have a famous car, and I have a famous horse. Although it is thousands of miles away, who dares not to reach it!" - Chapter 4 of "Rongmu". After Liu Yu entered Jiankang, his style of work was also quite extraordinary. The politics of the Eastern Jin Dynasty had long been suffering from the long-standing corruption phenomenon of "a hundred ministers were neglected". Through Liu Yu's "exemplary" (leading by example), he first With the rectification of the imperial ban (a majestic ban issued in advance), "all officials inside and outside were solemnly dedicated to their duties, and customs were changed." His character, talents, and achievements are quite similar to Tao Kan, and he once had a good impression of him. However, not long after the scene started, we saw that in order to eliminate dissidents, Liu Yu killed the whole family of Diao Kui who had contributed to the crusade against Huan Xuan, and the innocent Wang Yu and his son. Based on his personal feelings, he appointed Wang Shi, a close figure of Huan Xuan who everyone thought should be killed, as the Minister of Records. He held such an important official position as the governor of Yangzhou. These dark phenomena disappointed him. In the poem "The Beginning of the Song of Zhenjun and Joining the Army, Jing Aqubo" he wrote: "My eyes are tired of the different mountains and rivers, and my mind is thinking about living in the mountains and rivers." Immediately afterwards, he resigned and lived in seclusion. In the first year of Yixi (405), he was transferred to the Ministry of General Jianwei and Jiangzhou Governor Liu Jingxuan as Jianwei to join the army. In March, he was ordered to go to Jiankang to resign on behalf of Liu Jingxuan. After Liu Jingxuan resigned, he also resigned. In the autumn of the same year, his uncle Tao Kui introduced him to serve as the magistrate of Pengze County. Eighty-one days after he took office, he met the postal governor of Xunyang County. The official said: "We should tie up our belts to welcome him." He sighed: "How can I do anything for him? He bowed down to the village boy with five buckets of rice, and then he was awarded the seal and resigned. Tao Yuanming's thirteen years of official life ended when he resigned as magistrate of Pengze County. These thirteen years were the thirteen years in which he kept trying, being disappointed, and finally despairing to realize his ideal ambition of "helping the common people". The final poem "Returning to the Song" expresses the determination to break with the upper ruling class and not to collude with the secular world.
Tao Yuanming resigned and returned home, living a life of "self-financing". His wife, Mrs. Zhai, shared his aspirations and lived in poverty and humiliation. "The husband plowed in front and the wife hoeed in the back." The mother-in-law worked together to maintain life. She was increasingly close to the working people and closely related to her. When I returned to the fields, my life was pretty good. "The square house is more than ten acres, with eight or nine thatched houses, elm and willow shade on the back eaves, and peach and plum blossoms in front of the hall." Yuanming loved chrysanthemums, and they were planted all around the house.
"Picking chrysanthemums under the eastern fence, leisurely seeing the Nanshan Mountain" - "Drinking" is still popular today. He is addicted to alcohol and will get drunk after drinking. When a friend comes to visit, no matter how high or low he is, as long as there is wine at home, he will drink with him. He got drunk first, and then said to the guest: "I'm drunk and want to sleep, please go." In the fourth year of Yixi, his residence in Shangjing (the foothills of Yujing Mountain in the west city of Xingzi County today) caught in a fire, and he moved to Lili (today's Lilitao Village of Xingzi Hot Spring). , life is more difficult. If there is a good harvest, you can also "have a great time drinking spring wine and picking vegetables from my garden." If there is a calamity year, "you will be hungry in the summer and sleep in bed in the cold nights". In the last years of Yixi's reign, an old farmer knocked on the door early in the morning, brought wine to drink with him, and persuaded him to become an official: "Under the tattered eaves, there is not enough room for a high place. Everyone in this life is still the same (no distinction between right and wrong), I hope you will stir up the mud (referring to the mud) He replied: "I am deeply aware of my father's words. I can learn from my innate temperament, but I am not obsessed with it. If I enjoy this drink, I can't go back." - "Drinking" With a "harmony but different" tone, he declined the old farmer's advice. In his later years, his life became increasingly poor. Some friends took the initiative to send money to him, and sometimes he would come to ask for a loan. His old friend Yan Yanzhi was appointed as the prefect of Shi'an County in the first year of Jingping (423), the Young Emperor of the Liu Song Dynasty. He passed by Xunyang and went to his house to drink every day. Before leaving, he left 20,000 yuan, which he sent all to the restaurant and drank one after another. However, he has principles when asking for loans or accepting alms. In the first year of Yuanjia (424) of Emperor Wen of the Song Dynasty, Tan Daoji, the governor of Jiangzhou, personally visited his home. At this time, he was sick and hungry for several days and could not get out of bed. Tan Daoji advised him: "When a sage is alive, if there is no way in the world, he will hide, and if there is a way, he will come. Today, in a civilized world, how can you suffer like this?" He said: "How can you dare to look for the virtuous, because your ambition is not enough." Tan Daoji gave him some advice. Liang Rou was waved away by him. He resigned and returned to his hometown for twenty-two years, living a poor pastoral life, and his determination to stay poor and keep moral integrity became stronger with age. In mid-September of the fourth year of Yuanjia (427), when he was still conscious, he wrote "Three Preparatory Elegies" for himself. In the last two sentences of the third poem, he said: "There is no way to die. The body is supported by the same mountain." Ah", showing that he views death so plainly and naturally.
In 427 AD, Tao Yuanming completed his sixty-three years of life (the year of Tao Yuanming's birth still needs to be verified, so the theory of sixty-three years here also needs to be verified) and passed away. He was buried in the Tao family cemetery at the foot of Nanshan Mountain, at the foot of Mianyang Mountain at the junction of Jiujiang County and Xingzi County in Jiangxi Province today. Today, Tao Yuanming's tomb is well preserved. The tombstone consists of three stone tablets, one large, two small, and one large. In the middle is the regular script "The Tomb of Mr. Jingjie Tao Gong of Jin Zheng Tu" in regular script. On the left is an epitaph and on the right is "Returning to Xi Ci", which was written in the Qing Dynasty. It was established by the descendants of Tao in the first year of Qianlong's reign. [1]
[Edit this paragraph] Reasons for reclusiveness
Tao Yuanming is known as "the clan of reclusive poets". His creation created the unity of pastoral poetry and created a new realm for our country's classical poetry. From ancient times to the present, many people like Tao Yuanming's philosophy of life that sticks to the humble cottage, conveys the pastoral meaning, and his unparalleled artistic style that dilutes remoteness, tranquility and nature; at the same time, they also express their feelings about the reasons why Tao Yuanming returned to the countryside and his secluded life. Follow or conduct research and analysis. The following is an attempt to discuss this in conjunction with Tao Yuanming’s poetry.
1. When Tao Yuanming was young, he was influenced by his family tradition and Confucian classics, and he had the ambition to help the world and the common people. However, due to the existence of the clan system, it is impossible for people born in poor families to break through the monopoly of high-ranking officials by the clan. Under such circumstances, it is difficult for Tao Yuanming's ideals to become reality, and his ideal dream is destined to be shattered. Tao Yuanming did not become an official until he was twenty-nine years old, but throughout his life, all he did was to serve as a low-level official such as offering wine, joining the army, and serving as county magistrate. He humiliated his body and worked hard with some official figures. When he was thirty-nine years old, his many years of experience caused a qualitative change in his thinking. He began to turn to cultivating himself to be self-sufficient and pursue peace of mind and indifference. After that, he served as the magistrate of Pengze County. Because he was unwilling to give in for five buckets of rice, he was relieved of his post more than 80 days after taking office. From then on, he put an end to his efforts and hesitation in his official career, and embarked on the road of retreat to the countryside without looking back. Since returning to the countryside at the age of forty-one, Tao Yuanming has really enjoyed a period of pastoral pleasure in "the warmth of the distant village, the smoke in the ruins. The barking of dogs in the deep alleys, and the crowing of cocks on the tops of the mulberry trees." However, Tao Yuanming, who came from a scholarly family, was not a good farmer after all, and his hard work in "opening up the wilderness in the south" might not enable him to live a well-off life without worries about food and clothing. In the fourth year of Yixi, when Tao Yuanming was forty-four, a disaster made his family impoverished. In the summer of this year, the poet's "more than ten acres of square house and eight or nine thatched houses" full of life were burned down by a ruthless fire. The family had to live on the boat and rely on the support of relatives and friends. In the third year of Yongchu (422), when Tao Yuanming was fifty-eight years old, his life was almost in desperation. His situation was reflected in the poem "Writing at a Meeting", "When you are weak, you will be hungry at home, and when you are old, you will be hungry. What Shumai is doing is true." Envy, who dares to admire sweet and fat food?" In the fourth year of Yuanjia (427), the poet was poor and ill. In the second self-elegy poem in his "Elegy Poems", the poet could "empty his belly and think nothing" after death. Reading the fantasy makes people feel sad: "In the past, there was no wine, but now there are glasses in the sky. Spring mash is born with ants, when can I taste it again? The table of food is full in front of me, and I cry next to me." In November of the fourth year of Yuanjia (427), Tao Yuanming, 63, sadly closed his eyes and passed away.
2. As for Tao Yuanming's career and retirement, people are accustomed to explain it from the social environment's advocating reclusiveness and his thoughts of internal Confucianism and external Taoism.
In fact, by grasping Tao Yuanming's five official career experiences and analyzing the reasons why he retired and retreated from a historical perspective, we can gain some new understandings. It can be attributed to two points: one is due to Tao Yuanming's nature, and the other is due to social reality. The essential characteristic of Tao Yuanming's character is the pursuit of maximum freedom of mind and leisurely elegance of mind. Official life is not in line with his nature of advocating nature. Tao Yuanming lived in an era when freedom was advocated and mysticism was raging. Political usurpation and killing made it easy for scholars who sought to avoid disaster to develop a reclusive character. The formation of Tao Yuanming's reclusive character should be said to be related to the general admiration for seclusion and the pursuit of spiritual freedom among the gentry and literati in the Eastern Jin Dynasty. It was this natural endowment of advocating nature and being leisurely and free that made him unable to bear the burden of "bowing down to a village boy for five buckets of rice", and eventually he resigned from office and returned to the fields. He wrote "Ci of Return". In the poem, he said very frankly that he was forced to make a living when he became the county magistrate; the reason why he resigned was because he was "natural in nature and not earned through hard work. Although he was hungry and cold, , Go against one's own will and make others sick." His aloof character made him rather go hungry than go against his will to please his superiors and get involved in officialdom. In "Returning to the Garden and Living in the Fields", the poet sang: "A young man has no suitable rhymes, and his nature is to love hills and mountains. By mistake, he falls into the dust net, and has been gone for thirty years. Birds in the tether nostalgic for the old forest, and fish in the pond miss the old abyss." "Long-lived." In the cage, I can return to nature." In just a few sentences, his disgust for the official career was clear. Because of his "natural nature" and "original love for hills and mountains", Tao Yuanming regarded the official career as a cage. He finally resigned and retired to seclusion, leaving behind the dust and returning to nature. Tao Yuanming's return to the countryside should not only be considered in conjunction with his outspoken personality, but also should be understood from the broad political background and his official career. It can be said that his entry into the world and his birth were related to the social reality at that time. Although Tao Yuanming was eventually dismissed from his post and returned to his fields, when he was young, he had the idea of ??making contributions and benefiting the world. In his poems such as "Drinking" and "Miscellaneous Poems", he once said: "There are few people in the youth, and the best way to travel is in the Six Classics", "The fierce ambition is to travel all over the world, the Qianhe is thinking about the far away", "When I was young, I was strong and powerful, and I traveled alone with my sword. ”, showing that he did not have the idea of ??being born from the beginning. He was born into a family of officials for generations, and was a descendant of the founding fathers. He also expected to make progress in his official career and make a difference in politics. However, the situation in the late Eastern Jin Dynasty where he lived was turbulent: intra-clan struggles and warlords' ambitions for political power constantly caused bloody killings and even fierce fights. This kind of social unrest not only brings disaster to the people, but also creates serious uneasiness among the upper classes of society. This forced Tao Yuanming's political ambitions to be reduced. In addition, in this struggle for power, all dirty and bloody conspiracies are all under the guise of noble morality, which makes Tao Yuanming, who has a true nature, intolerable. From the eighteenth year of Taiyuan of Emperor Xiaowu of the Jin Dynasty, when the twenty-nine-year-old Tao Yuanming first came out to be an official, it was thirteen years until he returned to the field at the age of forty-two. During this period, Tao Yuanming has been in the contradictory struggle between "coming out of the world" and "joining the world", which is reflected in many of his poems. In poems such as "Going on vacation in the seventh month of the Xin Chou year and returning to Jiangling for a night trip to Tukou", he sighed: "How can I leave here and go as far away as West Jing?" It contains too much disappointment and sadness for the poet. It can be seen that the poet also had painful hesitation and hesitation about whether to return to his fields. But in the end, his long-cherished wish to "love Qiu Mountain" overwhelmed his ambition to "escape the world", and he finally found His final path - to retire to the countryside. Therefore, his retreat was due to social reality and the result of the inability to reconcile his thoughts with social reality.
3. From the perspective of Tao Yuanming’s life after returning to seclusion, Tao Yuanming’s seclusion was different from other hermits who used it to buy fame and reputation during the Eastern Jin Dynasty. He was a true hermit, a life choice, and a kind of hermitage. Aversion to "the whole world is dirty" and "everyone is drunk". Let’s take a look at the general experience of Tao Yuanming’s life: he first served as a wine sacrifice for the state, but he was unworthy of his official duties. After a few days, he was discharged and returned home. Later he served under Huan Xuan, Liu Yu and Liu Jingxuan, and finally served as Peng Zeling for more than 80 years. Because he was unwilling to give in to the villagers for five measures of rice, he resolutely resigned and returned to farming. Later, someone persuaded him to become an official again and serve the Liu Song Dynasty. He would rather be poor, sick and impoverished than to get involved in officialdom again. It can be said that Tao Yuanming returned to seclusion and remained humble. In poems such as "Returning to the Garden and Living in the Fields" and "Drinking Drinking", the poet described his life after returning to seclusion, "In the daytime, I cover the firewood and think about the wine. Sometimes people in the ruins come and go with grass. There are many words in the sky, but the road is full of mulberry trees. "There are more than ten acres of square houses and eight or nine thatched houses." "The house is built in a human environment, without the noise of carriages and horses. I ask you how you can do it, but my mind is far away. I am picking chrysanthemums under the eastern fence, and I can see Nanshan leisurely." These villages and ordinary things that others look down upon, Rural life, in the poet's writings, is so beautiful, peaceful, and particularly cordial. After returning to seclusion, Tao Yuanming also personally participated in production labor, got close to the working people, and praised labor, which made his pastoral poems more flavorful of working life. "Spring at the Beginning of the Year of Guimao", "Returning to the Garden and Living in the Farm", "Harvesting Early Rice in the West Field in the Mid-September of the Year of Gengxu", etc. all describe the poet's participation in labor: "In the past, I heard about the southern seedlings, but I didn't practice them back then. There are many people in the sky, so spring is coming. I'm in love with you early in the morning. "Gui" is planting beans at the foot of the south mountain. The grass is full of bean sprouts. I'm picking up the filth in the morning. " "Start the spring with regular work, and the achievements of the year will be considerable. If you work hard in the morning, you will be paid back by the day." "Wen Yuan grew up like this, and it is unreasonable to work hard." In the hard work of going out early and returning late, the poet and the working people The relationship between them is closer, and the feelings for the working people are also more sincere: "When we get together and return home, we will work with our neighbors."
When we meet, there are no words, but there are many mulberry trees and hemp trees on the road." "In the morning, when I hear knocking on the door, I turn over my clothes and open them. When asked who he loved, Tian's father had a good idea. The pot and goblet are far away, and I doubt that I am keeping up with the times. "From these poems, readers can see that in this leisurely pastoral life, the poet's mood is natural and peaceful, and he has reached a truly harmonious state of spiritual development. This is true seclusion.
Tao Yuanming's secluded life is not completely out of the world. His seclusion itself is a kind of resistance to the dark reality, which is different from escaping reality. The poet has been involved in field work in the countryside for a long time, and he has become increasingly close to the working people emotionally and understands them better. Sufferings often reflect the poor life of working people and the darkness and hypocrisy of official careers in his poems. He wrote in his poems: "I am hungry every day in summer, and I have no sleep in cold nights." "The old grain is gone, and the new grain is not." Deng is quite an old farmer, but he is facing the calamity of the year. The sun and the moon are still long, and the trouble is not over." "It has been a long time since Xi Nong has been gone, and the whole world has rarely returned to true things." , but the poet is not at peace in his heart. He is unwilling and unable to completely abandon social reality. He embodies his unfinished political ideals in his poems. In "Peach Blossom Spring", the poet describes an ideal society in his heart: "Spring silkworms are harvested. "Long silk, the autumn ripeness is taxed by the king", "The heavy children are singing songs, the grey-white people are enjoying themselves", everyone is "happy and contented". There is no exploitation, no oppression, everyone works, and everyone lives a prosperous and peaceful life . This "paradise" reflects the poet's beautiful wishes. It is in sharp contrast with the dark social reality at that time. It is the poet's denial of the real society. It is the crystallization of the poet's rural life practice after returning to the field and is the poet's thought. The result of further development. This is enough to prove that Tao Yuanming was not completely divorced from reality after his retirement.
From Tao Yuanming's retirement and his life after retirement, we can see that the society that Tao Yuanming longed for was peace and tranquility. A society where self-cultivation and self-sufficiency, no competition, no hypocrisy, no mutual oppression and harm; the life we ??pursue is a life that is simple and sincere, indifferent and lofty, and has no external pursuits; the life environment that we like is also quiet and full of natural interest. Because of these pursuits, most of his pastoral poems have a peaceful, clean and distant appearance, but behind them are full of hatred and uneasiness about the real society, and anxiety about the shortness of life and the feeling of being indifferent. As Mr. Lu Xun said: "Tao Qian is great because he is not silent all over."
[Edit this paragraph] Literary achievements
Tao Yuanming was the most outstanding person in the 800 years of Han, Wei, Southern and Northern Dynasties. He is also an outstanding poet and prose writer. There are 125 poems by Tao in existence, including 9 poems in four characters and 116 poems in five characters. There are 3 poems in poetry, 5 poems and 4 prose in total. p>
"Xian Qing Fu" in Tao Yuanming's poems is imitated from Zhang Heng's "Ding Qing Fu" and Cai Yong's "Jing Qing Fu". The content is about the fantasy of love, which has little meaning. "Ode" is imitated from Dong Zhongshu's "Ode to Scholars Not Encountered" and Sima Qian's "Ode to Sad Scholars Not Encountered". Its content is to express the resentment of those who have ambitions under the clan system; "Come Back and Come Back" is about Tao Yuanming's interaction with the upper class when he resigned and retired to seclusion. A political declaration of an open break from society. The article writes at great length about his infinite joy of leaving officialdom and imagining the infinite joy of returning to the countryside, expressing the author's yearning and love for nature and seclusion.
The article skillfully integrates narrative, discussion, and lyricism