From today's perspective, I think Su Dongpo's great personality is more prominent than other literati in China, and it is more fully revealed in his life and works. In my mind, Su Dongpo's image is particularly clear and obvious for two reasons. The first reason is that Su Dongpo's intellectual talent is deeply imprinted in every line of his poems, just as I once saw the black and precious ink light on his two ink bamboos, which still shines today, just as he dipped his pen and evaporated a moment ago. This is a great miracle between heaven and earth, and so is Shakespeare's creation. The strength of Shakespeare's poetry comes from the poet's sensitive nature and open mind, and it is still as fresh as ever. Despite the research of later scholars, we still know little about Shakespeare's life, but four hundred years after his death, due to the emotional power in his works, we know the depths of his heart.
The second reason is that Su Dongpo's living materials are relatively complete, far from being comparable to other poets in China. Information about his colorful political career in his long life exists in various historical materials and his own numerous works. His poems are close to a million words; His notes, his legacy, his personal letters, and a lot of gossip that he was regarded as the most beloved scholar at that time have been passed down to the present. Within a hundred years after his death, there was not a biography that did not mention the poet. Ru Song is good at keeping diaries, especially Sima Guang, Wang Anshi, Herry Liu and Ceng Bu. Diligent biographers, such as Wang Mingqing and Shao Bowen. Due to the controversy caused by Wang Anshi's "New State-owned Assets Law" and the political turmoil that Su Dongpo has been spreading all his life, writers have preserved a lot of materials of that era, including dialogues. Su Dongpo doesn't keep a diary. He is not the kind of person who keeps a diary. I'm afraid keeping a diary is too strict and unnatural for him. However, when he writes notes, he writes about travel, thoughts, people, places and events in books, some with dates and some without dates. While others are busy recording his words and deeds. His admirers carefully preserved his books, sketches, inscriptions and so on. At that time, he was famous as an outstanding calligrapher, and people begged Mo Bao at any time. He is used to writing poems or essays at any time and giving them to his friends after dinner. These short stories are treasured by everyone, handed down to future generations, and sometimes sold at high prices. Among these occasional inscriptions, there are often exquisite works by Su Dongpo. Today, there are 800 simple books and about 600 famous inks. In fact, it was because Su Dongpo was widely loved that it became popular to collect letters and inscriptions from other celebrities for printing, such as Huang Gu. There was a collector in Chengdu that year. After Su Dongpo died, he immediately began to collect Su Dongpo's ink slips, carved them on stones, and sold them in rubbings for people to copy calligraphy. On one occasion, a poem written by Su Dongpo because of his understanding of current affairs was immediately copied and circulated, and many domestic scholars scrambled to recite it. Although Su Dongpo is sincere, his content is to express his disagreement with the policy. At that time, a loyal man could not live in the capital, and the anger of those in power was concentrated on him alone. The situation was so serious that Su Dongpo almost had an accident. Does he regret it? On the surface, during his relegation, he said that he had regrets about his friends who were not close enough, but he said that he had no regrets about his best friends, and that if there were flies in his rice, he would still spit them out. Because of his spiritual repentance, he was also injured because he was the leader of Gao Shi at that time. After a futile struggle with narrow-minded politicians in Jin Yao, he was exiled to the wild Qiongya Island outside China, and was treated with enlightenment, which was considered to be due to fate to some extent.
Dongpo, a native of Su Like, had this experience all his life, and he naturally became a topic of whispering and admiration among literati, especially after his death. If compared with similar people in the west, Li Bai, a literary meteor, burned out after a spectacular and amazing flash, just like Shelley and Byron. On the other hand, Du Fuxiang Milton. He is both a devout philosopher and a kind elder. He is knowledgeable and rich in writing, and writes rich feelings with simple pen and ink. Su Dongpo is always full of youthful vitality. Characters, quite like the British novelist Thackeray; His political activities and poems are like Hugo of France; His touching features are like Johnson in England. For some reason, we are still uneasy about Johnson's stroke, but we are not worried about Milton's blindness. If Milton is like Thomas gainsborough, the British painter, the Pope who criticizes British current affairs with poetry, and Swift, the tortured satirist in Britain, we would find an Englishman, Su Like Dongpo, without his growing vitriol. Although Su Dongpo has suffered a lot, his humanity has become more gentle and kind, and he has not become bitter. Today we love Su Dongpo because he has suffered a lot in life.
There is a proverb in China, which means that one should "seal". Life is like a dream, how well a play is played can only be judged by the end. However, there is this difference-life is like a play, but in the drama of life, the smartest and most alert actors are also at a loss about the major events in the next scene. But in real life, the total package contains an inevitable nature, and only the best drama is close. Therefore, when writing biographies for people in the past, it is naturally very convenient for us to watch a completed drama one by one and watch the inevitable development caused by people's internal temperament and external environment. After studying the materials of various chapters of Su Dongpo's biography, I understand why he wants to do something and why he wants to go against his original intention of abandoning his official position and retiring. I feel like an astrologer in China, giving a person a detailed judgment and predicting the future, so clear and definite, and the accident is so doomed. Astrologers in China can disconnect a person's life year by year, carefully check the fleeting time, and write the annual calculation of his life in the passbook. Of course, the divination money is much higher than the usual divination. But biographers' lessons after the horse are always more reliable than astrologers' lessons before the horse. Today, we can understand Su Dongpo's poor and changeable life and see the same inevitable situation, but there is no doubt that the accidents of good fortune and bad fortune at all stages of his life, whether the fault lies in his fate or not, have indeed happened and come true.
Su Dongpo was born in Jingyou for three years (1036) and died in the first year of Jianjing (11kloc-0/)-twenty-five years before the Jin people conquered the Northern Song Dynasty. He grew up under the rule of the best emperor (Renzong) in the Northern Song Dynasty, became an official under the rule of a kind-hearted but ambitious emperor (Zongshen), and was relegated when an idiot (Zhezong) aged 18 ascended the throne. Studying Su Dongpo's biography is also a study of the decline of the Song Dynasty due to factional struggles, which eventually led to the exhaustion of national strength and the villain in power. Anyone who has seen Water Margin knows that politics was corrupt at that time, and good people became Liangshan heroes because they avoided tax collectors and corrupt officials.
When Su Dongpo was young, there were a number of Confucian sages above the imperial court. By the time the Northern Song Dynasty was about to perish, all these sages had withered or lost their official positions. The court persecuted Confucian officials for the first time, and the upright people in Yushitai were excluded, and some villains arranged by Wang Anshi, the prime minister of the new law, took their place. At this time, at least twenty virtuous Confucian officials would rather be raped than betray loyalty. By the time the second party struggle began, under the rule of the silly boy emperor, most of the loyal ministers died, and the rest died in exile. The decline of national strength in the Song Dynasty began with the implementation of a new law to prevent the exploitation of private capital, in order to seek the interests of the people and let an arrogant and confident minister take charge. There is nothing more harmful to the national luck than ignorance and arbitrariness. As a poet and philosopher, Su Dongpo tried his best to use his common sense to oppose the logic of economist Wang Anshi. The truth advocated by Wang Anshi and the price paid by China at that time are still unknown to us.
Wang Anshi, who is keen on his new set of social reform laws, will naturally do whatever it takes to achieve his goal, and will naturally dismiss all dissidents at all costs. A sacred proposition will always cause great harm. Because when an idea becomes inviolable, the means to achieve this goal is inevitable and inevitable. The situation at that time was like this. Su Dongpo's eyes could not escape naturally. This matter was too big for him to pay with a relaxed and humorous smile. He met Wang Anshi in a narrow way, and their conflict decided Su Dongpo's official career and the fate of the Song Dynasty empire.
Neither Su Dongpo nor Wang Anshi lived to see the result of their struggle, nor did anyone see the conquest of China by the northern aliens, but Su Dongpo lived to see the consequences of the New Deal, which was widely publicized. He saw that Wang Anshi loved the farmers so much, not in the year of famine, drought and flood, but in the year of harvest. Because he could not repay the money and interest borrowed from the government, he dared to return to his hometown, and the officials would be arrested and imprisoned. Su Dongpo can only call for help for them, but he can't help them. The officials who visit the people's feelings are treacherous and despicable, thinking that it is best to turn a deaf ear to the shortcomings of the New Deal nouveau riche, because the officials in power are not ignorant; The advantages of the New Deal have been whitewashed and exaggerated, adding to the icing on the cake. It is not a new invention of modern people to tell lies all over the sky and succeed (if those lies are told all over the sky and go on). Those eunuchs also want to make money for a living. Under such circumstances, people who are not responsible for playing tricks on the powerful treat the luck of the country as a joke, as if they can escape the consequences of the country's demise. Su Dongpo reluctantly leads a totally clean life, which is also a helpless move. Although the emperor has the sincerity to seek medical treatment, how can he be blamed for not listening attentively and trusting others by mistake? Because in national affairs, what he sees is unknown, and he often makes mistakes, while Su Dongpo expects things to be correct. In the name of the sanctity of the New Deal, the people can only groan under the high-handed politics of the imperial court. In the crazy struggle for power and profit, the party's fanaticism actually overrides the national interest. The moral strength and economic strength of the country have been greatly weakened. As Su Dongpo said, in this case, China was easily conquered by enemies from Siberia. The clique willingly acted as a puppet of its strong neighbors in the north, calling it regional independence and surrendering to the Jin people. Under such circumstances, it is no wonder that the imperial court perished and China had to move the capital to Jiangnan. After the imperial palace in the Song Dynasty was burnt to ashes under the iron hoof of the north, historians could not help but look on coldly, bow their heads and ponder over the reasons why the people of the whole country suffered from this disaster with the eyes of historians and prophets, but times have changed and it is too late.
A year after Su Dongpo's death, an important event happened in history before the ruling gangs and girls handed over the north of the Yangtze River from the poor desert to their foreign kings. That is the establishment of the famous monument of Yuan You's party history, and it is also a summary of the factional struggle in the Song Dynasty. Yuan You is the title of Song Zhezong (1086- 1093). In these years, Su Dongpo's Shu Party was in power. Yuan You Party History Monument is a blacklist of 309 people, all of whom came to power during the period of Zhezong Yuanyou headed by Su Dongpo. There is an imperial edict on the tablet that these 309 people and their descendants can never be officials, and the children of the royal family can not marry the ministers on this list. If they are engaged, they will be cancelled by law. The same stone tablet will be erected in all counties in China, and there are still such stone tablets on some hills in China today. This is the way to destroy the opposition parties, and it is also the way to deliberately humiliate those opposition parties for thousands of years. Because China surrendered the northern part of China to the Jin people because of Wang Anshi's political reform, Yuan Youdang's memorial tablet gave people a very different impression from the little people who erected it. In the next hundred years, the descendants of the people on the monument boasted that their ancestors' names were on the monument. This is why the Yuan You Party Monument is famous in history. In fact, some of the ancestors on these monuments are not worthy of this honor, because when the monument was erected, the opposition party was eliminated, and those little people included the names of personal enemies without authorization, so the people on this blacklist are good and bad.
In the first month of the fifth year of Huizong Chongning (1 106), a comet appeared in the sky, and the Yuan You Party Monument on the east wall of Wende Hall was suddenly shaken and broke into two pieces. This is anger from heaven, no doubt. Hui Zong was afraid, but for fear of opposition from the Prime Minister, people secretly destroyed the political party monument in Duanmen in the middle of the night. The Prime Minister was very upset when he learned this, but he said brazenly, "This monument can be destroyed, but the name on it can never be forgotten!" Now we know that he got what he wanted.
In the first month of the fifth year of Huizong Chongning (1 106), a comet appeared in the sky, and the Yuan You Party Monument on the east wall of Wende Hall was suddenly shaken and broke into two pieces. This is anger from heaven, no doubt. Hui Zong was afraid, but for fear of opposition from the Prime Minister, people secretly destroyed the political party monument in Duanmen in the middle of the night. The Prime Minister was very upset when he learned this, but he said brazenly, "This monument can be destroyed, but the name on it can never be forgotten!" Now we know that he got what he wanted.
Five years after lightning struck the stone tablet, a Taoist told Hui Zong that he had seen Su Dongpo's soul as a satellite before the Jade Emperor came. Huizong became more and more afraid, eager to restore Su Dongpo's highest official position when he was alive, and later sealed another high position, which was unprecedented when Su Dongpo was alive. Before the seventh year of Huizong (1 1 17), the royal family had begun to collect Su Dongpo's manuscripts, and each one was rewarded with 50,000 pieces. Eunuch Liang Shicheng spent 30 Wan Wen to buy Su Dongpo's inscription on Yingzhou Bridge (which was carefully hidden), which was a sky-high life at that time. In addition, someone paid 50,000 yuan for Su Dongpo's "Study Inscription". At this time, Su Dongpo's poetry, calligraphy and painting were very active in the transaction. Soon, these precious manuscripts will either enter the palace and become treasures of the palace or become treasures of rich collectors. Later, the Jin people captured the capital and demanded the paintings and calligraphy of Su Dongpo and Sima Guang as part of the spoils, because Su Dongpo's reputation had even spread to foreign countries beyond the Great Wall when he was alive. Part of Su Dongpo's manuscripts, paintings and calligraphy were transported to the Great Wall by the enemy, and at the same time, Hui Di and Emperor Qin were also taken captive to the north with the car until Fan Bang's death (at that time, he had given way to his son Qin Zong). The unspoiled cultural relics left by Su Dongpo were also transported to Jiangnan by collectors before they were preserved between heaven and earth.
Su Dongpo has passed away, and the storm of emotional struggle about current politics has passed. Emperor Gaozong of the Southern Song Dynasty sat in the new capital Hangzhou and began to read Su Dongpo's legacy, especially his state affairs articles. The more he reads, the more he admires his loyalty and courage to his country. In memory of Su Dongpo, he sealed a senior official with Su Dongpo's grandson Fu Su. These actions have made Su Dongpo's fame and status behind him reach its peak. For six years, he was given the title of posthumous title Wenzhonggong and the rank of Taishi. The emperor's portrayal of his genius is still the best praise. Today, all versions of The Complete Works of Su Wenzhong are printed with the imperial edict and preface. I hereby copy the imperial edict that named him surname:
Hey. I inherited the Juexue of Baisheng and explored the Six Classics. Will rise in sven and cherish the memory of old friends. Although there is no way to punish, there are still simple strategies to seek. The Sect revealed as Confucianism was favored by Emperor Xi. Therefore, it is given to Shangshu, Duanmingtang Bachelor, Zizhengtang Bachelor and Shu Wenzhong Su Shi to nourish their spirits and listen to them respectfully. Extensive reading and biography, several degrees of responsibility; Long after the work began, it was almost a golden sound. Know what you're talking about, why not Lu Zhi? Fang Jia was in full bloom and tasted special tricks; It is Chen Changzhi's policy to live and work in peace. Sighs between strangers are surprised and hurt in the mouth. Wandering at sea, as in the imperial court; Think about the past and the present, but if you are lucky. What cannot be taken away, what is natural and what is impossible are all natural names. Economics is not studied before death, but often discussed after death. People pass on Yuan You's knowledge, and there is a book of Meishan at home. I have made up my inheritance three times and have been proud for a long time. Wang Zuo's talents can be of great use, but he hates different times. The way of a gentleman is dark and chapter, which is about the world. If Jiuyuan can do it, it will not be heard for a thousand years. Only the spirit of English is cool and serves my life. Can be specially presented to teachers. I'm still the same.
From this point of view, Su Dongpo's special position in the history of China is, first, because he has always been firm in his own principles; Secondly, it is because of his extraordinary beauty in poetry and calligraphy. His moral character constitutes the backbone of his fame, and the beauty of his style and articles constitutes the flesh and blood of his spiritual beauty. I don't believe that we will sincerely admire a writer with poor and shameless character. No matter how talented his writing is, it is useless after all. The preface made by Xiaozong to Su Dongpo's collected works praised his integrity, which made his works different from those gorgeous and feminine works and made his reputation stand tall and unshakable.
But now, let's not forget that Su Dongpo is mainly a poet and writer. Of course, his name comes from this. There is a feature in his poems that is really difficult to describe, and it is certainly more elusive after being translated into another language. Masterpieces become masterpieces because readers of all ages think that "good works" are like that. In the final analysis, the immortal reputation of literature lies in the happiness that literature gives readers, but who can say how to please readers? The reason why literary works are different from ordinary works lies in the phonology, emotion and style that please people spiritually. Famous books can make people in the past love reading, instead of being overwhelmed by short-lived literary fashion, or even lasting. They must have a kind of "true purity" that we call from the heart, just as precious stones are not afraid of tests and real gold is not afraid of fire. When Su Dongpo wrote to Xie, he said, "Articles like pure gold and beautiful jade are valuable in the market. Non-people can talk about the nobility with their tongues. "
However, what is the "real purity" that makes the work enduring without losing its magic? Su Dongpo's view on writing style is the clearest. He said that making a fuss "is roughly like running water, with no definite quality at first, but it often ends by doing what you are doing." Natural arts and sciences, full of vitality. Confucius said: without words, it is not far away. Again: the words are just right. If a man's words stop at expressing his feelings, it is a big mistake to doubt that he doesn't write. Seeking the beauty of things, like catching the wind and catching the shadows, can make people know what they are doing, but can you make it clear in your mouth and hands? Yes, it is asserted. As for the text, it can't be used. Yang Xiong is a difficult word, and the text is easy to understand. If it is justified, then everyone knows it. This is the so-called carving bug. "To explain the style here, Su Dongpo skillfully described his writing style, such as" flowing ",and he ignored the secret of rhetorical composition. There are no rules and regulations about when to do and when to stop. As long as the author's feelings are wonderful, he can express them truly and accurately, and express them well enough, that kind of charm and unique beauty will naturally arise, rather than being attached to things outside the words. If you can express yourself skillfully, then the simplicity, naturalness, lightness and elegance of the article will come naturally. The so-called simplicity, naturalness, lightness and elegance in the articles here are the secrets of good style. With these characteristics, the article will not be boring, and there will be no fear of not having good articles to read.
In any case, making readers happy is indeed a major feature of Su Dongpo's works. Su Dongpo's happiest time is when he is writing. One day, Su Dongpo wrote to a friend and said, "The greatest pleasure in my life is that when I write a text, I can express my complicated feelings with my pen." I call myself the joy of life, not too much. "Su Dongpo's words make contemporary people feel the same way. Ouyang Xiu said that whenever he receives a new article written by Su Dongpo, he is always happy. A courtier in Song Shenzong told people that whenever the emperor refused to eat, he must be reading Su Dongpo's articles. Even when Su Dongpo was relegated to the outside world, as long as one of his new poems reached the palace, Emperor Zongshen would sigh and praise it in front of ministers. However, the emperor's sigh and praise for Su Dongpo is scaring some ministers, which will make the immortal live one more day and make Su Dongpo stay in exile and unable to return to the DPRK.
On one occasion, Su Dongpo wrote an article, thinking that the power of the article itself to make people feel happy is the reward of literature itself. In the last year of his life, he sometimes wanted to abandon pen and ink and never write again, because he spent his whole life buying trouble with a pen. In his reply to Liu Mian, he said: "Shi poor, he is writing. Those who want to peel the skin into shape but can't get it. However, what the younger son wrote is even stranger. Lonely and boring abroad, an outdated article watching entertainment is a few days of joy, eating and drinking. Don't underestimate articles like Yuzhu. " When the author is free to create, he can enjoy himself, and when the reader reads, he also feels happy. It makes sense that literature exists in the world.
Su Dongpo's talent, especially his richness, can be said to have broken through any boundaries without knowing where to stop. His poems are always fresh, unlike Wang Anshi's poems, which occasionally reach perfection. Su Shi doesn't need to be so perfect. Other poets' poems are limited to the rhetoric of poetry, and they should choose the general traditional theme of poetry, while Su Dongpo's poems are not limited to this. Even if he massages his bones and muscles in the bath, he can enter poetry, and slang and common sentences can be heard in poetry. It is often that he can be unique in poetry, but other poets can't, which makes his poetry friends gasp in admiration. His main contribution to literature is to explore the field of acacia characters that have been in my heart in the past. He can talk about Zen and philosophy of life, and he successfully took great risks under almost impossible circumstances. Because he often writes poems in public after dinner, he usually writes faster and better than others. His thoughts are fresher than others, and his metaphors and allusions are more appropriate than others. Once at a party to see him off in Huangzhou, a geisha came up and asked him to write a poem on her shawl. But Su Dongpo had never heard of this geisha, and immediately told her to grind ink, and immediately began to write:
Dongpo lived in Huangzhou for four years.
John young and Richie are speechless.
Stop here and talk to your friends. People here think this is a dull beginning, and there are only two sentences, and the whole poem has not been written yet. Dongpo continued to eat and laugh. Richie came forward and begged him to finish the poem. Dongpo picked up the pen again, and the last two sentences of the four-line poem:
But like the amazing Du Gongbu,
Although Haitang is good at not reciting poems.
This poem has a harmonious sound and rhyme, just like a small gem, with a light and natural beauty. The praise for Li Qi is just right, which makes the name of Huangzhou Geji immortal. The rhythm of China's poems is very rigorous, and it requires high skills when using allusions. Use other people's poems, and use the same words and rhymes. Somehow, the rhyme of Su Shi's poems is always more natural than that of others, and his allusions, when carefully observed, have deeper meanings. When writing prose, his pen is as wide as possible, from solemn and pure ancient prose style to relaxed and graceful and gripping sketches, he is omnipotent and wonderful. Dongpo is known to everyone for no reason.
Therefore, Su Dongpo is a major poet and essayist in China, as well as a first-class painter and calligrapher. He is good at talking and travels widely. Born intelligent, you will understand Buddhism as soon as you come into contact with it. So he often comes back with monks, and he is also the first person to put Buddhism into poetry. He guessed that the black spot on the moon was the shadow of the mountain. He created a new school of painting in China, namely literati painting, which added unique advantages to China art. He also dug lakes and rivers to control water and build dikes. He looked for herbs himself and was recognized as an authority on traditional Chinese medicine. He also dabbled in alchemy until his death, and he was extremely interested in seeking the elixir of life. He begged God to argue with the devil, and sometimes he really won. He tried to understand the mystery of the universe, but unfortunately he didn't finish all the work. He was only half successful, but he died laughing.
If we don't think the word "democracy" is too vulgar today, we can say that Su Dongpo is a person who speaks the spirit of democracy very much, because he has contacts with all walks of life, such as emperors, poets, ministers, hermits, pharmacists, pub owners and illiterate peasant women. His best friends are poets, unknown Taoist priests and people poorer than him. He also loves the glory of being an official, but he is happiest when he is mixed with the masses and no one knows him. He built water conservancy projects for Hangzhou and Guangzhou, established orphanages and hospitals, established a prison doctor system and prohibited infanticide. Among the consequences left by the social reform of Wang Anshi's new law, he devoted himself to famine relief and did not hesitate to fight against bureaucratic obstacles. At that time, he seemed to be the only one who cared about the drought and hunger thousands of miles away. He has been fighting against the DPRK for the people and begging the court to forgive the debts of the poor. He will succeed. He just wants to go his own way and pay for everything. Today, we can really say that he is an ancient man with modern spirit.