was written by Gu Xiancheng, a famous thinker in Ming Dynasty.
Gu Xiancheng founded Donglin Academy in Wuxi. After giving lectures, he often commented on the state affairs, and wrote this famous couplet with lofty aspirations, which was widely read and became the concentric voice and motto of many scholars and people with lofty ideals. This couplet is now hanging in Yiyong Hall.
Later, people used it to advocate "saving the country without forgetting to study", which still has positive significance.
The first couplet combines the sound of reading with the sound of wind and rain, which is both poetic and meaningful. The bottom line has the ambition to rule the country and the world. The wind is against the rain, the home is against the country, and the ear is against the heart. It is extremely neat, especially when used in conjunction with words, such as the sound of books.
Extended information
Gu Xiancheng was honored as "Mr. Donglin" because he founded Donglin Academy. After being a scholar in the eighth year of Wanli (158), he served as a Beijing official and was in charge of the household registration department. In the fifteenth year of Wanli (1587), because of the defense of the superior, there were places in the words that angered the authorities, which were scolded by the imperial edict and relegated to the position of judge of Guiyang Prefecture, and gradually promoted to the position of magistrate of Chuzhou.
In the 22nd year of Wanli (1594), the imperial court recommended the appointment of a cabinet college student. All the people nominated by Gu Xiancheng were detested by Ming Shenzong, which further angered Shenzong, and they were stripped of their official status and dismissed from their posts. After Gu Xiancheng returned to his hometown, he initiated the maintenance of Donglin Academy with his younger brother Gu Yuncheng, and gave lectures with Gao Panlong, while promoting his political views.
In the thirty-second year of Wanli (164), in October of the lunar calendar, Gu Xiancheng, together with Gu Yuncheng, Gao Panlong, An Xifan, Liu Yuanzhen, Qian Yiben, Xue Fujiao, Ye Maocai (known as the Eight Gentlemen of Donglin) and others, initiated the Donglin Conference and formulated the Donglin Convention. Donglin Academy not only gives lectures and discusses politics, but also attracts many people with lofty ideals, including some officials who have been reprimanded for criticizing state affairs. Regardless of the distance of the road, they came one after another, and the number of people was so large that the learning houses of Donglin College could not be accommodated.
Gu Xiancheng once said: "To be an official in the imperial court, the ambition is not in the emperor; to be an official in the border area, the ambition is not in people's livelihood, and to live in a forest by the water, and the ambition is not in the world. A gentleman does not do this." In addition to giving lectures, he often talks about state affairs and comments on people. People in the imperial court admire his demeanor and echo him from a distance. As a result, Donglin became famous and there were many people who hated it, so it was called "Donglin Party" by their opponents.
in p>168 (thirty-six years of Wanli), many eastern officials recommended the re-use of Gu Xiancheng. Gu Xiancheng was officially appointed as Shaoqing of Nanjing Guanglu Temple, but Gu Xiancheng refused to accept the appointment and continued to stay in his hometown to give lectures and discuss politics.
Baidu Encyclopedia-Gu Xiancheng