The poet Wang Fanzhi of the Tang Dynasty wrote in a poem: "Others rode big horses, and I rode a donkey alone. Looking back at the man who carried firewood, I feel a little sad." This poem was popularly rewritten by later generations. It is: "He rode a horse and I rode a donkey. After thinking about it carefully, I am not as good as me. I looked back and saw the man pushing the cart. Although the top was not enough, there was more than enough for the bottom."
Therefore, these four sentences have no specific author and originated from the Tang Dynasty. The poet Wang Fanzhi was later often used as inscriptions in paintings.
Original text:
Poems (two poems) Wang Fanzhi I have a convenience, worth a hundred pieces of practice. Fight each other for a long time and hide the weak, and they will not enter the county until they die. Others ride big horses, and I sit alone on a donkey. Looking back on the chai man, I feel a bit more concerned. There are three figures in the painting, arranged from left to right. The one on the far left is a dignitary riding a tall horse. He is dressed in silk and satin and looks majestic, symbolizing the upper class in real life.
The one in the middle is the "I" in these four sentences, which can also be understood as the original author of these four sentences. He was seen riding a donkey backwards, with an indifferent expression, watching the man pushing a cart behind him, symbolizing the middle class in real life.
The one on the far right is the cart pusher. He was in ragged clothes, struggling to push the cart in his hand, and could only follow behind the two people in front of him, symbolizing the common people in real life.
Translation:
Looking at the people in front of me riding horses, and I can only ride a donkey, when I think about it carefully, I really can’t compare. But when I looked back at the man pushing the cart behind me, I realized that although I was not as good as the one above, I was still more than enough.
These four sentences embody the typical "gold mean" thinking of "more than enough than above", reminding people that they should be content and happy in life. People often encounter many unsatisfactory things in this life, but many times they are due to comparison between themselves and others. Some are envious of others' origins, some are jealous of others' beauty, and some resent others' promotions and fortunes. Little do they know that such comparisons will only make themselves fall into the trap of vanity.
Therefore, in life, we should learn to be content with what we have, and not always think about comparing with others, but more about how to compare with ourselves. Only in this way can we feel calm and achieve success. More progress.
Extended information:
Creative background:
It is still unknown how many poems Wang Fanzhi wrote in his life. In the sixth year of Dali of the Tang Dynasty (771), 110 manuscripts of poems were handed down. "Complete Poems of the Tang Dynasty" does not contain his poems. "History of Song Dynasty·Yiwenzhi" records one volume of Wang Fanzhi's poems. Since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Brahma poetry has gradually been lost. The "Complete Poems of the Tang Dynasty" compiled during the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty actually excluded Fanzhi poetry. In the twenty-sixth year of Guangxu's reign (1900), another Fanzhi poem was discovered in the "Dunhuang Posthumous Notes".
In the 14th year of the Republic of China (1925), Liu Fu recorded a volume of Wang Fanzhi's poems in "Dunhuang Shisuo". Later, Zheng Zhenduo edited and edited one volume of Wang Fanzhi's Poems and 16 lost poems. Many people in the international Dunhuang academic community study Brahma poetry, but they have not been compiled into a collection. In October 1983, Zhonghua Book Company published "Wang Fanzhi's Poetry Compilation" edited by Zhang Xihou.
This collection is based on 28 different manuscripts of the "Dunhuang Posthumous Notes" and Wang Fanzhi's poems scattered in poetry talks and notebook novels of the Tang and Song Dynasties. (Excluding 12 attached poems), although it is far from the entirety of the poet's works, it can still represent the poet's creative tendency and ideological style.
His popular poems were very popular in the Tang and Song Dynasties. Jiao Ran's "Poem Style", Fan Xun's "Yunxi Youyi", He Guangyuan's "Jianjie Lu", Huihong's "Lin Jian Lu", "Leng Zhai Night Talk", Ruan Yue's "Shi Hua Zonggui", Xiaoying's "Yun Wo Ji Tan", Zhuang Chuo's "Chicken Ribs", and Fei Gun's "Liang Xi Zhi".
Ji Yougong's "Chronicles of Tang Poetry", Hu Zai's "Tiaoxi Yuyincong Talk", Chen Yanxiao's "Gengxi Poetry Talk", Tao Zongyi's "Shuo Yong", Yang Shen's "Zen Lin Gouxuan" " and so on have transcribed Wang Fanzhi's poems. The "Nihon Mikasho Catalog" compiled during the Heian Dynasty of Japan records "two volumes of Wang Fanzhi's poems". It can be speculated that it was spread to Japan in about the eighth or ninth century.