Liu Zongyuan (AD 773-AD 8 19165438+1October 28th), a native of Hedong (now Yongji area in Yuncheng, Shanxi Province), was one of the eight masters in the Tang and Song Dynasties, and was known as "Liu Hedong" and "Mr. Hedong" in the Tang Dynasty. Liu Zongyuan and Han Yu are called Liu Han, Liu Yuxi is called Liu Liu, and Wang Wei, Meng Haoran and Wei Wuying are called Wang Meng.
Liu Zongyuan left more than 600 poems in his life, and his achievements in writing were greater than poems. Nearly a hundred parallel essays, argumentative essays, sharp and ironic. There are many places where scenery is described in travel notes, such as Collection of Mr. Hedong, with representative works such as Xiju, Jiang Xue and Fisherman.
Liu's former residence is located in Wenxing Village, Qinshui County, Jincheng City, Shanxi Province. It was built by Liu Zongyuan's adherents and is a national scenic spot.
Early life
Liu Zongyuan's ancestral home is Hedong County (Liu's, Xue's and Pei's in Hedong are also called "Hedong Three Surnames"), and he has been an official for generations (the seventh ancestor, assistant minister in the Northern Wei Dynasty, sealing Yin Gong). Liu Zongyuan's great-grandfather Liu and his grandfather Liu Chagong were both county magistrates. His father, Jin Ryu, was an imperial adviser. Liu Zongyuan's mother, Lu, is a land native and has been an official for generations. Liu Zongyuan has only two sisters.
In 773, Liu Zongyuan was born in the capital Chang 'an. At the age of four, his mother lived with him in Jingxi Manor. The mother's enlightenment education made Liu Zongyuan have a strong interest in knowledge. Liu Zongyuan spent his childhood in Chang 'an, so he had some knowledge and feelings about the corruption and incompetence of the imperial court and the social crisis and turmoil. When he was nine years old, he met the Jian Zhong Rebellion. Four years after the founding of the People's Republic of China, Liu Zongyuan came to his father's office in Xiakou to escape the war. Liu Zongyuan, who was only 12 years old, also experienced the war of separatist regions. In 785 (the first year of Zhenyuan), Jin Ryu went to Jiangxi as an official. Liu Zongyuan traveled with his father and directly contacted the society, which increased his knowledge. He takes part in social activities, makes friends and is valued by people. Soon, he returned to Chang 'an. My father, Jin Ryu, has been working in the government and county for a long time, and has a good understanding of the real social situation, and has developed a positive attitude towards life and a moral character of integrity. His father, who was good at poetry and prose, and his mother, who believed in Buddhism, laid the foundation for his later thought of "the integration of Confucianism and Buddhism".
Young genius
In 792, Liu Zongyuan was elected as a township tribute and was able to take the Jinshi exam. In 793, at the age of 265,438+0, Liu Zongyuan was admitted to the Jinshi examination and became famous. Soon, Liu Zongyuan's father Jin Ryu died, and Liu Zongyuan was in mourning at home. In 796, Liu Zongyuan was assigned to the secretary province as a school book lang. In 798, 26-year-old Liu Zongyuan took the erudite macro-character exam and won the list, and was awarded the orthography of Jixian Temple Academy (ranking from Nine Grades). In 80 1 year, Liu Zongyuan was appointed as Lantian Wei (Zhengliupin). In 803 10, Liu Zongyuan was transferred back to Chang 'an as the censor. Since then, he has made more friends with the upper echelons of officialdom, gained a deeper understanding of the dark corruption of politics, and gradually sprouted the desire for reform, becoming an important figure in Wang's reformists.
In the period of innovation
In 805 (the 21st year of Zhenyuan), 65438+1October 26th, Tang Dezong died, and the crown prince Li Yong succeeded to the throne and changed to Yongzheng, that is, Shunzong. After Shunzong ascended the throne, he reused Wang and others. Liu Zongyuan, because of the same political views as Wang, was also promoted to the position of Shangshu, who was in charge of etiquette, sacrifice and tribute. At this time, Wang was surrounded by many politicians with the same political views, including Han Tai, Han Ye, Liu Yuxi, Ling Zhun, Cheng Yi, Lu Wen, Li Jingjian and others, forming a political group. After Wang took office, he actively promoted innovation and adopted a series of reform measures, which was called Yongzhen innovation in history. (The main innovative measures are: restraining the forces of the buffer regions and strengthening the central power; Abolish Miyagi and get rid of eunuchs in Diaofang, Stork House, Stork House, Dog House and Eagle House (commonly known as the sons of Five Houses); Deny corrupt officials; Rectify taxes, cancel the extra contributions of local officials and local salt and iron envoys, and try to recover the military power in the hands of eunuchs and buffer regions. With the aggravation of Shunzong's illness, the eunuch group headed by Ju Wenzhen, courtiers and foreign governors joined forces to oppose the reformists' pressure on the court to abdicate.
In April, 805, eunuchs Wen Zhen, Liu Guangqi and Xue Yingzhen named Li Chun, the king of Guangling, as a prince and renamed him Chun Li. In May, Wang was removed from the post of Hanlin Bachelor. In July, the eunuch minister invited the prince to supervise the country. In the same month, Wang went home to mourn for his mother. On August 5, Shunzong was forced to abdicate to Prince Chunli, known in history as "Yong Zhen Nei Chan". Chun Li acceded to the throne, that is, Xian Zong. As soon as Xian Zong ascended the throne, he attacked the political groups headed by Wang and Wang Lai. On August 6th, Wang was demoted to the secretariat of Yuzhou, and Wang Yi was the Sima of Kaizhou. Wang Yi died of illness soon after he took office, and Wang was given the death penalty soon. Yongzheng's innovation failed, which lasted more than *** 180 days.
Move to the left and leave forever.
After the failure of Yongzhen's innovation, Liu Zongyuan was demoted to Shaozhou secretariat in September and to Yongzhou Sima in May 5438+065438+ 10. (Other members of the Wang Political Group were also demoted to the Sima of the original state, and later called "Sima of the two kings and eight sons". ) Liu Zongyuan stayed in longxing temple after his arrival. Six months later, Liu Zongyuan's mother died of illness.
In August15, Liu Zongyuan left Yongzhou and lived in Yongzhou 10. Liu Zongyuan studied philosophy, politics, history, literature and other aspects, traveled around Yongzhou and made friends with local scholars and idlers. He wrote Eight Chapters of Yongzhou (3 17 of more than 540 poems in the complete works of Liuhe East).
In August15 (Yuanhe Ten Years), 65438+ 10, Liu Zongyuan received an imperial edict and asked him to return to Beijing immediately. In February, after more than a month's trek, Liu Zongyuan returned to Chang 'an. In Chang 'an, Liu Zongyuan was not reused. Because of Wu's hatred for others, he didn't agree to reopen it. /kloc-in March of 0/4, Liu Zongyuan was demoted to Liuzhou secretariat. At the end of March, Liu Zongyuan left Chang 'an for Liuzhou and arrived on June 27th. 8 19 years (14 years of Yuan and Yuan), an amnesty was granted by Xianzong. Under the persuasion of Pei Du, Xianzong summoned Liu Zongyuan back to Beijing. On the eighth day of November, Liu Zongyuan died in Liuzhou. At the age of 47.
Main contribution
Literary works
Liu Zongyuan left more than 600 poems in his life, and his achievements were greater than poems. There are nearly a hundred parallel prose, and ancient prose can be roughly divided into six categories.
(1) Comments: Including philosophy, political theory and essays mainly focusing on comments. Sharp pen, accurate argument. Tian Shuo is a masterpiece of philosophical papers. (Feudalism and Heavenly Punishment are representative works of medium-length and long-length political theory. Jin Wengong's "Defending the Original Motion", "Debate between Dong Brothers" and Yi Yin's "Five Opinions on Street Praise" are representatives of political papers. ) There is simple materialism in his philosophy. His political thoughts are mainly embodied in the progressive social historical view that emphasizes "potential" and the Confucian people-oriented thought. But also influenced by Buddhism, especially when they are frustrated politically, they often seek spiritual liberation from Buddhism.
(2) Fable: Inheriting and developing the traditions of Zhuangzi, Han Feizi, Lu Chunqiu, Liezi and the Warring States Policy, it was mostly used to satirize and attack the ugly phenomenon of the society at that time. Innovate, create whimsy, and make good use of anthropomorphic artistic images of various animals to express philosophical or political views. (Representative works include Three Commandments (Linjiang Elk, Guizhou Donkey, Yongmou Mouse), Biography, Fierce Master, etc. Laugh and curse, because things are small, showing a high degree of humor and irony.
(3) Biography: Inherited the tradition of Historical Records and Hanshu, and made some innovations (representative works include Anecdote of Duan Taiwei, Biography of Zi Ren, Biography of Hejian, Story of Snake Catcher, etc. Some works are exaggerated and fictional on the basis of real people, such as fables and novels (such as Song Qingchuan). )
(4) Landscape Travels: The most popular ones are written after being demoted, and Yongzhou's works are even better. (Representative works include Travel Notes on the First Banquet in the Western Hills, Music Circle, Western Hills in the Music Circle, From Xiaoshichi to the Western Hills, Yuan Jiake, Shiqu, Shi Jian and Koishiyama). His works not only contain his own experience and resentment through beautiful scenery; There is also a description of the author's quiet state of mind, which is manifested in extreme depression and the pursuit of spiritual sustenance. As for the direct description of the scenery, it is steep and clean, or beautiful and pleasant, and reproduces the beauty of nature with delicate language.
(5) Poem and Sao Fu: unique (representative works such as Punishment Fu, Sheng Min Fu, Dream Returning Fu, Prison Mountain Fu, etc. They are all in the style of Li Sao and Nine Chapters. Or express one's mind directly, or borrow ancient times to hurt oneself, or borrow fables to express irony and think hard, which won the essence of Qu Sao. "Tian Dui" and "Jin Wen" are another type, imitating Tian Wen and Qi Fa, with strange and profound words. In addition, Liu Jizhong has many works about Buddhist tablets, inscriptions, notes, preface, poems and so on, involving Zen, Tiantai Sect, Buddhism and other theories. There are more than 40 pieces of Liu Shi/KLOC-0, all of which were written after relegation. His predecessors, Wang Wei, Meng Haoran and Wei also called him Wang Meng. Some of his five ancient thoughts are close to Tao Yuanming's poems, with simple and natural language and elegant and meaningful style. The other five ancient poets were all influenced by Xie Lingyun. They were particular about their lyrics, mixed with Hyunri, and even learned from Xie Shi when they did the exercises. However, Liu's poems can contain bitterness, similarities and differences in beauty. Liu's poems also have rhythmic poems, which are famous for their generosity, sadness and health. (For example, climbing the Liuzhou Tower to send Zhang Tingfeng to four counties is a masterpiece of the seven laws of the Tang Dynasty, and Jiang Xue, Fisherman and Western Opera are also rare works in the quatrains of the Tang Dynasty).
(6) Anthology: Liu Yuxi began to compile Liu Ji's Anthology of Mr. Hedong. There were many annotated books in Song Dynasty, and Han Chun's Collected Works of Liu Xun is the earliest extant work of Liu Ji. In the Ming Dynasty, Jiang's Warp Collection was annotated with Liuhe East Collection. For his deeds, see Han Yu's Epitaph of Liu Zihou, Biographies of Old and New Tang Books and Chronicle of Mr. Liu in Wen 'anli.
Ideological theory
Philosophical thinking
Liu Zongyuan was a political innovator and admired the movement of ancient Chinese prose. In Liu Zongyuan's philosophical works, he holds a negative attitude towards the theory of "the image of Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties" advocated by Dong Zhongshu, a great scholar in Han Dynasty. He opposed the theory of heaven, criticized theology, emphasized personnel, and replaced "God" with "man". Liu Zongyuan turned his criticism of theology into a criticism of politics, explained the relationship between heaven and man from the materialistic point of view, and criticized the idealistic theory of destiny. His philosophical thoughts were in line with the development of social productive forces and the level of natural science at that time. He developed ancient naive materialism's atheism to a new height and was an outstanding thinker in the middle Tang Dynasty. Liu Zongyuan's philosophical works include Non-Mandarin, Zhen Fu, Seasonal Theory, Criminal Argument, Tian Shuo, Tian Dui and so on. In these works, Liu Zongyuan holds a negative attitude towards the theory of "the image of Xia, Shang and Zhou" advocated by Dong Zhongshu, a great scholar in Han Dynasty, opposes the theory of heaven, destiny and heaven, criticizes theology, emphasizes personnel, and replaces "arsenic" with "human". Liu Zongyuan also turned his criticism of theology into a criticism of politics, and explained the relationship between heaven and man from the perspective of simple materialism.
Some of Liu Zongyuan's social and political works are the concrete embodiment of his political thought and a means for him to participate in political struggle. Liu Zongyuan believes that the whole social history is a natural development process, with an inevitable trend of objective development independent of human will. From the standpoint of compromise and reconciliation, his speech gave a harmonious explanation of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism.
Buddhist thought
Liu Zongyuan was a good Buddha all his life. He once said, "I have been a good Buddha since I was a child, and I have been seeking his way for thirty years." These 30 years can be roughly divided into three stages: blindness in childhood, fashion in the ruling period and sobriety after being demoted. [22] During his stay in Chang 'an, he made friends with monks in and out of the official literary world, such as Wen Chang. He appreciated the relationship between famous family members and monks Zhi Daolin, Shi, Hui Yuan and Hui Xiu since the Jin and Song Dynasties, and highly praised the life of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism of his contemporaries. Liu Zongyuan believes that "Buddhism is big and inclusive, and those who are ashamed of the world must think about it." This is his true psychological state of being demoted to Yongzhou after the failure of political reform. Therefore, "from mountains and rivers", more consciously seek comfort from natural mountains and rivers to solve the depression in my heart.
Liu Zongyuan is by no means indifferent by nature, and his attitude towards life is positive and persistent. Although he is a good Buddha, his thoughts are basically Confucian. He has two major activities in his life: one is to participate in Yongzhen innovation, and the other is to lead the ancient prose movement. Both of them are related to his thought of reviving Confucianism and helping the world and applying it. He not only practiced the political ideal of "making great efforts to govern, accumulating wealth and making great achievements, but also clearly put forward the proposition that" writers should take Ming Dow as their teacher "and the principle of" taking Confucian classics as the source ".
Although Liu Zongyuan claimed to be a "good Buddha since childhood", Tiantai Sect also listed him as a lay disciple. However, he is not a devout Buddhist. He studied many schools, and Su Shi praised him as "proficient in Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism". His acceptance of Buddhism is mainly to understand the principles of Buddhism and to "integrate Confucianism and Buddhism" and bring Buddhism into the Confucian ideological system.
Literary features
poetic sentiment
There are more than 140 poems written by Liu Zongyuan, which is one of the few in the Tang Dynasty, but many of them have been handed down from generation to generation. On the basis of his unique life experience, thoughts and feelings, he drew lessons from the artistic experience of his predecessors, exerted his creative talent, created a unique artistic style, and became an outstanding poet representing one school at that time. Su Shi commented: "It is expensive to dry the cream outside, which seems as light as beauty and as deep as thick." Juxtapose Liu Zongyuan and Tao Yuanming. Liu Zongyuan's existing poems are mostly works after being relegated to Yongzhou, with a wide range of themes and diverse genres. His narrative poems are simple in writing and vivid in description, and his allegorical poems are vivid in image and profound in meaning. Lyrics are better at expressing their feelings euphemistically and profoundly with fresh and cool writing. No matter what genre it is, it is meticulously written and has a long lasting appeal. It shows extremely deep feelings in a simple style and presents a unique look. Because he is a poet who cares about reality and sympathizes with the people, he can write poems with social significance and artistic value no matter what theme he writes.
Literary forms like Fu.
Yan Yu, a poet in the Song Dynasty, said: "In the Tang Dynasty, only thick sons got the Sao school." This theory is very pertinent. Liu Zongyuan inherited and carried forward the tradition of Qu Yuan's Ci and Fu. His ci and fu not only used the traditional form, but also inherited the spirit of Qu Yuan. This may be because although they are separated by thousands of years, they are similar in thought, experience, ambition and personality. "Old Tang Book" said that Liu Zongyuan was "a fugitive with a bumpy life (family B). There are dozens of essays that express the sorrow of poets, write emotional narratives, and the emotions must be in the words, and the visitors are all sorrowful. " How similar it is to Qu Yuan's Ci and Fu. Liu Zongyuan's "Nine Poems" and "Ten Sao Poems" are really excellent works in the prose literature of the Tang Dynasty. Whether focusing on expressing feelings or reciting things, they are sincere and rich in content.
essay
Liu Zongyuan's prose is as famous as Han Yu's, as well as Liu Han, Ouyang Xiu and Su Shi's in the Song Dynasty. He is the most outstanding essayist in the history of China. In the middle Tang Dynasty, Liu Zongyuan and Han Yu initiated and led an ancient prose movement in the literary world. They put forward a series of ideological theories and literary ideas. In the content of the article, in view of the shortcomings of parallel prose, such as not paying attention to content and emptiness, this paper puts forward "the unity of literature and Taoism" and "the unity of literature and Taoism" The article demands to reflect the reality, and "injustice will sound", which is full of critical spirit to get rid of the disadvantages of the times. In the form of the article, it is proposed to innovate the style, break through the shackles of parallel prose, and the sentence length is not limited, requiring innovative language to "speak out" and "speak out". In addition, it is also pointed out that "stand up" first and then "stand up". This is a progressive literary proposition. In their creative practice, Han and Liu created many excellent essays with rich content, skillful skills and concise and vivid language. Liu Han's ancient prose movement has a far-reaching influence on later generations.
fable
In his travels and fables, Liu Zongyuan also left outstanding works for future generations. Eight Chapters of Yongzhou became the representative work of China's ancient landscape travel notes. These beautiful landscape travel notes vividly express people's feelings about natural beauty, enrich the new field of classical prose reflecting life, and thus establish the position of landscape as an independent literary genre in the history of literature. Because of its artistic achievements, it has been told by people throughout the ages and is highly respected. Besides fable poems, Liu Zongyuan also wrote many fables, such as Donkey of Guizhou and Mouse of Yongmou, which became famous fables in ancient times. "The donkey is poor in skills" has become an idiom, and almost everyone knows it. Some fables are short in length, but they are told through the ages, just like his landscapes.
Personality assessment
Su Shi: "It's expensive to dry cream outside, as light as beauty, as deep as thick."
Ouyang Xiu: "Heaven is rich in children, but it is difficult to be immune. After the limit, you will suddenly be promoted, and after the limit, you will be hurt and destroyed. The danger of worry often makes the heart cry. Throw it in the clearing and let go of the genius. The mountains and rivers are in danger, and the upper and lower poles are spinning. Therefore, in the article, the language is more Cui Wei. "
Yan Yu: "Only Houzi won the Sao School in the Tang Dynasty."
Mao Zedong: "Liu Zongyuan is a materialist philosopher. See his theory of heaven. This philosophical treatise puts forward the argument that "heaven and man win" and opposes the theory of destiny. Liu Yuxi developed this materialism. "