In the first year of Yi in the Eastern Jin Dynasty (405), Tao Yuanming abandoned his official position and returned to the field, and wrote "Returning to the Ci". Tao Yuanming became an official at the age of 29 and has been an official for thirteen years. He has always hated officialdom and yearned for the countryside. At the age of 4 1 in the first year of Yixi, he made his last official career. After more than 80 days, he resigned and went home. I never came out to be an official again. According to Tao Qian Biography of Song Dynasty and Tao Yuanming Biography of Xiao Tong, Tao Yuanming retired out of dissatisfaction with decadent reality. At that time, the county tour visited Pengze, and officials asked him to greet him with a belt to show his respect. He said angrily, "I don't want to bend over to the children in the village for five buckets of rice!" " "On the same day, I hung up my crown and left my post. I gave the word" come home to Xi "to clarify my thoughts.
Full text translation:
The family is poor, and farming and mulberry are not enough for their own living. There are many children, there is no surplus grain in the rice jar, and I have not found the ability to make a living. Most of my relatives and friends advised me to be an official, and I had the same idea in my heart, but I lacked access to officials. Just going abroad, the local officials regard virtue as virtue, and my uncle tried his best to help me because his family was poor, so he sent me to a small county to be an official. At that time, the society was in turmoil, and I dared not be an official in the distance. Pengze county was a hundred miles away from home, and the grain harvested by the farm was enough to make wine, so he asked to go there. After a few days, I began to feel homesick. Why is this? Nature is allowed to be natural, which is reluctant; Although hunger and cold is an urgent problem to be solved, it is painful both physically and mentally to go against a person's original intention of being an official. In the past, when I was an official, I always treated myself to dinner. Therefore, I am disappointed, excited and deeply ashamed of my lifelong wish. Still hoping to see this crop mature, I packed my bags and left overnight. Soon, my sister who married the Cheng family died in Wuchang. She was anxious to be removed from her official position. I have been working for more than eighty days from the second month of autumn to winter. I resigned and got my wish, so I wrote an article entitled "Looking Back". Second year 1 1 month.
Go home! The countryside will be deserted, why not go back? Since your mind is enslaved by your body, why are you sad and depressed? I know that past mistakes are irreversible, but I know that things that have not happened can still be remedied. I am really lost, but it's not too far. I realized that the choice now is correct, and the behavior I used to do was lost. The boat floated gently on the water, moving briskly, and the wind beat gently, blowing up clothes. I asked the pedestrians in front of me for directions. I hate being too slow in the morning.
Finally, I saw my home and ran over with joy. The servants greeted me cheerfully, and the children were waiting at the door. The path in the yard is going to be deserted, and pine chrysanthemums are still growing there. I took the children into the room, and the bottle was full of sake. I picked up the hip flask and drank it myself. I looked at the trees in the yard and felt very happy. By the south window, I feel proud and complacent, and I feel very comfortable living in a humble hut. Walking in the yard every day is a pleasure. The door of the small garden is often closed. I go out for a walk with crutches, rest anytime and anywhere, and always look up at the distance. Clouds naturally emerge from the mountains, and tired birds know to fly back to their nests; The sun is dim, the sun is about to set, and the hand caresses the solitary pine.
Come back! I want to break up with secular people. The world is contrary to what I think. What can I try to explore? Take heart-to-heart talk among relatives as fun, play the piano and read books as fun, and eliminate worries. The farmer told me that it is spring and farming will begin in the fields in the west. Sometimes I call a car with curtains, and sometimes I row a boat. Sometimes through the deep winding valley, sometimes through the rugged mountain road. The vegetation is lush and the water is good. I envy all things in nature to grow luxuriantly in time when spring comes and sigh that my life is coming to an end.
Forget it! How long can you live in this world? Why not let it die of natural causes? Why are you unhappy? Where are you going? Wealth is not what I want, and there is no hope of becoming an immortal. Take advantage of the beautiful spring time, go out for a walk alone. Sometimes put down the rattan and pick up the farm tools to weed and cultivate the soil; Climb the mountains in the east and shout loudly, and recite poems by the Qingxi. Just let nature take its course and finish the journey of life, holding the idea of a happy fate. What is there to hesitate about?