1
Li Bai and Su Shi's ethereal spirit
Li Bai is a naive Han and Su Shi is a Q Weng. They are both romantic grumblers and disciples of Qu Yuan. Both Qu Li and Su hold great political ideals, but just like Lu You and Xin Qijikong have great military ideals, if they really have the opportunity, they may not really be able to realize their ambitions.
The reason why their coquetry is lofty, open-minded, elegant and deep is that one of them is deeply influenced by Taoist thought, while the other is deeply colored by Buddhist thought. However, both of them want to enter the WTO but cannot be born, and they are ethereal and free and easy full of bitterness.
2 in the attitude and results towards the imperial examination.
Li Bai is a famous academician, but he is a "grass man". When the imperial examination prevailed in the Tang Dynasty, Li Bai disdained to take the road of imperial examination as an official, but dreamed of realizing the extraordinary political ambition of "clearing the sea county and setting the atlas area". This can be said to be unrealistic wishful thinking at that time. In the Tang Dynasty, it was not uncommon for a warrior to rise from a humble man to a position above ten thousand people. It is absolutely impossible to say that a scholar was shackled to power overnight. Because the imperial examination system is not only a basic system for selecting talents, but also an official system for appointing talents. The imperial court held this kind of public examination on a regular basis in order to give anyone the same opportunity to enter the body. Although this practice has its limitations, it is more progressive and reasonable than any previous electoral system by adopting the method of open competition. Li Bai, however, is unwilling to take such a road to becoming an official. He didn't do anything in politics all his life, and even didn't get a chance to do something, which was the inevitable result of his unwillingness to take the imperial examination. From Li Bai's attitude towards the imperial examination and his unrealistic fantasies in politics, we can see an important aspect of Li Bai's personality, that is, he is a surreal idealist.
Su Shi, a bachelor of Hanlin, is a trained scholar with a history of many battles. Su Shi's attitude towards the imperial examination is much more practical. His father tried his hand several times in the imperial examination hall, but his reputation fell to Sun Shan. Su Xun's dissatisfaction with the imperial examination was incisive in his articles such as "The Prime Minister's Letter to Korea" and "Guangshi". Su Shi is more likely than Li Bai to have a negative view of the imperial examination. However, Su Shi's parents and himself knew that all political ambitions could not be realized without taking the road of imperial examination at that time. Although they are well aware of the disadvantages of the exam, they still try their best to prepare for the exam and go to high school in one fell swoop. Su Shi has been floating in the official sea since then. Even though it has brought him a lot of pains and disasters, he has, after all, practiced his political opinions and life beliefs in a down-to-earth manner throughout his life, and benefited the people as much as possible, doing many practical things that are beneficial to the people. Su Shi's achievements in his life have won the memory and love of the people for thousands of years, which is related to his realistic attitude towards the imperial examination. Compared with Li Bai, Su Shi can base himself on reality, proceed from reality and complete the long journey of life step by step. More accurately, Su Shi can distinguish real life from artistic fantasy and avoid dealing with real life problems with unrealistic fantasies.
3. Self-confidence in their talents
Li Bai and Su Shi are both talented people. In their works, words and deeds, they all show high confidence in their talents. A careful comparison shows that there are also differences in their self-confidence.
First of all, Li Bai's self-confidence has many colors of self-idealization, while Su Shi's self-confidence has more self-motivation elements.
Li Bai Tianbao was called to Beijing in the early years. When he left, he had an amazing sentence, "Go out laughing, are we people from Artemisia?" He had high political expectations for this trip. In fact, at least in the Han dynasty, a more formal system was formed for people who were ordered by the emperor to reclaim grass and grass. The essence of this activity and the purpose of political propaganda are the most important. Except for some people who are pregnant with juexue, most people are expropriated, mainly to enjoy political honor, and the arranged official positions are not necessarily very prominent. Li Bai should know the history of this activity. He was recruited as a commoner, mainly because of his talent in poetry writing, and he was called to serve as an imperial scholar, which was the whole purpose of recruiting him. As for whether to appoint an official position at an appropriate time, it depends on his performance. Unfortunately, Li Bai has given too much idealization to this levy, thinking that the long-standing fantasy ambition of "reaching the Qing Dynasty through the calendar" failed to be realized at the beginning, and this will surely be realized. Because he was too idealistic about his political talents, he had high hopes for this trip. Once he arrived in Beijing, he just wrote lyrics for the emperor, which made him very disappointed. As a result, words and deeds are inevitably revealed, giving the scorner an excuse. In the end, Li Bai didn't even get the official and part-time jobs that ordinary people could get. He stayed in the court for two or three years, and the "giving money back" ended hastily. Here, I don't want to evaluate whether it is good or bad that he didn't get an official position. I just want to use this example to analyze that Li Baichun's idealized view of political reality is inevitable in political life.
in the few months after his death in Song Shenzong, Su Shi learned to ascend to the state from the assistant of Ruzhou Youth League Training, and within a few months, he was promoted as a doctor of rites, a scholar of Chinese calligraphy and a bachelor of Hanlin, which is rare. Su Shi is fully competent with his talent in the face of the rapid change of political status. But his greatest feeling is not surprise, conceit, or daydreaming about the future, but fear and caution, thinking about how to repay him with his work achievements. Therefore, at the beginning of Yuan Hu, he argued with Sima Guang, who was kind to himself, and gave up his favorite literary and artistic creation to the maximum extent in order to devote himself to his work. However, he wanted to do his job as well as possible, which was not only a great confidant, but also a handle for attacking the villains around him. Because Su Shi, who has been victimized by villains, will never take the harsh political struggle lightly. He clearly knows that political struggle and artistic life are completely different ways of life. Therefore, for Su Shi, the unexpected career honor is not only the satisfaction of fame and fortune, but also the terrible trap hidden under fame and fortune. If you are not careful, you will pay a painful price for it. This feeling of walking on thin ice is hard for Li Bai, who has never been in it.
Secondly, Li Bai's self-confidence is less directly hurt by political struggle, and has maintained a rare purity from beginning to end. Su Shi's self-confidence has been constantly tested by setbacks in his life experience, and its embodiment is constantly changing.
It was not until his later years that Li Bai was ruthlessly punished by politics because he entered the Shuiwang shogunate, and he was exiled from prison, which made him appreciate the cruel and terrible taste of political life. Generally speaking, because he has been out of the officialdom struggle for a long time, he is not familiar with political life, so his idealized political ambition exists in his heart in the form of good hope, and he always wants to try "cutting with a lead knife", but there is always no chance allowed by reality. When he makes emotional sighs in his poems, it is particularly touching. It may be unfair to Li Bai, but I'm glad that the reality has never provided him with the opportunity to go into politics. If he is given a kick in the officialdom, he may not be able to save Li Yuan like Xie An, and then get away with it. When he describes his naive ideal in the form of literature, it is particularly touching and lovely, because literature needs fantasy. If he really puts his ideal into practice, the reward he gets can only be failure.
In his youth, Su Shi was very similar to Li Bai in that he was "full of ambition in the world". However, Su Shi has always been at the center of political shock since he got involved in the debate on reform and malpractice. As a result, he suffered a series of political blows, which not only hurt his body and mind greatly, but even brought trouble to his brother, wife and children. After trying these lessons, it was not that his self-confidence disappeared, but that he began to think about a new life topic: what kind of value scale should self-confidence be based on? From the change of Su Shi's life values, we can see that he is working harder and harder to practice the spiritual value of life, that is, to surpass the secular fame and fortune. In his later years, Su Shi was banished to Linghai, which supported his life courage not because he wanted to make a political difference. On the contrary, he was extremely tired of the dispute between right and wrong in officialdom, and completely despaired of his political future. He lived a free life far from political disputes, with a relaxed spirit regardless of gains and losses, and a free and easy life beyond fame and fortune, with a quiet and indifferent mood, which enabled him to realize the satisfaction and beauty of life more than ever before. With such spiritual strength, he was lucky enough to survive in the Central Plains and did not die violently. Obviously, Su Shi's self-confidence in his later years is not based on his judgment of political ability or value, but on his own life choice and pursuit of his own personality.
4
The difference between their boldness and "fairy spirit".
Someone made a comparison between Li Bai and Su Shi, and came to the conclusion that: "Although Su Shi, like Li Bai, is the most bold and unconstrained literati in the Northern Song Dynasty, he is still much more delicate and introverted than Li Bai, and often has a touch of sadness while being wild. .....' Shenjing is worried' is the core of Su Shi's philosophy of life. " The psychological and emotional differences between Tang and Song scholars are indeed a barometer of the political climate of their respective times.
Ms. Ye Jiaying, a Canadian Chinese scholar, once compared the differences between Taibai Dongpo, two ancient poets, saying that Dongpo is a "man who is immortal", and he has the trouble of "man", which needs to be relieved by the wandering "immortal spirit", which is significantly different from Taibai's "immortal who is immortal and human". At the same time, it is his rare frankness, frankness and kindness that makes future generations feel more cordial when they mention him. Li Yibing, a Chinese-American scholar, said: "Su Shi is a person who strives for spiritual freedom and temperament, so he likes to make unrestrained banter with his friends, but he absolutely can't tolerate vulgarity and especially hates hypocritical affectation. He is a man who wants to be happy. If he can't curse, he will vent his feelings with' ridicule'. Wit-filled ridicule makes others rejoice, but it also makes the recipient deeply hate. However, for thousands of years, most people who sympathize with him have appreciated his enthusiasm and his integrity from those allegories. " ("Su Dongpo's New Biography: Heroic and Immortal") It is his great personality, which has won wide respect and kindness from later generations.
Su Shi was tired of officialdom, but never left it. He was quite indifferent to fame and fortune, but he never resolutely refused; Politics is too unfair to him, and he has not cut off the connection with politics. He is extremely fond of landscape nymphs, but he has never lived alone and lived in seclusion. The negative analysis of all this shows that with the unprecedented strengthening of autocratic politics in the Song Dynasty, the economic foundation of literati's self-reliance no longer exists, and they can only rely on taking benefits from officials. On the positive side, it is an inevitable choice made by Su Shi's life principle of making a difference based on reality. Su Shi's attitude towards life is gradually formed through his long-term life in this era and environment, which shows the real life attitude of literati and makes people feel more understanding and sympathy.
5
After all, Li Bai is mainly a poet, whose literary achievements are relatively limited and his cultural contributions are relatively small; Su Shi, on the other hand, is not only an all-rounder in literature and art who is good at poetry, ci, writing, calligraphy and painting, but also a scholar and thinker who is well versed in Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism. His various cultural creations and contributions make him the main representative of Song culture, and even a symbolic figure is not excessive.
6
Li Bai is wine, and Su Shi is tea.
Li Bai likes drinking, and he likes to find himself in a hearty way. His strong personality is as strong as wine, and his love and hate are extremely vivid and exposed. At the same time, wine has given Li Bai a colorful and magnificent attitude towards life and a temperament beyond reality. When we go out laughing in the sky, we are not Artemisia people! How natural and unrestrained, how extraordinary, this is the essence of wine.
Su Shi is also bold and unconstrained, but his boldness is different from that of Li Bai. Li Bai is free and unrestrained in his boldness, while Su Shi's boldness is calm and rational. He is relatively restrained, and his tea is elegant and lofty. Even if it is strong and strong, it will not be beyond its essence. In fact, Su Shi also drinks.