During the Wei and Jin Dynasties, Ji Kang, Ruan Ji, Shan Tao, Xiang Xiu, Liu Ling, Wang Rong and Ruan Xian often lived under the bamboo forest, drinking, singing and having fun. They were known as the Seven Bamboo Forests. Xian?. The seven celebrities became famous slightly later than the "Seven Sons of Jian'an" and had different personalities. Most of them exceeded the famous teachings and followed nature, and abandoned the classics in favor of Lao Zhuang. Among the Seven Sages, Ji Kang and Ruan Ji achieved the highest achievements. Their poems and music works were translated into different languages ??by famous sinologists such as Zhai Lisi, Lai Delie, and Bole Shan. The thoughts of the "Seven Sages of the Bamboo Forest" were also adopted by Yu Wen, Sinologists such as Hou Simeng, Gao Luopei and Ma Ruizhi have conducted extensive research.
If we study history, we will find that the worship of the Seven Sages is a worldwide cultural phenomenon. "Seven Sages" first appeared in "Gilgamesh". "Gilgamesh" is the oldest heroic epic known in world literature. It was circulated among the Sumerians in the Mesopotamia more than 4,000 years ago. After thousands of years of processing and refinement, it was finally It was fixed in written form during the period of the ancient Babylonian Kingdom (about 19th century BC to 16th century BC). In this masterpiece, there are records of the "Seven Wise Men" who brought civilization to seven cities in Mesopotamia.
There were also seven sages in ancient Greece. They were Bias of Plina, Chilo of Sparta, Cleobulus of Rhodes, Periander of Corinth, and Lesbian. Pittachus of the island, Solon of Athens, and Thales of Miletus. Only the legislator Solon and the philosopher Thales are well known to modern people. Solon, born in Athens in 638 BC and died in 559 BC, was a politician, legislator and poet in ancient Athens. He once served as the first consul of the city-state of Athens, formulating laws and carrying out reforms. He is known in history as? Solon's Reform?. Thales is considered to be the originator of Western philosophy. He was a philosopher of the same period as Solon. He was born in Miletus on the southwest coast of Asia Minor. He was a businessman in his early years. He traveled to Babylon, Egypt and other places, learned astronomy and geometry, and founded He joined the Ionian School and sought truth through natural phenomena. He believed that there was life and movement everywhere, and considered water as the origin of all things. When Thales was in Egypt, he calculated the height of the pyramid by using the sun's shadow and proportion.
But there are also historical books that refer to Thales as the "Seven Sages of Greece" together with Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, Pythagoras, Euclid, and Archimedes.
In the "Anthology of Han-Tibetan History", there is a record of the "Deeds of the Seven Wise Ministers of Tubo", which describes the seven sage ministers in the history of the thousand-year civilization development from the Yarlung tribe to the Tubo Dynasty. For example, Rulejie, one of the wise ministers, devoted his life to the development of agriculture, reclaimed grassland into farmland, domesticated cattle and sheep, advocated the storage of summer grass in winter, and improved the original production method of Tubo. There is also Labu Guoga, who strongly advocates the accumulation of water in lakes and the guidance of stream water to irrigate farmland to increase crop yields. The most famous among them is Tumi Sambuza. He is the founder of Tibetan. The use of words is the fundamental reason why Tubo is Tubo. Later generations respect him as the top of the Seven Sages of Tubo. Throughout the Tubo era, there are far more than the seven good ministers who made great contributions to history. The "Seven Sages of Tubo" were specially selected by later historians, showing the influence of the worship of the Seven Sages.
In Korean history, there are also existences similar to the "Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove". During the Goryeo Dynasty, culture was valued over military affairs. There were deep conflicts between civil and military ministers, and military personnel were suppressed. In 1170, the Wuchen Rebellion finally broke out, and civil servants were massacred. Many talented literati were driven out of the political arena. They had to organize into small groups of literati to vent their dissatisfaction and engage in passive resistance through poetry, wine and singing. ?is one of the most influential.
In the United States, there is also the saying of the "Seven Wise Men" who brought together Franklin, Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Jay, Madison, Hamilton and other great figures who had a profound impact on American history, and Called the Seven Sages.
As we all know, Buddhism also has the theory of seven sages. Historian Chen Yinke once pointed out that the "Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove" did not actually exist, but took the name of the "Bamboo Grove" of Tianzhu and added it to the "Seven Sages" to become the "Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove".
In fact, the worship of the Seven Sages is only a manifestation of the Seven Worships, and the Seven Worships are a worldwide cultural phenomenon. The Semites who established the ancient Babylonian kingdom believed that the seven stars were gods, worshiped them all, and believed that they took turns to govern and dominate the vicissitudes of the world. Therefore, the Semitic ancestors evolved the reverence for the seven-star gods into their ancient religion. They built seven altars, offered seven sacrifices, and performed seven kowtows. Day after day, year after year, gradually, The earth, "seven", was abstracted from their pious totem worship rituals and became a solemn symbol. ?Seven? is a mysterious number in the Bible. God created the world in seven days, created human beings on the seventh day, and used Adam’s seventh rib to create Eve. Human beings have seven sins and seven punishments. The original body of Satan is Seven-headed fire dragon. In Buddhism, Sakyamuni meditated under the Bodhi tree for seventy-seven and forty-nine days, and finally understood human birth, old age, illness, and death, and the laws of life. After that, "Qi" was widely used in Buddhism. The Sun Wukong, whom everyone is very familiar with, spent 7749 days refining his fiery eyes and golden eyes. Tang Monk and his disciples went through 7749 difficulties to obtain the true scripture.
In ancient Chinese myths and legends and ancient historical records, Shun culture has the characteristics of worshiping the number seven. "Shang Shu Shun Dian" clearly records: "In the Xuanji Jade Scale, with Qi Qizheng?" .
The seven-day-a-week system was introduced to China as early as the Zhou Dynasty. There is also a record in the "Book of Changes" that "there will be no illness when going in and out, and there will be no blame when friends come to you; if you repeat the path, you will come back again in seven days."
As early as the Edo period, Japan had paintings based on China's "Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove" as a genre, as well as place names like Qixianling. There are also Qixian Towns in many places in China. It can be seen that no matter the era No matter how they change, people are still full of yearning for their character.