Tang Dynasty Liu Yuxi, courtesy name Mengde, was a writer and poet in the Tang Dynasty and a native of Luoyang. He worked in politics all his life, from being an official to a supervisory censor, and was later demoted to various governorships. Although his official career was not smooth at that time, his experiences during this period laid a broad foundation for his later writings. In the first year of Emperor Wenzong's reign (827), Liu Yuxi returned to Luoyang, and his official career began to stabilize. In his later years, he served as a guest of the prince, branched out to Dongdu (Luoyang), and was appointed as the Chancellor of the School's Ministry of Etiquette. There are forty volumes of "Collected Works of Liu Mengde".
Liu Yuxi was eager to learn since childhood. In addition to studying classics, he also dabbled extensively in calligraphy, astronomy, and medicine. Among his literary creations, poetry is the most famous. Bai Juyi said that his "writing is so wonderful that nothing comes before poetry" ("Liu Bai's Collection of Songs and Collections"). He occupies an important position in the classical prose movement. At that time, Li Ao and Han Yu dominated the literary world and regarded them as their peers. Liu said that he is "good at argumentation". His papers are well-organized, well-argued and full of literary talent. The prose is clear, concise and concise. (This section is quoted from Liu Yuxi’s biography).
Liu Yuxi lived in the middle and late Tang Dynasty. Due to the Anshi Rebellion, the Tang Dynasty formed a social situation characterized by the dictatorship of eunuchs, separatist vassal towns, and clique fighting. He was quite dissatisfied with this social reality. He once participated in the reform movement led by Uncle Wang, but failed. As a result, his official career was bumpy and he was demoted many times. However, he did not succumb to the powerful, but showed his upright character and contempt for the dignitaries with his civilized aspirations. This article can be said to be the author's bitter ridicule of the world style and self-explanation of the mentality at that time.
Content and Notes
If the mountain is not high, there will be immortals, and if the water is not deep, if there are dragons, there will be spirit. This is a humble house①, but I am virtuous②. The moss marks are green on the upper steps, and the grass color is green on the curtains. There are scholars who talk and laugh, but there are no white people who come and go. You can tune Suqin ⑤ and read the Golden Sutra ⑥. There are no messy ears of silk and bamboo, and there is no laborious shape of case documents. Nanyang ⑩ Zhuge Lu, Xi Shu Ziyun 〔11〕 Pavilion. Confucius said: "What's so bad about it?" [12]
Notes
(1) Si and Shi: both are demonstrative pronouns Si, this. Cottage: A small and simply furnished house.
(2) Wei: Same as the preposition "to", it plays an emphasis role. Dexin means noble conduct. Xin, a fragrance that can spread far away.
(3) Hongru: This generally refers to learned people. Hong, Da. Confucianism, used to refer to scholars.
(4) Bai Ding: A commoner who has not achieved fame. Here it refers to a person with little knowledge.
(5) Plain Qin: A Qin without carving or painting decoration.
(6) Golden Sutra: The Diamond Sutra (the abbreviation of the Diamond Prajna Sutra or the Diamond Prajnaparamita Sutra). The Diamond Sutra was widely circulated in the Tang Dynasty.
(7) Silk and bamboo: string and wind instruments, here refers to the sound of playing music. This generally refers to musical instruments. It disturbs the ears and causes hearing disorders.
(8) Documents: documents handled daily by government personnel.
(9) Nanyang: Place name, west of present-day Xiangyang County, Hubei Province. Before Zhuge Liang came out of the mountain, he lived in seclusion and farmed in Nanyang.
(10) Ziyun: The character of Yang Xiong (53-18 BC) of the Han Dynasty. He was from Xishu (now Chengdu City, Sichuan Province), and his residence was called "Yangzi Zhai". It is said that he wrote "Tai Xuan Jing" in Yangzi Zhai, so it was also called "Cao Xuantang". Ziyunting in the article refers to his residence. There are still Ziyun Mountain and Ziyun City in Sichuan to commemorate him.
(11) He Shaozhi You: Zhi, expresses the object in advance. The whole sentence means "what's wrong". "The Analects of Confucius·Zihan": "Confucius wanted to live in the Nine Barbarians, or said: 'How can it be so shabby?' Confucius said: 'The gentleman lives here, how can it be so shabby?'" It means: Confucius wanted to move to the Nine Barbarians. land to live. Some people said: "That place is very simple, how can it be easy to live in?" Confucius said: "If a gentleman lives there, it will not be simple."
(12) Labor shape: to make the body tired. Shape, body, Body.
Source
The inscription on the humble house is selected from Volume 608 of "Quan Tangwen" (Zhonghua Book Company 1983 edition).
Translation
The mountain does not have to be high, it will be famous if there are immortals living there. The water does not have to be deep, it will be magical if there is a dragon living there. Although this is a simple house, it doesn't feel simple anymore because of my good moral character. The green moss grows up to the steps, and the green grass is reflected in the curtains. Those who talk and laugh with me are knowledgeable people, and there is no one who is ignorant of learning among me. You can play the simple guqin and read precious Buddhist scriptures. There is no loud music to disturb the ears, and no official documents to tire the body and mind. It is like the thatched cottage of Zhuge Liang in Nanyang and the Xuanting of Yangziyun in Xishu. Confucius said: "What is so shabby?"
Theme of the work
From the theme, "The Inscription on the Humble Room" tries its best to describe the humble room as not shabby through the description of the room. "The Inscription on the Humble Room" "The article expresses the author's attitude towards life that he does not follow the world and is clean and self-sufficient, and does not seek fame and fortune. It expresses the author's noble and arrogant integrity, and reveals the author's reclusive taste of living in poverty and enjoying life.
Conception
From the perspective of conception, "The Inscription on the Humble Room" uses foil techniques to support objects and express aspirations. And in a reverse conception, it does not mention the "hide" of the shabby house, but only writes about the "not shabby" side of the shabby house, and the "not shabby" is because of "virtue and kindness", thus naturally achieving the purpose of expressing feelings.
Expression and writing techniques
From the perspective of expression, "The Humble Chamber Inscription" integrates description, lyricism, and discussion. By specifically describing the quiet and elegant environment of the "humble room" and the elegant demeanor of the owner, he expresses his noble and reclusive feelings.
The writing techniques of "The Inscription on the Humble Room" are complicated. They use contrast, line drawing, allusion, allusion, metonymy and other techniques in just 81 characters. They also use rhyme and have a strong sense of rhythm. The stone is striking and natural and smooth. When the song ends, the lingering sound lingers, leaving people with endless aftertaste.
From the perspective of the sentence pattern, "The Inscription on the Humble Room" is mainly composed of parallel sentences. The sentence pattern is neat, the rhythm is clear, and the phonology is harmonious, giving people a visual beauty of neatness. However, "Why is there such a thing" in "The Inscription of a Poor Room" is a loose sentence. Therefore, the sentence structure of "The Inscription on the Humble Room" is a combination of parallel and prose, which makes the article have a lively rhythm and the language is well-proportioned. It can be read with cadence, harmony and melodiousness, and it gives people the beauty of music in hearing. At the same time, the article focuses on five characters, with four and six characters in between. Therefore, the sentence patterns are uneven, and the article rhymes to the end.
Judging from the clues, "The Inscription on the Humble Room" uses the concept of "Wei Wu De Xin" throughout the whole text: "Wei Wu De Xin" is introduced at the beginning, and then it is expressed in terms of the living environment, people coming and going and daily life. "Wei Wu De Xin", and finally "Zhuge Lu" and "Zi Yun Pavilion" are used to set off "Wei Wu De Xin". These are all the author's subjective feelings.
The article uses reasoning in a humble room to express the author's noble character in a lyrical style. Reasons can be seen in things, and emotions can be seen in scenes. It can be said that "emotions are revealed by scenery, and scenes are born by emotions." In this way, the author's leisurely anecdotes and the beautiful scenery of his home are written in a subtle, vivid and far-reaching way.
The article is clever in its use of allusions. For example, "Zhuge Cottage" and "Ziyunting" are used to describe oneself, and Confucius' words are quoted - "Why is there such a shabby thing?" It shows that the shabby house is "not shabby", thus enhancing the credibility and persuasiveness of the article's reasoning.
In short, the author does not advertise himself as a "gentleman" in the article, but as a gentleman's respect for morality and self-discipline, which is expressed as a detached and open-minded and optimistic and cheerful attitude towards life's frustrations and bumpy career. . Because of this, rather than seeing it as a prose expounding on the "not shabby" nature of a shabby house, we would rather say that it is a lyrical poem praising a shabby house to show its owner's indifferent and elegant taste in life.
Work Appreciation
According to the content of the article, we can divide this short article into three parts:
1. (1-3 sentences):
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The "Inscription on a Humble House" begins with the theme of landscapes and introduces the main topic, which not only appears to be an extraordinary move, but also lays the groundwork for future praises of humble houses. Mountains don’t have to be high or low, water doesn’t have to be deep, as long as there is a fairy dragon, you can be famous. Then, although the residence is simple, it is “welcoming” because of the “virtue” of the owner. In other words, the humble house is because there are people with high moral character. Of course, you can also become famous, have a reputation far and wide, and have it engraved on gold and stone. Ordinary landscapes are brought to life by immortal dragons, so of course humble houses can also be spread with fragrance by people of high moral character. This technique of leveraging strength is really wonderful and can be said to be the author's unique ingenuity. In particular, the fairy dragon embellishes the landscape, which is a wonderful idea. "This is a humble house, but I am virtuous and kind." The title starts from the landscape, fairy dragons, and the author directly cuts into the theme. It seems a bit abrupt, but when you look back, it is completely integrated, because the contrasting sentence above happens to be The introduction of this sentence lays the foundation.
It can be seen from this point that the author wrote this essay after repeated thinking and was by no means a temporary inspiration. Quatrains can be a sudden inspiration, but flawless connection is the result of daily accumulation of skills and repeated deliberation.
2. (4-7 sentences):
These sentences describe the environment of the humble house and the colorful daily life, "The moss marks are green on the steps, and the grass is green on the curtains. Talking and laughing There are great Confucian scholars, and there are no idle people. You can play the piano and read the golden scriptures. After the author's ambitions and interests are made clear through the wonderful writing in the previous sentences, the reader's thoughts also enter a good state. At this time, the reader understands the truth and is more likely to accept the author's thoughts. He used the elegant color of green on the moss marks to imply the author's tranquil heart, and immediately used the vitality of green entering the curtain to highlight the tranquil and vital fairy life state, using the rhetorical technique of metonymy. Make friends, they are all noble people of the same way, play the piano and study the scriptures, and live a leisurely and enjoyable life. Away from noisy music and nerve-wracking official duties, this kind of leisure life is really enviable. This kind of lifestyle that is both hermit-like and worldly is envied by people with high moral standards and also longed for by ordinary people. Through the description of these few sentences, we can see a fairy life picture, expressing the elegant and indifferent life interest of the owner of the humble house.
"Zhuge Lu in Nanyang, Yunting in Western Shuzi". The author uses Zhuge Liang's thatched cottage in Nanyang and Yang Xiong's former residence in Xishu to compare his own humble house. It means that Zhuge Liang and Yang Xiong are his colleagues. It also shows that the author regards these two people as his role models and hopes that he can do the same. Just like them, they have noble moral character. In fact, Liu Yuxi's writing has another profound meaning, that is, Zhuge Liang was living in a thatched cottage in Longzhong waiting for the Ming Dynasty to come out. And what about Yang Xiong? But he was a man who was indifferent to fame and wealth and devoted himself to studying. Although he was a top official, his indifference to the ups and downs of official position and money was a model for future generations. Liu Yuxi quoted the meaning of these two people. What he wanted to express was: not panicking in the face of changes, unyielding in the face of danger, adhering to integrity, and being calm about honor and disgrace. I don’t want to go along with the secular world, but I also want to show my ambition when I meet the enlightened master. If there is no enlightened master, I would rather settle for a mediocre ambition. This, combined with the ups and downs of Liu Yuxi's officialdom, is more in line with the actual situation.
3. (Sentences 8-9):
The concluding sentence quotes "Confucius said: What's so shabby?", quoting the words of the ancients, concluding the whole article, explaining the shabby house " Not bad."
It expressed his pursuit of the highest moral quality of the feudal ethics at that time. To standardize and demand oneself with the ethics affirmed by saints may be Liu Yuxi's highest requirement for his own moral character. Such a conclusion does not say what the content means, but combined with the meaning of the question, it is a masterstroke. Because feudal ethics take Confucian moral standards as the highest moral standard, Confucius’ affirmation also provides the best conclusion for his theory of moral character. The paper should have arguments, and quoting Confucius’ words as an argument is undoubtedly It was the best argument at the time, sufficient and irrefutable.
It can be said that the theme of this short article is to express the author's noble sentiments of being indifferent and not being enslaved to material things through the description and praise of the humble house, and to reflect his nobility and dignity of not collaborating with the powerful. character.
Ideological content
There are 81 words in the whole text. It can be said that every word is written poorly, but every word is not crude. The opening 16 words set the tone for the entire text to be well-written. "Mountains are not high, and immortals are famous. Waters are not deep, and dragons are spiritual." From the surface, "immortals" and "dragons" add color to mountains and water, but in fact they are the masters of a humble room. The owner of the shabby house lives in a shabby house, but his spiritual thoughts are so rich and fulfilling: "Hongru", "Jin Jing" and "Su Qin" not only describe the pursuit of the owner of the shabby house from the aspects of communication, learning and pleasure, but also " The three words "Hong, Jin and Su" have rich connotations, but they have nothing to do with embarrassment. As he himself said, "This is a humble house, but I am virtuous." He used the fragrant aroma to describe his noble thoughts and morals. This highlights that the owner of the humble house is not pursuing fame and wealth (the form of labor without official documents), but also It is not about glory and wealth (without the clutter of silk and bamboo), but about the purity of heart, the elegance of interest, and the sweetness of virtue. The author compares his shabby house to "Zhuge Lu" and "Ziyunting". We say that this is not excessive, but also highlights the owner's desire to "live in poverty and live in peace", so he said "how shabby is there".
Not only the elegance of the pursuit, but also the richness of the spirit make people feel that the shabby room is not shabby. Even the words that directly describe the shabby room, "The moss marks are green on the steps, and the grass is green on the curtains" also make people feel that it is not shabby. A little bit "humble", but what gives people more impression is that the cabin is shaded by lush green grass, full of vitality. It's really a shabby house.
Writing background
Liu Yuxi's "Inscription on a Humble House" has now become a well-known "famous article", but in fact, this famous article was "outraged". Liu Yuxi offended the powerful officials of the time because he participated in the political reform movement at that time, and was demoted to Hezhou County, Anhui Province to serve as a small general judge. According to regulations, the general judge should live in a three-bedroom house in the county government office. But when the magistrate of Hezhou watched the dishes being served, he saw that Liu Yuxi was a soft persimmon who had been demoted from above, so he deliberately made things difficult for him. He was first arranged to live in the south of the city facing the river. Liu Yuxi not only had no complaints, but was very happy. He even wrote two couplets at random and posted them on the door: "Facing the river and watching the white sails, I am thinking about arguing with Hezhou." Hezhou magistrate. When he found out, he was very angry and ordered the Yamen officers to move Liu Yuxi's residence from the south gate of the county to the north gate of the county, reducing the area from the original three rooms to one and a half rooms. The new residence was located by the Desheng River, with weeping willows nearby, and the environment was pleasant. Liu Yuxi still didn't care, he was moved by the scenery, and wrote two sentences on the door: "The weeping willows are green by the river, and people are in Liyang and their hearts are in Beijing."
The county magistrate saw that he was still leisurely and carefree, so he sent someone to transfer him to the center of the county again, and only gave him a small room that could only accommodate a bed, a table, and a chair. Within half a year, the magistrate forced Liu Yuxi to move three times, each time the area became smaller and smaller, and in the end it was just a small room. Thinking that this snobbish dog official had gone too far to deceive others, he angrily wrote this extraordinary and elegant "Inscription on the Humble Room" and asked someone to carve a stone tablet and place it in front of the door.
Style Introduction
Inscriptions are some praising or warning words engraved on metal utensils and inscriptions in ancient times to describe life events. They are mostly used to praise virtues and warn others. Later it gradually developed and evolved into an independent style of writing. Due to the unique historical origin of this style of writing, this style of writing has the characteristics of short chapters, simple text, and profound meaning. According to the classification of ancient literary styles, "Inscription" is a practical text. If you understand the meaning of the inscription, you will also understand the meaning of the title, which is to praise the humble house, and the internal content is to praise the noble moral character of the people in the humble house. In fact, it is to use the name of a shabby house to praise moral character. This is the real meaning of the author. It expresses the author's life attitude and outlook on life by using objects to describe his aspirations. This is quite similar to "Ai Lian Shuo".
Liu Yuxi's "Humble Room"
"The Inscription of the Humble Room" has been passed down through the ages, and the Humble Room has become famous all over the world. Today, Liu Yuxi's humble house is located in Hexian County, Anhui Province. There are three buildings with nine rooms in the shape of a Chinese character, with brackets and cornices, white walls and black tiles. They are elegant, simple, quiet and beautiful. The small stone-paved courtyard is full of greenery, with welcoming pines and bamboos, and is full of beauty, making people seem to smell the rich fragrance of calligraphy and ink. In the small and exquisite pavilion on the east side of the courtyard, there is the "stele stone of "The Inscription on the Humble Room"", on which is engraved the full text of "The Inscription on the Humble Room" that has been passed down for thousands of years. The characters are written by the calligrapher Meng Fanqing. They are elegant and pleasing to the eye. In the middle of the main room, there is a standing statue of Liu Yuxi, which is elegant and solemn, with a plaque saying "Political Promotion of Virtuous People" hanging on it. The humble room occupies a small area. Walking around, it feels like people and nature are being purified here.
Inscription on the Humble Room
[Tang Dynasty] Liu Yuxi
Biography of the author Liu Yuxi (772-842), courtesy name Mengde, nicknamed guest, Luoyang (now Luoyang City, Henan Province) )people. Tang Dezong became a Jinshi in the ninth year of Zhenyuan (793), and in the same year he was admitted to the Bo Xue Hong Ci Department.
In the eleventh year of Zhenyuan, he was admitted to the Ministry of Civil Affairs and awarded the title of scholar to the prince. Later, he successively served as the supervisory censor and the field Yuanwai Lang. In the first year of Emperor Shunzong's reign (805), the reform movement of Wang Shuwen's group failed. Liu was implicated and was demoted to the governor of Lianzhou (now Lianxian County, Guangdong Province). On the way to his appointment, he was demoted to the Sima of Langzhou (now Changde City, Hunan Province). In the 10th year of Yuanhe (815) of Xianzong, he was recalled to Chang'an, but he was demoted and served successively as governor of Lianzhou, Kuizhou (now Fengjie County, Sichuan Province), and Hezhou (now Hexian County, Anhui Province). Wenzong returned to Luoyang in the first year of Yamato (827), and his official career began to stabilize. In his later years, he served as a guest of the prince, branched out to Dongdu (Luoyang), and was appointed as the Chancellor of the School's Ministry of Etiquette. There are forty volumes of "Collected Works of Liu Mengde".
Liu Yuxi was eager to learn since childhood. In addition to studying classics, he also dabbled extensively in calligraphy, astronomy, and medicine. Among his literary creations, poetry is the most famous. Bai Juyi said that his "writing is so wonderful that nothing comes before poetry" ("Liu Bai's Collection of Songs and Collections"). He occupies an important position in the classical prose movement. At that time, Li Ao and Han Yu dominated the literary world and regarded them as their peers. Liu said that he is "good at argumentation". His papers are well-organized, well-argued and full of literary brilliance. The prose is clear, concise and concise.
If the mountains are not high, there will be immortals and they will be famous; if the water is not deep, if there are dragons, they will be spiritual. This is a humble house [1], but I am virtuous [2]. The moss marks are green on the upper steps, and the grass color is green on the curtains. There are scholars who talk and laugh [3], but there are no white people [4] who come and go. You can tune Suqin [5] and read the Golden Sutra [6]. There are no messy ears of silk and bamboo [7], and there is no labor shape of case documents [8]. Zhuge Lu in Nanyang [9], Xishuzi Yunting [10], Confucius said: "What's so bad about it [11]?"
——Selected from "The Complete Tang Dynasty" Volume 608< /p>
Notes
〔1〕Si and Shi: both are demonstrative pronouns. Cottage: A small and simply furnished house. 〔2〕Wei: Same as the preposition "to", 2 plays the role of emphasizing the reason. Dexin (xīnxin): means noble conduct. Xin: A fragrance that can spread far away. 〔3〕Hongru: This generally refers to learned people. [4] Bai Ding: A commoner who has not achieved fame. Here it refers to a person who is uneducated and has no skills. [5] Plain Qin: A Qin without carving or painting decoration. [6] Golden Sutra: The Diamond Sutra (the abbreviation of the Diamond Prajna Sutra or the Diamond Prajnaparamita Sutra) was widely circulated in the Tang Dynasty. [7] Silk and bamboo: string and wind instruments. This generally refers to musical instruments. Disturbance of ears: disorder of hearing. 〔8〕Documents: documents that government personnel handle daily. [9] Nanyang: Place name, west of present-day Xiangyang County, Hubei Province. Before Zhuge Liang came out of the mountain, he lived in seclusion in Nanyang and farmed. [10] Ziyun: The name of Yang Xiong (53-18 BC) in the Han Dynasty. He was from Xishu (now Chengdu City, Sichuan Province), and his residence was called "Yangzi Zhai". It is said that he wrote "Tai Xuan Jing" in Yangzi Zhai, so it was also called "Cao Xuantang". Ziyunting in the article refers to his residence. There are still Ziyun Mountain and Ziyun City in Sichuan to commemorate him. 〔11〕He Buzhi 2 has: Zhi, indicating the object in advance. The whole sentence means "what's wrong".
"The Analects of Confucius·Zihan": "Confucius wanted to live in Jiuyi, and some people said: 'How can it be so shabby?' Confucius said: 'Where a gentleman lives, how can it be so shabby?'"