one
In the early 1990s, for more than two years, I studied behind closed doors without leaving home. Occasionally traveling for a few days, I would always go back to the deep mountains of my hometown to listen to the sound of springs and the chirping of birds. The poet who is most vulnerable to harm in the secular world can find the joy of nature in the mountains and forests. Once he has exhausted his joy, Got a poem:
The wind blows, the bamboo invites flowers to sweep away the stones, and the cold clouds add clothes to the guests.
The Zen family lives without restraint, playing a game of chess in Nanshan every day.
How could we have such an ecstatic life if we were not in the mountains and forests? Bucai calls himself a "Zen master". In the beginning, he was indeed like the traditional literati who "failed to achieve their goals and fled to Zen." Later, after experiencing many experiences, I truly realized that Zen is the "only way" to nourish the heart and accumulate energy, which became a kind of self-consciousness. Traveling around the world's famous Buddhist mountains and temples, searching for the remains of eminent monks and sages of the past, has become a way for me to spend time in the mountains and forests. Last year, I visited Tiantai Mountain for the second time. After paying homage to the body tower of the great monk Zhiyi who lived in the Chen and Sui Dynasties 1,400 years ago, as well as the secluded mountains and forests of Hanshan Mountain, I returned to my apartment and chanted the same sentence again when I was slightly drunk:
I am a scholar-bureaucrat from Jiangcheng, and I always hesitate when I come to Qiongtai.
In the past, I watched the red leaves at dusk in autumn, but today I am listening to the partridges in the depths of spring.
As the moon rises, the chimes are far away, and the woodcutter wind stops for a while. Old Long is alone.
Since escaping to Hanshanzi, who has told Qingge to Biwu?
Before I knew it, I already regarded myself as a scholar-bureaucrat. After experiencing the "May 4th" movement and the "overthrow of the Confucian Family Store" and other tragedies that shattered tradition, he claimed to be a scholar-bureaucrat. Is it inappropriate to be a "legendary old man"? However, in today's world where materialism is rampant and money is paramount, I really can't find a more suitable word than scholar-official to summarize my current living situation. It is difficult to find a corresponding word that scholar-officials use today. If an explanation is imposed, it would be a combination of intellectuals and middle class. They belong to people who have both permanent property and perseverance. They love their country without hesitation and are good at love and romance. Ethics and ecstasy are equally beautiful, and care and pleasure are equally important. Therefore, even within the framework of world civilization, the spiritual life of ancient Chinese scholar-bureaucrats must shine brightly like the luminous pearl in the Potala Palace. Leaning on the pines and roaring proudly, making tea against the moon; chickens singing in the wild shop, riding donkeys in the drizzle. Who can say that this kind of otherworldly mountain and forest life is not an important part of the spiritual life of scholar-bureaucrats?
two
Great religious leaders like Jesus and Sakyamuni, as well as outstanding saints like Confucius, Laozi, Aristotle, and Plato, were almost all born in the two to three hundred years BC. This is really a strange thing. There must be some kind of secret in it, but our human intelligence cannot yet decipher it. It was these few wise men who emerged from nowhere and pointed out the direction for human life with the religions and ideas they founded. Once determined, it is difficult to change. Li Bai has a poem: "In ancient times, all the sages were lonely, only the drinkers left their names." This is crazy talk from the poet and must not be taken seriously. I have always been full of respect for sages. It is because of them that mankind has bid farewell to ignorance and social life has order.
Almost from the beginning, there were huge differences between Eastern and Western cultures. When it comes to how to enter the world and create human achievements, the West is better than the East; when it comes to how to emerge from the world and draw nourishment for spiritual life from all things in nature, the East is obviously better than the West. Adopting Western methods for governing a country may be of great benefit in amassing wealth and expanding national power; but if one wants to govern one's mind and make a person peaceful and elegant, Eastern culture can get twice the result with half the effort.
The ancient Chinese sages regarded personal cultivation as very important. If Confucianism values the country, then Taoism values life. Confucianism on the outside and Taoism on the inside has almost become the spiritual connotation of Chinese scholar-bureaucrats. These are by no means two skins that are at odds with each other, but a unity of opposites that are symbiotic and complementary. Use Confucianism to establish the achievements of governing the country and bring peace to the world, and use Taoism to cultivate a mind that has insight into subtle things. Let a person be able to move with ease between advancement and retreat. The ancients said, "If you are successful, you can help the world; if you are poor, you can only benefit yourself." It is obvious that the former belongs to Confucianism, while the latter is close to Taoism. How can we be on our own? Living alone in a shady alley and far away from home is certainly a choice, but singing and crying in the mountains and swimming under the forest and springs is a better choice.
The poems of ancient Chinese literati express the interest of mountains and forests, and can be compiled into huge volumes of the history of mountain and forest poetry. Speaking of poetry, let me make a brief digression. It is a contemporary thing to regard writing poetry as a profession and to make a living. Among ancient poets, except for a very special example like Li Bai, almost none were full-time poets. The outstanding figures in the poetry team include emperors, generals, and old actors. They never wrote poetry to earn royalties. Even if they wrote Luoyang Zhigui's eternal famous poem, they only received praise. In the Tang Dynasty, although a "Bo Xue Hong Ci" was specially set up in the imperial examination, which opened up a way for scholars who were good at writing poems to become officials, in fact, it seems that this was not a good move. In today’s terms, there are not many compound talents. Those who wrote poems and served as officials were all outstanding, with only a few such as Wang Changling, Bai Juyi, Yuan Zhen, Liu Zongyuan, Gao Shi, and Cen Shen. More poets, such as Li Bai, Du Fu, Wang Wei, Li Shangyin, Du Mu, etc., are excellent in poetry, but their official positions are hindered. What I am referring to is not the question of whether one is a high official or a small one, but the ability to engage in politics and the performance of one term as an official. I'm going too far, but let's stop talking about the mountains and forests.
The first person to use the form of poetry to write about mountains and forests in a very beautiful and fascinating way was Tao Yuanming. Let’s look at this one:
There is little to suit the vulgar charm, and one’s nature is to love hills and mountains.
I accidentally fell into the dust net and passed away for thirty years.
The tame birds are nostalgic for the old forest, and the fish in the pond are thinking about their old abyss.
Open up the wilderness in the south, stay humble and return to the garden.
The square house has more than ten acres and eight or nine thatched houses.
The elms and willows shade the back eaves, and the peach and plum trees in front of the hall.
The village is far away, the smoke in the ruins is still there,
Dogs bark in the deep alleys, and roosters crow on top of the mulberry trees.
The courtyard is free of dust and clutter, and the empty room has plenty of leisure.
After being in a cage for a long time, you can return to nature.
This is the first of "Five Poems on Returning to Gardens and Living Leisurely in the Gardens". It was written by Tao Yuanming when he resigned from Pengze County and returned to his hometown to become a farmer. The "farmhouse" he painted for us is both a landscape and a custom. Tao Yuanming served as an official for thirteen years and remained in a humble position. Until he left public office, his monthly salary was only five buckets of rice. The reason for his resignation was stated in high-sounding terms: "I don't want to bend my waist for five buckets of rice." At first glance, I thought that Mr. Tao was a petty person and was trying to get a grudge against the emperor for treatment. In fact, this reason was untenable. If Mr. Tao really wanted to make money, it would be far easier to be a county magistrate than a farmer. Haven't you heard that "three years to clear the prefecture, one hundred thousand snowflakes of silver"? Even if Mr. Tao is not greedy, he can still get a lot of benefits in daily social life. His real reason for resignation is fully revealed in the poem above: "After being in a cage for a long time, I can return to nature."
Comparing officialdom to a cage shows Mr. Tao's hatred for the powerful and powerful. On the way home from his resignation, he wrote a "Message on Returning", saying that in officialdom he was "a servant of the heart", and said that "there is no admonishment for those who understand the past, and those who know what is coming can pursue them." What will he pursue in the days to come? It is nothing more than a life in the mountains and forests, drinking wine against the moon, composing poems in the flow, and the broad-minded and leisurely feeling of "picking chrysanthemums under the eastern fence and leisurely seeing the southern mountains."
three
Why do Chinese scholar-bureaucrats have a special liking for mountains and forests? This is related to the living conditions and value orientation of the entire scholar-official class. During the Hongzhi period of the Ming Dynasty, Luo Lun, who was born as a scholar and was serving as editor of the Hanlin Academy, was dismissed for opposing the then chief minister of the cabinet to seize love. He returned to his home in Yongfeng County, Sichuan Province to live idle. After the incident happened, many people stood up for him and submitted a petition to the emperor to retaliate against him. Moreover, an edict was indeed sent to the county, asking him to go to Beijing to take up his new post. But Luo Zhuangyuan refused to accept the divine grace and wrote a poem to answer the emperor:
When Mr. Wuliu came back, his clothes were covered with dew.
I can’t help it, neither heaven nor earth can help me, there are endless fireworks and endless cups.
Another kind of family style is the quiet bamboo, but the general spring feeling is plum blossoms on the wall.
When I am old, I am only afraid of the danger of wind and waves, and I am too lazy to go down to Yanlidui in Qutang.
Following the example of Tao Yuanming, he returned to the mountains and forests, put on the lotus clothes favored by Qu Yuan, the Sanlu doctor, plowed the southern acres, and supported the east mountains with his sticks. Drinking wine and tea is in the sequence of Spring and Autumn, and watching people and things is among the bamboos and plums. Compared with the embarrassment of "waiting for the threat of cold weather at the Meridian Gate" when I was an official in Beijing, now looking at the leisure of "sleeping in the east window and the sun is already red", it is such a great pleasure to entertain oneself with music and books without the restraint of clothes. When he was young, Luo Zhuangyuan was a talented and ambitious man. He brought a kind of ambition to help the country to the capital, and he wanted to do great things in the officialdom. It is a common problem among Chinese literati to rely on their talents and be proud of their vulgarity. Since he is proud of his vulgarity, he naturally wants to express his opinions on all the filth in the officialdom. In this case, how can we not be angry with the powerful? So, on the misty road to being demoted, generation after generation, journey after journey, how many talented people accompanied by flutes and swords passed by? Luo Zhuangyuan is one of them. Tao Yuanming compared the officialdom to a "fan cage", and Luo Lun even compared the officialdom to the Yanlidui in the Qutang Gorge of the Yangtze River. This Yanlidui was bombed in the 1950s. Now that the Three Gorges Dam has been completed, it has become a clear water. However, before that, all the boatmen on the Yangtze River regarded Yanlidui as the gate of hell. The piles of rubble in the middle of the river have swallowed up many passing boat trips. In a sense, Yanlidui is a signal of death. Luo Lun compared Yanlidui to officialdom. This cannot be said to be the abnormal psychology of a literati, but the sudden awakening of a frustrated official. Those who are keen on achievement will think that this is an escape from reality and give them a cold look, or even ridicule them as mediocre. In response to this kind of ridicule, another relegated official, Luo Nian'an of Jishui County, Jiangxi Province, who was later than Luo Lun, failed to come after repeated calls after returning to his fields, so he also wrote a poem:
Sitting alone in the empty court, doing nothing, the autumn wind and spring rain come from the clouds.
Now I have no more time to spare, and I have enough time to spare for my husband.
In the eyes of ordinary Chinese people, a real man is all a tall and stalwart man who stands tall and stands tall. He is either "a solitary minister with white hair three thousand feet tall" or "pats the railings all over and no one understands him, so he is a hero." But this Luo Nian'an believes that a real man must have the courage to be unemployed. Sitting on a tuanfu and enjoying the spring breeze and autumn rain is something that is not difficult for ordinary people to do, but as a wise man who is full of economics, it does require moral courage. Don't think about the bells and cauldrons, nor do you want to be a proud citizen. How many temptations do you have to resist?
Most of the frustrated people in the officialdom choose the mountains and forests to spend their days. This seems to be the rule. In fact, even if you are an official, why don't you choose to live under the forest forever as the best choice? During the Warring States Period, Fan Li resigned from the post of Prime Minister of Yue State and took the most beautiful Xi Shi on a boat trip across the five lakes. What a beautiful ending. I always feel that Li Shangyin's eternal famous saying "Remembering the rivers and lakes forever, returning to the white hair, wishing to return to the world and entering the boat" was recited because of Fan Li's inspiration. Since then, there have been too many prominent officials to retreat from the rapids. There is also a kind of official who is neither prominent nor derogatory. He just feels that his knowledge and personality are not suitable for staying in the officialdom for a long time, so he simply focuses on the mountains and rivers. Wang Wei, the great poet of the Tang Dynasty, falls into this category. He has a five-line poem "Repaying Zhang Shaofu" that talks about this matter:
In his later years, he just likes to be quiet and doesn't care about anything.
I have no long-term plan, and I know I will return to the old forest.
The wind in the pine trees unwinds the belt, and the moonlight in the mountains plays the harp.
When you ask poor questions, the fishermen's songs go deep into Pu Shen.
The reason why Wang Wei returned to the mountains and forests was because he had no idea of how to govern the country and control the people. This may be a true statement. Although there are biographies of him in the history of the Tang Dynasty, his political achievements are not recorded. Despite these supporting evidences, I still feel that Wang Wei’s words are a bit evasive. His problem is not that he has no long-term strategy, but that all his thoughts are not on being an official. There is an ancient saying: "For those who aspire to fame, wealth and honor are not enough to burden their hearts; for those who aspire to morality, fame and fame are not enough to burden their hearts." It can be seen that Chinese scholar-officials have a tradition of despising wealth. Blindly pursuing wealth will be looked down upon by the Qingliu people. However, the pursuit of fame is the passion of ordinary scholars. If scholars are divided into three categories, it can be said that the lower class seeks wealth, the middle class seeks fame, and the upper class seeks morality. Most of the scholars in the world are low-level and middle-class, but those who seek morality are rare. "When you ask poor questions, fishermen's songs go deep into the pond." This is already a manifestation of seeking morality. In what realm should we think about the true meaning of morality? "The wind blows the pine trees, and the moon shines on the mountains and plays the piano." These few words outline for us the beauty of the mountains and forests from tranquility to extreme leisure.
Four
As mentioned above, it may give people the illusion that all officials like mountains and forests. This is not the case. A poem from the Tang Dynasty: "When we met and retired from office, how could we have seen anyone under the forest?" This huge irony points to the reality that although people who are officials are all good at mountains and forests, there are very few people who are really willing to leave officialdom. .
Officials in ancient China were mostly scholars. The majority of scholar-bureaucrats in ancient China were also scholars. A few years ago, when "knowledge is productivity" appeared in the newspapers and was shocked as a progress in the view of history, I once jokingly said that this view had been put forward long ago. "The book has its own house of gold, and the book has its own beauty like jade." Money and beauty are all in the book. As the pillars of human civilization construction, scholars should be regarded as a whole. But when it comes to their character ethics and value orientations, the differences are unbridgeable. Yue Fei and Qin Hui are not unique cases in history. Despicableness kills nobility, and finally reached its peak in the Cultural Revolution. Whenever we encounter an era when people are confused and demons turn deer into horses, scholar-bureaucrats, as the embodiment of social conscience, will stand up to uphold justice and uphold morality. The emergence of Donglin Party members in the late Ming Dynasty is enough to explain the problem. Power breeds corruption, and power breeds ugliness, not to mention unsupervised and unchecked power. Therefore, the scholar-bureaucrats under the rule of imperial power, on the one hand, had the idea of loyalty to the emperor and serving the country; on the other hand, in order to keep themselves clean, they could only retreat to the mountains and forests. Confucius said, "The benevolent are happy in the mountains, and the wise are happy in the water." This is truly worthy of being said by a sage. But this sentence cannot be interpreted. Since people who are generous, kind and wise are happy in mountains and rivers, what about people who are happy in officialdom? This can only be said that even if a scholar-bureaucrat is an official and cannot live a life in the mountains and forests under the moonlight and dining in the glow, he must still have the purpose of the mountains and forests in his heart. There are hills and valleys in the chest, and you will become a god when you sit on the ground. Sadly, too many people who are officials have their minds filled with immediate interests. Where can there be any gains and losses?
Chinese literati like to say a saying: "If you live high in the temple, you worry about the people; if you live far away from the rivers and lakes, you worry about the king." It should be said that this is a valuable character, and it is the so-called sense of worry. When one is in power, one often warns oneself that power should be used by the people; when one is in the arena, one is worried that the emperor who controls the people will make careless decisions and cause resentment among the people. People who think this way are "those who take the world as their own responsibility". Those who govern the country should emphasize benevolence over skill. Being too strict may improve national strength, but it will ultimately lead to a decline in national fortunes. How can we achieve benevolence? There is only one method, which is to "follow nature". The earth where all things grow is the most generous and selfless. "The Book of Changes" talks about the earth's "rich virtues carrying things", and this kind of virtue is benevolence. Therefore, Chinese scholar-officials’ yearning for mountains and forests is a manifestation of their spiritual pursuit of “benevolence” and a lofty value orientation.
Temples and rivers and lakes, cities and mountains and forests, these are two completely different life scenes. When reflected on a specific person, they are also two completely opposite living conditions. Those who are aspiring to achieve success all want to find a place in the grand temple of power. Another group of scholar-bureaucrats avoided temples and cities and stayed in the mountains and forests with mixed trees. These people can be divided into two types. One is those who suffered hardships in the temple and suddenly woke up. The aforementioned Tao Yuanming, Luo Lun, etc. belong to this category, and the other are those who are born to be world-weary, such as Zhuangzi. Living in seclusion in the mountains and forests became their best choice to escape the world of mortals. The latter are often regarded as hermits. Among Chinese scholar-bureaucrats, the hermit is the object of everyone's respect. The most famous hermits, besides Zhuangzi, are Tao Yuanming who lives in Chaisang and Yan Ziling who lives on the fishing platform of Fuchun River. There are countless poems and articles from past dynasties that highly praise the beauty of mountains and forests. But there are some exceptions. For example, Huainan Xiaoshan, who is said to be a guest of Liu An, the king of Huainan in the Western Han Dynasty, wrote a short poem "Recruiting Hermits", describing the mountain forest as "tiger and leopard fighting, bears roaring, animals are so frightened that they perish." The terrifying hell even issued a cry of "Wang Sunxi is back. Xi in the mountains cannot stay for a long time." It can be seen from this that the author is not the kind of moral cultivator who is deeply self-effacing. He is willing to enter the temple and seek opportunities to meet the king there. Quite different from "Recruiting Hermits", there is another article called "Beishan Yiwen", which criticizes those kind of fake hermits. These two articles are collected in "Guwen Guanzhi" and will not be repeated here.
Temples and meritorious service, mountains and forests, and morality are the unity of form and content. A person can first live in the temple and then the mountains, or he can first live in the mountains and then the temple. You can be in the temple while your heart is in the mountains and forests, or you can be in the mountains and forests but your heart is in the temples. Everyone's circumstances and education are different, and their pursuits are also different. Which one is better or worse depends on the situation. In today's world, scholar-officials as a class no longer exist, but there are still many scholars who love mountains and forests. Modern life has determined that they can only yearn for or have a short-term closeness to the mountains and forests. It has become impossible to live there in seclusion for a long time. At the end of this article, I can't help but quote Wang Wei's poem "Zhuli Pavilion":
Sitting alone in the secluded bamboo, playing the piano and roaring loudly.
People deep in the forest don't know that the bright moon comes to shine.
This poem by Wang Wei was written in his Wangchuan villa. Wangchuan was not far from Chang'an, the capital at that time. Chang'an is today's Xi'an. I have been to Xi'an several times, but I can't find this place more fascinating than Tao Yuanming's Peach Blossom Land. It's not that the place name Wangchuan doesn't exist, but that on the bare loess land, there are no lush forests and bamboos for poets to linger on. Wangchuan can only survive in the poetry of the Tang Dynasty. For us latecomers, this is simply a kind of abuse.
