Hermit and Official Career —— My View on the Life Ideal of Ancient Literati

"The Yangtze River flows eastward, and the waves are heroes. Whether it is right and wrong or failure, it is empty now and has disappeared with the passage of time. Qingshan is still there, and the sunset is a few degrees red. " In Yang Shen's masterpiece Linjiang Fairy, the image of the fisherman is endowed with a kind of cultural connotation-a recluse thought and a symbol of personality.

The fisherman's image pinned the yearning of China literati for this transcendental life. Being an official to help the world when he is proud and retiring when he is frustrated is the unchangeable life track of China literati. The ups and downs of official career are better than sending a boat. An old man is fishing in the cold river-snow. Pastoral landscape has become the spiritual refuge of China literati, where the trauma of the soul is healed and the soul is saved and sublimated.

This tradition, which symbolizes fishermen, can be traced back to the chapter "The Fisherman of Chu Ci" more than two thousand years ago: the poet Qu Yuan was exiled to the riverside. The fisherman floated in and advised him, "A saint can enter the world without being bound by foreign things." . Since the world is cloudy and everyone is drunk, why not follow the example of saints, give up persistence and go with the flow? "Qu Yuan was determined. The fisherman smiled and walked away, singing as he walked: "The water in the rough waves is clear, you can hold my tassel;" "The water in the rough waves is turbid, so you can lick my feet."

Confucian ideal foretells the tragic fate of China literati.

Most of the ancient literati in China were staunch idealists. "Benevolence, sincerity, self-cultivation, keeping the family in order, governing the country and leveling the world" is an ideal road designed by Confucianism for intellectuals, and it also implies an unknown tragedy in the future. There is always an irreconcilable contradiction between the persistence of ideals and the bleak reality, and the pursuit, loss and pain of China literati are vividly displayed on this avenue.

The core spirit and ideal of China culture is "harmony". In the philosophy of life, the biggest challenge of harmony comes from how to face the contradiction between life and society. The greatest pain of China literati is that they are full of ambition, but they can't serve their country, and finally they end up depressed. Like Meng Haoran, Du Fu and Lu You, they are eager to enter politics but just can't get in. Or like Liu Zongyuan and Su Shi, it would be a shame to go in.

Qu Yuan is a symbol of China literati's tragedy. He was the first person who deeply felt the psychological pain caused by the contradiction between a bad monarch and a loyal minister, and also the first person who successfully led this psychological pain to the mode of "the struggle between loyalty and treachery" without endangering the relationship between the monarch and the minister. Therefore, Qu Yuan dares to ask God instead of Jun, which will lead to doubt and denial of the whole cultural system. Later scholars are cautious and dare not doubt at random.

The hermit view of Confucianism and Taoism makes the natural landscape become the dispelling factor of China literati's tragic consciousness.

Kong Ziyun: "If a country is in danger, it will not live if it is in chaos. If there is a road in the world, you will see it. If there is no way, just hide. " Confucius regarded being an official as a way to promote "Tao", aiming at assisting the king to educate the people. When a gentleman who is interested in Tao is powerless in the face of the reality of "no Tao", he should "not lower his ambition, not humiliate his body" and "live in seclusion for his ambition"

Different from Confucianism, Taoism's seclusion shows disdain for the secular. "Inaction" is the core of Taoist thought, and Taoist seclusion aims at pursuing "inaction" through seclusion, so as to eliminate the interference of "doing something", which is unfavorable and will produce affectation. Zhuangzi believes that only by conforming to nature can people return to the park, and returning to the park can preserve the origin of life. Leisure is happiness, a sense of detachment from material fatigue, and a sense of intoxication integrated with the infinite universe.

Ancient China literati are easy to compromise with reality, and their tragic consciousness is invisible through the sophistication of Taoism and the self-deception of Confucianism. Fisherman, the symbol of hermit, happens to fish at the intersection of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, the mainstream culture in China. The essence of Confucianism is symbolic and makes people live in peace and happiness. The nature of Taoism is natural, making people forget and relax. The essence of Buddhism is the essence of Zen, which makes people explore the world of mortals and turn sorrow into joy. Natural landscape has become the primary factor to dispel the tragic consciousness of literati.

Natural landscape dispels literati's tragedy through the creation of landscape poems and paintings.

Zhu Guangqian believes that landscape poetry is the product of a specific historical environment, and has formed a specific type of poetry since Tao Qian and Xie Lingyun in the Jin and Song Dynasties. Xie Lingyun is fascinated by mountains and rivers, and Tao Yuanming is fascinated by the countryside. In their works, the landscape and pastoral scenery are no longer accessories, but begin to have independent aesthetic value and become the main body of Acura.

Zhu Guangqian pointed out that landscape poetry and landscape painting are harmonious and complementary, and most landscape poets are also landscape painters. You Chuntu by Zhan Ziqian, a painter of Sui Dynasty, is the earliest landscape scroll painting in China. The picture vividly depicts the beautiful spring scenery of the earth and the expression of tourists enjoying themselves. Peach, pink, willow and green are in harmony with the flowing water of the small bridge, and dark green is used in color, which not only shows the beauty of the natural landscape, but also fully reveals the reclusive personality spirit of officials who hope to return to the natural landscape.

The beauty of landscape poetry and painting makes China literati realize another kind of life value.

Hermit life transcends the professional dilemma involved in material services, and self-awareness is easy to awaken, and the goal of life has shifted from the relationship between monarch and minister to self-concern. When the reclusive literati turned their energy to meditation on nature and self, they found and realized the beauty of natural landscape, humanistic spirit and poetry and painting art. The communication and dialogue between literati and nature not only realized the transition from natural beauty to artistic beauty, but also achieved their independent and reclusive personality spirit in the enjoyment of artistic beauty. In the creation of artistic beauty, China literati realized another life value different from "ruling the country and leveling the world".