Yuan Zhongdao

Yuan Zhongdao

Yuan Zhongdao (June 10, 1570 - October 19, 1623), a writer and official of Ming Dynasty, was born in Hubei Province. One of the leaders of "gong'an faction", together with his elder brothers yuan Zongdao and Yuan Hongdao, is called "three yuan".

He is a six-year-old middle-aged scholar. He thinks he is a hero. He is forthright and likes to make friends. He is fond of reading the books of Laozhuang and Buddhism. As an adult, he failed in the imperial examination several times. In 1616, he became a Jinshi in the 44th year of Wanli reign of emperor Shenzong of the Ming Dynasty. He was awarded a professor of Huizhou Prefecture and a doctor of Guozijian. He went to Nanjing as a doctor of the Ministry of officials.

In his style of writing, he opposed the reversion of the ancients and the imitation of the ancients, and believed that literature changed with the changes of the times, "there is no article in the world that has not changed for a hundred years"; he advocated truthfulness and the expression of spirit. In his later years, aiming at the disadvantages of many slang words, he put forward the idea of focusing on temperament and paying attention to style.

Prose is the best way to create, travel notes, diaries, letters have their own characteristics. The travel notes, which are well described, blend of feelings and scenes, and the essence of diary writing, have a certain influence on the diary prose of later generations. There are occasional poems about people's livelihood, which are fresh and fresh. The thought of poetry and prose is rather flat and general, and there is not enough artistic innovation. There are 20 volumes of "Ke Xue Zhai Ji" and 20 volumes of "You Ju Ben Lu" (diary of Yuan Xiao Xiu).

Life of the characters

Yuan Zhongdao, whose name is Xiaoxiu, was born on May 7, 1570, the fourth year of emperor Mu Zong of Ming Dynasty. He was a middle-aged scholar at the age of 16. He was proud of being a hero. He was forthright and friendly. He was fond of reading the books of Laozhuang and Buddhism. When Zhongdao was an adult, his two elder brothers successively passed the imperial examinations and entered the official career. They opposed the retro imitation of the former and the latter "seven sons" and advocated innovation, so they were well-known in the literary world. Along with his two brothers, he made friends with celebrities and scholars who advocated innovation.

In 1588, he came to the capital and made friends with more people. On Li Zhi's recommendation, Mei Guozhen, the governor of Datong, wrote to him several times to invite him to be a guest. He wrote back and said, "there are ten thousand horses in the Ming Dynasty. He doesn't want to ride a horse against him, but he wants to ride a horse to summon statesmen. Hu also wants to ride a horse." So Mei Guozhen sent a special person to prepare the horse and welcome yuan Zhongdao again.

In the 23rd year of Wanli (1595), yuan Zhongdao roamed the frontier, and Mei was the guest of honor. Accompanied by hunting and sightseeing, every time he wrote a poem, Mei praised and said, "true talent, too!" After leaving Saishang, he went on a tour to mount Qi and LUDEN to watch the sunrise. In September of this year, yuan Zhongdao went to Wu County and visited many places of interest in Wu and Yue. Soon, his collection of poems was published. In the preface, Hongdao said: "most of them express their personality independently, and they don't stick to their style. They don't want to write unless they flow from their own mind. Sometimes feelings and circumstances meet, and a thousand words can be heard in an instant, just like water pouring into the East. For a time, this collection of poems became a model for the works of "Gong'an School". "All the celebrities, Gao Na, Ge'er, and old women in Wuzhong are well-known scholars, and the public chants all over the place.".

In 1603, when yuan Zhongdao was 33 years old, he won the Shuntian rural examination. After that, he failed in several palace examinations, so he indulged in mountains and rivers, learned Zen and Taoism, and entertained himself with poetry and wine. In the autumn of the 36th year of Wanli (1608), he returned from Beijing to his hometown of gong'an, and visited Lizhou, Deshan, Taoyuan and other places of interest in Hunan Province. The next year, he bought a wooden boat named "Fanfu" in Shashi, loaded with dry food, books, calligraphy and paintings, and went down the Yangtze River to see the stone head embroidered forest, huaihuarong ancient road, ascend Dongting Junshan, hang the ancient battlefield of Chibi, go to the Yellow Crane Tower, step Qingchuan Pavilion, visit Jinling, the ancient capital of Six Dynasties, and stay at jiangganlu temple in Zhenjiang. Then transfer to the north, enjoy the scenery of the canal, and swim to Beijing.

In September 1610, Hongdao died of a serious illness. In the winter of this year, he lived in seclusion in Yuquan mountain, studied Buddhism, cultivated his character, and built a chaizi nunnery as a residence. He no longer wanted to travel far away, but his old ambition of life remained unchanged. He said in his new year's Prayer Letter to his son from Yuquan mountain: "the eldest husband can't wash the world for the sake of fame and wealth, that is to say, he should live on the top of the mountain, look at the clouds and Han, and touch the stars with his hands, and he will not go with the crowd and team by team and take shame on himself.".

In the 44th year of Wanli (1616), yuan Zhongdao finally won the imperial examination. At the age of 47, all his friends were happy for him and competed to tell him. The next year, the imperial court awarded him professor of Huizhou Prefecture, and later promoted him to doctor of Guozijian. During this period, he systematically collated, proofread and published the works of his two brothers and his own, wrote the preface and evaluated them, so as to carry forward the works of "San Yuan" and its style of writing. Wanli 48 years (1620), promoted to Nanjing Ministry of official affairs. In the fourth year of Tianqi (1624), he was promoted to be a doctor of the Ministry of Li in Nanjing. He died in Nanjing on August 30, 1623, at the age of 56.

contribution

Yuan Zhongdao's "Xing Ling theory" was a new trend in the literary world in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, which opened up a new creative space for the history of modern literature and art. "Xing Ling" raised the subjectivity of literature, human emotion, to a higher level than form, and endowed literature with the lyric function of literature again. The affirmation of "Xing Ling" for human emotional desire at all levels was also the final breakthrough of modern aesthetics Classical aesthetics is the first to whip, of course,. Because of its emphasis on "spirit" and "unconventional style", the article inevitably becomes a street talk, which is too despicable.

Theoretical core

In Xiao Xiu Shi Xu, yuan Zhongdao put forward the core of Gong'an School's theory of "expressing one's personality alone" and the corresponding literary ideas of "not sticking to the style" and "expressing one's personality alone" are the affirmation of publicizing one's personality, The affirmation of human being, the subject of literature, contains the connotation full of the flavor of the times. "Xingling" refers to the pure, lively and natural human nature. It also refers to the revelation of people's various life desires and emotions. In literary creation, "Xingling" is manifested as "unrestrained". It refers to the unique and creative personality.

Zhonglang believes that people should pursue the real "spirit", which is as free as the wind. Moreover, the real "spirit" is not only the ostensible donation maniac, but also the spiritual carefree. For example, "the drunk has no heart, and the child has no heart." once people become worldly, too many worldly affairs become entangled, more and more bound, but the heart is more and more remote . Therefore, "people in the mountains and forests are free to live freely, so although they don't seek interest, they are close to it." In the secular world, people "pursue their husbands for years, become more and more senior officials, become more and more refined, have a body like an orange, a heart like a spine, and their pores and bones are bound by knowledge. The deeper the human reason is, the farther away their interests are." the same is true of the same article. If there are too many restrictions on the article, it is also far away from the real temperament. Zhonglang's argument should be related to his Zen thinking.

He likes Buddhism and Taoism, and combines Zen and pure land. His thought is deeply influenced by "understanding the mind and seeing the nature", and his "spirit" is the embodiment of this "heart and nature". The proposal of "Xingling" was also related to the social situation at that time. The middle and late Ming Dynasty was a chaotic era almost similar to the Wei and Jin Dynasties, with dark politics and corruption, and heavy oppression of human nature. When human nature is hindered and unable to develop, it turns to seek inner truth, and the pursuit of words is called "spirit". In addition, the connotation of "expressing one's personality alone" is also deeply influenced by Li Zhe's "childlike innocence" theory. In the literary world after the Wanli period of Ming Dynasty, "the theory of disposition" and "the theory of childlike innocence" go hand in hand, driving poetry to change to disposition, and pursuing a higher degree of freedom and liberation in personality. In China, Confucianism and Taoism have always occupied the dominant position in thought.

Literary thought

Yuan Zhongdao is a representative of Gong'an School in Ming Dynasty. In view of the atmosphere of the former and the latter seven scholars that "literature must be in the Qin and Han Dynasties, poetry must be in the Tang Dynasty", and words must be imitated and sentences imitated to create fake tripods and goblets, he cried out in a loud voice: in creation, we should give full play to our personality, not from the heel of a person, but "express our spirit, not stick to the style, not from our own mind, not willing to write.". Dai Yu's practice is divided into three parts in the book of ancient times. He stressed that literature should be "true", have real insight and true feelings, and be liberated from the "dummy hypothesis", that is, from the feudal literary view of "writing to carry morality". This kind of literature view of respecting individuality, demanding liberation and opposing tradition makes his creation full of free and indulgent thoughts mixed by Confucianism, Taoism and Zen.

Literary achievements

Yuan Zhongdao and his brother Zongdao and Hongdao have their own literary names. They are also called "three yuan" in the world. They are both Gong'an School, and their achievements are slightly inferior to those of Hongdao. His literary idea is basically the same as that of Hongdao, emphasizing the spirit of human nature, "to serve the law with the will, not to serve the will with the law, and to wash the habit of social intercourse style" (preface to the complete works of Mr. Zhonglang). He died later than his two brothers. Later, he witnessed the abuse of "slang, delicacy and recklessness" of the scholars who imitated Gong'an School. Therefore, in his later years, he formed the idea of focusing on temperament and paying attention to style, and proposed that "it is good to repeat the spirit of Tang poetry without following the seven sons' poetry or the Yuan's juvenile undecided poetry" (preface to Cai Buxia's Poetry). This is the difference between him and his two brothers. Yuan Zhongdao's works are excellent in prose. His travel notes, such as "you Shishou Xiu Lin Shan Ji", "you Mingfeng Shan Ji", "Jin Su Yuan Ji", "yuquanjian travel notes", etc., blend feelings and scenes and describe them in detail. His letters, such as "Ji Yun Pu Shang Ren", "Da pan Jingsheng" and "Yu Zeng Tai Shi Shi Shi Shi Shi Shi Shi Shi Shi Shi", express his mind directly and his writing style is clear. His diary "You Ju Shi Lu" opposes the restoration of the ancients and imitates the ancients Learning is changing with the changes of the times, "there is no article in the world that will not change for a hundred years"; it advocates truthfulness and expresses spirit. In his later years, aiming at the disadvantages of many slang words, he put forward the idea of focusing on temperament and paying attention to style.

Prose is the best way to create, travel notes, diaries, letters have their own characteristics. The travel notes are well described, mingled with feelings and scenes, and the diary is exquisite, which has a certain influence on the diary prose of later generations

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