Author: falsetto Source: falsetto (official account ID: lxlong20) has been authorized to reprint
I flip through Qu Yuan’s works every year on this day.
In recent years, I have been browsing through ‘Fisherman’.
Qu Yuan was already free, swimming in the river pool, singing along the banks of the river, with a haggard color and haggard appearance.
Upon seeing this, the fisherman asked, “Are you not with the Sanlu Doctor? Why are you here
Qu Yuan said, “All the world is turbid, and I am pure. All the people are drunk, and I am awake alone. This is to see and let go
The fisherman said, “Saints do not cling to things, but can pass with the world. Everyone is turbid, why not let their mud and waves rise? Everyone is drunk, why not feed their mess and let it go? Why do you think deeply and hold it high, and let it go
Qu Yuan said, “When I hear of it, those who have bathed in it will bounce their crowns, and those who have bathed in it will shake their clothes. Can An use his body to observe and receive the Wen Wen of things? Would he rather go to the Xiang River and be buried in the belly of the river fish? Can An use his bright white to cover the dust of the world
The fisherman smiled and walked away with a drumbeat. The water of the waves is clear, it can wash my tassels; the water of the waves is turbid, it can wash my feet
So he left without saying anything again.
To reiterate, this poem ‘Fisherman’ is one of my favorite ancient texts. When I was young, my focus was mainly on “Li Sao” or “Tian Wen”. At that time, I understood Qu Yuan as a cultural symbol of sadness.
It wasn’t until my prime that I gradually realized the value of ‘The Fisherman’.
In Dragon Boat Festival in 2021, I didn’t go out because of the epidemic; But on the Dragon Boat Festival, I wrote down my understanding of the Fisherman at the literary and artistic levels. Attention, this is my personal perception.
In my understanding, there are roughly three levels of writing:
One is the realm of skill, which is the realm of playing skills.
In the poetry of the Ming and Qing dynasties, most of the poems are in this realm, and the most comprehensive one is Emperor Qianlong. The reason is obvious, I’m too lazy to explain. Of course, I am not satirizing poets of the Ming and Qing dynasties, nor do I mean to disrespect Qianlong. They are at least stronger than most modern manipulators of words.
Secondly, the artistic conception creates a unique artistic atmosphere.
Those beautiful and unique poems, songs, and essays mostly belong to this realm. Of course, this mainly refers to ancient culture. As for modern culture, it’s not that I value the past and the present, but that there aren’t many words to achieve artistic conception. The reason is simple: for over a hundred years, even the rules of modern poetry have not been established in vernacular Chinese. Many people just use words as a tool to vent their emotions or accumulate wealth, such as some superficial ones.
Thirdly, the realm of Tao, above the realm of art, can only be expressed in meaning but not in words.
However, one thing can be confirmed that the vast majority of the texts that can reach the Tao realm are in the era of historical cycles. If viewed from the perspective of a three-dimensional historical perspective, it appears in the dimension of institutional cycles or civilization cycles.
In the Dragon Boat Festival of 2022, the aftermath of the epidemic in Shanghai (it feels like a long time ago) has not ended, and naturally I am not in the mood to go out; I read in ‘Fisherman’:
The character Qu Yuan in the text is not Qu Yuan himself, but rather the embodiment of Qu Yuan’s “id”;
The fisherman in the text is not a true fisherman, but a personification of the real situation.
So the article “Fisherman” is just a reflection of Qu Yuan’s life at the end of his life, discovering that the gap between his “id” and the real world is difficult to bridge, so he chooses to settle himself.
I have a very strange feeling this year. To avoid unnecessary controversy, I hereby declare that this feeling only represents my personal opinion. This feeling is that the root cause of Qu Yuan’s self settlement is actually an increase in the cost of survival.
There are many words about Qu Yuan, but few people talk about his cost of survival. Because in the consciousness of most people, Qu Yuan is an upper class aristocrat, and there is basically no survival pressure from ordinary people, so there is no survival cost in the consciousness of ordinary people.
But I think the cost of survival for a person depends not only on their social class, but also on their dream pursuits. Qu Yuan’s class and dreams determined that he wanted to do something great for the country and the people. But he must obtain the support of the King of Chu.
When the King of Chu supported him, he started his career more smoothly, which means the cost of survival was lower.
When the King of Chu no longer supported him, he found it difficult to move forward, which meant a significant increase in the cost of survival. No matter how hard he tries, he cannot achieve his goals; Correspondingly, for most ordinary people nowadays, no matter how hard they work, they cannot become rich. This is an indescribable pressure.
This reminds me of the real world, where society is developing and various materials seem to be enriching. There are more and more choices to make in terms of clothing, food, housing, and transportation, but many people feel increasingly stressed. Ultimately, it is because the cost of survival is significantly increasing.
For most people today, their pressure is not the visible “King Huai of Chu”, but the invisible “King Huai of Chu”, such as housing, medical care and education. This is the so-called increase in the cost of survival.
Because King Huai of Chu changed his attitude, Qu Yuan’s cost of living increased. In the end, Qu Yuan resumed his life for a while. Seeing no hope of reducing the cost of living (King Huai of Chu), he chose not to work hard.
In today’s society, the cost of housing, medical care and education is increasingly high, and these invisible “King Huai of Chu” are like mountains that weigh many people out of breath, so some people choose not to work hard.
This is my latest feeling on this Dragon Boat Festival: the biggest common point between Qu Yuan and many people today is the deep frustration and frustration in the face of the sharp rise in the cost of living.
Throughout history, tides rise and fall,
Under the changing sea and fields,
From clothing, food, housing, and transportation to the national system, there may be changes;
The only constant is that everyone’s strong feelings due to changes in the cost of survival are similar.
Finally, I wish my friends a healthy and prosperous Dragon Boat Festival.