Writing background:
Ailian Shuo is a masterpiece of China's ancient prose. The full text is 1 16 words, with rigorous structure, detached brushwork, concise and concise, and mixed scenes. It uses the brushwork of "borrowing shadows" to describe itself with lotus flowers, which has profound ideological content. It is worth mentioning that this excellent work, which was selected as a textbook, was written by Zhou Dunyi, a philosopher of the Song Dynasty, in Ganzhou (now Ganzhou) in May 1063 (the eighth year of Jiayou).
As Ailian said, although Zhou Dunyi lived in officialdom, he never gave up studying and wrote books to educate young people to fall behind. Cheng Yi and Cheng Hao, famous philosophers and educators in Song Dynasty, were his disciples in Ganzhou. He is different from others in being an official. He is good at politics and everything is reasonable. 1045 Joined the army (a small official) When he was in charge of Nan 'an (now Dayu), Wang Kui had an argument with his immediate superior for a prisoner who died inappropriately, and submitted his resignation, unwilling to be an official. Finally, Wang Kui, who was headstrong, realized something and admitted his position. Zhou Dunyi has been an official in Ganzhou for many years, clean and diligent. According to legend, "Ailian Shuo" was written after visiting Luohan Rock alone.
Judging from the article "On Love Lotus", "... Lotus comes out of the mud but not stained, clear but not demon, straight through the outside, not crawling, fragrant and clear, and the lotus is planted gracefully ... The gentleman of flowers is also." Lotus is a metaphor for a man of noble character. Besides, it's like a person. Zhou Dunyi never colluded with the dark forces in his life. Huang Tingjian praised him for his "noble personality", such as Scenery and Light. Later, in order to commemorate him, Ganzhou specially set up a shrine, and built the "Lianxi Academy" behind the shrine, and the "Ailianchi" was also chiseled in the academy. Due to several battles, the original academies, shrines and pools all disappeared.
In the sixth year of Xichun (1 179), Zhu Wei was the secretariat of Nankang (now the county). He once established Lianxi Temple in Lianxi Academy of Lushan Mountain, and carved the image of Zhou Dunyi and some articles on the stone wall. At this time, Zhi Qing Zhou, the great-grandson of Zhou Dunyi, came to Jiujiang and presented the ink book "Ailian" written by his great-grandfather, so he carved this article on the wall of the lotus pond in the academy and spread it through the ages.