This poem comes from "Yu Qian Monk Lujunxuan" by Su Shi of the Song Dynasty. It means: It is better to have no meat to eat than to live without bamboo.
Original text
In Qianseng Luyunxuan
Su Shi [Song Dynasty]
I would rather eat without meat than live without bamboo.
No meat makes you thin, and no bamboo makes you vulgar.
Those who are thin can still gain weight, but scholars and common people cannot cure it.
Others laugh at this statement, as if it is high and foolish.
If you still chew on this, are there any Yangzhou cranes in the world?
Translation
I would rather live without meat than live without bamboo.
Without meat, people will lose weight, but without bamboo, people will become vulgar.
The reason is that people can become fat even if they are thin, and it is difficult to cure it due to human customs.
If others are puzzled by this, they may ask with a smile: "Does it seem high or stupid?"
Then, if you face this king (bamboo) and still chew, If you want to have both a noble reputation and a sweet taste, where in the world can you get such a beautiful thing as "Yangzhou Crane"?
Notes
⑴Yu Qian: The old name of the county, in present-day Lin'an City, Zhejiang Province. There is Jizhao Temple in the south of the county, and there is Green Junxuan in the temple. Monk: His name is Zi, and his courtesy name is Huijue. He became a monk in Jizhao Temple, Fengguo Township, Yuqian County.
⑵ This king: Use the allusion of the emblem of the King of Jin. Wang Huizhi loved bamboo very much. Once he stayed at a friend's house and immediately ordered someone to plant bamboo. When someone asked him why, Huizhi said: "How can there be no such king in one day?" This king is bamboo. Chewing heavily: The phrase comes from Cao Zhi's "Books with Wu Ji Chong": "Chewing heavily after passing through the butcher's gate is not meat, but it is expensive and satisfying."
⑶ Yangzhou Crane: The phrase comes from "Yin Yun's Novels", the story of The general idea is that there are guests who follow each other and have their own ambitions. Some want to be the governor of Yangzhou, some want to buy more money, and some want to ride a crane to the sky and become an immortal. One of them said: He wanted to "ride a crane to Yangzhou with a hundred thousand guan in his waist", and get the benefits of being promoted, getting rich, and becoming an immortal at the same time.
Creative background
In the spring of the sixth year of Xining in the Northern Song Dynasty (1073), when Su Shi was appointed as the general magistrate of Hangzhou, he passed from Fuyang and Xindeng to Fuyunling and entered Yuqian County. View politics." Monk Huijue of Yuqian became a monk at Jizhao Temple in Fengguo Township, Erli South of Yuqian County. There is a Green Jun Pavilion in the temple, which is decorated with bamboo and is very elegant. When Su Shi and Seng Huijue visited Luyunxuan, he wrote this poem "Yu Qianseng Luyunxuan".
Appreciation
This poem borrows the title "Yu Qianseng Luyunxuan" to praise elegance and high moral integrity and criticize materialistic desires. The poem is mainly discussion, but it is written with style.
According to the "Book of Jin·Biography of Wang Hui", Wang Xizhi's son Wang Huizhi was an elegant man and liked bamboo by nature. Once, he stayed in an empty house and immediately asked people to plant bamboos. Someone asked him why, but he would not give a positive explanation, "But Xiaoyong pointed to the bamboo and said: 'How can I live without this king for a day!'" This "I would rather eat without meat than live without bamboo" is used to praise Qian Qian. monk. Because there is such an outstanding image in the allusion, and the poem uses the selective and affirmative tone of "can" and "can't", the image of a transcendent and distinguished monk immediately appeared on the page.
"No meat makes you thin, no bamboo makes you vulgar" is a further development of "You cannot live without bamboo". It is rich in philosophy and sentiment, and writes about the comparative value of material and spiritual, virtue and food; food without sweetness is just "making people thin" at best; if people do not have the integrity of pine and bamboo, and do not have elegance and good taste, then It will "make people vulgar". This is not only a compliment to Qian Monk's moral integrity, but also a warning to those who lack moral integrity. Then he used "people who are thin can still gain weight, but common people cannot be cured" to complete this meaning, and then the whip went further. The most important thing for a person is his ideological character and spiritual state. As long as you have noble sentiments, you will have the aloofness of pines and cypresses, the fragrance of plums and bamboos, not afraid of violence, walk straight, and be outstanding; on the contrary, you will be obsessed with fame and fortune, care about gains and losses, look down on power, and look down on others. Depending on the direction of the wind, the vulgar and flattering behavior will appear, and the ugly behavior will appear. Such people often think they are wise, think they have their own tricks, cannot listen to advice, and cannot change their nature. Therefore, the poet said that this kind of "common people cannot be cured" - medical treatment is ineffective.
The above is the first paragraph. The characteristics of this paragraph are: sharp words, incisive discussion, and thought-provoking.
The text seems to be displeased with the mountains. The above are all comments by poets. Although the words are extraordinary, if the poets discuss them directly, it will seem to be flat and preachy. Therefore, the next section reopens the waves and turns to new ideas. For that kind of "incurable" "layman" to stand up and perform for himself, this is the method of "showing" in rhetoric: "Others laugh at this saying: 'It seems to be high but it seems to be crazy.'" This "other", It’s the kind of “layman” mentioned earlier. He listened to the poet's argument and disagreed greatly; although he thought that "you can't live without bamboo" was a completely pedantic argument and a rotten Confucian view, he verbally described this argument as "seemingly high and foolish". From this point on, His ambiguous tone showed his sophistication and tact; he would never make a decisive statement in a debate and make enemies.
The following is the poet's ridicule and rebuttal to the lay people: "If you still chew on this, there will be Yangzhou cranes in the world!" The meaning of the poem is: I want to grow bamboo and get a noble name, but I also want to face bamboo. But if you chew on the sweetness, there are no such beautiful things in the world as "being strapped with a hundred thousand guan, riding a crane to Yangzhou".
It is rare for a person with a high reputation to be rich, and it is rare for a person with a high reputation to have a high reputation; an official has no time to learn from immortals, and a person who has attained the Tao has no time to be an official; people who eat meat do not have high moral integrity, and people with high moral integrity do not eat meat; two benefits You can’t have both, let alone multiple benefits.
This poem is mainly composed of five characters and mainly discusses. However, due to the appropriate use of prose sentence patterns (such as "You can't live without bamboo", "If you still chew on this", etc.) and some expression techniques of Fu (such as making comments in the form of dialogue, etc.), it can be used in There is style in the discussion, waves in the discussion, and image in the discussion. Su Shi was very good at borrowing topics and had rich associative power. He was able to find new ideas in ordinary topics and speak extraordinary words. This poem is an example.
About the author
Su Shi, (January 8, 1037 - August 24, 1101), courtesy name Zizhan and Hezhong, also known as Tieguan Taoist and Dongpo layman, was born in the world. Known as Su Dongpo, Su Xian, Han nationality, from Meishan, Meizhou (Meishan City, Sichuan Province), his ancestral home is Luancheng, Hebei Province. He is a famous writer, calligrapher and painter in the Northern Song Dynasty, and a famous figure in water control in history. Su Shi was a literary leader in the mid-Northern Song Dynasty and made great achievements in poetry, lyrics, prose, calligraphy, and painting. His writing is bold and unbridled; his poems are broad in subject matter, fresh and vigorous, good at using exaggerated metaphors, and unique in style. Together with Huang Tingjian, he is called "Su Huang"; His prose writings are grand and bold. Together with Ouyang Xiu, he is called "Ou Su" and is one of the "Eight Great Masters of Tang and Song Dynasties". Su Shi was good at calligraphy and one of the "Four Masters of the Song Dynasty"; he was good at literati painting, especially ink bamboo, strange rocks, dead wood, etc. Together with Han Yu, Liu Zongyuan and Ouyang Xiu, they are known as the "Four Great Masters of Eternal Writing". His works include "Dongpo Seven Collections", "Dongpo Yi Zhuan", "Dongpo Yuefu", "Xiaoxiang Bamboo and Stone Picture Scroll", "Old Trees and Strange Stones Picture Scroll", etc.