Wangliuer
In the autumn of the 26th year of Wanli (1598), the Peony Pavilion by Tang Xianzu was completed.
Excited, he wrote a short article for this masterpiece-"The Peony Pavilion". Subsequently, it was sent to Pu Shu Street, Wan Hu Town, Jinxi County, near Linchuan for carving.
"The world woman sentient beings, not as good as Du Like li niang! I dreamed that the man was ill, and he was ill evenly, and he painted it by hand. It passes to the world and then dies. Three years after his death, people who can regain their dreams were born. Such as Li Niang, is the lover's ear. I don't know what happened, but it was deep. The living can die and the dead can live. People who are born but can't be born and die, and those who die and can't be resurrected, are not affectionate. Love in the dream, why is it not true? There are few dreamers in the world! They will get married by recommending pillows, and those who keep close relationships will become ruins ... my husband! Things in the world are beyond the reach of the world. Since you are not an ordinary person, you must always be reasonable! There will be no cloud at the beginning, and there will be evil where you know it! "
This inscription is a declaration of "love". Although it is only two or three hundred words, it has overwhelming power, arousing China people's brand-new transcendence consciousness of "love" and their obsession and praise for dreams and fantasies. Its intensity is unprecedented not only in the late Ming literature, but also in the whole China literature.
"I don't know what it is, but it's gone and deep. The living can die and the dead can live. " This passage, often quoted by later generations, is also a literary expression of Tang philosophy. However, the world only knows that Tang is a writer and dramatist, and few people know that he is a thinker.
? Why is the Tang family obsessed with "love" and "depth"?
? In the history of thought, the late Ming Dynasty was a period of prominent heresy. The importance attached to "emotion" in the Tang Dynasty was actually related to the evolution of the concept of scholars at that time.
In the middle of Ming Dynasty, after the Wang (Yangming) school in Vietnam and China rose, the Wang (Gen) school in Taizhou followed suit.
? Yangming's thought of "to conscience" and "mind is reason" is of great significance to Tang's attention to "emotion"
? Because this kind of "self-satisfaction, self-sufficiency and independence of teachers and friends" (Lu Jiuyuan's language) actually affirms people's sense of independence and emphasizes people's personality and peace of mind. Since "mind is reason", the mind of secular desire is reason. As long as he follows his lust, he will also get physical kung fu.
Wang Gen, a Taizhou school, put forward the ideas of "respecting the body" and "martyrdom with Taoism", which had a more internal influence on the formation of Tang Chong's thought of "emotion".
As a student of Wang Gen's disciple Luo Rufang, Tang Xianzu naturally has more and deeper understanding of Wang Gen's thoughts. Wang Gen seldom talks about "conscience" and "heart", but when he talks about "body", he puts his heart into practice.
In Wang Gen's view, "the body is also the foundation of all things in the world; Everything in the world is at the end. Based on knowledge, it is also based on mingde and close to the people. " This is consistent with Tang Xianzu's theories, such as "People are expensive", "Nature of heaven and earth is expensive" and "Adult learning begins in know life", which all emphasize the supremacy of perceptual life.
? "Respect for the body" is not only the respect for the flesh and blood, but also the inherent essence of respect for the life and emotional body.
Wang Gen put forward "martyrdom with Taoism" and opposed "martyrdom with oneself", which actually contained great concern for life emotion, which was exactly what Tang strongly advocated. Here, we can see that Du Liniang, the embodiment of his "most affectionate", is well-founded, not groundless, or just a stroke of genius.
Tang's thought of attaching importance to "emotion" may be more influenced by contemporary Li Zhi, and his understanding of "emotion" obviously has a lot in common with Li Zhi's thought. For example, in the inscription of Dong Jieyuan's The West Chamber, Tang Xianzu said: "Where there is a will, there is also love. The ancients said that the same is true of people who speak their minds and stop at etiquette. Hoo hoo! Everything has a purpose. Dong's affection for Dong lingers between flowers and months, and his affection for Dong lingers between pen and ink. "
? Here, the so-called "everything has its will", that is, the will is in love, and love is the will. In short, "ambitious people also have feelings." This is completely different from the past interpretation of "ambition" in "poetry expressing ambition" as "reason" and "ceremony" In other words, ambition is the ambition and purpose of emotion, not beyond emotion, and there is an independent "ambition" above emotion.
? Here, we can get a glimpse of the ideological background of Tang literature creation, which is the "emotional ontology" of the whole collection.
Tang Xianzu also has a deep relationship with Buddhism. In his later years, he wrote "Miracle Xianlian Society Looking for Friends" and wanted to live in Lushan Mountain in seclusion. He and his good friend Taoist have "love" and "sex" (Zhu said: "sex is reason." ) debate. In his view, the Taoist priest said that "sentient beings are unreasonable, and sentient beings are unreasonable" is too absolute.
They have different views and don't know many people, but they are lifelong friends. Taoists and Buddhists decided that he was "gorgeous in nature, light in color and deep in nature, and really wanted a sharp weapon" and always wanted to become a monk. He has to be philosophical and understand him, like Bai Juyi and Su Dongpo. Both Bai Juyi and Su Dongpo have deep faith and research on Zen, but they still can't find the liberation of Zen. In the end, they are driven by emotion and can't forget the world. Although Tang said that "he has been in high spirits since he was taught", he still disagreed with him about "calming down".
For Tang Xianzu, "love" and "sex" are not antagonistic. Love is born of people. Only with love can we see and understand sex.
He wrote a poem entitled "See the Duke at the Moon in the River", which expressed the problem more incisively in artistic language: "There are just too many heartless feelings, and there are too many feelings to exhaust. Solve the sentimental feelings, the moon has no shadow and no waves. " (Complete Works of Tang Xianzu, Volume 14)
In the 26th year of Wanli (1598), Tang Xianzu abandoned his official position and returned to Linchuan at the age of 49. He bought an abandoned homestead and built Yu Ming Hall for living, writing, meeting guests and family banquets. Considering that he will write plays for the rest of his life, he also built a small stage in eastern Tang Yuming to rehearse operas. The pavilion book in the garden has "a hook and a curtain are far away, and the piano book grows longer in half a couch."
? Yu Ming is a kind of white camellia, and Lu You praised it as "elegant in rhyme". Tang Xianzu used it as the name of the hall, which was a metaphor for Hua's character, indicating that he wanted to be a person who was good at all times, was independent and had a high style. Qian said in "The Ancestor of Tang Suichang" that Tang Xianzu "lived in the hall, with messy literature and history, sitting with guests and friends, and Xiao sang casually", and "had a piece in his chest, so he wrote a song before he finished writing pottery."
? When I was in Tang Yuming, Four Dreams in Linchuan only completed one Purple Hairpin, and the rest were completed after returning to China.
? Mr. Xia Zhiqing believes that Tang Xianzu's first three operas, The Zixiao Ji, The Purple Hairpin Ji and The Peony Pavilion, mainly focus on "love", which determines its value and transcends the supremacy of time. The last two books, Conan Ji (1600) and Handan Ji (160 1), are about "dreams", which test the value of love under the premise of short life, shorten the time with dreams and dramatize the short life.
Tang Xianzu spent less than four years writing plays and performing activities, which consumed the rest of his life until his death about 16 years. Every row of a new play, Tang Xianzu personally went to the theater to "have fun" and teach singing.
Traditional Chinese opera is the art of "corner". There are no lights and scenery on the stage of Chinese opera. To express the "meaning" of drama, we mainly rely on the singing of Joule and its music accompaniment to achieve the effect.
However, the actor's cultural level is not high, his understanding of lyrics is not good, and his understanding of "Quyi" is not in place. Tang Xianzu, who was depressed, had to hold the sandalwood board and teach Xiao Ling to play music: "Tang Yuming blooms in spring, and new words sing peony pavilion". I was so sad that I patted the floor, but no one would, and I taught Xiaoling to learn from Tan Mark. "("Two Drunken Tanabata Answers to One of Dong Jun ","The Complete Works of Tang Xianzu ",Volume 18)
After the Peony Pavilion came out, "it was passed down from generation to generation, and the price of the West Chamber was reduced".
Du Liniang's tragic fate resonates strongly among boudoir women: Shang Xiaoling died of grief when she sang "Seeking Dreams"; Yu Erniang, a woman from Loujiang, hurt this song and "died in anger"; After watching the play, Feng Xiaoqing wrote a poem to express his feelings: "You can't hear the cold rain in the window, so light the lamp and watch the Peony Pavilion. Some people are crazy about me, and Xiaoqing is sad. "
? Tang Xianzu heard that a woman in Loujiang died after reading this song, and also wrote a poem condemning herself: "Why did she die for love? There must be a sad god. For a time, the writing world was popular. " (One of Two Crying Loujiang Women)
? Tang's thought of attaching importance to "emotion" and his dream-making techniques have been continued in the Qing Dynasty and even in A Dream of Red Mansions. Cao Xueqin was deeply influenced by traditional Chinese opera, especially Tang Xianzu's works, in dealing with "emotion". The reason lies in the contradiction embodied in the opera itself: only through virtuality can self-expression be realized, and only through disguise can the truth be told. It is in this way that Cao Xueqin completed his unique mode of true and false confession.
This year marks the 400th anniversary of Tang Xianzu's death, and the commemorative activities in the workshop began several years ago. The details are as follows: The Peony Pavilion, a Kunqu opera, was originally adapted by Tang Xianzu and staged at Lincoln Center in new york, USA, causing a sensation (exactly controversial); Mr. Shuofang Xu revised and supplemented the publication of the Complete Works of Tang Xianzu; The earliest engraving (photocopy) of Peony Pavilion was found in America. The year before last, Taiwan Province He Chuangshi Calligraphy Art Foundation and Shanghai Jinghua Art Academy jointly hosted the Ming Wanli Painting and Calligraphy Exhibition in "Jinghua Art Space", No.92 Tongren Road. In the exhibit, Tang Xianzu wrote the poem Lazy in the World of mortals by the poet Ma Zhen. This seven wonders is very rare, especially precious. The poem says: "If you are lazy in the world of mortals, the stone road will go all the way into the chaotic mountain. Throw it on the clouds and plant Huang Du. When do I have three rooms? " The Seal of Tang Xianzu by Zhong Zhuwen and Ruoshi by Bai Wen. There are two long afterwords of Shanghai collector Yao on the left and right sides of the silk book. According to the viewer's description, the axis of this book is as good as new, which is amazing.