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When mentioning recluses in ancient China, who comes into your mind first? Zhuang Zi? Lao Zi or Tao Yuanming? The three mentioned here are known for their behavior and philosophical works as a recluse in the history of China, but they are not the first recluse in history. The idea and behavior of being a recluse originated not from the philosophy of Lao Zi or Zhuang Zi but from the Book of Poetry in which the story of the first recluse is recorded by the following poem: 考槃 Building a Log Cabin 佚名 〔先秦〕 Anonymous [Pre-Qin Dynasty] 考槃在涧，硕人之宽。独寐寤言，永矢弗谖。 考槃在阿，硕人之薖。独寐寤歌，永矢弗过。 考槃在陆，硕人之轴。独寐寤宿，永矢弗告。 Logcabin on the ravine, the recluse is liberal, Sleeping,waking, talking alone and never forgetting his pure ideal. Logcabin on the hillside, the recluse is at ease, Sleeping,waking, singing alone and never forgetting his cosiness. Logcabin on the land, the recluse is vigorous, Sleeping,waking, living alone and never pouring out his woes. Since then, the conduct of being a recluse has become a tradition, and then developed a life ideal and kind of philosophy which bloomed in Zhuangzi and later in Tao Yuanming and Li Bai. In the poem, the figure of a recluse is described vividly.Wherever he built his log cabin, he felt liberal, at ease and vigorous. The recluse lived far away from the secular world and was never affected by the noisy life full of strife. He talked. He sang songs. He lived alone. But he never felt lonely and sad. On the contrary, his pure ideal, cosiness and woes were spiritual nutrition for his mind and independence. Before systematic exposition of the philosophy of being a recluse in some philosophical works such as Lao Zi and Zhuang Zi, some stories of recluses were passed on generation after generation. Such stories describe how the recluses lived and thought about their life choice. In the historical book by Lv Buwei, a story about a prince who would be a recluse rather than a king goes like this: The people of the Stage of Yue killed their kings for three generations and so Sou the prince, being afraid that the same thing would happen to him, ran away and hid himself in a cave. The people of the State ofYue had no king and couldn’t find Sou the prince for the throne till they discovered him in the cave, but Sou the prince was reluctant to come out to sit on the throne. They had to burn the wormwood to force him out to sit on the chariot.Sou the prince held the bridle and climbed to thechariot, sighing:”To be a king? Why was I left alone, not being a king?” Sou the prince valued life more than the throne. That’s the right reason why the people of the State of Yue chose him to be their king. Maybe it needs to say a few more words about his woes, just to avoid some misunderstanding about him, the noble recluse. And in fact, his peaceful mind, although he lived a simple and even a coarse life for the common people, has become a long tradition for Chinese scholars of whom Yan Hui was typical who has been praised as a Confucian leading a simple but virtuous life.He was unwilling to confide his woes to others just because he didn’t regard his life to be woes. |
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