The first time I met the West Lake, it was on an inferior folding fan. It was brought to the countryside by an elder who had been to Hangzhou. The folding fan is printed with a tour map of the West Lake, which is different from the common tour map now. It is clearly painted with various landscapes, just like a three-dimensional model. In the picture, the names of various landscapes are marked one by one, and the overall title at the top of the picture is "Paradise on Earth". Rural children see few pictures, see them every day and know them by heart. When I am old, I really went to the West Lake, just like revisiting the old place and getting familiar with an old dream.
During Zheng De's reign in the Ming Dynasty, a Japanese envoy wrote this poem after visiting the West Lake:
I have seen this lake map in previous years, but I don't believe there is such a lake in the world. After crossing the lake today, the painter still lacks time.
It can be seen that for many tourists, even for the first time, the West Lake has the taste of reliving old dreams. This has become a universal image in China culture. China culture for a long time, there will always be this lake in my heart.
Strangely, no matter how far you swim in this lake, you can't really get up in your heart. Too mysterious nature will produce a sense of alienation, and it is impossible to communicate with it at home. Just as home cooking is not suitable for ostentation and extravagance, a wet nurse who can snuggle her children is not suitable for makeup. The West Lake is too ostentatious and the makeup is too fine, which makes people unable to settle down for a long time. Most places with excellent scenery should not be settled, and the relationship between man and beauty is so strange.
The West Lake gives people a sense of alienation, and there are other reasons. It became famous too early, its relics were too dense, its fame was too heavy, and its landscape pavilions were too involved in history. The result is a very heavy symbolic image. It's ok to visit, but it's hard to get close. In order to get rid of this feeling, one summer, I jumped into the lake and swam alone for a long time, and I had an indissoluble bond with it. The lake is not cold and the bottom is not deep, but the soft velvet ground can't be kicked, reminding people that there is a thousand years of siltation here. After landing, I thought I was in the water from a scenic spot in the Song Dynasty and swam to the left house of A Qing Dynasty. Therefore, the water wave I just touched was immediately abstracted by history and almost unreal.
It has accumulated too many dynasties, so there are no dynasties. It gathered too many directions, so it lost its direction. It moves towards abstraction and illusion, and it is as grand and ethereal as a well-prepared exposition.
To sum up, the grandeur of the West Lake lies in its extremely complex cultural personality in China.
All religions will come here to participate in the exhibition. No matter how you avoid the world, you will never forget the excitement here; No matter how bitter and lonely you are, you should share the beauty here. There are the most Buddhist scenic spots, so it is unnecessary to list them one by one. Even Taoism at home occupies a Geling, which is the first place by the lake to greet the dawn, calling for dense footprints early in the morning. As a model of Confucian generals, Yue Fei once rested by the lake, spreading the theory of governing the country and calming the world from generation to generation. The quiet and indifferent masters of Chinese studies will also live next to the absurd and magnificent myths and legends, and each will become a landscape for viewing.
This is the true religion of China. Profound thoughts can be transformed into vivid sightseeing ways and integrated with sensory games. This is a real philosophy and "non-execution", and it is also a real smoothness and randomness. Great seriousness is accompanied by great non-seriousness, and finally they all converted to the consumer sensory world. China's primitive religion has never been upgraded to a complete and rigorous artificial religion like the West, and later artificial religions have also quickly scattered in nature, echoing natural religions. The good men and women who came to worship in the West Lake with sachets on their backs didn't have too many traces of ism in their hearts, but their eyes were always worried about the pink and green, and the water shield and vinegar fish. Is the landscape developing towards religion? Grasping the scenery or religion? Anyway, everything comes down to a very practical and vague sensory essence.
The integrity and popularity of western religions lead to the rational integrity and popularity of religious reformers and opponents; However, China's religion can't inspire this kind of thinking habit whether it is forward or backward. The green water of the West Lake has slowly shattered and dissolved all kinds of ideas of coming to the shore, and cultivated all kinds of believers into tourists. It flashes a smile, and it is difficult for the scientific and rational spirit to remain firm around it. Perhaps, as a nation, we are too many tourists of the West Lake and too few passers-by described by Lu Xun. Passers-by are in such a hurry to find the lake of life, their clothes are torn and their feet are bleeding. But if he really walks to the edge of the West Lake, he will be regarded as a beggar by leisurely tourists in Wan 'an. Perhaps it is for this reason that Lu Xun discouraged Yu Dafu from moving to Hangzhou:
Qian Wang's vacation is still there, and Wu Xiang can't find it. He is peaceful and hateful, and Gao Cen is full of incense. There is no one in front of General Yue's grave, and the plum forest is desolate, like a family trip, full of wind and rain.
His oral evaluation of the West Lake is: "As for the scenery of the West Lake, although pleasant, there are places to eat and play. If you linger, the lakes and mountains will also kill people's ambition. For example, people like Yuan Zicai, wearing a tulle gown, recognizing the folks with Su Xiaoxiao and living a high-spirited life, are boring. " (Chuan Dao: "Memories of Mr. Lu Xun 1928 Hangzhou Tour")
However, in the personality structure of most China literati; For a symbolic and abstract West Lake, there is always a great centripetal force. The mission of social rationality has been quietly abstracted, talents and hermits are scattered among beautiful mountains and rivers, and the loneliness in front of them and the hollow reputation behind them are buried. Great talent and depression eventually became a scenic spot for future generations to play. Scenic spots, scenic spots, are always scenic spots.
I can't read the couplets handed down from ancient times, only the couplets on the colonnade.
I can't find a more generous grudge, only a few pavilions to mourn and rest.
No longer expect the tremor of history, only mountains and lakes that sit in awe.
Repair, repair, repair again. Towering into the sky, vines and pueraria grow thickly, and thousands of years of algae and moss float on the lake.
Among the scenic spots of the West Lake, Bai Causeway and Su Causeway are the most unforgettable places for China literati. The two great poets and writers simply wanted to alleviate the sufferings of the local people, build water conservancy, dredge lakes and build dikes, not for elegance or even for cultural purposes, and finally left two long dams of life in the West Lake.
Cha Rong of the Qing Dynasty recited Su Causeway's poem: "Su Gong built this place that day, not for sightseeing, but for human ears." It is precisely the artists who know the most about sightseeing who don't want to carve their cultural image into sightseeing objects, so this shore has become a particularly natural scenery between the West Lake. I don't know the rest. Personally, the most enjoyable thing about visiting the West Lake is walking alone on the Su Causeway in rainy days. There are no famous sentences that force me to recite, no regrets imposed on me by future generations, and no solemn statues that suppress my relaxation. It will always be just a long dike with natural functions, with comfortable trees and free listening for birds. All this was not specially arranged by Mr. Dongpo, but he did a conscientious thing here. Only in this way can I see a Su Dongpo who is truly outstanding in the field of beauty.
But as far as the overall feelings of Bai Juyi and Su Dongpo are concerned, these two materialized long dikes are still too narrow. They have their own relatively complete consciousness of the world and the universe, and their own relatively tough subjective spirit and rational thinking. In terms of cultural taste, they are the peak and elite of that era. They should have led a generation of national spirit in a greater sense, but just because of their words, they were chosen as a part of a rigid body, disassembled everywhere, and accidentally deployed to this lake to make a water conservancy that others can do. What we see is the ultimate social achievement that China's cultural conscience can make. Although it's beautiful, it's just two long dams.
Perhaps it is because of this result that Alin River stands out from the West Lake. He seems to see through everything. He lived in seclusion in a lonely mountain for 20 years, taking Mei as his wife and crane as his son, far away from officialdom and the hustle and bustle of the market. His poems are really great. He came to Yongmei with the words "The shadows are shallow, and the faint fragrance floats on the moon and dusk", which almost became a swan song. There were many hermits in ancient China, but with plum blossoms, cranes and poems, Lin Hejing really made the hermit real and beautiful. In the eyes of later scholars, Bai Juyi and Su Dongpo are both enviable, but they are hard to catch up with. It is a very accidental and rare opportunity to be a satrap in Hangzhou West Lake. However, with or without Lin Hejing's talent, it is not difficult to follow him. Mei's wife, Crane, is a little annoying, but actually very relaxed. Lin Hejing has a wife and a little boy of her own. Where can't I find some flowers, trees and some birds? In the real world, it is the easiest thing to pretend that you are half Lin Hejing when you hit a wall.
This kind of self-defense and masturbation is the wit of China intellectuals and the cunning of China intellectuals. If you can't realize your ambition in society, you will hide in the small natural world and entertain yourself. They destroyed their ambitions and gradually regarded this destruction as their own ambitions. The philosophical cultivation of caring for the poor and being happy has become a spacious cellar in China's cultural personality structure. Although it has a strong musty smell, it is safe and quiet. So, after ten years of studying literature and history, I came to the high slope of national culture, fought with the society for several rounds, and buried everything in the lonely mountain.
As a result, the cultural personality of this group is becoming more and more bleak. When spring comes to Qiu Lai, the plum blossoms wither and the cranes get old. Culture becomes a kind of aimless waste, and closed moral perfection leads to overall immorality. The sudden advance of civilization has also been cancelled, leaving a pile of plum petals and crane feathers, which are sandwiched in the history of national spirit like bookmarks.
In contrast to this gloom, the wild splash, another personality structure is also mischievously crowded on the shore of the West Lake.
Su Xiaoxiao, a famous prostitute, is the best.
Whether you like it or not, this prostitute is older than the above celebrities. In the poems describing the West Lake in later generations, Su Dongpo and Yue Fei were always placed behind the girls intentionally or unintentionally: "There are many flowers at the entrance of Xiao Su, and women squat on the Su Gong embankment"; "The Su family is weak and delicate, and the Yue tomb is loyal" ... Even Bai Juyi, who was a little earlier, wrote himself as an admirer of Su Xiaoxiao: "If you look for smallness, the Su family is deep in Qingyang"; "Sue's little girl was famous in the past, but Yang felt differently."
From this perspective, the poet Yuan Zicai wrote a small chapter saying that "Qiantangsu is a small villager". Although it was displeased by Lu Xun, it was quite understandable.
Of course, there were many frivolous literati who chanted and paid tribute to Su Xiaoxiao in the past dynasties, but there were also many knowledgeable and down-to-earth people. In a country like ours, it is quite profound that a prostitute can enjoy such a long time of praise.
Su Xiaoxiao's image is a dream in itself. She attached great importance to feelings and wrote a song "One Heart Song", saying, "My concubine rides an oil-walled car and straddles a green horse, where she meets under a pine and cypress tree in Xiling." Park Su truly shows the infinite scenery of young couples dating. Beautiful car, beautiful horse, flying together, completed a group of fascinating emotional portraits. She also said that she met a poor scholar at a scenic spot, so she generously donated 120 silver to help her go to Beijing. However, the lover has not returned, the scholar has gone, and the world has failed to give her emotional return. She did not commit suicide because of this, but strode from her attachment to love to her attachment to beauty. She didn't want to be a concubine, and she managed to fulfill a woman's low mission. Instead, I want to present my beauty to the market and despise the beautiful high wall. She doesn't keep chastity but beauty, which makes a man's world revolve around her fickle mood. Finally, a serious illness is about to take her life, but she feels comfortable and comfortable, thinking that dying in the Qingming year can leave a most beautiful image for the world. She even thinks that the visit of 19-year-old death is the best fulfillment for her.
No wonder Mr Cao Juren called her a la Traviata aesthete. In my opinion, she lives more smartly than La Traviata. In front of her, other famous prostitutes with literary value in the history of China regarded themselves too narrowly. For a heartbroken person, or for a court, the bumps are too serious. Only her philosophical detachment has become a hidden symbol in the hearts of China literati.
From love to beauty, it always revolves around the theme of life. Su Dongpo turned beauty into poems and long dikes, Lin Hejing pinned beauty on plum blossoms and white cranes, while Su Xiaoxiao always attached beauty to his life. She doesn't do much physical and chemical transformation, but radiates the microwave of life consciousness by herself.
Of course, the profession of prostitutes is not commendable. Su Xiaoxiao's significance lies in her strange confrontation with the orthodox personality structure. No matter how serious a scholar is, he can be blameless in social character, but he often suppresses the natural process of life ontology of himself and others. This structure is so grand and powerful that the torrent of life consciousness can't help becoming wild and strange under the siege of mountains. Thirdly, the paradox of morality and immorality, humanity and inhumanity, beauty and ugliness: the great reason of human nature will also be hidden in the filth of society, and the way to realize this great reason is often too weird for normal people to tolerate. On the contrary, the great light of social history is often at the expense of many important propositions of human ontology. The ideal state of one-way perfection is mostly a dream. One of the great sorrows that mankind cannot get rid of is here.
Another lovely life accepted by the West Lake is White Queen. Although it is only a legend, it has far surpassed many real people in secular popularity, so it has long been a more grand and practical existence in the spiritual map of China people. People generously donated lakes, broken bridges and Leifeng Pagoda to her. At this point, the West Lake did not lose anything, but added a particularly bright light color.
She is a demon and a fairy, but she doesn't want to be a demon or a fairy. Her ideal is the most ordinary and brilliant: she just wants to be an ordinary person. This basic proposition is very challenging in China culture.
China's traditional thought has always had the customary function of dividing two realms. In a chaotic world, with a sharp sword, a person can become a saint, a sage, a loyal minister, a kind person, a sage and a benevolent person, and can also become a traitor, a wicked person, a wicked person, an ugly person, a rebel and a murderer. The former rises to abundance and the latter falls into hell. Interestingly, the conversion between the two is extremely convenient. It's very easy for Bai Niangniang to be a demon or a fairy. The trouble is that all she sees is a plain between Tianfu and hell, and an ordinary animal between demons and immortals: people. All her disasters were born from this.
What is an ordinary, natural person with no external decoration and only human significance? A thick stack of twenty-five histories didn't leave much ink for it. Therefore, Fahai forced Bai Niangniang to return to the demon, and the heaven advised Bai Niangniang to become an immortal, but she desperately shouted: Man! People! People!
She found Xu Xian, and she was deeply disappointed that Xu Xian's dullness and withering could not match her emotional intensity. She is accompanied by an ordinary man who is already noble and doesn't know anyone, so she can't help being lonely. This loneliness is her tragedy, and it is also the human tragedy that she yearns for. Poor White Empress, those who call for the demon world and the celestial world can't see her face, and those who call for the world can't get a response. However, she will never give up on Xu Xian. His wish to make her a man has come true, and she doesn't want to find someone who is out of the ordinary state. This is a profound contradiction. She admitted that she was willing to go all the way to Wan Li to steal fairy grass for him and fight for him to the death when the flood flooded Jinshan. Everything is to protect the word "person" that she just caught half.
In my opinion, the biggest sorrow of Bai Niangniang is here, rather than being trapped under the Leifeng Tower in the end. She is not afraid of death, let alone the town. Her biggest regret is that she didn't become an ordinary person in the end. The Leifeng Pagoda is only a summative shape, and it has become a sad symbol of a national spiritual world.
1In September, 924, the Leifeng Pagoda finally collapsed, and a group of cultural pioneers of the May 4th Movement could not help cheering heartily, especially Lu Xun. This may prove that the contest between Bai Niangniang and Leifeng Pagoda is related to the rupture and renewal of China's spiritual culture? To this end, even if he is as wise as Lu Xun, he is willing to be deeply immersed in the symbolic meaning of a legend.
A friend of Lu Xun's who hit the Leifeng Tower with his head is also a woman. She sang "Autumn wind and autumn rain make people sad" and settled by the West Lake.
I owe a debt to the West Lake for one night, that is, I have never been to the site of Leifeng Pagoda. It's no surprise that they all say it's not good-looking, but you must watch it once.