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陶淵明在短短的六十三年裡，曾親身經歷了兩次篡逆的變亂，親見了東晉的滅亡。不但如此，那時還曾經出現過平民的革命。就是有一個叫孫恩的，他曾起兵發動了反抗朝廷的變亂。所以陶淵明所生活的六十三年，是一個「篡」、「亂」交替的動盪不安的時代。
他的傳記上記載著說，他的曾祖父陶侃是西晉時代一位很有名的將軍。在那變亂頻仍的時代，陶侃曾帶兵平定過叛亂，因有功而被朝廷封為長沙郡公，可是陶淵明沒有繼承長沙公的爵位。他生下來的時候，家境已經非常貧窮了。這在陶淵明的文章裡可以看到。
他的祖父和他的父親作過相當於地方太守的職務，可是陶淵明很不幸，當他只有八歲的時候，他的父親就死了。所以他是在比較艱苦的環境中成長的。這期間，國家還發生過一些大事情，剛才我說的還不夠完全。東晉除了官僚、軍閥等人的彼此爭奪砍殺，以及平民百姓等也起兵革命以外，還有一次跟外族的戰爭。
那時北方胡人中有一個叫作前秦的國家，即五胡十六國之一。這個前秦曾帶兵攻打晉朝。在一個很有名的地方叫淝水，展開了大戰。幸虧那時晉朝還有一個很好的宰相，就是謝安。謝安的侄子叫做謝玄，由謝玄親自帶兵打敗外族胡人的進犯。這件事發生在陶淵明十九歲的那一年。此外，我還要介紹一點東晉時佛教的情況。
因為陶淵明是與佛教的思想有關係的。那時在陶淵明故鄉附近，有一位東晉有名的高僧。可是，我現在還沒有說陶淵明的故鄉究竟在哪呢。陶淵明是江州潯陽紫桑縣人。這個地方在今天的江西。你如果看地圖就知道離那裡不遠處有一座中國的名山，就是廬山。廬山上有一座廟，就是東林寺。東林寺有一位在中國佛教歷史上非常有名的高僧，就是慧遠大師。
根據歷史的記戴，慧遠大師是在東晉孝武帝太元十一年，公元三百八十六年來到廬山的，那時陶淵明已經二十一歲了。據說當時有中國歷史上的兩位大詩人都與慧遠大師有過來往。一個是我們現在要講的陶淵明，還有一個人的名字叫作謝靈運。謝靈運是信佛的，他是貴族，家裡很有錢，跟陶淵明的家庭、身份是不一樣的。
他的祖先也被封作公爵，他真正繼承了公爵的地位，稱為康樂公。所以歷史上說，他曾經捐獻給廬山的東林寺很多的白蓮花，又在東林寺裡邊開闢了一片很大的水池，養了很多白蓮花。當地信佛的人就結了一個社來拜佛，這就是「白蓮社」。歷史上還說，謝靈運很想加入「白蓮社」，而且他還為此捐獻了這許多白蓮。可是慧遠大師不喜歡謝靈運，說他這個人心裡太雜亂，不清淨。
陶淵明雖然什麼也沒有捐獻，但慧遠大師很喜歡陶淵明。我剛才說了，在陶淵明二十一歲時，慧遠大師來到東林寺，結了「白蓮社」，並在此宣傳佛法。當時很多文人、詩人都跟他來往。歷史上有一冊書叫「蓮社高賢傳」的，就是記載當時與慧遠大師互相往來的那些品行、學問兼優的高賢們的故事的。
其中有一段記載說，慧遠大師在廬山的東林寺內居住時，他從來不出山；一次，在出山的途中有一座橋，橋下有溪水，橋邊的山中還有老虎，因此橋下的溪水就叫虎溪。有一次，陶淵明與另外一位也是很有學問的人，一同來拜訪慧遠大法師。大概是因為慧遠大師與陶淵明的談話很投機緣，所以在送陶淵明二人出門後，還一直不停地邊走邊談，後來竟不知不覺地走過了虎溪橋。那些養在山上的老虎，看到平時從不走過橋的慧遠大師從橋上經過，也覺得很奇怪，就叫了一聲。這時慧遠大師才發現他居然破例地過了這個橋，於是三人就大笑起來。為此，後來人還特意畫了一幅畫，叫「虎溪三笑圖」。
待續
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In his short 63 years of life, Tao Yuanming lived through two revolts in which power was usurped and witnessed the demise of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. There was a civil revolution as well. A man named Sun En gathered an army and tried to overthrow the government. Therefore, the 63 years of Tao Yuanming's lifespan was an unstable time filled with usurpations and rebellions.
According to Tao Yuanming's biography, his great-grandfather, Tao Kan, was a famous general in the Western Jin Dynasty. Tao Kan commanded troops and put down many revolts, and was rewarded by being made the county governor of Changsha. However, Tao Yuanming did not inherit the position. His family was very poor when he was born, and it comes through in his writings.
Both his grandfather and father had served as the local governor, but Tao Yuanming was unfortunate as his father passed away when he was only eight years old. We can say that he grew up in a difficult environment, and many major events occurred in the country during his life. I did not give a full enough explanation above. In the Eastern Jin Dynasty, in addition to power struggles among high-ranking officials and officers as well as civil revolutions, a war was waged against foreign tribes.
Among the foreign tribes in the north, there was a kingdom named Qian Qin, one of the "Five Hu and Sixteen Kingdoms." Qian Qin sent troops to attack the Jin Dynasty in the south and there was a big battle on a famous site called Fei Shui. Fortunately, the Jin Dynasty had a good prime minister, Xie An, whose nephew, Xie Xuan, personally led the troops to defeat the foreigners. This event happened when Tao Yuanming was nineteen.
Now I am also going to introduce the background of Buddhism in the Eastern Jin Dynasty.
Tao Yuanming's philosophy was related to Buddhist thought. An eminent monk of the Eastern Jin Dynasty lived near Tao Yuanming's hometown. Tao Yuanming was born in Zisan County, Xunyang, Jiangzhou, which is in presentday Jianxi Province. If you look on a map, you will see that the famous Lu Mountain is not too far away. On Lu Mountain, there was a Buddhist temple called Donglin (East Woods) Monastery, where a very eminent Chinese Buddhist monk, the Great Master Hui Yuan, lived.
According to historical records, Master Hui Yuan came to Lu Mountain in the eleventh year of Emperor Xiaowu's Taiyuan reign period in the Eastern Jin Dynasty (386 A.D.). At that time, Tao Yuanming was twenty-one. It is said that two great poets of the time had associated with Master Hui Yuan. One was Tao Yuanming, whom we are discussing, and the other was Xie Lingyun, a Buddhist from a wealthy aristocratic family. His family background was quite different from that of Tao Yuanming.
His ancestors were granted a noble position and he actually inherited that position as Sir Kang Le (Peace and Happiness). Legend has it that he donated a great number of white lotuses to Donglin Monastery at Lu Mountain and had a huge pond created on the monastery grounds to grow them. At that time, many local Buddhists formed an organization called the White Lotus Society in which people could study Buddhism together. It is said that Xie Lingyun really wanted to join the White Lotus Society, so he donated all those white lotuses. However, Master Hui Yuan did not like the man because his mind was too defiled.
Although Tao Yuanming did not make any donation, Master Hui Yuan liked him very much. I just mentioned that when Tao Yuanming was twenty-one years old, Master Hui Yuan came to Donglin Monastery and organized the White Lotus Society to spread the Buddhadharma. Many scholars and poets associated with him. The book entitled
Stories of Worthy Personages in the Lotus Society contains accounts of those well-educated and virtuous people who associated with Master Hui Yuan.
One of the stories says that while Master Hui Yuan lived at Donglin Monastery in Lu Mountain, he never went down the mountain. Along the path going down the hill, there was a bridge over a creek, and since tigers lived in the nearby hills, the creek was named Tiger Creek. One day, Tao Yuanming and another scholar went to visit Dharma Master Hui Yuan. Probably because Master Hui Yuan and Tao Yuanming were deeply absorbed in conversation, after Master Hui Yuan accompanied them to the gate, they kept walking and chatting and crossed the bridge over Tiger Creek without realizing it. When the tigers in the hills saw Master Hui Yuan crossing the bridge that he ordinarily never crossed, they felt it was quite strange and gave a roar. At that point, Master Hui Yuan realized that he had broken his record and crossed the bridge. The three of them immediately burst out laughing. Later on, someone painted this incident and named the painting "Three Laughing Men at Tiger Creek."
To be continued
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