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第五講
有了前邊幾講的準備，我們今天就可以看〈飲酒〉詩了。現在我們來看陶淵明這組詩的第一首：
衰榮無定在，彼此更共之。
邵生瓜田中，寧似東陵時。
寒暑有代謝，人道每如茲。
達人解其會，逝將不復疑。
忽與一觴酒，日夕歡相持。
陶淵明這一組詩的題目叫〈飲酒〉，所以他在第一首詩裡就提到飲酒的事情，「忽與一觴酒」是說我偶然得到了一觴酒。「觴」是一種裝酒的容器。陶淵明這二十首詩中有很多首詩並沒有提到飲酒的事，但是這一首提到了飲酒。
你要知道，凡是在中國詩歌裡邊稱為組詩的，每首詩之間的順序關係並不是固定的，有些是有明顯的次序排列的，而有的則是無序的。比如唐代杜甫寫過一組詩，題目叫〈秋興八首〉。這八首詩之間的次序是固定的，它們不能相互顛倒。
而陶淵明這二十首詩，我以為其中有一部分是有一定次序的，而另一部分可能不一定有次序。第一首詩說我現在得到了酒，有酒可以喝了，這一定是第一首。還有他的最後一首詩說「君當恕醉人」，你們應該饒恕一個喝醉酒的人所說的醉話。由此我們可以判定第一首和最後一首次序是固定的。
至於其他的詩，我覺得前五首是比較有次序的，後面幾首就不一定有次序了。前五首詩有什麼次序呢？在這五首詩中，他曾經思考過人生的很多重大問題，對於人生的意義、價值，以及目的等等都做出了深刻的省思。
前面我在介紹詩的序文時說過，陶淵明所飲的這些酒都是有來頭的，那些給他送酒的人，送給他的不單單是酒，還有一些額外的要求；或是勸他「一世皆尚同，願君汨其泥」，或是要他回答一些類似「伐國」的問題。總之這些都是要他做隨波逐流的事，要他說隨聲附和的話的，那麼陶淵明的態度是如何的呢？陶淵明委婉而果決地拒絕了他們的要求，卻留下了他們送來的酒。
那麼現在當陶淵明獨自一個人喝著那些人送來的酒的時候，便自然而然地想到了那些連同酒一起送來的「忠告」與要求，而這些對於陶淵明說來，都是關係了人生選擇的重大問題，於是陶淵明邊飲酒，邊思考，故而寫下了這組詩。我說前五首詩是有次序的，就正是因為這五首詩的內容恰恰與陶淵明此時此刻「忽與一觴酒，日夕歡相持」的心理意念的活動軌跡相吻合。
我們以前還曾說過，當年蘇東坡也曾提出過疑問：「不知陶公方飲酒中，何緣記得此許多事？」我們說過，陶淵明的飲酒不同於那些剛才我在路上看到的不省人事，橫臥街頭的酒鬼。梁代昭明太子蕭統在〈陶淵明集序〉中曾經說過：「有疑陶淵明詩篇篇有酒，吾觀其意不在酒，亦寄酒為跡焉。」這是說雖然陶淵明詩裡經常說飲酒，可他真正的意思卻並不在於喝酒，他不過是把喝酒作為一個思考的線索罷了。
一般說來，飲酒是在閑暇的時候，所以當陶淵明獨自一人「閑居寡歡」，「顧影獨盡」之際，千思萬緒，諸般人生感受都湧上心頭，湧向筆端。他自知有許多思想和感受都是不為別人理解的。比如在出仕做官的問題上，他本來可以去做官，可以使他的妻兒都過上比較富裕的生活。
陶淵明的文章和詩裡都曾提到過，他家裡有時候連飯都沒得吃。他寫過〈乞食〉詩，我們前面也提到過他寫給他兒子的〈與子儼等書〉說我不願意和那些腐敗的官僚們在一起，以致於使你們從那麼小就跟著我挨餓受凍。
為什麼天下的人都追求物質享受，希望過更好的生活，可陶淵明寧可挨餓受凍，他做出這樣的選擇，他的思想，他的感情一般人都不理解。不僅外邊的人不理解，連他家中的妻子都不能理解。
待續
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LECTURE FIVE
Having heard the previous lectures, we are now better prepared to look at the "Drinking" series. Let's start with the first poem:
Decline and prosperity are not fixed;
To each other they give rise.
Mr. Shao in the melon patch
Bears no resemblance to the Marquis of Dongling.
Winter and summer come and go;
So it is with worldly affairs.
Wise men understand these conditions,
Harboring no doubts whatsoever.
Unexpectedly presented with a vessel of wine,
I enjoyed it day and night.
Tao Yuanming entitled this series of poems "Drinking", and he mentions drink in the very first poem:
Unexpectedly presented with a vessel of wine. He says, "I obtained a vessel of wine by chance." Tao Yuanming did not talk about drink in many of these twenty poems, but he did in this one.
You should know that in Chinese poetry, the order in a series of poems is not necessarily fixed. Some of them follow an apparent sequence, but others can be read randomly. For example, the Tang Dynasty poet Du Fu wrote a series of poems, entitled "Eight Poems of Delightful Autumn." These eight poems are arranged in a definite, unalterable sequence.
As for Tao Yuanming's twenty poems, I think that some of them follow a certain order, and others don't. In the first one, he proclaims: "Now, I've got wine, so I can drink!" That should certainly be the first poem. And in the last poem of the series, he says: "Please forgive a drunk." Never mind the drunken words spoken by a drunk man. Based on this, we can determine which poem comes first and which comes last.
As for the other poems, I think the first five are to be read in order, but the rest do not really follow a sequence. What is the sequence of the first five? In these five poems, he considers some of the major issues of life and reflects deeply upon the meaning, value, and purpose of life.
As I said before, the wine Tao Yuanming drank came from a very special source. The wine was not given without strings attached. People usually came with requests: they either advised him–"Most people work for the government; you alone stay in the field"–or expected him to give his opinion on attacking other countries and so on. In general, they wanted him to go with the flow or to support their ideas. How would Tao Yuanming handle that? He would politely refuse their requests, but keep the wine they brought to him.
Afterwards, as Tao Yuanming drank the wine in solitude, he naturally pondered the advice and requests that had accompanied the wine. In Tao's mind, those issues were related to important life choices. He drank and reflected, and then wrote down this series of poems. I said that the first five poems are sequential, because their contents correspond to Tao Yuanming's reflections, as,
"Unexpectedly presented with a vessel of wine, I enjoyed it day and night."
We discussed before a question posed by Su Dongpo:
"I don't know how Sir Tao, after drinking so much, can possibly remember so many things." We mentioned before that Tao Yuanming's manner of drinking differs from that of drunkards who pass out on the street. Prince Zhaoming of Liang Dyansty, Xiao Tong, commented in his Preface to the
Collected Poems of Tao Yuanming: "People wonder that all of Tao Yuanming's poems are related to drink. I observe that his intent was not on wine; he simply used drink as a cue." Although the topic of drink occurs frequently in Tao Yuanming's poems, Tao's mind was not preoccupied with drink; he merely used drink as a cue to contemplation.
Most people drink in their leisure time. When Tao Yuanming said,
"Idle and joyless, I drink with my own shadow," thousands of emotions and life experiences arose inside him and flowed to his brush-tip. He knew that many of his thoughts and feelings were beyond others' understanding. For example, on the issue of working for the government, he could have worked for the government and provided a more comfortable life for his wife and children.
In Tao Yuanming's articles and poems, he mentioned that his family occasionally had no food. He wrote the poems "Begging" and "To My Son Yan" to tell his children that since he abhorred dealing with corrupt government officials, his children had to suffer starvation and cold from such a young age.
When most people pursue material comforts and seek a better life, why did Tao Yuanming choose to endure starvation and cold? Most people could not comprehend the thoughts and feelings that led him to make that decision. Not to mention other people, even his own wife could not understand it.
To be continued
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