總之，人生有可貴的一面，也有可賤的一面。陶淵明反覆思索考慮了這人生許多可貴與可賤的問題；「有酒不肯飲，但顧世間名」、「所以貴我身，豈不在一生。」所以最後他說「鼎鼎百年內，持此欲何成。」「鼎鼎」兩個字歷來講陶淵明詩的人，有很不同的講法。
《禮記•檀弓》中說「鼎鼎爾，則小人。」《鄭注》解釋「鼎鼎」，謂「大舒」。什麼叫「大舒」呢？「舒」就是放鬆的意思。「舒」在《禮記》）中本來是懈怠，指做事情馬馬虎虎，隨隨便便很懶散的樣子。如果按照這個意思講，也是可以的。
陶淵明的詩有時很不好講，正像宋人陳後山說的：「淵明不為詩，寫其胸中之妙耳。」他是自己寫他心裏的感情和思想，他心裏邊的思想是怎麼活動的，他就怎麼寫。他內心是起伏變化的，他就把這種起伏變化寫出來了。
後來的人有時看不懂，這兩句詩之所以難懂，是因為他完全是隨著他自己的思想意念的流轉而寫的。是說人生有可貴的一面，也有不可貴的，空幻的一面。大家對這一點不能掌握，於是就有了爭論。按照《禮記•檀弓》的意思講，是說你應好好地掌握這一生，如果你放鬆了，懈怠了，墮落了，你的百年的一生轉眼間就成空幻了。
「持此欲何成？」「持」 是拿著，你拿著這種懈怠的，隨隨便便胡作非為的生活態度，能夠完成什麼呢？所以這個「鼎鼎」講成懈怠也是可以的。可是我們用的注解材料；陶淵明的詩的注解材料很多，就因為他表面看起來很簡單，只是把自己內心的活動寫下來了，但實際他是很複雜的。他的內心的活動是那麼豐富，那麼曲折，就顯得很難懂了。我們所用的《古直》的注解，是不同於《鄭注》的解釋的。他認為「鼎鼎」是擾繞紛亂、亂七八糟的環境中，你能夠完成什麼樣的事情呢？還有別的人的注釋，他們認為「鼎鼎」快速的意思，是說在這快速的，轉瞬即逝的短暫時間中，你能完成什麼樣的事情呢？
總而言之，陶淵明這首詩是寫得很深刻的。他看到人生有可貴的一面，也有可賤的一面，你怎麼樣才能在這一生之中掌握好，完成好你自己呢？不是說完成了外邊的什麼東西，比如你做了百萬富翁，但百萬金錢是身外之物。他說的是你身內的，你把你自己完成了什麼，這就是「鼎鼎百年內，持此欲何成」的意思。好，我們現在就簡單地把這首詩講完了。今天就先結束在這裏。
第八講
我們已經講過陶淵明飲酒詩的前三首，現在開始講第四首。我先把它念一遍：
栖栖失群鳥，日幕猶獨飛。
徘徊無定止，夜夜聲轉悲。
厲響思清遠，去來何依依。
因值孤生松，斂翮遙來歸。
勁風無榮木，此蔭獨不衰。
託身已得所，千載不相違。
我已經說過，他的第一首詩說，人生的榮衰是沒有一定的；第二首詩說，人生的禍福報應也是無常的。那麼，在這樣一個一切都難以把握的世界裏，你所能夠把握的是什麼？因此，陶淵明在第三首詩中就提出：人活著就要追求和了解一個宇宙人生的「道」，這才是最重要的。否則，你這一生就白白地過去了。
待續
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In general, life has both valuable and worthless aspects. Tao Yuanming pondered and considered various valuable and worthless issues in life: "They have wine, yet do not drink, /Caring only about their worldly reputation. " and "We cherish the body dearly, /Because we possess it for a lifetime. " In the end, he says, "Being lax for a hundred years, What can we achieve in this way? " The Chinese expression ding ding translated as "lax" here has various interpretations.
The "Tan Gong Chapter" in The Book of Rites says, "One who is lax is a petty person." Zheng's Commentary explains being lax as being extremely negligent. The Book of Rites further explains "negligence" as being lazy and doing things recklessly, carelessly, and indolently. This explanation is also acceptable.
Tao Yuanming's poems are not easy to explain. As Chen Houshan of the Song Dynasty said, "Tao Yuanming did not write for the sake of writing poetry; he simply expressed the wonders in his mind." He wrote down his own feelings and thoughts. He wrote down whatever was in his mind. If there were ups and downs in his mind, then he wrote the ups and downs.
Later generations sometimes found his poems hard to understand. These two lines are difficult to understand because he faithfully followed his train of thought and his feelings. He spoke of the valuable as well as the worthless and void aspects of life. Without grasping this point, we will misunderstand his meaning. The "Tan Gong Chapter" of The Book of Rites says that we should make the best use of this life. If we are lax and negligent, our life of a hundred years will be gone in the blink of an eye.
"What can we achieve in this way? " If we have such a lax, reckless and careless attitude toward our life, what can we hope to accomplish? Thus "lax" can be interpreted as "negligent." However, our commentary has a different explanation. There are numerous commentaries on Tao Yuanming's poems. That is because although his poems seem simple enough on the surface, simply recording the activities of his own mind, in fact he was very complicated. His reflections are very rich, full of arguments that are difficult to comprehend. We are using Gu Zhi's commentary, which has a different explanation than Zheng's Commentary. Gu Zhi interprets 'ding ding' as being righteous in a tumultous and chaotic environment—what could one accomplish? There are also other explanations, such as "rapid." In such a rapid and short period of time, what can one achieve?
All in all, this poem is very profound. Tao Yuanming saw both the valuable and worthless aspects of life, and he asked: how should one make the best of it and accomplish something? He is not referring to external accomplishments, such as becoming a millionaire. A fortune of millions is an external possession. He was asking: What have you accomplished inside? That is the meaning of "Being lax for a hundred years, what can we achieve in this way?" This concludes our brief explanation of this poem, so we will stop here today.
Lecture Eight
We have finished discussing the first three poems of Tao Yuanming's Drinking series, and now we will begin the fourth one. Let me read it first:
A distressed bird, strayed from the flock, still flies alone at dusk.
Fluttering here and there without a roost, her cries grow sadder each night.
Her sharp cries express a pure and lofty ideal; flying back and forth, she feels such yearning.
Encountering a tall and solitary pine, she gathers her wings and comes to land.
No other tree can withstand the harsh wind, yet this one alone stands tough.
Having found a secure perch, she won't desert it for a thousand years.
As I have said, the theme of his first poem is the impermanence of prosperity and decline in human affairs; and that of the second poem is the inconstancy of life's fortunes and misfortunes. In such an unpredictable world, then, what can you be sure of? Tao Yuanming responds in the third poem: The most important purpose of our life is to pursue and understand the Tao of the universe and of life itself. Otherwise, our whole life is wasted.
To be continued |
