From Drinking to Nature: A Study on the Poetry of Tao Yuan-ming
Resource
臺大中文學報, 22, 223-268
Journal
臺大中文學報
Journal Issue
22
Pages
223-268
Date Issued
2005-06
Date
2005-06
Author(s)
Abstract
In the tradition of Chinese poetry, Tao Yuan-Ming was the first to write extensively on the subject of the states and delights of drinking wine. By doing so, Tao not only carved out a prominent place for liquor in Chinese poetry writing, but also made the fusion of liquor and poetry an important issue in the history of Chinese literature. Since Tao saw the "return to nature" as the ideal of his life, this article proposes to study his poetry with a special reference to the issue of "from drinking to nature." It intends to explain how Tao used drinking as a path to "return to nature," and why this path of returning can create poetic states. The article is divided into four sections. In the first section, "The Correlation between Drinking and Nature," taking Tao's "Xing-Ying-Shen Poem" (Flesh, Shadow and Spirit) as an example against the backdrop of the metaphysics of Wei-Jing periods, I demonstrate that Tao's drinking can be viewed as his way of dialoguing with both Confucian ritual ethics and the old theory of nature advocated by Ji Kang and Ruan Ji. I argue that encoded in these dialogues are the two life processes of "starting from the self" and "approximating nature." In the second section, "Dwelling in Liquor: The Dual Meaning of the 'Biding in Wine' Poem," I begin with a discussion on the double functions and the contradictory character of drinking as found in Chinese history since the ancient times. On the basis of this discussion, I reinterpret the "Biding in Wine" poem to reveal the full meaning of Tao's ideas of "dwelling in liquor" and "biding as it should be." In the third section, "Drinking's Impacts on the Body and Mind," I discuss the influences of alcohol on the body and mind, and on the interpersonal relationships. I use Merleau-Ponty's concept of body image to explain the harmonic state achieved via drinking. In the last section, "The Fusion of Intoxicative and Poetic States," I show that the "total relaxation" yielded by intoxication is also a state in which the spirit can freely flow with the external world and be united with the primordial numerous things, that is to say, a poetic state of free wandering in the universe. Just as alcohol circulates around the whole body, so does it penetrate deeply into the body image and employ the image to capture all the far and wide in history and mythology, thus making possible the reorganization of the world image. Such intoxication is what Zhuang-Zi called "Gaining the Wholeness in Wine." I suggest that via the mediation of drinking Tao Yunan-Ming had invented a new theory of nature which not only appeased the controversy over conformity and naturalness, but also pointed to the practical plausibility of leading in the countryside a simple yet ethical life full of primordial human joys.
Subjects
陶淵明
飲酒
自然
新自然說
名教
飲酒詩
止酒詩
鄉飲酒禮
身體圖式
Tao Yuan-ming
Drinking
Nature
New theory of nature
Confucian ethical codes
Drinking poetry
Biding in wine poetry
Communal symposium
Body image
Type
journal article
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