(II) Human desire to describe and the social trends of the 16th century
"Jin Ping Mei" was born in the cultural atmosphere in the middle of the Ming Dynasty, so the evaluation of "Jin Ping Mei" must involve the social trends of the 16th century in China.
's praise for "good goods and lust" is one of the important contents of China's humanistic thoughts in the 16th century. The reason why the laws and systems issued by the feudal rulers of the Ming Dynasty were severely criticized by thinkers is that they themselves did not guarantee the healthy development of human society and human nature. On the contrary, it is based on suppressing the legitimate desires of the majority and satisfying the difficult desires of a few rulers, and maintaining the decadent feudal rule.
Li Zhi, San Yuan, Xu Wei , Tang Xianzu and other progressive thinkers faced the alienation of human nature by Neo-Confucianism, trying to break through the shackles of traditional concepts. On the basis of the philosophy of natural human nature, they emphasized the rationality of human desires and advocated humanism.
Neo-Confucianists propose that "people's hearts and desires are in danger. The Tao hearts and the heavenly principles are subtle. If you eliminate your own desires, the heavenly principles will be clear" [15].
Li Zhi was tit-for-tat and openly advocated:
"Private is the heart of a person. People must have privateness, and then their heart will be seen; if they are selfless, they will have no heart." [16]
"Those who say selflessness are all selfless, they are selfless." Drawing cake 's talk, viewing the scene, but it makes the next door nice and pleasant. It does not help things regardless of the virtual and real roots, but only cleverness is not enough to be picked. "[17]
Neo-Confucianists shout "preserving the laws of heaven and destroying human desires", and progressive thinkers often take human desires as the basis for human desires, and addressing Cheng and Zhu's asceticism, and resisting the principles with desires. For example, Wang Gen 's "The daily order of the people is the order of the sages" [18],
Li Zan proposed that "dressing and eating is human ethics and physics; except for dressing and eating, there is no ethics" [19], using the minimum material life requirements of the person with a sensory subject to fight against the transcendental "reason" that is transcendent in the ontology.
"Burning Books"
In terms of literary creation, progressive ideological circles require unconcealed expression of human desires (natural nature).
Li Zhi said that "the words express the most affection, naturally thrill the heart, naturally moving, and naturally make people cry" [20]. Xu Wei advocated that literature must "be contented from what oneself" [21]. Jiao Rong requires articles to "self-mark and be self-taught" [22], as well as the "unconventional conspiracy, express one's nature alone" by the high-grade public security brothers, Tang Xianzu's "theory of the ultimate emotion" and so on are all inspired by the various constraints brought by Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism and feudal morality to literary creation. The emergence of philosophical concepts and changes in literary concepts mark the denial of traditional authority and values, and the challenge to the old ethical concepts and outlook on life. This literary expression of trend is a scattered expression of people's food and sex.
However, we must look at this new humanistic trend dialectically and objectively. When it denies old values, it does not establish its own complete and reasonable system, because "this immature theory is in line with the immature production conditions and immature class conditions" [23].
Before it could win in the struggle to destroy the old morality, it quickly shrank under the iron hoof of the alien invasion.
At the same time, these thinkers inevitably led to another crisis when singing the hymns of human nature, that is, they did not make a clear and fundamental definition of the animal side of human beings and the social nature of human beings. When they were willing to make a living, they ignored the social attributes of human beings, ignored the differences and connection between human physiological instincts and normal moral norms, regarded human beings' physiological instincts as "Tao", and equated human desires with moral norms.
The serious flaws of this theory themselves naturally cause the confusion of human nature in real life. People often regard lofty love and humble desire, legitimate pursuit of material life with clever robbery and greedy grabbing, and confuse personal liberation and arbitrary indulgence, which can easily bring great negative effects to secular life.
In short, due to the various limitations of the personal liberation theory of late Ming Dynasty, lustfulism has found a gap in human nature and has become an unstoppable turbid current that emerged from the feudal apocalypse and was inseparable from the decadent feudal declining lifestyle.
In secular life, lustful tools, spring paintings, and arts in the room were popular. Feudal scholars and officials talked about their sex openly, and visiting prostitutes to choose colors and sing extravagance to compete for luxury became a trend, which showed the absurdity at the end of the 16th century.
This pathological human desire should of course be regarded as the inevitable dregs in the personal liberation of the late Ming society and should be abandoned.
The author of "Jin Ping Mei" picked it into his work to express a colorful secular life. This book is understandable. But in itself, it is far from conscious resistance to feudal rule and Neo-Confucian corruption, and is no less than thousands of miles away from the truly reasonable connotation of personality liberation.
We should deny and criticize this decadent life itself.
Shadow Songxuan version
(III) Human desire description and European Renaissance
Comment on the human desire description of "Jin Ping Mei", people often compare it with the humanistic trends of the Western Renaissance.
Someone has clearly stated: "Fundamentally, the affirmation of 'human desire' in "Jin Ping Mei Cihua" has a mutually relativity and mutual relationship with the ' humanistic ' thoughts of the Western Renaissance, and also clearly shows the budding of modern thought." [24]
Medieval Europe was a "dark age" with religious theology monopolizing culture and church rule extremely cruelly.
As the pillar of the feudal edifice, all cultures must become the maid who interprets and maintains religious doctrines. The rule of religious theology,
, was strongly criticized by philosophers representing the interests of the emerging bourgeoisie, and thus brought the European continent into the "great era" called by Engels - the Renaissance Age.
European Renaissance was the "greatest and progressive change that mankind has never experienced" by the emerging bourgeoisie in the field of superstructure and its monopoly on spiritual culture.
The emerging bourgeoisie has just entered the historical stage. Before it has established a complete ideological system, it uses the classical culture that has been distorted or distorted by the church for a long time to build an ideology that meets the needs of its own class development. The core is humanism.
The masters of humanism attach importance to human values and rights, emphasize human dignity, praise human power, and oppose religious authority with "people" as the center. They also sing hymns of human nature in response to the asceticism promoted by the church, praise Bai You's love, and encourage people to pursue wealth and happiness.
At this time, "people begin to feel their dignity and the potential for infinite development. Therefore, he suspended the freedom of personality, rationality supremacy and the comprehensive development of human nature as his social ideals, and explored and expanded in all aspects with vigorous vitality" [26].
Humanists regard religious theology as the verb of attack, and are centered on people. People use their nature to oppose the fabrication of divinity, use human rights to oppose the shackles of theocratic power, use individuality to liberation against religious asceticism, and use rationality and science to oppose religious obscurity.
Petrac , Boccacio , Leonard , Leonard , Galileo , Copernicus , Bruno , and Bacon and other philosophers either wrote books from the perspective of philosophy or in the field of natural sciences, using science to criticize theology, deny the medieval mysticism , and achieved brilliant achievements.
In the field of literature, with the rush of this anti-religious theology, a new literature - Humanist literature came into being.
Boccaccio's "December", Rabelay's "The Legend of the Giants", Cervantes's " Don Quixote " and Shakespeare's dramatic creation can all be regarded as representatives of the achievements of humanistic literature.
In terms of humanistic literary works' descriptions of lust and financial desires, on the one hand, the writer exposes the hypocrisy of asceticism promoted by church monks and criticizes feudal family marriages; on the other hand, sings praises for free love, and vigorously promotes hiring for men and women, and personal liberation; on the one hand, it affirms the arduous pursuit of material life in life, and on the other hand, it clearly exposes the greed and forced demands of money during the primitive accumulation period of capitalism through typical images and the sins caused to society by money.
All of this laid the foundation for the emergence of the bourgeois enlightenment after the seventeenth century.
"Don Quixote"
Chinese Patriarchal The Song and Ming dynasties of society were surprisingly similar to the social conditions in the medieval European times.
Although there is no God who dominates all things in the soil of Chinese feudal culture, the supremacy of the feudal emperor will never be employed in the divine majesty of God; although there is no omnipresent Christian consciousness, Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism is actually officially promoted as the supreme ruler of all things, humanity, and norms of behavior.
This prior "nature" is no different from religious theology. Human enjoyment in this world, human pursuit of freedom and happiness, and human right to survive were ruthlessly deprived of Neo-Confucianism.
With the emergence of the capitalist economy in the surging of the patriarchal feudal mother, the aggressiveness of citizens' power, the partial disintegration of agricultural civilization, new social consciousness and philosophy thoughts quietly emerged.
Wang Yangming " Mind Learning " objectively inspired people's doubts about sages, Taizhou School even pointed the criticism at the feudalist Taoism , affirming people's material life requirements, affirming the "human desires" of diet, and refuting the reactionary ascetic preaching of Neo-Confucianism.
The streaming of thoughts naturally brings about the update of literary consciousness. The difference is that Lanling Xiaoxiaosheng does not praise the impact of human rights, human values, and human dignity on the corrupt feudal autocracy and cruel religious shackles like the humanistic writers in the European Renaissance, and promotes the legitimate pursuit and satisfaction of lust and wealth in life. Instead, he reflects the pathological era and criticizes the pathological society by describing the pathological desires.
Although we cannot judge the pros and cons of the two different ways of reflecting life, in terms of the desire they describe, the choices and controversies should be self-evident.
(IV) Comparison of human desire description with contemporary works and judgment of authors
The turbulent thoughts in the late Ming Dynasty have made the Chinese literary world appear colorful and nurtured a large number of accomplished literary masters. Xu Wei, Tang Xianju, Feng Menglong , Ling Mengchu, Wu Chengen, Gong'an Sanyuan are all representative figures who are well-known in later generations.
They show their talents in different fields such as poetry, novels, and opera; with vivid and distinct artistic images, they express their praise for "human desires" and their anger at Neo-Confucianism suppression of human nature.
There is no doubt that Lanling Xiaoxiaosheng also consciously or unconsciously integrated into this torrent of rebellion against the patriarchal tradition with his creations.
However, in terms of the "human desire" expressed in the works of these masters, "Jin Ping Mei Cihua" is essentially different from the descriptions of the above-mentioned writers.
Take the "human desire" described in novels and operas as an example. Xu Wei's representative work " Four-tone Ape " may expose the hypocrisy of monks' pursuit of asceticism ("Zhen Master Yu"), or use the past to satirize the present to expose the sins of feudal rulers ("History of Crazy Drums"), or praise women's civil and military talents ("Female No. 1" and "Female Mulan"). The works are filled with the democratic spirit of anti-feudal oppression and tyranny, and are full of progressive atmosphere of the times.
Tang Xianzu inherited the tradition of anti-Neo-Confucianism and anti-feudal dogma of the Taizhou School, and consciously opposed Neo-Confucianism with "super emotionality" in his creation.
Du Liniang's journey from birth to death is due to the suppression of reason; and her resurrection lies in the inspiration of love.
As the author said in "The Peony Pavilion Inscription": "As a beautiful lady, she can be called a lover. Love does not know where it arises, and goes deeper. Living can die, death can live. Living cannot be with death, and death cannot be reborn is not the ultimate of love." "The truth must be nothing, so how can we know what it is evil!"
's work shows the sharp opposition between young men and women's pursuit of free love life and feudal ethics and morality with Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism as the core. Du Liniang and Liu Mengmei love each other, are loyal to each other, and gain the happiness of marriage through resistance and struggle.
They have gone from dream love to union, and are rarely mixed with vulgar worldly elements, which undoubtedly shines with the brilliance of personality liberation. The entire process of Du Liniang's pursuit of "love" always uses a strong sense of self as the spiritual pillar and despise the concept of family background.
"Peony Pavilion" poster
As for Feng Menglong's "three words" and Ling Mengchu's "second shots", most of them show positive interests in the length of the article describing human desires.
Although Feng Menglong admitted that "eating, eating, eating, men and women are the greatest desires of people" and affirmed "desire", he also pointed out that "female affection is close to lust, but lust is not emotion", thus distinguishing the two concepts of "love" and "lust" with different connotations.
The love works in his "three words" processed by him, such as "Jiang Xingge Receives Pearl Shirt", " Du Shiniang's Angry Treasure Box ", "The Oil Seller Exclusive Courtesan", etc., which particularly emphasizes people's feelings, people's values and personality independence, and puts forward standards and principles that are completely contrary to feudal ethics and morals in marriage. Marriage is not only a combination of flesh, but also a spiritual communication and mutual respect in personality, as well as each other's loyalty and loyalty to love.
"General Li mistakenly recognizes his uncle" in the "second shot" praises the loyal love of young men and women who are unswervingly; "Xuanhuiyuan Benevolent Girls' Swing Club" praises the protagonist's struggle for his parents' arranged marriage, and all show positive ideological significance.
In the article describing the pursuit of money by merchants, they either fully affirmed the concept of goods at that time (such as "General Wu's meal will be rewarded"), or praised the merchants' courage to pioneer and adventurous spirit (such as "The Fortune of the Han Dynasty Meets the Red Dongtinghong"), or reflected the merchants' strong desire to pursue money (such as "Dieju Qichengke is Helped").
In short, the pursuit and satisfaction of human desires described and praised by these works must not be confused with the overwhelming human desires criticized in "Jin Ping Mei".
When we discuss the creative theme of "Jin Ping Mei", we have already pointed out through a large number of examples that the purpose of "Jin Ping Mei" is to expose the harm of the flood of "human desires" and expose the disease of "four greeds".
In fact, the criticism of greed for money and lust in "Jin Ping Mei" is by no means an isolated phenomenon of Ming Dynasty literature . "The Four Seasons and Five Updates to the Clouds" which was published in Chenghua html, "The New Voice of the Prosperous Age" which was published in Zhengde period, "The Yongxi Yuefu" compiled by Guo Xun during the Jiajing period, and the imitation novels at that time, there are a large number of works that chant and criticize wealth, sex and greed. This unique cultural phenomenon,
, truly reflects the social reality of the Ming Dynasty.
As we all know, the Ming Dynasty society fell to the extreme from top to bottom.The emperors are more foolish and corrupt than the next generation, such as Wu Zong's indulgence in his voice, dogs and horses, Shizong's gathering of wealth, licentiousness and lust, and Wanli The emperor's luxury, debauchery and habits are all very typical.
The entire society has fallen sharply and people's desires are rampant. "Boping County Chronicles" says: "From the middle of Jiajing to the present, the wind has become more and more declining, and is accustomed to being arrogant and stingy, and mutually reverent and lost."
Fan Lian "Yunjian Jumu Copy" says: "Since Jialong, wealthy families and noble families have led extravagant and lustful; they have a great reputation, and have always been arrogant. There are strange stories every day, and there are many new things every year."
Huang People also said: "In the Ming Dynasty, there was no division between vassal states, and the annual loss of gold and silk, so material resources were slightly relieved by the Tang and Song dynasties, and extravagance rose. ...As the consumption was huge, and the poverty was immediately impoverished, he tried to get enough, so the upper bribe the lower bribe the lower bribe, the weak used fraud, and the strong were free to do their best, while the hunting of the night was often spread throughout the rivers and lakes, and the mothers were constantly in the city..." [27]
In short, the pursuit of wealth and sex by any means has become a common problem in society and a source of evil. Therefore, it is inevitable that this phenomenon of overflowing criticism of human desires in literary works.
In "Jin Ping Mei Cihua", Lanling Xiaoxiaosheng stood up directly to express his evaluation of the characters and events written in the novel, and to show that he had abstained from sex, sin and money, and had more than 30 places.
Dongwu Nongzhuke also pointed out in the "Preface" of the beginning of the "Jin Ping Mei Cihua" that the novel "the author also has his own intentions, which is probably the precepts of the world, not the advice of the world."
published in the "Preface to the Jin Ping Mei Ci" written by Xin Xinzi at the beginning of the Wanli version of "Newly Carved Jin Ping Mei Ci" says:
It is said that Lanling Xiaoxiaosheng wrote "The Biography of Jin Ping Mei" in the world, which means it. People have seven emotions, and they are so melancholy.
The wise man is born with transformation, the fog dissipates and the ice cracks, so there is no need to say. The next one is also known to be self-reliant with reason and not to cause any burden. Only those who are inferior are not out of their minds, nor do they have rich poetry and calligraphy to dispel.
However, it will not cause any chance of illness. My friend Xiaoxiaosheng has lived this, and he has written all the stories he has collected on weekdays. The sentences are novel and popular, and they are nothing more than understanding human ethics, abstaining from lust, dividing favorable deeds, transforming good and evil, knowing the opportunity of prosperity, decline, and long-term retribution, and retribution for reincarnation. As in the present, it is always like a meridian, like all things facing the wind without chaos.
allows viewers to laugh and forget their worries. ...Other relationships with the world's weather, punishing good and evil, cleaning the heart, and all of them are supplemented. ...As for the wife who is lustful, the wife who is lustful, the misfortune is accumulated, and the blessings are good and good, all kinds of things cannot be recycled.
Therefore, there are spring, summer, autumn and winter in the sky, and people have joys, sorrows, separations and reunions, so no wonder. Those who are in harmony with the heavenly time will have a long descendants, and those who are in the near future will enjoy their life; those who are in conflict with the heavenly time will suffer a reputation and misfortune will not come in a row.
Although people's treatment of the world does not go beyond the metabolism of the world, they will be lucky if they do not suffer from disasters and are not humiliated. Therefore, I said: Xiaoxiaosheng wrote this biography, which is what it means.
clearly pointed out that Xiaoxiaosheng did not make the "lower wisdom" "sitting sick" in the "seven emotions", so he wrote this book, and pointed out that "Jin Ping Mei" is aimed at the secular "sitting sick" in the "seven emotions", with the purpose of using the "moment of prosperity, decline, decline, decline, and longevity" in the book to persuade good and punish evil, and warn people of greed for money and sex.
Qing Dynasty Pengcheng Zhang Zhupo repeatedly stated when commenting on "Jin Ping Mei", this book "only sins against wealth and sex" [28] and "only emphasizes wealth and sex" [29]. The purpose of novel creation is to "subtlely speak, literati know how to warn them, and to express how to speak, the common people know how to fear" [30]. "Jin Ping Mei is a book that punishes people, so it is also called precepts." [31] These views are in line with the reality of the work.
"The Rise of Chapter Novels in the Ming Dynasty"
(V) Objective value positioning of human desires
Evaluation of human desires in "Jin Ping Mei" we oppose using only moral standards.
The human desire it describes has freed itself from human support to God and spiritual submission to reason, that is, it has freed itself from the alienation of the subjective consciousness of Cheng and Zhu Neo-Confucianism, making people return to simplicity and trueness, and returning to human life desires. However, because this return is based on the deformed commodity economy and brewed under the background of the surging human desires, it shows deformed cultural characteristics everywhere.
In this return, human social attributes are ignored, causing the nature to regress from social self-discipline behavior to primitive individual instinct behavior; in the objective counter-arrangement of the constraints on group consciousness, we fall into the misunderstanding of human nature regressing to animal nature.
This is certainly the author's era in which he is in a harsh ideological confinement and the excessive impartiality that must be caused by sudden awakening of human nature, but this kind of corrupt outlook on life reflected by human desire should be criticized, and the shortcomings brought to the work (such as the eight-legged description of the life of both sexes, etc.) should also be remembered.
So, what is the value and significance of human desire in "Jin Ping Mei"? I think we should mainly understand it from the following aspects:
1 , the characters in the novel stand up with the help of human desires to describe, appear vividly and are typical. For example, the basic sex of bullies, businessmen, bureaucrats, and lewds in Ximen Qing's personality is presented in plots and events such as killing people and killing people to satisfy lust, corrupting and abuse of power for the sake of satisfying wealth, evading taxes, cheating, doing business with officials, and ravaging women again and again after having huge amounts of money, and exchanging wealth for endless lust satisfaction.
Others such as Pan Jinlian 's cruelty, Pang Chunmei's lust, Chen Jin's crazy, Wang Liu'er's slut, etc., are all based on the description of human desires and the body and spirit are completely different.
2 , the second , expanded the capacity of the novel, expanded the social picture reflected in the novel, and showed a profound tragic connotation.
For example, through Ximen Qing's pursuit of wealth and lust, it reaches the court, connects the officialdom in the middle, and connects the market in the bottom, reflects the entire social outlook of China in the 16th century, reflects the mental state of all living beings, and indicates the inevitable decline of this society;
Through the actions of another central character Pan Jinlian, it reflects the sins of polygamy, as well as the chaos in the family and the misfortune and sorrow of women under this system.
3 , human desire to describe has typical cultural historical significance.
It objectively violates the view of justice and profit and view of the cart and the view of the cart in traditional cultural concepts, reflecting the depreciation of traditional patriarchal concepts and value orientations in civil society (such as the view of superiority and inferiority, chastity, etc.), as well as the objective reaction of Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism, arouses people's doubts about the idols of sages and sages, and inspires people to affirm their own values, and think and pursue power and happiness in life.
The fourth , "Jin Ping Mei" shows its artistic character through the description of human desires, marking a huge change in the concept of novels, and has great significance in the history of novels that inherit the past and the future.
"Jin Ping Mei New Vision" Zhang Jinde wrote
Note:
5 Cheng Hao , Cheng Yi "Secret Letters of the Second Cheng" Volume 24, Shanghai: Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House 1992 edition, page 243.
6 Li Zhi's "Collection of Books" Volume 32 "On the Confucian Affairs and Confucians", Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company 1974 edition, page 1827.
7 Li Zhi's "Collection of Books" Volume 32 "On the Destiny of Confucians", Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 1974 edition, page 1828.
8 Huang Zongxi , edited by Shen Zhiying, "The Confucian School of Ming Dynasty" Volume 32 "Taizhou School of Learning I·Xinzhai Quotations", Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 1985 edition, page 715.
9 Li Zhi's "Burning Books" Volume 1 "Answer Deng Shiyang". "Burning Books and Continuing Books", Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 1975 edition, page 4.
0 Li Zhi's "Burning Books" Volume 4 "Reading as if you don't have a mother to send a book". "Burning Books and Continuing Books", Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 1975 edition, page 141.
1 Xu Wei's "Preface to Ye Zisu's Poems". "Xu Wei Collection", Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 1983 edition, page 520.
2 Jiao Hong "Passage with Friends". Volume 12 of "Danyuan Collection", "Collected Works" and "Special Collections" of "Superrelief of the Siku Complete Book", Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 1999 edition, page 72.
3 Engels' "The Development of Socialism from Utopia to Science", "Selected Works of Marx and Engels" Volume 3, Beijing: People's Publishing House 1972 edition, page 409.
4 "Description of the Human Desire of Jin Ping Mei's Ci Words and Its Evaluation", " Research on Ming and Qing Novels " Issue 2, 1991.
5 Engels' "Introduction to Dialectics of Nature", "Selected Works of Marx and Engels" Volume 3, Beijing: People's Publishing House, 1972 edition, page 445.
6 Zhu Guangqian "History of Western Aesthetics", Beijing: People's Literature Press 1983 edition, page 148.
7 Huang Ren: "Ming Dynasty Chapter Reply to Novels". See Hou Zhongyi, Wang Rumei's "Compilation of Jin Ping Mei Information", Beijing: Peking University Press 1985 edition, pages 478-479.
8 Zhang Zhupo's "Bamboo Gossip", "Zhang Zhupo's Criticism of the First Strange Book of Jin Ping Plum", Jinan: Qilu Book Club 1987 edition.
9 "Zhang Zhupo criticized the first strange book Jin Ping Mei" first review, Jinan: Qilu Bookstore, 1987 edition, page 1.
0 Zhang Zhupo's "The First Strange Book Not a Porn Book", "Zhang Zhupo's Criticism of the First Strange Book Jin Ping Mei" Volume, Jinan: Qilu Book Club, 1987 edition.
1 "Reading the First Strange Book of Jin Ping Mei" 10 Jinan: Qilu Bookstore, 1987 edition, page 49.
Article Author unit: Henan University
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