Tao Yuanming

Image: Returning Home (1650) By Chen Hongshou.
​The panting shows Yuanming returning to his hometown to live out the rest of his days away from the extremely stress inducing political sphere.

     Tao Yaunming was born in 365 during the Eastern Jin Dynasty and died in 427 during the Liu Song Dynasty. Yuanming spent a lot of time living alone in the countryside, farming, reading, drinking wine, and his poems were based on these very same topics. He was especially inspired by the beauty of nature that surrounded him. He referred to himself in earlier writings as "Yuanming"; With the demise of the Eastern Jin dynasty in 420, he began to refer to himself as "Qian", which means "hiding" (Tao Qian, 2020). Some hypothesize that could have been representative of his final withdrawal into the quiet life in the country and his decision to avoid any further participation in the political scene.

Biography of Five Master Willows
Themes: Nature, Isolation, Immortality, Wine

                                 Poem                                                                                

Summary 

In the Biography of Master Five Willows we learn about the life of Tao Yuanming and how his infatuation with wine-drinking allows him to be satisfied being a loner due to allowing him to create long-lasting art that impacts China.

                                                 Analysis

It is written that “He lived in perfect peace, a man of few words, with no desire for glory or gain.” From the outset, Yuanming establishes himself as different from the common person, because he is in perfect peace but also does not desire fame or fortune. This is a baseline Neo-Daoist teaching, which is to be content with what one has as it is based in “simplicity.” It did not take much for Yuanming to be happy because of how he carried himself and his brightest joy was consuming wine. After Yuanming was drunk, he did not care if he stayed with friends or not because that is not where his infatuation lies. The key lies in that being intoxicated allowed his mind to run wild, and create his works. Stephen Owen in his analysis of Seasons Shift writes that through Yuanming’s “fictive other, he can attain the perfection of anonymous joy”(Owens, pg. 315 2021). The term fictive is often associated through imaginatory dream states, and in the case of Yuanming, nature and wine are the trigger for him to pass from the current world to the creative realm. That is what makes him happy and ultimately is what allows him to achieve immortality. We discuss the legacy of Yuanming today, because of the work he composed in his own world while intoxicated. Until the Fountain of Youth is found, the only way a human can truly impact the future of the world is to add a piece of them that is ageless and Yuanming’s work fits the billing. ​

The Image: Tao Yuanming Seated Under A Willow (1812) By Tani Bunchō

Shown here is an illustration of Tao Yuanming sitting under a Willow. If you look closely, he is eyeing the gourd that contains his wine.
Bunchō, T. (1812). Tao Yuanming Seated Under a Willow. Philadelphia Museum Of Art, Philadelphia , Pennsylvania, United States of America. https://www.philamuseum.org/collection/object/275857

Seasons Shift
​Themes: Nature, Isolation, Immortality, Wine

Poem                                                                                   

Summary 

​In Seasons Shift, Yuanming writes about walking around in nature, as the season of Spring is about to come to a close. It highlights Yuanming’s rumination alone as he admires nature.

Analysis

It is written “I toss the dregs from cup and cheerfully tipsy, find joy.” As Yuanming is viewing nature he is drinking wine. Wine and nature seem to go hand-in-hand for Yuanming because it puts his mind at ease and allows him to be privy to things he can’t experience while sober. His mind runs wild with imagination, and this is where the dream aspect comes into play. There is so much that the normal human mind cannot comprehend without the assistance of wine, that it seems as if the drinking of wine creates a new world that cannot be conceived by the human eye alone (thus the idea of dreaming). The imagery conveyed through the use of words such as “drifting” and the “gentle grade of the fine dawn...From hills washed a lingering haze…broad waters of the level marsh” conveys a sense of concentration, pleasantness, and the positive transition to peace in his mind (Kibin, pg. 2, 2021). It is hard to picture an individual being more at peace than Yuanming is isolation with nature.

Image: Filling Wine (1650) by Chen Hongshu
Hongshu, C. (1650). Filling Wine [“Filling Wine” from the hand scroll Scenes from the Life of Tao Yuanming by Chen Hongshou, Qing dynasty, dated 1650, ink and color on silk, Honolulu Museum of Art accession 1912.1]. Honolulu Museum of Art, Honolulu, Hawaii, United States of America.

Tao Yuanming fills up a sash with wine through the help of a friend. Yuanming would occasionally have guests over his house where he would discuss various topics with them; almost always was he and his friend accompanied with wine.