Research On Ouyang Xiu’s Seclusion Complex

As a famous scholar and teacher in Northern Song Dynasty,Ouyang Xiu kept the style of being indifferent to fame and wealth while making contributions to his career and entering the world.His works are full of praise for the seclusion spirit of staying away from worldly life and returning to simplicity,outline of the seclusion life of returning to the countryside and indulging in fishing and firewood,and reflection on the choice of going in.And these run through his life of being a young official,being relegated twice and standing on a high position.This strong seclusion complex has rich and complex reasons,which also led to the final outcome of Ouyang Xiu’s abandoning his political position in his later years,and had a certain impact on the seclusion culture of scholars in the Northern Song Dynasty and even the whole Song Dynasty.This paper mainly studies Ouyang Xiu’s seclusion complex and its related influence,which is divided into five parts.The first part is the introduction,which mainly states the reason of the topic selection,the related research review,the research purpose and method.The second part discusses the stage development of Ouyang Xiu’s seclusion complex.The expression of Ouyang Xiu’s seclusion complex began in 1030,the eighth year of Tiansheng,and ended in 1071,the fourth year of Xining.It almost runs through the whole stage of his life,including the praise of the hermit spirit of not admiring fame and wealth,the appreciation of his own indifference and leisure life,the consideration of his origin,and the expression of his determination to retire.A detailed study of more than 300 related works shows that his seclusion complex mainly has four stages of development: the eighth year of Tiansheng-the second year of Jingyou is the germination period,which is characterized by "official leisure and small Seclusion";the third year of Jingyou-the fourth year of Qingli is the confused period,which is characterized by "official leisure and tiring in the city";the fifth year of Qingli-the third year of Huangyou is the development period,which is characterized by "beginning of begging for retirement when things go against heart";and the first year of Zhihe-the fourth year of Xining Years is a mature period,which is characterized by "only thinking about accompanying fishermen and woodcutters".The third part is to explore the reasons of Ouyang Xiu’s seclusion complex.Ouyang Xiu’s love knot of returning to seclusion and his behavior of eventually becoming an retiree are determined by multiple factors: from the perspective of ideology,it is related to his original intention of belittling fame and wealth,enjoying the countryside and loving hills,as well as his desire to return to seclusion and stay away from the secular world,which is the fundamental reason;from the perspective of political experience,it is related to his two demotions and repeated disturbances,especially Puyi and Feiyu in his later years;from the point of view of his own health,Ouyang Xiu’s growth of age and the aggravation of his declining illness directly led to the final erosion of his enterprising spirit of becoming an official.From the point of view of the objective social environment,the rich treatment of the scholars who became retirees in the Northern Song Dynasty provided great support for him to become an retiree and seek seclusion,which made him able to return to seclusion safely.The fourth part is to study Ouyang Xiu’s main activities after his retirement.From the perspective of personal life,Ouyang Xiu realized a leisurely and elegant life of ploughing the countryside,touring the mountains and rivers,and being accompanied by five things.In this life,wine occupies the most prominent position,which contains his complex attitude towards life and the concept of seclusion.From the perspective of social activities,although Ouyang Xiu is in the countryside,his friends are mainly officials,but he has no political intentions.From the point of view of literary creation,Ouyang Xiu’s poems,ci poems and articles have basically realized the change of "old and thin" in content and form,which is not only the embodiment of his mood of seclusion,but also the common characteristics of the literati in the Northern Song Dynasty in the trend of literature and art,with unique cultural significance.No matter from which point of view,his seclusion life has the dual identity characteristics of traditional hermit and retiree scholar.The fifth part discusses the influence of Ouyang Xiu’s seclusion complex.As Han Qi,Su Shi,Su Zhe and others have said,Ouyang Xiu’s insistence on seclusion,his soberness to advance and retreat,and his determination to become an retiree ahead of time are different from others.Because he was regarded as "a great scholar and teacher" by the people of Song Dynasty,he had some influence on the culture of official-seclusion in Song Dynasty.It not only promoted the integration of officials and hermits in Northern Song Dynasty,but also promoted the formation of the concept of seclusion and the atmosphere of retirement in Song Dynasty to a certain extent.Ouyang Xiu’s thought of seclusion also influenced Su Shi as a model of official-seclusion in Song Dynasty,thus promoted the change of seclusion way from "form seclusion" to "heart seclusion" in Song Dynasty.The sixth part is the conclusion.Ouyang Xiu is not only a scholar who has been defined as "a great master of ancient literature" and "a famous scholar of Song Dynasty".He is also a noble scholar who actively worships seclusion and is eager to return home.He has the spirit of seclusion and the conduct of a hermit.His seclusion complex is not only forced by the political pressure in his later years,but also runs through his life with complex changes and causes.After his retirement,Ouyang Xiu’s main ideological activities had the dual characteristics of traditional hermits and retiree scholars in the Northern Song Dynasty,which had a unique cultural significance.His retirement complex and behavior had a direct impact on a large number of scholars in the Northern Song Dynasty headed by Su Shi,which not only had an impact on the integration of hermits and officials in the Northern Song Dynasty,but also promoted the development of the change of reclusive way in the Song Dynasty from "form seclusion" to "heart seclusion" to a certain extent.