In the history of ancient Chinese literature, there is no name for "prose", and the name of this kind of article is first called "book", called "Spring and Autumn", and later called "biography", "language", and "zi". Some of these articles were later elevated to "classics" and some were called "history". Qu Yuan called it "Ci", the Han Dynasty called it "Fu", the Six Dynasties called it "Pun Wen", Han Yu called it "Ancient Wen", and advocated "Wen Yi Ming Dao". Later, there were many names such as essays and essays, and the name "prose" came after the appearance of vernacular essays.

Prose, the naming is kind of interesting. In "Zhuangzi", it is said that useless wood is "scattered wood", and useless people are "scattered people", according to this statement, "prose" should mean "useless text". However, when the Zhuangzi named the useless wood as "scattered wood", it also named the useful wood as "wenmu", so "scattered" and "wen" are a set of opposing antonyms. In this way, the word "prose" is like "right and wrong", "right or wrong", "good or bad", "black and white", and "honor and disgrace", which is an antithetic juxtaposition, not a partial method, "scattered" is not biased, and "text" is not positive. Since "essay" is not positive, "prose" is not an article. - Fortunately, Mr. Zhuang Zhou did not use "literati" to refer to "useful people", which can be regarded as saving some face for those who dance and write. However, in the traditional concept of scholars, "literati" is indeed not a good evaluation of a person who wields words, in them, scholars are committed to the Tao, writing articles is to "carry the Tao with the text", to be subordinate to the history and apply it to the world, the text is not the goal, the text is only the carrier, and the Tao is the goal. There is no Tao, it's just that the chicken soup for the soul can't be on the table, it's not okay to be sick, it's not okay to be sick, as long as it's **, it's not good, it's not good, it's regarded as a "literati", and it belongs to a category that is neither harmless nor useful to society.

In the history of Chinese prose, the eight masters of the Tang and Song dynasties are giants. The head of the eight families, Han Yu, who was praised by Su Shi as "the decline of the eight generations of literature", bowed the literature of the three generations and the two Han dynasties in his life, and admitted that "the book of the two Han Dynasty is not the book of the three generations and the Han Dynasty", and the book of the three generations and the Han Dynasty is the "Book of Shang", "Spring and Autumn" and its three biographies, "Yi", "Li" and the works of the sons of Lao Kong, Sima Qian, Ban Gu and others, these works belong to the three categories of "classics, history, and children" in the classification of ancient books. Their value lies in "establishing a heart for heaven and earth, establishing a life for the people, continuing to learn for the saints, and opening peace for all generations". Its authors, who are either saints or sages, are all people with great realms and people who have attained the Tao and spread the Tao. Therefore, in Han Yu's view, there must be a wish to write an article: that is, Mingdao. "The text carries the way" is the mission of the article, the identity card of the article, and the highest state of the article. In this case, the person who writes must be a person of the right way to be competent, and before he can write an article, he must first be out of his kind, be out of the ordinary, enter the holy realm, and obtain the qualifications to speak. This qualification is first and foremost a moral qualification, and then a linguistic ability. Cultivating the body and mind first, and then talking nonsense, in the words of the Master, is called "first to speak, and then to follow".

Therefore, if you want to dance and write, you must first have benevolence, wisdom and courage: benevolence and morality, wisdom to investigate the world, and courage to tell the truth. Su Dongpo, another master of the Tang and Song dynasties, said that the sons of the pre-Qin dynasty were "Huang Zhong Da Lu", and the later authors were just "autumn insects". The reason for this difference is that in the former era, big dogs and small dogs can bark, and in the era of unification, the latter gradually tends to be dictatorial, and big dogs bark and small dogs cannot bark, or can only bark at each other, and can no longer bark at each other. Follow the call, you can only be like an autumn insect, singing in autumn, singing praises and polishing the Hongye.

If you don't want to shout, and you don't dare to shout, then shout around the bend. This is also a tradition, the so-called "main text and admonition" in "Mao's Poetry Preface", to put it bluntly, is to shout around the bend. But there is a principle around the bend: you can't let people hear your accusations and dissatisfaction, you have to blame yourself for your misery. Rabindranath Tagore said: Dictators feel that the suffering of their victims is ungrateful. Ruan Ji, who was in the eventful autumn of the Wei and Jin dynasties and the era of "few famous and famous people", often cried in disagreement, cried in a long howl, cried when singing, and cried when writing poems, but the poems used more metaphors, saying here and meaning the other, making it difficult to find fun and unpredictable. In fact, he used the metaphor not out of artistic considerations, but out of political considerations: he had pain to express, but he did not dare to make Sima Zhao feel that he was ungrateful. Sima Zhao understands this very well, Sima Zhao said, you are not called superb artistic skills, you are called absolute prudence - prudence. Fortunately, Sima Zhao knew that Ruan Ji was timid and would not harm his big things, and he could also set an example for others to shrink their heads, so he let him go. Most of the articles in this category are classified into the last category of the "subset of classics and history" - "collection", and their status is lower than that of the first three categories.

Therefore, when writing articles, the highest level is to first cultivate yourself into a sage, such as Confucius and Menglaozhuang, even if you don't say it, you can also stand up for yourself and make your deeds immortal. The second is to cultivate himself as a martyr, shoulder morality with iron shoulders, write articles with skillful hands, hang his neck like Li Dazhao, and still look at the world of red flags. Even the most inadequate thing is to maintain the sensitivity of the soul - in an era when you can't be a sage and hero, at least your mind is sound and you feel normal. For example, Ruan Ji can at least feel that the times are wrong, and can understand that he is suffering instead of being oppressed, so that he can feel insulted and feel painful. In fact, as a writer, conscience is sometimes in such a distorted state: in an age when the truth cannot be said or even the truth, the pain should at least be felt and expressed—even if it is expressed artistically around the bend.

The above text was written inexplicably after reading Mu Tao's essay collection "The Previous Atmosphere". Reading a collection of essays by today's people, I think of the history of prose - that means that I feel that "The Previous Atmosphere" inherits the context of prose, inherits the previous prose style, is an essay of virtue and words, and is an essay of a generous atmosphere. The realm is high, transcending right and wrong, the words are kind, almost sage, and the highest realm directly.

Mu Tao's writing is a first-class writing in contemporary times, which is standardized and righteous, humorous and kind, simple and subtle, and rich in meaning. It seems that the correct way of standardization is the basic skill of writing, but many contemporary writers do not have this basic skill, which is based on the mastery of ancient Chinese, and many contemporary writers obviously do not have enough cultivation of ancient Chinese. Norms and norms are rules and models; There are rules, and then it can be said that there is a high standard. Writing has rules, doors, statuses, and hierarchies.

Only when it is standardized can we be righteous. The norm is grammar and lexicography, and the righteous path is a style, which comes from the author's linguistic cultivation - he can judge which style of language is the language of the realm and the language of identity. For example, the pride of such a writer prevents him from writing mixed-race sentences such as "Have you eaten? A mixed-race sentence is also a bastard's sentence. Chinese is a cultural language, because of the long history and deep accumulation, everyone has produced classics, Chinese identity is noble, the atmosphere is thousands, writing in Chinese, a bit like falling in love with everyone's girlfriends, you have to have some education, at least you have to have respect for culture, otherwise it is like Gao Yanei molesting Lin Niangzi, that is not love, it is a hooligan with language. The respect for language is also a reflection of the author's inner righteousness. Reading Mu Tao's writings, because of the righteousness of his writing, I feel that he is a decent person, and his duty to be humble and abide by the rules in the face of language makes his words present a noble temperament.

But Mu Tao is not dignified and sitting, he has his own light-hearted humor. Interestingly, his humor is often not due to the effect of words, but to his relaxed and light-hearted attitude: he can lift weight, he can mourn but not be sad, he can complain but not be angry, he can be happy but not lewd. Mu Tao's style comes from his character, his words come from his temperament, and his wit and humor come from his honesty and kindness. Because he always has insight into people's hearts, he can't help but be silent and sharp, but he is kind-hearted, so he is often benevolent and intelligent. When he says things, there is always room for him, because he has insight into the world, and knows that everything has cause and effect, and cause and effect are more than one end, so he should not be extreme; when he says that people, he also has forgiveness, this is because he understands people's hearts, and knows that all people have suffering, and the sufferings cannot be fully understood, so they cannot be investigated; he is sarcastic about the world, and he is even more resentful but not angry, this is his intention to correct the situation, knowing that there is a number of qi for rise and fall, and there is always news for the number of qi, so it cannot be forced. He mocks you, and you have mixed feelings in your heart, but you can hold it on your face, because he never tears it up, and he sneers at you, and you feel the pain of your skin but you don't accumulate resentment because of it, because he never says it to death. Let your face hang and give you a way out, this is his kindness. This kind of kindness is embodied in the style of writing, which is the atmosphere of sages. Therefore, Mu Tao's article reminds us of the previous atmosphere - the atmosphere of the article is the weather of people.

Let's talk about simplicity and subtlety. Simplicity and subtlety have always been the highest state of language, and its roots are also in the human realm. Chattering and boasting is not simple and subtle, but simplicity and subtlety are not words that are sloppy, but concise and concise, not annoying, not having a ghost in the heart but being measured in the heart, not trying to hide anything but compromising something. The basis for this compromise is that in this world, there are big principles, but there are also small accommodations, and the big ones should be clear, and the details should be blurred. Dongfang Shuo sighed: How easy it is to talk about! Only by knowing how easy it is to make sage articles.

Mu Tao's article layout is also very distinctive. Our generation, when I was in middle school, I read Yang Shuo, Qin Mu, Liu Baiyu, and the three families, although the three families have their great and outstanding points and cannot be vainly overestimated, but their shortcomings are also needless to say. They are all carefully laid out and exquisitely structured, but they often sublimate the theme and exaggerate the style of writing, and use the careful layout of the article to reset the relationship between time and space in reality, so as to recreate reality and whitewash reality. The more elaborate the layout, the more serious the distortion of reality, the tighter the concealment of facts, and the more sublimated and superb it is, the more hypocritical and exaggerated it is. With all the impact, it is difficult for generations to get out of the trap. But Mu Tao almost washed away such a atmosphere, he put pen to paper, I don't know where to write, and where not to write, just like a clever painter, on a blank piece of paper, a little bit of scheming, let us be inexplicable, but in the end, when the meaning comes out, everything is presented, delicate, everywhere appropriate, no stroke is not in its place, no point is not essential, so that we sigh. Mr. Dongpo said that his article is "always doing what should be done, and always stopping at what must not be stopped", and Mu Tao's article gave me the feeling that it is okay not to do what should be done, and what is not to be done. This kind of plot layout has reached the wonderful realm of not plotting and distributing, and the article is free. Gai Mutao wrote an article, not in the article, but in his own mind, this is to take advantage of the excitement, the excitement can naturally return, there is a place to get up and walk, where can not rest? The article is not the manifestation of the text, the article is the trace of the heart, it is the trace of the heart, the heart is the line of the text, the heart is silent.

Since the beginning of the new era, the "cultural prose" in the prose has been strange and unique, and many outstanding works have appeared. However, this kind of prose with grand narrative as the basic feature is often coarse, empty and even pretentious, not only lacking the heaviness of the ideas corresponding to the grand scale, but also not even some basic historical facts and text interpretation, and its hypocrisy and sensationalism are just letting us see the "sublimation" routine of the "three masters". Jumping out of the trap of predecessors can verify the author's talent. Mu Tao's prose is culturally profound but short, most of them are only 1,000 words, which I tentatively call "cultural essays". The big ones often have small abacus, and the small ones often have a big atmosphere. Although Mu Tao's "The Previous Atmosphere" is a short article, it is a work of conscience, a virtuous essay for the world, and a wise man's words. Gai Qizhen is literate, so small and deep, small and vast, don't be suspicious, know right from wrong, hesitate, good and evil, virtuous and unscrupulous - this is the basic foothold and professional conscience of the writer, how many people do not have this ability, how many people do not even have this meaning!

Bao Pengshan