Ruan Ji
Ruan Ji, courtesy name Sizong, was a Chinese musician, poet, and military officer who lived in the late Eastern Han dynasty and Three Kingdoms period. He was one of the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove. The guqin melody Jiukuang is believed to have been composed by him. At one time an infantry colonel, he was also known as Ruan Bubing.
Life
Ruan Ji was born in Chenliu. His father was Ruan Yu, one of the famed Seven Scholars of Jian'an who were promoted by the Cao clan in the Jian'an poetry era. The Ruan family were loyal to the Cao Wei, as opposed to the Sima family; however their moral convictions and willingness to speak out generally outmatched their actual military or political power. It is fair to say that Ruan Ji was born into peril, his time period being the Period of Disunity. Ruan Ji was poetically part of both the poetry of the Jian'an period and the beginning of the Six Dynasties poetry developments. He would embrace the poetic side of what the times offered him, and even managed to avoid many political dangers, turmoils, and snares of his time. The safety of Ruan Ji during his life seems to have been underwritten by his willingness to be labeled a drunk and an eccentric.Rise of the Sima
Born just before the end of the Han dynasty, the Ruan family fortune rose with the rise of Cao Cao and the rest of the Cao family. However, while Ji was still quite young, the fortune of the Ruan family became imperiled with the rise of the Sima family: originally the Sima had merely served as officials under the Cao; but, as time went by they managed to accrue more and more power into their own family's hands, particularly beginning with Sima Yi this process of growth of power would eventually culminate in the founding of the Jin dynasty by Sima Yan. Furthermore, during the time of Ruan Ji, there was ongoing peril from the ongoing military struggles with the kingdom of Shu Han, together with other impending military and political changes.Sociocultural background
Politics and the poet
The life and creative work of Ruan Ji took place within a crucial and dramatic period in China history, which was associated with large changes in various spheres of life. The Han dynasty had seen a period of virtuous rule in which the norm of ritual piety, philanthropic principles of legendary ancient rulers, aspiration to nurture officials – calm, reasonable, serving for consciousness, not of fear – became governmental norm. However this was followed by the so-called Period of Disunity.Ruan Ji witnessed bloody wars, struggles for power in the court of Wei, and the Sima family's rise. Despite the dim times, this was a period of great achievements in spiritual culture. Bright peculiarity of that time was intellectual life: interests in metaphysics, which were discussed in the "pure talks" of open academic forums, profound interest in the problem of the highest purpose, the great popularity of Daoism and the spreading of foreign learning, such as Buddhism, a rapid expansion of lyrical poetry, a flourishing of all fine arts from painting to architecture; all these brought a spirit of "grace and freedom" to the epoch.
The invention of cheap paper in the 2nd century spread literacy among a large population, which brought a sense of chivalry to a large number of educated people, with notions of good, truth, justice and virtue. Heroes of the day became irreproachable virtuous men, who relinquished politics and preferred a quiet life in the countryside or the life of a hermit to the glamour and fame of court life. These so-called sublime men brought into being ideas of protest against an iniquitous reign, hidden by exterior unconcern, and greatness in undemanding and pureness. The life of court officials was considered "the life of dust and dirt", while the real dirt of peasant labour was a symbol of purity.
The Bamboo Grove
As is traditionally depicted, a certain group of seven scholar/musician/poets wishing to escape the intrigues, corruption and stifling atmosphere of court life during the politically fraught Three Kingdoms period of Chinese history habitually gathered in the obscurity of a bamboo grove near the house of Xi Kang in Shanyang. Here they enjoyed practicing their works, and enjoying the simple, rustic life, always with much Chinese alcoholic beverage.Livia Kohn describes Ruan Ji's artistic expression,
His friends and fellow poets induced ecstatic experiences through music, wine, and drugs, especially the notorious Cold Food Powder which created psychedelic states and made the body feel very hot, causing people to take off their clothes and jump into pools. When back in their ordinary selves, they wrote poetry of freedom and escape, applying the Zhuangzi concept of free and easy wandering in the sense of getting away from it all and continuing the text's tradition in their desperate search for a better world within.
This was contrasted with the theoretically and Confucian certified honorable and joyful duty of serving ones country; but, which at this time would have actually meant living a life of attempting to perform governmental service amid the deadly dangerous political quagmires of the seats of power and changes of government. Rather than attempt to stay loyal to Wei through the rise of Jin by their active, personal involvement, the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove instead stressed the enjoyment of ale, personal freedom, spontaneity and a celebration of nature—together with political avoidance.
Ruan Ji is usually mentioned first among the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove. The other sages were Xi Kang his lover, Shan Tao, Liu Ling, Ruan Xian, Xiang Xiu, Wang Rong. They created an image of wise men enjoying life rather uninhibitedly, realizing the old dream of a Daoist concord of free men who are gifted with hidden wisdom "to be together, not being together" and "act jointly, not acting jointly". The wine goblet, which became a symbol of being accustomed to "contemplating many wonders" pertaining to Daoism, united them even more than any principles. Ruan Ji talked in his works about "remote" things but about the "Bamboo Groove" he remained silent, although the group became the main focus of his searches for free and frank friendship.
Anecdotes
Ruan Ji was one of that kind of people, who themselves made their life a masterpiece. In the Chen Shou's History of Wei Dynasty the mentioning of Ruan Ji was more than modest: "... highly talented, having an ability to avoid the chains of court morality and traditions, but unbalanced and undisciplined; he was eager to banish his temptations. Ruan Ji honoured the ancient Daoist sage Zhuangzi." The History of Jin Dynasty describes Ruan Ji's appearance and personality: "Ji's appearance was uncommon, stubborn and self-willed, tempered, proud and independent. Following only the gusts of soul... Sometimes he would wander away on the hills and forget to return, and at length come back crying bitterly; at other times he would shut himself up with his books and see no one for months. He read a lot, especially liking Laozi and Zhuangzi. He drank a lot, he possessed the skill of transcendental whistling and loved to play on the qin. Once inspired by an idea, he forgot about everything in the world. Many considered him to be a madman."Fu Yi, who describes Ruan Ji as a connoisseur of ancient essays, mentioned that the "poet was diligently engaged in sciences" and read books until nightfall. This quiet solitude and obsession in perceiving the knowledge of the ancients was his hidden source of inspiration. Ruan Ji widely opened the way to court honour but he never hid his despise of the careerist attitudes of officials. One of his biographers told: "initially Ji tried to improve the world, but lived on the Wei and Jin boundary. In China there were few Junzi who preserved themselves. Because of that Ji abandoned his affairs, and was intoxicated all the time."
One day at the court, on being told about a son who had killed his mother, Ruan Ji said: "Ha! If he has gone so far to kill his mother, he could allow himself to kill his father too." All, who heard this, "lost their gift of talking" and demanded him to explain himself, because "the killing of father is the worst crime in the Empire, how could you say that it is possible?" Ruan Ji replied: "Animals and birds know their mother, but are unaware of the father. Killing father – is becoming like animals and birds, but those who killed their own mother – are even worse than animals." Chronicler added: "No one could object his words."
Ruan Ji refused the rules not only in court. There is a story telling about him playing chess when he received news about the death of his mother. His chess partner asked him to end the game, but Ruan Ji cold-bloodedly finished the game, then drank two measures of wine and started to groan. On the funeral he wept so violently, that he brought up several pints of blood. He didn't mourn and, despite observing the decencies, ate meat and drank wine. Yet when people came to support him, he showed to all but a favored few only the whites of his eyes. When Ji Kang came along carrying with him a jar of wine and the musical instrument known as a Qin, Ruan Ji welcomed him with his pupils and met him with happiness.
In Chinese traditional thinking there exists three opinions on Ruan Ji. The first opinion – wholly negative – claims him to be an inspirer of vicious "dissoluteness". The second considers him a wielder of "disturbance". Zhen Yu wrote: "Many consider Ruan Ji to be a dissolute, unrestrained man, but it is an insufficient opinion... He was not talking about the imperfection of others, looked only with the whites of his eyes. Is this not an address to the world of mankind? In mourning he ate meat and drank wine, groaned and spat out blood – isn't it a care of man's Dao ? At that time reigning powers were cruel... but Ruan Ji died a natural death – isn't it a wisdom of self preservation?" The third opinion sees Ruan Ji as a wise man, one who penetrated in the hidden "Dao Art". Cui ShuLiang wrote about him: "Ruan Ji stood up above all the mankind", was "out of validity and invalidity", none were able to "achieve his greatness, and measure the depth of his thoughts", he became "refined begin of all matters". The poet Wang Ji praised him as the first man, after legendary rulers of ancient times, who found the way to paradise of universal, careless intoxication.
One of Ruan Ji's poems expresses how he discarded the norms of Confucius, although they were followed by such virtuous men like Yan Yuan and Min Sun, who were students of Confucius. He obtains wisdom from the legendary Daoist Xian Menzi. Talking about the changes in the poet ideals, we can remember a statement, "Are there any rituals for man like I am?"