On Yuan Mei's Yu Woods

The Meridian Rain was written by Yuan Mei in Qing Dynasty (17 16- 1797), with a total of 24 volumes and a sequel of 10, with a total of 34 volumes, about 1000 articles. Notes on Yuewei Caotang was written by Ji Yun (1724- 1805) in the Qing Dynasty from the 54th year of Qianlong to the 3rd year of Jiaqing. The book includes six volumes of Summer Stories in Luanyang, four volumes of So I Smell, four volumes of Huaixi Magazine, four volumes of Gu Zhenting and Luanhe River.

There are many stories about ghosts in Wuziyu and Yuewei Caotang Notes, and their ghost images have something in common.

In Volume 14 of Woods Yu, it is written that ghosts "like warmth, people gather in prosperous places, such as those who chase weeds ... a poor and white home, so few ghosts come and go, so ghosts can't be indifferent because of gas failure ...", from which we can see that ghosts in Yuan Mei like crowded places and are afraid of loneliness; Similarly, in the second volume of Notes, Summer Records of Luanyang, ghosts often gather in densely populated places, and there are few ghosts in remote wilderness. "Woods Yu" Volume 9, people can scare away ghosts by breathing. Even if there is a winner, it is difficult for the ghost after being scattered to recover its original appearance (Volume 14 of Woods). The note says that ghosts should avoid people because they are afraid of the spirit of the sun. (Volume II, Summer Record of Luanyang). Volume 22 "Woods Yan" mentioned that hungry ghosts robbed steamed buns. In the notes, ghosts can also swallow the smell of alcohol (Volume 11 of Huaixi Magazine, Volume 1). In several volumes, I mentioned the story of ghosts looking for body double for themselves; In Notes, as a ghost, the greatest wish is to be born again (Volume III of Summer in Luanyang). It is worth noting that both books have works with exactly the same content. The story contained in the fifth volume of Continued Yu and the first volume of Notes on the Summer of Luanyang are exactly the same except for a few words. According to the similarity of the two articles, it should be that one of them received the story in the collection of the other, and who received it remains to be verified.

The reason why there is the same story or the same story is because the two authors are almost from the same era, and it is reasonable to hear similar stories. Both authors were knowledgeable scholars at that time and both wrote in classical Chinese. It is inevitable that there are similarities between the two works.

However, there are many differences between the ghost images in Meridian Liuzhu and Yuewei Caotang Notes.

In Yu's works, there are few good ghosts, but most of them are evil ghosts.

There is nothing to do, ghosts haunt. "Yan" Volume 3, the evil spirit Martha must marry the dead woman Zhu, if not, she will beat Zhu. After Zhu went to the city god to pray, he was safe. Later, there was Martha's wife, Zhang Shiwei, who was also a ghost.

Her husband's revenge almost blinded Zhu's eyes, so Zhu had to pray to the city god again, and both the ghost husband and wife were punished, and Zhu was at peace. Volume 9 of Yan says that there are five ghosts, only one has one eye, and the others are blind, so the four ghosts listen to this ghost. They went to a hotel and listened to the ghost's instructions before they dared to suck the passengers' yang. Being sucked by one ghost will make you sick, and being sucked by five ghosts will make you die. Hotel guests have bad luck.

(2) offended the ghost, ghost revenge. In the sixth volume of Woods Yan, Yin embraces the water chestnut and passes by the graveyard. A ghost wanted to eat water chestnut, but Yin didn't give it to him, so the ghost came to his house to make trouble until Yin was killed. In Yu, he was killed by a ghost for laughing at a poem by a ghost named Zhang Wenhua. It can be seen that those who can recite poems are not necessarily good ghosts. "Woods Yan" Volume 8, Wu Yun's little boy accidentally peed on the ghost's head. The ghost possessed the little boy, wanted to eat and drink, and took his younger brother to eat and drink together. The family couldn't go to the city god to pray, so the ghost gave up. In Volume 16 of Woods, Pan Shu hired a wife and died before she got married. Before she died, she told Zhang Yue to keep her ambition for him. However, Zhang Yue married her daughter to someone else, and when she was about to get married, Pan Shuzhan had her. Zhang Sheng, the teacher of Zhang Yue's family, asked the ghost, "What's the point of being ambitious for an unmarried daughter?" The ghost couldn't answer, so he left, but turned his wife into a crooked mouth. In the first volume of The Romance of Woods, I bought a haunted house to live in. When he saw a ghost, he shot him with an arrow. The ghost smiled and said, "Your house is going to be destroyed." The next day, his wife and son both died. A month later, he found his wife and son in the interlayer of the wall, and they came back to life. Ghosts want to harm people, but there's nothing they can do about it.

(3) Ghosts demand sacrifices in various ways. In Volume 8 of Wuziyu, a kid pretends to be Thor, cheating on food and drinking, and teasing people. In the second volume of Yan, a ghost possessed a man who claimed to be "General Ji" and asked for food. After being scolded by A Hao Chen Shi, he escaped. In the second volume of Woods, a guard accidentally pushed an old man into a well and ran away without saving him. At night, a ghost came to haunt me, demanding that "if I want to be safe, I must carve wood and write my name on it, enjoy me with dolphin's hooves every day, and treat me as an ancestor, and we will spare you", so the guards had to listen. Later, when I met an old man on the road, I realized that he didn't drown, but a ghost alias came to beg. In Volume 24 of Wuziyu, Hu Mou went out and had a ghost attached to his wife, saying that Hu Mou died in a foreign country and needed to "take me as firewood and recruit a monk to cross me", so Hu Jia held a memorial ceremony for him. Later, when Hu came home, he realized that he was a rogue ghost who cheated on food and drink.

4 ghosts tease people. In the 24th volume of Woods Yan, a ghost pretends to be a fairy and deceives Shen Jizhi. There is gold in his backyard, but he hasn't dug it for a long time, so he has a bad temper. In Volume 24 of Woods Yan, a ghost pretends to be a god and tells Feng Xiangshan about the imperial examination. It was true when he entered the examination room, but Shen Sheng fell into Sun Shan. He later heard the ghost read his article, and the ghost said it was the first one. Shen Sheng thought that the first prize stole his paper, complained to the government, verified that the first prize article was not his, sentenced him to false accusation and sent him to Heilongjiang.

And there are so many good ghosts in the notes.

(1) there is quite a poem sven ghost theory. Volume 1 "The Summer Record of Luanyang" I wrote about Wang Zhixin who heard a poem about a ghost in a wild temple when he was with his father in Yulin. One ghost commented that Tang's poetry style was not high, but praised Tang's poem "Grass and hemp fields are plagued by border gas, and grass and trees fight against spring" as a good sentence, while another ghost recommended his poem "The sun is snowy, and the wind and sand are yellow" as a quatrain to write about frontier scenery. The ghost who commented on Tang poetry was unconvinced, boasting that "the mountains are heavy and the border gas is ruthless and blue, and the cold sound of the river lasts forever" is the most authentic way to write the sunset in the border town. The two ghosts sang and praised, very proud. Volume 10 "Listening in vain" Two poems written by Shi Gui in Qingmi Hall. A ghost said, "Look at the western hills upstairs today, and you will know that Du Fu's sentence" Rain Mountain has life "is really a stroke of genius!" A ghost said, "This beautiful sentence is better used in the word" live "than in the word" state ",which baked the word" live ". If you engage in' green mountains and green waters', your image will be ruined! " Ghosts are ghosts, but they are also quite elegant. Volume 14 "Huaixi Magazine" No.4, the style of writing two ghosts. The ghost said, "Generally, those who can stand up as sects will have their own roots at the beginning and will pass on their abilities. Their combination will also have its own shortcomings, so they will criticize each other. However, Dong Jiangdu and Sima Wenyuan have different styles, but they don't attack each other at the same time. Du Li and Wang Meng have different poetic styles, but at the same time they don't attack each other. What he got was profound. Later scholars were jealous when they talked about sweetness. If you are a Dan, you will not be a vegetarian, and your income will be shallow. " The theory of two ghosts is profound and pertinent.

(2) There are sentimental ghosts. Volume 12 Huaixi Magazine 2 is about two ghosts, a man and a woman. When they are reborn as human beings, their feelings are inseparable. Because they were deeply in love before their death, their feelings were deeper after their death, which was ten million times better than the couple in Strange Bed and Dream. The fourth volume, The Summer Record of Luanyang, describes how tenants stay up all night in the wheat field. When they meet an old man who claims to be his great-grandfather, they tell themselves, "Ghosts are waiting for food in their mouths, but their children and grandchildren can't forget it. The longer they stay, the more they want it. But out of the darkness, you can't ask questions. Or even if I hear that my descendants are flourishing, I will be happy for a few days, and all the ghosts will come to congratulate me. Even when I heard that my children and grandchildren were dying, I quietly mourned for a few days, and all the ghosts came to mourn. Panzi's children and grandchildren have almost cut it several times. " The old man did not forget his descendants even after his death. His language is full of the attachment of the elders to the younger generation. It can be seen that although ghosts are heterogeneous, a considerable part of them are very emotional.

(3) There is a ghost of justice who knows right from wrong. Volume 2 "Luanyang Summer Record" 2, writing that a child selling cakes was killed by Yuan Hu Changming while watching the lights. Chang Ming was imprisoned and punished for losing the official jade, and Gore's soul defended him. "Jade was not stolen, people were really killed, and I was the soul that was killed." Although Gore is a ghost, he is still guilty and should be punished. For such an old enemy, he can also blame Chang Ming for stealing jade and increase the punishment. Volume 4 "Luanyang Summer Record" 4. Writing ghosts to talk about human justice, he was very dissatisfied with a certain public self-reliance Taoism and sternly reprimanded, "At that time, hunger was popular and many people died. As a township official, you should not advocate benevolence and righteousness early. You should take this good night to close the door and sleep, and don't lose yourself. It's all empty talk. I'm here to enrich the people. I don't know if it is dawn, but I can also eat it as a meal. Can you take medicine? " Then he hit Mr. Daochang with a brick, and Mr. Daochang fled in a hurry.

In Notes, the author depicts an idealized world for us through the underworld: although life and death are different, the spirit and realm will not change. The mountains and rivers are romantic, and people see them, and ghosts also see them; Boarding and chanting, people have, ghosts have; Why are ghosts more terrible than people? And the victory of deep danger is beyond people's reach, and ghosts can wander; The unique scenery of Xiaoliao is invisible to people, and ghosts can enjoy it at night. People are sometimes worse than ghosts. People who are afraid of death and live happily, such as lust and love their wives, will be sad once they are rounded up, such as senior officials dissolving the group and leaving nymphs behind; I don't know if I live in Linquan, plow fields and dig wells, and the fields will be peaceful. I have nothing to worry about in China (Volume 7, "I really smell it"). This is clearly the projection of real life through the ghost domain. Here, the fun of being a ghost is much more than being a man. This idealized world expresses the writer's yearning to some extent.

Explore the reasons for the differences between the two works. Yuan Mei's "Meridian Rain" takes meaning from the so-called "miracle, strength, chaos and spirit" in the Analects of Confucius, which shows that what is recorded is exactly what the Great Sage doesn't want to say or wants to say. As Yuan Mei said in the preface, this is his self-entertainment work, "widely used in literature and history, listening to nonsense, keep it in mind". Yuan Mei advocated "the theory of spiritual nature" in his Biography of Literature, and opposed the disadvantages of retro and formalism since the early Qing Dynasty. The theory of soul means writing one's own life feelings, which also affects Yu's creation and shows the author's humorous and open-minded character and anti-old traditional thought. As a great scholar, Ji Yun, who is in a high position, can't completely escape the shackles of ethics. His Notes on Yuewei Caotang often relies on ghost stories to hint at real life, and alludes to real life through the love and hate between people and ghosts and between people and ghosts. In his works, the author has made a lot of conscious changes, and many stories have integrated his profound thoughts (from his perception of life to his understanding of poetry), showing the author's spiritual world. To a great extent, the notes reflect the author's purpose of persuading the world with the teaching of Shinto, and the works use the topic to achieve the effect of persuading the good and punishing the evil.