Tao Yuanming was born in a ruined official family. Great-grandfather Tao Kan, the founding father of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, made outstanding military achievements. He was an official of Fu, the commander-in-chief of the military affairs of the eight countries, and Jing and Jiang were the secretariat of Changsha. Grandfather Tao Mao and father Tao Yi are both governors.
When I was a child, my family declined, my father died at the age of eight, my mother died of illness at the age of twelve, and my mother and sister lived alone. Most orphans and widows live in their grandfather Meng Jia's house. Meng Jia is a contemporary celebrity. "If you don't share the same sky, you won't brag for many years and you will never be happy." . Good wine, more without chaos; As for forgetting pride, no one. "("Biography of Meng Fujun, General of the Western Expedition in the Jin Dynasty ") In the late Yuan and Ming Dynasties," deliberately lived in the world, and many people imitated their ancestors. "In the future, his personality and accomplishment are largely the legacy of his grandfather. Grandfather's family has a lot of books, which provides him with the conditions to read ancient books and understand history. In the Jin Dynasty, the literati took Zhuang and Lao as their ancestors and copied the Six Classics. He not only studied Lao Zi and Zhuangzi like ordinary literati, but also studied the Six Classics of Confucianism and "different books" such as literature, history and mythology. Influenced by the ideological trend of the times and the family environment, he accepted two different thoughts of Confucianism and Taoism, and cultivated two different interests: "aiming high" and "loving the mountains".
Tao Yuanming rarely has the ambition to "escape from the four seas" ("Miscellaneous Poems"). He was filial to Taiyuan for eighteen years (393). With the desire of "great help for life", he served as a wine sacrifice in Jiangzhou. At that time, the gate valve system was strict. He came from a civilian family and was looked down upon. He felt that he couldn't stand being an official and turned himself in in a few days. (Biography of Tao Qian in the Book of Jin) After he resigned and went home, the country called him the main book again, and he also declined politely. In the fourth year of Long 'an (400 years), Andi went to Jingzhou and joined Huan Xuan as a vassal. At this time, Huan Xuan was controlling the upper and middle reaches of the Yangtze River, eyeing the opportunity to usurp the Eastern Jin regime. Of course, he refused to go with Huan Xuan and be the confidant of the careerist. He wrote in his poem: "How to get as far as Xijing without this." ("Xin Chou left for a night outing in July and returned to Jiangling") has remorse for Huan Xuan. "How can you drown in long-term love?" ("Two Poems by Gengzi in Mid-May, From Jingshi to Zhilin") made a deep sigh for the official life of Qu people. In the winter of five years in Longan, because his mother died, he resigned and went home. In the first month of the first year of Yuanxing (402), Huan Xuan sent troops against the imperial court, invaded Jiankang and seized the military and political power in the Eastern Jin Dynasty. In the second year of Yuanxing, Huan Xuan overtly usurped the throne in Jiankang, changed his name to Chu, and imprisoned Andi in Xunyang. In his hometown, he devoted himself to self-financing and sang behind closed doors: "Under the tomb door, he is isolated from the world." Looking around, who knows, Fei Jing is usually closed during the day. "Huan Xuan peanuts, disdain. In the third year of Yuanxing, the general, Xiapi Wudi and He Wuji set out from Jingkou (now Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province) to crusade against Huan. Huan Xuan defeated the West and brought Andy, who was imprisoned in Xunyang, to Jiangling. He left home to join the army under the protection of Emperor Wu of Song. Tao Yuanming was put into the shogunate after Emperor Wu of Song captured Jiankang. When Emperor Wu of Song crusaded against Huan Xuan, he followed the story of Tian Chou's loyalty to the Eastern Han Dynasty, disguised himself as a private traveler, ventured to Jiankang, and took Huan Xuan hostage to Andi to Jiangling, and returned to Emperor Wu of Song, realizing his desire to fight for the usurper. He happily wrote a poem: "I am not afraid of being ignorant at forty." I am famous for my car, and I want to be famous, too. "Although thousands of miles away, how dare you!" ("Mr. Murong" Chapter 4) After Emperor Wu of Song entered health, his style was quite extraordinary. The politics of the Eastern Jin Dynasty has long been corrupted by the "abolition of all schools". After Emperor Wu of Song "set an example", he was banned by force (banned in advance). "Officials at home and abroad are all in awe and change customs." His personality, talent and achievements are quite similar to those of Tao Kan, and he once had a good impression on him. But soon after the curtain rises, Emperor Wu of Song killed Diao Kui and the innocent Wang Yu and his son in order to cut off the dissidents. And with an affair, Wang Shu, a confidant of Huan Xuan who everyone thought should be killed, was appointed as an important official such as Shangshulu and Yangzhou Secretariat. These dark phenomena disappointed him. In the poem "A Qubo, the Song of the First Town Army Joining the Army", I wrote: "My eyes are tired of mountains and rivers, and my heart is full of mountains and rivers." "Words and deeds will eventually return to the class and live in Lu." Then resign and live in seclusion. In the first year of Yixi (405), he was transferred to General Jianwei and Jiangzhou secretariat Liu Shenjun. In March, he was ordered to go to Jiankang to resign for Liu. After Liu left his post, he also left. In the autumn of the same year, his uncle Tao Kui introduced him as Pengze County Magistrate. After taking office for 8 1 day, I met a post sent by Xunyang County, and the official said, "Welcome him as a leash." He sighed: "I can't bend back to the village for fifty dou meters." He got permission to leave his job. Tao Yuanming's thirteen-year official career ended with his resignation from pengze county. These thirteen years are the thirteen years in which he worked hard, disappointed and finally despaired in order to realize his ideal and ambition of "helping the poor". Finally, the poem "Return to Xi Ci" shows the determination to break with the upper ruling class and not do as the Romans do.
Tao Yuanming resigned and returned to his hometown, living a life of "land to the tiller, self-financing". His wife Zhai is like him. She is happy and humble. "Her husband plows the fields in front and her wife hoes the fields in the back." Working together to maintain her life is closely related to the working people. At the beginning of returning to the field, life was ok. "There are more than ten acres of square houses, eight or nine straw houses, the back eaves of Liu Yin and the front of peaches and plums." Yuan Ming loves chrysanthemums, and chrysanthemums are planted everywhere at home. "Picking chrysanthemums under the east fence and seeing Nanshan leisurely" ("Self-Miscellaneous Poems") has always been the population of moxibustion. He is a heavy drinker and will get drunk when he drinks it. When friends visit, no matter how high or low, as long as there is wine at home, they will drink together. He got drunk first. He said to the guest, "I'm drunk, so I can go." For four years, Yixi lived in underground Beijing (now at the foot of Xiyujing Mountain in Xing Zi County) and moved to Lili (now Tao Lili Village, a hot spring in Xing Zi), making life even more difficult. If there is a bumper harvest, you can also "enjoy drinking spring wine and picking vegetables from our garden" to prevent "hunger in summer and sleeping at night" in disaster years. As we approached Yixi, an old farmer knocked at the door early in the morning, brought wine to drink with him, and advised him to be an official: "It is not enough to live high under a broken roof. I have been a Shang Tong all my life (right and wrong are not divided), I hope you are muddy (referring to the same stream). " He replied, "I was deeply impressed by my father's words and I was very angry." Fiber (enter) can be learned honestly, but it is not a mystery? Enjoy this glass of wine together. I can't drive back. "("Drinking ") declined the old farmer's advice in a tone of" harmony but difference ". In his later years, his life became poorer and poorer, and some friends offered to give him money to help him. Sometimes, he can't help asking for a loan. His old friend was appointed as the magistrate of Shi 'an County in the first year of Jingping (423). After Xunyang, I went to his house to drink every day. When I left, I left 20 thousand yuan, sent them to the hotel and drank them one by one. However, he asked for a loan or accepted charity in principle. In the first year of Yuanjia, Song Wendi (424), Tandaoji, the secretariat of Jiangzhou, paid a personal visit. At this point, he was sick and hungry for several days, and he couldn't get out of bed. Tan Daoji advised him: "Sages are alive, but if there is no way in the world, they will be hidden. Where there is a road, there is a road. This child (you) was born in the civilized world, why should he suffer? " He said: "I dare not look at sages, but I don't have that big ambition." Tan Daoji gave the meat to Liang, but he waved away. He resigned from his post and returned to his hometown for 22 years. He has been living a poor and rural life, but when he is old, his interest in keeping poor and honest is getting stronger and stronger. In the middle of September in the fourth year of Yuan Jia (427), when he was still conscious, he wrote three elegies for himself. In the last two sentences of the third poem, he said, "What if I die?" This shows that he views death so naturally.