蘇軾〈赤壁賦〉道家韻致之探究

An exploration of Daoist Charm in Su Shi’s Ode of Red Cliff

蘇軾〈赤壁賦〉談者甚多，高中國文亦選列為授課教材，以其具文學與史事之故。然如只就文學言，那是欣賞的角度；只就史事言，那是故實的探討，整體 而言，仍無法見出蘇軾為文的心境。以「心境」一詞說，蘇軾〈赤壁賦〉之作，是境況苦難下的心靈映現，此心靈舒展出去，表現的即是人間的觀照與鬱悶的漠化。以人間觀照言，那是心靈自由的馳騁，不必為名，不必為利，而是任情逍遙的放懷，亦即莊周所謂同於大通的「坐忘」；而以鬱悶的淡化言，那是思想高度的曠達，即以常人之逢難，必憂慮無由自拔，而曠達者，則能化胸中之憂而為情意之昇，並使原來焦著煩勞之念變為清新明朗之況，此情意之昇與清朗之況，如非大胸襟大慧識者，實無由以致之，而蘇軾其人，卻能克堪其憂，其襟懷慧識的豁達通透可以想知。再以天地之間，有其變，有其不變，不論變之與不變，以月為例，無論如何，月仍是月，盈虛不過月之轉輪，以是知月之本體為常，其盈其虛是為現象，本體現象之常變終仍合而為一，故不必泥執於本體或現象，若人不泥執則萬有即是現象，現象亦不離萬有，則花開水流，皆返自然，又何爭執，亦以蘇軾之不之爭執，故有所「悟」，以其有所「悟」，故有所達；以其有所達，故境況如何艱鉅，皆無由撓動其心，是以「不知東方之既白」的「不知」，即為其心境昇華參透悟達之總結；故而以此讀去，對〈赤壁賦〉之創作原由，乃能得真正理解。

There were many scholars having made discussion about Su Shi’s Ode of Red Cliff. And this work has also been selected as a teaching material of Chinese Language subject of senior high school students. The main reasons behind them are that the piece of work is a literary work, and is also a historical record. Nevertheless, in the aspect of literature, it is read from the viewpoint of appreciation; and in the aspect of historical record, it is an exploration of the old facts. Overall speaking, the frame of mind of Su Shi still cannot be seen from the work. Speaking of the term “frame of mind,” Su Shi’s work of Ode of Red Cliff is a reflection of the soul of a person in poor situation, who let his mood extend far and outward. What is expressed are the reflection of hearts of the people in the world and the dilution of personal depression. Speaking of the reflection of hearts of the people in the world, it is a free galloping of soul. No need to pay efforts for fame, and no need to pay efforts for wealth, a person liberates his mind and lets himself be carefree as much as possible. This is just as what Zhuang Zhou called, “sitting in forgetfulness” in the harmony of human and nature. And speaking of the dilution of personal depression, it is an extreme expansion of thinking. It refers that when general people encounter a mishap, they must feel difficult to free themselves from grief. But the people with highly expanded thinking can turn the grief in their hearts to be sublime of love, and change the original anxious and worrying mind to be refreshed and clear situation. For the sublime of affection and the situation of clarity, if a person is not broadminded or does not have great intelligence, the person cannot achieve them at all. And the person, Su Shi, could overcome his sorrow. From here, we can imagine his broadmindedness and thorough thinking. Besides, between the Heaven and the Earth, some things are changeable, and some things are unchanged. No matter things are changeable or unchanged, taking the moon for example, the moon is after all still the moon. The full moon or the crescent moon is merely the turning wheel of the moon. It is known that the main body of the moon is normal, and its being full or crescent is a phenomenon. The constantly changing phenomena of its main body will finally unite to become one. Therefore, it is not necessary to care about the main body or the phenomenon. If a person does not care about details of things, all the things existed are just a phenomenon, and phenomenon can never leave all the things existed. In this way, flowers bloom, water flows, and everything goes back to the nature. Then, what argument will there be? Just because Su Shi did not have any argument with anybody, he had “realization.” Just because of his “realization,” he had things to express. Just because he had things to express, no matter how difficult the situation was, it did not bother his heart at all. Therefore, the words “do not know” in the line, “Do not know that the East was already white” are the summary of the sublimed and penetrated realization of his frame of mind. Hence, reading the work in this way, we can fully understand the reasons of his writing the work, Ode of Red Cliff.