游仙與仙游－－論魏晉詩人開拓生命向度的幾種嘗試

“You Xian” and “Xian You”-- Some of Wei-Jin Poets’ attempts to broaden the dimensions of life

魏晉文人慣常思考自我生命可能面臨的困境，並自覺尋求突破。此時求仙採藥、煉丹服食、養生修道等活動，成為名士生活的一部份，而詩歌中除常見的感慨歲月易逝之外，更展現詩人對於生命向度開拓的欲求與努力，無論是時間上的延伸抑或空間上的擴展。本文以「遊仙」與「仙遊」這兩個角度切入，思考在「生命的永恆性」與「空間的完美性」之追求背後，詩人觸及到了什麼？領悟了什麼？以釐清魏晉詩人面對生命無常的自覺、嘗試與突破。論述將分三方面，首先探討魏晉詩人如何面對「壽無金石固」這一事實，以及「遊仙」主題在詩歌中以哪些反思的面貌出現；其次，對於「年壽有時盡」的深刻認知之後，詩人如何轉向空間求索，在生命窮途之餘，藉「仙遊」而標誌自我存在的印記；最後，討論當詩人從向外求索到歸返自身，並探問自我心靈時，如何由內在萌發生命之樂境，並在詩歌中開創一番新天地。據此，即使每位魏晉詩人終其一生的努力，對於生命自由向度之拓展極為卻是人類經驗洪流中，一道重要的生命刻痕，其蘊含的內在意義，實遠大於外在成就。

Literati in the Wei-Jin period constantly contemplated on the difficult situations that they might face in their own life and self-consciously sought ways for breakthrough. During this period of time, activities, such as pursuing immortality, herb gathering, alchemy, health preserving and spiritual cultivation, became part of their life. In poetry, in addition to the commonly seen motif of lamenting over the fleeting of time, poets had shown their desires and efforts to expand the dimensions of life, whether in the extension of time or in the expansion of space. This study looks into, from the angle of “Xian You” and “You Xian,” what the poets had reached and come to realize in pursuing “eternity of life” and “perfection of space,” aiming to clarify the self-awareness, attempts and breakthrough of Wei-Jin poets when they dealt with the transience of life. The discussion will be divided into 3 aspects. First, the study will look at how Wei-Jin poets dealt with the fact that “life does not endure as gold or stone (shou wu jin shi gu),” and how the motif of “You Xian” appears in poetry in the way of introspection. Second, this study is interested in that after the thorough cognition of “life has its end (nian shou you shi jin),” how the poets turned to space for answers and left a mark of their existence through “Xian You” at the final stage of a life journey. Finally, it is discussed how poets had developed the inner merry land and written a new page for poetry when they turned from searching outwards to looking inward and examined their own soul and mind. In view of the above, each Wei-Jin poet’s life-long dedicated efforts, though resulting in limited expansion of the freedom dimension in life, have its significance in the vastness of human experience. The implied meaning in fact far surpasses the external achievement.