This sentence comes from the fourth of Yuan Zhen's "Five Poems on Lisi". The whole poem is:

It can be said that every sentence of this poem is very classic and has become a famous saying. . Among them, the first sentence is the most brilliant stroke of the whole poem. Once upon a time, it was difficult to swim in the sea: it is the deep longing for my wife Wei Cong

The first sentence is derived from the "Mencius: Wholeheartedness" "It is difficult for those who look at the sea to be water, and it is difficult for those who swim in the gate of the sage to speak." This means that if you see the sea, then look at other rivers and streams, they cannot be called water. If you are with the saints and become their disciples, then it will be difficult for you to listen to other people's opinions.

In fact, this sentence of Mencius is actually to set off the greatness of Confucius. The previous sentence uses metaphor (the favorite rhetoric of "Mencius") to show the charm of the sage's thoughts.

Yuan Zhen cleverly used this sentence to express his condolences to his wife Wei Cong.

This poem by Yuan Zhen has become a classic line that young men and women have recited when they miss each other for more than a thousand years.

Yuan Zhen in history: Betrayed his first love and married the daughter of a high-ranking official for his official position

But historically, based on our current values, Yuan Zhen is completely a "scumbag" "Male", for the sake of his own fame, wealth and official position, he did not hesitate to abandon his first love and marry Wei Cong. Wei Cong's father was Jing Zhaoyin at the time, equivalent to the mayor of Chang'an, the capital. Before Wei Cong, Yuan Zhen once fell in love with "Cui Yingying", and later wrote "The Story of Yingying" (also known as "The Story of Yuzhen") based on his own experience. The "Romance of the West Chamber" we know is based on "The Story of Yingying" by Wang Shifu. 》adapted.

In "The Story of Yingying", Cui Yingying is not the daughter of the prime minister, but just the child of an ordinary family with a lot of wealth. As for Yuan Zhen, he was already a talented man in the Tang Dynasty. At the banquets of the Tang Dynasty scholar-bureaucrats, the singers and prostitutes would sing his poems. Even the prince of the East Palace liked his poems very much.

"Xuanhe Shupu" says that he "brings the spirit of a talented scholar to the eyelashes", which means he is talented, handsome and can attract the attention of young girls. Cui Yingying was attracted to him. .

Later, in order to become an official, he abandoned Cui Yingying and wrote "The Story of Yingying" to slander her, saying that she was not a good woman, but a beauty. The historian Chen Yinke commented that he had no integrity. However, if we go back to the environment of the Tang Dynasty, we can find that in that era, the gentry style still existed. After many talented people passed the imperial examination, the gentry went to them one after another, hoping to marry their daughters. . These talented people must also marry them, otherwise they will not have a great official position in their lifetime (this was not until Huang Chao's uprising, when Huang Chao killed all the nobles and nobles, did this concept of family status disappear from the stage of history). Regardless of whether Yuan Zhen had no choice but to do so, his behavior has been nailed to the pillar of shame in history, just like Chen Shimei.

After Wei Cong's death, he hooked up with Xue Tao and fell out again.

After marrying Wei Cong, the two lived a good life for several years, and Yuan Zhen joined the imperial court. , became a school clerk (although he is a seventh-grade minor official, but those who can be a school clerk will have unlimited future prospects). But unexpectedly, Wei Cong passed away a few years later.

Yuan Zhen wrote several mourning poems, each of which makes people cry when reading them. However, this "scumbag" met the talented Xue Tao during an inspection trip to Sichuan that year. Xue Tao is also good at writing poems, but her private life is also quite chaotic. She has been a musician since she was a child and makes a living by singing. At that time, Xue Tao was 42 years old and Yuan Zhen was only 31 years old. The two were very good friends, and the two people who were "sister and brother" quickly fell in love. Xue Tao also boldly wrote a poem, saying that we "dwell on the green pond, fly back in the morning and evening", which is really strong.

Later, Yuan Zhen left Sichuan. Before leaving, he told Xue Tao that I would come to marry you, but he never returned together. After returning to Chang'an, he wandered around again, taking wives and concubines, which was despised by others.

Every time Yuan Zhen went to work in the government, his colleagues would sneer at him, and even said in front of him, where did the flies come from? It can be seen that Yuan Zhen's character is different.

Once upon a time, it was difficult to change the sea,

Except for Wushan, it is not a cloud;

Looking back lazily from the flowers,

Half of them were practicing Taoism and half were kings.

——"Li Si" by Yuan Zhen of the Tang Dynasty

The original meaning of this poem is that people who have experienced the sea will no longer find it difficult to think of water in other places. That is such water worth seeing; after seeing the clouds in Wushan, except for the clouds in Wushan, I feel that the clouds in other places do not look so beautiful. Because the old relationship is unforgettable, I can no longer fall in love with another woman, and I have no intention of pursuing a new relationship. Even if I pass by thousands of beauties, I don't bother to look back at them. Although half of it is for cultivating Taoism, the other half is for you!

Cultural inheritance and the expansion of the meaning of words, Yuan Zhen's "Once upon a time, the sea was difficult to overcome, except for Wushan, it was not clouds", which is an extension of the realm of the sage Mencius. In "Mencius: Enduring the Heart", Mencius said: "Confucius climbed to the east mountain and made a small Lu, and climbed to the Taishan Mountain and made the world small. Therefore, it is difficult for a person to look at the sea to be water, and it is difficult for a person to swim in the gate of a sage to speak.

If you have the skill to watch water, you must watch its waves. The sun and the moon are bright, and the face will shine brightly. Flowing water is a thing, and it cannot be fulfilled if it is not filled with water. A gentleman's ambition is to follow the Tao, and it cannot be achieved without rules and regulations. "-After seeing the biggest and most beautiful thing, everything else is insignificant. "It's hard to think of water"--it's hard to think that water in ordinary places is magnificent and impressive. "Not clouds"--it's not that beautiful to see.

This poem by Yuan Zhen is about his unforgettable infatuation with his late lover Wei Cong, and his deep love and infatuation, no matter how beautiful the woman is, in his eyes. Not as good as his old friend. "Once there was nothing like water, except for Wushan, it was not clouds." The "clouds" and "water" in this famous sentence were later used as the beautiful ideals that we longed for, longed for, and pursued. People who are unforgettable often use this phrase to express their deep feelings. "It was once difficult to change the sea." - People who have experienced great things and have lofty ideals no longer care about ordinary fame and fame, and insist on it. A distant realm.

At this point in writing, a picture emerged in my mind: In the class of "Selected Poems of the Tang Dynasty", I was thinking about the words "difficult to be water" and "not clouds" in "Once upon a time, it was difficult for the sea to be water, except for Wushan, it was not clouds". When asked a question, Mr. Wang quoted from many sources and explained it with emotion and emotion... More than thirty years later, Mr. Wang’s earnest teachings are still in my heart, and Mr. Wang’s amiable voice and smile will always remain in the hearts of students! It's a pity that the student you were once very optimistic about has failed to achieve anything since then and has failed to live up to the expectations of his teacher! Ashamed