The most fragrant mugwort that Su Dongpo ever smelled was in Xuzhou
In February of the third year of Yuanfeng in the Northern Song Dynasty, Su Shi was saved from prison, but the shadow of the Wudai Poetry Case still loomed over him, and he was subsequently demoted by the court to Huangzhou as the deputy envoy of militia. When he first arrived in Huangzhou, he had no relatives and was short of money. Fortunately, with the help of his friends, Su Shi applied to the government for a wasteland, and sighed that "a few acres of wasteland are for me to live in." The wasteland was originally an old camp of the government. Because Su Shi reclaimed it and brought it back to life, it was named "Dongpo" by the new owner. The owner of the garden called himself "Dongpo Jushi" - one of the most shining figures in Chinese cultural history, Su Dongpo was born. It was also in this year of transformation that Su Dongpo improvised "Eight Poems of Dongpo", and mugwort appeared in one of the poems: "Since ancient times, there has been a small spring, coming from the back of a distant ridge. It flows through the city and the settlements, and flows through the evil and strong mugwort."
The shadow of mugwort can also be seen in Su Dongpo's other poems: such as "Looking up and down, the Dharma Realm is in my mind, and I am free and unrestrained in the human world. The towering and majestic peaks are surrounded by the mugwort", and "Sometimes I smell the fragrance of wind and dew, but the mugwort is nowhere to be seen" in "Title of Spring Orchid by Yang Cigong". The "Peng Ai" in the poem refers to mugwort and wormwood, and also refers to weeds in general - after all, the mugwort commonly seen in the fields is a common weed with strong vitality and wide distribution. Su Dongpo, who was born in the common people, was familiar with this perennial weed of the genus Artemisia in the Asteraceae family, whether in Meishan, Sichuan, where he grew up in his childhood, or in Hangzhou, Mizhou, Xuzhou, and even Huzhou, where he later served. He could even say that he was familiar with it.
Su Dongpo once wrote a witty and interesting fable "The Peach Charm and the Mugwort Man". The "Peach Charm" is the predecessor of the Spring Festival Couplets. Like the mugwort of the Dragon Boat Festival, it is also hung on the door. However, due to the difference in status, the peach charm looks up at the "mugwort man" made of mugwort and says proudly: "How can you be above me?" The insignificant "grass" here mocks the mugwort. Qu Yuan sighed, "The household wears mugwort to fill the waist, saying that the secluded orchid cannot be worn", and chanted, "Why is the fragrant grass of the past turned into this Xiao mugwort now?" The meaning is also to express emotions by using the status of grass - how can wearing mugwort be considered superior? The ancient etiquette system was strict: the emperor wore chang grass, the princes wore Xun grass, the officials wore orchid, and the scholars and below wore Xiao grass, while mugwort was only worn by the common people.
Although mugwort is of low status, common grass has its own power. "In the morning, I am a farmer, and in the evening, I am in the emperor's hall." When Su Shi passed the second-class imperial examination and was awarded the title of Jinshi, he entered the palace to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival with the emperor. When he saw the "old acquaintance" mugwort, he was inevitably surprised and surprised like meeting an old friend in a different place. In his "Dragon Boat Festival Post: The Second of the Six Poems in the Emperor's Pavilion", there is: "Picking the best and picking the best, competing to store hundreds of good medicines. The imperial physician first recommended mugwort, and the common grass was proven to be prosperous." The "recommended mugwort" here also refers to mugwort. After all, mugwort has been a medicinal herb since ancient times. Tao Hongjing's "Famous Doctors' Records" said: "Mugwort leaves are bitter. Slightly warm. Non-toxic, and can cure all kinds of diseases." Moxibustion and mugwort baths are traditional folk healing techniques. Naturally, mugwort is indispensable among the herbs collected and stored in the palace. Another line in the poem, "Shu Cao Yan Fan Chang," refers to divination by burning mugwort leaves. This is because the ancients believed that mugwort, with its strong yang energy, could communicate with gods, and mugwort or mugwort thread was often used as fuel for divination.
Su Dongpo, who was born in the common people and could see the "common grass" in his eyes, never forgot his original intention of "people-oriented". Due to his disagreement with Wang Anshi's new law, Su Dongpo wrote a letter in 1071 to request transfer and was appointed to Hangzhou and Xuzhou. During his tenure as a local official, he presided over the dredging of canal silt, the construction of water pipelines, the construction of dams, and the relief of disaster victims, cherishing the people and protecting the people and sharing happiness with the people. The famous sentence "The sun is warm and the mulberry and hemp are shining like splashing, and the wind blows the wormwood and mugwort smells like incense. The governor is originally a person from this place" was written when he returned from an inspection of farming in 1078 when he was the governor of Xuzhou. Under the shining spring sun, the mulberry and hemp in the fields are thriving, and the warm wind brings the fragrance of wormwood and mugwort. "The governor is originally a person from this place" means that although I am an official, I have not forgotten that I was born a farmer and empathize with the beautiful scenery of the countryside. Su Dongpo also wrote the lines "The colorful fragrance of sorghum and rice lingers in the air, and mugwort is hung on thousands of doors, with beards and hair standing on end" and "The mugwort and cattails are green in front of the door, and kites are dancing in the light sky." The poems also describe the vitality of mugwort among the people, and his deep affection for sharing weal and woe with the people.
After the Wutai case, Su Dongpo was demoted and wandered all the way. He had "no meat to eat, no medicine for illness, no room to live in, no friends to go out, no charcoal in winter, no cold spring in summer". He had almost nothing, but fortunately, he still had the healing and comfort of common herbs. When he was sick, he could burn moxa: "I hope that I will recover in a few days. I want to see you, but I am afraid I am tired of receiving guests. Please tell me the number. Burning moxa will definitely help." Because there is a saying that "a seven-year illness requires three years of moxa", he wrote "Lingjie Chen's poems are new every year, how can the officials live long for my king. I wish to store moxa for three years to treat the country, and not write Shen Xiang's "Nine Arguments". ", which means "I am willing to collect and store moxa for three years to ward off poison and disasters for the country, and sincerely hope that there will be no more tragedies like Qu Yuan."
Legend has it that there is a rare human-shaped mugwort that can cure all diseases. Many people who go out to collect herbs in the early morning imagine that they will be lucky enough to pick one. Su Dongpo's attitude towards this matter is quite indifferent. "Dongpo Zhilin" records that: "On the Dragon Boat Festival, before the sun rises, use your imagination to look for the human-like ones in the mugwort, and then pick them for moxibustion. It is very effective. I saw this in a book when I was young, but I forgot what book it was. Mugwort has not really looked like a human. It is just a name given to it by imagination in the light and dark. All things are false, and there is no real one. Why doubt it?" In Su Dongpo's view, it is not important whether there is a human-shaped mugwort. Even if there is no three-year-old mugwort tonic, sleeping behind closed doors is also a way to maintain health: "I laugh at myself for looking for three-year-old mugwort, it is better to be a man who sleeps alone forever" - to some extent, mugwort seems to have an indissoluble bond with Su Dongpo, and it has become his spiritual portrayal in the dark.
