Names

His family name was Wang, and his given name is Wei. Wang chose the courtesy name Mojie and would sign his works Wang Weimojie because Wei-mo-Jie was a reference to Vimalakirti, the central figure of the Buddhist sutra by that name. In this holy book of Buddhism, which is partly in the form of a debate with Mañjuśrī (the Bodhisattva of Wisdom), a lay person, Vimalakīrti, expounds the doctrine of Śūnyatā, or emptiness, to an assembly which includes arhats and bodhisattvas, and then culminates with the wordless teaching of silence.

Life

Wang Wei is especially known as a poet and painter of nature. Of his poems some four hundred survive: these were first collected and originally edited into a corpus by his next-youngest brother, Wang Jin, by imperial command. Of his paintings, no authenticated specimens survive, although there is evidence of his work through influences on later paintings and descriptive accounts of his paintings. His musical talents were regarded very highly, although nothing survives of his music except reports. He furthermore had a successful career as a court official. Eventually, he became a devout Zen Buddhist and a vegetarian. Wang Wei spent ten years studying with Chán master Daoguang.

Early years

Born into an aristocratic family, of Han ethnicity, originally from Qixian (present-day Qi County in Shanxi province), Wang Wei's father moved east of the Yellow River to Puzhou, part of the historic Hedong Commandery (today's Yongji, Shanxi). Known for his youthful precocity, Wang Wei, the eldest of five brothers, set off for the imperial capital at the age of nineteen, in order to study and take the jinshi civil service entrance examination. In the period while residing in Chang'an, before taking the test, Wang's proficiency at poetry and his musical proficiency with the pipa helped him to achieve popularity at the royal court. He passed the jinshi examination, in 721, with the first class award (Zhuangyuan), which started his potentially lucrative civil service career. Wang Wei's career as an official had its ups and downs. His first appointment was as a court musician, or "Deputy Master of Music"; however, he was then demoted to a position of being in charge of a granary in the former province of Jizhou (now the name of a different town Jizhou, in Hebei). The reason for this demotion, according to tradition, was Wang's breach of etiquette by performing a lion dance.

In any case, this was only a minor setback to his career, and it had a compensation in that it did allow him to travel. Then, a series of promotions following this demotion was apparently attributable to a relationship with the prominent governmental minister, poet, and literary scholar Zhang Jiuling, at least until Zhang's 727 demotion to a post in Jingzhou. By 728, Wang Wei was back in Chang'an, where he entertained the poet Meng Haoran, who was to become a close friend and poetic colleague. At this point, Wang seems to have achieved the rank of Assistant Censor, and then a subsequent governmental promotion, but then later being demoted back to Assistant Censor, with the loss in imperial favor of Zhang Jiuling and the rising political ascendency of Li Linfu. After his wife's death in 731, he never remarried. It was in his role as a government official that Wang Wei was dispatched to Liangzhou, which was then the northwestern frontier of the Chinese empire, and the scene of constant military conflicts. By invitation of the local commander, Wang served in this location until returning to Chang'an in 738 or early 739.

Middle years

After his return to Chang'an from Liangzhou, and lacking another official posting, Wang Wei took the opportunity to explore the countryside to the south of the capital, in the Lantian area of the Zhongnan Mountains. Wang Wei then made friends with Pei Di. In 740–741 Wang resumed his successful governmental career, including an inspection tour of Xiangyang, Hubei (the home territory of Meng Haoran), and afterwards serving in various positions in Chang'an. Besides the official salary connected with this government work, he had received financial rewards as an artist; thus he was able to acquire a sizable estate in Lantian, formerly owned by the poet Song Zhiwen, known as Wang Chuan. Upon his Lantian estate Wang Wei established a shrine to honor his Buddhist mother, and after his mother died, in 747–748, he spent the traditional three-year mourning period for the death of a parent in this location, apparently so afflicted by grief that he was reduced almost to a skeleton. By 751–752 Wang Wei had resumed official duties. But at this point the historical record becomes problematic because of the effects of the An Shi disorders upon record keeping.

War

Some view that the An-Shi rebellion, which took place between 755–763, profoundly affected Chinese social culture in general and Wang Wei in particular. However, Nicolas Tackett has recently argued that it was not as destructive to the Tang aristocracy as had previously been thought. In 756, Wang Wei was residing in the capital of Chang'an, where he was captured by the rebels when they took the city. Although the emperor Xuanzong and his court and most of the governmental officials had already evacuated to Sichuan, Wang Wei had come down with dysentery and at that time was an invalid and thus unable to travel, especially not on this notoriously mountainous and difficult passage. The rebels then took their prize captive to their capital at Luoyang, where the government of the rebellion sought his collaboration. According to some sources, he attempted to avoid actively serving the insurgents during the capital's occupation by pretending to be deaf; other sources state that, in an attempt to destroy his voice, he drank medicine that created cankers on his mouth. In any case, at Luoyang, Wang Wei was unable to avoid becoming officially one of the rebels, with an official title. In 757, with the ascendency of Suzong, and the Tang recapture of Luoyang from the rebel forces, Wang Wei was arrested and imprisoned by the Tang government as a suspected traitor.

The charges of disloyalty were eventually dropped, partly because of the intervention of his brother, Wang Jin, who held high government rank (as Undersecretary of the Board of Punishments) and whose loyal efforts in the defense of Taiyuan were well known. Furthermore, the poems he had written during his captivity were produced, and accepted as evidence in favor of his loyalty. Following his pardon, Wang Wei spent much of his time in his Buddhist practice and activities. Then, with the further suppression of the rebellion, he again received a government position, in 758, at first in a lower position than prior to the rebellion, as a tàizǐ zhōngchōng, in the court of the crown prince rather than that of the emperor himself. In 759 Wang Wei was not only restored to his former position in the emperor's court, but he was eventually promoted. Over time, he was moved to the secretarial position of jǐshìzhōng and his last position, which he held until his death in 761, was shàngshū yòuchéng, or deputy prime minister. As these positions were in the city of Chang'an, they were not too far from his private estate to prevent him from visiting and repairing it. During all this time, he continued his artistic endeavors.

Later years

Wang Wei never lived to see the empire return to peace, as the An-Shi disturbances and their aftermath continued beyond his lifetime. However, at least he could enjoy a relative return to stability compared to the initial years of the rebellion, especially when he had the opportunity to spend time in the relative seclusion of his Lantian estate, which allowed him both a poetic and a Buddhist retreat, as well as a place to spend time with his friends and with nature, painting and writing. But, finally, his writing came to an end, and in the seventh month of 759, or in 761, Wang Wei requested writing implements, wrote several letters to his brother and to his friends, and then died. He was then buried at his Lantian estate.

Works

Wang Wei was famous for both his poetry and his paintings, about which Su Shi coined a phrase: "The quality of Wang Wei』s poems can be summed as, the poems hold a painting within them. In observing his paintings you can see that, within the painting there is poetry." He is especially known for his compositions in the Mountains and Streams (Shanshui) poetry genre, the landscape school of poetry, along with Meng Haoran; their family names were combined in a form of mutual reference and they are commonly referred to as "Wang Meng" due to their excellence in poetic composition, as contemporaries. In his later years, Wang Wei lost interest in being a statesman and became more involved in Buddhism and his poems reflected his focus on Chan practice, therefore he was posthumously referred to as the 「Poet Buddha」. His works are collected in Secretary General Wang's Anthology, which includes 400 poems. He excelled in painting images of people, bamboo forests and scenery of mountains and rivers. It is recorded that his landscape paintings have two different genres, one of the Father and Son of the Li Family and the other being of strong brush strokes. His work of Picture of Wang River is of the latter, but unfortunately the original no longer exists. His works of Scenery of Snow and Creek and Jinan』s Fusheng Portrait are both realistic in their representation of the subjects.

Poetry

At present 420 poems are attributed to Wang Wei, of which 370 are thought to be genuine. Wang Wei was a "very great master" of the jueju: many of his quatrains depict quiet scenes of water and mist, with few details and little human presence. The Indiana Companion comments that he affirms the world's beauty, while questioning its ultimate reality. It also draws a comparison between the deceptive simplicity of his works and the Chan path to enlightenment, which is built on careful preparation but is achieved without conscious effort.

One of Wang Wei's famous poems is "One-hearted" (Xiang Si ):

Wang River collaboration

Some of Wang Wei's most famous poetry was done as a series of couplets written by him to which his friend Pei Di wrote replying couplets. Together, these form a group titled the Wang River Collection. Note that "Wang" as in the river is a different character that the "Wang" of Wang Wei's name. It literally refers to the outside part of a wheel; and also that these are sometimes referred to as the "Lantian poems", after the real name of Wang's estate's location, in what is now Lantian County. Inspired in part by Wang's Lantian home and features of its neighborhood and by their correspondences with other places and features, the collection includes such pieces as the poem often translated "Deer Park" (literally, "Deer Fence"). However, the poems tend to have a deceptive simplicity to them, while they actually have great depth and complexity upon closer examination.

Painting

Wang Wei has historically been regarded as the founder of the Southern School of Chinese landscape art, a school which was characterised by strong brushstrokes contrasted with light ink washes.

Cultural references

Influence in the East

Wang Wei was of extensive influence in China and its area of cultural influence, particularly in terms of monochrome ink painting and in terms of his deceptively simple and insightful Buddhist-influenced poetry. Wang Shimin and Wang Yuanqi of the Six Masters of the early Qing period painted works in the style of Wang Wei, as well as copying his paintings as "copying former masters was seen as the cornerstone of artistic training." In the Ming Dynasty, Dong Qichang included Wang Wei's style in his paintings after the old masters.

One of Wang Wei's poems, called Weicheng Qu or "Song of the City of Wei" has been adapted to the famous music melody, Yangguan Sandie or "Three Refrains on the Yang Pass". The most famous version of this melody is based on a tune for guqin first published in 1864 but may be traced back to a version from 1530.

Wang Wei's lasting influence is seen in the death poem of the Japanese haiku master Yosa Buson:

Influence in the West

• Wang Wei's poetry, in translation, formed the inspiration for the final Der Abschied movement of the Austrian composer Gustav Mahler's penultimate completed work, Das Lied von der Erde. Der Abschied is set to a loose German translation of Wang Wei's Farewell, a work addressed to fellow poet Meng Haoran on the occasion of his retirement (after a brief civil service career) to become a scholar-recluse (yinshi, ).

• Wang Wei's poetry, found in the works of Ernest Fenollosa, also provided inspiration for the American poet Ezra Pound in the creation of Pound's Ideogrammic Method.

• His art inspired Innisfree Garden in Millbrook, New York.

生平

王維祖籍祁縣，生于蒲州。開元九年（721年）進士，官大樂丞，隨即因為署中伶人舞黃獅子犯禁，受了牽連而謫為濟州司倉參軍。十四年（726年）調淇上，十六年辭官隱居淇上。十七年入長安閒居。二十二年秋赴東都洛陽，獻詩張九齡，然後隱居嵩山。二十三年返東都。二十四年，在東都任右拾遺，當年冬隨玄宗還長安，又為監察御史，二十八年（740年），遷殿中侍御史，是冬，知南選，自長安經襄陽、郢州、夏口至嶺南。 隔年北歸，過瓦官寺謁璇禪師。天寶一年（742年），轉左補闕。三年購得宋之問故居藍田輞川（今西安）別業。五年轉庫部員外郎。九年春，丁母憂，離朝屏居輞川。十一年拜吏部郎中。開元十九年（731年），喪妻不娶，鰥居三十年。

天寶十五年（756年），安祿山攻占長安，王維被安祿山脅迫投降，作了他的官員。但是他並不願意，長期居住於輞川別墅。王維一度被安祿山軟禁在雒邑菩提寺，聽到唐明皇的御用樂師雷海青哭泣不願為安祿山演奏，而在凝碧池被凌遲，心情非常難過，曾向裴迪作《聞逆賊凝碧池作樂》表達了心跡：「萬戶傷心生野煙，百官何日再朝天？秋槐葉落空宮裏，凝碧池頭奏管弦。」當安祿山兵敗後，王維本以六等定罪，必須流放遠州，其弟王縉請削己職以贖兄罪，唐肅宗得知了《聞逆賊凝碧池作樂》，王維因而得到了赦免，並任太子中允，加集賢殿學士，後轉給事中、尚書右丞，故世稱「王右丞」。

晚年居輞川，過著亦官亦隱的優遊生活。上元初卒。

畫風

王維詩書畫都非常有名，非常多才多藝，受禪宗影響很大。他創造了水墨山水畫派，此外，還兼擅人物、宗教人物、花竹，精通山水畫，對山水畫貢獻極大，被稱為「南宗畫之祖」，《歷代名畫記》以「畫山水體涉古今」讚譽他在山水畫方面的貢獻，《唐朝名畫錄》評價為「風致標格特出，……畫《輞川圖》山谷鬱盤，雲水飛動，意出塵外，怪生筆端」，在《舊唐書》本傳中，也有「山水平遠，雲峰石色，絕跡天機，非繪者之所及」的稱頌，其代表作有《伏生受經圖》、《輞川圖》、《雪溪圖》等。明代董其昌提出「文人畫」一詞，並首推王維為始祖。王維個人也對自己的畫師身份十分讚賞，他的詩《偶然作》寫道：「宿世謬詞客，前身應畫師」，竟以為自己不當是位詩人，而當是位畫家了。

詩風

王維青年時期有積極的人生態度和政治抱負，寫成「隴西行」等一類關於邊塞、游俠的詩篇，運用歌行的體裁，描寫各方面的題材，具有岑參、高適那種雄渾的氣派。

王維後期歌詠山水的作品，真正代表其詩歌藝術。作品以五言為主如《鳥鳴澗》，描寫退隱生活、田園山水，追求清靜閑適的精神生活，風格恬靜清樸。

王維作品佛道和退隱思想濃厚，政治上的挫折，妻子的去世等，給他造成心靈上的創傷，佛教思想的介入，成為他晚期避世的主導思想。

王維十七歲時所做異鄉遊子重九懷鄉思親的抒情詩：九月九日憶山東兄弟 (七言絕句) ：獨在異鄉為異客，每逢佳節倍思親。遙知兄弟登高處，遍插茱萸少一人。已成為華人農曆九月九日重陽節的名詩。

1，古代風俗九月九日重陽節，人們佩帶茱萸囊登高、喝菊花酒，以為可以避災。2，王維時年十七歲，遊學長安，弟弟們都在蒲州（今山西永濟縣）故鄉。而蒲州位於華山以東，故詩題稱「山東」。

與李林甫的關係

王維和李林甫有較密切的來往，王在《和僕射晉公扈從溫湯》中稱李為「哲匠」。在李任內，王維最高擔任過五品上的庫部郎中、吏部郎中。二人也是畫友。張彥遠《歷代名畫記》即說：「李林甫，亦善丹青」。此外，王維和李的書記苑咸也有交往，王曾寫《苑舍人能書梵字兼達梵音皆曲盡其妙戲為之贈》贈與苑咸，後者寫了《酬王維》回應他，之後王又寫了《重酬苑郎中並序》。王維仕途比較得意的幾年都位于李林甫掌權期間。

後世評價

唐朝

• 裴迪：「公之所好者，別無他也。」

• 殷璠：「維詩詞秀調雅，意新理愜。在泉為珠，著壁成繪。」

• 李豫：「卿之伯氏，天下文宗，經歷先朝，名高希代，時論歸美，誦于人口。」

宋朝

宋代人對於王維的評論甚少，但都給予極好的評論。如：

蘇軾：「味摩詰之詩，味摩詰之畫，當謂『詩中有畫，畫中有詩』矣。」

蘇轍：「摩詰之詩甚有境。」

注釋

參考書目

• 入谷仙介著，盧燕萍譯：《王維研究》（北京：中華書局，2005）。

• 蕭馳：〈如來清淨禪與王維晚期山水小品 〉。

• 蕭馳：〈兩種田園情調:塞奧克萊托斯和王維的文類世界〉。

• 陳殊原著，《王維 》(五洲傳播出版社)