Guo Pu (郭璞; AD 276–324), courtesy name Jingchun (景纯 Jǐngchún) was a Chinese historian, poet, and writer during the Eastern Jin period, and is best known as one of China's foremost commentators on ancient texts. Guo was a Taoist mystic, geomancer, collector of strange tales, editor of old texts, and erudite commentator. He was the first commentator of the
Shan Hai Jing and so probably, with the noted Han bibliographer Liu Xin, was instrumental in preserving this valuable mythological and religious text. Guo Pu was the well educated son of a governor. He was a natural historian and a prolific writer of the Jin dynasty. He is the author of
The Book of Burial, the first-ever and the most authoritative source of feng shui doctrine and the first book to address the concept of feng shui in the history of China, making Guo Pu the first person historically to define feng shui, and therefore, Guo Pu is usually called the father of feng shui in China.
Read more...: Life Influence
Life
A native of Wenxi County, in what is now southwest Shanxi Province, Guo studied Daoist occultism and prognostication in his youth, and mainly worked as a prognosticator for various local officials and leaders, interpreting omens and portents in order to predict the success or failure of various endeavors. In AD 307 a Xiongnu clan invaded the area and Guo's family relocated south of the Yangtze River, reaching Xuancheng and eventually settling in Jiankang (modern Nanjing). Guo served as an omen-interpreter to military leaders and Eastern Jin chancellor Wang Dao before being appointed to official court positions in 318 and 320. Guo's mother died in 322, which caused Guo to resign his position and spend a year in mourning. In 323 Guo joined the staff of warlord Wang Dun, who controlled much of the modern Hunan and Hubei areas, but was executed in 324 after he failed to produce a favorable omen toward Wang's planned usurpation of the Eastern Jin throne.
Influence
Guo was likely the most learned person of his era, and is one of the foremost commentators on ancient Chinese works. He wrote commentaries to the Chu Ci, Shan Hai Jing, Mu Tianzi Zhuan, Fangyan, Erya, Sima Xiangru's "Fu on the Excursion Hunt of the Son of Heaven", and three ancient dictionaries: Cang Jie, Yuanli, and Boxue. Guo's commentaries, which identify and explain rare words and allusions, are often the only surviving sources of these glosses, and without which leave the original work mostly incomprehensible to modern readers. In particular, Guo's commentaries to the Erya, Shan Hai Jing, and Fangyan are considered sufficiently authoritative that they are included in all standard versions of those texts. Without his glosses and commentaries, large portions of these texts would be unintelligible today.
Guo was also an accomplished poet, and his 11 surviving fu poems display his extensive command of the ancient Chinese language. One of them, entitled "Fu on the Yangtze River" (Jiang fu 江赋), used the image of the Yangtze to praise the restoration of the Jin dynasty, and established his reputation as a leading literary figure. His best known poems are a series entitled "Wandering as an Immortal" (youxian 游仙), of which 14 survive. The bibliography monograph of the Records of the Sui dynasty list Guo's works in 17 volumes; by the Tang dynasty only 10 volumes remained, and by the end of the Song dynasty all of Guo's writings not included in the Wen Xuan had been lost. All that remains today are his writings from the Wen Xuan and reconstructions from quotations in other surviving works.
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郭璞(276年 - 324年),字
景纯,两晋时期河东郡闻喜县(今属山西省)人,
西晋建平太守郭瑗之子。
东晋著名学者,既是文学家和训诂学家,又是方术大师和《游仙诗》的祖师。
Read more...: 生平 学术 诗选
生平
• 西晋末年战乱将起,郭璞躲避江南,历任宣城、丹阳参军。
• 晋元帝时期,升至著作佐郎,迁尚书郎,又任将军王敦的记室参军。郭璞本人嗜酒好色,时或过度,桓彝造访他时,看见他都在和妇人嬉戏。友人干宝曾劝他曰:「此伐性之斧也。」郭璞不以为然说:「吾所受有分。恒恐用之不尽。岂酒色之能害。」郭璞曾告诉桓彝,不可在他如厕时闯入,否则「客主有殃」。桓彝一次大醉后走进郭璞家的厕所,只见他「裸身被发,衔刀设醊」,郭璞大惊失色说「此天命,不可逃也!」
• 324年,驻守荆州的王敦打算谋逆,事前命郭璞占卜,结果不吉,王敦怒杀之,时年49岁。事后,郭璞被追赐为「弘农太守」。
• 晋明帝在玄武湖边建了郭璞的衣冠冢,名「郭公墩」。据说,郭璞生前通过易占,把自己的墓址选在江中。郭璞之子敦骜被封为临贺太守。
学术
• 郭璞曾注释《周易》、《山海经》、《穆天子传》、《方言》和《楚辞》等古籍,古籍中常引郭璞的注释作为参证。
• 郭璞花18年的时间研究和注解《尔雅》,以当时通行的方言名称,解释了古老的动、植物名称,并为它注音、作图,使《尔雅》成为历代研究本草的重要参考书。而郭璞开创的动、植物图示分类法,也为唐代以后的所有大型本草著作所沿用。
• 在学术渊源上,郭璞除家传易学外,还承袭了道教的术数学理论,是两晋时代最著名的方术士,传说擅长诸多奇异的方术。
• 郭璞一生的诗文著作多达百卷以上,数十万言,《晋书·郭璞传》称「词赋为中兴之冠」。其中以《游仙诗》为主要代表,现仅存14首,是中国游仙诗体的鼻祖。
• 相传著有《葬书》,是风水堪舆名著。王禕《青岩丛录》曰:「择地以葬,其术本于晋郭璞。」
诗选
• 《答贾九州愁诗三首》之二
:顾瞻中宇,一朝分崩。天网既紊,浮鲵横腾。运首北眷,邈哉华恒。虽欲凌翥,矫翮靡登。
:俯惧潜机,仰虑飞罾。惟其险哀,难辛备曾。庶睎河清,混焉未澄。
• 《游仙诗》选五
:一
:京华游侠窟,山林隐遯栖。朱门何足荣,未若托蓬莱。临源挹清波,陵冈掇丹荑。灵溪可潜盘,安事登云梯。
:漆园有傲吏,莱氏有逸妻。进则保龙见,退为触藩羝。高蹈风尘下,长揖谢夷齐。
:二
:青溪千馀仞,中有一道士。云生梁栋间,风出窻户里。借问此何谁,云是鬼谷子。翘迹企颖阳,临河思洗耳。
:阊阖西南来,潜波涣鳞起。灵妃顾我笑,粲然启玉齿。蹇修时不存,要之将谁使。
:三
:翡翠戏兰苕,容色更相鲜。绿萝结高林,蒙笼盖一山。中有冥寂士,静啸抚清弦。放情凌霄外,嚼蘂挹飞泉。
:赤松临上游,驾鸿乘紫烟。左挹浮丘袖,右拍洪崖肩。借问蜉蝣辈,宁知龟鹤年。
:四
:杂县寓鲁门,风暖将为灾。吞舟涌海底,高浪驾蓬莱。神仙排云出,但见金银台。陵阳挹丹溜,容成挥玉杯。
:姮娥扬妙音,洪崖颔其颐。升降随长烟,飘颻戏九垓。奇齢迈五龙,千岁方婴孩。燕昭无灵气,汉武非仙才。
:五
:采药游名山,将以救年颓。呼吸玉滋液,妙气盈胸怀。登仙抚龙驷,迅驾乘奔雷。鳞裳逐电曜,云盖随风回。
:手顿羲和辔,足蹈阊阖开。东海犹蹄涔,昆仑蝼蚁堆。遐邈冥茫中,俯视令人哀。
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