「多少楼台烟雨中」 : 从杜牧诗看自然之道中的历史感

唐代喜欢咏史怀古的诗人很多，杜牧可以算是其中的佼佼者。杜牧诗中涉及咏史怀古主题的篇什，呈现出不同层次的历史感；对国计民生的关心及希望以古训今的情思，是他和历代怀着社会理想的诗人相通之处。然杜牧诗中的历史感更深刻之处，在于他能领悟历史过程偶然和不测的一面，进而神思方外，从历史范围外观照历史，显示出它在自然宇宙中短暂、微小和渺茫的性质。诗人转念于人间兴衰和自然运化之际，往复于入世、出世与关切、淡泊之间，体会到置身于无涯无尽时空里的人间历史，其轮廓和意义都不再清晰确定。这种如暗雾桠枝、遥空过鸟、烟雨楼台的精神和艺术视象，同时有别于儒家入世和道家出世的历史哲学观，是诗人超越而透视性的历史感最独特同时也最易被忽略的地方，隐然有自成一家的意味。<eng>Despite the cannibalistic reality of political contention, traditional Confucians have held on to a moral view of history, where worthy or unworthy rule carries its own retribution. Inheriting this view of history, Du Mu’s historical sense as a poet is enriched by two related perspectives. First, he puts history in the infinite framework of the natural Dao and its physical embodiment under heaven and earth, thus cutting history down to size. Second, he points to the accidental, unmappable factor in history, a corollary of Zhuangzi’s cosmic vision of transformational flux (hua). This is a perception even more distinctive than the first, for embracing the aleatory is to transcend a rational view of history that assumes intelligibility through cause and effect. It is in the moving balance and tensional dialectic of these divergent visions that Du Mu unfolds his misty sense of history as a poet; the essay’s originality lies in articulating the originality of the poet’s complex historical vision almost unnoticed by academic scholarship.