I remember my youth and prime,When, without any specific cause, my heart was naturally filled with joy.My fierce ambitions soared beyond the four seas;Like a bird spreading its wings, I longed to fly far into the sky.But as the years slipped away and my vigor faded,This spirit gradually departed from me.Even when encountering joy,…
The Spirit Explains The great Creator acts without partiality;The myriad principles of the universe are clearly manifested.Of the Three Powers (Heaven, Earth, and Man),Is it not because of me, the Spirit, that humanity exists?Though I am a different entity from you two,We are bound together as long as we live.Since our fates are intertwined,How…
This poem is the first in a famous three-poem series where Tao Yuanming personifies three aspects of human existence: the physical Body, the Shadow, and the Spirit. This structure is deeply influenced by Buddhist and Daoist philosophical debates of the Wei-Jin period regarding the nature of the soul and the afterlife.