worthies
of the bamboo grove
7
In the tumultuous Three Kingdoms period, the dangerous world of politics led seven friends to meet together in a bamboo forest, writing poetry, discoursing on philosophy, and enjoying the natural world. Some of the seven retained official roles, while others turned their backs on politics entirely. The seven as a whole became important icons in a long tradition of abandoning the stifling world of hypocritical politics for a life of the mind.
7
worthies
of the bamboo grove
In the tumultuous Three Kingdoms period, the dangerous world of politics led seven friends to meet together in a bamboo forest, writing poetry, discoursing on philosophy, and enjoying the natural world. Some of the seven retained official roles, while others turned their backs on politics entirely. The seven as a whole became important icons in a long tradition of abandoning the stifling world of hypocritical politics for a life of the mind.
CULTURAL NOTE
‘Seven Worthies of the Bamboo Grove’ is one possible translation into English of the original 竹林七賢. The group is sometimes referred to alternatively as ‘The Seven Sages’, conjuring up associations with the Seven Sages of ancient India, of Greece and of Mesopotamia. The original character in Chinese 賢 (xián) means ‘a good, worthy, able, virtuous person’. The idea of escaping into the forest for a spot of philosophising and poetry is undeniably appealing, though clearly the group got down to some serious work too. A bamboo forest makes for a delightful location, of course, beautifully evoked in a reflective scene in Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Bamboo has a political resonance too: in Chinese thought a leader should have bamboo-like qualities: strong and resilient, yet supple enough to bend.
阮籍
ruǎn jí
Ruan Ji
Born into privilege and position in the Wei court, Ruan Ji (阮籍) developed a reputation for eccentricity and drunkenness, allowing him to avoid many of the perils of political intrigue. He shocked the society of his time with his refusal to honour convention and eventually left court life completely. Ruan Ji was a man of singular character who, despite his carefully cultivated image of drunken iconoclast, wrote poems of profound melancholy and beauty.
嵇康
jī kāng
Ji Kang
Ji Kang (嵇康) or Xi Kang, owned the house near which the Seven Worthies met. Turning his back on high position at court, Ji Kang rejected worldly concerns in favour of pursuing immortality. Close to Ruan Ji, Ji Kang never quite pulled off his friend’s trick of eccentric disengagement, and his iconoclasm took a more outspoken form. Eventually his counter-cultural lifestyle and personal grudges against him led to his execution by the state.
向秀
xiàng xiù
Xiang Xiu
Xiang Xiu (向秀) was a philosopher who embraced the idea of relativism and wrote an extensive commentary on the seminal Daoist text known as the Zhuangzi (莊子). A good friend of Ruan Ji and Ji Kang, he was forced to take up a series of official posts after Ji Kang’s execution. Xiang Xiu is also famous for his work of poetry Thoughts of the Past (思舊賦), lamenting the death of Ji Kang and Lü An.
劉令
liú lìng
Liu Ling
Liu Ling (劉令) is known for the poem Ode to the Virtues of Wine (酒德頌) and his life was a living testimony to this. His legendary love of drinking – which he said facilitated his ‘free and easy wandering’ – gave rise to colourful anecdotes. In philosophy a thoroughgoing Daoist, Liu Ling espoused ruling through non-action and embraced Zhuangzi’s concept of a total relativity which breaks down all distinctions.
阮咸
ruǎn xián
Ruan Xian
Ruan Xian (阮咸) was the nephew of Ruan Ji and seems to have shared his uncle’s taste for theatrical subversion of political norms. One example is artificially widening his trousers with bamboo sticks to mock the ostentation of court life. He played a form of lute (琵琶) with two round holes, later named ruan in his honour.
王戎
wáng róng
Wang Rong
Wang Rong (王戎) is mainly remembered for being rich, owning large tracts of land, and maintaining a successful political career. He was also a connoisseur of poetry, literary works and ‘pure conversation’ (清談) – a form of philosophical discourse that was an ideal of the time. As little survives of Wang Rong’s thought, he is a victim of history – his main claim to fame, possibly unfairly, being avarice.
山濤
shān tāo
Shan Tao
Shan Tao (山濤) was related by marriage to the powerful regent Sima Yi (司馬懿), linking him to the newly ascendant regime. Shan Tao tried to recruit Ji Kang to a political post. This gave rise to one of Ji Kang’s ‘severing friendship’ letters, in which he outlines the reasons he would make a terrible official. Despite this apparent rupture, the letter may be an example of political theatre. Certainly, when Ji Kang was facing execution it was Shan Tao whom he trusted to raise his child.
Sources and Further Reading
The Poetry of Ruan Ji and Xi Kang
(Library of Chinese Humanities, De Gruyter, 2017)
Steven Owen and Wendy Swartz
Jansen, Thomas. “The Art of Severing Relationships (Juejiao) in Early Medieval China.”
*Journal of the American Oriental Society* 126, no. 3 (2006): 347-65.
K’ang, His and Henricks, Robert G.. Philosophy and Argumentation in Third-Century China: The Essays of Hsi K’ang
Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1983.
For an interesting look at a representation of the Seven Worthies in art form
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