Biography of Su Dongpo

Author: Lin Yutang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-05-01
Features: A masterpiece by the great master of Chinese classics, Lin Yutang, and a pioneering work in modern Chinese long-form biographies. Su Dongpo is an incurable optimist, a great humanitarian, a friend of the people, a great literary master, a master calligrapher, an innovative painter, an experimental brewer, an engineer, someone who detested Puritanism, a yogi and Buddhist, a learned statesman, a secretary to an emperor, a wine enthusiast, a just judge, and a political dissenter. A moonlit stroller, a poet, and a clown. But this is still not enough to describe Su Dongpo in full. Su Dongpo is more multifaceted than any other Chinese poet, with a rich sense of genius, a sense of change, and a sense of humor. He was intellectually superior, yet his heart was like that of a innocent child—this combination is akin to Jesus’s so-called wisdom of the serpent combined with the gentleness of the dove. Knowing a person or not knowing a person has nothing to do with whether they are contemporaries. What matters most is whether you have empathetic understanding. Ultimately, we can only truly know those we truly understand, and we can only fully understand those we truly love. I believe I know Su Dongpo completely because I understand him. I understand him because I love him. Su Dongpo is an incurable optimist, a great humanitarian, a friend of the people, a great literary master, a master calligrapher, an innovative painter, an experimental brewer, an engineer, someone who detested Puritanism, a yogi and Buddhist, a learned statesman, a secretary to an emperor, a wine enthusiast, a just judge, and a political dissenter. A moonlit stroller, a poet, and a clown. But this is still not enough to describe Su Dongpo in full. Su Dongpo is more multifaceted than any other Chinese poet, with a rich sense of genius, a sense of change, and a sense of humor. He was intellectually superior, yet his heart was like that of a innocent child—this combination is akin to Jesus’s so-called wisdom of the serpent combined with the gentleness of the dove. Knowing a person or not knowing a person has nothing to do with whether they are contemporaries. What matters most is whether you have empathetic understanding. Ultimately, we can only truly know those we truly understand, and we can only fully understand those we truly love. I believe I know Su Dongpo completely because I understand him. I understand him because I love him.