药草诚多喻：论唐诗的药意象

On the Medicine Imageries of Tang Poetry

唐诗中的药意象所隐含的社会文化意义有二:第一,因疾病所表达的身体政治的隐喻,用以治疗疾病的药也由此被赋予了解救人生困厄含义;第二,虽然炼丹服食在唐代拥有广泛的社会基础,但炼丹技术始终只被少数人所掌握,文人们对于丹药的喜好,多体现在服食而非炼制方面。药意象的蕴义在不同的时代有所变化,即由最初表达文人士大夫淡泊名利、保全天真的隐逸情怀,到反映文人们亦官亦隐、泯灭出处的精神追求,最后成为谋取功名富贵的象征。换言之,药与隐逸文化的关系,折射出唐代文人士大夫阶层内在结构的变迁以及他们精神的蜕变。

There are two aspects of the societal cultural meanings implied by medicine in Tang poetry. Firstly, medicine as the treatments for disease had been endowed significances to get rid of the poverty - straits life. Secondly, the literati liked to take the immortality pills rather than to make them since most of the literati did not know how to make the pills in Tang dynasty. The medicine imageries were changeable in different periods from the attitude of living tranquilly without seeking fame and wealth at the early period to the symbol of striving for official rank at the last period. In other words, the relation between medicine and reclusive culture indicated the changes of the internal structure of the literati social stratum and their minds in Tang dynasty.