The Seven Sages of the Bamboo Forest were the seven famous men of the Wei and Jin dynasties of China, and Ji Kang was the spiritual leader of these seven people.
According to the Book of Jin, Ji Kang was not originally surnamed Ji, but his ancestral surname was Xi, and he originally lived in the area of Huiji Shangyu (present-day Shangyu District, Shaoxing, Zhejiang). In Ji Kang's great-grandfather's generation, because he avoided family feuds, he moved from Shangyu to Yu County (谯县, in present-day Linzhuo Town, Suixi County, Anhui Province), and also changed his surname to Ji.
Ji Kang was a thinker, musician, and writer of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period, and could be said to be an authentic talent. Ji Kang is not only very knowledgeable and thoughtful, but also very handsome, but he usually does not like to trim the edges. Like the other seven sages in the bamboo forest, Ji Kang was not interested in being an official.
Throughout his life, Ji Kang advocated "Lao Zhuang", advocating "teaching beyond the name and letting nature go" (that is, not bound by social rules and regulations, people should live according to their own nature), "judging the noble and the lowly and understanding the material feelings" (meaning that people should be reasonable and not bound by desires), and at the same time he also paid attention to health care, and once wrote "Health Care Theory".
Ji Kang's life was a talented life, a life without controversy, a life of leisure. However, it was such a great talent, but in the end, because of the family scandal of his friends, he was framed by Zhong Hui and killed by Sima Zhao, which is really regrettable.
I. A Family Scandal During the Reign of Emperor Cao Of Wei and Yuan]
According to the reference to Gan Bao's Jin Ji in the Selected Works of Zhaoming( 16 Fu Xin Si Old Fu), in the fourth year of Jing Yuan (263, it is also said that Jing Yuan was three years old), a family scandal occurred in the Lü family of Dongping County, Yanzhou, a region ruled by Cao Wei. The scandal involved the eldest brother Lü Xun and younger brother Lu An, as well as Lu An's beautiful wife Xu Shi.
The thing is, Lü Xun coveted the beauty of his sister-in-law, so he drunk Xu shi with wine and took possession of her. Xu Shi was hindered by chastity and did not dare to expose Lü Xun. But the paper could not contain the fire, and later this matter was still known to Lu An. Lu An was greatly annoyed, although Lü Xun and Lu An were not born to a mother, but they were also a brother of a father, and now That Lü Xun had done such a depraved thing, how could Lu An feel bad?
At that time, Lu An wanted to sue Lü Xun and let his beast brother be severely punished by the law. At that time, both Lü Xun and Lü An had deep contacts with Ji Kang, and although Lü An was indignant, he still found Ji Kang to ask him for advice before suing Lü Xun. Such a thing can be told to outsiders, which shows that Lu An's friendship with Ji Kang at that time was not generally deep.
After Ji Kang heard about this, he couldn't help but blush for Lü Xun, but he still focused on preserving the "family reputation" and persuaded Lu An to give up. After all, the ugliness of the family cannot be publicized, and finally under the persuasion of Ji Kang, Lu An chose to let Lü Xun go and give him another chance to be a man. But who expected Lü Xun not to cherish, he was a thief and was afraid that his brother would retaliate against him, so he came to a preemptive attack.
Lü An did not accuse Lü Xun of moral corruption, and Lü Xun first falsely accused Lü An of beating his mother and filial piety. Lu Ann was convicted of this and exiled to a remote area. Ji Kang was well aware of the reason, so he indignantly stood up for Lu An. Obviously, there were witnesses and the truth, and in the end, Ji Kang and Lu An both lost their lives. What's going on here?
[II. Ji Kangjian refused to offend Sima Zhao and Zhong Hui, and a family scandal pushed him to death]
The truth of the matter is this, at that time, although Cao Wei was still nominally surnamed Cao, in fact, it had long been the domain of Sima Shi. At that time, the chief administrator of the Sima family was Sima Zhao, who had asked Ji Kang to come out as an official, but was rejected by Ji Kang. Later, Lieutenant Colonel (Inspector) Zhong Hui went to visit Ji Kang again, and was also treated coldly.
Ji Kang has a good friend named Shan Tao, who is also one of the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Forest. Shan Tao once held the official position of elected official, and later when he was about to leave, he recommended Ji Kang to take his place. Ji Kang not only rejected Shantao (Zi Juyuan), but also wrote a "Letter of Renunciation with Shan Juyuan" to clarify relations with Shantao. The Seven Sages of the Bamboo Forest were not ordinary people, and there was no need to be surprised by Ji Kang's approach.
In fact, Ji Kang was reluctant to be a running dog for Sima Shi, but his various uncooperative behaviors made Sima Zhao very disgusted. Zhong Hui was a loyal dog of the Sima clan, and when he visited, he was coldly received by Ji Kang, so Zhong Hui also held a grudge against Ji Kang. It happened that Jingyuan was in the fourth year and encountered a dispute between the LuAn brothers.
In fact, at that time, Ji Kang just wanted to stand up and prove Lu An's innocence and Lü Xun's yin damage. At that time, when Lü Xun sued his brother Lü An to court, Ji Kang also wrote a letter of renunciation called "Letter of Renunciation with Lü Changti". But who expected that this clock would take advantage of the institution to trap Ji Kang, saying that he was a crouching dragon, usually debauched and destructive, and also said that Ji Kang had wanted to help Wu Qiu Jian (Sima Shi's political enemy), but fortunately was persuaded by Shan Tao to stop.
Sima Zhao was originally very disgusted with Ji Kang's uncooperative attitude, and zhong hui's false accusation with a nose and eyes was even more annoyed. So he ordered that ji kang and Lu An be killed together. Ji Kang originally wanted to help his friend Lu An exonerate himself, but he was attacked by Zhong Hui and finally died with his friend.
Before ji Kang was tortured, he also played a song "Guangling San", which shows that he is fearless in life and death. The Book of Jin records: "Kang will punish Dongshi, and three thousand students will be called teachers, Fu xu." None of the three thousand students were able to save Ji Kang's life, and according to the later record in the Book of Jin, "The emperor sought enlightenment and hated it." (Sima Zhao regretted it again) "One has to wonder if it is the kind words of the historian."
A family scandal has pushed a great talent into the abyss of death, which is really incredible. However, lü Xun's unkindness was the initiator of Ji Kang's death, and Zhong Hui was the first culprit.