Portraits of Recluses

Some of the Seven Sages

Li Chi 李. “The Changing Concept of the Recluse in Chinese Literature.” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 24 (1962): 234–247.

I enjoyed reading this article, twice. You can actually use it to begin creating a sort of card deck of recluse portraits. I'll begin this list here:

1. Boyi 伯夷 and Shuqi 叔齊

2. Xu You 許由 (Image and story here)

3. Jie Zhitui (Seen here with his Mom; Image and story here; also see an article by Longxi Zhang)

4. Jieyu, the Madman of Chu. cf. p. 239 on "Summons to the Recluse" 楚狂接輿. Also note that Confucius himself half wanted to be a recluse!

5. Zhuangzi, who couldn't abide a selfish recluse

6. The Motif of Refusal: Zhuge Liang, Chen Tuan 陳摶 (p. 244)

6.5 Fake Recluses: Huangfu Xizhi 皇甫希之, the fake recluse 充隱; Du Yan and Wei Suchang, punished for their lies. Also see the joke that embarrassed Xie Anshi.

7. Huiyuan, Tao Qian's Buddhist Friend

8. "Recluses in Society" : Dongfang Shuo, Bai Juyi, Su Dongpo

Tang officials, among whom Bai Juyi learned to be a 中隱

9. Yuan Mei, the Dandy Recluse. I should really find a better portrait of him.

On Yuan Mei, also see Arthur Waley's Yuan Mei, Eighteenth Century Chinese Poet