Wang Bo (650~676) was a litterateur in the Tang Dynasty. His courtesy name was Zian, and he was from Longmen, Jiangzhou (now Wanrong County, Shanxi Province). He was the grandson of Wang Tong.
He held successive official positions such as Xiuzhuan (a literary official) in the Prince Pei's Mansion and Canjun (a military officer) in Guozhou.
In the second year of Shangyuan (675 AD), he went to Jiaozhi to visit his father. He died from shock after drowning. He was quick-witted and diligent in writing. In literature, he was as famous as Yang Jiong, Lu Zhaolin, and Luo Binwang, and they were collectively called the "Four Outstanding Writers of the Early Tang Dynasty". In philosophy, he adhered to the viewpoints of Laozi and Zhuangzi, pursuing physical freedom and carefreeness. He said, "I have lived for ten years. I have always disliked the city and been extremely fond of rivers and seas. I often study immortal scriptures and extensively read Taoist records. I know that official honors can be separated by reason, and phoenixes can be awaited by skills. However, when taking care of my parents, I often worry about food and clothing; when entering the court, I am pressured by fame and fortune. My clear insights are trapped in the troubled city, and my immortal spirit is crushed in the mundane world. Alas! It is no wonder that Ruan Ji was free in thought and Ji Kang was unrestrained in body. There has always been a reason for this." (Preface to Visiting Mountain Temples) He concluded that "the world is dirty" (Preface to Autumn Tour of the Lotus Pond) and fantasized about transcending the "human world" to be carefree. He adhered to the theory of innate nature by Zhuangzi and Guo Xiang, believing that although things are vastly different, each has its own scope of activity. Therefore, whether it is the crane from Liaodong, the high-spirited thoroughbred horse, or the floating wild duck, each is content with its own field of fame and fortune and finds its own place of freedom (see Preface to the Shangsi Festival Ablution on the Third Day of the Third Lunar Month).
He said, "Although speech and silence are different, and objects and the self are distinct, carefreeness is the field where one's nature is attained, and movement and rest are not beyond the realm of nature." (Preface to the Autumn Feast at Mr. Ji's Residence) He viewed life from Zhuangzi's relativist perspective, believing that as long as one transcends the "mundane customs" (i.e., real life) and returns to nature, all definite differences, boundaries, and qualitative stipulations will become meaningless. He said, "Looking far beyond the forest and pavilion, life and death are both discarded; gazing far beyond the universe with deep thoughts, the soul seems to be lost." (Preface to Autumn Tour of the Lotus Pond) "Over the years, forgetting the difference between big and small, I have defied heaven and earth in my life; my ambition has merged glory and decline, and I have obtained the spirit of forests and springs." (Preface to the Autumn Feast in Luoyang) "Moreover, we rejoice in the scenery, share the joy of Haoliang, equate heaven and earth to a single finger, and merge flying and sinking into one principle." (Preface to the Autumn Farewell to Cui Shijun) He put forward the proposition of "heaven and earth exist with the meaning of mutual formation, and yin and yang follow the principle of opposition and unity", affirming the existence of contradictions and the identity of opposing sides, and believing that opposites can complement each other. He said, "The way of yin and yang is one facing forward and one backward; the way of heaven and earth is one rising and one falling. Therefore, light and darkness follow each other, cold and heat depend on each other, hardness and softness take shape against each other, high and low incline towards each other, movement and stillness multiply each other, and coming out and going in rely on each other." (On the Great Evolution of the Eight Trigrams)
He also put forward the proposition that "one has never sought tranquility by separating from movement, nor has one ever achieved tranquility by separating from movement" (ibid.), affirming that movement is more fundamental than stillness. In addition to embracing Taoist thoughts, he also adopted the ideas of Confucianism, Buddhism, and the Yin-Yang school. He studied Confucianism diligently, wrote 5 volumes of Explanations on the I Ching, and praised Confucius as a great sage who was born in response to the times, "whose ambition encompasses the six directions, and whose spirit permeates all things." (Stele of Yizhou Confucian Temple)
He also praised Buddhism, asserting that "all phenomena are empty, and heaven and earth are the realm of subduing demons." (Stele of Longhuai Temple in Jiulong County, Pengzhou) "Neither born nor perishing, it shines upon the ferry of wonderful things; neither leaving nor coming, it reveals the agreement with the times." (Stele of Huipu Temple in Tongquan County, Zizhou) He also affirmed "the divine transformation of Sakyamuni" (ibid.). He was influenced by the mystical thoughts of the Yin-Yang school, "being particularly proficient in astronomical calculation and calendar-making. He once wrote The Thousand-Year Calendar of the Tang Dynasty, stating that the Tang Dynasty would have a long and prosperous reign of a thousand years and should not inherit the short-lived fate of the Zhou and Sui dynasties." (Biography of Wang Bo in The New Book of Tang)
There is a biography of him in Volume 190 of The New Book of Tang. During the Ming Dynasty, his works were compiled into The Collected Works of Wang Zian. Volumes 177 to 185 of The Complete Prose of the Tang Dynasty include 9 volumes of his works.
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