Listen to this articledú shū xìnglíng, bù jū gétào 独抒性灵，不拘格套
Bold Expression of One’s True Self
文学创作抒发自己真实独特的性情，不拘泥于任何格式套路。原为明代文学家袁宏道（1568—1610）对其弟弟袁中道（1570—1626）文学创作的评语，后来成为公安派的核心理论主张，与当时前、后七子“文必秦汉，诗必盛唐”的复古主义观点形成了鲜明的对抗。公安派强调文艺源于个人性情，讲求独创性，重自由，反拘束，要求诗人不为成法所限。在当时尊古、模拟盛行的风气下，这一命题有个性解放和反传统的意义，对于当时及后代的文艺创作产生了积极影响。
This term indicates that a writer should give expression to his true feelings in literary creation and not be constrained by particular regulations or formulas. It was first used by the Ming Dynasty writer Yuan Hongdao (1568-1610) as he commented on the literary work of his younger brother Yuan Zhongdao (1570-1626). Later, it became the core idea of the Gong’an School of Literary Writing, firmly opposed to the stubborn emulation of ancient literature as advocated by the Former Seven Masters and the Latter Seven Masters of the time, who highly esteemed prose of the Qin and Han dynasties and poetry of the golden Tang era. The Gong’an School emphasized that literature and art flow forth from the heart, value freedom and originality, and refuse to be bound by any convention. This school urged poets to defy any restriction imposed on them. This view was important to the assertion of individuality and rebellion against tradition, at a time when reverence for and emulation of ancient literature was the trend. It exerted a positive influence on literary creation in that era and later.
引例 Citations：
◎大都独抒性灵，不拘格套，非从自己胸臆流出，不肯下笔。有时情与境会，顷刻千言，如水东注，令人夺魂。（袁宏道《叙小修诗》）
（［他的诗］大都抒发自己真实独特的性情，不拘泥于任何格式套路。只要不是出自本心，绝不肯下笔。有时自己的情感与客观景物融合一片，顷刻成篇，就像大河东流一样，读之夺人心魄。）
Most of his poems express his inner self, without being constrained by any particular regulations or formulas. He would not commit to paper anything not flowing naturally from his inner world. Once his inner feelings and external objects merge into one, words would pour forth to form a magnificent whole, just as a great river flows east undeterred. Readers will be enthralled when reading his works. (Yuan Hongdao: Preface to Xiaoxiu’s Poetry)
◎性之所安，殆不可强，率性而行，是谓真人。（袁宏道《识（zhì）张幼于箴铭后》）
（人的性情所形成的习性，大概是不会勉强改变的，只要遵循自己的性情行事做人，就是真性情的人。）
A man’s habitual behavior shaped by his own disposition is not quite likely to change. So long as he pursues his true self in his conduct of affairs, he is a true man. (Yuan Hongdao: A Postscript to Zhang Youyu’s Admonitory Epigraph)
◎凡诗之传者，都是性灵，不关堆垛。（袁枚《随园诗话》卷五）
（大凡诗歌的流传，都是因为性灵有感染力，与堆砌学识没有关联。）
Poetry spreads far and wide mainly because of its spiritual appeal, not because it is loaded with book knowledge. (Yuan Mei: Suiyuan Remarks on Poetry)
