During the Yonghui era of the Tang Dynasty, Tian Youyan was recommended to the capital for his vast learning and appointed as a student at the Imperial Academy. With a nature inclined toward simplicity and a deep love for landscapes, he retreated to the Taibai Mountains after completing his studies. Twenty years later, he journeyed with his family through Jingzhou to Mount Lu, finally settling by the Qingxi River in Yiling, a place he had long admired.
Tian Youyan lived in a place where clear streams wound through picturesque mountains, and smoke from rustic cottages added poetic charm. Springs splashed against rocks with a crisp sound, while purple mist veiled the peaks, appearing and disappearing. By day, he faced the springs and stones; by evening, he gazed at the sunset clouds, feeling utterly free and refined. He traveled by boat, drifting with the current wherever it took him, composing poems and essays while melodious birds sang endlessly around him. His entire being merged with the mountains and waters.
As time passed, the imperial secretary Li Anqi, who admired Tian Youyan's scholarship, recommended him to Emperor Gaozong of Tang. Delighted, the emperor immediately summoned Tian to the capital. But upon reaching the Ru region, Tian feigned illness and stayed by the shrine of the ancient hermit Xu You at Mount Ji, naming his dwelling "East Neighbor of You." When the court repeatedly summoned him afterward, he declined each time.
During a visit to Mount Song, Emperor Gaozong, still thinking of his old friend Tian Youyan, sent the imperial advisor Xue Zhichao to personally deliver medicine and cloth to Tian's mother. Overwhelmed that the emperor himself had come calling, Tian Youyan rushed out to greet him, still in his disheveled robes.
Emperor Gaozong saw that he was indeed extraordinary and refined, with cautious and simple manners. Delighted, he promptly ordered his attendants to help Tian Youyan up and asked with concern, "How have you been lately, sir?" Tian Youyan replied earnestly, "Your Majesty's grace has long settled my heart. Only springs, rocks, and misty clouds are my unchangeable passions."
Emperor Gaozong of Tang sighed deeply and said, "How is my gaining a talent like you any different from Emperor Han obtaining the 'Four Whiteheads' (the four elderly recluses of Qin and Han times who only emerged to support the Han dynasty after Empress Lü's usurpation)?"
Xue Zhichao praised Emperor Gaozong from the side, saying, "The Han emperor wanted to depose the legitimate heir and install a concubine's son, which is why these four gentlemen came out to assist in governance. How can that compare to Your Majesty lowering your status to personally seek out worthy talents?"
Emperor Gaozong was overjoyed and invited Tian Youyan to ride with him in the imperial carriage to the capital. Upon arrival, Tian Youyan was appointed as an academician of the Chongwen Academy.
After some time, Emperor Gaozong built Fengtian Palace. However, Tian Youyan's old house happened to block the path to the right of the palace. The emperor decreed: do not demolish it, and personally wrote on the door: "Hermit Tian Youyan's Residence," promoting Tian Youyan to Crown Prince's Attendant.
Years later, implicated by his close friend Pei Yan, Tian Youyan was pardoned and allowed to return to the mountains. Feeling like a long-caged bird finally freed from its cage, he soared into his beloved forests, overjoyed. He vowed never to leave the trees and streams again, retreating deep into the wilderness, shutting his door to visitors, and dedicating himself entirely to scholarship.
Later, the idiom "Incurable Love for Mist and Clouds" came to describe an unchangeable passion for mountains and waters.
Source: *New Book of Tang*, "Biography of Recluses"
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "烟霞痼疾" came to describe an unchangeable passion for mountains and waters.