阅微草堂笔记-十三 Yue Wei Cao Tang Bi Ji --王茜翻译

In the city Ningbo there was a guy whose surname was Wu. He enjoyed visiting whorehouses. Later he met a fox spirit and often dated her. But at the same time he still patronized the whorehouses. One day, the fox spirit told him: “I can transform my appearance. Whoever you are drawn to, I can transform myself into her appearance after I see her for even once. Therefore, if you think of any girl, I can transform myself into her appearance immediately. Isn’t it better than dissipating your money on prostitutes?” They took a crack, and she really transformed herself into another girl immediately and precisely. Therefore, Wu stopped patronizing the whorehouses.

Once he told the fox spirit: 'It is so delectable to sleep with different girls. However, it is always a pity that the girls are no more than illusions.' The fox spirit answered: 'It is not the case. Lustful and sultry amusements are as transient as lightning and stone fires. Not only the girl I transformed is an illusion, but the girl herself is also an illusion. Not only that girl is an illusion, but I myself am also an illusion. The well-known beauties in the history of thousands of years were also illusions. The white poplars, the green grasses, the yellow soils and the dark green mountains, weren’t they once also glitzy places of amusement? One makes love with beauties, buries them with earth, and parts with them...all these happen in just a fraction of a second. The passion between two people may be counted in minutes, in days, in months or in years, but the moment of departure will arrive sooner or later. At the moment of departure, whether they have been sticking together for dozens of years, or they have just met each other, they will have to let go, and everything between them will be over. Aren't the days spent with sensuous girls as fugitive as spring dreams? Even though the affection between the two has always been profound and they cling to each other throughout their lives, time will rob the woman of her pleasing appearance and cover her with white hairs, making her no longer look like before. Therefore, the dark eyebrows and the rosy cheeks of the old days are still illusions. So, now why on earth do you only accuse the girl I transformed as illusory?' Wu was enlightened. A few years later, the fox spirit left him, and he never went to whorehouses any more.

　　进学解　
　　EXPLANATIONS FOR STUDIES

　　国子先生晨入太学，召诸生立馆下，诲之曰：「业精于勤，荒于嬉。行成于思，毁于随。方今圣贤相逢，治具毕张。拔去凶邪，登崇俊良。占小善者率以录，名一艺者无不庸。爬罗剔抉，刮垢磨光。盖有幸而获选，孰云多而不扬？诸生业患不能精，无患有司之不明。行患不能成，无患有司之不公。
In the morning, the imperial professor enters the imperial classroom, summons his students to stand in front of the room and gives them instructions: 'You will have a good command of knowledge through diligent study, but if you only play around you will forget about what you have learned. A deed is accomplished through painstaking endeavors and is wasted because of frolics. At this time saints are arising, and punishments are reinforced so as to remove evilness and to exalt virtuousness. Those that are interested in petty gains are all put on record, and those that are proficient with only one skill are all considered incompetent. People should acquire vast knowledge before discriminating them; people should remove dirt on stones to reveal their sparkles. No wonder sometimes incompetent people win out in imperial examinations, but does this mean that the erudite ones will be neglected? You people should see if you are diligent enough but should not be concerned if the officials are wise or not; you should see if you are accomplished or not but should not be concerned if the officials are just or not.'

　　言未既，有笑于列者曰：「先生欺余哉！弟子事先生，于兹有年矣。先生口不绝吟于六艺之文，手不停披于百家之编。记事者必提其要，纂言者必钩其玄。贪多务得，细大不捐。焚膏油以继晷，恒兀兀以穷年：先生之于业，可谓勤矣。抵排异端，攘斥佛老。补苴罅漏，张皇幽眇。寻坠绪之茫茫，独旁搜而远绍。障百川而东之，回狂澜于既倒：先生之于儒，可谓有劳矣。沈浸［酉农］郁，含英咀华。作为文章，其书满家。上规姚姒，浑浑无涯。周诰殷盘，佶屈聱牙。春秋谨严，左氏浮夸。易奇而法，诗正而葩。下逮庄骚，太史所录。子云、相如，同工异曲：先生之于文，可谓闳其中而肆其外矣！少始知学，勇于敢为。长通于方，左右俱宜：先生之于为人，可谓成矣。然而公不见信于人，私不见助于友。跋前踬后，动辄得咎。暂为御史，遂窜南夷。三年博士，冗不见治。命与仇谋，取败几时！冬暖而儿号寒，年丰而妻啼饥。头童齿豁，竟死何裨？不知虑此，而反教人为！」
Before I finish the sentence, I catch a sneer from the students standing there: 'Are you kidding? I have been learning from you for quite some years. You are always reciting poems and reviewing articles. You always summarize the essential ideas when you record an event, and find the connotations when you develop an article; you absorb things of diverse natures; you stay up every night and study under the shimmering light. You are indeed industrious in your studies. You expel heresies and attack Buddhism. You supplement the great works, correct inaccuracies, expound intricate principles, continue unfinished causes, learn extensively, and carry on theories left over from the ancient time. You level mountains to make rivers run towards the east, and you make vigorous efforts to turn the situations at critical moments. You are contributive to Confucianism. You are learned, and you relish the beauties of literature. You have published so many books that they fill up your home. You are pure and honest and are comparable to Yu Shun and Xia Yu. Your works are as difficult to read as Zhou Gu and Yin Pan, as precise as the Spring and Autumn Annals, as sumptuous as Zuo Shi, as innovative and exemplary as the Book of Changes, and as classic as Shi. Your works are comparable to Zhuang Zi and Li Sao, and the works of Tai Shi Gong, Ziyun and Xiangru. Your articles are meaningful and graceful. When you were young you were bold; later you learned disciplines, and are able to succeed one way or another. You are indeed accomplished. However, people do not trust you, and you do not extend help to your friends. You are always caught in a dilemma, and are often held responsible for some malpractice. You used to be a censor, but soon you ran away to the south border. Though you have been a professor for three years, you have not accomplished any achievement. You trust your life into the hand of your enemies, being totally unaware when your life is endangered. In warm winters your son complains for coldness, and in years of big harvests your wife cries because of hunger. You are bald-headed and buck-toothed, and I wonder if your appearance will get even worse after your death? Why don't you mind your own business, instead of sitting here and teaching others?'

　　先生曰：「吁！子来前。夫大木为［（上）亡（下）木］，细木为桷。［木薄］栌侏儒，［木畏］［（外）门（内）臬］［（上）户（下）占］楔，各得其宜，施以成室者，匠氏之工也。玉札、丹砂，赤箭、青芝，牛溲，马勃，败鼓之皮，俱收并蓄，待用无遗者，医师之良也。登明选公，杂进巧拙，纡余为妍，卓荦为杰，校短量长，惟器是适者，宰相之方也。昔者孟轲好辩，孔道以明。辙环天下，卒老于行。荀卿守正，大论是弘。逃谗于楚，废死兰陵。是二儒者，吐辞为经，举足为法。绝类离伦，优入圣域，其遇于世何如也？　　今先生学虽勤而不繇其统，言虽多而不要其中。文虽奇而不济于用，行虽修而不显于众。犹且月费俸钱，岁糜廪粟。子不知耕，妇不知织。乘马从徒，安坐而食。踵常途之促促，窥陈编以盗窃。然而圣主不加诛，宰臣不见斥，兹非其幸欤？动而得谤，名亦随之。投闲置散，乃分之宜。若夫商财贿之有亡，计班资之崇庳。忘己量之所称，指前人之瑕疵。是所谓诘匠氏之不以［木弋］为楹，而訾医师以昌阳引年，欲进其［豕希］苓也。」
Here is my answer for him: 'Alas! Please step forward! A big wood can be used as a girder, a thin wood can be used as a square rafter, a small wood can be used as a pendentive, a stout wood can be used as a door-hinge pit, and a wedge can be used as a door bar. If a craftsman can make good uses of these different parts on a timber and build a house, he will be considered a proficient one. If a person can collect jade-colored strips, cinnabars, red bamboos, green sacred grass, the urine of an ox, the sperms of a horse, and the skin of a broken drum, and make good use of them all, he will be considered a good doctor. Wise people will be selected as high-ranking officials no matter they are skillful or clumsy. Graceful people will be considered beautiful, and the sturdy ones will be considered heroic. A prime minister's principle is to compare people's gifts and weaknesses, and select those that are the most suitable. In the past, Meng Ke enjoyed arguing with people, and Confucius enjoyed giving people instructions. The track of his carriage was seen all over the country, and he was still traveling when he breathed his last. Xun Qing was a virtuous person, and his philosophy was broad and deep. But later he fled to the kingdom Chu to escape from slanders, and died in Lanling. These two stately persons were so elegant, authoritative and extraordinary that they were considered saints. But why is it that their destinies were so tragic? Though I am diligent and industrious, I do not understand the principles. Though I talk a lot I cannot tell the essences. Though my articles are innovative they are not useful. Though my behaviors are elegant I am not extraordinary. Every month I will use up my salary, and each year I will eat up the corns in my granary. My sons do not know how to cultivate, and my wife does not know how to weave. When they travel they will sit in carriages, and when they have dinner they will sit unbothered. A normal journey will appear to be too long and tiring for them. They will look for houses whose bolts are old and rotten so that they can steal things out. However, a wise ruler will not punish them, and a competent official will not rebuke them. How lucky they are! But once a person initiates to do anything, he will be slandered, and the notoriety will follow him; whereas if he is at leisure, people will find him peaceful. As for people who badger with the amount of their salaries and the ranking of their positions and forget about their own capabilities and incapability but condemn the injustice of their seniors, they are like the idiot who asks a carpenter to use a peg stake as the beam column and who asks a doctor to preserve the lives of his patients with cathartics instead of tonics!'