Introduction to Meditative Notes in Solitude

周文標(biāo)

Zhou Wenbiao

《小窗幽記》凡194則，為《處世三奇書(shū)》的第二部。

Meditative Notes in Solitude, the second book of the"Three Canons of Personal Cultivation",contains 194 sketches in all.

陳繼儒（1558年—1639年），《小窗幽記》的作者，明末文學(xué)家、書(shū)畫(huà)家，字仲醇，號(hào)眉公、麋公，華亭（今上海松江）人。諸生，年二十九，隱居小昆山，后居?xùn)|佘山，杜門著述，工詩(shī)善文，書(shū)法蘇、米，兼能繪事，屢受詔用，皆以疾辭。擅墨梅、山水，畫(huà)梅多冊(cè)頁(yè)小幅，自然隨意，意態(tài)蕭疏。論畫(huà)倡導(dǎo)文人畫(huà)，持南北宗論，重視畫(huà)家的修養(yǎng)，贊同書(shū)畫(huà)同源，有《梅花冊(cè)》《云山卷》等傳世。著述除《小窗幽記》（又名《醉古堂劍掃》）外，還有《太平清話》《安得長(zhǎng)者言》《模世語(yǔ)》《狂夫之言》《見(jiàn)聞錄》《六合同春》《陳眉公詩(shī)余》《虎薈》《眉公雜著》《吳葛將軍墓碑》《妮古錄》等。

Chen Jiru(1558—1639),the author of this book, is a man of letters, calligrapher and painter of the Ming Dynasty, styled Zhongchun, Meigong or Migong, born in Huating(now Songjiang District, Shanghai),who, after admitted as a scholar, began his seclusion in Small Kunshan at the age of 29 and then in East Sheshan, focusing on writing. Being an adept in composing poems and essays, he laid great store on imitating Su Shi and Mi Fu in calligraphy and paintings, and declined the imperial edicts time and again on the plea of indisposition.He was good at drawing plums and mountains with black ink and habitually had his paintings of plum made into small albums brimming with natural casualness and easy grace.Theoretically, he insisted that painting should be exactly literati one no matter which school it belongs to, and that the accomplishment of a painter should be emphasized, and calligraphy and painting should be regarded as homologous.His Album of Plum and Roll of Cloudy Mountain are well known to the world.In addition to Meditative Notes in Solitude, he also wrote books such as Taiping Qinghua, Ande Zhangzheyan, Mushiyu, Kuangfuzhiyan, Jianwenlu, Liuhe Tongchun, Chen Meigong Shiyu, Huhui, Meigong Zazhu, Wu Ge Jiangjun Mubei, Nigulu and etc.

明末距今并不久遠(yuǎn)，但是有關(guān)《小窗幽記》成書(shū)的說(shuō)法卻不少，歧義頗多：有的說(shuō)《小窗幽記》全書(shū)共12卷，分醒、情、峭、靈、素、景、韻、奇、綺、豪、法、倩12個(gè)主題；有的說(shuō)《小窗幽記》全書(shū)12卷只軼剩7卷；也有的說(shuō)《小窗幽記》全書(shū)12卷大半已軼，今僅存醒、情、峭、靈4卷；甚至還有人認(rèn)為，《小窗幽記》系明人陸紹珩（1624年前后尚在世）所著。這些莫衷一是的說(shuō)法直接導(dǎo)致當(dāng)今書(shū)市上出現(xiàn)了各種版本的《小窗幽記》。

It is not very far away from the late Ming Dynasty, but still there have existed many disputes about the formation and version of Meditative Notes in Solitude. Some said that there were 12 volumes in total, respectively termed as Xing(clear-headedness),Qing(love between sexes),Qiao(self-extrication),Ling(spirit),Su(simplicity),Jing(scenes),Yun(charm),Qi(splendor or excellence),Qi(prettiness),Hao(boldness or heroicness),Fa(transcending the mundane world),and Qian(beautifulness or attractiveness);some said there were only 7 volumes still extant;some said the majority of the volumes were missing, only the flrst four volumes were remaining;and some even thought Meditative Notes in Solitude was attributed to Lu Shaoheng(still alive in 1624).Such a wide spectrum of objections on this book has directly resulted in various versions nowadays.

《小窗幽記》另一個(gè)值得關(guān)注的是刊印時(shí)間問(wèn)題。據(jù)史料記載，《小窗幽記》首版問(wèn)世于乾隆三十五年，也即1770年。時(shí)有文人陳本敬作序如是：

Besides the difference of versions, the time of the book's printing is also a question worth noting. According to historical materials, Meditative Notes in Solitude flrst appeared in the thirty-flfth year of Qianlong(1770),prefaced by Chen Benjing, another man of letters of the early Qing Dynasty.The full text of the preface is as follows:

太上立德，其次立言，言者心聲，而人品學(xué)術(shù)恒由此見(jiàn)焉。無(wú)論詞躁、詞儉、詞煩、詞支，徒蹈尚口之戒，倘語(yǔ)大而夸，談理而腐，亦豈可以為訓(xùn)乎？然則欲求傳世行遠(yuǎn)，名山不朽，必貴有以居其要矣。眉公先生負(fù)一代盛名，立志高尚，著述等身，曾集《小窗幽記》以自?shī)剩固斓刂伢牛瑪X經(jīng)史之菁華，語(yǔ)帶煙霞，韻諧金石，醒世持世，一字不落言筌。揮塵風(fēng)聲，直奪清談之席；解頤語(yǔ)妙，常發(fā)斑管之花。所謂端莊雜流漓，爾雅兼溫文，有美斯臻，無(wú)奇不備。夫豈卮言無(wú)當(dāng)，徒以資覆瓿之用乎？許昌崔維東博學(xué)好古，欲付剞劂，以公同好，問(wèn)序于余，因不辭谫陋，特為之弁言簡(jiǎn)端。

The best is to cultivate virtue, the next best, to establish arguments. The one who establishes arguments actually speaks his own mind, wherefrom his moral character and academic knowledge can be seen.The establishment of arguments is a matter of wording and expression, the most important thing of which lies in guarding against a loose tongue.If one regardlessly indulges in exaggeration and stubbornly clings to outworn rules and ideas, how can he inspire his fellow beings?The eternity of writings can only be realized through the words uttered to the point and capable of standing to the test of time.As a prolific writer, Mr.Meigong was in high repute all his life for his noble aspiration.He compiled Meditative Notes in Solitude to amuse himself by revealing the secret how to be a worthy man between heaven and earth, picking extracts from classics and history and then relating them with elegant expressions and rhyme of metal and stone to enlighten the world without falling in the net of words.His writings were superior and well esteemed among the clear-and-upright sketches.To make people understand and laugh at the same time, he often aired his exquisite opinions with witty remarks much in little.In his writing, stateliness matched with fiuency, elegance accompanied by gentleness, beauty approaching perfection, nothing is too wonderful and marvelous.He knew clearly that casual utterances, if not appropriate, can only be good for nothing.Now, Cui Weidong of Xuchang, a profound scholar fond of classics and with the same taste as the author's, intends to print the book to meet the unfulfilled wish of the author and requests me to write a preface for it.Despite of my little talent and less learning, I would still like to render the short preface as this.

乾隆三十五年歲次庚寅春月，昌平陳本敬仲思氏書(shū)于聚星書(shū)院之謝青堂。

Written in the spring of the thirty-flfth year of Qianlong

By Chen Benjing of Changping

Hall of Xieqing of Star-gathering Academy

在這篇序中，作序之人除了譽(yù)美之詞外，直接稱謂《小窗幽記》作者為“眉公先生”，而“眉公”正是陳繼儒的雅號(hào)。由于“乾隆三十五年”離作者去世中間隔了131年，有人因此說(shuō)《小窗幽記》是偽作。對(duì)此，譯者并不認(rèn)同，反倒以為這極有可能跟一段駭人聽(tīng)聞的丑惡歷史有關(guān)：作者卒于明王朝行將覆滅的1639年，而付梓的時(shí)間卻是1770年，這中間一百多年恰恰是清王朝連續(xù)四代皇帝大興文字獄的時(shí)期，捕風(fēng)捉影，冤殺株連，殘酷程度為華夏有史以來(lái)所未見(jiàn)。書(shū)中第71則有這樣的內(nèi)容：“料今天下皆婦人矣。封疆縮其地，而中庭之歌舞猶喧；戰(zhàn)血枯其人，而滿座貂蟬自若。我輩書(shū)生，既無(wú)誅亂討賊之柄，而一片報(bào)國(guó)之忱，惟于寸楮尺字間見(jiàn)之。使天下之須眉面婦人者，亦聳然有起色。”陳繼儒離世前在自己的書(shū)中留下這么一段呼吁抵抗清軍入侵的文字，在后來(lái)清王朝統(tǒng)治集團(tuán)的高壓之下自然是見(jiàn)不得天日的。由此推斷《小窗幽記》的刊印之路因這場(chǎng)文字獄而受阻，想必還是有一定依據(jù)的。今日我輩有幸捧讀這么一本因幽禁而被塵封過(guò)一個(gè)多世紀(jì)的清言古籍，怎能不感慨上蒼有眼，造化無(wú)欺？！

Chen Jiru died in 1639,but his book was first printed in 1770,between which there were 131 years apart. It is because of this long interval that someone held that the book was a fake.But I cannot agree and think instead that the late printing of the book is most likely to have something to do with an appalling history of ugliness caused by the flrst four emperors of the Qing Dynasty.Just as the history shows, since the establishment of the Qing Dynasty in 1644,the new rulers, in order to strengthen their reign, had carried out a ruthless literary inquisition of nearly a century and half against those whose writings were considered even slightest offensive by the imperial court, never seen before.

"In my opinion, today's men at court are all sissyish. They sing and dance to their hearts'content in the magnificent halls while the frontiers are being lost one after another.They have fair maids to attend their grand parties as if nothing had happened while the generals and soldiers are fighting to the last drop of their blood along the borders.We scholars, with warm hearts to serve our country, but not entitled to make war on the invaders, can only write with pens to express our deep concern for the situation, hoping that all the sissy men at court will be aroused from indifference and show up as real men."

This is the full text of No. 71 sketch picked from Meditative Notes in Solitude, in which the author appealed for resistance against the Qing troops.From this we may deduce the reason why the book had been prohibited for so long a time.Today when we luckily have the book in our hands and read the content as this, how can we not felicitate ourselves with emotion on the favor Heaven has done to us!

2017年9月于上海

Shanghai, China

September，2017