走向世界的明清小品

——漢英對照本“處世三奇書”序

The Sketches of the Ming and Qing Dynasties Going Abroad

— Preface to the “Three Canons of Personal Cultivation”

趙麗宏

Zhao Lihong

“處世三奇書”是中國古典文學的漢英對照本。在中國傳統文化的出版物中，這是一套體例新穎的雙語讀本。這個讀本，不僅向讀者展現了中國古典文學一方迷人的天地，也為對中國文化有興趣的英語讀者提供了一個學習的園圃。讀者可以由中文而英文，也可以由英文而中文。研習英文的中國讀者，學習中文的外國讀者，都可以在其中獲得閱讀的樂趣。

揟hree Canons of Personal Cultivation?is a Chinese-English version of Chinese classical literature. In the publications of Chinese traditional culture, this is a set of bilingual readings with new style. It not only shows the charming world of Chinese classics, but also provides a learning garden for English readers who are interested in Chinese culture. Readers can read the canons in two ways, either from Chinese to English or from English to Chinese. Both Chinese readers who are learning English and foreign readers who are learning Chinese are enabled to get the pleasure of reading them.

《菜根譚》《小窗幽記》和《圍爐夜話》是明清時期流傳下來的三本以修身養性、勸善勵誌為中心話題的清言體小品集，作者分別是洪應明、陳繼儒和王永彬。因其在同類書中出眾的地位和影響力，被世人譽為“處世三奇書”，頗受文人墨客和普通百姓的喜愛。

The Roots of Wisdom, Meditative Notes in Solitude and Fireside Talk at Night are the three famous books successively appearing in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), with subjects mainly on moral cultivation and inspirational exhortations on doing good and working hard, and therefore known as the 揟hree Canons of Personal Cultivation?out of their unparalleled status in books of the same kind and influence among the intellectuals and ordinary people.

華夏文化的發展，每個曆史時期都有創造性的文學形態，並在各自領域中登峰造極，成為一個時代的文化標記。明清兩朝也不例外，在前後五個多世紀裏，小說顯然是明清時期的一個主要文化特色，其次就是那些飽蘊著智慧才情、展示著世態風情的輯錄和承載著先人學說和思想的格言體小品集了。通過這些作品，我們可以清楚地了解到：優秀的文學家，是中國傳統文化的脊梁，他們那些形諸文字的精神與情感結晶是中華文明最有生命力的一部分。世風日下依然能倡導並堅持孝悌，物欲橫流依然能淡泊名利，仕途得意依然能心存憂患意識，遭遇不測依然能泰然處之，國家危亡依然能竭盡忠誠，溫飽之餘依然能不忘勞作之苦，生活清貧依然能寄情山水，凡此種種，都是這些優秀文人留給後世的寶貴精神財富。

In the long history of China, cultural development of each era has its own creative literary form and insurmountable height, thus becoming a cultural mark of the time, the same those of the dynasties of Ming and Qing. During more than five centuries, the novels and fictions are of course the primary literary identity of the dynasties, and the collections brimming with human wits and revealing the ways of the world and the compilations of previous classical works, ancestors?quotes and their developed writings must be the next. Through these works and writings, we see clearly that the excellent literati燼re really the backbone of Chinese classical culture, and that the crystallization of spirit and emotion they created in words is one of the most vivid parts of Chinese civilization. As the breeders of the civilization of that times, even when the general moves were getting worse and worse they would remain faithful to filial piety and fraternal duty; even when in an acquisitive time they would remain indifferent to fame and wealth; even when content with their official careers they would remain preoccupied with the misery consciousness; even when coming across unexpected occurrences they would remain unruffled and take them燾almly; even when the state was in peril they would remain loyal; even when having enough food and clothing they would remain concerned about the pain of labor; even when living a poor life they would remain disposed to bask in the poetic mood between mountains and rivers. ?All these refined qualities are the precious spiritual wealth the excellent literati handed down to us later generations.

“處世三奇書”所收納的短句小品均為清言體，風格相似，讀起來朗朗上口，既有詩歌的韻律又有散文的流暢。這些編輯成集、主題鮮明的短句小品，是被柔美化了的格言，似詩非詩，似文非文，是小品文的一種，形式上是介於箴言警句和散文之間的文體，通常由前後對仗或排比的兩句或兩段組成，以達到均衡與和諧之美。由清言彙集而成的書籍叫清言集或清言體小品集，有分編和不分編兩種，題材自由，體例鬆散，所收清言小品數量少則近百則、多則數百則不等，每則小品的篇幅少則七八個字，多則逾百。內容涵蓋古賢經典和民俗文化，其中尤以演繹儒道釋三家之言為多，形式短小精致，文風飄逸清雅，具有“小品中的小品（林語堂語）”的美稱。

The short sketches contained in the 揟hree Canons of Personal Cultivation?are all with distinctive themes, clear-spoken, similar in style, easy to read, and full of the rhythm of poetry and fluency of prose. So far as the form is concerned, these sketches belong to a kind of maxims literarily beautified with a manner of seemingly like but actually not a poem or seemingly like but actually not a prose, normally composed of two sentences or two paragraphs adorned with antitheses, couplets and other rhetoric devices to achieve the beauty of balance and harmony, and with its writing style lying between maxim and prose. The collections with such writings are called clear-and-upright sketches, usually there being two ways of compilation, classified or non-classified, either freely with subject matter or loose in layout, in which the pieces collected vary from nearly one hundred to several hundreds, and Chinese characters used in different pieces vary from seven or eight to more than a hundred, and the contents arranged cover Chinese classics and folk culture, mostly related to the sayings derived from the theories of Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism. They are short in length, vivid in format and elegant in expression, and therefore praised by Mr. Lin Yutang (a famous modern Chinese scholar) as 揳 mini-sketch of sketches?

“處世三奇書”的可貴之處在於：三位作者皆以其豐富的學養、淵博的知識、明敏的思辨、冷雋的文字、促人深省的儆誡、益人心智的啟迪，以及豁達如禪的覺醒，從古賢經典和民俗文化中擷取菁華但又不簡單地複述這些原文，而是在賦予它們一定的情景襯托後將其鍛造成一個個既養眼又養心的段子，於寥寥雋語中將經典所含的意旨優雅地展現在讀者麵前，充分詮釋了中國傳統文人的文化底蘊和人文情懷，為世人展現了一幅古人修身養性的清晰圖景，讓讀者在誦讀這些金科玉律時多了一份愉悅感和親近感。

The praiseworthiness of the 揟hree Canons of Personal Cultivation?is as obvious as this: instead of simply quoting the original sayings, the three authors, by applying their rich learning and cultivation, profound knowledge, dialectical thinking, grave and stern expressions, thought-provoking warning, meditative enlightenment and self-awareness, turned out their sketches in the least paradoxes to exemplify the extracts from the classical works and folk culture, and gave prominence to the pieces well matched with relevant scene, sight, circumstances, background or landscape, thus achieving the effect of being pleasant to readers?eyes and minds. Their endeavors fully annotate the cultural deposits and humanistic sensibilities of the traditional literati, and thus enable us to have the opportunity to see a clear picture of the personal cultivation of the ancients, and make us feel more pleasure and intimacy than ever in reading the famous aphorisms of ancient classics.

十年前，周文標先生在上海人民出版社出版發行《菜根譚》漢英對照本時，我曾為他寫過一篇序。據我所知，十餘年來，他一直不懈地致力於用英文翻譯和編撰中國傳統典籍，並在呈現方式上做了積極的探索。這次他與百花洲文藝出版社共同成套推出“處世三奇書”漢英對照本，足見他這些年在這方麵所傾注的時間和精力。周文標先生是上海市作家協會的會員，我為我們作協有這麼一位孜孜不倦向世界推廣中國傳統文化的同仁感到驕傲。衷心祝賀他的“處世三奇書”漢英對照本成功出版，這是明清小品走向世界的一次積極嘗試。期待他有更多新著在不久的將來問世。

10 years ago, when Mr. Zhou Wenbiao抯 The Roots of Wisdom in Chinese-English version was about to be published by Shanghai People抯 Publishing House, I wrote a preface for him. As I know, Mr. Zhou has been unceasingly spending most of his spare time on translating and compiling Chinese classics in English for more than ten years, and has made an active scrutiny into the modes of presentation. This time, he and Baihuazhou Literature and Art Press jointly plan to issue the 揟hree Canons of Personal Cultivation?in the form of three-in-one packing, which shows how much time and energy he has devoted in this respect. Mr. Zhou is a member of Shanghai Writers Association, and I am proud to have such a colleague who has been working so tirelessly to introduce Chinese traditional culture to the world. Here I抎 like to extend my hearty congratulations on his successful publication of the Chinese-English 揟hree Canons of Personal Cultivation? thinking that it is a positive attempt for the sketches of the Ming and Qing Dynasties to go abroad. Furthermore, I抣l look forward to seeing his more new works to be published in the near future.

是為序。

It抯 my pleasure to write this preface as above.

2018年7月31日於四步齋

Four-Pace Study in Shanghai

July 31st, 2018

序

Introduction to Fireside Talk at Night

周文標

Zhou Wenbiao

寒夜圍爐，田家婦子之樂也。顧篝燈坐對，或默默然無一言，或嘻嘻然言非所宜言，皆無所謂樂，不將虛此良夜乎？餘識字農人也。歲晚務閑，家人聚處，相與燒煨山芋，心有所得，輒述諸口，命兒輩繕寫存之，題曰圍爐夜話。但其中皆隨得隨錄，語無倫次淺辭蕪，多非信心之論，特以課家人消永夜耳，不足為外人道也。倘蒙有道君子惠而正之，則幸甚。

It is quite a pleasure for the members of a peasant household to sit by the fireside on winter night. Face to face, with eyes gazing at the jack-o?lantern, they now stay in silence by saying nothing at all, now talk about something inappropriate at ordinary time in a way of laughing or joking, only for the purpose of amusing themselves and not spending the good night in dullness. I抦 in fact a farmer of literacy. By the end of the year, when nothing is left to be undone, all my family would get together to roast sweet potato for each other; and in case I am seized by sudden inspiration, I would relate it orally and let my sons to record it, and eventually creating a book titled Fireside Talk at Night. Honestly, what contained in this book are some of my random talks and incoherent speeches without any decoration, many of them are the things I myself am not so confident of, merely for the family to while away the hours in the long winter, not worthy of any attention of outsiders. Nevertheless, it would still be my great honor if someday my book can luckily be rectified by a man of virtue and learning.

以上這段文字傳聞是清代文人王永彬為其自撰的《圍爐夜話》所寫的序，寥寥數語勾勒出了作者著書時的生活背景和心境，使讀罷該序的人即刻就會有詳讀其書的欲望。

The above lines are said to be the preface written by Wang Yongbin himself, a literary man of the Qing Dynasty, for his book of Fireside Talk at Night. With words as brief as that, it roughs out the author抯 living condition and status of the mind in the time he wrote this book, giving birth to the ones the desire to read the whole text immediately after they go over the preface.

1792?869摂摂

Wang Yongbin (1792-1869), styled Yishan and so called Mr. Yishan by the locals and esteemed as the Reverend Mr. Yishan by his descendants, went through five reigns of the Qing Dynasty in life, namely Qianlong, Jiaqing, Daoguang, Xianfeng and Tongzhi, and lived to the age of 78. He personally disliked the system of imperial examination and therefore was very late recommended as a tribute student and then nominated as an assistant editor in charge of compiling Zhijiang County Annals, and given the teacher抯 qualification afterwards. Deeply influenced by Confucianism, he adhered to an idea in his teaching that moral cultivation should go ahead of cultural learning, and never thought the imperial examination was the only purpose of study. Meanwhile, he always paid high attention to cultivating himself when performing education and thus set a very good example for his disciples. In his hometown, he often rewarded those who had done good and more often admonished those who had errors and persisted in doing so till they had corrected them. Besides writing and teaching,爃e also spent much time to read a big variety of books including Confucian classics, historical records, philosophical writings and miscellaneous works, especially fond of poem chanting. Wang Baixin, one of the author抯 pen friends of the same prefecture, recorded it in his Life of the Reverend Mr. Yishan, a Conferred Assistant Editor, saying, 揂part from authoring books, the Reverend Mr. Yishan had a special hobby in poem chanting, and together with Zhou Liuxi of Gao抋n and Luo Mengsheng of Yi Ling, formed a poets?club named the 慣hree Companions of Poetic Circle??

王永彬是個崇尚儒學的學者，修為奉行“立德、立功、立言”三不朽理念，所著《圍爐夜話》凡184則，為“處世三奇書”的第三部。該書儒家色彩濃重，十分注重和強調儒教所倡導的、更具人生要義的耕讀文化，對類似“竹林七賢”的玄學新風以及曆朝曆代離群索居、遺世獨立的隱士做派多有不屑和針砭，個別篇幅甚至還有蔑視和貶低道佛墨楊四家的傾向，學術立場和意見不可謂不分明。但是盡管如此，書中涉及道德、修身、讀書、安貧樂道、教子、忠孝、勤儉等多方麵的錦言佳句卻絲毫未減作者的智慧和人性光芒，對當代讀者仍有頗多啟迪。

Wang Yongbin advocated Confucianism all his life and pursued the realization of immortality in cultivating virtue, making achievements and establishing arguments. His book of Fireside Talk at Night is chronologically listed the third one of the 揟hree Canons of Personal Cultivation? containing 184 pieces of sketches in all. With heavy Confucianist overtones, the book he wrote especially emphasizes the concept of farming and reading proposed and considered much more important than anything else in life by Confucians. It disdains and criticizes at the same time the metaphysics of the Seven Worthies of the Bamboo Grove and the style and methods of those solitary recluses in the past dynasties, and even shows little inclination to agree with the views of Taoism, Buddhism, Moism and Yang Zhu in certain sketches, whereby we know clearly his academic position and opinion. But even so, the brilliance of his wisdom and humanity in his sayings about morality, personal cultivation, learning, contentment in poverty and devotion to the Tao, family education, loyalty and filiality, hardworking and practicing thriftiness is in no way diminished, and there are still many enlightenments for contemporary readers.

2017年9月於上海

Shanghai, China

September, 2017