空山靈雨 Empty Mountain, Spiritual Rain1 / 45

弁言 Foreword

弁言Preface

生本不樂，能夠使人覺得稍微安適的，只有躺在狀上那幾小時，但要在那短促Life is inherently joyless; the only hours that afford one even a little ease are those spent lying in bed—but within that brief

生本不乐，能够使人觉得稍微安适的，只有躺在状上那几小时，但要在那短促

的時間中希冀極樂，也是不可能的事．span of time, to hope for perfect bliss is likewise impossible.

的时间中希冀极乐，也是不可能的事．

自入世以來，屢遭變難，四方流離，未嘗寬懷就枕．在睡不着時，將心中似憶似想Ever since entering the world, I have repeatedly met with upheaval and hardship, wandering from place to place, and have never lain down to sleep with an unburdened heart. When sleep would not come, I took those things in my mind, half recollection and half reverie,

自入世以来，屡遭变难，四方流离，未尝宽怀就枕．在睡不着时，将心中似忆似想

的事，隨感隨記；and recorded each impression as it arose;在睡着時，偶得趾離過愛，引領我到囘憶之鄉，過那游離的日子，更不when sleep did come, my soul would sometimes leave its mortal shell and lead me to the land of memory, there to pass those drifting days; all the more

的事，随感随记；在睡着时，偶得趾离过爱，引领我到囘忆之乡，过那游离的日子，更不

得不隨醒隨記．積時纍日，成此小册．以其雜沓紛紜，毫無線索，故名空山霝雨．was I compelled to record them whenever I awoke. Accumulated over days and months, they became this little volume. Because they are jumbled and manifold, without the least connecting thread, I have named it Spiritual Rain on an Empty Mountain.

得不随醒随记．积时累日，成此小册．以其杂沓纷纭，毫无线索，故名空山霝雨．

十一年一月二十五日 落華生January 25, Year Eleven — Luohuasheng

十一年一月二十五日 落华生

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What it’s about

Xu Dishan opens by refusing the usual promise that a book will offer order or pleasure. Life, he says, is not naturally happy; even the few hours spent in bed bring no guarantee of ease. During years of upheaval and travel he could rarely lie down with a quiet mind. When sleep would not come, he wrote whatever memories and thoughts happened to rise; when dreams carried him into the country of recollection, he wrote again on waking. The collection therefore begins in insomnia, displacement and the involuntary return of experience rather than in a carefully announced program.

The foreword explains the title by describing these records as confused, crowded and without a thread. Empty mountain and spiritual rain are not a setting that will organize everything, but an image for a mind receiving scattered impressions. The miniature also establishes the book's intimate scale: a bodily circumstance, sleeplessness, produces a form made of fragments. Its closing date and the signature Luohuasheng make the page feel like a private note offered to readers, while its bleak first sentence prevents the lyrical landscape imagery of later pieces from becoming easy consolation.

When it was written 背景

The foreword is dated 25 January of the eleventh year of the Republic, or 1922, and bears Xu Dishan's pen name 落華生, an older spelling of the name usually written 落花生. The Commercial Press collection published in 1925 gathered short prose written across the early May Fourth years, when the vernacular essay was still an unusually flexible form: memoir, prose poem, parable and philosophical dialogue could sit together without firm generic borders. Readers should notice the period use of 底 where modern standard writing generally uses 的, as well as the deliberately elevated compounds around dreams and memory. The title appears in the source printing as 空山霝雨; this edition normalizes the rare 霝 to 靈.

Words in this chapter 生词