评论
打印
The Moon, the Imperfect
《月,阙也》
"The moon, the imperfect," was an interpretation written in a literary treatise about two thousand years ago. Imperfect implies "defective."
“月，阙也”。这是一本两千年前的文字学专著的解释。阙，就是“缺”的意思。
That interpretation fascinates me.
那解释使我着迷。
Tseng Kuo-fan1 named his residence "Seeking Imperfection." To seek defects? Why? Why not seeking perfection?
曾国藩把自己的住所题作“求阙斋”，求缺？为什么？为什么不求完美？
The name of his residence also fascinates me.
那斋名也使我着迷。“阙”有什么好呢？
What's so good about "imperfection"? "Imperfection" is almost like a part of the disposition of ancient China and I have gradually become attracted to the realms of imperfection.
“阙”简直有点像古中国性格中的一部分，我渐渐爱上了“阙”的境界。
Is it because I no longer love the blooming flowers and the full moon? No. I have simply begun to understand that the blooming flowers are an accidental occurrence, while also learn to appreciate "normal situations" when the moon is not full and the flowers are not blooming.
我不再爱花好月圆了吗？不是的，我只是开始了解花开是一种偶然，但我同时学会了爱它们月不圆花不开的“常态”。
In Chinese tradition, the concept of "defective heaven and earth" or "insensible heaven and earth" has been accepted by most people without any question. Maybe due to the long-standing tribulations and adversities experienced by the people, the portrayals of Heaven and Earth in Chinese mythology are often quite amazing.
在中国的传统里，“天残地缺”或“天聋地哑”的说法几乎是毫无疑问地被一般人所接受。也许由于长期的患难困顿，中国神话对天地的解释常是令人惊讶的。
From the book Huai Nan Tzu, 2, we discover that both the sky and earth of China have been damaged before. The Goddess Nuwa, using her gentle hands, mended and ironed out all the fragments. At a time when the sky was broken, she melted five-colored stones to mend it. When the earth was shaken, she snapped off the feet of the legendary Turtle to stabilize its four corners—in very much the same way as our old granny would pile up newspapers to support the legs of a table. She also swept up a pile of dried reeds, like a competent housewife, to stop the flood.
在《淮南子》里，我们发现中国的天空和中国的大地都是曾经受伤的。女娲以其柔和的慈手补缀抚平了一切残破。当时，天穿了，女娲炼五色石补了天。地摇了，女娲折断了神鳌的脚爪垫稳了四极（多像老祖母叠起报纸垫桌子腿）。她又像一个能干的主妇，扫了一堆芦灰，止住了洪水。
Chinese people have always believed that Heaven and Earth are also not without defects.
中国人一直相信天地也有其残缺。
I very much enjoy the mythology of Moso Tribe in Southwestern China. According to them, the sky and the earth were created jointly by male and female gods. The male gods were responsible for making the sky and the female gods the earth. Just as they had separately finished their tasks and were ready to join them together, something terrible happened—the female gods were so over-zealous in their work that they had made the earth too big to meet the sky. However, they eventually found a way to deal with it. By folding the earth into mountains and valleys, they finally were able to join the sky and earth.
我非常喜欢中国西南部么些族的神话。他们说，天地是男神女神合造的。当时男神负责造天，女神负责造地。等他们各自分头完成了天地而打算合在一起的时候，可怕的事发生了；女神太勤快，她把地造得太大，以至于跟天没办法合得起来了。但是，他们终于想到了一个好办法，他们把地折叠了起来，形成高山低谷，然后，天地才虚合起来了。
Did the sublime mountain ridges of Southwestern China inspire such a legend?
是不是西南的崇山峻岭给他们灵感，使他们想起这则神话呢？
Neither the sky nor the earth is without defects, but these defects give rise to folds, and the folds bring about the beauty of majestic mountains and deep valleys. The moon cannot be full all the time, just as the course of life often goes against one's wishes. When we acknowledge all these imperfections with a peaceful mind, we suddenly realize that there is nothing intolerable in life.
天地是有缺陷的，但缺陷造成了皱褶，皱褶造成了奇峰幽谷之美。月亮是不能常圆的，人生不如意事十常八九，当我们心平气和地承认这一切缺陷的时候，我们忽然发觉没有什么是不可以接受的。
Another legend of the Han people tells us that the earth was knocked lopsided when Kong-kong, the superintendent of works under Emperor Yao, was ramming Pu Chou Mountain. From then on, the earth sloped southeastwards. With it, the Yangtze River and the Yellow River in all their immensity flowed unceasingly towards the east, creating thousands of miles of soul-stirring landscape. At the same time, the sky was also thrust, though in the opposite direction, to the northwest. It was said therefore that the sun, the moon, and most of the stars all slumped towards that direction after the crash. If one summer night we look up towards the sky and find stars twinkling in that direction, we may awaken the belief within us that the sky over China does lean towards the northwest.
在另一则汉民族的神话里，说到大地曾被共工氏撞不周山时撞歪了——从此“地陷东南”，长江黄河便一路浩浩淼淼地向东流去，流出几千里地惊心动魄的风景。而天空也在当时被一起撞歪了，不过歪的方向相反，是歪向西北，据说日月星辰因此哗啦一声大部分都倒往那个方向去了。如果某个夏夜我们抬头而看，忽然发现群星灼灼然的方向，就让我们相信，属于中国的天空是“天倾西北”的吧！
For more than five thousand years, the Han people have been living between the leaning sky and sloping earth with their backs straightened, simply because we believe that the imperfections are not only acceptable but also beautiful.
五千年来，汉民族便在这歪倒倾斜的天地之间挺直脊骨生活下去，只因我们相信残缺不但是可以接受的，而且是美丽的。
As for the moon, has she ever at any time been perfectly round?
而月亮，到底曾经真正圆过吗？
If fact, there is nothing perfectly round in this universe. A pancake is not round enough, neither is a coin. Even a circle drawn with a pair of compasses, viewed under a high-powered microscope, is unlikely to be perfectly round.
人生世上其实也没有看过真正圆的东西。一张葱油饼不够圆，一块镍币也不够圆。即使是圆规画的圆，如果用高度显微镜来看也不可能圆得很完美。
A perfect example exists as a concept. But in the real world, we can only produce replicas of a circle. To carry out the task in reality, the thickness of a pencil lead in the compasses would have varied from the starting point to the end point of a circle.
真正的圆存在于理念之中，而在现实的世界里，我们只能做圆的“复制品”。就现实的操作而言，一截圆规上的铅笔心在画圆的起点和终点时，已经粗细不一样了。
All the celestial bodies look like globes from a distance, but they are not absolutely round and the earth is only approximately an oval shape.
所有的天体远看都呈球形，但并不是绝对的圆，地球是约略近于椭圆形。
Even if we accept the approximate roundness of a full moon as nearly exact, the reality is that no sooner has the moon become full than it also begins to wane. It is the same as the clock striking twelve. The instant when you hear the bell ringing, it is no longer twelve.
就算我们承认月亮约略的圆光也算圆，它也是“方其圆时，即其缺时”。有如十二点正的钟声，当你听到钟声时，已经不是十二点了。
Furthermore, we can take another viewpoint. We may say that the waxing and waning of the moon is actually a deception of our limited vision. It is the moonlight, not the globe itself that changes. The moon does not wax or wane. It simply remains round—albeit with imperfect roundness—like the earth, without ever increasing or decreasing in size.
此外，我们更可以换个角度看。我们说月圆月阙其实是受我们有限的视觉所欺骗。有盈虚变化的是月光，而不是月球本身。月何尝圆，又何尝缺，它只不过像地球一样不增不减的兀自圆着——以它那不十分圆的圆。
Although the morning flowers and evening moonlight are wonderful, wouldn't a real flower lover appreciate them at any other times? When the new sprouts first poke timidly through the ground, when soft branches start to stretch their limbs in the air, the flowers are already hiding within. When the buds are secretly formed or when they are in full bloom, the flowers are present. When the petals wither and fall, becoming part of the muddy ground, when the plants are covered with green leaves after a rain shower, the flowers are still there. When the fruit becomes mature or even when the seeds of the fruit have been buried deep in the ground, the flowers are there forever…
花朝月夕，固然是好的，只是真正的看花人哪一刻不能赏花？在初生的绿芽嫩嫩怯怯的探头出土时，花已暗藏在那里。当柔软的枝条试探地在大气中舒手舒脚时，花隐在那里。当蓓蕾悄然结胎时，花在那里。当花瓣怒张时，花在那里。当香销红黯委地成泥的时候，花仍在那里。当一场雨后只见红稀绿遍的时候，花还在那里。当果实成熟时，花恒在那里，甚至当果核深埋地下时，花依然在那里……
Whether one can see them or not, the flowers are always there. Whether it waxes or wanes, the moon is always there. Don't be a flower lover for one morning only. Don't simply watch the moon in one odd evening. Which moment in our life is not perfect? Which moment shouldn't we count our blessings and be thankful?
或见或不见，花总在那里。或盈或缺，月总在那里，不要做一朝的看花人吧！不要做一夕的赏月人吧！人生在世哪一刻不美好完满？哪一刹不该顶礼膜拜感激欢欣呢？
Because we have loved the full moon, let us also love her waning phases. After all, they are exactly the same moon.
因为我们爱过圆月，让我们也爱缺月吧——它们原是同一个月亮啊！
