Take a Step Back

By Li Yu

There is no other way for the poor to enjoy themselves but to “take a step back.”I feel poor, but there are others poorer than me in the world; I see myself as a humble person, but there are others who are humbler than me. My wife and children can be a terrible burden, yet there are homeless people who have lost their wives and children and can receive no support from them; I have suffered from the calluses on my hands and feet caused by long-time labor, but there are also people in prison who cannot work freely. If you always think in this way, the seemingly sea of suffering will become a land of paradise.If you always compare yourself with those who are better than you, you will be endlessly insecure and fall into a state of despair and depression.

One midsummer night, a rich man sojourned at a post house during his journey. Mosquitoes swarmed into his bed-curtain and he couldn’t drive them out.Memories of the sumptuous living conditions of his home came flooding back: memories of his spacious living room, his crisp, cool pillow mat and the many lovely concubines fanning him as he slept the night away in luxuriant indulgence. He didn’t have even the slightest inkling of how blazingly hot summer could be back then. The only thing on his mind as he lay there perspiring in the sultry heat was how badly he was suffering. And it was his pleasant memories of comfort and luxury that annoyed him all the more and kept him wide awake throughout the night.

This article was originally written by Li Yu (1611－1680), a Chinese playwright,novelist and publisher in the late-Ming and early-Qing dynasties, and translated into Modern Chinese by Han Zhonghua. The English version was translated by Qin Run according to Han’s Modern Chinese version

貧賤行樂之法

文/[清]李漁 譯/韓中華

窮人行樂的方法，沒別的秘訣，仍然只有“退一步”這種方法。我感到自己窮，可還有比我更窮的；我覺得自己低賤，但還有比我更低賤的；我把妻子兒女當作累贅，卻還有失去妻兒無依無靠、想要妻子兒女這種累贅而得不到的人；我為自己因勞動使得手腳上都是老繭而感到勞苦，但還有被關在監獄，想要安心勞作卻辦不到的人。如果這樣來想，那么苦海就都變成樂土了。如果向前推算，同勝過自己的人相比，那么一刻也得不到安穩，就會陷入被束縛和使人憂郁的心境了。

有個富人旅途中住在驛站，時值盛夏，帳子里進了很多蚊子，怎么也趕不出去。他想起在家時，廳堂寬敞，枕席冰涼，又有許多姬妾拿著扇子為他扇風，一點感覺不出是在過夏天，怎么也想不到現在會困苦到這個地步。因為總想著非?？鞓返那榫?，心就更加煩了，整個晚上都睡不著。

有一個亭長露宿在臺階下，被許多蚊子叮咬，他只好在院子里跑動，讓四肢保持不停的運動，使蚊子沒辦法落在身上。他的身子跑得很辛苦，口中卻不斷大聲地贊嘆，好像是苦中有樂。富人不理解，就把他叫來詢問：“你受的苦比我多十倍百倍，我覺得非常痛苦你卻覺得快樂，這是為什么？”亭長說：“我想起有一年被仇家陷害，被關在監獄里。當時也是夏天，獄卒怕我逃跑，每天晚上都捆住我的手腳，使我不能動彈。那時蚊子比今晚多一倍，想要躲一下也不可能，只能任憑蚊子叮咬。而今晚不但可以跑個不停，四肢還能自由地驅趕蚊蟲。兩者相比，真是一個天上，一個地下?！备蝗寺牶螅腥淮笪?。這就是窮人快樂的秘訣。

比如夏天呆在狹小的房子里感覺非常悶熱，這時如果在驕陽下走上一會兒，再回到屋里，就會感到暑氣漸漸消散，熱得不像先前那樣嚴重了。假如畏懼房子狹小，跑到寬敞的地方納涼，等回來后，炎熱的感覺就會加重十倍。冬天很寒冷，明知是因為墻壁單薄造成的，如果故意跑到風雪里待一會兒，再回到房子里，就會感到屋里很暖和，不像剛才那么凜冽寒冷了。假如避開原來房子的寒冷，去深宅大院里取暖，回來以后，不知道要冷成什么樣子。以此類推，所謂的退步法，到處都有，每個人都有，凡事退一步想，快樂的心情就會產生。我是天地間受到困苦最多的人，沒有死于憂愁，沒在困頓流離中變得憔悴，都是用了這個方法。

There was a courier station chief sleeping on the steps of a pavilion who was attacked by a swarm of mosquitoes.He was forced to run around the yard, in the hope of avoiding being bitten from head to toe. Though he was running so hard, his signs of enjoyment would have made one think it was pleasure mixed with pain. The rich man felt puzzled and asked, “You have suffered 10 or 100 times more than I have. I’m in great pain, but why are you enjoying the torment?” He replied, “I remember a time when I was framed by my enemy and put in prison. It was also in summer when the jailer was afraid that I would run away and tied my arms and legs every night so that I couldn’t move a muscle. There were twice as many mosquitoes as tonight, and having been bound up, it was impossible to keep from being bitten. Not only can I run around tonight, but my limbs can also drive away mosquitoes freely. This situation is pure heaven compared to that.” Hearing this, the rich man was suddenly enlightened.He had discovered the poor’s secret to happiness. For example, it is very hot in a small room in the summer. If you walk in the scorching sun for a while and then return to the room, the heat won’t feel as intense as before. If you cannot take the heat in the small room and run to a breezy place to cool down,when you come back, the heat will feel ten times more intense. In the deep chill of winter, if you know that the thin walls and drafty conditions are the source of your misery, then run deliberately into the biting wind and freezing snow for a while. When returning to the house,you will feel that the room is very warm,and not nearly as cold as it was when you left. If you avoid the cold of the old house and get warm in a mansion with central heating, you will not even be able to imagine how bitterly cold it will be when you return. The rest goes on in the same manner. What I call “taking a step back” is something that is done everywhere on a daily basis. Everyone has done it at least once. If you take a step back, happiness will be yours. I am the one who have suffered most in the world, yet I neither die from sorrow nor pine away from misery, for I use this way to find joy.

Just like the secret of happiness revealed by the courier station chief, we don’t have to draw on others’ examples to “take a step back.” We’ve all faced adversity before. It is the same from disaster to calamity or from illness to grief. To quote the Book of Songs, “How shalt thou fashion the haft of thine axe?Thou but needst the axe.” Sometimes the answer is as plain as the nose on your face. The closer the comparison to your own experience, the more vivid and emotionally impactful it will be. Not only should we not forget the calamities and disasters in our life, but we should also remind ourselves of them, from time to time, as our “one step back.”

(From Sketches of Idle Pleasure,Beijing Institute of Technology Press)

由亭長這個例子可以推出獲得快樂的秘訣，那就是：行樂的人，不必遠引別人的事作為自己的“退步”。誰沒有經過逆境？大到災禍兇患，小到疾病憂傷。“執柯伐柯，其則不遠”，拿來進行比較，更加親切。人一生中的奇禍大難，不但不可以遺忘，還應該時時用來警醒自己。