Three-Character Classic st.67-70, attrib. Wang Yinglin
Monday, 8 May 2023 08:17![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lnhammer67.
One split and wove his reeds,
One peeled his bamboo slips—
They neither one had books
Yet knew to make an effort.
披蒲编
削竹简
彼无书
且知勉
68.
One tied his hair to the rafters,
One pricked his thigh with an awl—
They didn’t have a teacher
But toiled with diligence.
头悬梁
锥刺股
彼不教
自勤苦
69.
One bagged up fireflies,
One used moon’s glare from snow—
Although their homes were poor
They studied continuously.
如囊萤
如映雪
家虽贫
学不缀
70.
One carried firewood,
One propped his books on horns—
Although their bodies toiled
In hardship, they rose high.
如负薪
如挂角
身虽劳
犹苦卓
• 67: Before paper, people wrote on mats of woven reeds or on slips of bamboo wood bound into a scroll. Lu Wenshu and Gongsun Hong were poor enough that, as students, they had to make their own copy-books. • 68: To keep themselves awake while studying late, Sun Jing knotted his hair around a rafter so it pulled if he nodded off, while Su Qin pricked his thigh. • 69: Che Yin’s family couldn’t afford oil for a lamp, so he read by the light of fireflies captured in gauze. Sun Kang’s family ditto, so he read by moonlight reflected off snow. • 70: Before passing the civil service exams in middle-age, Zhu Maichen supported himself as a woodcutter. Li Mi had the habit of riding on a cow instead of a horse, so he could prop a book on the horns to read as he traveled (note that unlike the other seven in this passage, he was born rich, and never toiled for a living).
---L.
One split and wove his reeds,
One peeled his bamboo slips—
They neither one had books
Yet knew to make an effort.
披蒲编
削竹简
彼无书
且知勉
68.
One tied his hair to the rafters,
One pricked his thigh with an awl—
They didn’t have a teacher
But toiled with diligence.
头悬梁
锥刺股
彼不教
自勤苦
69.
One bagged up fireflies,
One used moon’s glare from snow—
Although their homes were poor
They studied continuously.
如囊萤
如映雪
家虽贫
学不缀
70.
One carried firewood,
One propped his books on horns—
Although their bodies toiled
In hardship, they rose high.
如负薪
如挂角
身虽劳
犹苦卓
• 67: Before paper, people wrote on mats of woven reeds or on slips of bamboo wood bound into a scroll. Lu Wenshu and Gongsun Hong were poor enough that, as students, they had to make their own copy-books. • 68: To keep themselves awake while studying late, Sun Jing knotted his hair around a rafter so it pulled if he nodded off, while Su Qin pricked his thigh. • 69: Che Yin’s family couldn’t afford oil for a lamp, so he read by the light of fireflies captured in gauze. Sun Kang’s family ditto, so he read by moonlight reflected off snow. • 70: Before passing the civil service exams in middle-age, Zhu Maichen supported himself as a woodcutter. Li Mi had the habit of riding on a cow instead of a horse, so he could prop a book on the horns to read as he traveled (note that unlike the other seven in this passage, he was born rich, and never toiled for a living).
---L.
no subject
Date: 8 May 2023 17:49 (UTC)