苏东坡传(上下中英双语指定授权典藏本)

我写苏东坡传并没有什么特别理由，只是以此为乐而已。给他写本传记的念头，已经存在心中有年。1936年我全家赴美时，身边除去若干精选的排印细密的中文基本参考书之外，还带了些有关苏东坡的以及苏东坡著的珍本古籍，至于在行李中占很多地方一事，就全置诸脑后了。那时我希望写一本有关苏东坡的书，或是翻译些他的诗文，而且，即便此事我不能如愿，我旅居海外之时，也愿身边有他相伴。像苏东坡这样富有创造力，这样守正不阿，这样放任不羁，这样令人万分倾倒而又望尘莫及的高士，有他的作品摆在书架上，就令人觉得有了丰富的精神食粮。现在我能专心致志写他这本传记，自然是一大乐事，此外还需要什么别的理由吗？ 元气淋漓富有生机的人总是不容易理解的。像苏东坡这样的人物，是人间不可无一难能有二的。对这种人的人品个性作解释，一般而论，总是徒劳无功的。在一个多才多艺，生活中多彩多姿的人身上，挑选出他若干使人敬爱的特点，倒是轻而易举。我们未尝不可说，苏东坡是个秉性难改的乐天派，是悲天悯人的道德家，是黎民百姓的好朋友，是散文作家，是新派的画家，是伟大的书法家，是酿酒的实验者，是工程师，是假道学的反对派，是瑜伽术的修炼者，是佛教徒，是士大夫，是皇帝的秘书，是饮酒成癖者，是心肠慈悲的法官，是政治上的坚持己见者，是月下的漫步者，是诗人，是生性诙谐爱开玩笑的人。可是这些也许还不足以勾绘出苏东坡的全貌。我若说一提到苏东坡，在中国总会引起人亲切敬佩的微笑，也许这话*能概括苏东坡的一切了。苏东坡的人品，具有一个多才多艺的天才的深厚、广博、诙谐，有高度的智力，有天真烂漫的赤子之心——正如耶稣所说，具有蛇的智慧，兼有鸽子的温柔敦厚，在苏东坡这些方面，其他诗人是不能望其项背的。这些品质之荟萃于一身，是天地间的凤毛麟角，不可多见的。而苏东坡正是此等人！他保持天真淳朴，终身不渝。政治上的钩心斗角与利害谋算，与他的人品是格格不入的；他的诗词文章，或一时即兴之作，或是有所不满时有感而发，都是自然流露，顺乎天性，刚猛激烈，正如他所说的“春鸟秋虫之声”；也未尝不可比作他的诗句：“猿吟鹤唳本无意，不知下有行人行。”他一直卷在政治旋涡之中，但是他却光风霁月，高高超越于狗苟蝇营的政治勾当之上。他不忮不求，随时随地吟诗作赋，批评臧否，纯然表达心之所感，至于会招致何等后果，与自己有何利害，则一概置之度外了。因是之故，一直到今天，读者仍以阅读他的作品为乐，因为像他这一等人，总是关心世事，始终亢言直论，不稍隐讳的。他的作品之中，流露出他的本性，亦庄亦谐，生动而有力，虽需视情况之所宜而异其趣，然而莫不真笃而诚恳，完全发乎内心。他之写作，除去自得其乐外，别无理由，而今日吾人读其诗文，别无理由，只因为他写得那么美，那么遒健朴茂，那么字字自真纯的心肺间流出。 There is really no reason for my writing the life of Su Tungpo except that I want to do it. For years the writing of his biography has been at the back of my mind. In 1936, when I came to the United States with my family, I brought with me, along with a carefully selected collection of basic Chinese reference books in compact editions, also a few very rare and ancient editions of works by and about this poet, for which all considerations of space were thrown overboard. I had hoped then to be able to write a book about him, or translate some of his poems or prose, and even if I could not do so, I wanted him to be with me while I was living abroad. It was a matter of sustenance of the spirit to have on one's shelves the works of a man with great charm, originality, and integrity of purpose, an enfant terrible, a great original mind that could not conform. Now that I am able to apply myself to this task, I am happy, and this should be an all-sufficient reason. A vivid personality is always an enigma. There had to be one Su Tungpo, but there could not be two. Definitions of a personality generally satisfy only those who make them. It would be easy to pick out from the life and character of a man with such a versatile talent and colorful life a conglomerate of the qualities that have endeared him to his readers. One might say that Su Tungpo was an incorrigible optimist, a great humanitarian, a friend of the people, a prose master, an original painter, a great calligraphist, and experimenter in wine making, an engineer, a hater of puritanism, a yogi, a Buddhist believer, a Confucian statesman, a secretary to the emperor, a confirmed winebibber, a humane judge, a dissenter in politics, a prowler in the moonlight, a poet, and a wag. And yet that might miss the sum total of what made up Su Tungpo. I can perhaps best sum it up by saying that the mention of Su Tungpo always elicits an affectionate and warm admiring smile in China. For more than other Chinese poets', Su Tungpo's personality had the richness and variety and humor of a many-sided genius, possessing a gigantic intellect and a guileless child's heart—a combination described by Jesus as the wisdom of the serpent and the gentleness of the dove. Admittedly, this is a rare combination, shared only by a few born upon this earth. Here was a man! All through his life he retained a perfect naturalness and honesty with himself. Political chicanery and calculation were foreign to his character; the poems and essays he wrote on the inspiration of the moment or in criticism of something he disliked were the natural outpourings of his heart, instinctive and impetuous, like “the bird's song in spring and the cricket's chirp in autumn,” as he put it once; or again they may be likened to the “cries of monkeys in the jungle or of the storks in high heaven, unaware of the human listeners below.” Always deeply involved in politics, he was always greater than politics. Without guile and without purpose, he went along singing, composing, and criticizing, purely to express something he felt in his heart, regardless of what might be the consequences for himself. And so it is that this readers today enjoy his writings as those of a man who kept his mind sharply focused on the progress of events, but who first and last reserved the inalienable right to speak for himself. From his writings shines forth a personality vivid and vigorous playful of solemn, as the occasion may be, but always genuine, hearty, and true to himself. He wrote for no other reason than that he enjoyed writing, and today we enjoy his writing for no other reason than that he wrote so beautifully, generously, and out of the pristine innocence of his heart.