观字/李晋(赵金基译）

程思良

观字/李晋
　　
　　C君身居官场，担任要职多年。平日爱好书法。
　　一日，参加书友交流大会。与众书友品茶相谈后，C君兴致更浓。不由研墨铺纸，书一水墨淋漓的秀美楷书“忍”字。众书友观之，连呼妙哉。这时一书友请书艺高超，更精通文史哲美，佛道儒禅之学的书界泰斗童老先生点评。童老观之片刻，却轻叹一声，对C君道：“苍天有眼，好自为之。”遂转身离去。留下C君和一干发愣的书友。
　　不久，C君因经济问题被处以重刑。众友人闻知此事，直呼童老为高人。童老一笑，道：“字如其人。观其‘忍’字，‘心’部书写硕大，说明其贪欲甚重，久居官场焉有不出事之理？‘刃’字上一捺却过长。事后这一刀能轻吗？”
　　众人叹服。
　　
　　
　　Chinese Calligraphy
　　
　　By Li Jin
　　
　　Mr. C, who used to love Chinese calligraphy, had been a government official in a key position for many years.
　　One day at a gathering of Chinese calligraphy lovers, Mr. C communicated his techniques over tea in such high spirits as to show off by writing a graceful picturesque Chinese character “ren” (which means “to bear”) on the spot. The audience burst out compliments. Mr. Tong, master of Calligraphy Circle, who was an expert in calligraphy as well as in literature, history, philosophy, aesthetics, Buddism, Taoism, Confusianism, dhyana, and so on, was invited to give some comments. Hesitating a moment, Mr. Tong said to Mr. C, with a slight sigh, “Heaven has bright eyes; take care of yourself.” With this Mr. Tong departed, leaving Mr. C puzzled and others alike.
　　Shortly after, when news spread that Mr. C was sentenced to a severe punishment for corruption, Mr. Tong was admired as a prophet. “Calligraphy tells one’s secret. Seeing the Chinese character ‘ren’, I noticed the part of ‘xin’ (which means “heart”) to be extremely plump, revealing him to be a greedy man. As a government official, how could he have avoided breaking the law? Also the stroke of part of ‘dao’ (which means “sword”) appeared long enough, which predicted a severe sentence.” Mr. Tong explained, with a radiant smile.
　　That was it.
　　

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