在柿叶上练字 practicing calligraphy on persimmon leaves

唐代时候在郑州荥阳【荥 xíng】，有一个叫 [[ Zheng Qian 郑虔 ]]【虔qían】的人。他是诗人 [[ Du Fu 杜甫 ]]的好友，不仅会写诗、绘画，而且写的一手好字。

During the Tang Dynasty in a place called Xing Yang, (near present-day Zhengzhou in He’nan Province) there lived a man by the name of Zheng Qian. He was a good friend of the Tang Dynasty poet Du Fu. Not only was he a talented poet and painter, but he was also a talented calligrapher.

郑虔曾在朝廷里做过小官，后来因为写了一部研究当代历史的著作被人告发为“私写国史”，受到贬官的处罚，生活也贫困下来。他每天都要练字，却常常没钱买纸。后来他听人说长安城南的慈恩寺里贮存有几屋子柿叶，心里有了主意，就决定搬到那里住。

Zheng Qian was once a minor court official, but he was expelled from the administration after an incident where he was accused of ‘writing national history for personal gain’. He soon fell into poverty. Every day he would practice calligraphy, but in time he had no money to buy paper. One day he heard people talking about Ci En Si a monastery in Chang’an’s southern quarter which had rooms full of persimmon leaves. This gave him an idea: he decided to move there.

动身前他对妻子说：“我要到长安慈恩寺去住一段时间，请你多保重······”

Before leaving he went to tell his wife: “I’m moving to Ci En Si for a while. Take care…”

还没等他说完，妻子就哭开了。她一边哭，一边嚷：“好哇，你忍心丢下我们娘儿俩，自己去享清福······我不让你走！”

Before he had finished his wife burst into tears, sobbing: “How dare you! Could you really be so heartless as to leave a mother and son to fend for themselves as you go your merry way? I forbid you from leaving!”

看到妻子那个样子，他又好气又好笑，忙解释说：“看你，哭什么呢？我又不是去出家当和尚，我是到那里去练习书法。那里有许多柿叶，是我写字用的最好的‘纸’啊！”

Seeing how distraught his wife was, he didn’t know whether to be angry or amused. He explained to her, saying: “Look at the state of you…What are you crying about? I’m not going to become a monk, I just want to do and practice calligraphy. The monastery has rooms full of persimmon leaves, I can use them instead of paper.”

听了郑虔的解释妻子不哭了，还帮他收拾行李，送他上路。

Once she had heard his explanation, Zheng Qian’s wife stopped crying and even helped him pack before finally seeing him off.

郑虔来到慈恩寺，住在一间破旧的僧房里。自己规定每天要写完一篮子柿叶。他每天在柿叶正面写了字，又在反面写，一直把一篮子柿叶写完才休息。

When Zheng Qian arrived at Ci En Si they allowed him to stay in a run-down monk’s cell. He made a pact with himself that each day he would finish a big basket of persimmon leaves. Each day he’d write on the upper side of the persimmon leaves, then he’d turn them over and write on the opposite side. He wouldn’t rest until he had finished a whole basket full.

有一天他生病了：身上热得烫手，头疼的很厉害。和他同住的一个小和尚劝他好好歇息不要写字了。郑虔不听他的，挣扎着坐起来，哆哆嗦嗦地写起字来，一直到写完一篮子柿叶才躺下。

One day he fell ill: he was running a high fever and had a splitting headache. A young monk who was living with him attempted to persuade him to take a break from writing, but Zheng Qian wouldn’t listen. He scrambled up, shivering as he wrote, only lying down once he had completed the last leaf in the basket.

小和尚不明白的问：“你干嘛要这样折磨自己呢，写字不过是一种消遣，能写多少就写多少，何必这样认真呢？”

The young monk was puzzled: “Why do you torment yourself like that? Writing is supposed to be a pleasurable pastime: you just write as much as you feel like writing. Why do you take it so seriously?”

郑虔笑着回答说：“写字和你们和尚念经一样，要持之以恒，不然是写不好的。”

Zheng Qian chuckled: “For me, calligraphy is like reciting sutras for you monks. You need to keep at it otherwise you won’t make any progress.”

几年过去了，郑虔把几屋子的柿叶都用完了。当他回家的时候，已经是当时很有名的书法家了。

A few years passed, and Zheng Qian finally finished writing on all of the persimmon leaves at the monastery. When he returned home, he was already a famous calligrapher.

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