智永学字不下楼 studying calligraphy zhi yong refuses to leave his study

[[ ZhiYong 智永 ]]是陈朝到隋朝其间的人。他是 [[ Wang Xizhi 王羲之 ]]的后代，年轻的时候和哥哥一起出家当了和尚。

Zhi Yong lived during a period of transition between the Chen and Sui Dynasties. He was a descendant of Wang Xizhi. When he was young, both he and his older brother became Buddhist monks.

有一天，他对哥哥说：“我们的前辈有不少人写字写出了名，到我们这一代人中没有一个写的好的。难道真的是我们不如他们吗？”

One day he said to his brother: “Many of our ancestors were famous for their mastery of calligraphy, but our generation has nobody that is skilled in the art. Are they really all just better than us?”

哥哥 [[ Hui Xin 惠欣 ]]鼓励他说：“恐怕是没有下苦功夫。俗话说：‘有志者事竟成’。只要你有决心学好书法，一定会有出息的。”

His older brother, Hui Xin encouraged him, saying: “I think it’s just that none of us has taken the time and effort to work hard at it. You know the saying: ‘Where there’s a will, there’s a way’. If you focus on your calligraphy, there’s nothing you can’t achieve.”

智永听了非常高兴的说：“好，从明天起，我就搬到寺院后边的小阁楼上住，学写字。学不成，我决不下楼！”

Zhi Yong was glad to hear this and said: “Right, starting tomorrow, I’m going to move into the loft behind the temple and work on the art of writing. I won’t come down until I’ve mastered it!”

从此，智永就在小阁楼上专心学习书法。他每天从早到晚临摹王羲之、王献之的真迹。不管夏天多么炎热，冬天多么寒冷，从不间断。三十年过去了，智勇从一个青年人变成了老人，终于练成了一笔好字。

From that day on, Zhi Yong studied nothing but calligraphy up in the loft. From dawn until dusk he’d copy authentic model letters by Wang Xizhi and Wang Xianzhi. He worked through the sweltering heat of summer and the icy cold of winter, never giving up. 30 years passed, and Zhi Yong became an old man: in return for his youth he had finally mastered the art of writing.

在三十年中，智永的砚台磨穿了很多块，退下的笔头（据说唐代以前，毛笔的笔头可以更换）足足装了有好几筐，埋在地里堆成了一个小坟包，被人们称为“退笔冢”【冢zhǒng】。

In those thirty years, Zhi Yong bored through numerous inkstones and wore out baskets full of brush heads (apparently before the Tang dynasty brush heads were detachable). When these were buried they formed a small hillock, which people called the ‘brush tomb’.

智勇的名气越来越大，找他写字的人也越来越多，把他屋子的门槛【槛kǎn】都踩坏了。小和尚们只好用铁皮把门槛包起来。后来人叫它“铁门限”。

Zhi Yong’s name spread far and wide, and the number of people that visited him to ask for samples of his calligraphy was so large that they wore down the threshold to his chambers. To make it stronger the young monks clad his threshold in iron. Later, people called it the ‘iron threshold’.

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