人生一场梦

Life Is But a Dream

 

白玉堂讲述 /白景学记录 Spoken by Yutang Bai, recorded by Jingxue Bai

 

清朝康熙年间，有一位叫纪晓堂的才子，满腹经纶，可是每次去考状元，总是考不中，因为纪晓堂很穷，没钱给考官上礼，纪晓堂一气之下竟然出家了。

 

在纪晓堂之后，又有一位才子名叫左青龙，同样满腹经纶，每次考状元也考不中。纪晓堂劝左青龙出家，左青龙不愿出家，说：「哪怕考上状元，当上一天官也证明没白念这么多年书。」一天，纪晓堂和左青龙一起走路，来到一棵槐树下乘凉，左青龙睡在一棵树下作了一个梦，梦见他在黑水国当上了兵——马大元帅，随后攻打黄蚁国后，左青龙又当上了黄蚁国的国王。

 

左青龙醒来后，纪晓堂继续劝左青龙出家，左青龙还是不出家。纪晓堂对左青龙说：「这回你该十足了吧，你兵马大元帅也当了，黄蚁国的国王也当了，你不出家还等何时？在你睡觉的旁边，是黑蚂蚁，你刚才当了黑水国的兵马大元帅。你一翻身，你的头又压到了大黄蚁，所以你当上了黄蚁国的国王。」左青龙一看，刚才他睡觉的地方，有很多黑蚂蚁和黄蚂蚁，左青龙猛然醒悟了，觉得人生如梦，一切都是假的，左青龙和纪晓堂出家了。

 

  In the reign of Kangxi in the Qing dynasty, there was a talented and erudite man named Xiaotang Ji who, despite his great talents, never managed to place first in the civil exam because he was too poor to bribe the officials in charge of the exam. In his frustration, Xiaotang Ji decided to become a Buddhist monk.

 

Afterwards, there was another talented young man named Qinglong Zuo, who also failed to place first in the civil exam despite his learning. When Xiaotang Ji urged him to become a monk, he replied,”If I can only place first in the civil exam and be an official for one day, it'll prove that I haven't studied in vain all these years.” One day Xiaotang Ji and Qinglong Zuo were strolling together, and they stopped under the shade of a locust tree. Qinglong Zuo fell asleep under the tree and dreamed that he was a great general in the Black Water Kingdom. He then attacked the Yellow Ant Kingdom and became the king of that country.

 

When Qinglong woke up, Xiaotang again urged him to become a monk, but he still refused. Xiaotang said to him,“You should be satisfied by now. You've been both a great general and the king of the Yellow Ant Kingdom. What are you waiting for? There are black ants next to the place where you dozed off, and so you became the general of the Black Water Kingdom. When you turned over, your head rolled onto some yellow ants, and so you become the king of the Yellow Ant Kingdom.” Qinglong took a look and found that indeed there were black and yellow ants near the place where he had taken a nap. He immediately had an insight that life is but a dream and nothing is real. In the end Qinglong Zuo and Xiaotang Ji both became monks.