Take a Step Back

By Li Yu

There is no other way for the poor to enjoy themselves but to “take a step back.”I feel poor, but there are others poorer than me in the world; I see myself as a humble person, but there are others who are humbler than me. My wife and children can be a terrible burden, yet there are homeless people who have lost their wives and children and can receive no support from them; I have suffered from the calluses on my hands and feet caused by long-time labor, but there are also people in prison who cannot work freely. If you always think in this way, the seemingly sea of suffering will become a land of paradise.If you always compare yourself with those who are better than you, you will be endlessly insecure and fall into a state of despair and depression.

One midsummer night, a rich man sojourned at a post house during his journey. Mosquitoes swarmed into his bed-curtain and he couldn’t drive them out.Memories of the sumptuous living conditions of his home came flooding back: memories of his spacious living room, his crisp, cool pillow mat and the many lovely concubines fanning him as he slept the night away in luxuriant indulgence. He didn’t have even the slightest inkling of how blazingly hot summer could be back then. The only thing on his mind as he lay there perspiring in the sultry heat was how badly he was suffering. And it was his pleasant memories of comfort and luxury that annoyed him all the more and kept him wide awake throughout the night.

This article was originally written by Li Yu (1611－1680), a Chinese playwright,novelist and publisher in the late-Ming and early-Qing dynasties, and translated into Modern Chinese by Han Zhonghua. The English version was translated by Qin Run according to Han’s Modern Chinese version

贫贱行乐之法

文/[清]李渔 译/韩中华

穷人行乐的方法，没别的秘诀，仍然只有“退一步”这种方法。我感到自己穷，可还有比我更穷的；我觉得自己低贱，但还有比我更低贱的；我把妻子儿女当作累赘，却还有失去妻儿无依无靠、想要妻子儿女这种累赘而得不到的人；我为自己因劳动使得手脚上都是老茧而感到劳苦，但还有被关在监狱，想要安心劳作却办不到的人。如果这样来想，那么苦海就都变成乐土了。如果向前推算，同胜过自己的人相比，那么一刻也得不到安稳，就会陷入被束缚和使人忧郁的心境了。

有个富人旅途中住在驿站，时值盛夏，帐子里进了很多蚊子，怎么也赶不出去。他想起在家时，厅堂宽敞，枕席冰凉，又有许多姬妾拿着扇子为他扇风，一点感觉不出是在过夏天，怎么也想不到现在会困苦到这个地步。因为总想着非常快乐的情景，心就更加烦了，整个晚上都睡不着。

有一个亭长露宿在台阶下，被许多蚊子叮咬，他只好在院子里跑动，让四肢保持不停的运动，使蚊子没办法落在身上。他的身子跑得很辛苦，口中却不断大声地赞叹，好像是苦中有乐。富人不理解，就把他叫来询问：“你受的苦比我多十倍百倍，我觉得非常痛苦你却觉得快乐，这是为什么？”亭长说：“我想起有一年被仇家陷害，被关在监狱里。当时也是夏天，狱卒怕我逃跑，每天晚上都捆住我的手脚，使我不能动弹。那时蚊子比今晚多一倍，想要躲一下也不可能，只能任凭蚊子叮咬。而今晚不但可以跑个不停，四肢还能自由地驱赶蚊虫。两者相比，真是一个天上，一个地下。”富人听后，恍然大悟。这就是穷人快乐的秘诀。

比如夏天呆在狭小的房子里感觉非常闷热，这时如果在骄阳下走上一会儿，再回到屋里，就会感到暑气渐渐消散，热得不像先前那样严重了。假如畏惧房子狭小，跑到宽敞的地方纳凉，等回来后，炎热的感觉就会加重十倍。冬天很寒冷，明知是因为墙壁单薄造成的，如果故意跑到风雪里待一会儿，再回到房子里，就会感到屋里很暖和，不像刚才那么凛冽寒冷了。假如避开原来房子的寒冷，去深宅大院里取暖，回来以后，不知道要冷成什么样子。以此类推，所谓的退步法，到处都有，每个人都有，凡事退一步想，快乐的心情就会产生。我是天地间受到困苦最多的人，没有死于忧愁，没在困顿流离中变得憔悴，都是用了这个方法。

There was a courier station chief sleeping on the steps of a pavilion who was attacked by a swarm of mosquitoes.He was forced to run around the yard, in the hope of avoiding being bitten from head to toe. Though he was running so hard, his signs of enjoyment would have made one think it was pleasure mixed with pain. The rich man felt puzzled and asked, “You have suffered 10 or 100 times more than I have. I’m in great pain, but why are you enjoying the torment?” He replied, “I remember a time when I was framed by my enemy and put in prison. It was also in summer when the jailer was afraid that I would run away and tied my arms and legs every night so that I couldn’t move a muscle. There were twice as many mosquitoes as tonight, and having been bound up, it was impossible to keep from being bitten. Not only can I run around tonight, but my limbs can also drive away mosquitoes freely. This situation is pure heaven compared to that.” Hearing this, the rich man was suddenly enlightened.He had discovered the poor’s secret to happiness. For example, it is very hot in a small room in the summer. If you walk in the scorching sun for a while and then return to the room, the heat won’t feel as intense as before. If you cannot take the heat in the small room and run to a breezy place to cool down,when you come back, the heat will feel ten times more intense. In the deep chill of winter, if you know that the thin walls and drafty conditions are the source of your misery, then run deliberately into the biting wind and freezing snow for a while. When returning to the house,you will feel that the room is very warm,and not nearly as cold as it was when you left. If you avoid the cold of the old house and get warm in a mansion with central heating, you will not even be able to imagine how bitterly cold it will be when you return. The rest goes on in the same manner. What I call “taking a step back” is something that is done everywhere on a daily basis. Everyone has done it at least once. If you take a step back, happiness will be yours. I am the one who have suffered most in the world, yet I neither die from sorrow nor pine away from misery, for I use this way to find joy.

Just like the secret of happiness revealed by the courier station chief, we don’t have to draw on others’ examples to “take a step back.” We’ve all faced adversity before. It is the same from disaster to calamity or from illness to grief. To quote the Book of Songs, “How shalt thou fashion the haft of thine axe?Thou but needst the axe.” Sometimes the answer is as plain as the nose on your face. The closer the comparison to your own experience, the more vivid and emotionally impactful it will be. Not only should we not forget the calamities and disasters in our life, but we should also remind ourselves of them, from time to time, as our “one step back.”

(From Sketches of Idle Pleasure,Beijing Institute of Technology Press)

由亭长这个例子可以推出获得快乐的秘诀，那就是：行乐的人，不必远引别人的事作为自己的“退步”。谁没有经过逆境？大到灾祸凶患，小到疾病忧伤。“执柯伐柯，其则不远”，拿来进行比较，更加亲切。人一生中的奇祸大难，不但不可以遗忘，还应该时时用来警醒自己。