E41 陈太初修道脱红尘，苏子瞻惜雀眷人间

E41 陈太初修道脱红尘，苏子瞻惜雀眷人间

课程导读

上节课我们讲到，程夫人在家庭教育上以身作则，认真教导小东坡修身立世的道理，也让孩子度过了一个自在宽松的童年时代。那么，进入私塾后的苏东坡，是如何显示自己耀眼的天分呢？当时和他一同闪耀的另一位神童，后来又作出了怎样不同的人生抉择？

英文原文

The young child entered school at the age of six.

It was a fair-sized school with over a hundred pupils, all of whom studied under a Taoist priest.

The brilliant young mind quickly distinguished itself, and among the great number of pupils Su and another child were the most praised by the teacher.

This other pupil, Chen, later also passed the state examinations but became a Taoist with the ambition to become "an immortal."

Quite late in his life, Chen was preparing to go up to Heaven, and he came to pay a visit to one of his friends.

The friend gave him food and money.

He went out and distributed the food and money to the poor and then sat down in Taoist fashion outside the gate, ready to depart from this earthly life by starvation.

Some days later, to all intents and purposes, he had breathed his last.

The friend, therefore, called his servants to remove the corpse.

However, it was New Year's Day, and the servants complained at having to remove a corpse on such an auspicious day.

Thereupon the dead man said: "Never mind, I will carry myself." He got up, walked to the country, and died in a more convenient place.

Such is the factual manner in which many of the Taoist recluses were supposed to have "ascended to Heaven."

As a child Tungpo interested himself in other things besides study.

After school, he would come home and peep at the birds' nests.

His mother had strictly forbidden the boys and maidservants to catch birds, as a result of which, in a few years' time, the birds knew that they would not be molested in this garden and some came to build their nests on a branch low enough for the child to see.

Su Tungpo remembered particularly a small bird with wonderful bright plumage that came and visited their garden for days.

Now and then, an official would pass by the town and pay them a visit, since Tungpo's uncle was already an official.

There would then be a hullabaloo in the family and the maidservants would run about barefooted to pick vegetables from the garden and kill chickens to prepare a dinner.

Such visits of the officials produced a deep impression upon the child.