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《小窗幽记》凡 194 则，为《处世三奇书》的第二部。
Meditative Notes in Solitude , the second book of the “Three Canons of Personal Cultivation”, contains 194 sketches in all.
陈继儒（1558 年—1639 年），《小窗幽记》的作者，明末文学家、书画家，字仲醇，号眉公、麋公，华亭（今上海松江）人。诸生，年二十九，隐居小昆山，后居东佘山，杜门著述，工诗善文，书法苏、米，兼能绘事，屡受诏用，皆以疾辞。擅墨梅、山水，画梅多册页小幅，自然随意，意态萧疏。论画倡导文人画，持南北宗论，重视画家的修养，赞同书画同源，有《梅花册》《云山卷》等传世。著述除《小窗幽记》（又名《醉古堂剑扫》）外，还有《太平清话》《安得长者言》《模世语》《狂夫之言》《见闻录》《六合同春》《陈眉公诗余》《虎荟》《眉公杂著》《吴葛将军墓碑》《妮古录》等。
Chen Jiru (1558-1639), the author of this book, is a man of letters, calligrapher and painter of the Ming Dynasty,styled Zhongchun, Meigong or Migong, born in Huating (now Songjiang District, Shanghai), who,after admitted as a scholar,began his seclusion in Small Kunshan at the age of 29 and then in East Sheshan, focusing on writing. Being an adept in composing poems and essays, he laid great store on imitating Su Shi and Mi Fu in calligraphy and paintings, and declined the imperial edicts time and again on the plea of indisposition. He was good at drawing plums and mountains with black ink and habitually had his paintings of plum made into small albums brimming with natural casualness and easy grace. Theoretically, he insisted that painting should be exactly literati one no matter which school it belongs to, and that the accomplishment of a painter should be emphasized, and calligraphy and painting should be regarded as homologous. His Album of Plum and Roll of Cloudy Mountain are well known to the world. In addition to Meditative Notes in Solitude , he also wrote books such as Taiping Qinghua , Ande Zhangzheyan , Mushiyu , Kuangfuzhiyan , Jianwenlu , Liuhe Tongchun, Chen Meigong Shiyu , Huhui , Meigong Zazhu , Wu Ge Jiangjun Mubei , Nigulu and etc.
明末距今并不久远，但是有关《小窗幽记》成书的说法却不少，歧义颇多：有的说《小窗幽记》全书共 12 卷，分醒、情、峭、灵、素、景、韵、奇、绮、豪、法、倩 12 个主题；有的说《小窗幽记》全书 12 卷只轶剩 7 卷；也有的说《小窗幽记》全书 12 卷大半已轶，今仅存醒、情、峭、灵 4 卷；甚至还有人认为，《小窗幽记》系明人陆绍珩（1624 年前后尚在世）所著。这些莫衷一是的说法直接导致当今书市上出现了各种版本的《小窗幽记》。
It is not very far away from the late Ming Dynasty, but still there have existed many disputes about the formation and version of Meditative Notes in Solitude . Some said that there were 12 volumes in total, respectively termed as Xing (clear-headedness),Qing (love between sexes), Qiao (self-extrication), Ling (spirit),Su (simplicity), Jing (scenes), Yun (charm), Qi (splendor or excellence), Qi (prettiness), Hao (boldness or heroicness), Fa(transcending the mundane world), and Qian (beautifulness or attractiveness); some said there were only 7 volumes still extant;some said the majority of the volumes were missing, only the first four volumes were remaining; and some even thought Meditative Notes in Solitude was attributed to Lu Shaoheng (still alive in 1624). Such a wide spectrum of objections on this book has directly resulted in various versions nowadays.
《小窗幽记》另一个值得关注的是刊印时间问题。据史料记载，《小窗幽记》首版问世于乾隆三十五年，也即 1770 年。时有文人陈本敬作序如是：
Besides the difference of versions, the time of the book’s printing is also a question worth noting. According to historical materials, Meditative Notes in Solitude first appeared in the thirty fifth year of Qianlong (1770), prefaced by Chen Benjing, another man of letters of the early Qing Dynasty. The full text of the preface is as follows:
太上立德，其次立言，言者心声，而人品学术恒由此见焉。无论词躁、词俭、词烦、词支，徒蹈尚口之戒，倘语大而夸，谈理而腐，亦岂可以为训乎？然则欲求传世行远，名山不朽，必贵有以居其要矣。眉公先生负一代盛名，立志高尚，著述等身，曾集《小窗幽记》以自娱，泄天地之秘笈，撷经史之菁华，语带烟霞，韵谐金石，醒世持世，一字不落言筌。挥尘风声，直夺清谈之席；解颐语妙，常发斑管之花。所谓端庄杂流漓，尔雅兼温文，有美斯臻，无奇不备。夫岂卮言无当，徒以资覆瓿之用乎？许昌崔维东博学好古，欲付剞劂，以公同好，问序于余，因不辞谫陋，特为之弁言简端。
The best is to cultivate virtue, the next best, to establish arguments. The one who establishes arguments actually speaks his own mind, wherefrom his moral character and academic knowledge can be seen. The establishment of arguments is a matter of wording and expression, the most important thing of which lies in guarding against a loose tongue. If one regardlessly indulges in exaggeration and stubbornly clings to outworn rules and ideas, how can he inspire his fellow beings? The eternity of writings can only be realized through the words uttered to the point and capable of standing to the test of time. As a prolific writer, Mr. Meigong was in high repute all his life for his noble aspiration. He compiled Meditative Notes in Solitude to amuse himself by revealing the secret how to be a worthy man between heaven and earth, picking extracts from classics and history and then relating them with elegant expressions and rhyme of metal and stone to enlighten the world without falling in the net of words. His writings were superior and well esteemed among the clear-and-upright sketches. To make people understand and laugh at the same time, he often aired his exquisite opinions with witty remarks much in little. In his writing, stateliness matched with fluency, elegance accompanied by gentleness, beauty approaching perfection, nothing is too wonderful and marvelous. He knew clearly that casual utterances, if not appropriate, can only be good for nothing. Now, Cui Weidong of Xuchang, a profound scholar fond of classics and with the same taste as the author’s, intends to print the book to meet the unfulfilled wish of the author and requests me to write a preface for it. Despite of my little talent and less learning, I would still like to render the short preface as this.
乾隆三十五年岁次庚寅春月，昌平陈本敬仲思氏书于聚星书院之谢青堂。
Written in the spring of the thirty-fifth year of Qianlong By Chen Benjing of Changping
Hall of Xieqing of Star-gathering Academy
在这篇序中，作序之人除了誉美之词外，直接称谓《小窗幽记》作者为“眉公先生”，而“眉公”正是陈继儒的雅号。由于“乾隆三十五年”离作者去世中间隔了 131 年，有人因此说《小窗幽记》是伪作。对此，译者并不认同，反倒以为这极有可能跟一段骇人听闻的丑恶历史有关：作者卒于明王朝行将覆灭的 1639 年，而付梓的时间却是 1770 年，这中间一百多年恰恰是清王朝连续四代皇帝大兴文字狱的时期，捕风捉影，冤杀株连，残酷程度为华夏有史以来所未见。书中第 71 则有这样的内容：“料今天下皆妇人矣。封疆缩其地，而中庭之歌舞犹喧；战血枯其人，而满座貂蝉自若。我辈书生，既无诛乱讨贼之柄，而一片报国之忱，惟于寸楮尺字间见之。使天下之须眉面妇人者，亦耸然有起色。” 陈继儒离世前在自己的书中留下这么一段呼吁抵抗清军入侵的文字，在后来清王朝统治集团的高压之下自然是见不得天日的。由此推断《小窗幽记》的刊印之路因这场文字狱而受阻，想必还是有一定依据的。今日我辈有幸捧读这么一本因幽禁而被尘封过一个多世纪的清言古籍，怎能不感慨上苍有眼，造化无欺？！
Chen Jiru died in 1639, but his book was first printed in 1770, between which there were 131 years apart. It is because of this long interval that someone held that the book was a fake. But I cannot agree and think instead that the late printing of the book is most likely to have something to do with an appalling history of ugliness caused by the first four emperors of the Qing Dynasty.Just as the history shows, since the establishment of the Qing Dynasty in 1644, the new rulers, in order to strengthen their reign,had carried out a ruthless literary inquisition of nearly a century and half against those whose writings were considered even slightest offensive by the imperial court, never seen before.
“In my opinion, today’s men at court are all sissyish. They sing and dance to their hearts’ content in the magnificent halls while the frontiers are being lost one after another. They have fair maids to attend their grand parties as if nothing had happened while the generals and soldiers are fighting to the last drop of their blood along the borders. We scholars, with warm hearts to serve our country, but not entitled to make war on the invaders,can only write with pens to express our deep concern for the situation, hoping that all the sissy men at court will be aroused from indifference and show up as real men.”
This is the full text of No. 71 sketch picked from Meditative Notes in Solitude , in which the author appealed for resistance against the Qing troops. From this we may deduce the reason why the book had been prohibited for so long a time. Today when we luckily have the book in our hands and read the content as this,how can we not felicitate ourselves with emotion on the favor Heaven has done to us!
2017 年 9 月于上海
Shanghai, China September, 2017