【有道晨读】The charm of the lane lies in its absolute serenity
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The lane -Ke Ling
The charm of the lane lies in its absolute serenity.
No matter who you are, if you loiter around in the lane for a while, your mind will become as unruffled as the ancient well at the end of the lane.
There you will experience a kind of peaceful calmness rather than gloomy sternness.
There reigns peace and quiet in the midst of noisy bustle.
It is a world of its own on earth. It may be a modern version of Wu Yi Xiang, a special residential area of nobility in the Jin Dynasty southeast of today’s Nanjing,
where each family, secluded behind closed doors, has its own covered-up story of joys and sorrows, and rise and decline.
When the sun is setting, swallows will fly low over wild flowers and grass on their way to their nests.
The all-pervading and all-purifying atmosphere of water-like placidness makes one forget all cares and worries.
Aren’t you weighed down with cares in this life of hard toil and exhausted physically and mentally?
I would like to advise you often to take a walk in the lane in your off-duty hours. That is the best way to take a rest.
It will dissipate your fatigue and relieve your nervous tension.
When you are fidgety or depressed, go to the lane and wander around reciting or composing poems with your hands crossed behind your back.
You will then suddenly fall into a bright mood and enjoy inner peace, forgetting both yourself and the external world.
Don’t you have a sweetheart?
Let me suggest that, instead of accompanying her on a visit to famous park or scenic spot,
you take her with you for a stroll in the lane at dawn or dusk.
Over there, you two can chat freely and with even deeper affection,
free from greedy sidelong glances or malicious squints such as you often meet with in busy streets.
Suddenly, at a creaking sound, there may appear a figure by a door—usually an unsophisticated young girl.
She will, at the sight of you, withdraw coyly into the house.
译者：张培基
