Monday, April 18, 2022

千字文 / The Thousand Character Classic, part 37

蓋此身髮

gài cǐ shēn fà

"Presumably, this body and hair"


This one is cryptic, but thankfully, Francis Paar (the editor of the edition of the 千字文 that I'm consulting) notes that this is a reference to a line from the 孝經 Classic of Filial Piety: 身體髪膚受之父母不敢毀傷 "Body, hair, and skin were received from our father and mother, and we dare not destroy or harm them." This is, I assume, one reason that long hair was prevalent in China for centuries, a style I approve of since I'm a longhair myself, even if the Confucian rationale leaves me cold. This passage from the 孝經 shows up again a few lines later.


蓋 is a strange particle that Kroll says "on the one hand indicates a measure of uncertainty and on the other expresses a measure of confidence in the statement," which is why I followed his lead and used "presumably" in my translation.

The following few lines all work together to form a longer statement, so this one isn't just weird and isolated.


微臣
史大偉


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