Look up to pick something up from above,
then look down to pick something up from the ground.(仰取俯拾)
Li Qingzhao is the most famous female poet
in China's long history.
The Northern Song Dynasty of China lasted
from 960 AD to 1127 AD, and the Southern Song Dynasty from 1127 AD to 1279 AD.
Li Qingzhao was born in 1084 and died in 1155, living through a turbulent era.
She was married twice. Her first husband,
Zhao Mingcheng, was three years her senior. They were close in age, both loved
literature and art, and had a very good relationship.
Zhao Mingcheng had a particular interest in
studying inscriptions on ancient Chinese bronzes and stone carvings. He also
loved Chinese calligraphy. He wrote a series of books to record his research
findings, with the help of Li Qingzhao, and the 30-volume set was finally
completed.
In 1132 AD, the books were finally
published, and Li Qingzhao wrote a preface for them. The following is a summary
of a passage from this preface:
In 1107 AD, my husband was caught up in a
political struggle and dismissed from his position in the central government.
We left the capital and returned to his hometown.
Without a stable income, we had to live an
extremely frugal life. We had no servants and had to perform many mundane tasks
ourselves.
We had to stretch to reach things high up
and bend down to pick things up from the ground. However, that period was also
a valuable learning experience. It taught us how to make a simple life
meaningful.
My husband had spent most of his salary on
ancient rubbings of texts and works by famous ancient writers and painters since
his youth, so our home contains many of his precious collections.
During that period, we devoted a great deal
of time to organising these precious rubbings of ancient texts and books. We
repaired any damaged documents and carefully examined and read the texts. We
also took great care of our ancient calligraphy, paintings and antiques. Thanks
to our dedication, our collection has remained in excellent condition.
We often played a game back then. During
relaxing tea breaks after meals, my husband would recite a passage from the
many books in our house. I would then have to identify the book containing that
passage and find it within a set time. Then I would test my husband in the same
way.
The winner would get an extra cup of tea as
a reward.
It was so much fun! It tested both our
memory and reaction speed. Several times, he presented me with obscure
passages, but I had a strong recollection of them and answered correctly very
quickly.
I was so happy that I accidentally spilled
my tea! We both laughed and cleaned it up together.
What a wonderful time that was! Although we
were poor, we were optimistic and positive.
We thought we would live like this forever;
we believed that we would live out our lives peacefully together.
This idiom literally means looking up to
pick something up from above, and then looking down to pick something up from
the ground.
It is used to describe how every action a
person takes brings them continuous benefits.
It is also used to describe the continuous
accumulation of wealth or knowledge in daily life.
Dear friend, what did you gain from this
story? What inspiration did you draw from it? Do you share common interests
with your loved ones? Have you developed the long-term habit of accumulating
knowledge? I hope this story will provide you with some new insights.
仰取俯拾(Look up to pick something up from
above, then look down to pick something up from the ground.)
中國漫長的歷史上最著名的女詞人的名字是李清照
西元960年到西元1127年的這段期間是中國的北宋王朝，西元1127年到西元1279年是中國的南宋王朝，李清照出生於西元1084年死於西元1155年，她生活在一個非常動亂的時代。
李清照結過兩次婚，她第一任丈夫的名字叫做(趙明誠)，趙明誠比李清照大3歲，他們兩個人年齡相近而且都很喜歡文學與藝術，他們兩個人的感情很好。
(趙明誠)有一個很特殊的愛好，他喜歡研究中國古代的青銅器與石刻上面的文字，他也很喜歡中國的書法，他曾經寫過一套書籍來記錄他的研究心得，李清照協助趙明誠一起完成了這部多達30本的套書。
西元1132年，這本書終於有機會出版，李清照為這本書寫了一篇序文。
這篇序文中間有一段的大概意思如下。
西元1107年，我的丈夫因為被迫捲入一場政治上的鬥爭，所以他被解除他在中央政府的職位。我們兩個人離開了首都後就一起回到他的故鄉居住。
回到故鄉居住後，因為經濟上少了固定的收入，所以我們兩個人生活的極度簡樸，我們沒有僕人，我們在日常生活中要處理許多瑣碎的事情。
我們要自己擡頭拿取位於上方的東西然後低頭拾撿位於地上的東西，但是那段時間對我們而言也是一種訓練，那段時間的生活讓我們對於如何讓簡單的生活充滿滋味更深刻的感悟。
由於我的丈夫從年輕的時候開始就有把大部份的薪水都拿去購買古代的文字拓印與古代的著名的文學家與畫家的作品的習慣，所以我家中有很多的他的珍貴的蒐藏品。
我們在那一段時間中，花費了大量的時間來整理這些珍貴的文字拓印和珍貴的古代書籍，這些文本資料若有破損的我們就想辦法修復，我們也會針對裡面的文字進行仔細的考證與閱讀，我們也會很細心的照顧我們那些古代的字畫與古董，也因為我們的用心，所以我們的蒐藏品都能夠保持著非常好的狀態。
我們兩個人當時還常常玩一個遊戲，我們在吃飯後喝茶的放鬆的時刻，針對我們幾乎堆滿的整間房屋的書籍中，我的丈夫會先說出一段文字，然後我要在幾分鐘內就說出這段文字記載在那一本書中，並且要在約定的時間內找出那本書，接著我也會用同樣的方式來考我的丈夫。
如果贏得這個遊戲的人，就可以多喝一杯茶來當作獎賞。
這個遊戲太好玩了，既要考驗我們的記憶力，又要考驗我們的反應速度，有好幾次，他向我提出了一段很冷僻的文字，但結果我對這段文字特別有印象所以在非常短的時間內就回答出正確的答案。
由於我太開心了，我不小心把要喝的茶打翻，我們兩個人就笑著一起收拾那些打翻的茶。
那是一段多麼美好的時光啊，那個時候的我們雖然經濟條件很貧困，但是我們
生活得相當的樂觀與積極。
我們當時認為，我們可能就要這樣持續的生活下去，我們將會一起平靜的過完一生。
這句成語直接翻譯的意思是擡頭拿取位於上方的東西然後低頭拾撿位於地上的東西。
這句成語被用來形容一個人所做的每一件事情都給這個人持續帶來收穫。
這句成語被引申用來形容一個人在每天的生活當中持續地積累財富或積累知識的狀態。
親愛的朋友，你聽完這個故事有什麼樣的或有什麼樣的啟發
你跟你所愛的人有共同的興趣嗎?你是否有長期的積累自己的知識的習慣呢?
我期待這個故事能讓你產生一些新的收穫。
出處為李清照-金石錄後序