
27. 人無遠(yuǎn)慮,必有近憂
(一)
《論語·衛(wèi)靈公》15.12:子曰“人無遠(yuǎn)慮,必有近憂?!?/p>
(二)
就這一句的釋義,諸家大同小異,如:
楊伯峻《論語譯注》:孔子說:“一個(gè)人沒有長遠(yuǎn)的考慮,一定會(huì)有眼前的憂患。”
李澤厚《論語今讀》:孔子說:“人沒有長遠(yuǎn)的考慮,必然會(huì)有近在眼前的憂愁。”
徐志剛《論語通譯》:孔子說:“人沒有對將來的考慮,必定會(huì)有近在眼前的憂患?!?/p>
錢穆《論語新解》:先生說:“一個(gè)人若不能有久遠(yuǎn)之慮,則必然有朝夕之憂。”
這些釋義從結(jié)構(gòu)形式上講譯出了原句里“有”與“無”、“遠(yuǎn)”與“近”的巧妙對照,而從句義上講,卻沒有再現(xiàn)原句里的邏輯,令人禁不住地疑惑:“為什么沒有長遠(yuǎn)考慮,就會(huì)有眼前憂患?”
這就關(guān)系到“遠(yuǎn)”“近”的理解了。
朱熹《論語集注》里注道:“蘇氏曰: 人之所履者,容足之外,皆為無用之地,而不可廢也。故慮不在千里之外,則患在幾席之下矣?!薄K氏這個(gè) “故”字“故”得甚無邏輯:為何無用之地不可廢,我們且不問,只問“為何要無幾席之患須慮千里之外?”程樹德《論語集釋》中所引《四書辨疑》辨駁得很清楚:“蘇氏論地理遠(yuǎn)近,義有未安。君子以正心修身為本,近思約守,事來則應(yīng),未聞所慮必須長在千里外也。存心于千里之外,以備幾席之間,咫尺之患,計(jì)亦疏矣。遠(yuǎn),久遠(yuǎn)也。但凡作事不為將來久遠(yuǎn)之慮,必有日近傾敗之憂也?!?/p>
這種把“遠(yuǎn)”“近”解釋成空間距離的,錢穆《論語新解》里也提到了:此章遠(yuǎn)近有兩解:一以地言,人之所履者,容足之外,皆為無用之地,而不可廢也。故慮不在千里之外,則患在幾席之下矣。一以時(shí)言,凡事不作久遠(yuǎn)之慮,則必有日近頃敗之憂。錢穆接下來還說:惟所謂遠(yuǎn)慮者,乃正謀,非私計(jì)。如古人戒子孫蓄財(cái)多害,蓄財(cái)似為遠(yuǎn)慮,而不知其非也。分辨遠(yuǎn)慮的“正與不正”或許源于《論語集注補(bǔ)正述疏》:所謂遠(yuǎn)慮者,以正謀,非以私計(jì)也。——我有時(shí)忍不住疑惑,解經(jīng)釋典應(yīng)當(dāng)振葉尋根,為什么大家凈尋歧枝攀?
“遠(yuǎn)”“近”不是說空間距離,而是說時(shí)間,“人無遠(yuǎn)慮,必有近憂”就是要告訴人們凡事要早作打算,否則,事到近前,必有憂患。
(三)
這句流傳至今,已成成語,《漢典》里釋義為:人沒有長遠(yuǎn)的考慮,一定會(huì)出現(xiàn)眼前的憂患。表示看事做事應(yīng)該有遠(yuǎn)大的眼光,周密的考慮?!鋵?shí),說要有“長遠(yuǎn)”眼光可以,說“遠(yuǎn)大”眼光就偏了。強(qiáng)調(diào)事要早考慮,卻沒強(qiáng)調(diào)“考慮要周密”。
(四)
1. 潘富恩、溫少霞《論語今譯》:The Master said, “If a man takes no thought about what is far off, he will find troubles near at hand.”
2. 丁往道《論語精選》:Confucius said, “He who does not think of the future is certain to have immidiate worries.”“近”譯成“即將到來”而不是“事到眼前”,這樣,“慮若不遠(yuǎn),憂難就在眼前”里的因果關(guān)系仍然不清楚。
3. 辜鴻銘《論語英譯》:Confucious remarked, “If a man takes no thought for the morrow, he will be sorry before to-day is out.”“before to-day is out”過分強(qiáng)調(diào)憂“近”了。只以“morrow”譯“遠(yuǎn)”字,“遠(yuǎn)”字強(qiáng)調(diào)“早作打算”的含義又沒有突出。
4. 亞瑟·韋利譯:The Master said, He who will not worry about what is far off will soon find something worse than worry close at hand. 似在強(qiáng)調(diào)“憂”比“慮”更重更糟糕。他在注釋里說:“Yu is a much stronger word than lü”。其實(shí),“慮”是“打算,計(jì)劃,考慮”,而不是“憂慮”。
5. 李天辰《〈論語〉漢英對照讀本》的英語“引言”里說:The usual modern Chinese translation of it is “一個(gè)人沒有長遠(yuǎn)的考慮,一定會(huì)有眼前的憂患”;and the word-for-word English translation will be “If a man does not give thought to problems which are still distant, he will have worries close at hand.” The meaning of the translation is rather vague and hard to grasp. To make its meaning clear, we put it as “一個(gè)人沒有長遠(yuǎn)的考慮,事到眼前,必有憂患”,with the corresponding English version as “If a man does not give thought to problems which are still distant, he will be worried by them when they come close at hand.” ——所言在理。
