梁の徐勉の「誡子書」

Abstract

The "admonition to my son", presented to his son Song 崧 by Xu Mian (466-535 C.E.) of the Liang Dynasty, is a particularly interesting text that affords an initial examination of the household economy of a high official in sixth-century Jiang-nan. According to this text, in preparation for the marriage of his sons, nicknamed Hui-ri 慧日 and Shi-zhu 十住, Xu Mian completed the building of "two houses for his sons and grandsons" on the residence of his mansion located at the Qing-ming 清明 gate in the capital, using "nanhuan-zhi-zi 南還之資" of Shi-zhu. "Nanhuan-zhi-zi" is believed to be money Shi-zhu acquired when serving as a regional official in the south, possibly in Lingnan 嶺南. However as this sum was not sufficient for building expenses, Xu Mian was forced to sell the "little garden" in Dong-tian 東田, on which he had exerted every effort over a twenty-year period to create, for the sum of "100 gold". 0f this amount, half went to defray the cost of the building expenses mentioned above, and the remainder was given to Song to allow him to build the "little house in the field" on property he had purchased in Gu-shu 姑孰. In going against the Xu family tradition of not "undertaking the management of productive enterprises, Xu Mian felt obliged to express some indication that he felt this to be a cause for shame. Xu quotes phrases from Buddhist writings, such as "material wealth is called the external life", and from the Book of Change of the Confucian canon which states that "what brings people together is called wealth", in order to justify his attitude. At the same time, Xu yields his status as head of the family to Song and declares that from that point onward he will not interfere in any way whatsoever in the "affairs of the fields".