The first thing to know is the origin of this sentence. This sentence is the content of the section "Learning Calligraphy" in Jie Jin's Miscellanies of Spring Rain. The original text is as follows:
The method of learning books is not taught by mouth, but by heart. The important thing is to face Gu Mo, bend shelves, pinch pipes and break books, so as to have time. Zhang Zhi's book about Linchi is out of ink. Prime Minister Zhong entered Baodu Mountain for ten years, and all the wood and stones were black. Lord Zhao Ziang hasn't been downstairs for ten years. Zhang Zi, a native of Zhangping, sits in his office every day and writes 1000 words before meals. Emperor Taizong lit a candle in the middle of the night and began to learn the Preface to Lanting. Chinese characters must be hidden in a shelf. When the ancients learned books, they either built bricks or got stuck in a few stones.
I think everyone understands the meaning of the above, that is to say, practicing calligraphy requires perseverance to achieve ancient calligraphy skills. There are many examples in the article. Ray Old Master Q said that it is not accurate enough to describe it as Emperor Taizong's hard practice of calligraphy. The accurate answer is: describe Tang Taizong's unremitting practice of calligraphy.
As we all know, Emperor Taizong liked Wang Xizhi's calligraphy, especially Wang Xizhi's Preface to the Lanting Pavilion. Therefore, the problem of "learning Lanting by candlelight in the middle of the night" put forward by the landlord cannot be interpreted as "learning to write Lanting by lighting candles in the middle of the night". A more accurate explanation should be: getting up at night and holding candles to copy the artistic conception of Lanting.
Here, it is shallow to interpret "candle" as "burning candle". As we all know, there was no electric light in ancient times, and lighting candles was not necessarily bright. Only by moving the candle closer can we see clearly. Therefore, there is an ancient saying that "reading by candlelight at night", so the word "candle" in the landlord's question is best translated into "holding a candle". Similarly, it is blunt to translate "midnight" into "midnight". Classical Chinese translation pays attention to faithfulness and elegance. In the original text, "ban" is only a limited adverb, which refers to "night" in general, not "midnight" in particular. Mr Ray Old Master Q's translation of Midnight is a blunt understanding.
In addition, the word "the emperor's simple board immediately" is an inverted sentence of time, and the word "the emperor" is an adverb of the name, which refers to the time when he became emperor. "Right away" means when riding a horse to fight. According to the custom of ancient poetry, it was written as "the word of the emperor's simple board immediately", which was translated by Lei Old Master Q into "Emperor Taizong riding a horse and practicing calligraphy with a simple board in his hand", which was very funny. Riding a horse requires writing on horseback. I think the ancients knew how inconvenient it was to practice writing on horseback, no matter how hard Hengxin tried. More importantly, since ancient times, no one has emphasized the desirability of practicing calligraphy on horseback. Therefore, the accurate translation of this sentence should be: after Emperor Taizong became emperor, he learned the calligraphy on the simplified Chinese character board (the simplified Chinese character version played by ministers), and he was still diligent in practicing calligraphy during those years of riding horses.
The original text should be translated into:
During his riding years, Emperor Taizong was still diligent in practicing calligraphy. After he became emperor, he learned the calligraphy on bamboo slips (bamboo slips played by ministers) and often got up at night to copy the artistic conception of the brushwork of Preface to Lanting.