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Stopping Mother's Chanting

The following little story is a joke, in which an unexpected manipulation of cultural values allows one person to outmanipulate another. Understanding the joke depends upon three principles:

  1. Confucianism provides that throughout their lives children must be attentive to their parents. The misbehaving parent of an adult child may be urged to reform, but in the end must be obeyed.
  2. China has also always exhibited a great deal of variation in the credence given to religious doctrine and the attention given to religious practice.
  3. And finally, Chinese popular stories often center on someone's clever sentence that leaves a foolish person with no retort, or causes a foolish person suddenly to experience a moment of self-insight.

The following extremely brief text illustrates all of these points, as a son cleverly silences his mother's annoying chanting.

As presented on this page, the simplified Chinese text is red and the traditional characters are blue.

Stopping Mother’s Chanting 止母念佛
止母念佛
Zhǐ Mǔ Niànfó
1. Zhái Yŏnglíng’s mother became a fervent Buddhist. 霍母皈心释氏。
霍母皈心釋氏。
Zhái mǔ guī xīn Shì shì.
2. She chanted sutras all day without stopping. 日诵佛不辍声。
日誦佛不輟聲。
Rì sòng fó, bùchuò shēng.
3. Zhái Yŏnglíng pretended to call her. 永龄佯呼之。
永齡佯呼之。
Yǒnglíng yáng hū zhī.
4. His mother would answer. 母应诺。
母應諾。
Mǔ yìng nuò.
5. Then he would call again, without stopping. 又呼不已。
又呼不已。
Yòu hū bùyǐ.
6. His mother became angry and said: 母愠曰:
母慍曰:
Mǔ yùn yuē:
7. “You have nothing to say; why do you keep calling?” 「无有, 何频呼也?」
「無有, 何頻呼也?」
“Wúyǒu, hé pín hū yě?”
8. Zhái Yŏnglíng replied: “I have called you three or four times and you’re unhappy. 永龄曰: 「吾呼母三四,母便不悦。
永齡曰: 「吾呼母三四,母便不悅。
Yǒnglíng yuē: “Wú hū mǔ sān-sì, mǔ biàn bùyuè.
9. But the Buddha gets called by you thousands of times a day. 彼佛者日为母呼千万声。
彼佛者日爲母呼千萬聲。
Bǐ Fózhě rì wéi mǔ hū qiān-wàn shēng.
10. What must his annoyance be like?” 其怒当何如?」
其怒當何如?」
Qí nù dāng hérú?”
11. And this way his mother realized her mistake. 母为少悟。
母爲少悟。
Mǔ wéi shào wù.
Source:
Proprietor of the Studio of Fine Cups (Míng dynasty)
"Elegant Mockeries" 		— 浮白斋主人《雅谑》
— 浮白齋主人《雅謔》
— Fúbái Zhāi Zhǔrén «Yǎ Nuè»

 

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