The Carnal Prayer Mat

notes

[1] Li Yu thought he had been born in 1611, but the clan genealogy says 1610. He died early in 1680.

[2]Gonggong was a term of address for a eunuch and also for a grandfather.

[3] The Bencao gangmu of Li Shizhen, first published in 1593.

[4] The kidneys (and the sex functions) are related to the water element, the heart to fire.

[5] The ideal political system advocated by the philosopher Mencius.

[6] Li Yu is apparently speaking of ginseng rather than aconite. The best ginseng grew in Manchuria and the next best in Korea. The better varieties were known as daodi, that is, genuine.

[7] I have used italics to mark passages of simulated address by the audience to the storyteller/narrator. Simple questions from the audience are not italicized.

[8] The victims of amorous excess.

[9] The allusion is to the Zhuang Zi. See Burton Watson, trans., The Complete Works of Chuang Tzu (New York: Columbia University Press, 1968), p. 313: "Now suppose there were a man here who took the priceless pearl of the Marquis of Sui and used it as a pellet to shoot at a sparrow a thousand yards up in the air-the world would certainly laugh at him."

[10] These are the titles of the first two sections of the "Songs of the States" in the Poetry Classic (Book of Songs). They stand for the "Songs" as a whole, many of which are about love.

[11] For this passage, see D. C. Lau, trans., Mencius (London: Penguin Books, 1970), pp. 65–66. King Tai's flight was a migration to a new settlement. Note that the words Li Yu puts into the puritan's mouth parody Mencius's lecturing style.

[12] The last rulers of the Xia and Shang dynasties, respectively, who were famous for their gargantuan debaucheries.

[13] A reference to the Buddhist parable of the burning house (Lotus Sutra).

[14] The olive, with its bitter taste, stands for a salutary lesson.

[15] A legendary body of water. Although shallow, it is uncrossable; even a feather will sink.

[16] There were eight or nine sacred mountains.

[17] The poet Tao Qian (A.D. 365–427). See his "Biography of Mr. Five Willows."

[18] See the story "The Priest Moonbright Saves Liu Cui" in Gujin xiaoshuo, Stories Old and New, published about 1621.

[19] The poet, who lived from A.D. 210 to 263. White (contracted) pupils signify disdain, black (dilated) pupils signify approval and pleasure. We are told in his biography (Jin History 49) that Ruan revealed his mood by purposely making his eyes white or black.

[20] See the poem "Ting liao" in the Poetry Classic. It is translated by Arthur Waley in The Book of Songs (New York: Grove Press, 1987), p. 191.

[21] Liu Fen, a Tang candidate, was failed by the examiners for criticizing current policies. Li Bai is the famous poet (whose name is usually written Li Po).

[22] Yue Fei and Guan Yu personified patriotism and personal honor, respectively.

[23] Pan An and Wei Jie personified male beauty.

[24] The reference is to the legend of a Buddhist priest whose sermons were so powerful that they moved the surrounding rocks or stones to nod their heads.

[25] See Sidney Shapiro, trans., Outlaws of the Marsh (Peking: Foreign Languages Press; and Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1981). The novel probably dates back to the fourteenth century, but reached its present form in the sixteenth.

[26] See Clement Egerton, trans., The Golden Lotus (New York: Paragon Book Gallery, 1972). A famous erotic novel, it probably was written in the late sixteenth century.

[27] Heroine of the best-known Chinese romantic play, The West Chamber (Xixiang ji), written at the end of the thirteenth century.

[28] Zhuo Wenjun, who eloped with the Han poet Sima Xiangru in a romance that was much celebrated in later poetry and drama.

[29] The famous poet (A.D. 192–232).

[30] The expression lean ponies refers to girls on sale in Yangzhou, a well-known marketplace for concubines.

[31] Lü was one of the Eight Immortals of Taoism.

[32] Respectively, the Lienü zhuan by Liu Xiang (79-6 B.C.) and the Nü Xiao jing of the Tang dynasty.

[33] One of the Four Books of Confucianism, here used in a punning sense to mean middle of the road, routine.

[34] Vaginal intercourse with the man on his side behind the woman.

[35] Vaginal intercourse with the woman on top of the man.

[36] The famous artist and poet (1254–1322).

[37]Xiuta yeshi, Ruyi Jun zhuan, and Chi pozi zhuan, respectively. The first was written by the playwright Lü Tiancheng about 1600, the second by an anonymous author perhaps in the middle of the sixteenth century, and the third by another anonymous author in the early decades of the seventeenth.

[38] The Lord of Mengchang was the archetypal feudal patron. Jing Ke attempted to assassinate the First Emperor of the Qin. Biographies of both men appear in the Shi ji.

[39] The Girl in Red appears in the Tang story " Kunlun nu."

[40] Zhi is the archetypal robber referred to in the Analects of Confucius as well as in the Zhuang Zi.

[41] Red Whisk appears in the Tang story "Curlybeard" (Qiuran ke zhuan).

[42] The terms are those for the top candidates in the civil service examinations (zhuangyuan, etc.). Their Latin equivalents have been feminized here.

[43] The divine beings of the "Gaotang Rhapsody" (attributed to Song Yu, third century B.C.) and the "Luo Goddess Rhapsody" of Cao Zhi, respectively.

[44] The lines come from the song "Junzi jie lao" of the Poetry Classic. See Arthur Waley, trans., The Book of songs, p. 77.

[45] The classic beauty. Even her frown was imitated by other women.

[46] The Tang beauty, consort of Emperor Xuanzong.

[47] Zhang, a Han official, was famous for painting his wife's eyebrows. He Yan, a Wei official of Three Kingdoms times, had a face so pale the emperor suspected him of using powder.

[48] Name for part of the eight-legged examination essay.

[49] King Xiang had the romantic encounter described in the "Gaotang Rhapsody."

[50] Xue, the fabled lover of the Empress Wu, was noted for the enormous size of his penis. See the Ruyi Jun zhuan.

[51] The world of the dead.

[52] The words for south and male are both pronounced nan.

[53] The image comes originally from the famous military treatise Sun Zi.

[54] A story that is told in Chapter Seventeen.

[55] The character zhong consists of a circle bisected by a straight line. The character lü consists of two mouths linked together.

[56] The maid in The West Chamber, who carries messages between the lovers.

[57] An Eastern Han figure famous for regular, pithy criticism of his neighbors.

[58] According to the parable, a crane and a clam were preoccupied with fighting each other, when a fisherman came by and caught them both.

[59] Zhu was a woodcutter whose wife grew impatient with poverty and left him just before he succeeded in life.

[60] Taisui, who presides over the planet Jupiter. A baleful god, he punishes those who offend his taboos even slightly.

[61] The woman in Chinese mythology who stole her husband's elixir of immortality and fled to the moon.

[62] Bao, who lived in the early part of the Zhou dynasty, was famous for his self-sacrificing friendship with Guan Zhong. Curlybeard is the hero of the Tang story of that name.

[63] From the song "Jing nü" in the Poetry Classic. See The Book of Songs, p. 33: "But you were given by a beautiful girl."

[64] The Mount of Jades and Jasper Terrace are abodes of the immortals. The clouds and the rain refer to King Xiang's erotic encounter on Mount Wu. Swallow is Zhao Feiyan, a palace beauty of the Han dynasty. The spring winds strip the flowers from the trees, as beauty is ravaged by time; spring is thus the season for the pangs of unfulfilled love. Aloeswood is the name of the pavilion in which the Emperor and Guifei were sitting when Li Bai was allegedly called in to compose the poems.

[65] Qingming was the spring festival, a time for tending the graves of one's ancestors. Traditionally only cold food was eaten.

[66] This idiom is based on an anecdote in the Shishuo xinyu. On the road to Shanyin there was so much beautiful scenery that the traveler was completely engrossed.

[67] Two classic references; cf. burning one's bridges.

[68] A Confucian classic, allegedly compiled by Confucius himself, which is said to make its moral judgments implicitly.

[69] A fearless historian of the sixth or seventh century B.C., whose writings do not survive.

[70] The Zheng and Wei sections contain the most risqué love songs in the Poetry Classic.

[71] Zhuo Wenjun eloped with the poet Sima Xiangru in a famous romance. Her father was Zhuo Wangsun.

[72] This expression is based on a joke about a man who, wanting to hide his money, buried it and put up a sign saying, "There's no money here."

[73] See D. C. Lau, trans., The Analects (London: Penguin Books, 1979), p. 108.

[74] A reference to Confucius's bumptious messenger boy. See The Analects, p. 131.

[75] The reference is to the "Tale of Immortals" (Shenxian zhuan); see the Taiping guangji, 61. This tale, which belongs to a common type, tells how two young men, Liu and Ruan, meet and fall in love with two divine maidens. It is a leitmotif that runs through Vesperus's encounter with the three young women and signals the fact that this part of the novel belongs to a different order of reality. The reference to sesame in Vesperus's reply is from the same tale.

[76]Chujing, as well as meaning come from the classics, is a pun on emit semen and put forth strength. Candles presumably refer to Dousing the Candle.

[77] The character pin consists of three mouths in close conjunction.

[78] The character chuan consists of two circles bisected by a straight line.

[79] A famous strategist who aided in the founding of the Han dynasty.

[80] A reclusive poet (A.D. 967-1028). He never married, but grew plum trees and raised cranes, calling the plum trees his wives and the cranes his children. Note that one term for a maidservant is meixiang: plum fragrance.

[81] The story is Feng Menglong's "The Old Student Repays a Debt of Gratitude Over Three Generations."

[82] The allusion is to the Han dynasty general Han Xin, who was "ashamed to be ranked with Jiang and Guan." Jiang was Zhou Bo (enfieffed as Marquis Jiang); Guan was Guan Ying. See Han Xin's biography (Shi ji, 92).

[83] From the Poetry Classic. See The Book of Songs, p. 253.

[84] A variety of the guess-fingers game in which the winners are given the titles of the top examination graduates.

[85] The Old Scholar: the perennial failure.

[86] See The Analects, p. 64.

[87]Lang sheng (sound of waves) is a pun on lewd sounds.

[88] This is a Taoist technique of male rejuvenation.

[89] In a famous story Wang was supported in his studies by Gui Ying and swore vows of eternal love. Then, after succeeding in the civil service examinations, he married someone else. After Gui Ying had killed herself, her ghost claimed Wang's life.

[90] A Buddhist notion, it denotes a salutary shock administered by a religious mentor.

[91]East of the River was the base from which Xiang Yu, a contender for the empire during the decline of the Qin dynasty, launched his campaign. In defeat, he spurned the idea of returning and beginning all over again. The Pure Land is the Buddhist Western Paradise, which holds the hope of perfect happiness.

[92] In the Zhou dynasty, the states of Wu and Yue were legendary enemies.

[93] A reference to Sudhana, whose visits to religious luminaries occupy much of the Huayan Sutra.

[94] The goddess of mercy.

[95] The quotation is from Mencius. See D. C. Lau, trans., Mencius, p. 52. Confucius condemned the use of burial images because he thought they encouraged human sacrifice.

[96] The quotation is adapted from Mencius, where Confucius is described as defending his composition of The Spring and Autumn Annals. See D. C. Lau, trans., Mencius, p. 114: "Those who understand me will do so through the Spring and Autumn Annals; those who condemn me will also do so because of the Spring and Autumn Annals."