A Record of the Tae Studio (泰齋)泰齋記
夫緣境而漸染者。人之情也。耳猒嘈哳而不聞淸溜之聲。目倦華靡而不矚靑山之色。則煩滯之心。有時而萌矣。然山水之勝。求諸遠則易。求諸近則難。故求之城中而未得。則之郊圻之外。之郊圻之外而未得。則尙無可奈何矣。惟其慕肥遁樂獨善。高蹈遠遊者然後得之也。是以。愛山水之篤者。不可享富貴之樂。嗜富貴之深者。不得致山水之美。而兼之者鮮矣。今知奏事于公居富貴之中。致山水之美。以帝城猶謂之遠。遂卜於帝闕之傍。是昔鄭員外所居也。當時茂苑殘莊而已。公得之。尋泉脈之攸出。築石而甃之。凡飮吸盥漱。煎茶點藥之用。皆仰此井。因泉之汎濫者。瀦作大池。被以菱芡。放鵝鴨其中。至於風軒水榭花塢竹閣。無不侈其制。使三十六洞之景。盡入於朱門華屋之內矣。又何必肥遁遠遊。然後享山水之樂耶。公指崇丘之亞然者曰。此予之望闕臺也。予歎曰。旨哉。公之名是臺也。今公以喉舌之任。朝夕密邇龍顔。猶謂之未足居。必近於帝闕。又尙以爲未足。而乃成望闕之臺。此眞古所謂心罔不在王室者也。又指岌然高者曰望月臺也。翼然如飛者曰快心亭也。因謂予。曰予之標榜也如是。予所未名者。子爲我名之也。予謹名其園曰芳華。井曰噴玉。池曰涵碧。竹軒曰種玉。皆言其狀也。摠而名其齋曰泰。易泰卦。有之曰天地交而萬物通。上下交而其志同。今公當君子道長之時。佐王同志財成輔相。使萬物大通而天地交泰。然後體逸心泰。得此優游之樂。則吾以泰名齋。不中的歟。先是。公使內翰李眉叟記快心亭。已書于生絹障子。立其亭之右。又使予作此記。欲對峙於其左。其好事如此。眉叟。文之雄者也。狀物周悉。故於此略之。第敍所以名之之意耳。
Now it is the way of a man's feeling that it takes occasion from the place about it and is dyed by it little by little. When the ear is sick of noisy sound and cannot hear the running of clear water, and the eye is worn out with the splendid and the sumptuous and cannot see the green of the hills, then a troubled and blocked mind sprouts up from time to time.
But the excellence of hill and water is easy to seek far off and hard to seek near at hand. Therefore, when a man seeks it within the city and does not get it, he goes out to the fields beyond the city; and when he goes out to the fields beyond the city and still does not get it, there is nothing more to be done. Only one who longs after a hidden life and delights in being good alone, who treads high places and roams far off, gets it at last. For this reason he whose love of hill and water is deep does not enjoy the pleasures of wealth and rank, and he whose delight in wealth and rank is deep does not achieve the beauty of hill and water; and rare is the man who has both together.
Now a certain Duke, the Administrator of Memorials (知奏事), dwells in the midst of wealth and rank and yet has achieved the beauty of hill and water. Holding even the walled capital too far off, he settled at last beside the palace itself, in the place where Jeong, the Supernumerary Officer (鄭員外), lived of old. In those days it was no more than a wasted country house with an overgrown garden.
The Duke got it and sought out the place where the vein of the spring comes forth, and heaped it with stone and built it up with brick. For drinking and for washing the face, for rinsing the mouth, for brewing tea and for decocting medicine, all look to this well. Following the overflow of the spring he gathered the water and made a great pond, covered it with water chestnut and prickly waterlily, and set geese and ducks upon it. And in the windy hall, the pavilion by the water, the flower bank and the house of bamboo, there is nothing whose fashioning he has not made sumptuous, so that he has brought the views of the thirty-six valleys all within a red gate and a splendid house. Why, then, must one live hidden and roam far off before one may enjoy the pleasure of hill and water?
The Duke pointed to a steep bluff and said: 「This is my Terrace for Gazing at the Palace (望闕臺).」 I exclaimed and said: 「How fine it is, that you have named this terrace so. Now you, with the charge of the throat and the tongue, are near your lord's face morning and evening, and yet, holding that your dwelling is not close enough, you must needs come near the palace; and holding even that not close enough, you have gone on to make a terrace for gazing at the palace. This is truly what the men of old called 『a mind that was never once away from the royal house』.」
Then he pointed to one that stood up high and said 「This is the Terrace for Gazing at the Moon (望月臺)」, and to one that flew up as though with spread wings and said 「This is the Pavilion of a Glad Heart (快心亭)」. And he went on to say to me: 「What I have named is such as this. What I have not been able to name, do you name for me.」
I respectfully called his garden 「Fragrant Splendor (芳華)」, his well 「Spouting Jade (噴玉)」, his pond 「Steeped in Green (涵碧)」, and his bamboo hall 「Planting Jade (種玉)」, and all of these speak of what they look like. The house as a whole I named 「Tae (泰)」, which is Peace.
In the hexagram Tae (泰) of the Book of Changes (周易) it is said: 「Heaven and earth hold intercourse and all things get through; above and below hold intercourse and their purposes are the same.」 Now the Duke, meeting the time when the way of the gentleman grows, aids his lord and is one with him in purpose, cutting to measure and helping, so that all things get through greatly and heaven and earth hold intercourse and there is peace; and after that, his body at ease and his mind ample, he has got this pleasure of roaming at leisure. Does not my naming the house 「Tae」 hit the mark?
Before this the Duke had the Academician of the Inner Court (內翰), Yi Misu (李眉叟), make a 「Record of the Pavilion of a Glad Heart」, and it has already been written upon a screen of raw silk and set up at the right of that pavilion; and he wished to have me make this record and set it up facing it on the left. Such is his fondness for these things. Misu is a giant among writers. His drawing of things is complete and thorough, and so it is left out here, and I only unfold the meaning of the names, and no more.