文竹

周領(lǐng)順

盆景在于景，盆栽的松樹(shù)下擺放兩個(gè)泥塑的小人，“松下問(wèn)童子”之景便可呈現(xiàn)在眼前，只是難以掩飾人工雕琢的痕跡。但一盆簡(jiǎn)約的文竹，卻能呈現(xiàn)別樣的景致2，絕非一般的綠植所能比。

“文竹”與“竹”3相對(duì)，“文”即“柔和”，“文竹”取柔和之竹之意，儼然是拿竹子外形所作的比附。拉丁語(yǔ)將文竹稱為Asparagus fern/setaceus，但還是中文的命名更富詩(shī)意，有文弱書(shū)生或古典美人般的聯(lián)想。既作“文竹”，自然要和真正的竹子做一番比較。

置身竹下，或觀竹葉冷日，或感竹影婆娑4，微風(fēng)徐徐，窸窣之聲滿耳。凝視文竹，也能體味自己倚竹而立的遐思，若盆里文竹茂密，還能體會(huì)一把王維的“獨(dú)坐幽篁里，彈琴?gòu)?fù)長(zhǎng)嘯”，并在其竹里館里流連。文竹是竹子的縮微版，愛(ài)竹及文竹，反之亦然，也是愛(ài)竹人士斷難將二者割舍之處。

無(wú)論是竹子還是文竹，莫不剛?cè)嵯酀?jì)，兼武將軍與文小姐于一身。剛，體現(xiàn)于骨節(jié)狀的莖，一節(jié)一節(jié)，努力向上攀附，但整體又被柔美所籠罩，身修長(zhǎng)而葉纖細(xì)5，婀娜備至。文竹更柔于竹，竹葉有寬有窄，從寬到窄作流線狀，葉面有紋路直指葉尖6，而文竹的葉子通體宛若松針，努力“文”而難顯變化的輪廓和紋路。難怪文竹也稱“云片松”，松針般的葉子排列為片云，層次分明。鄭板橋所作的竹子水墨畫(huà)，除了在竹節(jié)上用力外，在葉子上也頗有講究，寬窄由之，深淺由之，但面對(duì)文竹之葉，怕是難盡其長(zhǎng)。文竹長(zhǎng)到長(zhǎng)如蔓7，似大姑娘梳理的及腰發(fā)辮，飄飄然，嫵媚盡顯。俯視文竹，猶如薄紗罩身;仰視文竹，猶如亂云飛渡，文竹有景在處處8。

竹比君子，文人雅士頗愛(ài)之，蘇東坡有詩(shī)云，“不可居無(wú)竹”“無(wú)竹令人俗”。將文竹置于書(shū)桌，馳騁思維，修心養(yǎng)性9，可使案牘免于勞形。不善打理花草者，可將文竹養(yǎng)到至簡(jiǎn)，除了偶爾施水外，修剪全無(wú)。枝干或有枯黃，但枯黃的枝干既無(wú)腐敗之味，又能昂首挺立10。綠黃雜處，層林浸染，疊翠流金，但有較大震動(dòng)，也能見(jiàn)到縮微版風(fēng)過(guò)松濤、金黃鋪地的勝景。若是黛玉看見(jiàn)，說(shuō)不定會(huì)作上一篇凄婉的《葬葉詞》，與《葬花詞》并為姊妹。文竹似竹也似松，歲寒三友松竹梅，文竹一身具二，能不動(dòng)人！

文竹是心理顯微鏡，張弛的是想象力11。不像一盆普通的綠植，止于眼見(jiàn)之實(shí)，不縮不放，限制了想象的空間12。縱觀文竹之優(yōu)，我道是：小景天地闊，凝神觀文竹13。? ? ? ?□

Penjing takes advantage of plants to design a landscape. Two clay figurines set under the little potted pine may present “I asked the boy beneath the pine tree” scene as written in the poem by Jia Dao except that the artifice and human skills are traceable with ease. However， a pot of unpruned wenzhu （asparagus fern/setaceus in Latin） is able to make a different view， which no other plants have the power to exhibit.

With a shared Chinese character zhu （bamboo） in their name though， wenzhu and zhu are simply compared in the way they look， and the former， implanted by the Chinese character wen with the indication of “gentleness”， thus means “bamboo of gentleness”. Comparably， its Chinese name， making it easily imaged as a gentle scholar or a woman of classic beauty， has the feel of being poetic. Since it is named as wenzhu， it is of logic to compare it with zhu.

One stands himself by the bamboo， watching its leaves shade him against the sun or bamboo shadows sway dancingly， breezes gentle and rustlings in his ears. Gazing at wenzhu， one may also lapse into the reverie that he is lost in when leaning on the bamboo. If the potted wenzhu happens to be thick， one is able to experience what the poet Wang Wei writes as “Alone in a remote bamboo forest， I play tunes on the strings and chant along” and would like to linger in his retreat among bamboos. Wenzhu is the miniature of zhu so that one will love both if he loves either of them and that its hard for zhu lovers to disconnect them.