This is a veritable small book, but the experience is not simple.In the mid-1950s, Ceylon (which had not yet been changed to Sri Lanka at that time) edited the encyclopedia, and the Chinese Buddhist section entrusted the Buddhist Association of China to draft entries on its behalf, and found a suitable person to write it.One of the entries is "Buddhism and Chinese Literature". When looking for a writer, it is said that even those who are competent are unwilling to take up the post. In the end, they have to use secular methods related to Buddhism. If they can't find monks, they will catch the bald ones.It was Mr. Zhou Shujia who was responsible for the arrest.Mr. Zhou followed the old way, he came to the door in person without passing on the order, probably guessing that I would also thank Bumin, so he used a unique trick when he opened his mouth, which was: "I beg you with one thing, if you agree, you must agree, and if you don't agree, you must agree." Mr. Zhou is The seniors I have always respected made it clear that there was no room for negotiation, so I had no choice but to express my attitude before I knew what was going on, and as long as I could do it, I would definitely obey.Then specify what you want.I know it's not easy, but I have no choice but to ask for content and time requirements.However, the content can be full and smooth, even tens of thousands of words; the deadline for submission can be as long as half a year.So I thought about the content and structure a little, and rushed to write.At that time, it was still a period when public and private must be distinguished, and only spare time could be used.It will take a few months. After finishing writing and counting the pages, it is roughly 50,000 words. It is estimated that they followed the example of the ninth edition of "Encyclopedia Britannica". .It didn't take long to find out that Mr. Zhou was not an editorial board member, and the words "it's okay to be smooth" are just speculations.The manuscript was returned, saying that it was hoped to be compressed into three or several thousand words.This is naturally more difficult.I was very busy at the time, and luckily Mr. Zhou didn't bother me about this matter, so I had room for maneuver, so I declined on the grounds that I didn't have time to revise it temporarily.In the blink of an eye, I went through several sports, large and small, until the early 1980s.At that time, I ate from east to west, went to the city, and lived with my old friend Xuan Weng for many years. Zhou Jun of Anhui Education Publishing House asked Xuan Weng to make an appointment for a manuscript, and asked me if I could write something about logic or language.I said no.It is presumed that Xuan Weng had the good intention of matching, Zhou Jun not only persuaded him once, but also said that other natures are also acceptable.I suddenly remembered that there was still a bag of this bundle, so I told Zhou Jun.He actually expressed interest.After that, find out, take a rough look, and submit the manuscript.This became the one published in 1984, thin, less than a hundred pages.

Not long after it was published, some discerning readers said that the writing method is an outline, and the main body is preferable, as if there is a lack of branches and leaves. I hope that I can add some branches and leaves, for example, if it can be expanded to about 200,000 words, it will be more useful to readers.The publishing house expected me to do the same.I agree with this view, but it is difficult to do so.I am old, and in my lifetime, I think I should write, and there are still many unwritten, which is one.The second is that you are naturally unwilling to follow the familiar path, because although you save effort, you can't enjoy the fun of "the willows are dark and the flowers brighten another village".So I still declined with apologetic heart.This time I had the opportunity to make a new print, so I re-read it, but I still had the old idea. Although I knew that it would be better to grow some branches and leaves on the bare trunk, but I couldn't do it.Printed books need to be sold, but what can I say if they fail to follow the trend of commercialization and meet the needs of customers?It's just a brief history of Chen Chengshu, so that generous readers can understand the situation.

Zhang Zhongxing On July 1, 1992, in Yanyuan, a suburb of Beijing