仙界方七日 人间已千年——古代游仙文学的相对时空观

A Seven-day Travelling to Fairyland,A Thousand-year living in the Human World ——On The Relativity of Time and Space in Chinese Ancient Iiterature of Mystical Excursion

在中国古代的游仙文学里存在一个古老的信仰 ,当人进入一个特殊的空间 (如仙境 )或神圣容器 (洞窟、葫芦等 )时 ,和人间相比 ,时间的流速会变慢 ,正所谓“仙界方七日 ,人间已千年”。于是许多游仙文学以之为吟咏对象 ,形成“沧海桑田”和“地久天长”两个意象。追溯这一时空观的来源 。

There is a belief in Chinese ancient literature of mystical excursion that time goes much more slowly in fairlyland than in the human world.An ancient poet expresses it in a poem.“If one stays in the fairyland for seven days,a thousand years have passed in the human world”.There are similar expressions in many ancient literary works of mystical excursion.As a result,the images of “from seas into mulberry fields and from mulberry fields into seas”and “enduring as the universe”.come into being Such ideas on time and space may be traced back to Taoists' practice of austerities.