许南金不畏鬼

Xu Nanjin was a scholar of the Qing dynasty, known for his open-minded temperament and extraordinary courage. One year, he spent the night alone in an abandoned ancient temple, reading by oil lamp. Late at night, a massive ghostly face suddenly materialized on the wall, with two eyes blazing like torches, casting an eerie green glow as they stared directly at Xu Nanjin. An ordinary person would have been scared out of their wits, but Xu Nanjin remained perfectly still, his expression unchanged. He even cracked a joke at the ghost's expense — saying he happened to be short of candlelight and could borrow the ghost's eyes to read by. Then he picked up his book, sat upright before the ghostly face, and began to read aloud composedly by those two spectral lights. Overwhelmed by his formidable spirit, the ghost ultimately slunk away in shame, never daring to appear again.

Mr. Xu Nanjin of Nanpi had an open-minded nature and feared no ghosts. Once he stayed with a friend at a Buddhist temple. At midnight, a ghostly face suddenly appeared on the wall — as large as a carriage wheel, with eyes that shoneshone (past tense of shine)
Emitting bright light; glowing with intensity.
发光，闪耀。 like blazing torches, piercing directly into Mr. Xu.

His friend's legs trembled and he nearly collapsed, but Xu smiled calmly and said, "Here you are again. What manner of demondemon
An evil spirit or malevolent supernatural being.
妖怪，鬼魅。 dares to act this way!" The ghost's eyes flickeredflickered
To shine unsteadily; to keep blinking rapidly.
闪烁不定，不停地眨眼。 ceaselessly. Xu rose, pointed at the eyes, and said, "I happen to have no candle — your eyes can serve as a candle instead." The ghost suddenly vanished.

One day, Xu was reading in the temple. By the second watch of the night, the oil lamp had burned out and he was ready to sleep. Suddenly the ghost appeared again, pressing its face against the window latticelattice
A structure of crossed wooden strips forming a grid, used in traditional Chinese windows.
窗棂，窗格。 . Its eyes blazed ever brighter, illuminating the entire room as if it were broad daylight. His friend, in the adjacent roomadjacent room
The room next door.
隔壁房间，邻室。 , had long since coweredcowered
To crouch or shrink away in fear.
瑟缩，因恐惧而蜷缩。 in silence, not daring to make a sound.

Mr. Xu calmly rose, draped his robe over his shoulders, and laughed: "The lamp has gone out, and I was just worrying about having no candle. How kind of you to come!" He then sat at his desksat at his desk
To position oneself at the reading table.
据案，坐在书桌前。 and read aloud, borrowing the light from the ghost's eyes, his voice ringing out clear and resonantclear and resonant
Describing a bright, sonorous reading voice.
琅琅，形容读书声清脆响亮。 . The ghost's eyes darteddarted
To move suddenly and quickly in different directions.
左右瞬，目光急速移动。 left and right, as if greatly unsettled. The faster Xu read, the faster the ghost's eyes blinked.

Ji YunJi Yun 纪昀
(1724–1805) Qing dynasty literatus and scholar, courtesy name Xiaolan. He served as Minister of Rites and co-editor-in-chief of the Complete Library of the Four Treasuries. Author of Notes from the Yuewei Cottage. commented: "Ghosts are to humans as the fox borrowing the tiger's mightfox borrowing the tiger's might
From the idiom 狐假虎威 — a fox uses a tiger's authority to frighten other animals. A metaphor for relying on another's power to intimidate.
狐假虎威，比喻依仗别人的势力。 . When the human heart is timid on its own, ghosts seize the opportunity. But if one's breast is filled with noble spiritbreast is filled with noble spirit
胸中浩然 — one's heart brims with righteous qi (浩然之气), the great moral energy described by Mencius.
心中充满正气，源自孟子所说的「浩然之气」。 , what can ghosts possibly do?"

He further remarked: "Mr. Xu's fearlessness toward ghosts rests not on his courage alone, but on a heart free of guilt and shame. When there are no ghosts in one's heart, ghosts cannot enter; when there are ghosts in one's heart, ghosts find their opening and come. This is the sages'sages'
Of the sages and worthies (圣贤), referring to Confucius, Mencius, and other great moral exemplars.
圣贤的，指孔子、孟子等儒家圣人。 learning of 'rectifying the heart and making the will sincere.'"

I. Ji Yun's Philosophy of "Uprightness of Heart"

This tale appears in Volume 6 of Luoyang Xiaxia Lu (Relieving Summer Boredom in Luoyang) and is one of the most beloved stories in Notes from the Yuewei Cottage. Through Xu Nanjin's words, Ji Yun articulates his core idea about ghosts and spirits: ghosts are not an external objective force, but a reflection of the human heart. If a person's inner self is open and untroubled, with no guilt in their breast, evil spirits cannot invade; conversely, if there are ghosts in one's heart and fear lurks there, ghosts will exploit the opening. This thought echoes Zhang Zai'sZhang Zai 张载
(1020–1077) Northern Song philosopher, one of the founders of Neo-Confucianism. Famous for his grand vision: "To ordain a conscience for Heaven and Earth, to secure life and fortune for the people." grand aspiration of "ordaining a conscience for Heaven and Earth" — both emphasize human agency and spiritual power.

II. Humor Overcoming Fear

The way Xu Nanjin handles the ghost is steeped in comedy. Faced with a ghastly, terrifying face, he not only shows no fear but even quips, "I happen to need a candle" and "Your head is perfect for it." This technique of dissolving terror through humor is exceptionally rare in tales of the supernatural. In most zhiguai stories, protagonists either subdue demons with magic or move ghosts through moral persuasion — but Xu Nanjin relies entirely on psychological superiority and a sense of humor to shame the ghost into retreat. This reflects Ji Yun's deep insight, as a learned and witty grand scholar, into the weaknesses of human nature: fear stems from self-imposed limitations, and humor is the sharpest weapon for breaking those chains.

The Tradition of Righteous Qi Repelling Evil

In Chinese culture, the concept of "righteous qi repelling evil" is a tradition stretching back to antiquity. As early as the pre-Qin period, the Zuo Zhuan contained the saying "demons arise from humans themselves," suggesting that supernatural disturbances are products of an unrighteous heart. By the Han dynasty, Wang ChongWang Chong 王充
(27–c. 97) Eastern Han philosopher, author of Lunheng (Critical Essays), a rationalist critique of superstition and advocate of materialism. systematically debunked ghost superstition in his Lunheng, proposing the materialist view that "the dead do not become ghosts." Song dynasty Neo-Confucians made "rectifying the heart" the core of their self-cultivation. This tradition remained deeply rooted through the Qing dynasty. Ji Yun repeatedly stressed in Notes from the Yuewei Cottage that ghosts can only come when there is a gap in the human heart; when the heart is upright, evil cannot encroach. The story of Xu Nanjin is the finest literary illustration of this tradition.

The Philosophy of "No Ghosts in the Heart"

The saying "when there are no ghosts in one's heart, ghosts cannot invade" is rich in philosophical implications. First, it is an epistemological proposition: what we fear is often a projection of our own inner state. Second, it is a self-cultivation proposition: by rectifying the heart, one can eliminate external threats. Third, it also implies a humorous philosophy of life — when facing fear, rather than fleeing in terror, one should dissolve it with an attitude of humor. Ji Yun himself was an extraordinarily witty person; legend has it that while compiling the Complete Library of the Four Treasuries, he often used humor to defuse tensions among his colleagues. This wisdom of meeting adversity with humor is precisely the core spirit that the story of Xu Nanjin seeks to convey.