陆游·《老学庵笔记·赵广断指画观音》英译

赵广，合肥人，本李伯时家小吏。伯时作画，每使侍左右，久之遂善画，尤工作马，几能乱真。建炎中陷贼，贼闻其善画，使图所掳妇人。广毅然辞以实不能画。胁以白刃，不从。遂断右手拇指遣去。而广平生实用左手。乱定，惟画观音大师而已。又数年乃死。今士大夫所藏伯时观音，多广笔也。

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Painting the Bodhisattva Guanyin with One

Zhao Guang, a native of Hefei, had been a studio---boy at the home of the famous painter Li Boshi during the Northern Song Dynasty. When Li Boshi was painting, the boy frequently served at his side. Day after day he became better at painting as well, especially at painting horses, which were perfect enough to pass off as Li Boshi’s genuine works.

During the reign of the Emperor Song Gaozong(Jian’an), Zhao Kuo unfortunately fell into the hands of Jin soldiers. As they knew he was skillful at painting, they asked him to paint pictures of the women they had captured. He declined resolutely, refusing to paint for them. They then threatened him with gleaming knives, but he did not submit, so they broke his right thumb off and ordered him to go away.

However, Zhao Guang was left-handed. After the disaster, he painted only the Bodhisattva Guanyin. Some years later he passed away.

Nowadays most of the pictures of the Bodhisattva Guanyin claimed to be Boshi’s maintained by bureaucratic scholars are actually Zhao Guang’s paintings.