汤显祖和李贽未曾在临川相会

晚明被称为"异端之尤"的思想家李贽,对汤显祖深有影响。他俩是否谋面,学界长期未能搞清。笔者曾翻《临川县志》偶见李贽为城东正觉寺写有《醒泉铭》,文中有"是万历己亥,余与汤西儿正觉寺后作系念"一句,此时汤显祖已弃官在家,"西儿"是他的已夭亡儿子,于是提出李与汤有可能在临川会面。而徐朔方先生据此便断为"汤显祖罢官的第二年,他和李贽曾在临川相会"。查林海权的《李贽年谱考略》对万历二十七年李贽寓居南京永庆寺记载甚详,其没有离开过南京。《醒泉铭》实为假冒李贽之名的伪作。《铭》中所说的"系念"也无从认定是对汤氏夭亡"西儿"的"系念"。

Tang Xianzu Didn't Meet Li Zhi in Linchuan

Li Zhi,who was called "the thinker in the extreme"in late Ming Dinasty,bore great influence on Tang Xianzu.Did they ever meet? The academic circles haven't made it clear.The author has ever read the Annals of Lichuan County.In it there is an article Xingquan Ming,which Li Zhi wrote for Zhengjue Temple in the east of the county.In this article there is a sentence "I am holding a memorial ceremony for Tang Xi'er in Zhengjue Temple in the year of 1599." At this time Tang Xianzu had left the government for his hometown."Xi'er" was his dead son.On the basis of what was said above,Li might have met Tang in Linchuan.Mr.Xu Shuofang thought "Tang left the government and one year later he met Li in Linchuan." The chronicle of Li Zhi's life wrote by Lin Haiquan has a detailed record of Li's living in Nanjing in the year of 1599.He didn't leave Nanjin during this year.Xingquan Ming is a counterfeit writing in the name of Li Zhi.In Xingquan Ming "holding a memorial ceremony"can't be considered as a ceremony for "Xi'er"without sufficient proof.