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《論死篇》

世謂（死人）〔人死〕為鬼，有知，能害人。試以物類驗之，

（死人）〔人死〕不為鬼，無知，不能害人。何以驗之？驗之以物。人、物也，物、亦物也。物死不為鬼，人死何故獨能為鬼？世能別（人）物不能為鬼，則〔人〕為鬼不為鬼尚難分明。如不能別，則亦無以知其能為鬼也。

人之所以生者，精氣也，死而精氣滅。能為精氣者，血脈也。人死血脈竭，竭而精氣滅，滅而形體朽，朽而成灰土，何用為鬼？

人無耳目，則無所知，故聾盲之人，比於草木。夫精氣去人，豈徒與無耳目同哉？

朽則消亡，荒忽不見，故謂之鬼神。人見鬼神之形，故非死人之精也。何則？鬼神、荒忽不見之名也。人死精神升天，骸骨歸土，故謂之鬼〔神〕。鬼者、歸也，神者、荒忽無形者也。

或說：鬼神、陰陽之名也。陰氣逆物而歸，故謂之鬼；陽氣導物而生，故謂之神。神者、伸也，申復無已，終而復始。

人用神氣生，其死復歸神氣。陰陽稱鬼神，人死亦稱鬼神。

氣之生人，猶水之為冰也。水凝為冰，氣凝為人；冰釋為水，人死復神。其名為神也，猶冰釋更名水也。人見名異，則謂有知，能為形而害人，無據以論之也。

人見鬼若生人之形。以其見若生人之形，故知非死人之精也。何以效之？

以囊橐盈粟米。米在囊中，若粟在橐中，滿盈堅彊，立樹可見，人瞻望之，則知其為粟米囊橐。何則？囊橐之形，若其容可察也。如囊穿米出，橐敗粟棄，則囊橐委辟，人瞻望之，弗復見矣。

人之精神，藏於形體之內，猶粟米在囊橐之中也。死而形體朽、精氣散，猶囊橐穿敗、粟米棄出也。粟米棄出，囊橐無復有形，精氣散亡，何能復有體，而人得見之乎！

禽獸之死也，其肉盡索，皮毛尚在，制以為裘，人望見之，似禽獸之形。故世有衣狗裘為狗盜者，人不覺知，假狗之皮毛，故人不意疑也。

今人死，皮毛朽敗，雖精氣尚在，神安能復假此形而以行見乎？夫死人不能假生人之形以見，猶生人不能假死人之魂以亡矣。

六畜能變化象人之形者，其形尚生，精氣尚在也。如死，其形腐朽，雖虎兕勇悍，不能復化。魯公牛哀病化為虎，亦以未死也。世有以生形轉為生類者矣，未有以死身化為生象者也。

天地開闢，人皇以來，隨壽而死，若中年夭亡，以億萬數。計今人之數，不若死者多。如人死輒為鬼，則道路之上，一步一鬼也。人且死見鬼，宜見數百千萬，滿堂盈廷，填塞巷路，不宜徒見一兩人也。

人之兵死也，世言其血為燐。血者、生時之精氣也。人夜行見燐，不象人形，渾沌積聚，若火光之狀。燐、死人之血也，其形不類生人之（血）〔形〕也。其形不類生人之形，精氣去人，何故象人之體？

人見鬼也，皆象死人之形，則可疑死人為鬼，或反象生人之形。

病者見鬼，云甲來，甲時不死，氣象甲形。如死人為鬼，病者何故見生人之體乎？

天地之性，能更生火，不能使滅火復燃；能更生人，不能令死人復見。〔不〕能使滅灰更為燃火，吾乃頗疑死人能復為形。案火滅不能復燃以況之，死人不能復為鬼，明矣。

夫為鬼者，人謂死人之精神。如審鬼者、死人之精神，則人見之，宜徒見裸袒之形，無為見衣帶被服也。何則？衣服無精神，人死，與形體俱朽，何以得貫穿之乎？

精神本以血氣為主，血氣常附形體。形體雖朽，精神尚在，能為鬼可也。今衣服、絲絮布帛也，生時血氣不附著，而亦自無血氣，敗朽遂已，與形體等，安能自若為衣服之形？由此言之，見鬼衣服象之，則形體亦象之矣。象之，則知非死人之精神也。

夫死人不能為鬼，則亦無所知矣。何以驗之？以未生之時無所知也。人未生，在元氣之中；既死，復歸元氣。元氣荒忽，人氣在其中。人未生無所知，其死歸無知之本，何能有知乎？

人之所以聰明智惠者，以含五常之氣也；五常之氣所以在人者，以五藏在形中也。五藏不傷，則人智惠；五藏有病，則人荒忽，荒忽則愚癡矣。

人死，五藏腐朽，腐朽則五常無所託矣，所用藏智者已敗矣，所用為智者已去矣。形須氣而成，氣須形而知。天下無獨燃之火，世間安得有無體獨知之精？

人之死也，其猶夢也。夢者、殄之次也，殄者、死之比也。人殄不悟則死矣。案人殄復悟，死（從）〔復〕來者，與夢相似，然則夢、殄、死，一實也。人夢不能知覺時所作，猶死不能識生時所為矣。人言談有所作於臥人之旁，臥人不能知，猶對死人之棺為善惡之事，死人不能復知也。夫臥、精氣尚在，形體尚全，猶無所知，況死人精神消亡、形體朽敗乎？

人為人所敺傷，詣吏告苦以語人，有知之故也。或為人所殺，則不知何人殺也？或家不知其尸所在？使死人有知，必恚人之殺己也，當能言於吏旁，告以賊主名；若能歸語其家，告以尸之所在。今則不能，無知之效也。

世間死者（今）〔令〕生人殄，而用其言，及巫叩元絃，下死人魂，因巫口談，皆誇誕之言也。如不誇誕，物之精神為之象也。

或曰：不能言也。夫不能言，則亦不能知矣。知用氣，言亦用氣焉。

人之未（死）〔病〕也，智惠精神定矣，病則亂，精神擾也。夫死、病之甚者也。病、死之微，猶亂，況其甚乎！精神擾，自無所知，況其散也！

人之死〔也〕，猶火之滅也。火滅而燿不照，人死而知不惠，二者宜同一實。論者猶謂死有知，惑也。人病且死，與火之且滅何以異？火滅光消而燭在，人死精亡而形存，謂人死有知，是謂火滅復有光也。

隆冬之月，寒氣用事，水凝為冰。踰春氣溫，冰釋為水。人生於天地之間，其猶冰也。陰陽之氣，凝而為人，年終壽盡，死還為氣。夫春水不能復為冰，死魂安能復為形？ 

夫媢妻，同室而處，淫亂失行，忿怒訟。夫死，妻更嫁；妻死，夫更娶，以有知驗之，宜大忿怒。今夫妻死者，寂莫無聲，更嫁娶者，平忽無禍，無知之驗也。

孔子葬母於防，既而雨甚至，防墓崩。孔子聞之，泫然流涕曰：「古者不修墓。」遂不復修。使死有知，必恚人不脩也。孔子知之，宜輒修墓，以喜魂神，然而不修，聖人明審，曉其無知也。

枯骨在野，時鳴呼有聲，若夜聞哭聲，謂之死人之音，非也。何以驗之？生人所以言語吁呼者，氣括口喉之中，動搖其舌，張歙其口，故能成言。譬猶吹簫笙，簫笙折破，氣越不括，手無所弄，則不成音。夫簫笙之管，猶人之口喉也；手弄其孔，猶人之動舌也。人死口喉腐敗，舌不復動，何能成言？然而枯骨時呻鳴者，人骨自有能呻鳴者焉。

或以為（秋）〔妖〕也，是與夜鬼哭無以異也。（秋）〔妖〕氣為呻鳴之變，自有所為，依倚死骨之側，人則謂之骨尚有知，呻鳴於野。草澤暴體以千萬數，呻鳴之聲，宜步屬焉。

夫有能使不言者言，未有言者死能復使之言，言者亦不能復使之言。猶物生以青為氣，或予之也；物死青者去，或奪之也。予之物青，奪之青去，去後不能復予之青，物亦不能復自青。聲色俱通，並稟於天。青青之色，猶梟梟之聲也，死物之色不能復青，獨為死人之聲能復自言，惑也。

人之所以能言語者，以有氣力也；氣力之盛，以能飲食也。飲食損減，則氣力衰，衰則聲音嘶。困不能食，則口不能復言。夫死，困之甚，何能復言？

或曰：「死人歆肴食氣，故能言。」夫死人之精、生人之精也。使生人不飲食，而徒以口歆肴食（之）氣，不過三日，則餓死矣。

或曰：「死人之精，神於生人之精，故能歆氣為音。」

夫生人之精在於身中，死則在於身外。死之與生何以殊？身中身外何以異？取水實於大盎中，盎破水流地，地水能異於盎中之水乎？地水不異於盎中之水，身外之精何故殊於身中之精？

人死不為鬼，無知，不能語言，則不能害人矣。何以驗之？夫人之怒也用氣，其害人用力，用力須骨而彊，彊則能害人。忿怒之人，呴呼於人之旁，口氣喘射人之面，雖勇如賁、育，氣不害人。使舒手而擊，舉足而蹶，則所擊蹶無不破折。夫死，骨朽力絕，手足不舉，雖精氣尚在，猶呴吁之時無嗣助也。何以能害人也？

凡人與物所以能害人者，手臂把刃、爪牙堅利之故也。今人死，手臂朽敗，不能復持刃；爪牙隳落，不能復囓噬，安能害人？

兒之始生也，手足具成，手不能搏，足不能蹶者，氣適凝成，未能堅彊也。由此言之，精氣不能堅彊，審矣。氣為形體，形體微弱，猶未能害人，況死，氣去精神絕，微弱猶未能害人？寒骨謂能害人者邪？死人之氣不去邪？何能害人？ 

卵之未（字）〔孚〕也，澒溶於鷇中，潰而視之，若水之形。良雌傴伏，體方就成；就成之後，能啄蹶之。夫人之死，猶澒溶之時，澒溶之氣安能害人？

人之所以勇猛能害人者，以飲食也，飲食飽足則彊壯勇猛，彊壯勇猛則能害人矣。人病不能飲食，則身（嬴）〔羸〕弱，（嬴）〔羸〕弱困甚，故至於死。病困之時，仇在其旁，不能咄叱，人盜其物，不能禁奪，羸弱困劣之故也。夫死、羸弱困劣之甚者也，何能害人？

有雞犬之畜，為人所盜竊，雖怯無勢之人，莫不忿怒，忿怒之極，至相賊滅。敗亂之時，人相啖食者，使其神有知，宜能害人。身貴於雞犬，己死重於見盜，忿怒於雞犬，無怨於食己，不能害人之驗也。

蟬之未蛻也，為復育；已蛻也，去復育之體，更為蟬之形。使死人精神去形體，若蟬之去復育乎？則夫為蟬者，不能害為復育者。夫蟬不能害復育，死人之精神，何能害生人之身？

夢者之義疑。（惑）〔或〕言：「夢者、精神自止身中，為吉凶之象。」或言：「精神行，與人物相更。」今其審止身中，死之精神，亦將復然。今其審行，人夢殺傷人，夢殺傷人，若為人所復殺，明日視彼之身，察己之體，無兵刃創傷之驗。夫夢用精神，精神、死之精神也。夢之精神不能害人，死之精神安能為害？

火熾而釜沸，沸止而氣歇，以火為主也。精神之怒也，乃能害人；不怒，不能害人。火猛中，釜湧氣蒸；精怒胸中，力盛身熱。今人之將死，身體清涼，涼益清甚，遂以死亡。當死之時，精神不怒；身亡之後，猶湯之離釜也，安能害人？

物與人通，人有癡狂之病。如知其物然而理之，病則愈矣。夫物未死，精神依倚形體，故能變化，與人交通；已死，形體壞爛，精神散亡，無所復依，不能變化。夫人之精神，猶物之精神也。物生，精神為病；其死，精神消亡。人與物同，死而精神亦滅，安能為害禍？

設謂人貴，精神有異，成事，物能變化，人則不能，是反人精神不若物，物精〔神〕奇於人也。

水火燒溺，凡能害人者，皆五行之物。金傷人，木敺人，土壓人，水溺人，火燒人。使人死，精神為五行之物乎？害人；不為乎？不能害人。不為物，則為氣矣。氣之害人者，太陽之氣為毒者也。使人死，其氣為毒乎？害人；不為乎？不能害人。

夫論死不為鬼，無知，不能害人，則夫所見鬼者，非死人之精，其害人者，非其精所為，明矣。

Chapter XV. On Death (Lun-sse).

People say that the dead become ghosts, are conscious. and can hurt men. Let us examine this by comparing men with other beings:---

The dead do not become ghosts, have no consciousness, and cannot injure others. How do we know this? We know it from other beings. Man is a being, and other creatures are likewise beings. When a creature dies, it does not become a ghost, for what reason then must man alone become a ghost, when he expires? In this world you can separate man from other creatures, but not on the ground that he becomes a ghost. The faculty to become a ghost cannot be a distinctive mark. If, on the other hand, there is no difference between man and other creatures, we have no reason either to suppose that man may become a ghost.

Man lives by the vital fluid. When he dies, this vital fluid is exhausted. It resides in the arteries. At death the pulse stops, and the vital fluid ceases to work; then the body decays, and turns into earth and clay. By what could it become a ghost?

Without ears or eyes men have no perceptions. In this respect the deaf and the blind resemble plants and trees. But are men, whose vital fluid is gone, merely as if they had no eyes, or no ears? No, their decay means complete dissolution.

That which is diffuse and invisible, is called a ghost, or a spirit. When people perceive the shape of a ghost or a spirit, it cannot be the vital fluid of a dead man, because ghost and spirit are only designations for something diffuse and invisible. When a man dies, his spirit ascends to heaven, and his bones return to the earth, therefore they are called Kwei (ghost) ¹ which means "to return." ² A spirit (Shên) is something diffuse and shapeless.

Some say that ghost and spirit are names of activity and passivity. The passive principle opposes things and returns, hence its name Kuei (ghost). The active principle fosters and produces things, and therefore is called Shên (spirit), ³ which means "to extend." ⁴ This is re-iterated without end. When it finishes, it begins again.

Man lives by the spiritual fluid. When he dies, he again returns this spiritual fluid. Activity and passivity are spoken of as spirit and ghost. When man dies, one speaks likewise of his spirit and his ghost.

The fluid becomes man, just as water turns into ice. The water crystallises to ice, and the fluid coagulates, and forms man. The ice melting becomes water, and man dying becomes spirit again. It is called spirit, just as molten ice resumes the name water. When we have a man before us, we use another name. Hence there are no proofs for the assertion that the dead possess knowledge, or that they can take a form, and injure people.

When men see ghosts, they appear like living men. Just from the fact that they have the shape of living men we can infer that they cannot be the essence of the dead, as will be seen from the following:---

Fill a bag with rice, and a sack with millet. The rice in the bag is like the millet in the sack. Full, they look strong, stand upright, and can be seen. Looking at them from afar, people know that they are a bag of rice, and a sack of millet, because their forms correspond to their contents, and thus become perceptible. If the bag has a hole, the rice runs out, and if the sack is damaged, the millet is spilt. Then the bag and the sack collapse, and are no more visible, when looked at from afar.

Man's vital fluid resides in the body, as the millet and the rice do in the bag and the sack. At death the body decays, and the vital fluid disperses, just as the millet and the rice escape from the pierced or damaged bag, or sack. When the millet or the rice are gone, the bag and the sack do not take a form again. How then could there be a visible body again, after the vital fluid has been scattered and lost?

When animals die, their flesh decomposes, but their skin and their hair still remain, and can be worked into a fur, which appears still to have the shape of an animal. Therefore dog thieves will don dog skins. People then do not discover them, because disguised in a dog's fur-skin, they do not rouse any suspicion.

Now, when a man dies, his skin and hair are destroyed. Provided that his vital force did still exist, how could the spirit again enter the same body, and become visible? The dead cannot borrow the body of a living man to re-appear, neither can the living borrow the soul of the dead to disappear.

The Six Animals ⁵ can only be transformed into a human shape as long as their bodies and their vital fluid are still unimpaired. When they die, their bodies putrefy, and even, if they possess the courage and the audacity of a tiger or a rhinoceros, they can no more be metamorphosed. Niu Ai, duke of Lu⁶ during an illness could be transformed into a tiger, because he was not yet dead. It happens that a living body is transformed into another living body, but not that a dead body is changed into a living one.

From the time, when heaven and earth were set in order, and the reign of the "Human Emperors" ⁷ downward people died at their allotted time. Of those, who expired in their middle age, or quite young, millions and millions might be counted. The number of the persons actually living would be less than that of those who died. If we suppose that after death a man becomes a ghost, there would be a ghost on every road, and at every step. Should men appear as ghosts after death, then tens of thousands of ghosts ought to be seen. They would fill the halls, throng the courts, and block the streets and alleys, instead of the one or two which are occasionally met with.

When a man has died on a battle-field, they say that his blood becomes a will-o'-the-wisp. The blood is the vital force of the living. The will-o'-the-wisp seen by people, while walking at night, has no human form, it is desultory and concentrated like a light. Though being the blood of a dead man, it does not resemble a human shape in form, how then could a man, whose vital force is gone, still appear with a human body?

If the ghosts seen all looked like dead men, there might be some doubt left that the dead become ghosts, and sometimes even assume human form.

Sick people see ghosts, and say that So-and-So has come to them. At that time So-and-So was not yet dead, but the fluid perceived resembled him. If the dead become ghosts, how is it that sick people see the bodies of the living?

The nature of heaven and earth is such, that a new fire can be lighted, but an extinguished fire cannot be set ablaze again. A new man can be born, but a dead one cannot be resurrected. If burnt-out ashes could be kindled again into a blazing fire, I would be very much of opinion that the dead might take a bodily form again. Since, however, an extinguished fire cannot burn again, we are led to the conclusion that the dead cannot become ghosts.

Ghosts are considered to be the vital spirits of the dead. If this were really the case, people seeing ghosts ought to see their bodies naked only, but not wearing dresses, or covered with garments, because garments have no vital spirits. When men die, their clothes become decomposed together with their bodies, how could they be put on again?

The vital spirits have their original seat in the blood fluid, and this fluid always adheres to the body. If notwithstanding the decay of the body the vital spirits were still extant, they might become ghosts. Now garments are made of silk stuffs and other fabrics. During man's life-time his blood fluid does not permeate them, nor have they any blood of their own. When the body is destroyed, they share its fate, how could they of themselves reassume the shape of garments. Consequently, if ghosts are seen which bear a resemblance to dresses, they must also be like bodies, and if they are, we know that they cannot be the vital spirits of the dead.

Since the dead cannot become ghosts, they cannot have any consciousness either. We infer this from the fact that before their birth men have no consciousness. Before they are born, they form part of the primogenial fluid, and when they die, they revert to it. This primogenial fluid is vague and diffuse, and the human fluid, a part of it. Anterior to his birth, man is devoid of consciousness, and at his death he returns to this original state of unconsciousness, for how should he be conscious?

Man is intelligent and sagacious, because he has in himself the fluid of the Five Virtues, which is in him, because the Five Organs ⁸ are in his body. As long as the five parts are uninjured, man is bright and clever, but, when they become diseased, his intellect is dimmed and confused, which is tantamount to stupidity and dullness.

After death the five inward parts putrefy, and, when they do so, the five virtues lose their substratum. That which harbours intelligence is destroyed, and that which is called intelligence disappears. The body requires the fluid for its maintenance, and the fluid, the body to become conscious. There is no fire in the world burning quite of itself, how could there be an essence without a body, but conscious of itself?

Man's death is like sleep, and sleep comes next to a trance, ⁹ which resembles death. If a man does not wake up again from a trance, he dies. If he awakes, he returns from death, as though he had been asleep. Thus sleep, a trance, and death are essentially the same. A sleeper cannot know what he did, when he was awake, as a dead man is unaware of his doings during his life-time. People may talk or do anything by the side of a sleeping man, he does not know, and so the dead man has no consciousness of the good or bad actions performed in front of his coffin. When a man is asleep, his vital fluid is still there, and his body intact, and yet he is unconscious. How much more must this be the case with a dead man, whose vital spirit is scattered and gone, and whose body is in a state of decay?

When a man has been beaten and hurt by another, he goes to the magistrate, and makes his complaint, because he can talk to people, and is conscious. But, when a person is slain by somebody, the murderer is unknown, his family perhaps not knowing even the place, where his corpse is lying. If under such circumstances the murdered man was conscious, he would assuredly be filled with the greatest wrath against his murderer. He ought to be able to speak into the magistrate's ear, and give him the name of the miscreant, and, if he were able to go home, and speak to his people, he would inform them, where the body was. But all that he cannot do. That shows that he has no consciousness.

Now-a-days, living persons in a trance will sometimes as mediums speak for those who have died, and diviners, striking black chords, will call down the dead, whose souls then will talk through the diviner's mouth. All that is brag and wild talk. If it be not mere gossip, then we have a manifestation of the vital fluid of some being.

Some say that the spirit cannot speak. If it cannot speak, it cannot have any knowledge either. Knowledge requires a force, just as speech does.

Anterior to man's death, his mental faculties and vital spirit are all in order. When he falls sick, he becomes giddy, and his vital spirit is affected. Death is the climax of sickness. If even during a sickness, which is only a small beginning of death, a man feels confused and giddy, how will it be, when the climax is reached? When the vital spirit is seriously affected, it loses its consciousness, and when it is scattered altogether?

Human death is like the extinction of fire. When a fire is extinguished, its light does not shine any more, and when man dies, his intellect does not perceive any more. The nature of both is the same. If people nevertheless pretend that the dead have knowledge, they are mistaken. What is the difference between a sick man about to die and a light about to go out? When a light is extinguished, its radiation is dispersed, and only the candle remains. When man has died, his vital force is gone, and the body alone remains. To assert that a person after death is still conscious is like saying that an extinguished light shines again.

During the chilly winter months the cold air prevails, and water turns into ice. At the approach of spring, the air becomes warm, and the ice melts to water. Man is born in the universe, as ice is produced, so to say. The Yang and the Yin fluids crystallise, and produce man. When his years are completed, and his span of life comes to its end, he dies, and reverts to those fluids. As spring water cannot freeze again, so the soul of a dead man cannot become a body again.

Let us suppose that a jealous husband and a jealous wife are living together. The debauchery and the disreputable conduct of one party is the cause of constant outbursts of anger, fighting, and quarrelling. Now, if the husband dies, the wife will marry again, and if the wife dies, the husband will do the same. If the other knew of it, he would undoubtedly fly into a rage. But husband and wife, when dead, keep perfectly quiet, and give no sound. The other may marry again, they take no heed, and it has no evil consequences. That proves that they are unconscious.

Confucius buried his mother at Fang.¹⁰ Subsequently such heavy rain fell, that the tomb at Fang collapsed. When Confucius heard of it, he wept bitterly and said:---"The ancients did not repair graves." ¹¹ Therefore he did not repair it. Provided the dead are conscious, they ought to be angry with those who do not keep their tombs in repair. Knowing this, Confucius would have repaired the grave to please the departed soul, but he did not do so. His intelligence as a Sage was of the highest order, but he knew that spirits are unconscious.

When dried bones are lying about in lonely places, it may happen that some mournful cries are heard there. If such a wail is heard at night-time, people believe that it is the voice of a dead man, but they are wrong. When a living man talks, he breathes. His breath is kept in his mouth and his throat. He moves his tongue, opens and shuts his mouth, and thus produces words. It is like playing a flute. When the flute is broken, the air escapes, and does not keep inside, and the hands have nothing to touch. Consequently no sound is produced. The tubes of the flute correspond to the human mouth and throat. The hands touch the holes in the tubes in the same manner, as man moves his tongue. When he is dead, his mouth and throat decay, and the tongue moves no more. How should words be articulated then? If, while dried bones are lying about, wails and laments are heard, they come from men, for bones cannot produce them.

Others imagine that it is the autumn (which produces these sounds). This statement is not much different from the other that ghosts cry at night. If the autumn air causes these extraordinary moans and wails, it must have some substratum. Because this has happened near the bones of a dead man, people have presumed that these bones are still conscious, and utter these mournful cries in the wilderness. There are thousands and thousands of skeletons bleaching in the grass and in the swamps, therefore we ought to be haunted by their laments at every step

It is possible to make somebody speak, who usually does not speak, but impossible that somebody who speaks, should be induced to speak again after death. Even he who spoke before, cannot be caused to speak again. Similarly, when a plant comes forth, its fluid is green, which is, as it were, given it. When the same plant dies, the green colour disappears, or is taken away. Endowed with the fluid, the plant is green, deprived of it, it loses the green colour. After the latter is gone, it cannot be added again, nor can the plant grow green again of its own accord. Sound and colour correspond to one another, and are both derived from Heaven. The brilliant green colour is like a lugubrious cry. The colour of a faded plant cannot become green again, it would, therefore, be a mistake to assume that a dead man's cry could still be produced of itself.

Man is able to talk, because he possesses vital energy. As long as he can eat and drink, the vital energy is well fed, but no sooner do eating and drinking cease, than the energy is destroyed. After this destruction there are no more sounds possible. When the person is worn out, and cannot eat any more, the mouth cannot speak any further. Death is exhaustion in the highest degree, how could man still speak then?

There are those who say that the dead smell the sacrificed meat, and eat the air, and that they are thus enabled to speak. The vital force of the dead is that of the living. Let a living being neither eat nor drink, and only inhale the smell of offerings, and feed upon air, and he will die of starvation after no more than three days.

Another opinion is that the vital force of the dead is more powerful than that of the living, and that for this reason it can smell the air, and produce sounds.

The vital force of the living is in their body, that of the dead, out of it. In what do the dead and the living differ, and what difference does it make that the vital fluid is within the body, or outside of it? Take water, and fill it into a big jug. When the jug breaks, the water flows to the earth, but can the water on the floor be different from that in the jug? The water on the floor is not different from that in the jug, then why should the vital force outside the body be different from that within?

Since a man, when dead, does not become a ghost, has no knowledge, and cannot speak, he cannot hurt others either for the following reason. In his anger, a man uses breath, but in order to injure others, he requires strength. To make use of it, his sinews and bones must he strong, then he can hurt others. An angry man may breathe heavily so near to others, that his breath shoots forth against their faces, but though he possess the valour of Mêng Pên,¹² it does them no harm. However, when he stretches out his hand, and strikes, or lifts the foot and kicks, he breaks whatever he hits. The bones of the dead decay, the strength of his muscles is lost, and he does not lift hand or foot. Although the vital fluid be still existant, it is, as if it were, only breathing, and nothing else follows. How then should it do harm to anybody?

Men and other creatures hurt others by means of knives, which they grasp with their hands and arms, and with their strong and sharp nails or teeth. Now, when a man is dead, his hands and arms waste away, and cannot lift a blade any more, and nails and teeth fall out, and cannot bite any more. How should they do harm to others then?

When a child is just born, his hands and feet are quite complete, yet the hands cannot grasp, and the feet cannot kick. The fluid has just concreted, but has no strength. Hence it is evident that the vital fluid possesses no strength. The fluid forms the body. As long as the body is still feeble and weak, it cannot do harm to any one, and how much less still, when through death the fluid becomes lost, and the vital spirit is dissolved. Something feeble and weak is uncapable of injuring people, and one asserts that cold bones can do it? Is the fluid of the dead not lost? How should it injure anybody?

Before a hen's egg is hatched, there is a formless mass in the egg-shell, which, on leaking out, looks like water. After a good hen has covered the egg, the body of the chicken is formed, and when it has been completed, the young bird can pick the shell, and kick. Human death resembles the time of the formless mass. How could a formless fluid hurt anybody?

A man becomes bold and fierce, so that he can assault others, by eating and drinking. Eating and drinking his fill, he grows stout and strong, bold and fierce, and can do harm to others. While a man is sick, he can neither eat nor drink, and his body becomes worn out and weak. When this weariness and languor reach the highest degree, death ensues. During that time of sickness and languor his enemy may stand by his side, he cannot revile him, and a thief may take his things away, he has no means to prevent him, all on account of his debility and lassitude. Death is the debility and languor in the extreme, how then could a man after death still injure any one?

If chickens or dogs, which somebody keeps, are stolen, he will, at all events, wax angry, though he be timid, and not very strong, and his anger may be so violent, that he tries conclusions with the robber, and is slain by him. During the time of great anarchy people will use one another as food. Now, provided that the spirit was conscious, it ought to be able to destroy its enemies. ¹³ A human body is worth more than a chicken or a dog, and one's own death is of greater consequence than a robbery. The fact that a man is excited over a chicken or a dog, but has no bad feeling against the individual who devoured him, shows that he ¹⁴ has not the power to hurt any one.

Prior to its casting off its exuviæ, a cicada is a chrysalis. When it casts them off, it leaves the pupa state, and is transformed into a cicada. The vital spirit of a dead man leaving the body may be compared to the cicada emerging from the chrysalis. As cicada it cannot hurt the chrysalides. Since it cannot do so, why should the vital spirit of a dead man hurt living bodies?

The real nature of dreams is very doubtful. Some say that, while people are dreaming, their vital spirits remain in their bodies, and produce lucky or unlucky visions. Others hold that the vital spirit communicates with men and other creatures. Now, if it really remains in the body, the vital spirit of the dead must do the same. If, however, the spirit mixes with men, people may dream that they have killed somebody. Having killed somebody, they are perhaps themselves murdered by somebody else. But if, on the following day, they look at the body of that person, or examine their own, they will find no trace whatever of a wound inflicted by a sword. Dreams are caused by the vital spirit, and this spirit is identical with the vital spirit of the dead. The vital spirit of dreams cannot injure people, therefore the spirit of the dead cannot do so either.

When the fire burns, the caldron boils, and when the boiling stops, the steam ceases. All depends on the fire. When the vital spirit is incensed, it can do harm, not being angry, it cannot injure people. The fire blazing in the stove, the kettle bubbles, and the steam rises. When the vital force is enraged in the bosom, there is an innervation of strength, and the body is hot. Now, when a man is about to die, his body is cold and chilly. The cold and chilliness increase, until at last he expires. At the time of death, the vital spirit is not irritated, and after the death of the body it is like the hot water taken from the caldron, how should it hurt people?

Things have a certain relation to man. When a man becomes insane, and one knows the proper thing, his malady may be cured by applying this thing as a remedy. As long as a thing is alive, its vital spirit adheres to its body, and consequently can change its form, and enter into close connection with man. After it has died, its body rots, and the vital spirit is dispersed. In default of a substratum it cannot undergo any more changes. The human vital spirit is like that of things. While they are alive, their spirit may become sick, when they die, it evaporates and disappears. Men are like things in this respect, when they die, their vital spirit also becomes extinguished, how could it still do any mischief?

Should anybody object by saying that men are much more precious than things, and that their vital spirit is different, we can reply that, as a matter of fact, things can be metamorphosed, but man cannot, and that so far his vital spirit is on the contrary inferior to that of things, whose essence surpasses that of man.

Water and fire drown and burn. All that can injure man must be a substance belonging to one of the five elements. Metal hurts man, wood beats him, earth crushes him, water drowns him, and fire burns him. Is the vital spirit of the dead a substance like the five elements? Does it injure people, or is it not a substance?---It cannot injure people. Not being a substance, it must be a fluid. Of the fluids which injure man that of the sun is the most virulent. Does the fluid of a man, when he dies, become virulent? Can it injure people or not?---It cannot injure people.

Thus we hold that the dead do not become ghosts, are not conscious, and cannot hurt people. Consequently, it is evident that the ghosts, which are seen, are not the vital force of dead men, and that, when men have been hurt, it cannot have been done through this vital force.

Notes

5. The Six Domestic Animals are:---the horse, the ox, the goat, the pig, the dog, and the fowl.

6. Cf. Chap. XXVII.

7. A series of mythical rulers of remotest antiquity.

8. The Five Virtues are:---Benevolence, Justice, Propriety, Knowledge, and Truth; the Five Organs:---the Heart, the Liver, the Stomach, the Lungs, and the Kidneys.

9. No dictionary gives this meaning for t`ien , which usually means "to exterminate, to cut off, to cease." But it cannot be anything else here. The Chinese of to-day will likewise call a faint "death," or "small death," hsiao-sse .

10. A place in Lu (Shantung).

11. A quotation abridged from the Li-ki, Tan Kung. Cf. Legge, Li-ki Vol. I, p. 123. Modern commentators explain the passage quite differntly. The dictum of Confucius would mean that the ancients did not repair tombs, because they built them so well, that they could not collapse. Wang Ch`ung's interpretation is more natural.

12. Cf. Chap. XXXI.

13. Those who used its body as food.

14. His spirit.


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Published by The Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities, © Copyright 2003 by Anne Kinney and the University of Virginia