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偶會篇

命,吉凶之主也。自然之道,適偶之數,非有他氣旁物厭勝感動使之然也。

世謂子胥伏劍,屈原自沉,子蘭、宰嚭誣讒,吳、楚之君冤殺之也。偶二子命當絕,子蘭、宰嚭適為讒,而懷王 、夫差適信奸也。君適不明,臣適為讒,二子之命,偶自不長。二偶三合,似若有之,其實自然,非他為也。

夏、殷之朝適窮,桀、紂之惡適稔,商、周之數適起,湯、武之德適豐。

關龍逢殺,箕子、比干囚死,當桀、紂惡盛之 時,亦二子命訖之期也。任伊尹之言,納呂望之議,湯、武且興之會,亦二臣當用之際也。

人臣命有吉凶,賢不肖之主與之相逢。文王時當昌,呂望命當貴;高宗治當平,傅說德當遂。非文王、高宗為二臣生,呂 望、傅說為兩君出也。君明臣賢,光曜相察;上修下治,度數相得。

顏淵死,子曰“天喪予”。子路死,子曰“天祝予。”孔子自傷之辭,非實然之道也。孔子命不王,二子壽不長 也。不王不長,所稟不同,度數並放,適相應也。

二龍之祆當效,周曆適闓櫝;褒姒當喪周國,幽王稟性偶惡。非二龍使曆王發孽,褒姒令幽王愚惑也。遭逢會遇,自相得也。

僮謠之語當驗,鬥雞之變適生;瞿鵒之占當應,魯昭之惡適成。非僮謠致鬥競,瞿鵒招君惡也。期數自至,人行偶合也。

堯命當禪舜,丹硃為無道;虞統當傳夏,商均行不軌。非舜、禹當得天下,能使二子惡也;美惡是非適相逢也。

火星與昴星出入,昴星低時火星出,昴星見時火星伏,非火之性厭服昴也,時偶不並,度轉乖也。

正月建寅,鬥魁破申,非寅建使申破也,轉運之衡,偶自應也。

父歿而子嗣,姑死而婦代,非子婦嗣代使父姑終歿也,老少年次自相承也。

世謂秋氣擊殺穀草,穀草不任,雕傷而死。此言失實。夫物以春生夏長,秋而熟老,適自枯死,陰氣適盛,與之會遇。何以驗之?

物有秋不死者,生性未極也。人生百歲而終,物生一歲而死,死謂陰氣殺之,人終觸何氣而亡?論者猶或謂鬼喪之。夫人終鬼來, 物死寒至,皆適遭也。人終見鬼,或見鬼而不死;物死觸寒,或觸寒而不枯。

壞屋所壓,崩崖所墜,非屋精崖氣殺此人也。屋老崖沮,命凶之人,遭居適履。

月毀於天,螺消於淵。風從虎,雲從龍。同類通氣,性相感動。若夫物事相遭,吉凶同時,偶適相遇,非氣感也。

殺人者罪至大辟。殺者罪當重,死者。命當盡也。故害氣下降,囚命先中;聖王德施,厚祿先逢。是故德令降於殿堂,命長之 囚,出於牢中。天非為囚未當死,使聖王出德令也,聖王適下赦,拘囚適當免死。

猶人以夜臥晝起矣,夜月光盡,不可以作,人力亦倦,欲壹休息;晝日光明,人臥亦覺,力亦複足。非天以日作之,以液息之也,作與日相應,息與夜相得也。

雁鵠集於會稽,去避碣石之寒,來遭民田之畢,蹈履民田,啄食草糧。糧盡食索,春雨適作,避熱北去,複之碣石。

象耕靈陵,亦如此焉。傳曰:“舜葬蒼梧,象為之耕。禹葬會稽,鳥為之佃。”失事之實,虛妄之言也。

丈夫有短壽之相,娶必得早寡之妻;早寡之妻,嫁亦遇夭折之夫也。世曰:“男女早死者,夫賊妻,妻害夫。”非相賊害 ,命有然也。

使火燃,以水沃之,可謂水賊火。火適自滅,水適自覆,兩各自敗,不為相賊。今男女之早夭,非水沃火之比,適自滅覆之類也。

賊父之子,妨兄之弟,與此同召。同宅而處,氣相加淩,羸瘠消單,至於死亡,可謂相賊。或客死千里之外,兵燒厭溺 ,氣不相犯,相賊如何?

王莽姑正君,許嫁二夫,二夫死,當適趙而王薨。氣未相加,遙賊三家,何其痛也!

黃次公取鄰巫之女,蔔謂女相貴,故次公位至丞相。其實不然。次公當貴,行與女會;女亦自尊,故入次公門。偶適然自相遭遇,時也。

無祿之人,商而無盈,農而無播,非其性賊貨而命妨穀也。命貧,居無利之貨,祿惡,殖不滋之穀也。

世謂宅有吉凶,徙有歲月。實事則不然。天道難知,假令有命凶之人,當衰之家,治宅遭得不吉之地,移徙適觸歲月之忌。 一家犯忌,口以十數,坐而死者,必祿衰命泊之人也。

推此以論,仕宦進退遷徙,可複見也。時適當退,君用讒口;時適當起,賢人薦己。故仕且得官也,君子輔善 ;且失位也,小人毀奇。

公伯寮訴子路於季孫,孔子稱命。魯人臧倉讒孟子於平公,孟子言天。道未當行,與讒相遇;天未與己,惡人用口。故孔子稱命,不怨公伯寮;孟子言天,不尤臧倉,誠知時命當自然也。

推此以論,人君治道功化,可複言也。命當貴,時適平;期當亂,祿遭衰。治亂成敗之時,與人興衰吉凶適相遭遇。

因 此論聖賢迭起,猶此類也。聖主龍興於倉卒,良輔超拔於際會。世謂韓信、張良輔助漢王,故秦滅漢興,高祖得王 。夫高祖命當自王,信、良之輩時當自興,兩相遭遇,若故相求。是故高祖起於豐、沛,豐、沛子弟相多富貴,非天以子弟助高祖也,

命相小大,適相應也。趙簡子廢太子伯魯,立庶子無恤,無恤遭賢,命亦當君趙也。世謂伯魯不肖,不如無恤;伯魯 命當賤,知慮多泯亂也。

韓生仕至太傅,世謂賴倪寬。實謂不然,太傅當貴,遭與倪寬遇也。

趙武藏於褲中,終日不啼,非或掩其口,閼其聲也;命時當生,睡臥遭出也。

故軍功之侯,必斬兵死之頭;富家 之商必奪貧室之財。削土免侯,罷退令相,罪法明白,祿秩適極。故曆氣所中,必加命短之人;凶歲所著,必饑虛耗之家矣。

Chapter I. Coincidences (Ou-hui).

Fate holds sway over happiness and misfortune, being a spontaneous principle and a decree to meet with certain incidents. There is no alien force, and nothing else exercises an overwhelming influence or affects the final result.

The world speaks of Tse Hsü1 falling upon his sword, and of Ch`ü Yuan2 drowning himself. Tse Lan and Tsai P`i had slandered them to the princes of Wu and Ch`u, and they died innocently. It just so happened that the lives of the two were to end, that Tse Lan and Tsai P`i defamed them, and that King Huai3 and Fu Ch`ai4 put faith in their trumped up charges. It so happened that these princes were short-sighted, so that their officers could be slandered. The lives of the two unfortunate men chanced to be naturally of short duration. It would seem as if there were two chances and three coincidences, 5 but, as a matter of fact, there is but fate and nothing else.

When the Hsia and Yin dynasties were just on the verge of ruin, the crimes of Chieh and Chou happened to be rife, and when the stars of the Shang and Chou6 were just in the ascent, the virtues of T`ang and Wu7 happened to be flourishing.

Kuan Lung Fêng8 met with a violent death, and Chi Tse9 and Pi Kan10 both expired in jail. At that time the corruption of Chieh and Chou was at its height, and the spans of the two men were to terminate. The words of Yi Yin11 were listened to, and the advice of Lü Wang12 was accepted. That was the period, when T`ang and Wu were going to rise, and the time, when the two statesmen were to be employed.

The destiny of a subject may be lucky or unlucky, and a virtuous or a vicious sovereign meets with him. Wên Wang's time was to be glorious, and it was Lü Wang's fate to become exalted. Kao Tsung's13 reign was to be peaceful, and Fu Yüeh's14 virtue to chime in with it. Not that Wên Wang and Kao Tsung were born for their two subjects, or that Lü Wang and Fu Yüeh were created for their two sovereigns. The sovereign being wise, and the minister virtuous, they heard of each other's fame. Everything being adjusted above, and well ordered below, 15 their lots came to be linked together.

When Yen Yuan16 died, the Master said, "Heaven is destroying me.", 17 and at the death of Tse Lu he exclaimed, "Heaven has cursed me." These were expressions of the grief of Confucius and not in accord with the true principle. Confucius was not predestinated to become an emperor, and the lives of his two disciples were not to be long. The fate allotted to them viz. not to become an emperor and not to live long, was not the same, but their lots coincided, and just happened to be connected.

The wonder of the two dragons had to appear, just when King Li of Chou happened to open the box, and when Pao Sse had to destroy the Chou State, it so happened that the nature which King Yu had obtained proved to be wicked. 18 The two dragons did not induce King Li to commit crimes, nor did Pao Sse beguile King Yu. All these were merely chances and coincidences, which came together of themselves.

The weird ditties of children turned out true, when the extraordinary cockfight took place by hazard, 19 and the prophecy by the mainah was fulfilled, when the calamity happened to befall Chao of Lu.20 Those ditties did not cause the fighting, nor did the mainah bring about the misfortune of the prince: the date of these events came of itself, and human activity coincided by chance.

It was Yao's fate to yield the empire to Shun, and Tan Chu's, to be unprincipled, and when the power over 21 had to pass over to the Hsia dynasty, Shang Chün's conduct had to be flagitious. The two sons were not induced to wickedness, in order to procure the empire to Shun and Yü.22 Goodness and badness, right and wrong came together by hazard.

As regards the rising and setting of Mars and the Pleiades, Mars comes out, when the Pleiades are down, and hides, when the Pleiades are visible. It is not the nature of fire 23 that it should counteract the Pleiades, but by chance their times are not the same, and their courses are different.

When the first moon rests in the cyclical sign yin, the constellation K`uei24 of Ursa major is opposed to the sign shên. It is not the establishment of yin which causes the ejection of shên, but the revolutions of the two constellations happen to be thus balanced.

When the father dies, the son succeeds him and, when the mother-in-law expires, the daughter-in-law takes her place. 25 The succession of son and daughter are not the causes of the decease of father and mother, but the years of old and young people follow each other of themselves.

They say that autumn's breath blights grain and grass. They cannot stand it, and fade away and die. This idea is wrong:---Plants germinate in spring, grow in summer, and ripen in autumn. Then they just wither and die spontaneously. The Yin fluid then happens to be in abundance and falls in with them. Whence do we know this?

Some plants do not die in autumn, their vitality not yet being exhausted. Man lives a hundred years ere he breathes his last, and plants live one year before they die. If people aver that at death the Yin fluid destroys them, what kind of fluid does man encounter when his life ceases? Some perhaps may return that ghosts kill him. If, when man expires, ghosts appear, and when plants die, cold air supervenes, all this would be mere accident. Men see ghosts before their end, but some perceive them without dying. Plants meet cold when they die, but it happens also that they encounter cold and yet do not wither.

Those who are crushed by a falling building, or buried under a collapsing bank, are not killed by the essence of the house or the fluid of the bank. The house was old, and the bank in decay. Unfortunate men happened to be on the spot just at the moment when the down-fall took place.

The moon fades in heaven, and shells shrink in the sea. 26 The wind follows the tiger, and the clouds accompany the dragon. 27 Belonging to the same sort and permeated by a similar fluid, their natures can mutually affect one another. When, however, creatures and things fall in together, and good or bad luck happen simultaneously, there is no influence exercised by one fluid upon another.

The worst penalty which can be inflicted on a murderer, is capital punishment. The punishment of the murderer must be heavy, and the life of him who has to die, must be cut off. Therefore the destruction coming down from above, first aims at the life of the criminal. When, however, a holy emperor displays his virtue, those having good luck first enjoy it. And then, if a kind edict be issued in the palace, the culprit who has still long years to live comes out of jail. In that case Heaven has not prompted the holy emperor to issue such an edict for the sake of the culprit whose time of death has not yet come. The holy emperor happened to promulgate an act of grace, and the prisoner by chance escaped death.

It is like man's sleeping at night, and rising in the morning. At night the light of the moon fades, it is impossible. to work, and man's forces are likewise exhausted, so that he desires rest. When the morning sun shines brightly, he awakes from his slumbers, and his power is restored as well. Heaven does not make him work during the day, and repose at night. Working goes along with the day, and rest corresponds to the night.

The wild geese assemble at Kuei-chi,28 having left the cold region of Chieh-shih.29 When they arrive they find the fields of the people just ready. Walking about them, they feed on grass and corn. When the corn has been eaten, and the food been used up, the spring rains then just set in. Then they leave the hot climes for the north, returning again to Chieh-shih.

The elephants tilling the tumulus acted in the same manner. 30 It is on record that Shun was buried in Ts`ang-wu,31 and that elephants became his labourers, and that was interred at Kuei-chi, and had crows as tenants. 32 This is an untruth and an absurd statement.

When a husband has the physiognomy of a short-lived man, the wife he marries must soon become a widow, and when such a woman who is soon to be widowed marries, she falls in with a husband who dies young. There is a common belief that, in case males and females die prematurely, the husband injures his wife, and the wife does harm to the husband. There can be no question of mutual injury, it is all the outcome of fate, which works spontaneously.

Provided that a flame be quenched by water, then we are justified in speaking of water injuring fire. But when fire just goes out of its own accord, and water happens to pour down on it spontaneously, we must say that both have destroyed themselves and did not injure one another. Now the untimely death of males and females is not analogous to the quenching of fire by water, but may be compared to the two elements extinguishing and pouring down of themselves.

The son injuring his father and the younger brother ruining the elder are on the same line. Since they are living under the same roof, their fluids come into contact. They become weak and sickly and pine away until they give up their ghost, but how can this be called injury? It also happens that somebody dies abroad, more than a thousand Li away, by sword or fire, crushed or drowned. There cannot have been a collision of fluids: how could any harm have been produced?

The aunt of Wang Mang, Lady Chêng, was bespoken in marriage to two gentlemen, who both died, and when she was on her way to Chao, its prince also passed away. Before her fluid could have reached them, she destroyed three persons from afar, what a pity! 33

Huang Ts`e Kung married the daughter of a sorcerer in the neighbourhood, after a soothsayer had pronounced her mien to be noble. Therefore Huang Ts`e Kung rose to the rank of a prime minister. As a matter of fact, this was not so. Huang Ts`e Kung was predetermined to become a nobleman, when, on a journey, he encountered the woman. She was likewise to be exalted, therefore she entered Huang Ts`e Kung's house. It was a coincidence, and they met at the proper time. 34

Luckless people make no profit as merchants, and as agriculturists reap no grain. 35 Their nature does not spoil the merchandise, but their fate prevents the grain from growing. Predestinated for poverty, they deal in unprofitable goods, and hampered with bad luck, they plant seed which does not bear fruit.

The world says that dwellings are propitious or unpropitious, and that in moving, special attention should be paid to the year and the month. 36 This is not a correct statement of facts. The ways of Heaven are difficult to know, but provided that an unlucky fellow, or a doomed family build a house, they simply will select a site of ill omen, and when they change their residence, they just happen to choose a calamitous year or month which should be avoided. When an entire family thus rushes into disaster, so that its ten odd members all perish, unable to do anything against it, they all must be persons whose prosperity is shattered and whose fate put an end to them.

The same reasoning holds good concerning the promotion and translation of officials. When the time of their removal has come, their sovereign lends an ear to slanderous reports, and when it is time that they should advance, some excellent man recommends them. When a scholar is about to take office, some superior man assists virtue, and when he is going to be dismissed, some villain has defamed talent.

Kung-Po Liao37 impeached Tse Lu to Chi Sun.38 Confucius said, `It is fate.' 39Tsang Ts`ang40 of Lu slandered Mencius in the presence of Duke P`ing, and Mencius remarked that is was Heaven. 41 As long as the time for a new doctrine has not yet come, one meets with backbiters, and before Heaven lends its help, the talk of malicious people prevails. Therefore Confucius spoke of fate, and did not cherish enmity against Kung-Po Liao; and Mencius referring to Heaven did not bear a grudge against Tsang Ts`ang. They clearly saw that time and fate must be spontaneous.

This is true of the success of a ruler introducing reforms as well. If he is to become illustrious, there happens to be a time of peace, and when there is to be a time of rebellion, his prosperity will be ruined. The time of peace and revolution, victory and defeat is like the progress and the reverses, the good and bad fortune of an individual, which are encountered by chance.

The appearance of wise and sage men at various times falls under the same law. A pious emperor soars up like a dragon all at once, and an able help-mate is found out and instated in the very nick of time. People imagine that because Han Hsin and Chang Liang supported the king of Han, Ch`in was wiped out and Han came to power, insomuch as Kao Tsu won the crown. It was Han Kao Tsu's destiny to become emperor by himself at a time, when Han Hsin and Chang Liang were to flourish by themselves. Thus both sides met. If they had sought each other on purpose, and for this reason Han Kao Tsu rose in Fêng and P`ei,42 among the young folks there many had physiognomies indicative of wealth and honour, yet Heaven did not aid Kao Tsu through them.

Whether fate and physiognomies be grand or mean, there is only a casual coincidence. Viscount Chien of Chao deposed his heir-son Po Lu and raised Wu Hsü, the son of a concubine. Wu Hsü happened to be intelligent, and he was predestined to become prince of Chao to boot. 43 People say that Po Lu was depraved and not equal to Wu Hsü. Po Lu was doomed to baseness, moreover his mind was muddled.

The scholar Han An Kuo rose to be Minister of State. They say that he owed this to I K`uan, but that is not the case. 44 High honours were in store for the Minister, and by hazard he fell in with I K`uan.

Chao Wu45 hidden in the pantaloons did not cry the whole day. Nobody shut his mouth or prevented him from giving a sound. but it was his lot to live, therefore he chanced to escape by sleeping.

Thus marquises who have won laurels on the battle-field must needs cut the heads of those slain in battle, and merchants of wealthy houses will snatch away the property of poor families. As regards those noblemen who are deprived of their land and degraded, or officers and ministers who are dismissed, their guilt is made public when their income is highest. Noxious air always infects those people whose fates are short, 46 and in a year of dearth the indigent have to suffer starvation. 47

Notes

1. Wu Tse Hsü or Wu Yuan.

2. On Wu Tse Hsü and Ch`ü Yuan see Vol. I, p. 140, Note 2.

3. King Huai of Ch`u, 327-294 b.c.

4. Fu Ch`ai, king of Wu, 495-473 b.c.

5. I presume that the two chances are good and bad chances, and the three coincidences, the meeting of a king, a virtuous minister, and a slanderer.

6. Two ancient dynasties.

7. The founders of the last named dynasties.

8. Minister to the tyrant Chieh.

9. Cf. p. 31, Note 2.

10. A nobleman put to death by the emperor Chou.

11. Cf. p. 31, Note 1.

12. The counsellor of King Wu, more generally known by the name of T`ai Kung, his surname being Lü Shang (Giles, Biogr. Dict. No. 1862).

13. Kao Tsung = Wu Ting, an emperor of the Shang dynasty. Cf. Vol. 1, p. 317, Note 2.

14. Fu Yüeh, originally a poor man, became minister of the emperor Kao Tsung.

15. Sovereign and minister both doing their duty.

16. Yen Yuan = Yen Hui, a disciple of Confucius. See Vol. 1, p. 151.

17. Quotation from Analects XI, 8.

18. The story is told in full Vol. I, p. 321 and on p. 163.

19. The cocks of two nobles of Lu were in the habit of fighting. The one noble sheathed the head of his cock, and the other gave metal spurs to his. This cockfight increased the enmity of the two gentlemen who were instrumental in bringing about the dethronement of Duke Chao of Lu. See Tso-chuan, Duke Chao 25th year (Legge, Classics Vol. V, p. 710).

20. The mainah or mino bird---Legge calls it the mino-grackle---is a kind of thrush or starling which uses to breed in holes of walls and banks. The fact that in the 25th year of Duke Chao of Lu it was seen building its nest in a tree, was interpreted as a bad augury for the duke, who in the same year was compelled to leave his State and flee to Ch`i. For more details see Tso-chuan, Duke Chao 25th year (Legge, Classics Vol. V, p. 709, Par. 3). See also p. 162, Note 3.

21. Shun's territory Yü.

22. The emperor .

23. Mars is called the "Fire Star" .

24. K`uei is the constellation α, β, γ, δ of Ursa major, the other three stars:---ε, ζ, η being called Shao, the "handle" of the Dipper i. e., the Tail of the Great Bear. From time immemorial the Chinese have determined the seasons and the month by the revolution of the Great Bear, regarding its Tail as the hand of a natural clock. In the beginning of the first Chinese moon it points to the cyclical sign yin viz. E.N.E. (T`ai-p`ing yü-lan chap. 18, 1v. The Yüeh-ling here quoted is not that of the Liki). See also:---Astronomy of the Ancient Chinese by Chalmers in Legge's Shuking, Prolegomena p. 93.I have translated by "opposed to." Shên W.S.W. is exactly opposite to yin = E.N.E. The expression seems to refer to the supposed antagonism of the cyclical signs and their attributes. Cf. Vol. I, p. 105 and chap. XXXIX.

25. As long as her mother-in-law is alive, the daughter-in-law who lives in the same family with her husband has to obey her commands like her own daughter, and does not become her own mistress before the death of the mother-in-law, when she succeeds to her position.

26. Again the usual symbolism supposing a mysterious sympathy between the moon representing the liquid element and the animals living in the water. Huai Nan Tse III, 2r. says that when the moon, the ruler of the Yin, fades, the brains of fish decrease, and when it dies shells and oysters shrivel. The moon, says the Lü-shi ch`un-ch`iu, is the source of all Yin. It being bright, all oysters are full, and the Yin is exuberant; when it is dark oysters are empty, and all Yin shrinks together. The moon appears in the sky, and all the Yin creatures undergo their transformations in the deep. (T`ai-p`ing yü lan chap. 942, p. 1v.)

27. Cf. Vol. I, p. 279, Note 2.

28. In Chekiang province.

29. A mountain on the north shore of the gulf of Pechili, in the prefecture of Yung-p`ing.

30. The tilling was accidental.

31. A place in Human in the Ning-yuan district.

32. This tradition is mentioned in the Ti-wang shi-chi quoted by the T`ai-p`ing-yü-lan chap. 81, p. 2v. and chap. 82, p. 2r. where it is said that below the grave of crows weeded the land:---. No further explanation of these rather obscure passages is given. How did those animals till the burial ground of the old emperors, and what does it mean?

33. Cf. Vol. I, p. 306.

34. This story is told in full in Vol. I, p. 307.

35. All the three editions of the Lun-hêng have , a character not found in any dictionary, instead of = grain. It comes near a variant in the Shan-haiching = mentioned in the .

36. These subjects will be found thoroughly discussed in chap. XXXVII---XXXIX.

37. A relative of the ducal house of Lu.

38. A member of one of the three powerful families of Lu.

39. See Analects XIV, 38 and p. 10, Note 4.

40. A favourite of Duke P`ing of Lu.

41. Cf. Vol. I, p. 422.

42. Regions in the province of Kiangsu, where the founder of the Han dynasty, a native of P`ei, began his career.

43. Cf. Vol. I, p. 226 and 307.

44. The relations between Han An Kuo and 1 K`uan are related in Vol. I, p. 309.

45. The famous "Orphan of Chao" who later on became the hero of the well known drama translated by Stanislas Julien, which is not a mere copy of the "Mysterious Box," as v. Gottschall (Das Theater und Drama der Chinesen, Breslau 1887, p. 108) seems to intimate, the subject being much older and semi-historical. For more details see Vol. I, p. 177.

46. Others remain uninjured.

47. Because they are doomed to die.

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