Volume 89 Biographies 77: Diviners 1

藝術上

The Arts, Part One

列傳第七十七藝術上

Biography 77: The Arts, Part One

晁崇張深殷紹王早耿玄劉靈助沙門靈遠李順興檀特師由吾道榮張遠遊顏惡頭王春信都芳宋景業許遵麹紹吳遵世趙輔和皇甫玉解法選魏甯綦母懷文張子信陸法和蔣升強練庾季才子質盧太翼耿詢來和蕭吉楊伯醜臨孝恭劉祐張胄玄

Chao Chong, Zhang Shen, Yin Shao, Wang Zao, Geng Xuan, Liu Lingzhu, the monk Lingyuan, Li Shunxing, Tante Shi, Youwu Daorong, Zhang Yuanyou, Yan Etou, Wang Chun, Xindu Fang, Song Jingye, Xu Zun, Qu Shao, Wu Zunshi, Zhao Fuhe, Huangfu Yu, Jiefa Xuan, Wei Ning, Qimou Huaiwen, Zhang Zixin, Lu Fahe, Jiang Sheng, Qiang Lian, Yu Jicai, Zi Zhi, Lu Taiyi, Geng Xun, Lai He, Xiao Ji, Yang Bochou, Lin Xiaogong, Liu You, and Zhang Zhouxuan

夫陰陽所以正時日，順氣序者也；卜筮所以決嫌疑，定猶豫者也；醫巫所以禦妖邪，養性命者也；音律所以和人神，節哀樂者也；相術所以辨貴賤，明分理者也；技巧所以利器用，濟艱難者也。此皆聖人無心，因人設教，救恤災患，禁止淫邪，自三五哲王，其所由來久矣。昔之言陰陽者，則有箕子、裨灶、梓慎、子韋；曉音律者，則師曠、師摯、伯牙、杜夔；敘卜筮，則史扁、史蘇、嚴君平、司馬季主；論相術，則內史叔服、姑布子卿、唐舉、許負；語醫巫則文摯、扁鵲、季咸、華佗；其巧思，則奚仲、墨翟、張平子、馬德衡。凡此諸君，莫不探靈入妙，理洞精微。或弘道以濟時，或隱身以利物，深不可測，固無得而稱矣。近古涉乎斯術者，鮮有存夫貞一，多肆其淫僻，厚誣天道。或變亂陰陽，曲成君欲；或假託神怪，熒惑人心。遂令時俗妖訛，不獲返其真性，身罹災毒，莫得壽終而死。藝成而下，意在茲乎！

Yin and yang serve to regulate the calendar and harmonize the seasonal progression; divination resolves doubt and settles indecision; physicians and shamans ward off evil spirits and sustain life; music harmonizes humanity with the divine and moderates sorrow and delight; physiognomy distinguishes high and low station and clarifies what is fitting; technical skill perfects instruments for use and helps overcome difficulty. The sages pursued none of these arts for personal gain; they devised teachings to meet human need, to relieve calamity, and to restrain depravity. Their roots reach back to the sage rulers of antiquity. Among the masters of yin and yang in antiquity were Jizi, Pizao, Zishen, and Ziwei; those skilled in music included Shi Kuang, Shi Zhi, Boya, and Du Kui; in divination were Shi Bian, Shi Su, Yan Junping, and Sima Jizhu; in physiognomy were Grand Clerk Shufu, Gubu Ziqing, Tang Ju, and Xu Fu; among physicians and shamans were Wen Zhi, Bian Que, Ji Xian, and Hua Tuo; in mechanical ingenuity were Xi Zhong, Mozi, Zhang Heng, and Ma Jun. Every one of these masters penetrated the subtle and mysterious, with a command of principle that reached the finest depths. Some spread the Way to save their times; others withdrew from the world yet still served humanity. Their depths cannot be measured, and no praise can do them justice. In later ages, few who took up these arts remained true to their purpose; most gave themselves to perversity and grossly misrepresented Heaven's will. Some have perverted yin and yang to gratify a ruler's whims; some have invoked false omens and spirits to delude the people. Custom has grown corrupt and deluded, people cannot recover their true selves, they suffer disaster and harm, and few die a natural death at the end of a full life. The saying that the arts rank below the Way — its point is precisely this!

曆觀經史百家之言，無不存夫藝術。或敘其玄妙，或記其迂誕，非徒用廣異聞，將以明乎勸戒。是以後來作者，咸相祖述。

A survey of the classics, histories, and masters shows that none omit these arts entirely. Some relate their marvels, others their absurdities — not simply to entertain with wonders, but to teach by warning and example. Later historians have all followed this precedent.

自魏至隋，年移四代，至於遊心藝術，亦為多矣。在魏，則敘晁崇、張深、殷紹、王早、耿玄、劉靈助、江式、周澹、李脩、徐謇、王顯、崔彧、蔣少遊，以為《術藝傳》；在齊，則有由吾道榮、王春、信都芳、宋景業、許遵、吳遵世、趙輔和、皇甫玉、解法選、魏甯、綦母懷文、張子信、馬嗣明為《方伎傳》；在周，則有冀俊、蔣升、姚僧垣、黎景熙、趙文深、褚該、強練，以為《藝術傳》；在隋，則有庾季才、盧太翼、耿詢、韋鼎、來和、蕭吉、張胄玄、許智藏、萬寶常為《藝術傳》。今檢江式、崔彧、冀俊、黎景熙、趙文深各編別傳。又檢得沙門靈遠、李順興、檀特師、顏惡頭，並以陸法和、徐之才、何稠附此篇，以備《藝術傳》。前代著述，皆混而書之。但道苟不同，則其流異。今各因其事，以類區分。先載天文數術，次載醫方伎巧云。

From the Northern Wei through Sui, four dynasties passed, and many devoted themselves to these arts. For Northern Wei, the work treats Chao Chong, Zhang Shen, Yin Shao, Wang Zao, Geng Xuan, Liu Lingzhu, Jiang Shi, Zhou Tan, Li Xiu, Xu Jian, Wang Xian, Cui Yu, and Jiang Shaoyou under the heading 'Treatise on Arts and Skills.' For Northern Qi, Youwu Daorong, Wang Chun, Xindu Fang, Song Jingye, Xu Zun, Wu Zunshi, Zhao Fuhe, Huangfu Yu, Jiefa Xuan, Wei Ning, Qimou Huaiwen, Zhang Zixin, and Ma Siming appear in the 'Treatise on Occult Arts.' For Northern Zhou, Ji Jun, Jiang Sheng, Yao Sengyuan, Li Jingxi, Zhao Wenshen, Chu Gai, and Qiang Lian are gathered into the 'Treatise on Arts and Techniques.' For Sui, Yu Jicai, Lu Taiyi, Geng Xun, Wei Ding, Lai He, Xiao Ji, Zhang Zhouxuan, Xu Zhicang, and Wan Baochang form the 'Treatise on Arts and Techniques.' On review, Jiang Shi, Cui Yu, Ji Jun, Li Jingxi, and Zhao Wenshen are each given their own separate biographies. Further examination also turned up the monks Lingyuan, Li Shunxing, Tante Shi, and Yan Etou, along with Lu Fahe, Xu Zhicai, and He Chou, all appended to this chapter to round out the 'Treatise on Arts and Techniques.' Earlier dynasties, in their compilations, recorded such figures all together without distinction. Yet when the Way itself differs, the currents of learning diverge as well. Here, each subject is grouped by kind according to its proper field. Astronomy and numerology come first; medical formulas, occult arts, and craftsmanship follow.

晁崇，字子業，遼東襄平人也。善天文術數，為慕容垂太史郎。從慕容寶敗於參合，為道武所獲。從平中原，拜太史令。詔崇造渾儀，遷中書侍郎，令如故。天興五年，月暈左角，崇奏，占為角蟲將死。帝既克姚平于柴壁，以崇言之徵，遂命諸軍焚車而反。牛果大疫，輿駕所乘巨犗數百頭，亦同日斃于路側，自餘首尾相繼。是歲天下牛死者十七八，麋鹿亦多死。

Chao Chong, styled Ziye, was a native of Xiangping in Liaodong. Skilled in astronomy and the arts of calculation, he served Murong Chui as Grand Astrologer Gentleman. When Murong Bao was defeated at Canhe, Chao Chong fell into the hands of Emperor Daowu. After the Central Plains were brought to order, he was appointed Grand Astrologer. The throne commanded Chong to build an armillary sphere and promoted him to Vice Director of the Secretariat while leaving him in his former post. In the fifth year of Tianxing, a halo appeared at the left horn of the moon. Chong submitted a memorial interpreting the omen: horned beasts were about to perish. The Emperor, fresh from his victory over Yao Ping at Chaibi, took Chong's prediction as confirmation and ordered the armies to burn their supply wagons and withdraw. Cattle did indeed fall victim to a great plague. Several hundred of the huge oxen that pulled the imperial train died that same day by the road, and countless others followed in succession. That year, seven or eight out of every ten oxen in the empire perished, and elk and deer died in great numbers as well.

崇弟懿，明辯而才不及崇。以善北人語，為黃門侍郎。懿好矜容儀，被服僭度，言音類帝，左右每聞其聲，莫不驚悚。帝知而惡之。後其家奴告崇、懿叛，招引姚興。及興寇平陽，帝以奴言為實，執崇兄弟，並賜死。

Chong's younger brother Yi was clever of tongue, though his gifts fell short of his brother's. Skilled in the tongues of the northern peoples, he was appointed Vice Director of the Yellow Gate. Yi was fond of striking a lordly pose. He dressed above his station, and his speech sounded so like the Emperor's that those who heard him nearby were invariably shaken with alarm. When the Emperor learned of it, he came to loathe the man. Later a slave in their household accused Chong and Yi of treason, claiming they were summoning Yao Xing. When Yao Xing raided Pingyang, the Emperor accepted the slave's accusation as truth, seized the brothers, and had them both put to death by imperial decree.

張深，不知何許人也。明占候。自雲，嘗事苻堅，堅欲征晉，深勸不行，堅不從，果敗。又仕姚興為靈台令，姚泓滅，入赫連昌。昌復以深及徐辯對為太史令。統萬平，深、辯俱見獲，以深為太史令。神抅二年，將討蠕蠕，深、辯皆謂不宜行，與崔浩爭于太武前。深專守常占，而不能鉤深賾遠，故不及浩。後為驃騎軍謀祭酒，著《觀象賦》，其言星文甚備，文多不載。

Zhang Shen—of whose origins nothing is known. He was accomplished in reading the heavens and forecasting events. He claimed to have served Fu Jian. When Jian planned an expedition against Jin, Shen urged him not to go; Jian refused, and was duly defeated. He later served Yao Xing as Director of the Spirit Tower. After Yao Hong's fall, he entered the service of Helian Chang. Chang once more paired Shen with Xu Bian as Grand Astrologers. When Tongwan fell, both Shen and Bian were taken captive, and Shen was appointed Grand Astrologer. In the second year of Shenqi, as an expedition against the Ruru was being prepared, Shen and Bian both argued that it should not be launched, and clashed with Cui Hao before Emperor Taiwu. Shen adhered only to conventional readings of the heavens and could not reach into deeper, more distant meanings—hence he never equaled Hao. He later served as Libationer of Strategy for the Flying Cavalry Army and composed the 'Rhapsody on Observing the Heavens,' a work rich in star lore, though much of it is not reproduced here.

又明元時，有容城令徐路，善占候，坐系冀州獄。別駕崔隆宗就禁慰問之，路曰：「昨夜驛馬星流，計赦須臾應至。」隆宗先信之，遂遣人出城候焉，俄而赦至。

In Emperor Mingyuan's reign there was also Xu Lu, magistrate of Rongcheng, skilled in reading the heavens, who was imprisoned in Ji Province. Vice Prefect Cui Longzong visited him in prison to offer comfort. Lu said, 'Last night the Courier Star moved across the sky. By my reckoning, an amnesty should arrive at any moment. Longzong trusted him at once and sent men outside the city to watch for it—and soon the amnesty came.

又道武、明元時，太史令王亮、蘇垣，太武時，破和龍得馮弘太史令閔盛，孝文時，太史趙樊生，並知天文。後太史令趙勝、趙翼、趙洪慶、胡世榮、胡法通等二族，世業天文。又永安中，詔以恆州人高崇祖善天文，每占吉凶有驗，特除中散大夫。

In the reigns of Emperors Daowu and Mingyuan there were Grand Astrologers Wang Liang and Su Yuan; under Emperor Taiwu, Min Sheng, Feng Hong's Grand Astrologer, was taken when Helong fell; under Emperor Xiaowen, Grand Astrologer Zhao Fansheng—all were versed in astronomy. Later, among Grand Astrologers Zhao Sheng, Zhao Yi, Zhao Hongqing, Hu Shirong, Hu Fatong, and others, two families maintained astronomy as a hereditary calling. In the Yong'an era, an edict singled out Gao Chongzu of Heng Province, whose readings of fortune and misfortune had repeatedly come true, and specially appointed him Palace Gentleman.

永熙中，詔通直散騎常侍孫僧化與太史胡世榮、太史令張寵、趙洪慶及中書舍人孫子良等在門下外省，校比天文書，集甘、石二家星經，及漢、魏以來二十三家經占，集五十五卷。後集諸家撮要，前後所上雜占，以類相從，日月、五星、二十八宿、中外官及圖，合為七十五卷。

In the Yongxi era, an edict directed Attendant-in-Ordinary Sun Sengua, Grand Astrologer Hu Shirong, Grand Astrologer Zhang Chong, Zhao Hongqing, and Secretariat Gentleman Sun Ziliang and others, working in the Outer Office of the Secretariat-Chancellery, to collate astronomical texts—collecting the star classic of the Gan and Shi schools and the prognostic writings of twenty-three traditions from Han and Wei onward into fifty-five volumes. They later compiled selected essentials from the various schools, together with miscellaneous prognostications submitted over the years, arranged by category—sun and moon, the five planets, the twenty-eight lodges, inner and outer asterisms, and charts—seventy-five volumes in all.

僧化，東莞人也。識星分，案文占以言災異，時有所中。普泰中，爾硃兆惡其多言，遂系于廷尉，免官。永熙中，孝武帝召僧化與中散大夫孫安都共撰兵法，未就而帝入關，遂罷。元象中，死于晉陽。

Sengua was a native of Dongguan. He knew the divisions of the heavens and, drawing on written lore to foretell calamities and portents, sometimes proved right. In the Putai era, Erzhu Rong, weary of his loose tongue, had him thrown into the Minister of Justice's prison and stripped of office. In the Yongxi era, Emperor Xiaowu summoned Sengua and Palace Gentleman Sun An'du to draft a military treatise together, but before it was finished the Emperor withdrew into the Passes and the project was abandoned. In the Yuanxiang era he died at Jinyang.

殷紹，長樂人也。達《九章》、《七曜》。太武時，為算生博士，給事東宮西曹。太安四年，上《四序堪輿》，表言：「以姚氏之時，行學伊川，遇游遁大儒成公興，從求《九章》要術。興字廣明，自雲膠東人也，山居隱跡，希在人間。興將臣到陽翟九崖岩沙門釋曇影間，興即北還。臣獨留住，依止影所，求請《九章》。影復將臣向長廣東山，就道人法穆。法穆時共影為臣開述《九章》數家雜要。復以先師和公所注黃帝《四序經》文三十六卷，合有三百二十四章，專說天地陰陽之本。其第一，孟序，九卷八十一章，說陰陽配合之原；第二，仲序，九卷八十一章，解四時氣王，休殺吉凶；第三，叔序，九卷八十一章，明日月辰宿，交會相生為表裏；第四，季序，九卷八十一章，具釋六甲，刑禍福德。以此經文，傳授於臣。山神禁嚴，不得齎出。尋究經年，粗舉綱要。山居險難，無以自供，不堪窘迫，心生懈怠。以甲寅之年，日維鶉火，感物懷歸。自爾至今，二十五載。臣前在東宮，以狀奏聞，奉被景穆皇帝聖詔，敕臣撰錄，集其要最。仰奉明旨，謹審先所見《四序經》文，抄撮要略，當世所須吉凶舉動，集成一卷。上至天子，下及庶人，貴賤等級，尊卑差別，吉凶所用，罔不畢備。未及內呈，先帝晏駕。依先撰錄，謹以上聞。」共《四序堪輿》遂大行於世。

Yin Shao was a native of Changle. He had mastered the 'Nine Chapters' and the 'Seven Luminaries.' Under Emperor Taiwu he served as Doctor of Calculators and Attendant in the Western Bureau of the Eastern Palace. In the fourth year of Tai'an he submitted 'The Four Seasons of Geomancy,' writing in his memorial: 'In the days of the Yao clan, while pursuing my studies on the Yichuan, I met the wandering recluse and great scholar Cheng Gongxing and sought from him the essential techniques of the 'Nine Chapters. Xing, styled Guangming, claimed to be from Jiaodong. He lived hidden in the mountains and seldom showed himself in the world of men. When Xing was about to bring your subject to the monk Shiying at Jiuyai Cliff in Yangdi, Xing turned north and went back. Your subject alone remained, lodging with Shiying and begging instruction in the 'Nine Chapters.' Shiying then led your subject to Mount Dong in Changguang to seek out the Daoist Famu. Famu, together with Shiying, then opened for your subject the assorted essentials of several schools of the 'Nine Chapters.' He also possessed thirty-six volumes of the Yellow Emperor's 'Classic of the Four Seasons,' as annotated by my former master Master He—three hundred twenty-four chapters in all, devoted entirely to the fundamental roots of yin and yang in Heaven and Earth. The first part, the Sequence of the First Month—nine volumes and eighty-one chapters—explains the origin of yin-yang pairing; the second, the Sequence of the Second Month—nine volumes and eighty-one chapters—explains how the qi of the four seasons wax and wane, and the fortune or misfortune of rest and killing; the third, the Sequence of the Third Month—nine volumes and eighty-one chapters—clarifies the sun, moon, stars, and lodges, their conjunctions and mutual generation as inner and outer counterparts; the fourth, the Sequence of the Fourth Month—nine volumes and eighty-one chapters—fully explains the six jia, punishment, calamity, and blessing. With this scripture he passed the teaching on to your subject. The mountain spirits guarded it with strict prohibition; it could not be taken away. Your subject pursued it for a full year and roughly grasped its main outlines. Mountain life was perilous and harsh. With no way to sustain himself, and unable to endure the hardship, your subject's resolve slackened. In the jiayin year, when the day-stem was lodged in Quail Fire, stirred by all he had seen, your subject yearned to return home. From that time to the present, twenty-five years have passed. While serving in the Eastern Palace, your subject submitted a report to the throne and received the sacred edict of Emperor Jingmu, commanding him to compile and set down its most essential points. Reverently obeying that clear command, your subject carefully reviewed the 'Classic of the Four Seasons' as he had received it, extracted its essential outlines, and gathered into one volume what the age requires for actions of fortune and misfortune. From the Son of Heaven above to the common people below, high and low in rank, noble and humble in station—nothing needed for reading fortune and misfortune is left out. Before it could be presented at court, the late Emperor passed away. Following the earlier compilation, your subject respectfully submits this report. Thus 'The Four Seasons of Geomancy' went forth and circulated widely in the world.

其從子玖，亦以學術著名。

His nephew Jiu was likewise famed for learning.

王早，勃海南皮人也。明陰陽、九宮及兵法，善風角。明元時，喪亂之後，有人詣早，求問勝術。早為設法，令各無咎，由是州裏稱之。時有東莞鄭氏，執得仇人趙氏，克明晨會宗族，當就墓所刑之。趙氏求救於早。早為占候，並授以一符曰：「君今且還，選取七人，令一人為行主者佩此符，于雞鳴時，伏在仇家宅東南二里。平旦，當有十人相隨向西北，行中有二人乘黑牛，一黑牛最在前，一黑牛應第七。但捉取第七者將還，事必無他。」趙氏從之，果如其言。乃是鄭氏男五父也，諸子並為其族所宗敬，故和解二家，趙氏竟免。

Wang Zao was a native of Nanpi in Bohai. He mastered yin and yang, the Nine Palaces, and the art of war, and was adept at wind divination. During Emperor Mingyuan's reign, after the devastation of war, a man came to Wang Zao to ask for methods of victory. Wang Zao devised rites for him so that each undertaking would pass without harm, and from that time he was praised throughout the district. At that time the Zheng clan of Dongguan had taken their enemy Zhao captive. At dawn the next morning they would gather the clan and put him to death at the family grave. Zhao appealed to Wang Zao for rescue. Wang Zao read the signs and gave him a talisman as well, saying, 'Go home now. Choose seven men and have one of them—the leader of the party—wear this talisman. At cockcrow, lie in ambush two li southeast of your enemy's house. At daybreak ten men will walk together toward the northwest. Two among them will ride black oxen—one black ox at the head of the line, and one black ox beside the seventh man. Seize only the seventh man and bring him back, and the matter will surely end without further harm. Zhao did as he was told, and events unfolded exactly as Wang Zao had foretold. The man was Wu Fu, a son of the Zheng clan. Because the sons were all held in honor by their kin, the two families were reconciled and Zhao was spared.

後早與客清晨立於門內，遇有卒風振樹，早語客曰：「依法當有千里外急使。日中時，有兩匹馬，一白一赤，從西南來，至即取我，逼我不聽與妻子別。」語訖便入，召家人鄰里辭別，仍沐浴帶書囊，日中出門候使。如期，果有馬一白一赤，從州而至，即促早上馬，遂詣行宮。時太武圍涼州未拔，故許彥薦之。早，彥師也。及至，詔問何時當克此城。早對曰：「陛下但移據西北角，三日內必克。」帝從之，如期而克。輿駕還都，久不雨，帝問早。早曰：「今日申時必大雨。」比至未，猶無片雲，帝召早詰之。早曰：「願更少時。」至申時，雲四合，遂大雨滂沱。早苦以疾辭，乞歸鄉里。詔許之，遂終於家。或言許彥以其術勝，恐終紡己，譎令歸之耳。

Later, early one morning, Wang Zao was standing inside his gate with a guest when a sudden gust shook the trees. Wang Zao said to the guest, 'By the rules of my art, an urgent messenger should be coming from a thousand li away. At midday two horses, one white and one red, will come from the southwest. The moment they arrive they will take me away and will not even let me say farewell to my wife and children. When he had finished speaking he went inside, called his family and neighbors to take leave of them, bathed, took up a book satchel, and at midday went out to await the messenger. At the appointed time two horses, one white and one red, came from the provincial capital. They at once pressed Wang Zao to mount and rode with him to the imperial camp. Emperor Taiwu was then besieging Liangzhou without success, and Xu Yan recommended Wang Zao to him. Wang Zao had been Xu's teacher. When Wang Zao arrived, the Emperor asked by edict when the city would fall. Wang Zao answered, 'Your Majesty need only shift your camp to the northwest corner, and within three days the city will surely fall. The Emperor did as he advised, and the city fell on the day foretold. When the imperial procession returned to the capital, rain had long been absent, and the Emperor questioned Wang Zao. Wang Zao said, 'At the shen hour today there will surely be a great downpour. By the wei hour not a cloud had appeared, and the Emperor summoned Wang Zao to reproach him. Wang Zao said, 'I beg Your Majesty to grant me a little more time. When the shen hour came, clouds closed in from every side and rain fell in torrents. Wang Zao pleaded illness and begged to return to his home district. An edict granted his request, and he died at home. Some said that Xu Yan, seeing Wang Zao's art surpass his own, feared Wang would eventually prove his undoing and therefore tricked the court into sending him home.

耿玄，钜鹿宋子人也。善卜占。有客叩門，玄在室已知其姓字，並所齎持及來問之意。其所卜筮，十中八九。別有《林占》，時或傳之。而性不和俗，時有王公欲求其筮者，玄則拒而不許。每云：「今既貴矣，何所求而復卜也？欲望意外乎？」代京法禁嚴切，王公聞之，莫不驚悚而退。故玄多見憎忿，不為貴勝所親。官止钜鹿太守。

Geng Xuan was a native of Songzi in Julu. He was skilled in divination. When a guest knocked at the door, Geng Xuan already knew from within his room the visitor's name, what he carried, and what he had come to ask. Eight or nine of every ten of his divinations proved true. He also possessed a work called 'Forest Divination,' which circulated from time to time. But his temperament set him against the ways of the world. When nobles and princes sought his divination, Geng Xuan refused them. He would always say, 'You are already exalted—what is left to seek that you must consult the oracle again? Do you crave the unforeseen? In the capital of Dai the laws were stern and close. When nobles and princes heard this, none failed to withdraw in alarm. For this reason Geng Xuan was often met with resentment and found no favor among the great. His highest office was Administrator of Julu.

劉靈助，燕郡人也。師事范陽劉弁，而粗疏無賴。或時負販，或復劫盜，賣術於市。後事爾硃榮，榮信卜筮，靈助所占屢中，遂被親待，為榮府功曹參軍。建義初，榮于河陰害王公卿士。時奉車都尉盧道虔兄弟，亦相率朝行宮，靈助以其州裏，衛護之。由是朝士與諸盧相隨免害者數十人。榮入京師，超拜光祿大夫，封長子縣公。從上党王元天穆討邢杲。

Liu Lingzhu was a native of Yan Commandery. He studied under Liu Bian of Fanyang, but he was coarse, undisciplined, and good for nothing. At times he hawked goods; at other times he turned to robbery. He sold his arts in the marketplace. Later he entered the service of Erzhu Rong. Rong trusted divination, and Lingzhu's readings repeatedly came true, so Rong treated him with favor and made him Staff Officer for Records in his household. At the opening of the Jianyi era, Rong slaughtered the nobles and ministers at Heyin. At that time Colonel of Following Chariots Lu Daojian and his brothers were also making their way together to the imperial camp. Lingzhu shielded them as men of his own district. By this means several dozen court officials and members of the Lu clan who went with them escaped death. When Rong entered the capital, Lingzhu was promoted out of turn to Grand Master of Splendid Happiness and enfeoffed as Duke of Changzi County. He followed Shangdang Wang Yuan Tianmu in the campaign against Xing Gao.

元顥入洛，天穆度河，會爾硃榮於太行。及將攻河內，令靈助筮之。靈助曰：「未時必克。」時已向中，士眾疲怠，靈助曰：「時將至矣！」榮鼓之，即便克陷。及至北中，榮攻城不獲。以時盛暑，議欲且還，以待秋涼。莊帝詔靈助筮之。靈助曰：「必破，十八九間。」果如言。車駕還宮，進爵燕郡公，贈其父僧安為幽州刺史。尋兼尚書左僕射，慰勞幽州流人。北還，與都督侯深等討葛榮餘黨韓婁，滅之於薊。仍厘州務，又為幽、并、營、安四州行台。及爾硃榮死，莊帝幽崩，靈助本寒微，一朝至此，自謂方術堪能動眾，又以爾硃有誅滅之兆，遂自號燕王、大行台，為莊帝舉義兵。馴養大鳥，稱為己瑞，妄說圖讖，言劉氏當王。又云：「欲知避世入鳥村。」遂刻氈為人象，書桃木為符書，作詭道厭祝法，人多信之。時西河人紇豆陵步籓，舉兵逼晉陽，爾硃兆頻戰不利。故靈助唱言：「爾硃自然當滅，不須我兵。」由是幽、瀛、滄、冀人悉從之。從之者，夜舉火為號；不舉火者，諸村共屠之。普泰元年，率眾至博陵之安國城，與叱列延慶、侯深，爾硃羽生等戰。戰敗被禽，斬於定州，傳首洛陽，支分其體。

Yuan Hao entered Luoyang. Tianmu crossed the river and joined Erzhu Rong at Taihang. When they were about to attack Henei, Rong had Lingzhu cast the oracle. Lingzhu said, 'At the wei hour the city will surely fall. The day was already past noon and the troops were exhausted. Lingzhu cried, 'The hour is nearly here!' Rong sounded the drums, and at once the city was stormed and taken. When they reached Beizhong, Rong laid siege to the city but could not capture it. The season was fiercely hot, and they debated withdrawing for the time being to wait for the cool of autumn. Emperor Zhuang ordered Lingzhu to divine the outcome. Lingzhu said, 'It will surely fall—between the eighteenth and nineteenth days. Events unfolded exactly as he had said. When the imperial procession returned to the palace, Lingzhu was raised to Duke of Yan Commandery, and his father Seng'an was posthumously appointed Governor of You Province. Soon afterward he also served concurrently as Left Vice Director of the Imperial Secretariat, charged with comforting the refugees of You Province. On his return north he joined Area Commander Hou Shen and others in campaigning against Han Lou, a remnant of Ge Rong's forces, and destroyed him at Ji. He continued to set provincial affairs in order and also served as itinerant commissioner for the four provinces of You, Bing, Ying, and An. When Erzhu Rong died and Emperor Zhuang perished in confinement, Lingzhu—who had risen overnight from humble origins to such eminence—believed his arts could stir the people. He also read in the signs that the Erzhu were marked for destruction, and so styled himself King of Yan and Grand Itinerant Commissioner, raising righteous troops in Emperor Zhuang's name. He reared great birds and called them his heavenly portents; he spread false prophecies from the charts, declaring that the Liu house was destined to reign. He also proclaimed, 'If you would know how to flee the world, enter Bird Village. He carved felt into human images, wrote talismans on peachwood, and devised sorcerous rites of curse and prayer—and many believed him. At that time Bedouling Bufan of Xihe raised an army and pressed on Jinyang, while Erzhu Zhao fought again and again without victory. Lingzhu therefore proclaimed, 'The Erzhu will perish of their own accord—my army need not strike. Thereupon the people of You, Ying, Cang, and Ji all rallied to him. Those who joined him lit fires by night as signals; any village that failed to light a fire was jointly put to the sword by its neighbors. In the first year of Putai he led his forces to Anguo City in Boling and fought Chilie Yanqing, Hou Shen, Erzhu Yusheng, and others. Defeated in battle, he was taken captive and beheaded at Dingzhou. His head was sent to Luoyang and his body cut into pieces.

初，靈助每云：「三月末，我必入定州，爾硃亦必滅。」及將戰，靈助自筮，卦不吉，以手折蓍棄之地，云：「此何知！」尋見禽。果以三月入定州。而齊神武以明年閏三月，滅兆等於韓陵山。永熙二年，贈尚書左僕射、開府儀同三司、幽州刺史，諡曰恭。

Earlier Lingzhu had often declared, 'At the end of the third month I shall surely enter Dingzhou, and the Erzhu shall surely be destroyed. When battle was about to begin, Lingzhu divined for himself and received an ill omen. He snapped the yarrow stalks in his hand and cast them to the ground, crying, 'What does this know!' Before long he was taken captive. He did indeed enter Dingzhou in the third month. And in the intercalary third month of the following year Gao Huan destroyed Zhao and his allies at Hanling Mountain. In the second year of Yongxi he was posthumously granted the titles of Left Vice Director of the Imperial Secretariat, Grand Master in the Palace with Honored Staff Equal to a Three-Duty Office, and Governor of You Province, with the posthumous name Gong.

時又有沙門靈遠者，不知何許人，有道術。嘗言爾硃榮成敗，預知其時。又言代魏者齊。葛榮聞之，故自號齊。及齊神武至信都，靈遠與勃海李嵩來謁。神武待靈遠以殊禮，問其天文人事。對曰：「齊當興，東海出天子。今王據勃海，是齊地。又太白與月並，宜速用兵，遲則不吉。」靈遠後罷道，姓荊字次德。求之，不知所在。

There was also a monk named Lingyuan, of unknown origin, who possessed the arts of the Way. He had spoken of Erzhu Rong's rise and fall and foretold the time of it. He also declared that Qi would replace Wei. Ge Rong heard this and therefore styled himself Qi. When Gao Huan arrived at Xindu, Lingyuan and Li Song of Bohai came to pay him homage. Gao Huan received Lingyuan with exceptional honor and questioned him about the stars and the affairs of men. He answered, 'Qi shall rise, and from the Eastern Sea a Son of Heaven shall appear. Your Highness now holds Bohai—that is the land of Qi. Moreover Venus stands with the moon. You should take up arms at once; delay will bring ill fortune. Later Lingyuan left the monastic life. His surname was Jing and his courtesy name Cide. Men searched for him, but none knew where he had gone.

李順興，京兆杜陵人也。年十餘，乍愚乍智，時莫識之。其言未來事，時有中者。盛冬單布衣，跣行冰上及入洗浴，略不患寒。家嘗為齋，方食，器用不周。順興言：「昆明池中有大荷葉，可取盛餅食。」其所居去池十數里，日不移影，順興負荷葉而歸，腳猶泥，舉坐驚異。後稍出城市，常冠道士冠，人有憶者，不過數日，輒至其家。號為李練。好飲酒，但不至醉。貴賤並敬之。得人所施，輒散乞貧人。

Li Shunxing was a native of Duling in Jingzhao. From his teens onward he was by turns dull and bright, and for a time no one could make sense of him. When he spoke of things yet to come, he sometimes proved right. In the depths of winter he wore but a single cloth robe, walked barefoot on the ice, and bathed in icy water, yet scarcely felt the cold. Once, when his household was holding a fast and about to eat, they had not enough dishes. Shunxing said, 'In Kunming Pool there are great lotus leaves. Go fetch them to hold the cakes. His home lay more than ten li from the pool, yet before the sun had moved its shadow he returned bearing lotus leaves, his feet still muddy. All who were present were astonished. Later he began to appear in the cities, usually wearing a Taoist cap. If anyone merely thought of him, within a few days he would show up at that person's door. He was known as Master Li. He loved wine, yet never drank himself into a stupor. High and low alike he honored with equal courtesy. Whatever anyone gave him, he immediately passed it on to the poor.

蕭寶夤反，召順興問曰：「朕王可幾年？」對曰：「為天子自有百年者，十年者，一年者，百日者，事由可知。」及寶夤敗，裁百日也。有侯終德者，寶夤之黨。寶夤敗後，收集反者。順興稱其必敗，德乃棒殺順興，置城隍中。頃之，起活如初。後賀拔嶽北征，順興與魏收書，上為毛鴻賓等九人姓名者悉放貴還。順興從後提一河東酒缸，以繩系之，於城巷牽行。俄而蒲阪降。又無何，至太傅梁覽家庭中臥，以布衫倒覆身上。後覽于趙崔反，通使東魏，事泄被誅，覽以衣倒覆，果如順興之形。周文嘗至溫泉，順興求乞溫泉東間驪山下二畝地，周文曰：「李練用此何為？」對曰：「有用。」未幾，至溫湯遇患，卒於其地。

When Xiao Baoyin rose in rebellion, he called Shunxing before him and asked, 'How many years may I reign as king? Shunxing answered, 'Some reign as Son of Heaven for a hundred years, some for ten, some for one, and some for a hundred days—the outcome can be read from the signs.' When Baoyin fell, it had been scarcely a hundred days. One Hou Zhongde was among Baoyin's followers. After Baoyin's defeat, Zhongde rallied the rebels. Shunxing prophesied that Zhongde would surely fail. In rage, Zhongde beat Shunxing to death with a club and threw his body into the moat. Soon afterward he rose alive, as though untouched. Later, when Heba Yue marched north, Shunxing wrote to Wei Shou. The nine men listed at the top of the letter, including Mao Hongbin, were all released and sent home with honor. Shunxing came behind them, hauling a great Hedong wine jar on a rope through the city streets. Before long, Puban fell. Not long afterward he appeared in Grand Tutor Liang Lan's household and lay down with a cloth shirt draped upside down over him. Later Lan took part in Zhao Cui's rebellion and sent envoys to Eastern Wei. When the plot was exposed he was put to death, his corpse covered by his robe exactly as Shunxing had lain. Duke Wen of Zhou once visited the hot springs. Shunxing asked for two mu of land east of the springs below Mount Li. The Duke said, 'What does Li Lian want with that land? Shunxing answered, 'It will serve a purpose.' Before long he took ill at the hot springs and died there.

初，大統十三年，順興謂周文曰：「可于沙苑北作一老君象，面向北，作笑狀。」周文曰：「何為？」答曰：「令笑破蠕蠕。」時甚惑，未解其意。及蠕蠕國滅，周文憶語，遂作順興象於老君側。

Earlier, in the thirteenth year of Great Unity, Shunxing said to Duke Wen of Zhou, 'Erect a statue of Lord Lao north of Shayuan, facing north, with a laughing expression. The Duke asked, 'Why?' Shunxing replied, 'Let laughter break the Rouran.' At the time everyone was baffled and could not grasp his meaning. When the Rouran kingdom fell, Duke Wen remembered his words and had a statue of Shunxing placed beside Lord Lao.

檀特師者，名惠豐，身為比丘，不知何處人。飲酒啖肉，語默無常，逆論來事，後皆如言。居於涼州，宇文仲和為刺史，請之至州內，曆觀廄庫。乃云：「何意畜他官馬官物！」仲和怒，不聽住涼州。未幾，仲和拒不受代，朝廷令獨孤信禽之，仲和身死，資財沒官。周文遣書召之，檀特發至岐州，會齊神武來寇玉壁，檀特曰：「狗豈能至龍門也？」神武果不至龍門而還。侯景未叛東魏之前，忽捉一杖，杖頭刻為獼猴。令其面常向西，日夜弄之。又索一角弓，牽挽之。俄而景啟降，尋復背叛，人皆以為驗。

Tante Shi, named Huifeng, lived as a Buddhist monk. No one knew his origin. He drank wine and ate meat. His words and silences were erratic, yet when he spoke against expectation of things to come, events always unfolded as he had foretold. He lived in Liangzhou. Yuwen Zhonghe, then prefect, invited him to the city and led him through the stables and storehouses. Tante Shi cried out, 'Why are you hoarding other men's official horses and government property! Zhonghe flew into a rage and forbade him to stay in Liangzhou. Before long Zhonghe refused to yield his post, and the court sent Dugu Xin to arrest him. Zhonghe was killed, and his wealth was seized by the state. Duke Wen of Zhou summoned him by letter. Tante Shi traveled as far as Qizhou just as Gao Huan of Northern Qi marched against Yubi. Tante Shi said, 'Can a dog reach Longmen? Gao Huan never reached Longmen and withdrew. Before Hou Jing turned against Eastern Wei, he suddenly took up a staff and carved its head into the shape of a monkey. He kept its face turned west and fiddled with it day and night. He also demanded a horn bow and pulled it back again and again. Soon Jing offered surrender, then rebelled again. All took these antics as fulfilled portents.

至大統十七年春初，忽著一布帽，周文左右驚問之。檀特曰：「汝亦著，王亦著也。」至三月而魏文帝崩。復取一白絹帽著之，左右復問之。檀特云：「汝亦著，王亦著也。」未幾，丞相夫人薨。後又著白絹帽，左右復問之。云：「汝不著，王亦著也。」尋而丞相第二兒武邑公薨。其事驗多如此也。俄而疾死。

In early spring of the seventeenth year of Great Unity he suddenly donned a cloth cap. Duke Wen's attendants were alarmed and questioned him. Tante Shi said, 'You will wear one as well, and the King will wear one as well. By the third month Emperor Wen of Wei was dead. He next put on a white silk cap, and the attendants questioned him again. Tante Shi said, 'You will wear one as well, and the King will wear one as well. Before long the Chancellor's wife passed away. Later he donned a white silk cap once more, and the attendants questioned him again. He said, 'You will not wear one, but the King will wear one. Before long the Chancellor's second son, the Duke of Wuyi, died. Most of his fulfilled omens followed this pattern. Soon afterward he fell ill and died.

由吾道榮，琅琊沐陽人也。少為道士，入長白山、太山，又游燕、趙間。聞晉陽有人大明法術，乃尋之。是人為人家傭力，無名者，久求訪始得。其人道家，符水禁呪、陰陽曆數、天文藥性，無不通解。以道榮好尚，乃悉授之。歲餘，是人謂榮云：「我本恆岳仙人，有少罪過，為天官所謫。今限滿將歸，卿宜送吾至汾水。」及至汾河，遇水暴長，橋壞，船渡艱難。是人乃臨水禹步，以一符投水中，流便絕。俄頃，水積將至天。是人徐自沙石上渡。唯道榮見其如是，傍人咸云：「水如此長，此人遂能浮過。」共驚異之。如此法，道榮所不得也。

Youwu Daorong was a native of Muyang in Langye. As a youth he took orders as a Daoist, entered Mount Changbai and Mount Tai, and wandered through Yan and Zhao. Hearing that a man in Jinyang was deeply versed in the occult arts, he went in search of him. The man was a hired hand in a private household and bore no name. Daorong searched a long while before he found him. He followed the Daoist way and was master of talismanic water, forbidden spells, yin-yang reckoning, astronomy, and pharmacology alike. Seeing Daorong's devotion, the man taught him all he knew. After more than a year the man told Daorong, 'I am in truth an immortal of Mount Heng. I committed a minor fault and was banished by the officers of Heaven. My term of exile is now complete and I am returning. Escort me to the Fen River. When they reached the Fen, the river was in sudden flood. The bridge had collapsed, and ferrying across was perilous. The man performed Yu's Pace at the water's edge and cast a talisman into the river. The current stopped at once. In moments the water rose in a wall nearly to the heavens. The man then walked calmly across on the exposed sand and stone. Only Daorong saw what truly happened. Those standing nearby cried, 'The water stands so high—how can this man cross it? All marveled together in astonishment. Such arts were beyond Daorong's reach.

道榮仍歸本郡，隱於琅邪山中，辟穀餌松茯苓，求長生之秘。又善洞視，蕭軌等之敗於江南，其日，道榮言之如目見。其後鄉人從役得歸者，勘問敗時形勢，與道榮所說符同。尋為文宣追往晉陽，道榮恆野宿，不入逆旅。至遼陽山中，夜初馬驚，有猛獸去馬止十餘步，所追人及防援者並驚怖將走。道榮徐以杖畫地成火坑，猛獸遽走。道榮至晉陽，文宣見之甚悅。後歸鄉里。隋開皇初，備禮徵辟，授上儀同三司、諫議大夫、沐陽縣公。從晉王平陳還，苦辭歸。至鄉卒，年八十五。

Daorong returned to his home commandery and withdrew to the Langye mountains. He abstained from grain, nourished himself on pine fungus and poria, and sought the secret of immortality. He could also see at a distance. On the day Xiao Gui and his forces were routed in the south, Daorong described the battle as though he had watched it with his own eyes. Later, when neighbors came home from the campaign, they questioned them about the defeat and found Daorong's account matched in every detail. Soon Emperor Wenxuan summoned him to Jinyang. Daorong always camped outdoors and never lodged at an inn. In the Liaoyang mountains, at the first watch of night the horses bolted in terror. A savage beast stood scarcely ten paces from them. Pursuers and guards alike were stricken with fear and ready to run. Daorong calmly drew a ring of fire on the ground with his staff, and the beast fled instantly. When Daorong arrived in Jinyang, Wenxuan received him with great delight. Later he went home to his native place. At the opening of Sui's Kaihuang era he was summoned with full honors and made Senior Master of Ceremonies of the Third Rank, Remonstrating Grandee, and Duke of Muyang County. After returning from the Prince of Jin's campaign against Chen, he pleaded hard to be released to his home. He reached his home and died there at eighty-five.

又有張遠遊者，文宣時，令與諸術士合九轉金丹。及成，帝置之玉匣云：「我貪人間作樂，不能飛上天，待臨死時取服。」

There was also Zhang Yuanyou. In Wenxuan's reign the Emperor ordered him to join other adepts in refining the nine-turn golden elixir. When the elixir was complete, the Emperor sealed it in a jade casket and said, 'I am too fond of earthly pleasures to ascend to Heaven now. I shall swallow it only when death draws near.'

顏惡頭，章武郡人也。妙于《易》筮。游州市觀卜，有婦人負囊粟來卜，曆七人，皆不中而強索其粟，惡頭尤之。卜者曰：「君若能中，何不為卜？」惡頭因筮之，曰：「登高臨下水泂泂，唯聞人聲不見形。」婦人曰：「妊身已七月矣，向井上汲水，忽聞胎聲，故卜。」惡頭曰：「吉，十月三十日有一男子。」詣卜者乃驚服曰：「是顏生邪？」相與具羊酒謝焉。有人以三月十三日詣惡頭求卜，遇《兌》之《履》。惡頭占曰：「君卜父，父已亡，當上天，聞哭聲，忽復蘇，而有言。」其人曰：「父臥疾三年矣，昨日雞鳴時氣盡，舉家大哭。父忽驚寤云：'我死，有三尺人來迎，欲升天，聞哭聲，遂墜地。 '」惡頭曰：「更三日，當永去。」果如言。人問其故，惡頭曰：「《兌》上天下土，是今日庚辛本宮火，故知卜父。今三月，土入墓，又見宗廟爻發，故知死。變見生氣，故知蘇。《兌》為口，主音聲，故知哭。《兌》變為《乾》，《乾》天也，故升天。《兌》為言，故父言。故知有言。未化入戍為土，三月土墓，戍又是本宮鬼墓，未後三日至戍，故知三日復死。」惡頭又語人曰：「長樂王某年某月某日當為天子。」有人姓張，聞其言，數以寶物獻之，豫乞東益州刺史。及期，果為天子，擢張用之。惡頭自言厄在彭城。後游東都，逢彭城王爾硃仲遠將伐齊神武於鄴，召惡頭令筮。惡頭野生，不知避忌，高聲言：「大惡。」仲遠怒其沮眾，斬之。

Yan Etou was a native of Zhangwu commandery. He was a master of the yarrow stalks of the Book of Changes. While practicing divination in the market he saw a woman with a sack of millet seeking a reading. She had already consulted seven diviners. None had guessed correctly, yet each had demanded her grain anyway. Etou reproached them. One diviner said, 'If you can read truly, why not cast for her yourself? Etou cast the stalks and said, 'You climb high and look down on water running deep and clear—you hear a human voice but see no form.' The woman said, 'I am seven months with child. While drawing water at a well I suddenly heard the fetus cry out, and so I came to ask the oracle.' Etou said, 'It is auspicious. On the thirtieth day of the tenth month you will bear a son.' The diviners were astonished and humbled themselves. 'Are you Master Yan?' they asked. Together they brought sheep and wine to make amends. On the thirteenth day of the third month a man came to Etou for a reading and drew the hexagram Dui changing to Lu. Etou read the signs and said, 'You ask about your father. He is already dead and about to ascend to Heaven. You will hear weeping, then he will suddenly wake and speak. The man said, 'My father has been bedridden three years. At cockcrow yesterday his breath stopped, and the whole household wailed. His father suddenly woke in alarm and said, 'I died. A man three feet tall came to welcome me and I was about to ascend, but when I heard the weeping I fell back to earth.' Etou said, 'In three days he will be gone for good.' It came to pass exactly as he had said. When people asked how he knew, Etou said, 'Dui is heaven above and earth below. Today is geng-xin, and the native palace is fire—so I knew he asked about his father. It is the third month, when earth enters the tomb, and the ancestral-temple line is active—so I knew he was dead. In the change I saw the breath of life—so I knew he would wake again. Dui is the mouth and governs voice—so I knew there would be weeping. Dui changes to Qian, and Qian is Heaven—hence ascent to Heaven. Dui is speech—hence the father's words. That is how I knew he would speak. The unchanging line enters xu as earth. In the third month earth lies in the tomb, and xu is the ghost-tomb of the native palace as well. Three days after wei comes xu—so I knew he would die again in three days. Etou also told people, 'A certain Wang of Changle will become Son of Heaven on such-and-such a year, month, and day.' A man named Zhang heard this and repeatedly sent him gifts of treasure, asking in advance to be made Governor of Eastern Yizhou. When the day arrived, Wang did become Son of Heaven and raised Zhang to office as he had promised. Etou himself declared that calamity awaited him at Pengcheng. Later, while traveling in the Eastern Capital, he encountered Erzhu Zhongyuan, Prince of Pengcheng, who was preparing to attack Gao Huan at Ye. Zhongyuan summoned Etou to read the signs. Etou was uncouth by nature and heedless of omens. He shouted aloud, 'Great ill fortune.' Enraged that Etou had shaken the troops' resolve, Zhongyuan had him beheaded.

王春，河東安邑人也。少精《易》占，明陰陽風角，齊神武引為館客。韓陵之戰，四面受敵，從寅至午，三合三離，將士皆懼。神武將退軍，春叩馬諫曰：「比至未時，必當大捷。」遽縛其子詣軍門為質，若不勝請斬之。賊果大敗。後從征討，恆令占卜，其言多中。位東徐州刺史，賜爵安夷縣公。卒，贈秦州刺史。

Wang Chun was a native of Anyi in Hedong. From youth he was skilled in divination by the Changes and versed in yin-yang lore and wind divination. Gao Huan retained him as a house guest. At Hanling the army was attacked from every side. From dawn until midday the ranks broke and re-formed three times, and officers and soldiers alike were seized with fear. Gao Huan was on the point of retreating when Chun caught his horse by the bridle and urged him, 'Before the hour of wei there will surely be a great victory.' He immediately bound his son and sent him to the camp gate as a hostage, offering his own life if the battle should be lost. The enemy was indeed put to rout. Afterward, on every campaign he was asked to read the signs, and his predictions usually hit the mark. He rose to Governor of Eastern Xuzhou and was enfeoffed as Duke of Anyi County. After his death he was posthumously appointed Governor of Qinzhou.

信都芳，字玉琳，河間人也。少明算術，兼有巧思，每精心研究，或墜坑坎。常語人云：「算曆玄妙，機巧精微，我每一沈思，不聞雷霆之聲也。」其用心如此。後為安豐王延明召入賓館。有江南人祖暼恆者，先於邊境被獲，在延明家，舊明算曆，而不為王所待。芳諫王禮遇之。暼恆後還，留諸法授芳，由是彌復精密。延明家有群書，欲抄集《五經》算事為《五經宗》，及古今樂事為《樂書》，又聚渾天、欹器、地動、銅烏、漏刻、候風諸巧事，並圖畫為《器准》，並令芳算之。會延明南奔，芳乃自撰注。

Xindu Fang, styled Yulin, was a native of Hejian. From youth he excelled in calculation and possessed a keen inventive mind. When he lost himself in study he might even tumble into pits and ditches. He often said, 'Calendars and reckonings are profound and subtle, their devices refined beyond measure. When I lose myself in thought I do not even hear thunder.' Such was the depth of his concentration. Later Prince Yanming of Anfeng summoned him to serve in his guest house. A southerner named Zu Minheng had earlier been taken captive on the frontier and was kept in Yanming's household. Though skilled in calendars and reckonings, he received no honor from the prince. Fang urged the prince to treat Minheng with proper courtesy. When Minheng later returned south he entrusted all his methods to Fang, and from that time Fang's calculations grew still more exact. Yanming's household held a great library. He planned to compile calendrical material from the Five Classics into Five Classics Essentials, and to gather ancient and modern music into a Book of Music. He also collected ingenious devices—the armillary sphere, the tipping vessel, the seismoscope, the bronze crow, clepsydras, and wind-indicators—illustrated them in Standards of Instruments, and set Fang to working out their calculations. When Yanming fled south, Fang wrote his own commentary instead.

後隱于并州樂平之東山，太守慕容保樂聞而召之，芳不得已而見焉。於是保樂弟紹宗薦之于齊神武，為館客，授中外府田曹參軍。芳性清儉質樸，不與物和。紹宗給其羸馬，不肯乘騎；夜遣婢侍以試之，芳忿呼毆擊，不聽近己。狷介自守，無求於物。後亦注重差、勾股，復撰《史宗》。

Later he retired to Mount Dongshan in Leping, Bingzhou. Prefect Murong Baole heard of him and summoned him, and Fang, unable to refuse, presented himself. Thereupon Baole's younger brother Shaozong recommended him to Gao Huan. He became a house guest and was appointed Clerk of the Fields in the Central and External Offices. Fang was pure, frugal, and plain by nature, and kept apart from the world. Shaozong gave him a scrawny horse, but he refused to ride it; at night Shaozong sent a maid to attend him as a test, but Fang shouted in anger and beat her away, refusing to let her come near. Fastidious and self-contained, he asked nothing of the world. Later he also took up differential reckoning and right-triangle mathematics, and composed Historical Essentials as well.

芳精專不已，又多所窺涉。丞相倉曹祖珽謂芳曰：「律管吹灰，術甚微妙，絕來既久，吾思所不至，卿試思之。」芳留意十數日，便報珽云：「吾得之矣，然終須河內葭莩灰。」祖對試之，無驗。後得河內灰，用術，應節便飛，餘灰即不動也。為時所重，竟不行用，故此法遂絕。

Fang pursued his specialty without rest and ranged widely through many fields. Zu Ting, Clerk of the Granary under the Chancellor, said to Fang, 'The pitch-pipe method of blowing ash is exceedingly subtle. The art has long been lost, and my own thinking cannot reach it. Will you try?' After a dozen days of study Fang reported to Ting, 'I have found it—but it will require reed-pith ash from Henei.' Zu tested the method with him, but it failed. Later, when ash from Henei was obtained and the method applied, the ash at the proper seasonal node would fly up while the rest remained still. He was greatly esteemed in his day, yet the method was never adopted, and so the art died out.

又著《樂書》、《遁甲經》、《四術周髀宗》。其序曰：「漢成帝時，學者問蓋天，楊雄曰：'蓋哉，未幾也。問渾天，曰：'落下閎為之，鮮于妄人度之，耿中丞象之，幾乎，莫之息矣。' 此言蓋差而渾密也。蓋器測影而造，用之日久，不同于祖，故云'未幾也'。渾器量天而作，乾坤大象，隱見難變，故云'幾乎'。是時，太史令尹咸窮研晷蓋，易古周法，雄乃見之，以為難也。自昔周公定影王城，至漢朝，蓋器一改焉。渾天覆觀，以《靈憲》為文；蓋天仰觀，以《周髀》為法，覆仰難殊，大歸是一。古之人制者，所表天效玄象。芳以渾算精微，術機萬首，故約本為之省要，凡述二篇，合六法，名《四術周髀宗》。」

He also wrote a Book of Music, a Classic of Hidden Armor, and Four Methods and the Zhou Bi Essentials. Its preface reads, 'In the reign of Emperor Cheng of Han, scholars asked about the Canopy Heaven theory. Yang Xiong said, "Canopy indeed—yet not for long. They asked about the Spherical Heaven, and he said, "Luoxia Hong devised it, Xianyu Wangren measured it, and Vice Director Geng modeled it—almost perfect, yet never at rest." By this he meant that the Canopy is coarse while the Sphere is precise. The canopy instrument was made by measuring shadows; used over many years it no longer matched the ancients—hence "not for long." The sphere instrument was fashioned by measuring Heaven itself. The great image of yin and yang is hard to alter in what it hides and reveals—hence "almost." At that time Grand Astrologer Yin Xian exhaustively studied the gnomon and canopy and altered the ancient Zhou methods. Xiong saw this and deemed it a hard matter. From antiquity, when the Duke of Zhou fixed the shadow at Wangcheng down to the Han, the canopy instrument was altered once. The spherical heaven looks down upon all; its text is the Mysterious Charter; the canopy heaven looks upward; its method is the Zhou Bi. To look down and to look up differ in form, yet in the end they are one. The ancients who devised these instruments displayed Heaven's mysterious signs. Because spherical calculation is subtle and its devices number in the myriad, Fang reduced the root text to essentials. In all he set forth two treatises comprising six methods, called Four Methods and the Zhou Bi Essentials.'

又上党李業興撰新曆，自以為長於趙匪攵、何承天、祖沖之三家，芳難業興五闕。又私撰曆書，名曰《靈憲曆》，算月頻大頻小，食必以朔，證據甚甄明。每云：「何承天亦為此法，而不能精。《靈憲》若成，必當百代無異議者。」書未成而卒。

Li Yexing of Shangdang also composed a new calendar, claiming to surpass the three traditions of Zhao Wei, He Chengtian, and Zu Chongzhi. Fang challenged Yexing on five defects. He also privately composed a calendrical book called the Mysterious Charter Calendar, showing that the moon would often appear large or small and that eclipses must fall on new-moon days. The evidence was very clear. He often said, 'He Chengtian also used this method, but could not perfect it. If the Mysterious Charter is completed, there will surely be no dispute for a hundred generations.' The book was unfinished when he died.

宋景業，廣宗人也。明《周易》，為陰陽緯候之學，兼明歷數。魏武定初，任北平太守。齊文宣作相，在晉陽。景業因高德政上言：「《易稽覽圖》曰：'《鼎》，五月，聖人君，天與延年齒，東北水中，庶人王，高得之。 '謹案：東北水，謂勃海也。高得之，明高氏得天下也。」時魏武定八年三月也。高德政、徐之才並勸文宣應天受禪，乃之鄴。至平城都，諸大臣沮計，將還。賀拔仁等又云：「宋景業誤王，宜斬之以謝天下。」帝曰：「宋景業當為帝王師，何可殺也？」還至并州，文宣令景業筮，遇《乾》之《鼎》。景業曰：「乾，君也，天也。《易》曰：'時乘六龍，以禦天。 '《鼎》，五月卦也，宜以仲夏吉辰，順天受禪。」或曰：「陰陽書，五月不可入官。犯之，卒於其位。」景業曰：「此乃大吉，王為天子，無復下期，豈得不終於其位？」帝大悅。天保初，封長城縣子，受詔撰《天保曆》，李廣為之序。

Song Jingye was a native of Guangzong. He mastered the Book of Changes and the lore of yin-yang, weft-texts, and seasonal signs, and was also skilled in calendrical reckoning. At the beginning of the Wuding era in Northern Wei he served as Governor of Northern Ping. When Wenxuan became Chancellor he was at Jinyang. Jingye, through Gao Dezheng, submitted a memorial: 'The Apocryphal Charts of the Changes says, "The Cauldron, in the fifth month: a sage rules as lord; Heaven grants him prolonged years. In the northeastern waters a common man becomes king—Gao will obtain it. I respectfully note: the northeastern water means the Bohai Sea. That Gao will obtain it shows clearly that the Gao clan will gain the realm.' This was the third month of the eighth year of Wuding. Gao Dezheng and Xu Zhicai both urged Wenxuan to accept Heaven's mandate, and he set out for Ye. When he reached the capital at Pingcheng the great ministers discouraged the plan and he was on the point of turning back. He Ba Ren and others also said, 'Song Jingye has misled the prince. He should be executed to appease the realm.' The emperor said, 'Song Jingye is fit to be teacher to an emperor—how could he be killed?' On returning to Bingzhou, Wenxuan ordered Jingye to perform divination. The result was Qian changing to Cauldron. Jingye said, 'Qian is the ruler and is Heaven. The Changes says, "In season he rides the six dragons to govern Heaven. Cauldron is the hexagram of the fifth month. You should on an auspicious day in midsummer receive the mandate in accord with Heaven.' Some said, 'Books of yin and yang hold that in the fifth month one must not enter office. If one violates this, one dies in that post.' Jingye said, 'This is in fact great good fortune. When the prince becomes Son of Heaven there is no further term of office—how could he fail to end his days upon the throne?' The emperor was greatly pleased. At the beginning of Tianbao he was enfeoffed as Viscount of Changcheng and received an edict to compose the Tianbao Calendar, with Li Guang writing the preface.

許遵，高陽新城人也。明《易》善筮，兼曉天文、風角、占相、逆刺，其驗若神。齊神武引為館客。自言祿命不富貴，不橫死，是以任性疏誕，多所犯忤，神武常容借之。芒陰之役，遵謂李業興曰：「賊為水陳，我為火陳，水勝火，我必敗。」果如其言。清河王嶽以遵為開府記室。嶽後將救江陵，遵曰：「此行必致後凶，宜辭疾勿去。」嶽曰：「勢不免去，正當與君同行。」遵曰：「遵好與生人相隨，不欲與死人同路。」岳強給其馬以行。至都，尋喪。三台初成，文宣宴會尚書以上，三日不出。許遵妻季氏憂之，以問遵。遵曰：「明日當得三百匹絹。」季氏曰：「若然，當奉三束。遵曰：「不滿十匹。」既而皆如言。文宣無道日盛，遵語人曰：「多折算來，吾筮此狂夫何時得死。」於是布算滿床，大言曰：「不出冬初，我乃不見。」文宣以十月崩，遵果以九月死。

Xu Zun was a native of Xincheng in Gaoyang. He mastered the Changes and excelled at divination, and was also versed in astronomy, wind divination, physiognomy, and reverse divination. His predictions seemed almost supernatural. Gao Huan retained him as a house guest. He declared that his allotted fortune held neither wealth nor high rank, and that he would not die by violence; therefore he acted as he pleased, rude and unrestrained, often giving offense, yet Gao Huan always indulged him. At the battle of Mangyin, Zun said to Li Yexing, 'The enemy has a water formation and we have a fire formation. Water overcomes fire—we are sure to be defeated.' Events unfolded exactly as he had said. Prince Yue of Qinghe appointed Zun Opening Office Recorder. When Yue was about to march to relieve Jiangling, Zun said, 'This expedition will surely bring later calamity. You should plead illness and stay behind.' Yue said, 'Given the circumstances I cannot avoid going. I should simply go with you.' Zun said, 'I prefer the company of the living and have no wish to walk the same road as the dead. Yue forcibly supplied him with a horse and made him go. When they reached the capital Yue soon died. When the Three Platforms tower was first completed, Wenxuan held a banquet for those of Minister rank and above and did not emerge for three days. Zun's wife, née Ji, was anxious and asked him about it. Zun said, 'Tomorrow you will receive three hundred bolts of silk.' Lady Ji said, 'If that is so, I shall offer three bundles in thanks. Zun said, 'Not even ten bolts.' Afterwards everything happened as he had said. As Wenxuan's cruelty grew daily, Zun told people, 'I have calculated again and again when this madman will die.' Thereupon he spread counting-rods over the bed and cried aloud, 'Before the beginning of winter I shall not see him.' Wenxuan died in the tenth month, and Zun indeed died in the ninth.

子暉，亦學術數。遵謂曰：「汝聰明不及我，不勞多學。」唯授以婦人產法，豫言男女及產日，無不中。武成時，以此數獲賞焉。

His son Hui also studied the arts of calculation. Zun told him, 'You are not as clever as I; there is no need to study much.' He taught him only the method for childbirth, foretelling whether the child would be male or female and the day of delivery, and was never wrong. In the Wucheng era he was repeatedly rewarded for this skill.

又有滎陽麹紹者，亦善占。侯景欲試之，使與郭生俱卜二伏牛何者先起。」卜得火兆，郭生曰：「赤牛先起。紹曰：「青牛先起。」景問其故，郭生曰：「火色赤，故知赤牛先起。」紹曰：「火將然，煙先起。煙上色青，故知青牛起。」既而如紹言。

There was also Qu Shao of Xingyang, who was likewise skilled in divination. Hou Jing wished to test him and had him and Master Guo perform divination together on which of two recumbent oxen would rise first.' They obtained the omen of fire. Master Guo said, 'The red ox will rise first. Shao said, 'The green ox will rise first.' Jing asked the reason. Master Guo said, 'Fire is red, so I know the red ox will rise first.' Shao said, 'When fire is about to burn, smoke rises first. Smoke above is green, so I know the green ox will rise.' Before long it happened as Shao had said.

吳遵世，字季緒，勃海人也。少學《易》。入恆山，忽見一老翁，授之開心符。遵世跪，水吞之，遂明占卜。後出遊京洛，以卜筮知名。魏孝武帝之將即位，使之筮，遇《否》之《萃》，曰：「先否後喜。」帝曰：「喜在何時？」遵世曰：「剛決柔，則春末夏初也。」又筮，遇《明夷》之《賁》，曰：「初登於天，後入於地。若能敬始慎終，不失法度，無憂入地矣。」終如其言。後齊文襄引為大將軍府墨曹參軍。從遊東山，有雲起，恐雨廢射，戲使筮。遇《剝》，李業興云：「坤上艮下，《剝》。艮為山，山出雲，故知有雨。」遵世云：「坤為地，土制水，故知無雨。」文襄使崔暹書之云：「遵世若著，賞絹十匹；不著，罰杖十。業興若著，無賞；不著，罰杖十。」業興曰：「同是著，何獨無賞？」文襄曰：「遵世著，會我意，故賞也。」須臾雲散，二人各受賞罰。皇建中，武成以丞相在鄴下居守，自致猜疑，甚懷憂懼。謀起兵，每宿輒令遵世筮。遵世云：「自有大慶。」由是不決。俄而趙郡王等奉太后令，以遺詔追武成。更令筮之。遵世云：「比已作十餘卦，其占自然有天下之征。」及即位，除中書舍人，固辭老疾，授中散大夫。和士開封王，妻元氏無子，以側室長孫為妃，令遵世筮。遵世云：「此卦偶與占同。」乃出其占書云：「元氏無子，長孫為妃。」士開喜於妙中，於是起叫而舞。遵世著《易林雜占》百餘卷。後預尉遲迥亂，死焉。

Wu Zunshi, styled Jixu, was a native of Bohai. From youth he studied the Changes. Entering Mount Heng, he suddenly met an old man who gave him the Open-Heart Talisman. Zunshi knelt, swallowed it with water, and thereupon mastered divination. Later he traveled to the capital regions and became renowned for divination. When Emperor Xiaowu of Wei was about to ascend the throne, he had Zunshi perform divination. The result was Obstruction changing to Gathering, and Zunshi said, 'First obstruction, then joy.' The emperor said, 'When will the joy come?' Zunshi said, 'When the firm overcomes the yielding, that will be late spring and early summer.' He performed divination again and obtained Darkening of the Light changing to Adornment. He said, 'At first he ascends to Heaven; afterward he enters the earth. If you can be reverent at the beginning and careful at the end, not failing in law and measure, there is no need to fear entering the earth.' In the end it happened as he had said. Later Wenxiang retained him as Ink Clerk in the Grand General's Office. On an excursion to Mount Dong clouds rose, and fearing rain would spoil the archery, Wenxiang playfully had him perform divination. He obtained Splitting Apart. Li Yexing said, 'Earth above, mountain below—Splitting Apart. Gen is the mountain; mountains produce clouds, so I know there will be rain.' Zunshi said, 'Kun is earth; earth restrains water, so I know there will be no rain. Wenxiang had Cui Xian write it down: 'If Zunshi is right, reward him with ten bolts of silk; if wrong, punish him with ten strokes of the staff. If Yexing is right, no reward; if wrong, punish him with ten strokes of the staff.' Yexing said, 'If both are right, why is there no reward for me alone?' Wenxiang said, 'When Zunshi is right it accords with my wish, and so he is rewarded.' Before long the clouds dispersed, and each received his reward or punishment. In the Huangjian era, Wucheng, serving as Chancellor, remained at Ye to hold the capital and worked himself into suspicion, greatly filled with fear. He plotted to raise troops and every night had Zunshi perform divination. Zunshi said, 'There will be great celebration of itself.' Because of this he could not make up his mind. Before long the Prince of Zhao and others, acting on the empress dowager's order, recalled Wucheng by the late emperor's testament. He again had Zunshi perform divination. Zunshi said, 'I have already performed more than ten divinations, and the omens naturally show the signs of possessing the realm.' When Wucheng took the throne he was appointed Palace Secretary, but firmly declined on grounds of age and illness and was made Grand Master of Palace Leisure. He Shikai was enfeoffed as prince. His wife, née Yuan, had no son, and he took the eldest son of a concubine as consort. He ordered Zunshi to perform divination. Zunshi said, 'This hexagram happens to match my earlier divination.' He then produced his book of divinations, which read, 'The Yuan clan has no son; the eldest grandson becomes consort.' Shikai rejoiced at the uncanny accuracy and thereupon leapt up shouting and dancing. Zunshi wrote Miscellaneous Divinations from the Forest of Changes in more than a hundred scrolls. Later he took part in Yuchi Jiong's rebellion and died in it.

趙輔和，清都臨漳人也。少以明《易》善筮為齊神武館客。神武崩于晉陽，葬有日矣，文襄令文宣與吳遵世等擇地，頻卜不吉。又至一所，筮遇《革》，咸雲凶。輔和少年，最在眾人後，進云：「《革卦》於天下人皆凶，唯王家用之大吉。《革彖辭》雲'湯武革命，應天順人。 '」文宣遽登車，顧云：「以此地為定。」即義平陵也。有人父為刺史，得書雲疾。是人詣館，別托相知者筮。遇《泰》，筮者云：「此卦甚吉。」是人出後，輔和謂筮者云：「《泰》，乾下坤上，則父入土矣，豈得言吉。」果凶問至。有人父疾，托輔和筮，遇《乾》之《晉》，慰諭令去。後告人云：「《乾》之遊魂。乾為天，為父，父變為魂，而升於天，能無死乎？」亦如其言。大寧、武平中，筮後宮誕男女及時日，多中，遂至通直常侍。入周，亦為儀同。隋開皇中，卒。

Zhao Fuhe was a native of Linzhang in Qingdu. From youth, because he mastered the Changes and excelled at divination, he became a house guest of Gao Huan. When Gao Huan died at Jinyang and the day of burial was set, Wenxiang ordered Wenxuan, together with Wu Zunshi and others, to choose the site. Repeated divinations were inauspicious. When they came to one place and performed divination they obtained Revolution. All said it was ill-omened. Fuhe was young and stood last among the company. He stepped forward and said, 'The Revolution hexagram is ill-omened for all under Heaven, but for the royal house it is greatly auspicious. The Judgment of Revolution says, "Tang and Wu changed the mandate, responding to Heaven and accord with the people. " Wenxuan at once mounted his carriage, looked back, and said, 'Let this place be fixed.' It was the Yiping Mausoleum. A man's father was governor and sent word that he was ill. The man came to the guest house and, through another acquaintance, had divination performed. He obtained Peace. The diviner said, 'This hexagram is very auspicious.' After the man left, Fuhe said to the diviner, 'Peace has Heaven below and Earth above—the father enters the earth. How can it be called auspicious?' Ill news of death indeed arrived. Another man's father was ill and entrusted Fuhe with divination. He obtained Qian changing to Advance, consoled the man, and urged him to go. Later he told people, 'Qian changing to the Wandering Soul. Qian is Heaven and is the father. The father becomes a soul and ascends to Heaven—how could he not die?' This too happened as he had said. In the Daining and Wuping eras he performed divination on whether children born in the inner palace would be male or female and on the days of birth. He was often right and rose to Regular Attendant. After entering Zhou he also held the rank of Yitong. In the Kaihuang era of Sui he died.

皇甫玉，不知何許人也，善相人。齊文襄之自潁川歸，文宣從後。玉於傍縱觀，謂人曰：「大將軍不作物。」指文宣曰：「會道北垂鼻洟者。」及文宣即位，試玉相術，故以帛巾襪其眼，使曆摸諸人。至文宣曰：「此最大達官。」于任城王曰：「當至丞相。」於常山、長廣二王，並曰：「亦貴。」至石動桶曰：「此弄癡人。」至二供膳曰：「正得好飲食而已。」玉嘗為高歸彥相曰：「位極人臣，但莫反。」歸彥曰：「我何為反？」玉曰：「公有反骨。」孝昭賜趙郡王十死不問，王喜曰：「皇甫玉相臣，雲當惡死，今復何慮？」帝以玉輒為諸王相，心不平之。玉謂其妻曰：「殿上者不過二年。」妻以告舍人斛斯洪慶妻，洪慶以啟帝。怒曰：「向婦女小兒評論萬乘主！」敕召玉。玉每照鏡，自言兵死。及被召，謂妻曰：「我今去，不回，若過日午時，當得活。」既至正中，遂斬之。

Huangfu Yu—no one knows where he was from—was skilled in physiognomy. When Wenxiang returned from Yingchuan, Wenxuan followed behind. Yu watched from the side and told people, 'The Grand General will not become Son of Heaven.' Pointing at Wenxuan he said, 'It will be the one with the hanging nose and running mucus on the north side of the road. When Wenxuan took the throne he tested Yu's art of physiognomy. He bound his eyes with a cloth kerchief and had him feel his way among the people. Coming to Wenxuan he said, 'This is the highest official.' Of Prince Rencheng he said, 'He will reach the rank of Chancellor. Of the Princes of Changshan and Changgang he said together, 'They too will be noble. Coming to Shi Dongtong he said, 'This is a fool who plays the fool. Coming to the two food servers he said, 'They will simply get good food and drink. Yu once read the physiognomy of Gao Guiyan and said, 'Your rank will reach the summit of ministers, but do not rebel.' Guiyan said, 'Why would I rebel? Yu said, 'You have rebellious bones. Xiaozhao granted the Prince of Zhao ten deaths without question. The prince rejoiced and said, 'Huangfu Yu read my physiognomy and said I would meet a violent death—what is there to fear now?' The emperor, displeased that Yu so readily read the physiognomy of the princes, was ill at ease in his heart. Yu told his wife, 'The one on the throne will not last two years. His wife told the wife of Palace Attendant Husih Hongqing, and Hongqing reported it to the emperor. In anger he said, 'A mere woman and child dares judge the lord of ten thousand chariots!' He ordered Yu summoned. Yu often looked in the mirror and said himself that he would die by the sword. When he was summoned he told his wife, 'I go now and will not return. If I pass the hour of noon I may live.' When he arrived it was exactly midday, and he was executed.

文襄時，有吳士，雙盲，妙於聲。文襄曆試之，聞劉桃枝聲曰：「有所系屬，然當大富貴。王侯將相，多死其手。譬如鷹犬，為人所使。」聞趙道德聲曰：「亦系屬人，富貴翕赫，不及前人。」聞侯呂芬聲，與道德相似。聞太原公聲曰：「當為人主。」聞文襄聲，不動。崔暹私掏之，乃謬言：「亦國主也。」文襄以為我家群奴猶極貴，況吾身也。

In Wenxiang's time there was a man of Wu, blind in both eyes, marvelous in the art of sound. Wenxiang tested him repeatedly. Hearing Liu Taozhi's voice he said, 'He has someone he is bound to, yet he will become greatly rich and noble. Kings, marquises, generals, and chancellors—many will die by his hand. He is like a hawk or hound, used by others.' Hearing Zhao Daode's voice he said, 'He too is bound to others; his wealth and glory blaze forth, but not equal to the former man. Hearing Hou Lüfen's voice, it was similar to Daode's. Hearing the voice of the Duke of Taiyuan he said, 'He will become lord of men. Hearing Wenxiang's voice, he did not stir. Cui Xian privately prompted him, and he then falsely said, 'He too is fit to be lord of the state.' Wenxiang thought, 'Even the slaves of my house reach the utmost nobility—how much more myself!

又時有御史賈子儒，亦能相人。崔暹嘗將子儒私視文襄，子儒曰：「人有七尺之形，不如一尺之面；一之面，不如一寸之眼。大將軍臉薄眄速，非帝王相也。」竟如言。

At that time there was also the Censor Jia Ziru, who could also read physiognomy. Cui Xian once took Ziru to observe Wenxiang privately. Ziru said, 'A man's seven-foot frame is not equal to one foot of face; one foot of face is not equal to one inch of eye. The Grand General's face is thin and his glances are quick—he does not have the physiognomy of an emperor. In the end, everything came to pass exactly as he had foretold.

齊代善相者，有館客趙瓊。其婦叔寄弓，弓已轉在人處，盡知之。時人疑其別有假託，不然，則姑布子卿不如也。

During Qi there lived a master physiognomist, a house guest named Zhao Qiong. When his wife's uncle Ji Gong disposed of a bow that had already changed hands, Zhao Qiong knew every detail of the transaction. Contemporaries suspected he relied on some hidden trickery; otherwise the famed Gu Buzi could scarcely have been his better.

初，魏正始前，有沙門學相，遊懷朔，舉目見人，皆有富貴之表。以為必無此理，燔其書。而後皆如言，乃知相法不虛也。

Earlier, before the Zhengshi era of Wei, a Buddhist monk trained in physiognomy traveled to Huaishuo. Every person he looked upon bore the marks of wealth and high station. Convinced such a thing was impossible, he burned his texts on the art. Later events proved him right on every count, and he understood at last that physiognomy was no hollow superstition.

解法選，河內人也。少明相術，又受《易》于權會，筮亦頗工。陳郡袁叔德以太子庶子出行博陵太守，不願之官，以親老言于執政楊愔。愔語云：「既非正除，尋當遣代。」叔德意欲留尊累在京，令法選占。云：「不逾三年，得代，終不還也。」勸其盡家而行。又為叔德相云：「公邑邑，終為吏部尚書，鑒照人物。」後皆如言。又頻為和士開相中，士開牒為開府行參軍。

Jiefa Xuan came from Henei. From youth he excelled at physiognomy; he had also studied the Book of Changes under Quan Hui, and his divination was remarkably sure. Yuan Shude of Chen Commandery, serving as an attendant to the crown prince, was dispatched as Administrator of Boling. Unwilling to go, he pleaded with Chief Minister Yang Yin on account of his elderly parents. Yin told him, 'This is not a permanent commission; a successor will be sent before long. Shude hoped to keep his family in the capital and asked Jiefa Xuan to cast the lots. Xuan replied, 'You will be relieved within three years—and you will never come back. He advised Shude to take his whole household when he departed. Reading Shude's features, he also said, 'You are troubled now, but you will eventually become Minister of Personnel, judging men with clear insight. In time, every prediction proved true. He also read He Shikai's features several times to good effect, and Shikai made him Acting Staff Member of the Opening Office.

魏甯，钜鹿人也。以善推祿命，徵為館客。武成以己生年月，托為異人，問之。寧曰：「極富貴，今年入墓。」武成驚曰：「是我！」寧變辭曰：「若帝王，自有法。」

Wei Ning came from Julu. Skilled at reading fate and fortune, he was retained as a house guest. Emperor Wucheng disguised himself as a stranger, giving another man's birth date, and put questions to him. Ning said, 'You are destined for the highest wealth and rank—and this year you enter the grave. Wucheng started and cried, 'That is me!' Ning quickly amended his answer: 'For an emperor, the rules are different.'

又有陽子術語人曰：「謠言：盧十六，雉十四，犍子拍頭三十二。且四八天之大數，太上之祚，恐不過此。」既而武成崩，年三十二。

Yang Zishu also told people, 'There is a saying: Lu at sixteen, the pheasant at fourteen, the lad clapping his head—thirty-two. Four times eight is Heaven's great number; the Supreme Sovereign's reign, I suspect, will not surpass it. Soon afterward Wucheng died, at the age of thirty-two.

綦母懷文，不知何許人也，以道術事齊神武。武定初，齊軍戰芒山，時齊軍旗幟盡赤，西軍盡黑，懷文曰：「赤，火色；黑。水色。水能滅火，不宜以赤對黑。土勝水，宜改為黃。」神武遂改為赭黃，所謂河陽幡者也。

Qimou Huaiwen, whose origins were unknown, served Gao Huan, the Shenwu Emperor, with occult arts. Early in Wuding, when Qi fought at Mangshan, Qi's banners were all red and the Western army's all black. Huaiwen said, 'Red is the color of fire; black is the color of water. Water quenches fire; red should not be matched against black. Earth conquers water; you should change to yellow. Shenwu changed his banners to ochre-yellow—the banners later known as the Heyang standards.

懷文造宿鐵刀，其法，燒生鐵精以重柔鋌，數宿則成剛。以柔鐵為刀脊，浴以五牲之溺，淬以五牲之脂，斬甲過三十劄。今襄國冶家所鑄宿柔鋌，是其遺法，作刀猶甚快利，但不能頓截三十劄也。懷文又云：「廣平郡南幹子城，是幹將鑄劍處，其土可瑩刀。」每云：「昔在晉陽為監館，館中有一蠕蠕客，同館胡沙門指語懷文云：此人別有異算術。 '仍指庭中一棗樹云：'令其布運算元，即知其實數。 '乃試之，並辨若干純赤，若干赤白相半。於是剝數之，唯少一子。算者曰：'必不少，但更撼之。 '果落一實。」懷文位信州刺史。

Huaiwen devised night-forged iron blades. Raw iron was fired and folded with soft ingots again and again; after several nights the metal grew hard. The spine was soft iron, bathed in the urine of the five sacrificial animals and quenched in their fat; such blades could shear through more than thirty layers of armor. Smiths of Xiangguo still cast night-soft ingots by his method; their blades remain keen, but they cannot cut thirty layers in one blow. Huaiwen also said, 'Ganzi Fortress south of Guangping Commandery is where the swordsmith Gan Jiang worked; its soil can bring a blade to a mirror finish. He often recalled, 'At Jinyang I supervised the hostel. A Rouran guest stayed there, and a foreign monk in the same lodge pointed to him and told me that this man possessed a strange gift for calculation. The monk then indicated a jujube tree in the courtyard and said, 'Have him lay out his counting tokens beneath it, and the true count will be revealed.' They tried him, and he distinguished how many fruits were wholly red and how many were half red and half white. They peeled and counted the fruit; one was missing. The calculator said, 'The count cannot be wrong—shake the tree once more.' Sure enough, one fruit dropped.' Huaiwen served as Inspector of Xinzhou.

又有孫正言謂人曰：「我昔聞曹普演有言：'高王諸兒，阿保當為天子，至高德之承之，當滅。 '阿保，謂天保也；德之，謂德昌也；滅年號承光，即承之矣。」

Sun Zhengyan also told people, 'I once heard Cao Puyan say, "Of the High King's sons, Abao will become emperor; when the line reaches Degao and the reign Cheng, it will perish. Abao referred to Tianbao; Degao meant Dechang; and 'extinction' pointed to the reign title Chengguang—'Cheng'—which duly came to pass."

張子信，河內人也。頗涉文學，少以醫術知名。恆隱白鹿山，時出遊京邑，甚為魏收、崔季舒所重。大寧中，徵為尚藥典禦。武平初，又乙太中大夫征之，聽其所志，還山。又善《易》筮及風角之術。武衛奚永洛與子信對坐，有鵲鳴庭樹，鬥而墮焉。子信曰：「不善。向夕，當有風從西南來，曆此樹，拂堂角，則有口舌事。今夜有人喚，必不可往，雖敕亦以病辭。」子信去後，果有風如其言。是夜，琅邪王五使切召永洛，且云：「敕喚。」永洛欲起，其妻苦留之，稱墜馬腰折，不堪動。詰朝而難作。子信，齊亡卒。

Zhang Zixin came from Henei. He had some literary training and in youth was known for his medical skill. He lived in seclusion on White Deer Mountain, though he sometimes visited the capital, where Wei Shou and Cui Jishu greatly esteemed him. During Daning he was summoned to serve as Director of the Imperial Pharmacy. Early in Wuping he was again summoned as Grand Master of Palace Attendance, but was permitted to follow his inclination and returned to the mountain. He was also adept at divination with the Book of Changes and wind-angle prognostication. Xi Yongluo of the Martial Guard was sitting opposite Zixin when a magpie cried in the courtyard tree, fought, and fell to the ground. Zixin said, 'This bodes ill. Toward evening wind will rise from the southwest, sweep this tree, and strike the hall corner—then trouble of tongue and quarrel will follow. If you are summoned tonight, you must not go; even if the summons bears the imperial seal, plead sickness. After Zixin departed, the wind came exactly as he had foretold. That night the Prince of Langye summoned Yongluo five times in urgent succession, declaring it an imperial order. Yongluo meant to go, but his wife forcibly kept him back, claiming he had fallen from a horse, broken his waist, and could not stir. At dawn the catastrophe erupted. Zixin died when Qi fell.

陸法和，不知何許人也。隱於江陵百里洲，衣食居處，一與戒行沙門同。耆老自幼見之，容色常定，人莫能測也。或謂出自嵩高，遍遊遐邇。既入荊州汶陽郡高要縣之紫石山，無故舍所居山，俄有蠻賊文道期之亂，時人以為預見萌兆。

Lu Fahe was a man whose origins no one knew. He lived in seclusion on Bailizhou near Jiangling. His food, clothing, and dwelling were indistinguishable from those of a monk under strict discipline. The old people had known him since childhood; his face never changed, and no one could plumb his depths. Some said he came from Song Mountain and had wandered the breadth of the realm. After he entered Zishi Mountain in Gaoyao County, Wenyang, Jingzhou, he abruptly left the mountain where he had lived; soon the barbarian rebel Wen Daoqi rose, and people took it as a sign he had foreseen.

及侯景始告降于梁，法和謂南郡硃元英曰：「貧道共檀越擊侯景去。」元英曰：「侯景為國立效，師雲擊之何也？」法和曰：「正自如此。」及景度江，法和時在青溪山，元英往問曰：「景今圍城，其事云何？」法和曰：「凡人取果，宜待熟時。」固問之，曰：「亦克，亦不克。」景遣將任約擊梁湘東王於江陵，法和乃詣湘東乞征約。召諸蠻弟子八百人在江津，二日便發。湘東遣胡僧祐領千餘人與同行。法和登艦，大笑曰：「無量兵馬。」江陵多神祠，人俗恆所祈禱。自法和軍出，無復一驗，人以為神皆從行故也。至赤沙湖，與約相對。法和乘輕船，不介胄，沿流而下，去約軍一里乃還。謂將士曰：「聊觀彼龍睡不動，吾軍之龍，甚自踴躍，即攻之。若得彼明日，當不損客主一人而破賊，然有惡處。」遂縱火船，而逆風不便，法和執白羽扇麾風，風即返。約眾皆見梁兵步于水上，於是大潰，皆投水。約逃竄不知所之，法和曰：「明日午時當得。」及期而未得，人問之，法和曰：「吾前于此洲水乾時建一刹，語檀越等：此雖為刹，實是賊標。今何不向標下求賊也？」如其言，果于水中見約抱刹，仰頭裁出鼻，遂禽之。約言：「求就師目前死。」法和曰：「檀越有相，必不兵死。且于王有緣，決無他慮。王于後當得檀越力耳。」湘東果釋用為郡守。及魏圍江陵，約以兵赴救，力戰焉。

When Hou Jing first offered his surrender to Liang, Fahe told Zhu Yuanying of Nan Commandery, 'This humble monk, together with my patron, will drive Hou Jing away. Yuanying said, 'Hou Jing is serving the state—why do you, Master, speak of attacking him?' Fahe replied, 'Precisely for that reason.' When Jing crossed the Yangzi, Fahe was on Qingxi Mountain. Yuanying came to ask, 'Jing now besieges the capital—what will become of this?' Fahe said, 'When men gather fruit, they wait until it is ripe.' Pressed further, he said, 'He may succeed—and he may not.' Jing sent his general Ren Yue against the Prince of Xiangdong at Jiangling, and Fahe went to the prince begging leave to campaign against Yue. He gathered eight hundred barbarian disciples at the river crossing and marched within two days. The Prince of Xiangdong sent Hu Sengyou with more than a thousand men to accompany him. Fahe boarded his vessel and laughed aloud, 'Boundless are the troops and horses. Jiangling was full of spirit shrines to which people constantly prayed. After Fahe's army marched out, not one prayer was answered; people believed the gods had all gone with his host. At Chisha Lake they came face to face with Yue's army. Fahe took a light boat, wore no armor, drifted downstream to within a li of Yue's camp, and then returned. He told his officers, 'I have just looked—their dragon lies asleep, while ours leaps with eagerness. Attack now. If we strike tomorrow, not one man on either side will fall and the rebels will be shattered—yet there will be an ill spot. They launched fire ships, but the wind blew against them. Fahe waved a white feather fan at the wind, and it turned about at once. Yue's men saw Liang soldiers walking upon the water; the army collapsed in panic and men threw themselves into the river. Yue fled into hiding, and no one knew where. Fahe said, 'At noon tomorrow he will be captured. When noon passed without capture, they questioned him. Fahe said, 'Long ago, when this shoal was dry, I built a stupa here and told my patrons: though this is a stupa, it is in truth a marker for the rebel. Why not seek the rebel beneath the marker now?' They did as he said and found Yue in the water clinging to the stupa, his head barely breaking the surface with only his nose exposed. They captured him. Yue said, 'Let me die before your eyes, Master. Fahe said, 'My patron bears the marks of a man who will not die by the sword. He also shares karmic ties with the prince; have no other fear. Later the prince will owe his strength to my patron.' The Prince of Xiangdong indeed released him and appointed him commandery administrator. When Wei besieged Jiangling, Yue marched to the rescue and fought fiercely.

法和既平約，往進見王僧辯于巴陵，謂曰：「貧道已卻侯景一臂，其更何能為？檀越宜即逐取。」乃請還。謂湘東王曰：「侯景自然平矣，無足可慮。蜀賊將至，法和請守巫峽待之。」乃縱諸軍而往，親運石以填江。三日，水遂不流，橫之以鐵鎖。武陵王紀果遣蜀兵來度，峽口勢蹙，進退不可，王琳與法和經略，一戰而殄之。

After defeating Yue, Fahe went to see Wang Sengbian at Baling and said, 'This humble monk has already severed one arm of Hou Jing—what more can he do? My patron should pursue and seize him at once. He then asked leave to return. He told the Prince of Xiangdong, 'Hou Jing will fall of his own accord; there is nothing to fear. When Shu rebels were expected, Fahe asked to hold Wuxia Gorge and await them. He then marched with his forces and personally hauled stones to dam the river. Within three days the current stopped, and iron chains were stretched across the gorge. Prince Ji of Wuling did send Shu troops to cross, but the gorge mouth was tight and they could neither advance nor retreat. Wang Lin and Fahe coordinated a plan and destroyed them in a single battle.

軍次白帝，謂人曰：「諸葛孔明可謂為名將，吾自見之。此城旁有其埋弩箭鏃一斛許。」因插表令掘之，如其言。又嘗至襄陽城北大樹下，畫地方二尺，令弟子掘之。得一龜，長尺半，以杖叩之曰：「汝欲出，不能得，已數百歲。不逢我者，豈見天日乎？」為授《三歸》，龜乃入草。初，八疊山多惡疾人，法和為采藥療之，不過三服，皆差，即求為弟子。山中多毒蟲猛獸，法和授其禁戒，不復噬蜇。所泊江湖，必於峰側結表，雲此處放生。漁者皆無所得。才或少獲，輒有大風雷，船人懼而放之，風雨乃定。晚雖將兵，猶禁諸軍漁捕，有竊違者，中夜猛獸必來欲噬之，或亡其船纜。有小弟子戲截蛇頭，來詣法和。法和曰：「汝何意殺！」因指以示之，弟子乃見蛇頭齚褲襠而不落。法和使懺悔，為蛇作功德。又有人以牛試刀，一下而頭斷，來詣法和。法和曰：「有一斷頭牛，就卿征命殊急，若不為作功德，一月內報至。」其人弗信，少日果死。法和又為人置宅圖墓以避禍求福。嘗謂人曰：「勿系馬於碓。」其人行過鄉曲，門側有碓，因系馬於其柱。入門中，憶法和戒，走出將解之，馬已斃矣。

When the army halted at Baidi, he told people, 'Zhuge Kongming deserves the name of a great general—I have seen him with my own eyes. Beside this city lies a buried hoard of crossbow bolts and arrowheads, about a hu in volume. He marked the spot and ordered an excavation; it was exactly as he had said. He also once came to a great tree north of Xiangyang, marked out a square two chi across, and told his disciples to dig. They unearthed a turtle a foot and a half long. He struck it with his staff and said, 'You wish to come forth but cannot; already several hundred years have passed. Had you not met me, would you ever have seen daylight again? He gave it the Three Refuges, and the turtle crawled back into the grass. In the beginning Badie Mountain was rife with grave sickness. Fahe gathered herbs to treat the afflicted; three doses cured them, and they immediately asked to become his disciples. The mountain swarmed with venomous creatures and fierce beasts; Fahe taught his followers protective prohibitions, and they were no longer harmed. Wherever he anchored on rivers and lakes, he set up a marker on a nearby peak declaring the waters a sanctuary for releasing captive life. Fishermen caught nothing at all. If anyone caught even a few fish, violent wind and thunder erupted at once; terrified, the fishermen released their catch, and only then did the storm abate. Even after he took command of armies, he forbade his troops to fish or hunt. Those who secretly disobeyed were visited at midnight by savage beasts seeking to devour them, or found their boat cables vanished. A young disciple playfully severed a snake's head and brought it to Fahe. Fahe said, 'What have you done, killing like this! He pointed, and the disciple saw the severed head clamped to his trouser flap, refusing to fall. Fahe made him repent and perform rites of merit for the snake. Another man tested a blade on an ox; one stroke took off its head, and he came to Fahe. Fahe said, 'A headless ox is urgently demanding your life; unless you perform merit on its behalf, retribution will arrive within a month. The man refused to believe him; within days he was dead. Fahe also selected house sites and tomb plots for people seeking to avert disaster and gain fortune. He once warned a man, 'Never tie your horse to a mortar. The man passed through a village lane and, finding a mortar beside a gate, tied his horse to its post. Inside the gate he remembered Fahe's warning, rushed out to untie the horse, and found it already dead.

梁元帝以法和為都督、郢州刺史，封江乘縣公。法和不稱臣，其啟文硃印名上，自稱居士，後稱司徒。梁元帝謂其僕射王褒曰：「我未嘗有意用陸為三公，而自稱，何也？」褒曰：「彼既以道術自命，容是先知。」梁元帝以法和功業稍重，遂就加司徒，都督、刺史如故。部曲數千人，通呼為弟子。唯以道術為化，不以法獄加人。又列肆之所，不立市丞，牧佐之法，無人領受。但以空檻龠在道間，上開一孔以受錢。賈客店人，隨貨多少，計其估限，自委檻中。所掌之司，夕方開取，條其孔目，輸之於庫。又法和平常言若不出口，時有所論，則雄辯無敵，然猶帶蠻音。善為攻戰具。

Emperor Yuan of Liang appointed Fahe Area Commander and Inspector of Yingzhou, enfeoffing him as Duke of Jiangcheng. Fahe refused the title of subject. On his memorials he placed his vermilion seal and name at the top, styling himself Layman; later he styled himself Excellency of Works. Emperor Yuan told his Vice Director Wang Bao, 'I never meant to make Lu one of the Three Excellencies, yet he styles himself as one—why? Bao replied, 'He sets himself up by occult arts; perhaps he foresaw it.' As Fahe's achievements grew weightier, Emperor Yuan conferred upon him the title Excellency of Works while leaving his command and inspectorship unchanged. His personal troops numbered several thousand, all addressed as disciples. He ruled solely through occult teaching and never punished men by law. In the marketplaces he appointed no market clerks; no official received the customary fees of trade supervision. Only empty cages with slots stood along the roads, open at the top to receive coins. Merchants and innkeepers, judging the value of their goods, calculated the assessed fee and dropped it into the cage themselves. The responsible official opened the cages only at evening, checked the tally, and delivered the proceeds to the treasury. Fahe seldom spoke in daily life, but when he did discourse his eloquence was unmatched—though he still spoke with a barbarian accent. He was skilled at constructing siege engines.

在江夏，大聚兵艦，欲襲襄陽而入武關，梁元帝使止之。法和曰：「法和是求佛之人，尚不希釋梵天王坐處，豈規王位？但于空王佛所與主上有香火因緣，見主上應有報至，故救援耳。今既被疑，是業定不可改也。」於是設供食，具大饣追薄餅。及魏舉兵，法和自郢入漢口，將赴江陵，梁元帝使人逆之曰：「此自能破賊，師但鎮郢州，不須動也。」法和乃還州，堊其城門，著粗白布衫，褲布邪巾，大繩束腰，坐葦席，終日乃脫之。及聞梁元敗滅，復取前凶服著之，哭泣受吊。梁人入魏，果見饣追餅焉。法和始於百里洲造壽王寺。既架佛殿，更截梁柱，曰：「後四十許年，佛法當遭雷雹，此寺幽僻，可以免難。」及魏平荊州，宮室焚燼，總管欲發取壽王佛殿，嫌其材短，乃停。後周氏滅佛法，此寺隔在陳境，故不及難。

At Jiangxia he massed warships, intending to strike Xiangyang and enter Wuguan; Emperor Yuan ordered him to halt. Fahe said, 'I am a seeker of the Buddha; I do not even desire the throne of the Brahma King—why would I plot for a crown? Only at the shrine of the Buddha of Empty Space do I share karmic ties with my lord; seeing that retribution was due him, I came to his rescue. Now that I am suspected, this karma is fixed and cannot be altered. He thereupon prepared a feast of offerings, including great thin cakes. When Wei marched, Fahe left Ying for Hankou, intending to rush to Jiangling. Emperor Yuan sent a messenger to meet him: 'We can break the enemy ourselves; Master, hold Yingzhou and do not stir. Fahe returned to his province, whitewashed the city gates, dressed in coarse white cloth shirt, trousers, and a slanting headcloth, bound his waist with a thick rope, and sat on a reed mat until day's end. When he learned that Emperor Yuan had fallen, he again donned his mourning garb, wept, and received those who came to condole with him. When men of Liang entered Wei, they indeed found the thin cakes he had prepared. Fahe first built Shouwang Temple on Bailizhou. After raising the Buddha hall, he cut away additional beams and pillars, saying, 'In some forty years Buddhism will suffer thunder and hail; this secluded temple can escape the disaster. When Wei pacified Jingzhou, the palace halls were burned to ash. The commander meant to dismantle the Shouwang Buddha hall, but finding the timbers too short, desisted. Later Zhou suppressed Buddhism; the temple lay in Chen territory and so escaped destruction.

天保六年春，清河王岳進軍臨江，法和舉州入齊。文宣以法和為大都督、十州諸軍事、太尉公、西南大都督、五州諸軍事、荊州刺史，安湘郡公宋蒞為郢州刺史，官爵如故。蒞弟簉為散騎常侍、儀同三司、湘州刺史、義興縣公。梁將侯瑱來逼江夏，齊軍棄城而退，法和與宋蒞兄弟入朝。文宣聞其有奇術，虛心相見之。備三公鹵簿，于城南十二里供帳以待之。法和遙見鄴城，下馬禹步。辛術謂曰：「公既萬里歸誠，主上虛心相待，何作此術？」法和手持香爐，步從路車至於館。明日引見，給通晄憲油絡網車，仗身百人。詣闕通名，不稱官爵，不稱臣，但雲荊山居士。文宣宴法和及其徒屬於昭陽殿，賜法和錢百萬、物萬段、甲第一區、田一百頃、奴婢二百人，生資什物稱是；宋蒞千段；其餘儀同、刺史以下各有差。法和所得奴婢，盡免之，曰：「各隨緣去。」錢帛散施，一日便盡。以官所賜宅營佛寺，自居一房，與凡人無異。三年間再為太尉，世猶謂之居士。無疾，而告弟子死期。至時，燒香禮佛，坐繩床而終。浴訖將殮，屍小縮止三尺許。文宣令開棺而視之，空棺而已。

In the spring of Tianbao year six, Prince Qinghe Yue marched to the river; Fahe surrendered the whole province to Qi. Emperor Wenxuan made Fahe Grand Commander over ten provinces, Grand Duke and Grand Captain, Southwestern Grand Commander over five provinces and Inspector of Jingzhou; Song Li of Anxiang Commandery became Inspector of Yingzhou, with ranks unchanged. Li's younger brother Cui was made Regular Attendant, Companion of the Same Rank as the Three Excellencies, Inspector of Xiangzhou, and Duke of Yixing County. The Liang general Hou Tian pressed Jiangxia; Qi forces abandoned the city and withdrew, and Fahe entered court with the Song Li brothers. Hearing of his occult powers, Emperor Wenxuan received him with sincere humility. The full regalia of the Three Excellencies was prepared, and a pavilion twelve li south of the city was erected to receive him. Fahe saw Ye from afar and dismounted to walk with ritual steps. Xin Shu said to him, 'You have come in faith from afar, and the sovereign welcomes you with an open heart—why perform this rite? Fahe carried an incense burner and walked behind the state carriage to his lodging. The next day he was granted audience and given an imperial carriage with lacquered canopy and net, attended by a hundred armed guards. At the palace gate he announced himself neither by office nor as subject, but only as Layman of Jing Mountain. Emperor Wenxuan feasted Fahe and his followers in Zhaoyang Hall, granting Fahe a million coins, ten thousand lengths of goods, a first-rank mansion, a hundred qing of fields, two hundred slaves, and commensurate provisions; Song Li a thousand lengths; the remaining Companions of the Same Rank, inspectors, and subordinates each received gifts according to rank. Fahe freed every slave given him, saying, 'Go wherever your karma leads. He distributed coins and silks in charity; within a single day all was gone. He built a Buddhist temple from the mansion the court had granted and lived in a single room, indistinguishable from any common man. Within three years he was again made Grand Captain; people still called him Layman. Though free of illness, he told his disciples the day he would die. When the day came, he burned incense, bowed before the Buddha, and died seated on a rope bed. After the bathing rites, as they prepared to place him in the coffin, the corpse shrank to only three chi. Emperor Wenxuan ordered the coffin opened—and found it empty.

法和書其所居屋壁而塗之，及剝落，有文曰：「十年天子為尚可，百日天子急如火，周年天子遞代坐。」又曰：「一母生三天，兩天共五年。」說者以為婁太后生三天子，自孝昭即位至武成傳位後主，共五年焉。

Fahe had written on the wall of his room and plastered it over; when the plaster fell away, the text read, 'Ten years as emperor is bearable; a hundred days as emperor burns like fire; a year as emperor, one succeeds another in turn. It also read, 'One mother bears three emperors; two emperors together five years.' Commentators took this to mean that Empress Dowager Lou bore three emperors; from Xiaozhao's accession until Wucheng abdicated in favor of the later sovereign, together five years.

法和在荊郢，有少姬，年可二十餘，自稱越姥，身披法服，不肯嫁娶。恆隨法和東西，或與其私通，十有餘年。今者賜棄，別更他淫。有司考驗，並實。越姥因爾改適，生子數人。

While in Jing and Ying, Fahe kept a young concubine of about twenty who called herself Old Woman Yue, wore religious robes, and refused marriage. She followed Fahe wherever he went and sometimes slept with him—for more than ten years. Now she was cast off and took other lovers. Officials investigated; every charge proved true. Old Woman Yue then remarried and bore several sons.

蔣升，字鳳起，楚國平河人也。少好天文玄象之學，周文雅信待之。大統三年，東魏竇泰頓軍潼關，周文出師馬牧澤。時西南有黃紫氣抱日，從未至酉。周文謂升曰：「此何祥也？」升曰：「西南未地，主土。土王四季，秦分。今大軍既出，喜氣下臨，必有大慶。」於是與泰戰，禽之。自後遂降河東，克弘農，破沙苑，由此愈被親禮。九年，高仲密以北豫州來附，周文欲遣兵援之。升曰：「春王在東，熒惑又在井鬼分，行軍非便。」周文不從。軍至芒山，不利而還。太師賀拔勝怒曰：「蔣升罪合萬死！」周文曰：「蔣升固諫曰：'師出不利。 '此敗也，孤自取之。」恭帝元年，以前後功，授車騎大將軍、儀同三司，封高城縣子。後除大中大夫，以年老請致事。詔許之，加定州刺史，卒于家。

Jiang Sheng, styled Fengqi, came from Pinghe in Chu. From youth he loved astronomy and occult signs; Zhou Wenya trusted and favored him. In Datong year three, Eastern Wei's Dou Tai halted at Tong Pass; Zhou Wen marched out to Maze Pasture. At that hour yellow and purple vapors in the southwest embraced the sun, from wei until you. Zhou Wen asked Sheng, 'What omen is this? Sheng said, 'The southwest is the wei direction, which governs earth. Earth reigns through the four seasons; this is the Qin region. Now that the great army has marched forth, auspicious vapors descend—there will be a great victory.' They fought Tai and captured him. Thereafter they successively reduced Hedong, took Hongnong, and broke Sha Garden; from this Sheng was ever more honored. In year nine, Gao Zhongmi came over with Northern Yuzhou to submit; Zhou Wen wished to send troops to his aid. Sheng said, 'The spring king is in the east, and Mars stands in the well-ghost quarter—marching is ill-advised. Zhou Wen did not heed him. The army reached Mangshan, met disaster, and retreated. Grand Preceptor Heba Sheng raged, 'Jiang Sheng deserves death ten thousand times over! Zhou Wen said, 'Jiang Sheng warned me plainly that the march would go ill. This defeat, I brought upon myself.' In the first year of Emperor Gong, in reward for his past and present service, he was made General of Chariots and Cavalry with third-rank ceremonial parity, and enfeoffed as Viscount of Gaocheng. He was later appointed Grand Master of Palace Affairs and, citing his age, asked to retire from office. The emperor approved his request, additionally appointing him Governor of Dingzhou; he died at home.

強練，不知何許人也，亦不知其名字。先是李順興語默不恆，好言未然之事，當時號為李練，世人以強類之，故亦呼為練焉。容貌長壯，有異於人，神情敞怳，莫之能測。意欲有所說，逢人輒言；若值其不欲言，縱苦加祈請，不相酬答。初聞其言，略不可解，事過後，往往有驗。恆寄住諸佛寺，好行人家，兼曆造王公邸第。所至，人皆敬信之。晉公護未誅前，練曾手持一瓠，到護第門外抵破曰：「瓠破子苦。」時柱國、平高公侯伏龍恩深被任委，強練至龍恩宅，呼其妻元氏及其妾媵並婢僕等，並令連席而坐。諸人以逼夫人，苦辭不肯。強練曰：「汝等一例人耳，何有貴賤。」遂逼就坐。未幾而護誅，諸子並死；龍恩亦伏法，仍籍沒其家。建德中，每夜上街衢邊樹，大哭釋迦牟尼佛，或至申旦。如此者累月，聲甚哀苦。俄而廢佛、道二教。大象末，又以一無底囊，曆長安市肆告乞，市人爭以米麥遺之。強練張囊受之，隨即漏之於地。人或問之，強練曰：「但欲使諸人見盛空耳。」至隋開皇初，果移都于龍首山，城遂空廢。後莫知其所終。

Qiang Lian was from an unknown place, and his personal name was unknown as well. Before him there had been Li Shunxing, erratic in speech and silence, fond of prophesying things not yet come to pass; people called him Li Lian. Because Qiang seemed cut from the same cloth, they called him Lian too. Tall and powerfully built, he looked unlike ordinary men; his bearing was distant and unfathomable. When he wanted to speak, he would address whoever he encountered; but when he did not wish to speak, no amount of pleading could draw a reply from him. At first his words were nearly incomprehensible, yet once events unfolded they often proved true. He habitually stayed at Buddhist monasteries, wandered through people's homes, and visited the residences of kings and nobles. Wherever he went, people treated him with reverence and trust. Before Duke Jin Yuwen Hu was put to death, Lian once took a gourd to the gate of Hu's mansion, smashed it, and said, 'When the gourd breaks, the seeds turn bitter.' At that time Pillar of State Hou Fulong'en, Duke of Pinggao, enjoyed great trust and heavy responsibility. Qiang Lian came to Long'en's house and called for his wife Lady Yuan, his concubines, attendants, and servants, ordering them all to sit together on one mat. The household, thinking this an affront to the lady of the house, pleaded hard and refused. Qiang Lian said, 'You are all the same sort of people—what difference is there between high and low?' He then compelled them to sit. Before long Hu was executed, and all his sons perished as well; Long'en was also executed, and his property was confiscated. During the Jiande era he would go each night to trees along the city streets and wail to Shakyamuni Buddha, sometimes until dawn. He did this for months on end, his cries heartbreakingly mournful. Soon afterward both Buddhism and Daoism were suppressed. Near the end of the Daxiang era he again took a bottomless sack and begged through the markets of Chang'an, and people vied to give him rice and grain. Qiang Lian held the sack open to receive their gifts, and everything immediately spilled onto the ground. When people asked him, Qiang Lian said, 'I only want everyone to see fullness turn to emptiness.' At the start of Kaihuang under the Sui, the capital was indeed moved to Longshou Mountain, and the old city was abandoned. After that, no one knew where he went.

又有蜀郡衛元嵩者，亦好言將來事，蓋江左寶志之流。天和中，遂著詩，預論周隋廢興及皇家受命，並有徵驗。尤不信釋教，嘗上疏極論之。

There was also Wei Yuansong of Shu Commandery, who likewise loved to speak of things yet to come—much in the vein of Baozhi of the south. During the Tianhe era he wrote poems foretelling the fall of Zhou, the rise of Sui, and the imperial house's receipt of the Mandate—all later borne out. He especially disbelieved Buddhism and once submitted a lengthy memorial attacking it.

庾季才，字叔弈，新野人也。八世祖滔，隨晉元帝過江，官至散騎常侍，封遂昌侯，因家于南郡江陵縣。祖詵，《南史》有傳。父曼倩，光祿卿。季才幼穎悟，八歲誦《尚書》，十二通《易》，好占玄象，居喪以孝聞。梁湘東王繹引授外兵參軍。西台建，累遷中書郎，領太史，封宣昌縣伯。季才固辭太史，梁元帝曰：「漢司馬遷曆世居掌，魏高堂隆猶領此職，卿何憚焉！」帝亦頗明星曆，謂曰：「朕猶慮禍起蕭牆。」季才曰：「秦將入郢，陛下宜留重臣，作鎮荊陝，還都以避其患。」帝初然之，後與吏部尚書宗懍等議，乃止。

Yu Jicai, styled Shuyi, was a native of Xinye. His eighth-generation ancestor Tao followed Emperor Yuan of Jin south across the Yangtze, rose to Gentleman Attendant at Leisure, was enfeoffed Marquis of Suichang, and the family settled in Jiangling County in Nan Commandery. His grandfather Shen has a biography in the History of the Southern Dynasties. His father Manqian served as Director of the Imperial Household. Jicai was bright from childhood: at eight he recited the Documents, at twelve he mastered the Changes, loved to read the heavens and hidden signs, and was famed for filial mourning. Prince Xiangdong of Liang, Xiao Yi, summoned him and made him External Army Aide. When the Western Terrace was established, he rose in turn to Gentleman of the Palace Secretariat, concurrently Grand Astrologer, and was enfeoffed Earl of Xuanzhang. Jicai firmly declined the Grand Astrologer's post. Emperor Yuan of Liang said, 'Under Han, Sima Qian's family held this office for generations; under Wei, Gao Tanglong still kept it—why do you shrink from it!' The emperor also understood the stars and calendars and told him, 'I still fear trouble rising within the palace walls.' Jicai said, 'Qin is about to enter Ying; Your Majesty should leave trusted ministers to hold Jing and Shaan and return to the capital to escape the calamity.' At first the emperor agreed, but after consulting Minister of Personnel Zong Lin and others, he abandoned the plan.

俄而江陵覆滅。周文帝一見，深加優禮，令參掌太史，曰：「卿宜盡誠事孤，當以富貴相答。」初，荊覆亡，衣冠士人，多沒為賤。季才散所賜物，購求親故。周文問：「何能若此？」季才曰：「郢都覆敗，君信有罪，縉紳何咎，皆為賤隸？誠竊哀之，故贖購耳。」周文乃悟曰：「微君，遂失天下之望。」因出令，免梁浮為奴婢者數千口。武定二年，與王褒、庾信同補麟趾學士，累遷稍伯大夫。後宇文護執政，問以天道徵祥，對曰：「頃上臺有變，不利宰輔，公宜歸政天子，請老私門。」護沈吟久之，曰：「吾本意如此，但辭未獲免。」自是漸疏。及護夷滅，閱其書記，有假託符命，妄造異端者，皆誅。唯得季才兩紙，盛言緯候，宜免政歸權。帝謂少宗伯斛斯徵曰：「季才甚得人臣之禮。」因賜粟帛，遷太史中大夫。詔撰《靈台秘苑》，封臨潁縣伯。宣帝嗣位，加驃騎大將軍、開府儀同三司。

Before long Jiangling fell. When Emperor Wen of Zhou first met him, he treated him with exceptional favor and had him assist in the Grand Astrologer's office, saying, 'Serve me with all your heart, and I shall reward you with wealth and rank.' When Jing first fell, most gentry and scholars were reduced to servitude. Jicai spent the gifts he had received to buy back relatives and friends. Emperor Wen of Zhou asked, 'How can you do this?' Jicai said, 'When Ying fell, the ruler bore guilt, but what crime had the gentry committed, that they should all become slaves? I pity them deeply, and so I redeem them.' Emperor Wen of Zhou then understood and said, 'Without you, I would have lost the hearts of the realm.' He then issued an edict freeing several thousand Liang captives held as male and female slaves. In the second year of Wuding, together with Wang Bao and Yu Xin he was appointed Linqi Academician and rose in turn to Grand Master of the Palace. Later, when Yuwen Hu held power, he asked about heavenly omens. Jicai replied, 'Recently the Upper Platform has shifted in a way unfavorable to the chief minister; you should return power to the Son of Heaven and retire to private life.' Hu brooded a long while and said, 'That was always my intent, but my resignation has not yet been granted.' From then on Hu gradually kept his distance from him. When Hu was destroyed, his papers were examined, and those who had forged omens and invented heresies were all put to death. Only two sheets in Jicai's hand were found, arguing forcefully from celestial patterns that power should return to the throne. The emperor said to Junior Director of the Imperial Clan Husi Zheng, 'Jicai truly understands a minister's duty.' He granted him grain and silk and promoted him to Grand Master of the Grand Astrologer's Office. He was ordered to compile the Secret Garden of the Spirit Terrace and was enfeoffed Earl of Linying. When Emperor Xuan succeeded to the throne, Jicai was additionally made General of Agile Cavalry with the status of an independent command and third-rank ceremonial parity.

及隋文帝為丞相，嘗夜召問天時人事，季才曰：「天道精微，難可悉察。竊以人事卜之，符兆已定，季才縱言不可，公得為箕、潁事乎？」帝默然久之曰：「吾今譬騎武，誠不得下矣。」因賜以彩帛曰：「愧公此意。」大定元年正月，季才上言：「今月戊戌平旦，青氣如樓闕，見國城上。俄而變紫，逆風西行。《氣經》云：'天不能無雲而雨，皇王不能無氣而立。 '今王氣已見，須即應之。二月，日出卯入酉，居天之正位，謂之二八之門。日者人君之象，人君正位，宜用二月。其月十三日甲子，甲為六甲之始，子為十二辰之初。甲數九，子數又九，九為天數。其日即是驚蟄，陽氣壯發之時。昔周武王以二月甲子定天下，享年八百；漢高帝以二月甲午即帝位，享年四百。故知甲子、甲午為得天數。今月甲子，宜應天受命。」上從之。

When Emperor Wen of Sui was chief minister, he once summoned Jicai at night to ask about heaven and human affairs. Jicai said, 'Heaven's way is subtle and cannot be fully discerned. Judging by human affairs alone, the signs are already set; even if I say it cannot be done, could you retire to farm like Xu You at Ji and Ying?' The emperor was silent a long while and said, 'I am now like a man riding a tiger—I truly cannot get down.' He granted colored silks, saying, 'I am ashamed before your honesty.' In the first month of the first year of Dading, Jicai submitted a memorial: 'On wuxu day this month at dawn, azure vapor like a tower-gate appeared above the capital. Soon it turned purple and drifted west against the wind. The Classic of Vapor says, 'Heaven cannot stand without clouds and rain; kings cannot stand without royal vapor. Now the kingly vapor has appeared; you must answer it at once. In the second month the sun rises at mao and sets at you, occupying heaven's central position—the Gate of Two Eights. The sun is the image of the ruler; when the ruler stands in the correct position, the second month is the proper time. On the thirteenth of that month, jiazi day—jia is the start of the six jia cycles, and zi the start of the twelve branches. Jia counts as nine, and zi counts as nine as well; nine is heaven's number. That day is precisely Awakening of Insects, when yang energy bursts forth. Formerly King Wu of Zhou established the realm on jiazi in the second month and held it for eight hundred years; Emperor Gaozu of Han took the throne on jiawu in the second month and held it for four hundred years. Thus jiazi and jiawu accord with heaven's number. On jiazi this month, you should receive heaven's mandate.' The emperor followed his advice.

開皇元年，授通直散騎常侍。帝將遷都，夜與高熲、蘇威二人定議。季才旦奏：「臣仰觀玄象，俯察圖記，龜兆允襲，必有遷都。且漢營此城，經今將八百歲，水皆鹹鹵，不甚宜人，願為遷徒計。」帝愕然，謂熲等曰：「是何神也！」遂發詔施行。賜季才絹布及進爵為公。謂曰：「朕自今已後，信有天道。」於是令季才與其子質撰《垂象》、《地形》等志。謂曰：「天道秘奧，推測多途，執見不同，不欲令外人干預此事，故令公父子共為之。」及書成奏之，賜米帛甚優。九年，出為均州刺史。時議以季才術藝精通，有詔還委舊任。以年老，頻求去職，優旨每不許。會張胄玄曆行，及袁充言日景長，上以問季才，因言充謬。上大怒，由是免職，給半祿歸第。所有祥異，常令人就家訪焉。仁壽三年，卒。

In the first year of Kaihuang he was appointed Regular Attendant of the Palace. When the emperor planned to move the capital, he settled the matter at night with Gao Feng and Su Wei. At dawn Jicai submitted, 'Looking up I read the arcane signs; looking down I examine charts and records; tortoise and milfoil agree—a move of the capital is ordained. Moreover, Han built this city nearly eight hundred years ago; the water is brackish and unfit for habitation—I beg you to plan a move.' The emperor was startled and said to Gao Feng and the others, 'What kind of oracle is this!' He then issued an edict and carried it out. Jicai was granted silk and cloth and raised to duke. The emperor told him, 'From now on I believe in heaven's way.' He then had Jicai and his son Zhi compile the treatises Hanging Signs and Topography. He told him, 'Heaven's way is secret and abstruse, with many paths of inference and clashing views—I do not want outsiders involved, and so I have you and your son do this together.' When the books were finished and submitted, he was granted rice and silk in generous measure. In the ninth year he was sent out as Governor of Junzhou. At the time, because Jicai's arts were judged supreme, an edict recalled him to his former post. Citing his age, he repeatedly asked to retire, but gracious edicts each time refused. When Zhang Zhouxuan's calendar was adopted and Yuan Chong claimed the sun's shadow was lengthening, the emperor asked Jicai, who declared Yuan Chong mistaken. The emperor was furious and dismissed him, granting half salary and sending him home. Whenever omens appeared, the court regularly sent people to his home to inquire. In the third year of Renshou he died.

季才局量寬弘，術業優博，篤于信義，志好賓遊。常吉日良辰，與琅邪王褒、彭城劉玨、河東裴政及宗人信等為文酒之會。次有劉臻、明克讓、柳{巧言}之徒，雖後進，亦申遊款。撰《靈台秘苑》一百二十卷，《垂象志》一百四十二卷，《地形志》八十七卷，並行於世。

Jicai was broad-minded and magnanimous, superb in learning and craft, steadfast in faith and friendship, and fond of gathering guests. On fine days and at pleasant hours he regularly joined Wang Bao of Langye, Liu Jue of Pengcheng, Pei Zheng of Hedong, and his kinsman Xin and others for literary gatherings over wine. Later came Liu Zhen, Ming Kerang, Liu Rang, and others; though younger, they too were welcomed into his circle. He compiled the Secret Garden of the Spirit Terrace in one hundred twenty scrolls, the Treatise on Hanging Signs in one hundred forty-two scrolls, and the Treatise on Topography in eighty-seven scrolls, all of which circulated in his day.

子質，字行脩。早有志尚，八歲誦梁元帝《玄覽》、《言志》等十賦，拜童子郎。仕隋，累遷隴州司馬。大業初，授太史令。操履貞懿，立言忠鯁，每有災異，必指事面陳。煬帝多忌刻，齊王暕亦被猜嫌。質子儉時為齊王屬，帝謂質曰：「汝不能一心事我，乃使兒事齊王。」由是出為合水令。八年，帝親伐遼東，徵至臨渝，問東伐克不。對曰：「伐之可克，不願陛下親行。」帝作色曰：「朕今總兵至此，豈可未見賊而自退！」質曰：「願安駕住此，命將授規，事宜在速，緩必無功。」帝不悅曰：「汝既難行，可住此也。」及師還，授太史令。九年，復征高麗，又問：「今段何如？」對猶執前見。帝怒曰：「我自行尚不能克，遣人豈有成功？」帝遂行。既而楊玄感反，斛斯政奔高麗，帝大懼，遽歸。謂質曰：「卿前不許我行，當為此耳。今玄感成乎？」質曰：「今天下一家，未易可動。」帝曰：「熒惑入鬥，如何？」對曰：「鬥，楚分，玄感之封。今火色衰謝，終必無成。」十年，帝自西京將往東都。質諫宜鎮撫關內，使百姓歸農，三五年，令四海少豐，然後巡省。帝不悅。質辭疾不從，帝聞之怒，遣馳傳鎖質詣行在所。至東都下獄，竟死獄中。

His son Zhi, styled Xingxiu, showed high ambition from youth; at eight he recited ten fu by Emperor Yuan of Liang, including Mysterious Survey and Declaring Intent, and was appointed Boy Attendant. Under the Sui he rose in turn to Prefectural Marshal of Longzhou. At the start of Daye he was appointed Grand Astrologer. Upright and pure in conduct, loyal and blunt in speech, whenever omens appeared he always named the matter plainly to the emperor's face. Emperor Yang was deeply suspicious and harsh; Prince of Qi Yang Zhao was also viewed with distrust. Zhi's son Jian was then an aide to the Prince of Qi. The emperor told Zhi, 'You cannot serve me wholeheartedly, yet you let your son serve the Prince of Qi.' On that account he was sent out as Magistrate of Heshui. In the eighth year the emperor personally marched against Liaodong; Zhi was summoned to Linyu and asked whether the eastern campaign would succeed. He replied, 'It can be taken, but I do not wish Your Majesty to go in person.' The emperor's face darkened and he said, 'I have brought the army this far—how can I turn back before even seeing the enemy!' Zhi said, 'I wish Your Majesty would remain here in safety, appoint generals and give them strategy—the matter must be swift; delay will surely bring failure.' The emperor, displeased, said, 'Since you find the march hard, you may stay here.' When the army returned, he was appointed Grand Astrologer. In the ninth year Liaodong was attacked again; the emperor again asked, 'How will this campaign go? He answered, still holding to his earlier view. The emperor angrily said, 'If I go in person and still cannot conquer it, how could sending others succeed?' The emperor went anyway. Before long Yang Xuangan rebelled, Husi Zheng fled to Goguryeo, and the emperor, terrified, hurried back. He said to Zhi, 'You would not let me go—it was for this. Will Xuangan succeed now?' Zhi said, 'The realm is now united under one house; he cannot easily succeed.' The emperor said, 'Mars enters the Dipper—what of that?' He replied, 'The Dipper is the Chu division—the territory of Xuangan's fief. Now the fire star's color is fading; in the end he will surely fail.' In the tenth year the emperor was about to travel from the Western Capital to the Eastern Capital. Zhi urged him to pacify the lands within the passes, let the people return to farming, and wait three to five years until the realm had recovered somewhat before touring the east. The emperor was displeased. Zhi pleaded illness and refused to accompany him; when the emperor heard, he was furious and sent a fast courier to shackle Zhi and bring him to the imperial presence. When he reached the Eastern Capital he was thrown into prison and died there.

子儉，亦傳父業，兼有學識。仕歷襄武令、元德太子學士、齊王屬。義甯初，為太史令。

His son Jian also inherited his father's craft and had learning besides. In office he served as Magistrate of Xiangwu, Academician to the Heir Apparent of Yuande, and Aide to the Prince of Qi. At the beginning of Yining he was made Grand Astrologer.

盧太翼，字協昭，河間人也。本姓章仇氏。七歲詣學，日誦數千言，州裏號曰神童。及長，博綜群書，尤善占候、算曆之術。隱于白鹿山，徙居林慮山茱萸澗。受業者自遠而至。初無所拒，後憚其煩，逃於五臺山。地多藥物，與弟子數人，廬於岩下，以為神仙可致。隋太子勇聞而召之。太翼知太子必不為嗣，謂所親曰：「吾拘逼而來，不知所稅駕也。」及太子廢，坐法當死。文帝惜其才，配為官奴，久乃釋。其後目盲，以手摸書而知其字。仁壽末，帝將避暑仁壽宮，太翼固諫曰：「恐是行鑾輿不反。」帝大怒，系之長安獄，期還斬之。帝至宮寢疾，臨崩，命皇太子釋之。及煬帝即位，漢王諒反，帝問之。答曰：「何所能為！」未幾，諒果敗。帝從容言天下氏族，謂太翼曰：「卿姓章仇，四嶽之胄，與盧同源。」於是賜姓盧氏。大業九年，從駕至遼東。太翼言黎陽有兵氣，後數日而楊玄感反書聞。帝甚異之，數加賞賜。太翼所言天文之事，不可稱數，關諸秘密，時莫能聞。後數歲，卒于雒陽。

Lu Taiyi, styled Xiezhao, was a native of Hejian. His original surname was Zhangqiu. At seven he went to school and recited several thousand words a day; locally he was called a divine prodigy. When grown, he mastered many books and was especially skilled in omens, calculation, and calendrics. He withdrew to Mount Bailu, then moved to Cornel Creek in the Linlu Mountains. Students came from afar to study under him. At first he turned none away; later, weary of the crowds, he fled to Mount Wutai. The place abounded in medicinal herbs; with several disciples he built a hut beneath the cliffs, believing immortals could be attained. Crown Prince Yong of Sui heard of him and summoned him. Taiyi knew the crown prince would never succeed and told his intimates, 'I was dragged here against my will, and I do not know where I shall end.' When the crown prince was deposed, by law he should have been executed. Emperor Wen valued his talent and commuted the sentence to government slavery; after a long time he was released. Later he went blind and read by feeling books with his hands. Near the end of Renshou the emperor planned to summer at Renshou Palace; Taiyi firmly remonstrated, saying, 'I fear this is a journey from which the imperial carriage will not return.' The emperor was furious, imprisoned him in Chang'an, and set a date to behead him on his return. When the emperor reached the palace he fell ill; on his deathbed he ordered the crown prince to release him. When Emperor Yang succeeded to the throne, Prince of Han Yang Liang rebelled; the emperor asked Taiyi about it. He replied, 'What can he accomplish!' Before long Liang was indeed defeated. The emperor spoke at leisure of the realm's great clans and told Taiyi, 'Your surname is Zhangqiu, descendant of the Four Peaks, of the same origin as the Lu clan.' He therefore granted him the surname Lu. In the ninth year of Daye he accompanied the emperor to Liaodong. Taiyi said there was a military aura at Liyang; several days later came word that Yang Xuangan had rebelled. The emperor was greatly astonished and repeatedly rewarded him. Taiyi's pronouncements on celestial matters were beyond counting; they touched on secrets none could hear at the time. Several years later he died at Luoyang.

耿詢，字敦信，丹楊人也。滑稽辯給，伎巧絕人。陳後主時，以客從東衡州刺史王勇於嶺南。勇卒，詢不歸。會群俚反叛，推詢為主，柱國王世積討禽之。罪當誅，自言有巧思，世積釋之，以為家奴。久之，見其故人高智寶以玄象直太史，詢從之受天文算術。詢創意造渾天儀，不假人力，以水轉之，施於暗室中，使智寶外候天時，動合符契。世積知而奏之，文帝配詢為官奴，給太史局。後賜蜀王秀，從往益州，秀甚信之。及秀廢，復當誅。何稠言耿詢之巧，思若有神，上於是特原其罪。詢作馬上刻漏，世稱其妙。煬帝即位，進欹器。帝善之，免其奴。歲餘，授右尚方署監事。七年，車駕東征，詢上言曰：「遼東不可討，師必無功。」帝大怒，命左右斬之。何稠苦諫得免。及平壤之敗，帝以詢言為中，以詢守太史丞。宇文化及弑逆之後，從至黎陽，謂其妻曰：「近觀人事，遠察天文，宇文必敗，李氏當王，吾知所歸矣。」謀欲去之，為化及所殺。著《鳥情占》一卷，行於世。

Geng Xun, styled Dunxin, was a native of Danyang. Witty, glib, and endlessly clever, his ingenuity was unmatched. Under Emperor Houzhu of Chen he followed Wang Yong, Governor of East Hengzhou, to Lingnan as a guest. When Yong died, Xun did not return north. When the Li tribes rebelled, they made Xun their leader; Pillar of State Wang Shiji campaigned against them and captured him. His crime merited death; claiming clever ingenuity, he was released by Shiji and made a household slave. Long afterward he saw his old acquaintance Gao Zhibao serving as Grand Astrologer for his knowledge of the heavens, and studied astronomy and calculation under him. Xun devised an armillary sphere turned by water without human labor; placed in a dark room, Zhibao watched the sky outside and the motions matched perfectly. When Shiji learned of it and memorialized, Emperor Wen sentenced Xun to government slavery and assigned him to the Grand Astrologer's office. Later he was granted to Prince of Shu Yang Xiu and followed him to Yizhou; Xiu trusted him deeply. When Xiu was deposed, he again faced execution. He Chou praised Geng Xun's ingenuity, saying his mind worked like a spirit's; the emperor thereupon specially pardoned him. Xun made a clepsydra for use on horseback; his age called it marvelous. When Emperor Yang succeeded to the throne, he presented a tipping vessel. The emperor approved and freed him from slavery. After more than a year he was appointed Supervisor of the Right Palace Workshops. In the seventh year, when the emperor campaigned east, Xun submitted, 'Liaodong cannot be attacked; the army will surely fail.' The emperor was furious and ordered his attendants to behead him. He Chou pleaded hard and secured his pardon. After the defeat at Pyongyang, the emperor judged Xun's words correct and made him Vice Grand Astrologer. After Yuwen Huaji's regicide he followed him to Liyang and told his wife, 'Observing affairs near at hand and the heavens far off, Yuwen will surely fall and the Li house will reign—I know where to go.' He planned to leave, but Huaji killed him. He wrote Bird-Disposition Divination in one scroll, which circulated in his day.

來和，字弘順，京兆長安人也。少好相術，所言多驗。周大塚宰宇文護引之左右，累遷畿伯下大夫，封洹水縣男。隋文帝微時，詣和。曰：「公當王有四海。」及為丞相，拜儀同。既受禪，進爵為子。開皇末，和上表自陳龍潛所言曰：「昔陛下在周，與永富公竇榮定語，臣曰：'我聞有行聲，即識其人。臣當時即言：'公眼如曙星，無所不照，當王有天下，願忍誅殺。建德四年五月，周武帝在雲陽宮謂臣曰：'諸公皆汝所識，隋公相祿何如？' 臣報武帝曰：'隋公止是守節人，可鎮一方，若為將領，陣無不破。' 臣即于宮東南奏聞，陛下謂臣：'此語不忘。' 明年，烏丸軌言于武帝曰：'隋公非人臣。' '帝尋以問臣。臣知帝有疑，臣詭報曰：'是節臣，更無異相。 '于時王誼、梁彥光等知臣此語。大象二年五月，至尊從永巷東門入，臣在永巷門東，北面立，陛下問臣曰：'我得無災鄣不？臣奏陛下曰：'公骨法氣色相應，天命已有付屬。 '未幾，遂總百揆。」上覽之大悅，進位開府。和同郡韓則嘗詣和相，和謂之：「後四五當得大官。」人初不知所謂。則至開皇十五年五月終。人問其故，和曰：「十五年為三五，加以五月為四五。大官，槨也。」和言多此類。著《相經》三十卷。

Lai He, styled Hongshun, was a native of Chang'an in Jingzhao. From youth he loved physiognomy; what he said often came true. Grand Minister Yuwen Hu of Zhou summoned him to his side; he rose in turn to Grand Master of the Jiji District and was enfeoffed Baron of Huanshui. When Emperor Wen of Sui was still obscure, he went to see He. He said, 'You will reign and possess all within the four seas.' When he became chief minister, He was appointed Same Precedence. After receiving the abdication, he was raised to viscount. Near the end of Kaihuang, He submitted a memorial recounting what he had said while the emperor was still obscure: 'Formerly, when Your Majesty was still under Zhou, you spoke with Duke Yongfu Dou Rongding, and I said, 'I hear a man's gait and know the man. I then said at once, 'Your eyes are like dawn stars, missing nothing; you will reign over the realm—may you restrain killing. In the fifth month of the fourth year of Jiande, Emperor Wu of Zhou at Yunyang Palace said to me, 'The lords are all men you know—how is Duke Sui's fortune and emolument?' I replied to Emperor Wu, 'Duke Sui is only a man of integrity; he can hold one region. As a general, no battle line will stand against him.' I then reported this at the southeast of the palace; Your Majesty told me, 'Do not forget these words.' The next year Wuhuan Gui said to Emperor Wu, 'Duke Sui is no ordinary subject.' The emperor soon asked me. Knowing the emperor had doubts, I falsely replied, 'He is a loyal minister; there is no other unusual sign. At that time Wang Yi, Liang Yanguang, and others knew I had said this. In the fifth month of the second year of Daxiang, the Supreme One entered through the east gate of the Everlasting Lane; I stood north of the east gate of the Everlasting Lane, and Your Majesty asked me, 'Will I be free of calamity? I reported to Your Majesty, 'Your bone structure and vital aura correspond; heaven's mandate has already been entrusted to you. Before long, he was put in charge of all the ministries. The emperor read the memorial and was greatly pleased, promoting Lai He to Establishment Grand Master. Han Ze of Tonghe commandery once had Lai He read his fortune. Lai He told him, "In four or five you will obtain a great office. At first no one understood what he meant. Han Ze died in the fifth month of Kaihuang 15. When people asked how he had known, Lai He said, "Fifteen years is 'three-five,' and with the fifth month added that makes 'four-five. A great office meant a coffin." Lai He's predictions were often of this kind. He wrote the Physiognomy Classic in thirty scrolls.

道士張賓、焦子順、應門人董子華等，此三人當文帝龍潛時，並私謂帝曰：「公當為天子，善自愛。」及踐位，以賓為華州刺史，子順為開府，子華為上儀同。

The Daoists Zhang Bin and Jiao Zishun, together with Dong Zihua, a disciple from Ying Gate — while Emperor Wen was still in obscurity before taking the throne, all three privately told him, "You are destined to become emperor. Guard yourself well. When he took the throne, he made Zhang Bin governor of Huazhou, Jiao Zishun Establishment Grand Master, and Dong Zihua Superlative Companion of the First Rank.

蕭吉，字文休，梁武帝兄長沙宣武王懿之孫也。博學多通，尤精陰陽、算術。江陵覆亡，歸於魏，為儀同。周宣帝時，吉以朝政日亂，上書切諫，帝不納。及隋受禪，進上儀同，以本官太常，考定古今陰陽書。

Xiao Ji, courtesy name Wenxiu, was a grandson of Xiao Yi, Prince Xuanwu of Changsha and elder brother of Emperor Wu of Liang. He was learned and widely accomplished, and especially skilled in yin-yang lore and mathematical arts. After the fall of Jiangling he submitted to Northern Wei and was made a Companion of the Imperial Guard. Under Emperor Xuan of Northern Zhou, seeing the court daily sink into disorder, Xiao Ji submitted a forceful memorial of remonstrance, but the emperor would not heed it. When Sui received the abdication, he was promoted to Superlative Companion of the First Rank and, while continuing as Minister of Ceremonies, was charged with collating yin-yang texts old and new.

吉性孤峭，不與公卿相浮沈，又與楊素不協，由是擯落，鬱鬱不得志。見上好徵祥之說，欲乾沒自進，遂矯其跡為悅媚焉。開皇十四年，上書曰：「今年歲在甲寅，十一月朔旦，以辛酉為冬至。來年乙卯，正月朔旦，以庚申為元日。冬至之日，即在朔旦。《樂汁圖征》云：'天元十二月朔旦冬至，聖王受享祚。 '今聖主在位，居天元之首，而朔旦冬至，此慶一也。辛酉之日，即至尊本命。辛德在丙，此十一月建丙子，酉德在寅，正月建寅，為本命與月合德，而居元朔之首，此慶二也。庚申之日，即是行年。乙德在庚，卯德在申，來年乙卯，是行年與歲合德，而在元旦之朝，此慶三也。《陰陽書》云：'年命與歲月合德者，必有福慶。 '《洪範傳》云：'歲之朝，月之朝，日之朝，主王者。 '經書並謂三長，應之者，延年福吉。況乃甲寅，蔀首；十一月，陽之始；朔旦冬至，是聖王上元。正月，是正陽之月，歲之首，月之先；朔旦是歲之元，月之朝，日之先，嘉辰之會。而本命為九元之先，行年為三長之首，並與歲月合德。所以《靈寶經》云：'角音龍精，其祚曰強。 '來歲年命，納音俱角，曆之與經，如合符契。又甲寅、乙卯，天地合也。甲寅之年，以辛酉冬至；來年乙卯，以甲子夏至。冬至陽始，郊天之日，即是至尊本命，此慶四也。夏至陰始，祀地之辰，即是皇后本命，此慶五也。至尊德並乾之覆育，皇后仁同地之載養，所以二儀元氣，並會本辰。」上覽之悅，賜物五百段。

Xiao Ji was by nature solitary and stern; he would not rise and fall with the high ministers, and he also fell out with Yang Su. Pushed aside for this, he languished in frustration. Seeing that the emperor delighted in auspicious portents, he sought to advance himself by scheming and so reshaped his manner into one of fawning compliance. In Kaihuang 14 he submitted a memorial saying, "This year is jiayin. On the first day of the eleventh month, xinyou falls on the winter solstice. Next year, yimao, on the first day of the first month, gengshen will be New Year's Day. The winter solstice falls on the very first day of the month. The Music Juice Chart Prognostications says, "When Heaven's origin month has its new moon on the winter solstice, the sage king receives the mandate and enjoys long reign." Now the sacred sovereign reigns at the head of Heaven's origin, and the new moon coincides with the winter solstice — this is the first blessing. The day xinyou is precisely Your Majesty's birth day. Xin's virtue lies in bing, and the eleventh month is established at bingzi; you's virtue lies in yin, and the first month is established at yin — so the natal day and the month unite in virtue and stand at the year's new moon. This is the second blessing. The day gengshen is precisely the year of personal fortune. Yi's virtue lies in geng, and mao's in shen; next year yimao is the year when personal fortune joins the year's virtue on the morning of New Year's Day. This is the third blessing. The Book of Yin and Yang says, "When the year of destiny joins in virtue with the year and month, blessing must follow." The Tradition of the Great Plan says, "When year, month, and day all begin together, the ruler is a true king." The classics all call these the Three Beginnings; whoever meets them gains long life and good fortune. Moreover, jiayin is the head of a sexagenary cycle; the eleventh month is where yang begins; a new moon on the winter solstice is the sage king's Upper Origin. The first month is the month of true yang, the head of the year and first among months; its new moon is the origin of the year, the beginning of the month, and the first of days — a convergence of auspicious seasons. The natal day stands first among the Nine Origins, and the year of personal fortune heads the Three Beginnings; both unite in virtue with the year and month. Thus the Scripture of the Numinous Treasure says, "The jiao pitch is dragon essence; its reign is called strong." Next year's year of destiny and received pitch are both jiao; calendar and classic align like matching tally halves. Moreover, jiayin and yimao form Heaven-and-Earth union. In the jiayin year, the winter solstice falls on xinyou; next year yimao has jiazi as the summer solstice. The winter solstice, when yang begins and Heaven is sacrificed to at the suburbs, falls on Your Majesty's natal day — this is the fourth blessing. The summer solstice, when yin begins and Earth is sacrificed to, falls on the empress's natal day — this is the fifth blessing. Your Majesty's virtue matches Heaven's sheltering canopy, and the empress's benevolence equals Earth's sustaining load; thus the primordial qi of the Two Powers both converge on their natal days. The emperor read the memorial with pleasure and rewarded him with five hundred bolts of silk.

房陵王時為太子，言東宮多鬼魅，鼠妖數見。上令吉詣東宮禳邪氣。于宣慈殿設神坐，有回風從艮地鬼門來，掃太子坐。吉以桃湯葦火驅逐之，風出宮門而止。謝土於未地，設壇為四門，置五帝坐。于時寒，有蝦蟆從西南來，入人門，升赤帝坐，還從人門而出，行數步，忽然不見。上大異之，賞賜優洽。又上言：太子當不安位。時上陰欲廢立，得其言，是之。由此，每被顧問。及獻皇后崩，上令吉卜擇葬所。吉曆筮山原，至一處，云：「卜年二千，卜世二百。」具圖而奏之。上曰：「吉凶由人，不在於地。高緯父葬，豈不卜乎？國尋滅亡。正如我家墓田，若雲不吉，朕不當為天子；若雲不凶，我弟不當戰沒。」然竟從吉言。表曰：「去月十六日，皇后山陵西北，雞未鳴前，有黑雲方圓五六百步，從地屬天；東南又有旌旗、車馬、帳幕，佈滿七八里，並有人往來檢校，部伍甚整。日出乃滅。同見者十餘人。謹案《葬書》云'氣王與姓相生，大吉，今黑氣當冬王，與姓相生，是大吉利，子孫無疆之候也。」上大悅。其後上將親臨發殯，吉復奏曰：「至尊本命辛酉，今歲斗魁及天岡臨卯酉，謹案《陰陽書》，不得臨喪。」上不納。退而告族人蕭平仲曰：「皇太子遣宇文左率深謝餘云：'公前稱我當為太子，竟有驗，終不忘也。今卜山陵，務令我早立。我立之後，當以富貴相報。 '吾記之曰：'後四載，太子禦天下。 '今山陵氣應，上又臨喪，兆益見矣。且太子得政，隋其亡乎！當有真人出矣。吾前紿雲'卜年二千'者，是三十字也； '卜世二百者'，取世二運也。吾言信矣，汝其志之。」

When the Prince of Fangling was crown prince, he reported that the Eastern Palace swarmed with ghosts and demons and that rat omens appeared again and again. The emperor sent Xiao Ji to the Eastern Palace to drive out evil influences. At Xuanci Hall he set up spirit seats, and a returning wind came from the ghost gate in the northeast, sweeping across the crown prince's seat. Xiao Ji drove it off with peach broth and reed fire; the wind passed out the palace gate and ceased. He performed the rite of thanking the earth in the southwest, setting up an altar with four gates and placing seats for the Five Emperors. Though it was cold, a toad came from the southwest, entered the human gate, climbed the Red Emperor's seat, then went back out through the human gate; after a few steps it suddenly vanished. The emperor was deeply astonished and rewarded him with exceptional generosity. He also submitted that the crown prince would not long retain his position. The emperor already secretly wished to depose and replace him; hearing this, he took it as confirmation. After this he was frequently summoned for counsel. When Empress Xian died, the emperor ordered Xiao Ji to choose a burial site by divination. Xiao Ji surveyed hills and plains by calendar and milfoil, and at one spot said, "I divined two thousand years and two hundred reigns. He drew a map and presented it to the throne. The emperor said, "Good and ill fortune depend on men, not on the ground. When Gao Wei's father was buried, did they not choose the site by divination? Yet the state was soon destroyed. It is like the tomb fields of my own clan: if they were inauspicious, I ought not to have become emperor; if they were not inauspicious, my younger brother ought not to have fallen in battle. Yet in the end he followed Xiao Ji's recommendation. In a memorial he said, "On the sixteenth of last month, before cockcrow at the empress's mausoleum in the northwest, a black cloud four or five hundred paces square rose from earth to heaven; to the southeast there were also banners, chariots, horses, and tents spread over seven or eight li, with people going back and forth to inspect them in very orderly ranks. At sunrise it vanished. More than ten people witnessed it together. According to the Book of Burial, 'When the qi is strong and generates with the surname, the omen is greatly auspicious.' Now the black qi corresponds to winter's strength and generates with the surname — a sign of great fortune and boundless posterity. The emperor was greatly pleased. Later, when the emperor was about to attend the empress's funeral in person, Xiao Ji submitted again, "Your Majesty's natal day is xinyou. This year the Dipper's head and the celestial ridge stand over mao and you. According to the Book of Yin and Yang, you must not attend a funeral. The emperor would not heed him. Withdrawn, he told his clansman Xiao Pingzhong, "The crown prince sent the Left Leader of the Palace Guard Yuwen to express deep thanks on his behalf, saying, 'You once said I would become crown prince, and it has indeed come true — I shall never forget it. Now in choosing the mausoleum site, see that I am established soon. After I am established, I shall repay you with wealth and honor. I noted in reply, 'Four years hence the crown prince will rule All Under Heaven. Now the mausoleum qi has responded, and the emperor again attends the funeral — the omen is clearer still. And if the crown prince takes power, will Sui not perish? A true lord will appear. What I previously deceived you by saying 'a divination of two thousand years' meant was the characters 'three' and 'ten' — thirty; a divination of two hundred reigns' took 'reign' and 'two cycles. My words are trustworthy — remember them."

及煬帝嗣位，拜太府少卿，加位開府。嘗行經華陰，見楊素塚上有白氣屬天，密言於帝。帝問其故，吉曰：「其候，素家當有兵禍，滅門之象。改葬者，庶可免乎！」帝后從容謂楊玄感曰：「公宜早改葬。」玄感亦微知其故，以為吉祥，托以遼東未滅，不遑私門之事。未幾而玄感以反族滅，帝彌信之。

When Emperor Yang succeeded to the throne, Xiao Ji was made Vice Minister of the Palace Storehouse with the additional rank of Establishment Grand Master. Once, passing Huayin, he saw white qi above Yang Su's tomb reaching to heaven and secretly reported it to the emperor. The emperor asked what it meant. Xiao Ji said, "The omen is that Yang Su's house will suffer military calamity — the sign of clan extermination. By reburial one might perhaps escape it! The emperor later told Yang Xuangan privately, "You ought to move the tomb soon." Xuangan also had some inkling of the reason and, taking it as a good omen, pleaded that Liaodong was not yet pacified and he had no time for private family matters. Before long Xuangan rebelled and his clan was exterminated; the emperor believed in Xiao Ji all the more.

後歲餘卒官。著《金海》三十卷，《相經要錄》一卷，《宅經》八卷，《葬經》六卷，《樂譜》二十卷，及《帝王養生方》二卷，《相手版要決》一卷，《太一立成》一卷，並行于時。

A little over a year later he died in office. He wrote Golden Sea in thirty scrolls, Essentials of the Physiognomy Classic in one scroll, Classic of Dwellings in eight scrolls, Classic of Burial in six scrolls, Music Scores in twenty scrolls, Prescriptions for Nourishing the Life of Emperors in two scrolls, Essential Decisions on Reading Palm Plates in one scroll, and Establishment of the Grand Unity in one scroll — all of which circulated in his day.

楊伯醜，馮翊武鄉人也。好讀《易》，隱于華山。隋開皇初，征入朝，見公卿不為禮，無貴賤皆汝之，人不能測也。文帝召與語，竟無所答。賜衣服，至朝堂舍之而去。於是被髮陽狂，遊行市里，形體垢穢，未嘗櫛沐。時有張永樂者，賣卜京師，伯醜每從之遊。永樂為卦有不能決者，伯醜輒為分析爻象，尋幽入微，永樂嗟服，自以為非所及也。伯醜亦開肆賣卜。有人嘗失子就伯醜筮者。卦成，伯醜曰：「汝子在懷遠坊南門東，道北壁上有青裙女子抱之，可往取也。」如言，果得。或有金數兩，夫妻共藏之，于後失金，其夫意妻有異志，將逐之。其妻稱冤，以詣伯醜。伯醜為之筮：「金在矣。」悉呼其家人，指一人曰：「可就取。」果得之。又將軍許知常問吉凶，伯醜曰：「汝勿東北行。必不得已，當速還。不然者，楊素斬汝頭。」未幾，上令知常事漢王諒。俄而上崩，諒舉兵反，知常逃歸京師。知常先與楊素有隙，及素平并州，先訪知常，將斬之，賴此獲免。又有人失馬來詣伯醜卜者，時伯醜為皇太子所召，在途遇之，立為作卦。卦成，曰：「我不遑為卿說，且向西市東壁門南第三店，為我買魚作鱠，當得馬矣。」其人如教，須臾，有一人牽所失馬而至，遂禽之。崖州嘗獻徑寸珠，其使者陰易之，上心疑焉，召伯醜令筮。伯醜曰：「有物出自水中，質圓而色光，是大珠也。今為人所隱。」且言隱者姓名、容狀。上如言簿責之，果得本珠，上奇之，賜帛二十匹。國子祭酒何妥嘗詣之論《易》。聞妥之言，悠爾而笑曰：「何用鄭玄、王弼之言乎？」久之，微有辯答，所說辭義，皆異先儒之旨，而思理玄妙。故論者以為天然獨得，非常人所及也。竟以壽終。

Yang Bochou was a native of Wuxiang in Fengyi. He loved to read the Changes and lived in seclusion on Mount Hua. At the beginning of Sui's Kaihuang era he was summoned to court; he showed no courtesy to the great officials and addressed everyone, high or low, as "you" — no one could fathom him. Emperor Wen summoned him to talk, but he answered not a word. Given clothes, he cast them off in the court hall and walked away. Thereafter he let his hair hang loose in feigned madness and wandered the market streets, filthy and never combing or bathing. At the time Zhang Yongle sold divinations in the capital, and Bochou often kept company with him. When Yongle cast hexagrams he sometimes could not decide; Bochou would analyze the lines and images, probing hidden depths to the finest point. Yongle sighed in admiration and acknowledged he could not match him. Bochou also opened a shop selling divinations. Once a man who had lost his child came to Bochou for divination. When the hexagram was complete, Bochou said, "Your child is east of the south gate of Huaiyuan Ward, on the north side of the road, in the arms of a woman in a blue skirt — go and fetch him. It was exactly as he said, and the child was recovered. Once a couple had several taels of gold which they hid together; later the gold was lost, and the husband suspected his wife of unfaithful intent and was about to drive her away. His wife proclaimed her innocence and went to Bochou. Bochou divined for her: "The gold is still here. He called in all the members of the household, pointed to one, and said, "You may go and take it." The gold was indeed recovered. Again, the general Xu Zhichang asked about fortune and misfortune. Bochou said, "Do not go northeast. If you cannot avoid it, return quickly. Otherwise Yang Su will cut off your head. Before long the emperor ordered Zhichang to serve Prince Han Liang. Soon the emperor died; Liang raised troops in rebellion, and Zhichang fled back to the capital. Zhichang had earlier been at odds with Yang Su; when Su pacified Bingzhou he sought out Zhichang and was about to behead him — only because of this warning did he escape. Again, a man who had lost a horse came to Bochou for divination. Bochou had been summoned by the crown prince and, meeting the man on the road, stopped to cast a hexagram for him. When the hexagram was complete he said, "I have no leisure to explain. Go to the third shop south of the east wall gate in the western market and buy fish to make sliced raw fish for me — then you will recover your horse. The man did as instructed; before long someone leading the lost horse came along, and he seized it. Ya Prefecture once presented a large pearl; its envoy secretly substituted another, and the emperor grew suspicious. He summoned Bochou to divine the matter. Bochou said, "There is an object that came from the water, round in substance and bright in color — it is a great pearl. Now it is hidden by someone. He also gave the name and appearance of the person hiding it. The emperor questioned the man as described and indeed recovered the original pearl; astonished, he bestowed twenty bolts of silk. He Tuo, Director of the Imperial Academy, once came to discuss the Changes with him. Hearing Tuo's words, he smiled leisurely and said, "What use are the words of Zheng Xuan and Wang Bi? After a long while he offered a slight reply; what he said differed from earlier Confucians in meaning, yet the reasoning was abstruse and subtle. Critics therefore held that he had attained understanding by natural endowment alone, beyond what ordinary men could reach. In the end he died at a full span of years.

臨孝恭，京兆人也。明天文、算術，隋文帝甚親遇之。每言災祥之事，未嘗不中。上因令考定陰陽書，官至上儀同。著《欹器圖》三卷，《地動銅儀經》一卷，《九宮五墓》一卷，《遁甲錄》十卷，《元辰經》十卷，《元辰厄》百九卷，《百怪書》十八卷，《祿命書》二十卷，《九宮龜經》一百一十卷，《太一式經》三十卷，《孔子馬頭易卜書》一卷，並行於世。

Lin Xiaogong was a native of Jingzhao. He understood astronomy and mathematics; Emperor Wen treated him with great familiarity. Whenever he spoke of omens of disaster and blessing, he was never wrong. The emperor therefore ordered him to examine and establish yin-yang texts; he rose to Superlative Companion of the First Rank. He wrote Tilted-Vessel Diagrams in three scrolls, Classic of the Earthquake Bronze Instrument in one scroll, Nine Palaces and Five Tombs in one scroll, Records of Dunjia in ten scrolls, Classic of the Origin Hour in ten scrolls, Calamities of the Origin Hour in one hundred nine scrolls, Book of a Hundred Marvels in eighteen scrolls, Book of Official Salary and Destiny in twenty scrolls, Classic of the Nine Palaces Tortoise in one hundred ten scrolls, Classic of the Grand Unity Style in thirty scrolls, and Confucius's Horse-Head Changes Divination Book in one scroll — all circulated in the world.

劉祐，滎陽人也。隋開皇初，為大都督，封索盧縣公。其所占候，合如符契，文帝甚親之。初與張賓、劉暉、馬顯定曆。後奉詔撰兵書十卷，名曰《金韜》，上善之。復著《陰策》二十卷，《觀台飛候》六卷，《玄象要記》五卷，《律曆術文》一卷，《婚姻志》三卷，《產乳志》二卷，《式經》四卷，《四時立成法》一卷，《安曆志》十二卷，《歸正易》十卷，並行於世。

Liu You was a native of Xingyang. At the beginning of Sui's Kaihuang era he was made Grand Commander and enfeoffed as Duke of Suolu County. His prognostications matched like tally halves; Emperor Wen treated him with great familiarity. At first, together with Zhang Bin, Liu Hui, and Ma Xian, he fixed the calendar. Later, by imperial order he compiled a military book in ten scrolls entitled Golden Strategies; the emperor approved it. He also wrote Secret Strategies in twenty scrolls, Observing the Platform and Flying Omens in six scrolls, Essential Records of Mysterious Phenomena in five scrolls, Text on Calendrical and Mathematical Arts in one scroll, Records of Marriage in three scrolls, Records of Childbirth in two scrolls, Classic of Forms in four scrolls, Method of Establishing the Four Seasons in one scroll, Classic of Secure Calendars in twelve scrolls, and Returning to the Correct Changes in ten scrolls — all circulated in the world.

張胄玄，勃海蓚人也。博學多通，尤精術數。冀州刺史趙煚薦之，隋文帝征授雲騎尉，直太史，參議律曆事。時輩多出其下，由是太史令劉暉等甚忌之。然暉言多不中，胄玄所推步甚精密。上異之，令楊素與術士數人，立議六十一事，皆舊法久難通者，令暉與胄玄等辯析之。暉杜口一無所答，胄玄通者五十四焉。由是擢拜員外散騎侍郎，兼太史令，賜物千段。暉及黨與八人，皆斥逐之。改定新曆，言前曆差一日。內史通事顏慜楚上言曰：「漢時落下閎改《顓頊曆》，作《太初曆》，云：'後當差一日，八百年當有聖者定之。 '計今相去七百一十年，術者舉其成數，聖者之謂，其在今乎！」上大悅，漸見親用。

Zhang Zhouxuan was a native of Liu in Bohai. He was learned and widely accomplished, and especially skilled in numerical arts. Governor Zhao Shuang of Jizhou recommended him; Emperor Wen summoned him and appointed him Cloud Cavalry Commandant, serving in the Directorate of Astronomy on calendrical and mathematical affairs. Most of his contemporaries ranked below him; for this Director Liu Hui and the others greatly resented him. Yet Hui's pronouncements often missed, while Zhouxuan's calculations were very precise. The emperor was astonished and ordered Yang Su and several technicians to set up debate on sixty-one points — all old methods long difficult to apply — and had Hui and Zhouxuan and others analyze them. Hui shut his mouth and answered not one; Zhouxuan mastered fifty-four. For this he was promoted to Supernumerary Palace Attendant and concurrently Director of Astronomy, and bestowed one thousand bolts of silk. Hui and his faction of eight were all dismissed and driven away. He revised and fixed the new calendar, saying the previous calendar was off by one day. Yan Mintu, Master of Documents for General Affairs, submitted saying, "In Han times Luoxia Hong revised the Zhuanxu Calendar and made the Taichu Calendar, saying, 'Later there will be an error of one day; after eight hundred years a sage will fix it. Calculating from now, seven hundred ten years have passed; the technicians cite the round number — does 'the sage' not refer to the present?' The emperor was greatly pleased and gradually came to employ him with familiarity.

胄玄所謂曆法，與古不同者三事：其一，宋祖沖之于歲周之末，創設差分，冬至漸移，不循舊軌，每四十六年，卻差一度。至梁虞廣刂曆法，嫌沖之所差太多，因以一百八十六年，冬至移一度。胄玄以此二術，年限縣隔，追檢古注，所失極多。遂折中兩家，以為度法，冬至所宿，歲別漸移，八十三年，卻行一度。則上合堯時，日永星火；次符漢曆，宿起牛初。明其前後，並皆密當。其二，周馬顯造《丙寅元曆》，有陰陽轉法，加減章分，進退蝕餘，乃推定日，創開此數。當時術者，多不能曉。張賓因而用之，莫能考正。胄玄以為加時先後，逐氣參差，就月為斷，於理未可。乃因二十四氣，列其盈縮所出。實由日行遲，則月逐日易及，令合朔加時早；日行速，則月逐日少遲，令合朔加時晚。檢前代加時早晚，以為損益之率。日行，自秋分已後至春分，其勢速，計一百八十二日而行一百八十度；自春分已後至秋分，日行遲，計一百八十二日而行一百七十六度。每氣之下，即其率也。其三，自古諸曆，朔望逢交，不問內外，入限便蝕。張賓立法，創有外限，應蝕不蝕，猶未能明。胄玄以日行黃道，歲一周天；月行月道，二十七日有餘一周天。月道交絡黃道，每行黃道內十三日有奇而出，又行道外十三日有奇而入，終而復始。月經黃道，謂之交。朔望去交前後各五度以下，即為當蝕。若月行內道，則在黃道之北，蝕多有驗；月行外道，在黃道之南也，雖遇正人，無由掩映，蝕多不驗。遂因前法，別立定限，隨交遠近，逐氣求差，損益蝕分，事皆明著。

Zhouxuan's calendrical methods differed from antiquity in three matters. First: Song ancestor Zu Chongzhi, at the end of the year's circuit, created differential correction; the winter solstice gradually shifted and no longer followed the old track — every forty-six years it retreated one degree. When Liang's Yu Kuai revised the calendar method, finding Zu Chongzhi's correction too great, he used one hundred eighty-six years for the winter solstice to shift one degree. Zhouxuan, because these two methods were far apart in their year-counts, traced and examined ancient commentaries and found extremely many errors. He then split the difference between the two schools to make a degree method: the winter solstice's lodge gradually shifts, and every eighty-three years it retreats one degree. Then it matched above with the time of Yao, when days were longest and the Fire Star stood at its culmination; next it accorded with the Han calendar, with lodges beginning at the start of Ox. Before and after, all were closely fitting. Second: Northern Zhou's Ma Xian created the Jiyin Origin Calendar, with yin-yang conversion methods, adding and subtracting cycle parts, advancing and retreating eclipse remainders — thus calculating the fixed day and opening this reckoning. Technicians of the time mostly could not understand it. Zhang Bin therefore used it but could not examine and correct it. Zhouxuan held that the sequence of added hours, following qi in succession and taking the month as the cut-off, was not acceptable in principle. He therefore arranged the twenty-four qi and listed their excess and deficit as they arose. In truth, when the sun's motion is slow, the moon day by day easily catches up, making the added hour of conjunction early; when the sun's motion is fast, the moon day by day falls somewhat behind, making the added hour of conjunction late. Examining added hours early and late in previous dynasties, he took them as rates of increase and decrease. The sun's motion, from after the autumn equinox until the spring equinox, is rapid — in one hundred eighty-two days it travels one hundred eighty degrees; from after the spring equinox until the autumn equinox, the sun's motion is slow — in one hundred eighty-two days it travels one hundred seventy-six degrees. Below each qi lies its rate. Third: in calendars of antiquity, when new and full moon met crossing, regardless of inner or outer limit, upon entering the limit there was eclipse. Zhang Bin's law created an outer limit; eclipses that should occur did not occur — yet this was still not clear. Zhouxuan held that the sun travels the yellow path and completes one circuit of heaven in a year; the moon travels the lunar path and completes one circuit in twenty-seven-plus days. The lunar path intersects the yellow path; each time it travels thirteen-plus days within the yellow path and emerges, then travels thirteen-plus days outside and enters again — ending and beginning anew. When the moon crosses the yellow path, it is called crossing. If new or full moon departs from crossing by five degrees or less before or after, there will be eclipse. If the moon travels the inner path, it is north of the yellow path, and eclipses mostly verify; if the moon travels the outer path, south of the yellow path, even if it meets the sun directly there is no covering and shadowing — eclipses mostly do not verify. He therefore followed the previous method, separately establishing fixed limits, following crossing distance near and far, seeking difference according to qi, increasing and decreasing eclipse parts — the matter all clearly shown.

其超古獨異者有七事：其一，古曆五星行度，皆守恆率，見伏盈縮，悉無格准。胄玄候之，各得真率，合見之數，與古不同。其差多者，至加減三十許日。即如熒惑，平見在雨水氣，即均加二十九日；見在小雪氣，則均減二十五日。加減平見，以為定見。諸星各有盈縮之數，皆如此例，但差數不同。特其積候所知，時人不能原其旨。其二，辰星舊率，一終再見，凡諸古曆，皆以為然。應見不見，人未能測。胄玄積候，知辰星一終之中，有時一見。及同類感召，相隨而出。即如辰星，平晨見在雨水者，應見即不見；若平晨見在啟蟄者，去日十八度外，三十六度內。晨有木火土金一星者，亦相隨見。其三，古曆步術，行有定限，自見已後，依率而推，進退之期，莫知多少。胄玄積候，知五星遲速留退真數，皆與古法不同，多者差八十餘日，留回所在，亦差八十餘度。即如熒惑，前疾初見在立冬初，則二百五十日行一百七十七度；定見夏至初，則一百七十日行九十二度。追步天驗，今古皆密。其四，古曆食分，依平即用，推驗多少，實數罕符。胄玄積候，知月從木火土金四星行，有向背。月向四星即速，背之則遲。皆十五度外及循本率。遂於交分，限其多少。其五，古曆加時，朔望同術。胄玄積候，知日蝕所在，隨方改變，傍正高下，每處不同。交有淺深，遲速亦異，約時立差，皆會天象。其六，古曆交分即為蝕數，去交十四度者，食一分；去交十三度，食二分；去交十度，食三分；每近一度，食益一分；當交即蝕既。其應多少，自古諸曆，未悉其原。胄玄積候，知當交之中，月掩日不能畢盡，故其蝕反少；去交五六時，月在日內，掩日便盡，故其蝕及既。自此以後，更遠者，其蝕又少。交之前後，在冬至，皆爾。若近夏至，其率又差。胄玄所立蝕分，最為詳密。其七，古曆二分，晝夜皆等。胄玄積候，知其有差。春、秋二分，晝多夜漏半刻。皆由日行遲疾盈縮使其然也。凡此，胄玄獨得於心，論者服其精密。大業中，卒於官。

His surpassing antiquity and standing alone had seven matters. First: in ancient calendars the five planets' degrees of motion all kept constant rates; appearance, hiding, excess, and deficit all had no standard measure. Zhouxuan observed them and obtained each true rate; the numbers of conjunction differed from antiquity. Where the difference was greatest, it reached adding or subtracting about thirty days. Take Mars: its mean appearance is in the Rain Water qi — uniformly add twenty-nine days; if appearance is in Lesser Snow qi, uniformly subtract twenty-five days. Adding and subtracting mean appearance makes fixed appearance. Each star had its numbers of excess and deficit; all followed this pattern, but the difference in numbers was not the same. Only what he knew from accumulated observation — men of the time could not trace his intent. Second: Mercury's old rate had one completion and two appearances; all ancient calendars held this so. When it should appear it did not appear — men could not measure it. Zhouxuan's accumulated observation knew that within one completion of Mercury there is sometimes only one appearance. When similar kinds respond and summon one another, they appear together. Take Mercury: if mean morning appearance is in Rain Water, when it should appear it does not appear; if mean morning appearance is in Waking of Insects, it is outside eighteen degrees from the sun and within thirty-six degrees. If in the morning there is one star among Wood, Fire, Earth, and Metal, it also appears together. Third: in ancient calendrical step methods, motion had fixed limits; after appearance one followed the rate to calculate — the periods of advance and retreat were unknown in number. Zhouxuan's accumulated observation knew the true numbers of the five planets' slowness, speed, station, and retreat — all differed from ancient methods; at most the difference reached more than eighty days, and the places of station and loop differed by more than eighty degrees. Take Mars: if the first rapid motion after initial appearance is at the start of Start of Winter, then in two hundred fifty days it travels one hundred seventy-seven degrees; if fixed appearance is at the start of summer solstice, then in one hundred seventy days it travels ninety-two degrees. Tracing steps against heavenly verification, ancient and present are alike precise. Fourth: in ancient calendars eclipse parts followed the mean and were directly applied; when tested against actual numbers, they rarely matched. Zhouxuan's accumulated observation knew that when the moon travels with the four stars Wood, Fire, Earth, and Metal, there is facing and backing. When the moon faces the four stars it is fast; when backing them it is slow. All are outside fifteen degrees and follow the original rate. He therefore limited the amount at crossing parts. Fifth: in ancient calendars the added hour of new and full moon used the same method. Zhouxuan's accumulated observation knew that the place of solar eclipse changes with region — side, directness, high, and low differ at each place. Crossings have shallow and deep, slowness and speed also differ; approximating the time he established difference — all matching heavenly phenomena. Sixth: in ancient calendars crossing parts were directly taken as eclipse numbers: at fourteen degrees from crossing, one part eclipsed; at thirteen degrees from crossing, two parts; at ten degrees, three parts; each nearer by one degree, one part more eclipsed; at exact crossing the eclipse was total. How much should correspond — in calendars of antiquity none fully knew the origin. Zhouxuan's accumulated observation knew that at exact crossing the moon cannot completely cover the sun, so the eclipse is conversely less; at five or six degrees from crossing, when the moon is within the sun, covering the sun it is complete, so the eclipse reaches totality. From this point farther, the eclipse is again less. Before and after crossing, at winter solstice, all are so. If near summer solstice, the rate again differs. The eclipse parts Zhouxuan established are the most detailed. Seventh: in ancient calendars at the two equinoxes day and night were equal. Zhouxuan's accumulated observation knew that there is difference. At the spring and autumn equinoxes, daytime exceeds night by half a clepsydra mark. All because the sun's motion slow and fast, excess and deficit, make it so. In all this Zhouxuan alone grasped it in his heart; critics acknowledged his precision. In the Daye era he died in office.

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