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卷五十一 列傳第二十一 皇甫謐 摯虞 束皙 王接

Volume 51 Biographies 21: Huangfu Mi; Zhi Yu; Shu Xi; Wang Jie

Chapter 51 of 晉書 · Book of Jin
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Chapter 51
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Biography: Huangfu Mi.
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Huangfu Mi, whose courtesy name was Shi'an and childhood name Jing, came from Chaona in Anding; he was the great-grandson of Huangfu Song, who had served the Han as Grand Commandant. He was posthumously transferred to his uncle's line and the family relocated to Xin'an. By twenty he still scorned books, drifted without purpose, and people took him for a simpleton. Whenever he had fruit, he would bring it first to his adoptive aunt, Lady Ren. Lady Ren told him: "The Classic of Filial Piety says that even serving one's parents the finest triple sacrifice can still fall short of true filial piety. You are already past twenty, yet you pay no heed to teaching and your heart is not in the Way; that gives me no comfort." She sighed and went on: "Meng Ke's mother moved house three times to shape his character; Zeng Shen's father kept his word over a pig to teach honesty. Have I failed to pick our neighbors, or failed you as a teacher, that you should be so stubbornly slow? Moral self-cultivation and serious study are yours to earn—what credit would they bring me?" With that she wept in front of him. Moved by her words, he studied under his townsman Xi Tan and applied himself without letting up. Poor as he was, he worked the fields himself, classics tucked in his belt, until he had mastered the standard works and the writings of every school. Reserved and detached from ambition, he turned to scholarship as his life's work and took the sobriquet Master Xuanyan ('Dark Tranquility'). He wrote discourses on ritual and music and on sagehood and truth. Even after he fell ill with arthritic numbness, he never set his books aside.
3
祿
When others pressed him to network and seek fame, Mi replied, "Unless one is a sage, who can preserve both public service and withdrawal? In the countryside one can still delight in the Way of Yao and Shun. Why must one seek worldly profit and busy oneself in office before gaining a name?" He wrote "On Abiding in Mystery" in reply. It begins with someone asking Mi, "Wealth and rank are what people desire, poverty and lowliness what they hate. Why commit your body to hardship and refuse to change? The Way is prized because it orders the age; people admire seizing the right moment. Sir, you are old, hungry, and cold, and may die in a ditch. Who will ever know?" Mi replied, "What people most cherish is life; what the Way must keep whole is the body; what nature and body cannot withstand is illness. If one disturbs the whole Way and injures nature and life, how can one escape poverty and lowliness while preserving what one desires? I have heard that one who eats another man's stipend bears that man's anxieties; even a strong body can hardly bear this, much less my weak and sick one. Poverty is the scholar's normal condition, and lowliness is the substance of the Way; to live in what is normal and gain what is real until the end of one's teeth is free of worry. How is that like wealth and rank, which disturb the spirit and exhaust the essence? Moreover, to live unknown by others and die unlamented by others is the utmost. The mute and deaf are those under Heaven who possess the Way. When one man dies and all under Heaven wails, people call that a loss; when one man lives and the four seas smile, people call that a gain. Yet wailing and smiling do not make death a gain or life a loss. Therefore the highest Way is not diminished, and the highest virtue is not increased. Why is this? Because its substance is complete. If one turns the thoughts of all under Heaven toward chasing the calamity of losing life, and moves the hearts of the four seas to enlarge the sickness of what is no gain, how could that be the height of Way and virtue? Only what has no loss is supremely firm; only what has no gain is supremely substantial. Because it is firm, in the end it is not diminished; because it is substantial, in the end it is not thinned. If one can embody the reality of firmness and substance, dwell in the truth that is not thinned, stand outside loss and gain, and roam beyond bodily form, then my Way is whole."
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He therefore never entered government service. He lost himself in texts to the point of skipping meals and sleep, and his contemporaries nicknamed him a "book lecher." Friends warned that such obsession would ruin his health. He answered: "If I could hear the truth in the morning, I could die content that evening—and lifespan is heaven's decision anyway."
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Once his uncle had an heir of age, and Mi turned forty, he buried the stepmother who had raised him and reverted to his natural father's line.
6
Liang Liu of Chengyang commandery—Mi's cousin once removed—was leaving for his appointment, and neighbors wanted Mi to host a send-off banquet. Mi replied: "When Liang Liu was still a commoner and called on me, I never stepped outside my door for him and we ate nothing finer than pickles—modest households do not toast one another with meat and wine. To fuss over him now that he wears an official's sash would honor the title of governor while slighting the man Liang Liu himself—that is not how the old worthies behaved, and it would not sit right with me."
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退 祿 西 仿 祿 宿 西 宿 輿
Wei commandery appointed him accounts clerk and nominated him for the Filial and Incorrupt examination; Early in Jingyuan the chief minister tried to hire him as well, but he refused every summons. When neighbors pressed him to accept office, he wrote his "Disquisition Explaining Persuasion" to spell out his resolve. Its text says: When the Prime Minister, the Prince of Jin, summoned thirty-seven of us and then ascended through abdication in Taishi, everyone who had shared the summons arrived. They were all made Cavalier Commandants, some received the rank of marquis within the passes, and they were admitted to court attendance with the rites of attendants. Only I was trapped by illness and could not reach the state's favor. My clansmen, elders, and colleagues all said that this was a great celebration for all under Heaven, on which the people depended; even if the rites were not yet complete, I should not sleep peacefully, and though my illness was grave, I should still present myself. I thought that in the institutions of enlightened kings ancient and modern, affairs great and small are judged by circumstances. If my actual strength could not bear it, how was that arrogance? Lying on my pillow, I sighed, "Advancement is the glory of the body; withdrawal is the reality of one's allotment. Even if I were not ill, if I clung to the height of Mount Ji, it should still be tolerated; how much more when I am truly gravely ill. Thus in the ages of Yao and Shun, some gentlemen withdrew their tracks to forests and marshes, and some passed the gate and dared not enter. That Gaoyao and his kind could both fulfill their wishes was because they met the right age. Thus the court honored ministers who brought achievements, while the fields admired gentlemen who preserved their intent. What kind of men were they alone? Now that the sage emperor has risen like a dragon and matches the former worthies in name, the humane Way is not far off; is this not also so? Some guests press me with ordinary arguments, and some worry that I am opposing the age. I say that when above there is a generous and enlightened ruler, below there must be people who listen to intent; Heaven's net is vast, and arrival or obstruction is one. Why should service or withdrawal be blamed?" He then fully developed a dialogue of guest and host to answer the objections, naming it Explaining Persuasion. The guest said, "I have heard that Heaven brings forth brightness by hanging up the celestial patterns, and Earth gives out numinous things by containing and pervading. Therefore the Yellow Bell gives sequence, and the pitch-pipes divide their forms. Thus spring blossoms open their calyxes, summer makes their fruit abundant, autumn winds drive out heat, and winter ice then forms. The human Way follows this: it responds to the moment and then acts. The three powers are joined in benefit, as clear as matched tallies. Thus gentlemen sometimes rose together at the Tangchao, Tang's court, awakened first at Youxin, reached a ruler through dreams, left off fishing at Weibin on the Wei bank, knocked on an ox-horn to seek service in Qi, shed homespun to minister in Qin, braved slander to settle Zheng, rode a team to rescue danger, spread brambles to seek friendship, or borrowed arts from the Yellow Spirit. Thus they could fly like lightning and rise like shadows, leap beyond rank and surpass their peers, lift a high reputation to strive afar, and raise a clear sound through the universe. Viewed from this, advancing virtue values meeting the time. Why bend this talent and not extend it? Now you, sir, with brilliant and abundant talent, have for years roamed your essence through the storehouse of the Six Arts and let your mind wander at the gate of the many mysteries. You have met the court of imperial abdication, arrived at a moment of stipend and advantage, entrusted yourself to a sage and enlightened ruler, and encountered a meeting with one who knows you. The age is clear and the Way true; you can soar upward. This is truly the season for washing your hair in the Milky Way and advancing like a wild goose. To hide your light and chase the marshes, hold pattern within and not shine, let a dragon sink into the nine springs, stubbornly cling to height, abandon the distant route of the open Way, and keep the cramped conduct of an isolated man: does this not go against the direction of the Way? Moreover, I have heard that when the Dipper turns in the dark, Heaven's stations are corrected, and when the five teachings are ranked in order, human principle is settled. Now the royal command has urgently arrived and concern has been entrusted to the offices; above, you incur the burden of defying the ruler, and below, you cause the suspicion of frightening the crowd. Those who understand value concord. Why insist on being uniquely different? The many worthies can be followed. Why insist on keeping your own intent? Now those summoned with you have all arrived, hungry yet not waiting to eat, displaying their literary colors on the imperial road and all taking rank in Heaven's offices. You alone linger at a barred gate, release your body beyond the world, withdraw to hills and gardens, refuse to glance at splendor, give no benefit to others, act out of accord with the Way, and have a body entangled in great illness, so that your life is hard to preserve. If Xi and He hasten the reins and Great Fire declines westward, when you face the river and regret lateness, what steps will remain? Valuing shade more than a jade disk is what the sages set down; putting robe and skirt upside down is what the enlightened warned against. You should take the great models of former philosophers as your mirror, answer the open mind of the sage court, lift your numinous wings to the cloud-road, bathe in the heavenly pool and wash your scales, push open the Gate of Heaven, step on jade peaks, ascend the purple gate, attend the Northern Pole, and suddenly shine with the bright dust of the talented. Assist a ruler of Tang and Yu, transform the people of Yao and Shun, proclaim a government in which punishments are set aside, stand with the ministers of Yin and Zhou, engrave your merit on the great bell, join in ordering the constant relations; alive, you will dine from tripods, and dead, you will be an honored minister. Would that not be splendid? Yet you neglect the brightness of gold and white, forget the gleam of blue and purple rank, decline the radiance of ceremonial dress, and embrace worn homespun to the end of your years. Is that not toil?" The host laughed and answered, "Ah! Guest, you may be said to be used to the glitter of outward appearances but not yet to have glimpsed the faint form of the hidden man; you see that vulgar people do not tolerate him, but have not understood the all-embracing love of the sage sovereign; you follow square and circle by compass and carpenter's square, but do not yet know that the great form has no outside. Therefore it is said: Heaven is dark and clear; Earth is still and peaceful. They contain and net the ten thousand kinds, spread broadly over living things, lodge the body in a sage age, and entrust it to the numen of the Way. As for spring dispersing through yang and winter congealing through yin, the Great Fluid containing light and primal qi steaming in mixture, the many kinds look up to transformation and are born with different signs. Thus those who advance enjoy Heaven's stipend, and those who remain at home are at peace in hills and mounds. Therefore cold and heat push each other on, the four lodges take turns at the center, yin and yang are not governed by force, movement and transformation are without end, natural allotment is fixed, and both sides attain their mean. When the two things are both numinous, this is called great sameness; when neither side resents the other, this is called perfect pervasion. At the end of declining Zhou, deceit was valued and sincerity despised; men were pulled by power and force, and sought glory through profit. Thus when Master Su emerged, six rulers allied; when Zhang Yi entered, the horizontal strategy formed; when Lian Po remained, Zhao was weighty; when Yue Yi left, Yan was light; when Gongsun Shu died, Wei was defeated; when Sun Bin was mutilated, Qi became secure; when Fan Li and Wen Zhong were trusted, Yue became hegemon; and when Qu Yuan was estranged, Chu collapsed. Therefore rulers had no constant register and ministers no fixed name; they damaged rightness and abandoned sincerity, now empty and now full. Thus Feng moved his lord by strumming his sword; the woman had the saying about returning the gift; Xiang Yu exerted strength to uproot mountains; Kuai Tong set out the tripod balance; Dongguo was coerced by Tian Rong; and Yan He was ashamed to be pressured. All these abandoned ritual and lost truth, seeking only the urgent glory of a morning or evening. How could they be the root of transformation by the Way? As for the sage emperor's founding transformation, his virtue joins the Three Sovereigns and his teaching equals Yu and Xia. He wants warmth and harmonious ease, not sharp clarity and cutting brightness; he wants a deep, blended flow, not broad display with names thrust forward; he wants things loosely untied and ordered, not tightly knotted by cords; he wants vastness without border or edge, not cramped distinctions; he wants dark inward pattern, not displayed whiteness like ice and snow; he wants rich simplicity that relies on virtue, not petty strictness that clings to law. Therefore those who see the moment complete things by action, while those who love withdrawal are not forced. Thus it is said: one bright and one dim is the outline of attaining the Way; one relaxed and one taut is the method of according with ritual; one floating and one sinking together obtain their truth. Therefore above there is love that honors humility, and below there are ministers who are not named; at court there are rites for inviting worthies, and in the fields there are people who withdraw and hide. Thus Zhi Bo rejected Tang because of hidden illness; Old Li lodged his traces in the western neighbor; Yan Hui became famous by resting content in poverty; Yuan Xian delighted in the Way amid utmost poverty; Rong Qiqi moved Confucius with his three joys; Qian Lou fixed his posthumous name under a cloth coverlet; Gan Mu preserved Wei by lying at ease; Jing and Lai set their aims beyond river peaks; Junping made the Way known through milfoil; the Four Graybeards hid their virtue by the Luo; Zheng Zhen won praise by personally farming; and You'an gave a model to people today. All held integrity that could not be taken from them, kept an intention that would not turn back, encountered rulers who rose above the vulgar, and preserved those men's aims. Therefore one who has a plan fixed alone does not borrow counsel from the crowd; one who keeps unmoving peace does not rely on the worries of many guests. Thus he can abandon the splendor of outward attachment, reach the truth of the inner Way, leave the obvious bright road, enter the dim dust, turn beyond the forms of ten thousand feelings, entrust himself to emptiness and stillness, dwell in the house of non-activity, and associate with people who release profit. Light as a swan's feather, heavy as sinking mud: diminish him and you cannot; measure him and he grows deeper. Such men are truly models for our company; pressed by illness, I cannot reach them. You argue that I miss my station and alarm the crowd; I also wonder that your comparisons do not strike the mean. Talent not fit for general use is rejected by the crowd; one bedridden with illness for years is abandoned by the court. Thus Xu Ke's disablement was recorded by Qiuming; when Boniu had illness, Confucius sighed over him. If the Yellow Emperor established institutions in the Nine Classics, Qi Bo opened the belly to cleanse the intestines, Bian Que arrived in Guo and made a corpse rise, Wenzhi risked his life with the king of Qi, Physician He displayed his art in Qin and Jin, Cang Gong revealed secrets to the Han emperor, Hua Tuo preserved subtlety in solitary understanding, and Zhongjing left marvels in fixed prescriptions, I only regret that I was not born to encounter such men, and so I beg for life and appeal to the enlightened king. I ask that my broken register be removed from Heaven's rolls, that the hardship of my body be understood, and that my slight sincerity bring down frost; therefore I await guilt and remain in impoverished seclusion." Afterward Emperor Wu repeatedly issued edicts and pressed him without cease. Mi submitted a memorial, calling himself "your servant of the grasses and thickets," saying, "Because I am weak and worn, confused about the direction of the Way, I used illness as cause to pull out my hairpin, let my hair loose among forests and hills, ignored the human bonds, and kept company with birds and beasts. Your Majesty clears the thorns for orchids yet gathers humble mugwort as well. Thus like Gao Yao of old in plain robes, you drive the vicious away. I am dull and untrained, yet even while eating Jin grain I remember the innocent delight of the ancient earth-clod song—I ought to rush to the capital and present my blessings below your gate. Yet this worthless body has invited sickness: for nineteen years I have suffered paralysis down one side and wasting of the right foot. Cold-food elixirs, wrongly dosed, have tormented me without cease these seven years. Deep winter finds me naked and chewing ice; midsummer brings feverish oppression, coughing attacks that mimic malaria or typhoid, watery swelling, and leaden limbs. I am reduced to gasping for breath while kin abandon me and my wife and children prepare their final goodbyes. Yielding to imperial pressure I would drag myself onto the road, yet the journey would only worsen my pain; I cannot travel—I throw myself on your mercy and sigh upon my pillow. As Shao and Wei were never played together, nor courtly airs mixed with Zheng tunes, the Xi heir's entry into Zhou spelled doom even for royal uncles. When Yuqiu was hailed as a sage minister, Lady Fan of Chu hid a smile behind her sleeve. Nobles and commoners were never served from the same bowl; how much less fit am I, mere bran, to be tossed with polished grain? Silk on a dullard never sits right. Others summoned with me have reported for duty; I alone lie sick on my couch—however much I cherish your reign, I would only collapse on the road. Even if I were well, in an age as benign as Yao and Shun's a recluse who clung to Mount Ji would still deserve indulgence. Where the throne shines bright, ministers speak plain truth; where policy stays generous, subjects may lay bare their hearts. Please, Your Majesty, attend to this and extend forgiveness; further honor rare talents, seek hidden men at Fu Rock, gather the angler on the Wei bank, and do not let mud and sediment long foul the clear stream." His memorial was urgent and heartfelt, and the throne granted his excuse.
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A year later he was nominated again as Worthy and Upright but still refused to serve. He petitioned the throne for library loans and received an entire cart of texts. Frail as he was, he never tired of reading. Cold-food elixirs disagreed with his constitution: fits left him half dead with rage; once he seized a blade to end his life until his aunt talked him down.
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退
Wen Li, governor of Jiyin, petitioned to scrap presentation gifts for appointed scholars, and the court agreed. Huangfu Mi sighed: "Ministers of a fallen regime are poor counselors—yet does that justify junking age-old courtesy gifts? The Book of Changes celebrates stacked silks; dark-red presents are an immemorial custom. Confucius urged scholars to master learning day and night and keep their talents like treasures spread for a worthy summons. Three deferential bows before stepping forward showed how hard it was to earn an invitation; one courteous refusal and withdrawal showed how easily honor could be declined. King Tang visited Yi Yin in the wilds; King Wen fetched the Grand Duke in his carriage—they strained every ritual courtesy and never grudged the cost. A modest maiden blushes if any courtesy is omitted—how much more a sworn scholar! Confucius told Zigong: you fret over the sheep; I care about the ritual." What happens when we throw such traditions away? This is how states lose their best men."
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使使 便 穿 便 使使
Early in Xianning, another edict said: "The gentleman Huangfu Mi is calm, quiet, and plain in conduct, keeps to learning and loves antiquity, and his aims differ from vulgar currents. Let Mi be made Palace Attendant to the heir apparent." He pleaded grave illness and refused. The emperor first respected his wishes but soon summoned him as Gentleman Consultant and Editorial Director. Liu Yi, the metropolitan inspector, wanted him as clerk of records—again he declined. He wrote a treatise on funeral practice titled "Steadfast at the End." It says: Master Xuanyan held that life and death are fixed ordinances of Heaven and Earth, and the necessary end of human principle. Therefore the rites prepare for longevity at sixty and continue to ninety, each with graded distinctions; guarding the end with plainness is not the many taboos of vulgar custom. Although my age has not yet reached the point for arranging longevity rites, I have suffered illness for a full twelve years, repeatedly met bereavement and hardship, and my spirit and vital force are damaged and weak; I have been brought low many times. I have often feared an unexpected early fall and worried that my end would have no prior arrangement, so I briefly set forth my deepest intent. What people cling to is life; what they hate is death. Yet though one clings to it, one cannot pass beyond one's allotted term; though one hates it, one cannot flee away. When a person dies, essence comes to rest and form disperses; the soul goes everywhere, and so the qi belongs to Heaven. When the lodged life has ended and the exhausted body returns to truth, the corpse is stored in Earth. Thus when the spirit no longer remains in the body, it rises and falls with qi; when the corpse is no longer lodged for long, its form joins the earth. That form and spirit not be separated is the nature of Heaven and Earth; that the corpse be together with soil is the principle of returning to truth. If in life one cannot preserve a seven-foot body, why after death should one be separated from the soil by a coffin? Thus clothing and coverlets only foul the corpse, and coffin and outer coffin only separate it from truth. For this reason Huan Sima's stone outer coffin was not as good as quick decay; Ji Sun's jade ornaments were compared to exposing the bones; when Wen Gong was buried extravagantly, the Chunqiu, the Spring and Autumn, judged Hua Yuan an unworthy minister; and because Yang Wangsun returned directly to the soil, the Book of Han judged him wiser than the First Emperor of Qin. If the soul must have awareness, then humans and ghosts have different institutions; kin in the Yellow Springs are more numerous dead than alive, and must already have prepared vessels and goods with which to receive the deceased. If now one treats the end by analogy with the living, this does not accord with the intention of the spirit. If the dead have no awareness, then one merely steals resources from the living, causes loss without benefit, and opens wicked hearts; this invites the calamity of exposed bodies and increases the harm done to the dead. Burial means hiding; to hide means wishing people not to see. But to make great coffins and outer coffins and fully provide gifts and living goods is no different from burying gold by the roadside and writing a marker above it. Even the most foolish person would surely laugh at it. Rich goods and lavish burial open wicked hearts: some split coffins and outer coffins, some drag the body, some strip arms to pull off gold bracelets, and some grope through intestines in search of pearls and jade. Could the burned and ravaged body suffer anything more painful than this? From antiquity to now there has never been a person who does not die, and there is no tomb that will never be opened. Therefore Zhang Shizhi said, "If there is something desired inside it, then even if it is as solid as the Southern Mountain, there will still be a crack; if there is nothing desired inside it, then even without a stone outer coffin, what is there to grieve over?" These words are penetrating; they are my teacher. To make farewell gifts increasingly lavish is not treating the dead generously; it is something the living do for themselves. To let intentions grow around what has no benefit and abandon what belongs to the dead is not something the wise do. The Changes says, "In ancient burials, they clothed the dead in firewood and buried them in the open fields, without mound or trees." Thus the dead returned to truth, and death did not injure the living. Therefore I wish that if I die in the morning I be buried that evening, and if I die in the evening I be buried the next morning; no coffin or outer coffin should be set up, no wrapping or shrouding added, no washing performed, no new clothes made, and all goods for lying-in-state or mouth-jade abolished. I originally wished to enter the pit with my body exposed and let my body touch the soil; but fearing that human feelings have long been dyed by custom and sudden reform would be difficult in principle, I now make a rough rule: its extravagance does not reach a stone outer coffin, and its frugality does not expose the body. After my breath ceases, dress me immediately in a plain kerchief and old clothes, wrap the corpse with a coarse cover, tie both ends with hemp, and place it on a corpse-bed. Choose barren ground and dig a pit ten feet deep, one zhang and five feet long, and six feet wide; when the pit is finished, carry the bed to the pit and lower the corpse from the bed. None of my lifetime possessions should accompany me; bring only one scroll of the Classic of Filial Piety, to show that I did not forget the Way of filial piety. Apart from the coarse covering, let me touch the soil. Make the soil level with the ground, return the old grasses so they grow above it, plant no trees and clear away nothing, so that the trace of growth has no marked place and by itself seeks to be unknown. If nothing desirable is seen, wickedness will not arise in the heart; from beginning to end there will be no fear, and for a thousand years there will be no worry over calamity. The body and bones will share substance with the Queen Earth; the bright soul will join its spirit with primal qi. This is the utmost of true and deep love. If deaths occur at different times, there must be no moving for joint burial. Joint burial has come down from the Duke of Zhou; it is not an ancient institution. Shun was buried at Cangwu and his two consorts did not follow him; take this as fixed. Why must one follow the Zhou rites? Do not ask ritual masters or artisans, do not trust divination by turtle or milfoil, do not be bound by vulgar sayings, do not set up a spirit seat, and do not offer food morning and evening for fifteen days. Ritual does not sacrifice at the tomb; merely set a mat at home and sacrifice on the first day of the month, stopping after a hundred days. Condolence visits must be at dusk or dawn, not at night. Wear mourning garments in ordinary residence; do not stay beside the tomb. In antiquity people did not exalt tombs; this was wisdom. Today's mounds and trees are folly. If these instructions are not followed, this is to mutilate my corpse underground and wound me again after death. If the soul has spirit, then its grievance and sorrow will last forever, and it will long remain a resentful ghost. The sons of Wangsun may serve as a warning. A deathbed oath is hard to violate; I hope there will be no alteration! In the end, he never took office. He died in the third year of Taikang, at sixty-eight. His sons Tongling and Fang Hui carried out his last wishes.
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Mi wrote many poems, fu, laments, hymns, essays, and debates; he also compiled the Diwang Shiji, Calendars, biographies of Lofty Gentlemen, Retired Gentlemen, and Exemplary Women, and the Xuanyan Chunqiu, all of which were valued in his age. Among his pupils Zhi Yu, Zhang Gui, Niu Zong, and Xi Chun rose to distinction under the Jin.
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His son Fang Hui.
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Fang Hui followed his father's austere example from youth and showed literary gifts of his own. When Yongjia opened he was called to the academy doctorate but would not go. He fled the turmoil to Jingzhou, kept to his home, and never set foot in the regional seat. He spun before he dressed, tilled before he ate, put others first, honored talent and cherished life—southerners held him in universal esteem. Governor Tao Kan showed him exceptional respect. Whenever Tao Kan called, he dressed as a simple scholar, dismounted at the gate, and walked in. Wang Dun posted his cousin Wang Hao to supplant Tao Kan and moved Kan south to Guangzhou. As Tao Kan prepared to visit Wang Dun, Fang Hui warned: "They say when the rival realm falls, its champions are next. You have just crushed Du Tao—no one rivals your fame—do you really expect to stay safe?" Tao Kan ignored him and went anyway. Wang Dun nearly had him killed; only Zhou Fang's intervention saved him. Once Wang Hao took Jingzhou he forfeited popular support; people rose against him and sided with Du Tao. Wang Hao tried to terrify the region with executions; resenting Fang Hui's prestige—Tao Kan still revered him—he arrested Hui for refusing a personal audience and put him to death. Chinese and tribal peoples across Jing mourned him.
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Biography: Zhi Yu.
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簿 殿 覿 西 輿 西 退 輿 輿 𦐇
Zhi Yu, styled Zhongqia, came from Chang'an in the Jingzhao capital district. His father Zhi Mo had been Wei Minister of the Imperial Stud. As a young man he studied under Huangfu Mi, mastered wide learning, and wrote indefatigably. The commandery drafted him chief clerk. Zhi Yu held that life span and fate are fixed, rank and wealth heaven-sent. Heaven blesses those who live rightly; men rally to those who keep faith. Integrity and prudence lengthen fortune; their opposite hastens disaster. Yet the path is long while life is brief; fortune and disaster tangle; anxious souls lose their bearings, drift, and stockpile resentment—some grow deluded, others reckless. So he used his own story and imagined journeys—first sketching the bitterness of unappreciated scholars who abandon duty for restless travel, mapping ordinary confusion, then steering readers back toward righteousness, arguing that divine response lies beyond the senses and fortune beyond clever plans, all to show heaven's decree cannot be resisted; hence his "Rhapsody on Roaming Thought." The fu begins: There was a distant descendant of Xuanyuan, a great scion of the Zhongren clan. He spread flower and tassel in the last leaves, and looked back toward numinous roots in the ancient age. He took Heaven and Earth as standard to turn the measures, and modeled yin and yang to fix institutions. It was not the movement of the age that made him go; he rode the Great Void and drifted. He wore a high cap of bright moonlight, and strung bright jade from Great White. He fashioned patterned rainbows as his robe and layered colored clouds as his skirt. He belted flashing splendor of lightning and wore the jade balance ringing with gems. He used the bright sun to mirror his form; truly he blazed and doubled the light. Utmost beauty and strange loveliness are beyond common sight; rare perfection is seldom displayed. Yan stones are wrapped in red and used to adorn the state, while the He jade is cast far away in southern Jing. The Xia image is hidden in dust north of the market, while jars and wine vessels stand squarely between the pillars. Luan and phoenix, upright and aloof, perch apart; orchid and cassia, out of season, bloom alone. They pass through cold and heat to refine truth; how could they change appearance and betray feeling? He felt how Kunwu was easily surpassed and brooded that radiance quickly reaches dusk. He envied one harvest through three springs, still holding blossoms in leisurely grace. He mourned that the shining spirit has no leisure, bounded by the measured shadow of Heaven. Hearing the cicada cry the season, he feared falling leaves beneath congealing dew. He longed for the tracks ahead and hastened more, yet looked back with care at the dust behind. What has gone is sudden and cannot be reached; what is coming is dark and not yet manifest. The two powers lie vast without limit; the four seasons turn in a ring without end. The starry Bird departs and returns with the season; evening light sinks away and melts. He looked up to the Three Sovereigns in Heaven and sighed that sages and philosophers end forever. Indeed the Way is long and fate is slight; who can abandon fullness and restrain emptiness? Holding the Sui pearl and fragrant angelica, he found the age neither pleased nor ready. If they are not ready, why grieve over it? He feared only that solitary beauty might be harmed. Halting, he cast himself into depth and mystery, hoping his fragrant pattern would not be displayed. Fragrance grows sweeter in seclusion; a jewel shines more brightly in night. Pressed by constraint within the realm, he thought to spread wings across the eight wilds. Seeing the lofty grandeur of cloud stairs, he wished to rise lightly and soar high. He went to Paoxi to ask about images, and distinguished auspicious judgments with Ji Wen. He would travel far into the Great Beginning, seeing form and soul before they divided. The four numinous creatures stood solemnly as guards, and the six qi gathered in clustered confusion. He yoked white beasts to the autumn wind and drove blue dragons through bright clouds. He selected servants from the numinous stables and followed Feng Yi to ask for the ford. He summoned Lingyang at Wandering Stream and signaled the prince at Bairen. Zhurong went before to hold the fire-drill, and Xuanming guarded the rear to cover the dust. His form drifted and went far; his qi moved on and grew ever new. He scooped jade essence at Laiyu and plucked purple blossoms on the shore of Ying. He bowed to Taihao and briefly rested, listening as government was assigned to the three springs. The Great Plan closed and opened again; the hundred plants fell and trembled anew. He gazed at jade maidens fluttering thickly, holding fine baskets by the Fusang tree. He viewed the dark images in brilliant splendor and then leapt upward in Yanggu. He sucked morning rosy clouds to cure hunger and descended to Lin Spring to wash his feet. He was about to loosen the reins and roam free, but regretted that the eastern limit's road was short. He ordered Xian'e to turn right and saw Zhuming blazing bright. He visited the assembled spirits in the summer court, turned to Cangwu, and formed acquaintance. He lined up Jiaoming birds to hold the banners and drove heavenly horses galloping high. He complained of Xi and He at Red Hill and reproached the inverted shadow for confusing the rites. Following the warm south wind, he reached the south and took leave of the sun at fiery Li. Grieved by the steaming heat and oppressive damp, he asked, how could I remain here? Hearing of the long dawn at Blue Rooster, I will go westward in travel. He floated ornate boats on the Weak Water and moored prow and stern in the midstream. If pure essence is where one remains, then even sinking feathers can float a boat. He overtook Wangshu and rose fiercely; his spirit drifted and his qi floated. He questioned the great elders in the golden chamber and gathered old learning from former cultivators. He criticized the sunken yin at Perilous Mountain and asked the Queen Mother at Pepper Hill. He observed the three-toed dark bird and joined Genyi's numinous tallies. He stirred the crafty hare in the moon cave and questioned Chang'e at Rushou. Then he gathered the reins and wheeled the carriage, visiting the northern elder about reversal and fortune. He rode layered ice and crossed, climbing over what hardened yin had stored up. He sought turtle and snake in dark caves and looked down on hidden nourishment secretly growing. He laughed at the frenzy of Shu and Hu, who lost central yellow through ears and eyes; turning from Zhulong, he wandered on and exhausted the great brightness in the northern land. He climbed Zhaoyao and ascended, suddenly treading vastness and mounting the void. He climbed the Gate of Heaven and left longing behind, looking down on black and yellow in the carriage of earth. He summoned Qianlei to guide him ahead and visited the Heavenly Thearch in the Pure Capital. He gazed upon the armillary sphere and laid his hand on the great furnace of creation. There he resolved doubts before the High Sovereign and examined the primal tokens of fortune and misfortune. Tang modeled himself on Heaven and the people sighed; Gui disordered the constant norms and moved Yu to concern. Confucius wiped tears at the western hunt, and Zang examined omens at Louju. Zhi indulged violence and yet preserved himself; Yan practiced humanity and died early. Why do obstruction and peace have no fixed place, and why are glory and disgrace dazzling beyond prediction? Fortune can be awaited but not thought into being; the Way can be known but not forced. Those who seek it labor; those who desire it are deluded. Trust Heaven and accept fate, and principle is obtained of itself. Moreover, the four positions are craftsmen, and Qian and Kun are the potter's wheel. Scattered, they become things; gathered, they become humans. Yang descends and yin rises; one falls and one flourishes. Flowing, it becomes rivers; stopping, it becomes hills. Disaster cannot be pushed away, and blessing cannot be summoned. Its obstruction has preparation; its peace has number. Before formed shape can be examined, the numinous image is already fixed. Receiving bright instruction to open ignorance, he examined nature and fate and found nothing to seek. He would clarify the spirit and guard the One; why drift about in distant wandering? With patterned words he declared his withdrawal; the host was bewildered and sighed long. Thinking that rising and descending do not follow one another, he sang that parting is easy and meeting hard. Wishing to offer a great feast and express goodwill, why not rest the carriage for one meal? He met the master of ceremony at the place of beginning and invited honored guests from the nine heavens. He arrayed the broad music of Juntian and displayed the perfect joy of the myriad dances. The bent arrow shone in his hand, and the Wolf Bow fluttered as it was drawn. He glanced at Di dogs by the Thearch's side and felled bears and brown bears by the numinous carriage. Thereupon the road was cleared and early passage barred; the wheels were loaded and the ancestral rite performed. Commands were distributed and titles granted; yoke and pole were set and the procession ordered. Zhaosi Yu completed the road, and ten thousand spirits stood thickly arrayed in the court. Fenglong raised the carriage and warned the multitude; Gouchen led and assembled the troops. Kanyu rose and advanced the season; Wenchang solemnly oversaw the journey. They raised Chiyou's long banner and set up the colored standard of the mighty rainbow. He rode a cloud carriage with lightning whip, rolling and swaying, and yoked responsive dragons and blue qiulong, flowing and dazzling. Below, wandering light and fleeing shadows flashed and flared; above, streaming banners and hanging yak-tails blazed and trailed. Ahead was deep and gleaming as they advanced in order; behind was hushed as they were just galloping. They set out at Double Yang and suddenly halted the team at Shaoyi. He crossed Lieque and measured Qian and Kun, waved at the jade pass, and went out through Heaven's gate. He crossed the ford of the Milky Way and gazed toward Kunlun, passed through red clouds and approached the dark root. He watched all things finally return their souls; form had vanished, but qi still remained. He looked toward the hanging boats, bright and arrayed, and cherished the old capital, dense and distant. Following luxuriant splendor, he urged the guides on, about to descend swiftly and hasten away. Flowered clouds clustered and drifted, winging the crossbar; sun and moon dazzled and reflected on the canopy. He trod smoky vapor and left Heaven's thoroughfare; his heart opened wide and recognized the old dwelling. The road then grew firm and his feelings joyful; suddenly he returned to his ordinary gate. He cultivated central harmony and honored constant relations; following the Great Way, he savored zither and books. He delighted in naturalness and understood poverty and success; calm and without striving thought, his heart was always at ease. He was recommended as Worthy and Good; together with Xiahou Zhan and seventeen others, his policy answer was graded in the lower class, and he was appointed gentleman. Emperor Wu issued an edict: "I have examined the policy answers of the Worthy and Good men. Although what they said followed different paths, all were clear about royal principle and beneficial to governance. I wish to study their answers in detail and fully observe the intentions of these worthy scholar-officials." He then ordered the Worthy and Good, Upright and Straight-speaking candidates to assemble in the Eastern Hall for policy questions, saying: "Recently the sun was eclipsed at zhengyang, and floods and droughts have brought disaster. What should be cultivated to transform this great calamity? Which laws today harm both state and subject alike? Stable rule rests on finding the right men, and rulers must keep eyes and ears open. Anyone who knows officials whose skills could serve the realm must put their names forward. As for anyone burdened by public slander who ought first to be cleansed, each of you should also speak of him." Zhi Yu answered: "I have heard that the sages of antiquity traced beginnings in order to grasp endings and embodied the root in order to correct the branches. They worried first about bad law, not misplaced personnel; then about mismatched appointments, not random natural catastrophes. When statutes align below, heaven's pattern rights itself above; harmony in the realm dissolves omens in the sky. When heaven sends eclipse or flood, a ruler searches policy and conscience alike. Has anything dulled your ears or eyes? Have decrees strayed from steady principle? Have high posts gone to unworthy men? Have rewards and punishments missed their mark? Have recluses whose virtue should move heaven gone unnoticed? Have frontier talents lacked your nurturing rain? Ask such questions honestly and heaven's intent becomes legible; omens can then be answered with reform. If this is extended to things, there is no violation; if it is sought in oneself, there is no fault. The principles of the myriad things are orderly, inner and outer are both appropriate, the invocators and scribes correct their words, and speech does not betray sincerity. Yet if the sun and moon move awry and untimely pestilence gives no warning, then this belongs to the affairs of yin and yang and is not where good or bad fortune lies. Calendar fate lies beyond men; all we can do is open granaries, tighten belts, and ease suffering. When heaven fixes a season of doom, even Yao and Tang could not shift it; yet outside such doom minor sovereigns could still move heaven by virtue. Probe causes this thoroughly and the empire profits. I was born and raised behind a brushwood gate and have not encountered extraordinary men. Though worthy talents surely exist, I have not met or known them, and I dare not speak blindly or nominate rashly; I have no means to answer Your sagely question." He rose to crown prince's gentleman and magistrate of Wenxi.
17
While the emperor focused on good rule and Wu had just surrendered, he offered his Taikang ode praising the Jin. The ode begins:
18
: 耀輿
Glory to deepest antiquity—source of every blessing. All quarters settled; every kingdom rode one axle-track. Later Han faltered; chaos erased every statute. Heartlands rose in revolt; palace guards crumbled within. Heaven's scourge arrived; the age reeked of cruelty. Warlords tore the provinces like beasts at war. Liu Bei seized Shu beyond Min; enemies sailed the eastern sea. Sun Quan exploited the breach and held the Yangzi triple fork. August Heaven glares from above. Our martial emperor wielded awe and heaven's sentence. His hosts thundered along Liaosui and seized the guilty. He settled Korea and marched against Han and Mo. When civil virtue matched the hour, Liang and Yi rolled up like mats. The arch rebel yielded his mandate; nine Yi peoples reached court through relay interpreters. Southwestern Qiong, Ran, and Ailao bowed to his achievement. When our emperor mounted the throne, both rival realms had fallen. None beyond reach refused him; he fed every life. Wu still hugged its rivers and flouted edicts in the southern dark. Civilizing teaching had not touched them; royal majesty stalled. The emperor's wrath crashed like thunder. He severed Jiang and Han until Jing and Shu ran clear. Lofty the sage king—spanning heaven's pivot like paired trigrams. He shaped order through candor and seized chaos by stratagem. Sixty days of campaigning wearied neither wagons nor men. Victory wine flowed; banners flew spotless. Across four seas all tread ritual and song. Temples echo with hymns of praise. Under radiant heaven none escape his design. Even distant tribes facing polar gloom accept his calendar. Dragon-steeds stamp; winds sigh along Huayang. Bows rest in cases; shields and spears gather dust. Southern bells ring from towering fleets. Keen swords line the hall; pontoon bridges span the waves. The sage's creation rivals heaven's workmanship. Heaven and earth assent; commoners thrive in step. The three prime duties align; his merit closes perfect. His footprints fade yet blaze plain on stone. Mount Qiao towers—mark of Emperor Shun's mound. O sage liege—why withhold your mound!
19
He left office to mourn his mother. Much later he returned as a secretary at the imperial secretariat.
20
When Chief Architect Chen Xie dug in the earth and obtained an ancient foot-rule, the Secretariat memorialized: "The present chi is longer than the ancient chi; the ancient one should be taken as correct." Pan Yue protested that generations had used the longer chi. Zhi Yu refuted this: "In the past, when the sages saw the profundities of the realm, they modeled their forms and appearances and fashioned implements after things in order to preserve timely use. They paired heaven's three lights with earth's two forces to anchor mathematics; they tied length to pitch-pipe fractions. Design followed rule, so use matched proof. Align sun and moon and heaven hides nothing; true the three celestial markers and stars cannot lie; strike bells and stones and pitch locks; lay compass and square and every vessel fits. One true gauge orders all; error inverts everything. Today's chi overshoots the old by half an inch—music falls out of tune; historians lose celestial forecasts; physicians miss every point. Music, calendar, and medicine all ride on measure—each now jams—so we must revert to the ancient chi. Yao and Shun unified pitch, length, volume, and weight; Confucius urged careful scales. Two rulers at once cannot mean unity; knowing error yet marching on is not caution; Neither unified nor careful is false law—no model for the realm. Some reforms stir trouble; others simplify. Everyone uses yardsticks daily yet hardly fetishizes a chi—easy to fix. Righting wrong measures once sets generations straight—that is simple reform. Guard true precedent; sweep away Late Han shortcuts and odd usages until only one measure remains. Your servant believes it is proper to follow the memorial." His essay on the Feng and Shan rites appears in the Treatise on Rites.
21
Because in the disorder at the end of Han many genealogies and transmissions had been lost, so that even descendants could not speak of their ancestors, Zhi Yu compiled ten fascicles of Zuxing Zhaomu, "Clan Surnames and Generational Order," and submitted them with a memorial, considering them enough to prepare things for use and broaden the benefit of wide learning. The minister of education impeached him for irregular promotions; the emperor pardoned him.
22
When the imperial temple opened, an edict promoted every official one rank. Bureaucrats botched the order and the bonus rank was rescinded. Zhi Yu submitted a memorial: "I have heard that the ancient sages did not begrudge a state of a thousand chariots yet treasured the trust of the paulownia leaf; by this they honored the supreme command and conveyed sincerity to the myriad states. The prior Yisi edict credited the late emperor's grace and raised every rank to reward loyal hearts. Courier notices raced everywhere; subjects danced like fish and birds under fresh rain. Now, all at once, because the responsible office considered the wording carelessly, it would withdraw a past edict and take back favors already poured forth. In my foolish heart, I privately believe this is impermissible." The emperor accepted his protest.
23
使 便 使 輿
Under Yuankang he became companion to the Prince of Wu. Xun Yi drafted new ritual statutes and had Zhi Yu vet them before promulgation. When Empress Yuan died, Du Yu memorialized: "The institution of silent mourning comes from high antiquity; therefore there is no text saying Gaozong wore mourning, and the documents only say that he did not speak. Han Wendi capped mourning at thirty-six days. Since Wei, mourning ended after the Yu sacrifice. The crown prince shares substance with the state. By principle, he should set aside mourning garments and remove them after the final weeping." Zhi Yu answered Du Yu in a letter: "Tang spoke of stopping music, and Yin spoke of silent mourning. Each used an event as its name; it was not that after burial there was some separate reduction. Since Zhou people simply called these mourning garments. Mourning dress visibly signals grief. Now the emperor has ten thousand affairs in a single day, and the heir apparent bears the weight of oversight and care. It is proper to curtail ritual, remove mourning after burial, alter the rule to accord with principle, and hand down a precedent for the future. Why must one attach it to antiquity and make old scholars argue!" When the imperial grandson Shang died, the responsible office memorialized: "The imperial mourning garments should be zicui for one year." The court ordered academic officials to debate it. Zhi Yu said: "When the heir apparent was born, he was raised according to the rites for an adult, so the principle for those who die young is removed. The imperial grandson likewise embodied the ruler and transmitted the great charge; because his position was complete, the mourning garments were complete, not because of his age." The court adopted his reasoning. His memorials on the jade carriage and paired soil altars appear in the Treatise on Carriages and Robes.
24
祿
He later directed the imperial library and commanded the guards, accompanying Emperor Hui west to Chang'an. When eastern relief arrived the court scattered; he wandered between Hu and Du and fled into the Zhongnan hills, starving until he gathered acorns to eat. Later he was able to return to Luoyang, serving successively as Guangluxun and Taichang Qing. Emperor Huai personally performed the suburban sacrifice. Since Yuankang no emperor had personally worshipped heaven—outer ritual had collapsed. Zhi Yu restored the old liturgy so vessels and banners gleamed in proper array. Luoyang's collapse unleashed thieves and cannibal famine. Always poor and honest, he died of starvation.
25
He left a four-scroll literary gazetteer, glosses on the Sanfu judgments, and thirty fascicles of categorized ancient prose called Collected Genres with critical essays—widely admired.
26
Zhi Yu was skilled at observing the dark celestial signs; he once told a friend: "The realm is about to fall into chaos. Among states for avoiding disaster, surely only the land of Liang will serve!" He loved nurturing scholars and habitually ghost-wrote recommendations. Taishu Guang of Dongping sparkled in oral debate—Zhi Yu could not match him live; when Zhi Yu wrote, Guang could not respond; They traded barbs until Luoyang buzzed with gossip.
27
Biography: Shu Xi.
28
鹿 西 調
Shu Xi, styled Guangwei, came from Yuancheng in Yangping and descended from Shu Guang, tutor to the Han heir. When Wang Mang fell, Guang's descendant Mengda fled east to Mount Shalu and shortened the surname Shu by dropping its foot radical. His grandfather Shu Hun governed Longxi. His father Shu Kan governed Fengyi—both father and grandfather were renowned. Shu Xi read widely; he and his brother Qiu shared fame. In youth he attended the Guoxue, the imperial academy. Someone asked Boshi Cao Zhi, an Erudite: "Among today's students, who loves learning?" Cao Zhi said: "Shu Guangwei of Yangping loves learning without weariness; no one can match him." Home callers nominated him Filial and Flourishing Talent—he declined both. His brother divorced Shi Jian's niece; Shi Jian blocked both brothers from office until grudges faded.
29
During Taikang, there was a great drought in the commandery. Shu Xi prayed for rain on behalf of the townspeople, and after three days rain poured down. The people said Xi had moved Heaven by sincerity and made a song: "Master Shu, who understands spirits bright, asked Heaven, and after three days sweet rain fell. Our sorghum grows; our millet thrives. How shall we repay him? We repay Master Changsheng." Close to Wei Heng, he raced from home to mourn Heng's murder.
30
退
His fu on farming and cakes sounded coarse—contemporaries sneered. Yet he spurned rank and fashioned his Explanation of Dwelling in Mystery after the Guest's Difficulty:
31
耀
Shu Xi lived in quiet retirement surrounded by disciples. As he lowered the curtain for deep discussion, leaned on the armrest and laughed, held his brush and scattered literary brilliance, and examined and compiled agreements and differences, those beside him came forward and asked: "We have heard that the Way values adaptation and that those who understand it are inexhaustible. Rescue chaos when the age tangles; uphold greatness when peace reigns. Hold up heaven's warp for every task; brighten the monarch's merit and fan imperial virtue abroad. Alive, the realm rejoices with him; dead, every shore mourns. So worthies bend pride to advance the Way and seize office without shame. The heartland says seek or starve; the Zhou yi praises those who leap toward duty. Shun's cook preached over cauldrons; a Qi pilgrim sang White Water in the highway. Yet you bury yourself in learning like a silent peak—years of sleepless reading—never yielding. Fully fledged, you burrow deeper; mastery ripe, you refuse trial. You would bury treasure like fish in drying pools—longing for Chang Ju even under Tang's golden rule. Honoring their folly wins no praise from me.
32
耀
Scholars rise through patrons—when climbers glut court, hermits starve while silk youths parade and gray scholars rot outside. Better borrow Bo Lu's tide—rise on floods and startle dragons. Why lie in wells studying heaven yet waste away?
33
西 宿
Years gallop—gain once, lose forever. Hesitation invites regret; no man dams east tides or recalls western sun. Do not chain the Way to hovel dread. Compare patronage—palace nights, tripod feasts—against fasting alone? Or gnaw greens forever in hiding?"
34
Shu Xi answered: "Sit. Let me teach the gentleman's path of serving or hiding. Hear me out carefully.
35
Since chaos split into yin and yang, creatures and sages alike seek fit dwelling—some flee court, some embrace it. Office and reclusion differ outwardly yet share worth—Yi Yin and Duke Ji served; Chao Fu and Xu You fled—and both became paragons. Compare them fairly—who falls short? Why envy the Eight Neighbors yet scorn the Seven Sages? Paths fork—call me late hermit if you will—I ignore wagons of summons and scorn power brokers.
36
祿
In the past, when Zhou and Han declined midway, the age was difficult and men could not entrust themselves to it. Once signs of blessing opened, sources of trouble also arose: in the morning one roamed the lofty palace, by evening one fell into a jagged ravine; by day one laughed and at night sighed, flourishing in the morning and falling by dusk. Loyalty was not enough to protect oneself, and disaster could not be predicted. Therefore gentlemen avoided going up to court and competed to hasten into the forests. Men smeared themselves or refused grain—office seemed boxed turtles or sacrificial calves—ministers wept or debated unto death.
37
祿
Today Jin rules calm seas. Weapons sleep; punishments idle—throne and ministers trust each other. Palace beasts sniff evil; magical grass marks flattery—loyalty earns life.
38
西退 輿
Risk-free promotion suits some temperaments. When both paths serve, choose passion. Withdrawal can steady crises: Zhai Huang failed to stop western raids; Chen Ping and Zhou Bo could not place Liu Ruyi; yet Duanmu Ke merely stayed home and Qin fled; four graybeards emerged and Lady Qi wept fate. So what stays fixed? Mountain air smells sweet; swamps reek. Each creature uses heaven's gift—why mock the poor or envy kings? Rather coarse robe with purpose than silk without. Restrain appetite—a peck fills you; indulge—Hailing stores empty. Virtue glorifies a commoner; sin disgraces emperors. I study the six classics to teach the world; couple Zheng on the coast with Yan in Shu. Ride emptiness as cart; wander mind in silent rooms—spurn fame's trash; harvest truth's scraps. Keep straw shoes in hills—judge me later—not today."
39
Zhang Hua marveled at the piece. After Shi Jian died Wang Rong finally called Shu Qiu. Zhang Hua took Shu Xi as aide; Prince Huang of Xiapi also summoned him. When Hua, Zhang Hua, became Sikong, Minister of Works, he again made Shu Xi a subordinate clerk in the bandit-suppression office.
40
使 鹿 使 洿 西 使 西 西 ·
When the court wanted to expand agriculture, Shu Xi submitted a proposal: I have humbly seen the edict saying that the granaries are not full and the region west of the passes is hungry and poor, and that You wish greatly to promote farming in order to multiply good grain. This is truly what the Yu ruler meant when he warned Yu the Great to exert all his strength. Yet abundant harvests can be brought about through three causes: first, Heaven's seasons must not go awry; second, the advantages of the land must not be lost; third, human labor must all be used. If spring lacks soaking rain, autumn suffers repeated downpours, flood and drought lose the mean, and prayers for rain and sacrifice are required, then even if Xi and He regulated the seasons and Hou Ji personally farmed, ordering boundaries and furrows on highlands and lowlands and diligently weeding and hoeing the central fields, it would still not be enough to fill granaries by the hundred millions. But the advantages of the land can be produced by planning, and human labor can be achieved by assessment. Is this not also the principle the edict intends to exhaust? Now across the many cities of the realm, many people eat idly, abandon occupations, occupy empty registers, and have no real field assessments. When calculated across the nine provinces, their number exceeds the tens of thousands. This guard should be made strict: let the inspecting offices examine closely, and if one person misses his assessment, responsibility should reach the commandery and county. This is how human labor can be achieved. Moreover, in the ten commanderies under the province, the land is narrow and the people numerous, especially in the Three Wei, yet pig, sheep, and horse pastures are spread throughout their territory. They should all be abolished and supplied to those without occupations. Even if some people with little occupation are divided off and moved, many remain; they till gardens and pastures, dislike open country, and covet being among settled communities. Thus to say that the northern lands are unsuitable for herding is truly incorrect. According to sayings ancient and modern, the place where horses are born is truly north of Ji; great merchants obtained ewes from Qing and Bohai; and the song of releasing pigs arose in Julu. These are the proofs. All the pastures can be shifted to fill that land, letting horses, cattle, pigs, and sheep graze on empty fields while idle eaters receive occupations through allotments and grants. This is how the advantages of the land can be achieved. In former times, piebald and dark horses in the outskirts were why Shi Ke praised Duke Xi of Lu; sending away horses and attending to fields was why Master Lao called a ruler possessed of the Way. Is this not where benefit comes together? Again, at Wu Marsh in Ji commandery, there are several thousand qing of good fields, but muddy water lies stagnant and people do not cultivate them. I hear that the local people all say the work of opening drains is not difficult, and that turning saline wetland into plains would bring very great benefit. Yet powerful families prize the abundance of fishing there, fabricate arguments for officials, and in the end prevent the work from being opened. This too is like the song of Gukou, recorded in the histories. I believe the matter should again be sent down to the commanderies and counties, to examine the plan appropriate to the present. In Jing, Yang, Yan, and Yu, muddy lands and places suited to canals and dikes must often be like this; these are precisely harvests that can be obtained without waiting on Heaven's seasons. For their clouds and rain arise from baskets and spades, and their abundant rice grows from cutting channels and draining water; one need not look for morning rainbows before yellow floodwater arrives, or sacrifice to mountains and rivers before long rains cease. Thus the two Zhou contended over eastern and western flows, and Shi Qi valued the irrigation of the Zhang canal, showing the importance of land advantage. An edict should be sent to the inspectors of the four provinces, ordering them to investigate carefully and report. Moreover, in the past the Wei moved people from three commanderies into the Yangping and Dunqiu region, and now they flourish, numbering five or six thousand households. The fields of the two commanderies are cramped; I think they can be moved back to the western province to fill the borderlands, and granted ten years of tax exemption to comfort them for being moved again. One action would gain two benefits: the exterior would be filled and the interior loosened, the occupations of poor people enlarged, and the western fields opened. This too would be a great benefit to agriculture. He was then transferred to assistant gentleman of composition, where he compiled the imperial annals and ten treatises for the Book of Jin; later he became erudite while continuing his historiographic work.
41
西
Earlier, in the second year of Taikang, Bu Zhun of Ji commandery broke into the tomb of King Xiang of Wei, though some said it was King Anli's tomb, and recovered dozens of cartloads of bamboo texts. The thirteen-scroll Bamboo Annals run from Xia through Western Zhou's fall, then carry Wei down to 299 BCE. These were probably historical writings of the state of Wei, and in broad outline they mostly corresponded with the Chunqiu. It claims Xia recorded more years than Shang; Yi seized Qi's throne and Qi killed him; Tai Jia executed Yi Yin; Wen Ding killed Ji Li; A century from Zhou's Mandate to Mu does not mean King Mu reached one hundred; After King You fell, the Earl of Gong named He ruled as regent—not the joint stewardship of two Zhou ministers that later gloss became "harmony." Its two scrolls of the Yijing were the same as the upper and lower texts of the Zhouyi. The yin-yang line scrolls echo the Zhou yi with variant line statements. A single scroll of sub-hexagram Changes resembles the Shuo Gua with differences. Two scrolls on Gongsun Duan debate the Changes with Shao Zhi. Three scrolls of state conversations cover Chu and Jin. Three scrolls of "Names" read like the Record of Rites, Erya, and Analects. The "Shi Chun" scroll lists Zuo divinations; the title may record an author's name. Eleven scrolls of petty talk collect omens and dreams from many states. The Liangqiu Zang scroll counts Wei generations then catalogs buried treasure. Two scrolls on knot-shooting arts. One scroll of living enfeoffments. Two scrolls of macro-calendars akin to Zou Yan's astronomy. Five scrolls of King Mu's travels among seas and holy peaks. One scroll of picture poems like engraved encomia. There were also nineteen miscellaneous writings: Zhou Shitian fa, Zhoushu, Lun Chushi, and the account of the death of King Mu of Zhou's beauty Sheng Ji. Seventy-five pieces survived; seven bundles shattered unreadable. One bronze sword measured two and a half feet. Every lacquer text showed tadpole seal forms. Looters burned bundles for treasure; imperial clerks found charred scraps impossible to order. Emperor Wu tasked the secretariat to reorder and transcribe into clerical script. Editing at the palace, Shu Xi glossed every doubtful passage. Promoted to gentleman of the secretariat.
42
便 西
Emperor Wu once asked Zhi Yu about the meaning of the third-day winding-water rite. Yu replied: "In the time of Emperor Zhang of Han, Xu Zhao of Pingyuan had three daughters born at the beginning of the third month; by the third day they had all died. The villagers thought this strange, gathered at the riverside to wash away defilement, and then floated cups on the water. Its meaning began from this." The emperor said: "If it is truly as you say, then it was no happy affair." Shu Xi came forward and said: "Yu is a young man and cannot know enough. Your servant asks to explain it. Duke Zhou floated cups when founding Luoyang—matching lost poems. King Zhao of Qin held a third-day river banquet and dreamed river gods gifting swords. That feast founded the winding-water ritual. The two Han dynasties continued the practice, and all made it a splendid gathering." Delighted, he gave Shu Xi fifty jin of gold.
43
Hikers at Songshan found tadpole-writing slips nobody could decipher. Minister of Works Zhang Hua asked Shu Xi about it, and Xi said: "This is policy text from Emperor Ming of Han's Xianjie tomb." Checks proved him right—scholars hailed his learning.
44
Prince Sima Lun summoned him private secretary. Shu Xi pleaded sickness, retired to teach. His death at forty closed Yuan markets; friends carved his monument.
45
·
Shu Xi was broadly learned and fully versed in talent and scholarship; the San Wei renshi zhuan, Qidai tongji, Jinshu annals, and Jinshu treatises that he wrote were lost in the disorder. His Five Classics synthesis, primer, supplement poems, and essays survived in tens of scrolls.
46
Biography: Wang Jie.
47
耀 簿
Wang Jie, styled Zuyou, came from Yishi in Hedong—descended from Han Governor Wang Zun. His father Wang Wei taught classics and history. Cao Xi's essay inspired Wang Wei's counterpiece. He became Xiayang county administrator. Jie lost his father when young, and his grief harmed him beyond ritual. The neighbors all sighed: "The Wang clan has a son indeed!" Liu Yuan of Bohai became governor of Hedong; he loved the extraordinary and made honoring talent his duty. His fellow commanderyman Feng Shou passed the classics examination and became a gentleman when he was over seventy. He recommended Jie to Liu Yuan, saying: "If a Hualiu horse is not gathered under the reins, it is not in Zaofu's stable; hidden gems need patrons. He urged Liu Yuan to hire Wang Jie. He praised Jie's orphan brilliance. I do not worry that the dark dawn will not open; I privately rejoice that spring blossoms arrive in time." Liu Yuan invited him—Jie refused. Liu Yuan then summoned him and said: "Do you wish to emulate the height of withdrawing in fat reclusion?" He replied: "My fortune is meager. I was orphaned young and have no brothers; my mother is old and gravely ill, and therefore I have no heart for office." After her death he lived by the mound emaciated, disputing classical readings. Blunt honesty offended magnates; only Pei Yi befriended him. Liu Dan, governor of Pingyang, Pei Xia, Cavalier Attendant-in-Ordinary, and Deng You, Director of the Secretariat, were all friendly with Wang Jie. As chief clerk to Governor Wen Yu he earned promotion. Provincial office took him on. At the time Yang Liang of Taishan was governor of Pingyang. He recommended Wang Jie to Wang Kan, Commandant of the Capital District, and Jie went out to fill the post of duguan aide.
48
Yongning brought his Flourishing Talent nomination. His friend Pan Tao of Yingyang sent Jie a letter: "Zhi Yu and Bian Xuanren both say that you should harmonize the flavors in the tripod; you cannot have no response to the nomination as Flourishing Talent." Jie replied in a letter: "Now the Way of the age is being lost, and stripping chaos is about to follow, while men of knowledge and wisdom clamp their mouths and hide their brushes. Disasters deepen day by day, like fire burning across a plain. How can this be rescued? This journey is not for glory; I wish to state fully what I see, hoping there may be awakening." Amnesty skipped examinations—Jie resented missing his chance. He became aide to the northern expedition marshal.
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At the Battle of Dangyin, Attendant-in-Ordinary Ji Shao was killed by rebel troops. Jie argued: "One who plans another man's army dies when the army is defeated; Those who steer another man's throne answer with their lives when calamity comes—that maxim closed his plea. He praised Ji Shao's martyr loyalty. He urged honoring martyrs to inspire north China. If, following the Chunqiu principle of praising through three layers of accumulation, Ji Shao is granted the reward for giving his life, then near and far will turn toward the custom, and none will dare fail in reverence." Court accepted.
50
殿
He resisted Yong's Chang'an move and earned transfer. Wang Kan summoned him but he died at thirty-nine.
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He specialized in ritual and Zuo. He treated Zuo as independent history. He preferred Gongyang's disciplined ties to the canon. He Xiu of Rencheng gave very detailed explanations, but his demotion of Zhou and treating Lu as king broadly conflicted with the text; moreover, though his aim was to explicate the Gongyang, he often instead became a disease of the Gongyang. He wrote new Gongyang commentary. Wei Heng's Ji collation halted by death. Shu Xi finished with disputed readings. At the time Wang Tingjian of Chenliu, governor of Donglai, challenged it, and he too had evidence. Shu Xi answered after Tingjian died. Cavalier Attendant-in-Ordinary Pan Tao told Wang Jie: "Your talent, learning, principle, and argument are enough to resolve the dispute between the two men; you may try to discuss it." Wang Jie weighed both sides. Experts approved. He also compiled a Houzhuan to the Lienu, the Exemplary Women, for seventy-two women, together with miscellaneous discussions, poems and fu, stele inscriptions and hymns, and refutations and difficult arguments totaling more than one hundred thousand words; all were lost in the disorder.
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His son carried on Gongyang work in exile.
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Section: historians' verdict.
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調
The editors praise Huangfu Mi as Jin's supreme recluse scholar. They commend his funeral essay balancing thrift. Zhi Yu and Shu Xi mastered classical precedent—eloquent memorialists rightly famed as polymaths. Some staffed the imperial library and drafted state papers. Others directed worship and fixed suburban ritual. Zhi Yu died thwarted; Shu Xi died young—heaven seemed unjust. Wang Jie won admirers yet died before his prime.
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Verse praise: Huangfu Mi sought calm in a humble hut. He lavished care on letters and forgot titles. His funeral tract shines though regimen proved fatal. Zhi Yu was encyclopedic; Shu Guangwei stood apart. They framed ritual and collated relic texts. They sequenced Wei slips and sorted Han archives. Wang Zuyou followed—another sweet reputation.
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