1
方技○直魯古王白魏璘耶律敵魯耶律乙不哥
Arts and Techniques ○ Zhilugu, Wang Bai, Wei Lin, Yelü Diru, and Yelü Yibuge
2
孔子稱「小道必有可觀」，醫卜是已。 醫以濟夭劄，卜以決猶豫，皆有補於國，有惠於民。 前史錄而不遺，故傳。
Confucius said that even minor arts must have something worth seeing — medicine and divination are cases in point. Medicine eases untimely death and suffering; divination settles doubt and indecision — both serve the state and bring benefit to the people. Earlier histories recorded such men without leaving them out; that is why they appear here.
3
直魯古，吐谷渾人。 初，太祖破吐谷渾，一騎士棄橐反射，不中而去。 及追兵開橐視之，中得一嬰兒，即直魯古也。 因所俘者問其故，乃知射橐者嬰之父也。 世善醫，雖馬上視疾，亦知標本。 意不欲子為人所得，欲殺之耳。 由是進於太祖，淳欽皇后收養之。 長亦能醫，專事針灸。 太宗時，以太醫給侍。 嘗撰《脈訣》、《針灸書》，行於世。 年九十卒。
Zhilugu was a native of Tuyuhun. Early on, when Taizu routed the Tuyuhun, one rider cast down a bag and shot back at it; his arrow missed, and he rode away. When the pursuers opened the bag and looked inside, they found an infant — Zhilugu himself. They questioned the captives about what had happened and learned that the man who shot the bag was the child's father. His family had long practiced medicine; even when treating the sick from horseback, he could distinguish root cause from symptom. He had not wanted his son to fall into enemy hands and had meant only to kill the child. He was then brought before Taizu, and Empress Chunqin took him in and raised him. As an adult he too practiced medicine, devoting himself to acupuncture and moxibustion. Under Taizong he served as an imperial physician in attendance. He once wrote Pulse Diagnosis and A Book on Acupuncture and Moxibustion, both of which circulated widely. He died at the age of ninety.
4
魏璘，不知何郡人，以卜名世，太宗得於汴。 天祿元年，上命馳馬較遲疾，以為勝負。 問王白及璘孰勝，白奏曰：「赤者勝。」 璘曰：「臣所見，驄馬當勝。」 既馳，竟如璘言。 上異而問之，白曰：「今日火王，故知赤者勝。」 璘曰：「不然，火雖王，而上有煙。 以煙察之，青者必勝。」 上嘉之。 五年，察割謀逆，私卜於璘。 璘始卜，謂曰：「大王之數，得一日矣，宜慎之！」 及亂，果敗。 應歷中，周兵犯燕，上以勝敗問璘。 璘曰：「周姓柴也，燕分火也。 柴入火，必焚。」 其言果驗。 璘嘗為太平王罨撒葛卜僭立事，上聞之，免死，流烏古部。 一日，節度使召璘，適有獻雙鯉者，戲曰：「君卜此魚何時得食？」 璘良久答曰：「公與仆不出今日，有不測禍，奚暇食魚？」 亟命烹之。 未及食，寇至，俱遇害。
Wei Lin was a man of unknown native commandery who won fame through divination; Taizong acquired him at Bian. In the first year of Tianlu, the emperor ordered a horse race to settle the contest by speed. He asked Wang Bai and Wei Lin which horse would win. Bai replied, "The chestnut will win." Lin said, "As I see it, the gray horse should prevail." When the race was run, the outcome matched Lin's prediction exactly. The emperor marveled and questioned them. Bai said, "Fire rules the day, so I knew the chestnut would win." Lin said, "Not so. Fire may rule, but there is smoke above it. Judge by the smoke, and the gray horse is sure to prevail." The emperor commended him. In the fifth year, Chage plotted treason and privately had Lin divine for him. At the first casting Lin told him, "Your Highness's allotted span has but a single day left — take care!" When the revolt came, he was indeed ruined. During the Yingli era, Zhou forces invaded Yan, and the emperor asked Lin which side would prevail. Lin said, "Zhou's ruling house bears the surname Chai, and Yan's element is fire. Firewood cast into flame must be consumed." Events bore out his words. Lin had once divined for Prince of Taiping Anashige on his bid to seize the throne; when the emperor learned of it, he spared Lin's life but exiled him to the Wugu tribe. One day the military commissioner summoned Lin; someone had just presented a pair of carp, and in jest he asked, "Can you divine when we shall eat these fish?" After a long pause Lin answered, "My lord and I will not live out the day. With disaster upon us, who has time to eat fish?" He immediately ordered the fish prepared. Before they could eat, the enemy arrived, and both were slain.
5
耶律敵魯，字撒不碗。 其先本五院之族，始置宮分，隸焉。 敵魯精於醫，察形色即知病原。 雖不診候，有十全功。 統和初，為大丞相韓德讓所薦，官至節度使。 初，樞密使耶律斜軫妻有沈痾，易數醫不能治。 敵魯視之曰：「心有蓄熱，非藥石所及，當以意療。 因其聵，聒之使狂，用泄其毒則可。」 於是令大擊鉦鼓於前。 翌日果狂，叫呼怒罵，力極而止，遂愈。 治法多此類，人莫能測。 年八十卒。
Yelü Diru, courtesy name Sabowan. His ancestors belonged to the Five Tribes; when the palace estates were first established, they were enrolled there. Diru was a master physician who could tell the source of an illness from a patient's appearance alone. Even without taking the pulse or questioning the patient, his cures were invariably complete. Early in the Tonghe era he was recommended by Grand Chancellor Han Derang and eventually rose to military commissioner. Once the wife of Commissioner-in-Chief Yelü Xiezhen suffered a grave chronic illness that one physician after another failed to cure. Diru examined her and said, "Heat is pent up in the heart. Drugs and needles cannot reach it; she must be treated through the mind. Because she is deaf, deafen her with noise until she goes mad and the poison can be released — then she may recover." He then had gongs and drums beaten loudly before her. The next day she did go mad, shouting and cursing until her strength gave out; when she fell silent, she was cured. Many of his cures followed this pattern, and no one could fathom his methods. He died at the age of eighty.
6
耶律乙不哥，字習撚，六院郎君古直之後。 幼好學，尤長於卜筮，不樂仕進。 嘗為人擇葬地曰：「後三日，有牛乘人逐牛過者，即啟土。」 至期，果一人負乳犢，引牸牛而過。 其人曰：「所謂『牛乘人』者，此也。」 遂啟土。 既葬，吉凶盡如其言。 又為失鷹者占曰：「鷹在汝家東北三十里濼西榆上。」 往求之，果得。 當時占候無不驗。
Yelü Yibuge, courtesy name Xinian, was a descendant of Langjun Guzhi of the Six Tribes. From childhood he loved learning and excelled above all at divination; he took no pleasure in official advancement. He once selected a burial site for a client and said, "In three days, when you see a man carried by an ox driving another ox past this spot, break ground." On the appointed day, a man carrying a nursing calf led a cow past the site. The client said, "So this is the 'man carried by an ox' you foretold." They broke ground at once. After the burial, every turn of fortune and misfortune unfolded exactly as he had predicted. He also divined for a man who had lost his hawk and said, "Your hawk is on an elm west of the marsh, thirty li northeast of your home." The man went to look and found the bird exactly where Yibuge had said. In his day there was no omen he read that did not come true.
7
論曰：方技，術者也。 茍精其業而不畔於道，君子必取焉。 直魯古、王白、耶律敵魯無大得失，錄之宜矣。 魏璘為察割卜謀逆，為罨撒葛卜僭立，罪在不貰，雖有寸長，亦奚足取哉。 存而弗削，為來者戒。
The commentary says: Arts and techniques are crafts. If a man masters his craft without straying from the Way, the gentleman will surely value him. Zhilugu, Wang Bai, and Yelü Diru committed no great wrongs or merits — it is right that they be recorded. Wei Lin divined for Chage's treason and for Anashige's bid for the throne — offenses beyond pardon. However small his talents, what was there to esteem? His account is kept rather than struck out, as a warning to those who follow.