1
華佗杜夔朱建平周宣管輅
This chapter treats Hua Tuo, Du Kui, Zhu Jianping, Zhou Xuan, and Guan Lu.
2
華佗字元化,沛國譙人也,一名旉。 〈臣松之案:古「敷」字與「專」相似,寫書者多不能別。 尋佗字元化,其名宜為旉也。〉 遊學徐土,兼通數經。 沛相陳珪舉孝廉,太尉黃琬辟,皆不就。 曉養性之術,時人以為年且百歲而貌有壯容。 又精方藥,其療疾,合湯不過數種,心解分劑,不復稱量,煮熟便飲,語其節度,捨去輒愈。 若當灸,不過一兩處,每處不過七八壯,病亦應除。 若當針,亦不過一兩處,下針言「當引某許,若至,語人」。 病者言「巳到」,應便拔針,病亦行差。 若病結積在內,針藥所不能及,當須刳割者,便飲其麻沸散,須臾便如醉死無所知,因破取。 病若在腸中,便斷腸湔洗,縫腹膏摩,四五日差,不痛,人亦不自寤,一月之間,即平復矣。
Hua Tuo, styled Yuanhua, came from Qiao in Pei; he was also known as Fu. 〈Pei Songzhi notes: In old manuscripts the character for "spread" looked much like the one for "sole"; copyists often confused the two. Given his style Yuanhua, his true given name was almost certainly Fu.〉 He studied abroad in the Xu region and mastered more than one canonical text. Chen Gui, chancellor of Pei, nominated him as a candidate for filial piety and integrity; Grand Commandant Huang Wan tried to appoint him—he refused both offers. He practiced longevity arts, and contemporaries believed him to be nearing a century in age while still looking robust. He excelled at prescriptions: his decoctions used only a handful of ingredients, mixed by eye without scales; he boiled them, gave dosing instructions, and patients recovered as soon as they left. When he used moxa, he chose only a spot or two, with at most seven or eight cones each—and the disease cleared. If needling was called for, likewise it was never more than one or two places; when he inserted the needle he said, "When it should extend a certain distance, if it reaches there, tell people." The sick person said "It has arrived"; he thereupon withdrew the needle and the illness likewise soon improved. For deep internal masses beyond needle or herb, he administered his "numbing infusion"; within moments the patient was insensible as if dead, and he could operate and excise the growth. If the bowel was involved, he resected and irrigated it, sutured the abdomen, and applied ointment; in four or five days the patient was painless and barely conscious of the ordeal, and within a month had fully healed.
3
故甘陵相夫人有娠六月,腹痛不安,佗視脈,曰:「胎巳死矣。」 使人手摸知所在,在左則男,在右則女。 人云「在左」,於是為湯下之,果下男形,即愈。
The wife of a former chancellor of Ganling, six months pregnant and in pain, consulted him; after feeling her pulse he said, "The child has died in the womb." Have someone feel her belly: left means a boy, right a girl. People said "On the left"; thereupon he prepared a decoction to purge her, and indeed she delivered a male form and then recovered.
4
縣吏尹世苦四支煩,口中乾,不欲聞人聲,小便不利。 佗曰:「試作熱食,得汗則愈; 不汗,後三日死。」 即作熱食而不汗出,佗曰:「藏氣已絕於內,當啼泣而絕。」 果如佗言。
Yin Shi, a county clerk, had burning limbs, a parched mouth, intolerance of noise, and scanty urine. Tuo said, "Eat something hot to bring on a sweat; if you sweat, you will live. If you cannot sweat, you will be dead in three days." They tried, but no sweat came. Tuo said, "His organ vitality is gone; he will die weeping." It happened exactly as he had foretold.
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府吏兒尋、李延共止,俱頭痛身熱,所苦正同。 佗曰:「尋當下之,延當發汗。」 或難其異,佗曰:「尋外實,延內實,故治之宜殊。」 即各與藥,明旦並起。
Ni Xun and Li Yan, two clerks, roomed together; both ran a fever and complained of identical headaches. Tuo said, "Xun needs a purgative; Yan needs a diaphoretic." When asked why, he replied, "Xun's excess is on the exterior, Yan's on the interior—so the cures must differ." He prescribed accordingly, and the next morning both were on their feet.
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鹽瀆嚴昕與數人共候佗,適至,佗謂昕曰:「君身中佳否?」 昕曰:「自如常。」 佗曰:「君有急病見於面,莫多飲酒。」 坐畢歸,行數里,昕卒頭眩墮車,人扶將還,載歸家,中宿死。
Yan Xin of Yandu was waiting with others when Tuo arrived and asked bluntly, "How is your health?" Xin answered, "Perfectly normal." Tuo said, "Your face shows an acute illness—stay away from wine." After the visit he rode home; a few miles out he grew dizzy, tumbled from his cart, was carried back, and died before dawn.
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故督郵頓子獻得病已差,詣佗視脈,曰:「尚虛,未得復,勿為勞事,御內即死。 臨死,當吐舌數寸。」 其妻聞其病除,從百餘里來省之,止宿交接,中間三日發病,一如佗言。
Dun Zixian, a recovered patient, came for a pulse reading; Tuo warned, "You are still weak—no exertion, and no marital relations, or you will die. When you die, your tongue will protrude several inches." His wife, hearing he was cured, traveled over a hundred li, spent the night with him, and they lay together; three days later he relapsed precisely as foretold.
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督郵徐毅得病,佗往省之。 毅謂佗曰:「昨使醫曹吏劉租針胃管訖,便苦欬嗽,欲臥不安。」 佗曰:「刺不得胃管,誤中肝也,食當日減,五日不救。」 遂如佗言。
Chief Clerk Xu Yi took ill, and Tuo called on him. Yi said, "Yesterday Clerk Liu Zu needled my epigastrium; since then I have had a racking cough and cannot rest lying down." Tuo said, "He missed the stomach and hit the liver; your appetite will fail today, and nothing can save you in five days." Events unfolded exactly as he predicted.
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東陽陳叔山小男二歲得疾,下利常先啼,日以羸困。 問佗,佗曰:「其母懷軀,陽氣內養,乳中虛冷,兒得母寒,故令不時愈。」 佗與四物女宛丸,十日即除。
The two-year-old son of Chen Shushan of Dongyang had chronic dysentery, weeping before each stool, and wasted daily. Tuo explained, "While carrying him, the mother's yang was turned inward, leaving her milk cold; the infant drew that chill, so the bowels never healed." He prescribed a Four-Ingredient Nüwan bolus, and in ten days the child was well.
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彭城夫人夜之廁,蠆螫其手,呻呼無賴。 佗令溫湯近熱,漬手其中,卒可得寐,但旁人數為易湯,湯令暖之,其旦即愈。
The wife of a Pengcheng notable was stung on the hand by a scorpion in the night latrine and cried out in agony. Tuo had her immerse the hand in repeatedly refreshed hot water until she could sleep; by morning the pain was gone.
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軍吏梅平得病,除名還家,家居廣陵,未至二百里,止親人舍。 有頃,佗偶至主人許,主人令佗視平,佗謂平曰:「君早見我,可不至此。 今疾已結,促去可得與家相見,五日卒。」 應時歸,如佗所刻。
Mei Ping, struck from the army rolls, was heading home to Guangling and stopped short of his destination at a kinsman's. Tuo happened by; the host asked him to see Mei. Tuo told Mei, "Had you come sooner, we could have avoided this. The disease is fixed; go home at once to bid your kin farewell—you have five days." Mei left immediately and died on the day Tuo named.
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佗行道,見一人病咽塞,嗜食而不得下,家人車載欲往就醫。 佗聞其呻吟,駐車往視,語之曰:「向來道邊有賣餅家蒜齏大酢,從取三升飲之,病自當去。」 即如佗言,立吐蛇一枚,縣車邊,欲造佗。 佗尚未還,小兒戲門前,逆見,自相謂曰:「似逢我公,車邊病是也。」 疾者前入坐,見佗北壁縣此蛇輩約以十數。
On the road he met a man choking on food, unable to swallow, whom relatives were rushing to a doctor. Hearing his groans, Tuo stopped and said, "Buy three pints of garlic sauce in strong vinegar from the pie-vendor yonder and drink it down—the obstruction will clear." The man did so, vomited a worm like a snake, hung it on the cart rail, and set off to thank Tuo. Tuo was out; his child played at the gate, spotted the visitor, and said to a playmate, "That must be Father's patient—the thing on the cart." Inside, the north wall was hung with dozens of similar "snakes" Tuo had drawn from patients.
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又有一郡守病,佗以為其人盛怒則差,乃多受其貨而不加治,無何棄去,留書罵之。 郡守果大怒,令人追捉殺佗。 郡守子知之,屬使勿逐。 守瞋恚既甚,吐黑血數升而愈。
For another prefect, Tuo believed rage would cure him—so he took a heavy fee, neglected treatment, vanished, and left an insulting letter. The official flew into a rage and sent men to hunt Tuo down for execution. His son, knowing the ruse, told the guards not to give chase. The pent-up fury brought up several pints of black blood, and he was cured.
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又有一士大夫不快,佗云:「君病深,當破腹取。 然君壽亦不過十年,病不能殺君,忍病十歲,壽俱當盡,不足故自刳裂。」 士大夫不耐痛癢,必欲除之。 佗遂下手,所患尋差,十年竟死。
Another gentleman felt ill; Tuo said, "The trouble is deep—you would need laparotomy. But you will not live ten years in any case; the ailment will not kill you first—so endure it rather than go under the knife for nothing." The man could not bear the discomfort and demanded surgery. Tuo operated; the symptoms vanished, but the man died exactly ten years later, as predicted.
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廣陵太守陳登得病,胸中煩懣,面赤不食。 佗脈之曰:「府君胃中有蟲數升,欲成內疽,食腥物所為也。」 即作湯二升,先服一升,斯須盡服之。 食頃,吐出三升許蟲,赤頭皆動,半身是生魚膾也,所苦便愈。 佗曰:「此病後三期當發,遇良醫乃可濟救。」 依期果發動,時佗不在,如言而死。
Chen Deng of Guangling had tightness and heat in the chest, a flushed face, and no appetite. Tuo felt his pulse and said, "You harbor several pints of parasites from raw fish; they are turning into an internal abscess." He brewed two pints of medicine, had Chen drink one, then the rest in short order. Moments later Chen vomited some three pints of red-headed writhing worms—half-digested sashimi—and the distress lifted. Tuo added, "It will return after three cycles; only a skilled doctor can save you then." The relapse came on schedule when Tuo was away, and Chen died as warned.
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太祖聞而召佗,佗常在左右。 太祖苦頭風,每發,心亂目眩,佗針鬲,隨手而差。 〈佗別傳曰:有人病兩腳躄不能行,轝詣佗,佗望見云:「己飽針灸服藥矣,不復須看脈。」 便使解衣,點背數十處,相去或一寸,或五寸,縱邪不相當。 言灸此各十壯,灸創愈即行。 後灸處夾脊一寸,上下行端直均調,如引繩也。〉
Cao Cao heard of him and kept Tuo constantly in attendance. Cao Cao's migraines brought vertigo and confusion; Tuo needled his diaphragm point and the attack subsided at once. 〈An alternate life records a paralytic carried to Tuo, who called from a distance, "You have already had needles, moxa, and drugs—no pulse needed." He bared the man's back and dotted dozens of points an inch or so apart in uneven rows. He told them to apply ten cones at each mark; when the burns healed, the patient could walk. When the scars healed, they formed straight lines flanking the spine, as if snapped from a chalk line.〉
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李將軍妻病甚,呼佗視脈,曰:「傷娠而胎不去。」 將軍言:「聞實傷娠,胎已去矣。」 佗曰:「案脈,胎未去也。」 將軍以為不然。 佗捨去,婦稍小差。 百餘日復動,更呼佗,佗曰:「此脈故事有胎。 前當生兩兒,一兒先出,血出甚多,後兒不及生。 母不自覺,旁人亦不寤,不復迎,遂不得生。 胎死,血脈不復歸,必燥著母脊,故使多脊痛。 今當與湯,並針一處,此死胎必出。」 湯針既加,婦痛急如欲生者。 佗曰:「此死胎久枯,不能自出,宜使人探之。」 果得一死男,手足完具,色黑,長可尺所。
General Li's wife lay desperately ill; Tuo read her pulse and said, "She miscarried, but a fetus remains within." The general protested, "She did miscarry, and we believe the afterbirth passed." Tuo said, "The pulse says otherwise—the fetus is still there." Li refused to believe him. Tuo left, and for a time the woman seemed better. A hundred days later her pains returned; Tuo returned and said, "The pulse still shows a pregnancy. She had been carrying twins; the first slipped out with heavy bleeding, and the second never followed. Neither she nor her attendants realized a second child remained; nothing was done to deliver it, so it stayed trapped. Dead, it desiccated against her backbone, which is why her back has ached so fiercely. Now I will give a draught and a single needle; the dead fetus will come away." After the medicine and needle, she writhed as if in labor. Tuo said, "It is mummified inside; someone must reach in and extract it." They brought out a black male stillbirth nearly a foot long, perfectly formed.
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佗之絕技,凡此類也。 然本作士人,以醫見業,意常自悔,後太祖親理,得病篤重,使佗專視。 佗曰:「此近難濟,恆事攻治,可延歲月。」 佗久遠家思歸,因曰:「當得家書,方欲暫還耳。」 到家,辭以妻病,數乞期不反。 太祖累書呼,又敕郡縣發遣。 佗恃能厭食事,猶不上道。 太祖大怒,使人往檢。 若妻信病,賜小豆四十斛,寬假限日; 若其虛詐,便收送之。 於是傳付許獄,考驗首服。 荀彧請曰:「佗術實工,人命所縣,宜含宥之。」 太祖曰:「不憂,天下當無此鼠輩耶?」 遂考竟佗。 佗臨死,出一卷書與獄吏,曰:「此可以活人。」 吏畏法不受,佗亦不強,索火燒之。 佗死後,太祖頭風未除。 太祖曰:「佗能愈此。 小人養吾病,欲以自重,然吾不殺此子,亦終當不為我斷此根原耳。」 及後愛子倉舒病困,太祖歎曰:「吾悔殺華佗,令此兒強死也。」
Such wonders typified Tuo's skill. Yet he had begun as a scholar and resented making medicine his trade; when Cao Cao took personal control of government and grew seriously ill, he demanded Tuo's exclusive care. Tuo said, "This is barely curable; constant treatment might buy you time." Longing for home, he claimed he needed a family letter and a brief leave." Once there, he pleaded his wife's sickness and repeatedly postponed his return. Cao wrote repeatedly and ordered local officials to send him back. Confident in his gift and loath to serve, he still refused to travel. Enraged, Cao sent agents to verify his story. If the wife was truly ill, grant forty hu of beans and extra time; if he lied, arrest him and bring him in. They took him to the Xu jail, where torture extracted a confession. Xun Yu pleaded, "Tuo's art saves lives; spare him." Cao retorted, "Are we short of such vermin in the world?" Tuo was executed after interrogation. At the block he handed the warden a medical scroll, saying, "This can save lives." The man dared not take it; Tuo did not insist and burned the book. After Tuo's death, Cao Cao's migraines persisted. Cao Cao said, "Hua Tuo could have cured this. That man kept my sickness lingering to inflate his own worth; even if I had spared him, he would never have rooted out the cause for good." Later, when his favorite son Cangshu lay dying, Cao Cao groaned, "I killed Hua Tuo—and doomed this boy to an untimely end."
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初,軍吏李成苦欬嗽,晝夜不寤,時吐膿血,以問佗。 佗言:「君病腸臃,欬之所吐,非從肺來也。 與君散兩錢,當吐二升餘膿血訖,快自養,一月可小起,好自將愛,一年便健。 十八歲當一小發,服此散,亦行復差。 若不得此藥,故當死。」 復與兩錢散,成得藥去。 五六歲,親中人有病如成者,謂成曰:「卿今強健,我欲死,何忍無急去藥, 〈臣松之案:古語以藏為去。〉 以待不祥? 先持貸我,我差,為卿從華佗更索。」 成與之。 已故到譙,適值佗見收,怱怱不忍從求。 後十八歲,成病竟發,無藥可服,以至於死。 〈佗別傳曰:人有在青龍中見山陽太守廣陵劉景宗,景宗說中平日數見華佗,其治病手脈之候,其驗若神。 瑯琊劉勛為河內太守,有女年幾二十,左腳膝裡上有瘡,癢而不痛。 瘡愈數十日復發,如此七八年,迎佗使視,佗曰:「是易治之。 當得稻糠黃色犬一頭,好馬二疋。」 以繩繫犬頸,使走馬牽犬,馬極輒易,計馬走三十餘里,犬不能行,復令步人拖曳,計向五十里。 乃以藥飲女,女即安臥不知人。 因取大刀斷犬腹近後腳之前,以所斷之處向瘡口,令去二三寸。 停之須臾,有若蛇者從瘡中而出,便以鐵椎橫貫蛇頭。 蛇在皮中動搖良久,須臾不動,乃牽出,長三尺所,純是蛇,但有眼處而無童子,又逆鱗耳。 以膏散著瘡中,七日愈。 又有人苦頭眩,頭不得舉,目不得視,積年。 佗使悉解衣倒懸,令頭去地一二寸,濡布拭身體,令周匝,候視諸脈,盡出五色。 佗令弟子數人以鈹刀決脈,五色血盡,視赤血,乃下,以膏摩被覆,汗自出周匝,飲以亭歷犬血散,立愈。 又有婦人長病經年,世謂寒熱注病者。 冬十一月中,佗令坐石槽中,平旦用寒水汲灌,云當滿百。 始七八灌,會戰欲死,灌者懼,欲止。 佗令滿數。 將至八十灌,熱氣乃蒸出,囂囂高二三尺。 滿百灌,佗乃使然火溫床,厚覆,良久汗洽出,著粉,汗燥便愈。 又有人病腹中半切痛,十餘日中,鬢眉墮落。 佗曰:「是脾半腐,可刳腹養治也。」 使飲藥令臥,破腹就視,脾果半腐壞。 以刀斷之,刮去惡肉,以膏傅瘡,飲之以藥,百日平復。〉
Long before, the clerk Li Cheng had a racking cough that allowed him no sleep, often bringing up pus and blood; he sought out Hua Tuo. Tuo told him, "You have an abscessed bowel; the bloody sputum is not from the lungs. He gave two cash-measures of powder: "You will bring up over two pints of purulent blood, then convalesce; in a month you may be up, in a year sound—if you mind yourself. At age eighteen expect a mild relapse; take this same powder and you will recover again. Without that drug when the crisis comes, you will die." He dispensed another two measures; Li Cheng left with the remedy in hand. Five or six years on, a kinsman fell ill as Li had and pleaded, "You are robust while I perish—how can you hoard your stockpiled cure? 〈Pei Songzhi notes: Archaic usage treated "put away" as "qu," i.e., stored.〉 Are you waiting for disaster to strike me first? Lend it now; when I am well I will get you a fresh supply from Hua Tuo." Li Cheng handed it over. When the patient reached Qiao, Tuo had already been arrested, and there was no time to beg another dose. At eighteen the predicted relapse struck Li Cheng; without the powder he died. 〈Anecdotal biography: During Qinglong someone met Liu Jingzong of Guangling, prefect of Shanyang, who recalled seeing Tuo often in Zhongping times—his pulse diagnoses seemed almost supernatural. Liu Xun of Langya, as prefect of Henei, had a daughter of about twenty with an itchy, painless sore inside her left knee. It would heal, then return after weeks—year after year for seven or eight years. Tuo examined her and said, "This is simple to cure. You need a straw-colored dog and two sound horses." They tethered the dog and had a rider drag it at a gallop, swapping mounts when each tired—over thirty li until the dog collapsed, then foot soldiers hauled it on until the total neared fifty li. He dosed the girl; she sank into a trance-like sleep. He slit the dog's belly near the hind legs and pressed the wound to hers, held two or three inches off the ulcer. Soon something serpentine emerged from her sore; he pinned its head with an iron skewer. It thrashed under her skin, then went limp; he drew out a three-foot creature that was all snake yet lacked true eyes and bore scales in reverse. He packed the wound with salve; she healed in seven days. Another man had endured years of vertigo—unable to lift his head or open his eyes. Tuo stripped him, hung him head-down an inch or two from the floor, swabbed his body with a soaked cloth, and watched colored blood fill the surface veins. Apprentices lanced the veins until the dark discharge cleared to true red; he salved and wrapped him, induced a thorough sweat, then gave a pepperweed-and-dog-blood powder—cure was instant. A woman had wasted for years with what folk called alternating fever and chills. One winter eleventh month he seated her in a stone trough and at dawn began pouring cold water, aiming for a hundred drenchings. After seven or eight dousings she shook as if in shock, and the attendants wanted to quit. Tuo insisted they finish the full count. Near the eightieth bucket, steam rose from her body two or three feet high. At the hundredth pouring he moved her to a heated couch under heavy quilts until she broke a full sweat, dusted her with powder, and she emerged cured. Another patient felt his abdomen sliced in two for a fortnight as his temples and eyebrows fell out. Tuo said, "Half the spleen has putrefied; open the belly and we can save you." After a sleeping draught he opened the cavity—the spleen was half necrotic, as he had said. He excised the rot, dressed the wound, and prescribed drugs; the man was whole again within a hundred days.〉
20
廣陵吳普、彭城樊阿皆從佗學。 普依準佗治,多所全濟。 佗語普曰:「人體欲得勞動,但不當使極爾。 動搖則谷氣得消,血脈流通,病不得生,譬猶戶樞不朽是也。 是以古之仙者為導引之事,熊頸鴟顧,引輓腰體,動諸關節,以求難老。 吾有一術,名五禽之戲,一曰虎,二曰鹿,三曰熊,四曰猿,五曰鳥,亦以除疾,並利蹄足,以當導引。 體中不快,起作一禽之戲,沾濡汗出,因上著粉,身體輕便,腹中欲食。」 普施行之,年九十餘,耳目聰明,齒牙完堅。 阿善針術。 凡醫咸言背及胸藏之間不可妄針,針之不過四分,而阿針背入一二寸,巨闕胸藏針下五六寸,而病輒皆瘳。 阿從佗求可服食益於人者,佗授以漆葉青黏散。 漆葉屑一升,青黏屑十四兩,以是為率,言久服去三蟲,利五藏,輕體,使人頭不白。 阿從其言,壽百餘歲。 漆葉處所而有,青黏生於豐、沛、彭城及朝歌云。 〈佗別傳曰:青黏者,一名地節,一名黃芝,主理五藏,益精氣。 本出於迷入山者,見仙人服之,以告佗。 佗以為佳,輒語阿,阿又秘之。 近者人見阿之壽而氣力強盛,怪之,遂責阿所服,因醉亂誤道之。 法一施,人多服者,皆有大驗。 文帝《典論論郤儉等事》曰:「潁川郤儉能辟穀,餌伏苓。 甘陵甘始亦善行氣,老有少容。 廬江左慈知補導之術。 並為軍吏。 初,儉之至,巿伏苓價暴數倍。 議郎安平李覃學其辟穀,餐伏苓,飲寒水,中洩利,殆至隕命。 後始來,眾人無不鴟視狼顧,呼吸吐納。 軍謀祭酒弘農董芬為之過差,氣閉不通,良久乃蘇。 左慈到,又競受其補導之術,至寺人嚴峻,往從問受。 閹豎真無事於斯術也,人之逐聲,乃至於是。 光和中,北海王和平亦好道術,自以當仙。 濟南孫邕少事之,從至京師。 會和平病死,邕因葬之東陶,有書百餘卷,藥數囊,悉以送之。 後弟子夏榮言其屍解。 邕至今恨不取其寶書仙藥。 劉向惑於鴻寶之說,君遊眩於子政之言,古今愚謬,豈唯一人哉!」 東阿王作 〈辯道論〉 曰:「世有方士,吾王悉所招致,甘陵有甘始,廬江有左慈,陽城有郤儉。 始行氣導引,慈曉房中之術,儉善辟穀,悉號三百歲。 卒所以集之於魏國者,誠恐斯人之徒,接姦宄以欺眾,行妖慝以惑民,豈復欲觀神仙於瀛洲,求安期於海島,釋金輅而履雲輿,棄六驥而美飛龍哉? 自家王與太子及餘兄弟咸以為調笑,不信之矣。 然始等知上遇之有恆,奉不過於員吏,賞不加於無功,海島難得而遊,六黻難得而佩,終不敢進虛誕之言,出非常之語。 余嘗試郤儉絕穀百日,躬與之寢處,行步起居自若也。 夫人不食七日則死,而儉乃如是。 然不必益壽,可以療疾而不憚饑饉焉。 左慈善修房內之術,差可終命,然自非有志至精,莫能行也。 甘始者,老而有少容,自諸術士咸共歸之。 然始辭繁寡實,頗有怪言。 余常辟左右,獨與之談,問其所行,溫顏以誘之,美辭以導之,始語余:『吾本師姓韓字世雄,嘗與師於南海作金,前後數四,投萬斤金於海。』 又言:『諸梁時,西域胡來獻香罽、腰帶、割玉刀,時悔不取也。』 又言:『車師之西國。 兒生,擘背出脾,欲其食少而弩行也。』 又言:『取鯉魚五寸一雙,合其一煮藥,俱投沸膏中,有藥者奮尾鼓鰓,遊行沉浮,有若處淵,其一者已熟而可啖。』 余時問:『言率可試不?』 言:『是藥去此逾萬里,當出塞; 始不自行不能得也。』 言不盡於此,頗難悉載,故粗舉其巨怪者。 始若遭秦始皇、漢武帝,則復為徐巿、欒大之徒也。」〉
Wu Pu of Guangling and Fan A of Pengcheng studied under Hua Tuo. Wu Pu practiced Tuo's methods and saved countless patients. Tuo told him, "The body needs motion, yet never to the point of exhaustion. Exercise digests food, keeps the blood moving, and wards off illness—like a hinge that never rusts. The ancients who sought long life practiced daoyin—arching like a bear, turning like an owl, flexing waist and spine and every joint to slow old age. I teach the Five-Animal Dance—tiger, deer, bear, ape, and bird—to drive out sickness, limber the legs, and stand in for formal daoyin. When you feel off, perform one animal form until you sweat, powder down, and you will feel light, limber, and hungry." Wu Pu kept at it past ninety with keen senses and a full set of teeth. Fan A excelled at acupuncture. Physicians warned that needling between back and viscera was perilous and depth should stay within four fen; Fan A drove needles an inch or two into the back and five or six cun into Juque over the heart, yet his patients always recovered. Fan A asked for a tonic formula; Tuo gave him the lacquer-leaf and green-adhesive powder. The recipe calls for one sheng of powdered lacquer leaves to fourteen liang of green-adhesive powder; long use, he claimed, expels parasites, tones the organs, lightens the body, and delays gray hair. Fan A followed the regimen and lived past a hundred. Lacquer trees grow widely; green adhesive is said to come from Feng, Pei, Pengcheng, and Zhaoge. 〈The anecdotal biography identifies green adhesive as "earth joint" or "yellow fungus," a drug that regulates the five viscera and nourishes essence. A lost traveler in the hills saw an immortal ingest it and told Tuo. Tuo prized the herb and taught Fan A, who guarded the formula. When people noticed Fan A's vigor and pressed him, he let slip the secret while drunk. Once published, everyone who tried it reported striking results. Cao Pi's Dianlun records: "Xi Jian of Yingchuan practiced grain avoidance and fed on poria. Gan Shi of Ganling was adept at breath circulation and kept a youthful face into old age. Zuo Ci of Lujiang mastered tonic daoyin exercises. All served on the army staff. When Xi Jian first appeared, the price of poria in the market shot up several times over. Li Tan of Anping copied his fast, swallowed poria, drank ice water, and nearly died of dysentery. When Gan Shi arrived, onlookers gaped like owls and wolves, aping his breathing exercises. Dong Fen, the army libationer from Hongnong, overdid the practice, lost his breath, and lay unconscious a long while before reviving. When Zuo Ci came, courtiers scrambled for his regimen—even the eunuch Yan Jun sought instruction. Eunuchs had no use for such skills, yet the fad for novelty ran that deep. During Guanghe, Wang Heping of Beihai dabbled in Daoist arts and fancied himself destined for immortality. Sun Yong of Jinan followed him in youth all the way to Luoyang. Wang died of natural causes; Sun Yong buried him east of Tao with his hundred-odd scrolls and several bags of drugs. Later a disciple, Xia Rong, claimed Wang had "corpse liberated" instead of dying. Sun Yong still regrets not keeping those precious texts and elixirs. Liu Xiang fell for the Hongbao books, another lord swooned at Zizheng's talk—credulity is hardly a lone sin across the ages." The Prince of Dong'e composed 〈Discourse on the Dao and wrote: "The court harbors every sort of fangshi: Gan Shi at Ganling, Zuo Ci in Lujiang, Xi Jian in Yangcheng. Gan Shi breathed and stretched, Zuo Ci knew bedroom alchemy, Xi Jian fasted—each billed himself as three centuries old. They were rounded up in Wei lest such men abet rogues and beguile the realm—not because anyone expected to sight immortals off Yingzhou or trade the imperial coach for a cloud chariot. The king, crown prince, and brothers treated the whole business as a joke. Still, the adepts knew Cao's favor had limits—pay like petty clerks, no rewards without merit, no trips to fairy isles or six-pattern silks—so they never spouted outright imposture. I put Xi Jian on a hundred-day grain fast, roomed with him, and watched him walk and sleep like any other man. A man starves in seven days without food, yet Xi endured a hundred. It may not extend life, but it can cure some ills and blunt hunger. Zuo Ci's bedroom arts might prolong life, yet only the most disciplined could sustain them. Gan Shi kept a boyish face in old age and drew every charlatan to his circle. His speech was long on marvels and short on proof. Alone with him I coaxed stories: he claimed his master Han Shixiong had several times transmuted gold at the Southern Sea and cast ten thousand jin into the waves. He spoke of Hu envoys under the Liang who offered scented rugs, jeweled belts, and jade knives—treasures he now regretted refusing. He mentioned a land west of Cheshi where newborns had their backs split to excise the spleen so they would eat little and march like crossbowmen. He told of twin five-inch carp, one boiled with drugs and both dropped into hot oil—the drugged fish swam about while its twin fried crisp. I asked whether any of this could be demonstrated. He answered that the drug lay ten thousand li away, beyond the border, and only he could fetch it in person." There was more, too bizarre to set down; I give only the wildest samples. Had Gan Shi met the First Emperor or Wu Di, he would have joined the ranks of Xu Fu and Luan Da."〉"
21
杜夔字公良,河南人也。 以知音為雅樂郎,中平五年,疾去官。 州郡司徒禮辟,以世亂奔荊州。 荊州牧劉表令與孟曜為漢主合雅樂,樂備,表欲庭觀之,夔諫曰:「今將軍號 (不) 為天子合樂,而庭作之,無乃不可乎!」 表納其言而止。 後表子琮降太祖,太祖以夔為軍謀祭酒,參太樂事,因令創製雅樂。
Du Kui, styled Gongliang, was a native of Henan. His ear for pitch won him a post as Master of Court Music; illness forced him to resign in Zhongping 5. Local authorities and the minister of education repeatedly called him to serve, but he fled to Jingzhou to escape the turmoil. Governor Liu Biao paired Du Kui with Meng Yao to compile proper Han court music; when the pieces were ready, Liu wanted a courtyard performance, but Du Kui objected: "Given your current rank, (A variant gloss inserts the negative "not.") To score music fit for the Son of Heaven and parade it in your own courtyard would be presumptuous in the extreme." Liu Biao took the point and called off the display. When Liu Cong yielded to Cao Cao, Du Kui was made army libationer in charge of court music and charged with composing new ritual pieces.
22
夔善鐘律,聰思過人,絲竹八音,靡所不能,惟歌舞非所長。 時散郎鄧靜、尹齊善詠雅樂,歌師尹胡能歌宗廟郊祀之曲,舞師馮肅、服養曉知先代諸舞,夔總統研精,遠考諸經,近採故事,教習講肄,備作樂器,紹复先代古樂,皆自夔始也。
Du Kui mastered bell temperament and every wind and string of the eight categories, though song and dance were not his forte. He coordinated specialists—Deng Jing and Yin Qi for lyrics, Yin Hu for temple hymns, Feng Su and Fu Yang for archaic choreography—collated classical texts and living practice, trained the musicians, built the instruments, and thus revived the old court repertoire.
23
黃初中,為太樂令、協律都尉。 漢鑄鐘工柴玉巧有意思,形器之中,多所造作,亦為時貴人見知。 夔令玉鑄銅鐘,其聲均清濁多不如法,數毀改作。 玉甚厭之,謂夔清濁任意,頗拒捍夔。 夔、玉更相白於太祖,太祖取所鑄鐘,雜錯更試,然知夔為精而玉之妄也,於是罪玉及諸子,皆為養馬士。 文帝愛待玉,又嘗令夔與 (左原) 〔左𩥄〕等於賓客之中吹笙鼓琴,夔有難色,由是帝意不悅。 後因他事系夔,使 (原) 等就學,夔自謂所習者雅,仕宦有本,意猶不滿,遂黜免以卒。
Under Huangchu he served as director of the imperial music bureau and chief of pitch regulation. The Han bell-founder Chai Yu was a versatile artisan whose work caught the eye of the great. Du Kui had him cast bronze bells, but their tuning repeatedly failed; time after time the bells were melted down and remade. Chai Yu grew resentful, accusing Du Kui of arbitrary standards and openly resisting him. Both appealed to Cao Cao, who tested the bells himself, found Du Kui right and Chai Yu wrong, and reduced Chai and his sons to stable hands. Emperor Wen favored Chai Yu and once ordered Du Kui to join (Text variant: "Zuo Yuan.") [Zuo Yin] and others in playing sheng and qin for guests; Du Kui looked pained, which displeased the emperor. Later, on another pretext, he had Du Kui arrested and sent (Variant graph for the name.) The emperor jailed him on another charge and compelled Zuo Yin and the others to study under him. Du Kui insisted that his métier was orthodox court ritual and that his official pedigree was sound, yet he remained bitter until he was dismissed from office and died.
24
弟子河南邵登、張泰、桑馥,各至太樂丞,下邳陳頏司律中郎將。 自左延年等雖妙於音,咸善鄭聲,其好古存正莫及夔。
His pupils Shao Deng, Zhang Tai, and Sang Fu of Henan rose to assistant directors of music; Chen Hui of Xiapi became chief of pitch as a middle general. Musicians such as Zuo Yannian favored the sensual Zheng style; none matched Du Kui in devotion to classical correctness.
25
〈時有扶風馬鈞,巧思絕世。 傅玄 〈序〉 之曰:「馬先生,天下之名巧也,少而遊豫,不自知其為巧也。 當此之時,言不及巧,焉可以言知乎? 為博士居貧,乃思綾機之變,不言而世人知其巧矣。 舊綾機五十綜者五十躡,六十綜者六十躡,先生患其喪功費日,乃皆易以十二躡。 其奇文異變,因感而作者,猶自然之成形,陰陽之無窮,此輪扁之對不可以言言者,又焉可以言校也。 先生為給事中,與常侍高堂隆、驍騎將軍秦朗爭論於朝,言及指南車,二子謂古無指南車,記言之虛也。 先生曰:『古有之,未之思耳,夫何遠之有!』 二子哂之曰:『先生名鈞字德衡,鈞者器之模,而衡者所以定物之輕重; 輕重無準而莫不模哉!』 先生曰:『虛爭空言,不如試之易效也。』 於是二子遂以白明帝,詔先生作之,而指南車成。 此一異也,又不可以言者也,從是天下服其巧矣。 居京都,城內有地,可以為園,患無水以灌之,乃作翻車,令童兒轉之,而灌水自覆,更入更出,其巧百倍於常。 此二異也。 其後人有上百戲者,能設而不能動也。 帝以問先生:『可動否?』 對曰:『可動。』 帝曰:『其巧可益否?』 對曰:『可益。』 受詔作之。 以大木彫構,使其形若輪,平地施之,潛以水發焉。 設為女樂舞象,至令木人擊鼓吹簫; 作山岳,使木人跳丸擲劍,緣絙倒立,出入自在; 百官行署,舂磨鬥雞,變巧百端。 此三異也。 先生見諸葛亮連弩,曰:『巧則巧矣,未盡善也。』 言作之可令加五倍。 又患發石車,敵人之於樓邊縣濕牛皮,中之則墮,石不能連屬而至。 欲作一輪,縣大石數十,以機鼓輪為常,則以斷縣石飛擊敵城,使首尾電至。 嘗試以車輪縣瓴甓數十,飛之數百步矣。 有裴子者,上國之士也,精通見理,聞而哂之。 乃難先生,先生口屈不對。 裴子自以為難得其要,言之不已。 傅子謂裴子曰:『子所長者言也,所短者巧也。 馬氏所長者巧也,所短者言也。 以子所長,擊彼所短,則不得不屈。 以子所短,難彼所長,則必有所不解者矣。 夫巧,天下之微事也,有所不解而難之不已,其相擊刺,必已遠矣。 心乖於內,口屈於外,此馬氏所以不對也。』 傅子見安鄉侯,言及裴子之論,安鄉侯又與裴子同。 傅子曰:『聖人具體備物,取人不以一揆也:有以神取之者,有以言取之者,有以事取之者。 有以神取之者,不言而誠心先達,德行顏淵之倫是也。 以言取之者,以變辯是非,言語宰我、子貢是也。 以事取之者,若政事冉有、季路,文學子遊、子夏。 雖聖人之明盡物,如有所用,必有所試,然則試冉、季以政,試遊、夏以學矣。 遊、夏猶然,況自此而降者乎! 何者? 懸言物理,不可以言盡也,施之於事,言之難盡而試之易知也。 今若馬氏所欲作者,國之精器,軍之要用也。 費十尋之木,勞二人之力,不經時而是非定。 難試易驗之事而輕以言抑人異能,此猶以己智任天下之事,不易其道以御難盡之物,此所以多廢也。 馬氏所作,因變而得是,則初所言者不皆是矣。 其不皆是,因不用之,是不世之巧無由出也。 夫同情者相妒,同事者相害,中人所不能免也。 故君子不以人害人,必以考試為衡石; 廢衡石而不用,此美玉所以見誣為石,荊和所以抱璞而哭之也。』 於是安鄉侯悟,遂言之武安侯,武安侯忽之,不果試也。 此既易試之事,又馬氏巧名已定,猶忽而不察,況幽深之才,無名之璞乎? 後之君子其鑑之哉! 馬先生之巧,雖古公輸般、墨翟、王爾,近漢世張平子,不能過也。 公輸般、墨翟皆見用於時,乃有益於世。 平子雖為侍中,馬先生雖給事省中,俱不典工官,巧無益於世。 用人不當其才,聞賢不試以事,良可恨也。」 裴子者,裴秀。 安鄉侯者,曹羲。 武安侯者,曹爽也。〉
〈There was also Ma Jun of Fufeng, an inventor without peer in his day. Fu Xuan 〈In his preface〉 writes of him: "Master Ma was the kingdom's most celebrated mechanician; in youth he wandered carefree, unaware of his own gift. In those days no one spoke of ingenuity—how could words alone reveal it? Poor as a court academic, he redesigned the figured-silk loom; wordlessly, the world saw his genius. Old looms needed fifty treadles for fifty shafts and sixty for sixty; he replaced them all with twelve treadles, saving labor and time. The patterns that sprang from his device seemed as natural as creation itself—like Wheelwright Bian's insight, beyond words, let alone petty comparison. As a palace adviser he argued with Gao Tang Long and Qin Lang about the south-pointing chariot; they insisted antiquity never had one and that the records lied. Ma Jun replied, "The ancients had it; you simply have not thought it through—it is hardly beyond reach!" They sneered: "Your name is Jun, style Deheng—'template' and 'balance'; yet without a true standard for weight, what sort of 'template' is that?" Ma Jun answered, "Verbal sparring proves nothing; build one and see." They relayed the dispute to Emperor Ming, who ordered a prototype—and the chariot worked. That was his first wonder, inexplicable in mere words, and the empire conceded his skill. In the capital he rigged a chain-pump for his garden, turned by boys, that lifted water in an endless cascade—a hundred times cleverer than ordinary lifts. That was his second marvel. Later an artisan offered a set of "hundred entertainments"—static models with no motion. The emperor asked Ma Jun, "Can you make them move?" They can," he said." Can you improve on their ingenuity?" Yes," he replied. He received an imperial commission to do so. He carved a great wheel-shaped frame and drove it with concealed hydraulics on level ground. He staged female dancers and had wooden figures beat drums and play flutes; built miniature peaks where puppets juggled, threw swords, walked ropes, and stood on their hands; showed clerks at their desks, mortars grinding, cocks fighting—ingenuity without end. That was his third marvel. Seeing Zhuge Liang's repeating crossbow, he said, "Clever, yes, but not yet perfect." He claimed he could quintuple its rate of fire. He also faulted the stone-throwing engine: defenders hung wet hides from parapets so missiles stuck and could not strike in volleys. He designed a revolving wheel hung with dozens of boulders; a crank would snap the ropes in turn and hurl them at the walls in rapid succession. In a trial he slung roof-tiles from a wheel and flung them hundreds of paces. Pei Xiu, a man of learning, heard the claim and scoffed. He cross-examined Ma Jun until the inventor was speechless. Pei thought he had won the argument and pressed on. Fu Xuan told Pei, "You excel at debate but not at craft. Ma Jun excels at craft, not rhetoric. Attack his weakness with your strength and of course he falters. Challenge his strength with your weakness and you will miss the point entirely. Ingenuity is subtle; to harangue what you cannot grasp only widens the gulf between you. That is why Ma Jun fell silent—inner conviction against outer eloquence." Fu Xuan repeated the tale to Marquis Cao Xi, who sided with Pei. Fu Xuan said, "The sage judges men many ways—by spirit, by words, by deeds. Spirit shines through without a word, as with Yan Hui's virtue. Some win notice through debate, like Zai Wo or Zigong. Others by deeds—Ran You and Zilu in government, Ziyou and Zixia in letters. Even the sage tested disciples: Ran and Zilu in office, Ziyou and Zixia in study. If Confucius tested even them, how much more humble talents? Why? Physical principles outrun language, but a trial settles the matter quickly. Ma Jun's devices are vital to the army and the realm. They cost a little wood and two men's labor, yet proof comes in moments. To dismiss proven ingenuity with words is to govern the world by conceit alone—hence so many worthy projects are wasted. Ma Jun revised his way to success, so his first claims were not wholly correct. Reject him for that, and unmatched skill never sees the light of day. Kindred spirits envy one another; rivals in office wound one another—ordinary men cannot escape it. The gentleman does not ruin a man out of spite; he weighs ability with practical tests. Abandon that measure, and flawless jade is mocked as common stone—that is why Bian He clutched his raw gem and wept." Cao Xi saw the point and spoke to Cao Shuang, who shrugged it off—no trial was ever held. If even a famous, easily tested marvel could be ignored, what hope for obscure genius? Let later ages take warning! Ma Jun's ingenuity rivaled Gongshu Ban, Mozi, Wang Er, and even Zhang Heng. Those masters were employed and benefited the world. Yet Zhang Heng and Ma Jun never ran the Ministry of Works—so their genius profited no one. Misusing talent and refusing to test the worthy is a crying shame." Master Pei is Pei Xiu. The Marquis of Anxiang is Cao Xi. The Marquis of Wu'an is Cao Shuang.〉
26
朱建平
Zhu Jianping
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朱建平,沛國人也。 善相術,於閭巷之間,效驗非一。 太祖為魏公,聞之,召為郎。 文帝為五官將,坐上會客三十餘人,文帝問己年壽,又令遍相眾賓。 建平曰:「將軍當壽八十,至四十時當有小厄,願謹護之。」 謂夏侯威曰:「君四十九位為州牧,而當有厄,厄若得過,可年至七十,致位公輔。」 謂應璩曰:「君六十二位為常伯,而當有厄,先此一年,當獨見一白狗,而旁人不見也。」 謂曹彪曰:「君據藩國,至五十七當厄於兵,宜善防之。」
Zhu Jianping came from Pei. He practiced face-reading in the streets, and his predictions repeatedly came true. When Cao Cao was Duke of Wei, he summoned Zhu as a court gentleman. At a banquet of more than thirty guests, while Cao Pi was commander of the five offices, he asked Zhu for his own fate and bade him read every guest. Zhu told him, "You are fated for eighty years of life, but at forty a lesser calamity will threaten you; take extraordinary care in that year." To Xiahou Wei he said, "At forty-nine you will govern a province but face mortal danger; survive it and you may reach seventy as a chief minister." To Ying Qu he warned of a spirit sighting—a white dog visible only to him—the year before he died at sixty-two as a senior attendant." To Prince Cao Biao he said, "You will rule a kingdom but perish by the sword at fifty-seven unless you take care."
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初,潁川荀攸、鍾繇相與親善。 攸先亡,子幼。 繇經紀其門戶,欲嫁其妾。 與人書曰:「吾與公達曾共使朱建平相,建平曰:『荀君雖少,然當以後事付鍾君。』 吾時啁之曰:『惟當嫁卿阿騖耳。』 何意此子竟早隕沒,戲言遂驗乎! 今欲嫁阿騖,使得善處。 追思建平之妙,雖唐舉、許負何以復加也!」
Xun You and Zhong Yao of Yingchuan were close friends. When Xun You died young, his son was still a child. Zhong Yao kept house for the widowed household and planned to marry out Xun You's concubine. He wrote, "Gongda and I once consulted Zhu Jianping together; Zhu said, 'Though Xun You is young, you will one day leave your unfinished business to Zhong Yao. I joked back, 'Then you will only marry off your nag Ah Wu. Who imagined the boy would die so soon—and that idle taunt would prove true? Now I mean to find Ah Wu a proper match. Looking back at Zhu's art, not even Tang Ju or Xu Fu could surpass it!"
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文帝黃初七年,年四十,病困,謂左右曰:「建平所言八十,謂晝夜也,吾其決矣。」 頃之,果崩。 夏侯威為兗州刺史,年四十九,十二月上旬得疾,念建平之言,自分必死,豫作遺令及送喪之備,咸使素辦。 至下旬轉差,垂以平復。 三十日日昃,請紀綱大吏設酒,曰:「吾所苦漸平,明日雞鳴,年便五十,建平之戒,眞必過矣。」 威罷客之後,合瞑疾動,夜半遂卒。 璩六十一為侍中,直省內,欻見白狗,問之眾人,悉無見者。 於是數聚會,並急遊觀田裡,飲宴自娛,過期一年,六十三卒。 曹彪封楚王,年五十七,坐與王淩通謀,賜死。 凡說此輩,無不如言,不能具詳,故粗記數事。 惟相司空王昶、征北將軍程喜、中領軍王肅有蹉跌云。 肅年六十二,疾篤,眾醫並以為不愈。 肅夫人問以遺言,肅云:「建平相我踰七十,位至三公,今皆未也,將何慮乎!」 而肅竟卒。
In Huangchu 7, at forty and mortally ill, Cao Pi told his attendants, "Zhu's 'eighty years' meant counting each day as two—I suppose my span is fixed." Soon afterward he died. Xiahou Wei, forty-nine and governor of Yanzhou, fell ill in early December, recalled Zhu's prophecy, assumed death was near, and laid out his will and shroud in sober white. By late month he rallied and seemed nearly well. On the thirtieth, at dusk, he feasted his steward and said, "The pain is lifting; at dawn I turn fifty and will have outlived Zhu's warning." When the guests left he lay down, the sickness surged back, and he died before midnight. At sixty-one Ying Qu, on duty as palace attendant, suddenly saw a white dog no one else could see. He threw banquets, raced through the countryside, and feasted for sport until a year past the fated date—then died at sixty-three. Prince Cao Biao of Chu, aged fifty-seven, was condemned for plotting with Wang Ling and forced to take his own life. In every such case Zhu's words came true; space forbids a full list, so only a few instances are set down. They say he missed only with Wang Chang, Cheng Xi, and Wang Su. At sixty-two Wang Su lay dying, and every doctor despaired of him. His wife begged a parting word; Wang Su said, "Zhu promised me past seventy and rank among the Three Dukes—none of that has come—so why worry?" Nevertheless he died.
30
建平又善相馬。 文帝將出,取馬外入,建平道遇之,語曰:「此馬之相,今日死矣。」 帝將乘馬,馬惡衣香,驚囓文帝膝,帝大怒,即便殺之。 建平黃初中卒。
Zhu Jianping could read horses as well as faces. As Cao Pi was leaving, Zhu met the incoming mount and said, "This beast dies today." The horse shied at the scent of his robes, snapped at his knee, and in a fury he had it slaughtered on the spot. Zhu Jianping died during the Huangchu era.
31
周宣字孔和,樂安人也。 為郡吏。 太守楊沛夢人曰:「八月一日曹公當至,必與君杖,飲以藥酒。」 使宣占之。 是時黃巾賊起,宣對曰:「夫杖起弱者,藥治人病,八月一日,賊必除滅。」 至期,賊果破。
Zhou Xuan, styled Konghe, came from Le'an. He held a clerkship in the commandery. Prefect Yang Pei dreamed a voice: "On the eighth month's first day Lord Cao will come, cane you, and give you a draught of physic." He asked Zhou Xuan to interpret the dream. Yellow Turbans were active; Zhou replied, "A staff aids the feeble, medicine cures sickness—the calends of the eighth month will see the rebels destroyed." On that day the uprising collapsed as he said.
32
後東平劉楨夢蛇生四足,穴居門中,使宣占之,宣曰:「此為國夢,非君家之事也。 當殺女子而作賊者。」 頃之,女賊鄭、姜遂俱夷討,以蛇女子之祥,足非蛇之所宜故也。
Later Liu Zhen of Dongping dreamed a snake growing four feet, dwelling in a burrow in the gate; he ordered Xuan to divine it; Xuan said: "This is a dream for the state, not your lordship's household affair. It means women outlaws will be executed." Soon the women rebels Zheng and Jiang were put down—the serpent stood for women, and legs were an ill omen on a snake.
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文帝問宣曰:「吾夢殿屋兩瓦墮地,化為雙鴛鴦,此何謂也?」 宣對曰:「後宮當有暴死者。」 帝曰:「吾詐卿耳!」 宣對曰:「夫夢者意耳,苟以形言,便佔吉凶。」 言未畢,而黃門令奏宮人相殺。 無幾,帝復問曰:「我昨夜夢青氣自地屬天。」 宣對曰:「天下當有貴女子冤死。」 是時,帝已遣使賜甄後璽書,聞宣言而悔之,遣人追使者不及。 帝復問曰:「吾夢摩錢文,欲令滅而更愈明,此何謂邪?」 宣悵然不對。 帝重問之,宣對曰:「此自陛下家事,雖意欲爾而太后不聽,是以文欲滅而明耳。」 時帝欲治弟植之罪,偪於太后,但加貶爵。 以宣為中郎,屬太史。
Cao Pi asked Zhou, "Two roof tiles fell and became mandarin ducks—what omen is that?" Someone in the harem will die a violent death," Zhou answered." I made it up," said the emperor." Dreams follow the mind," Zhou said; "treat the images seriously and they foretell fortune or woe." Before he finished, a eunuch reported a fatal brawl among the palace women. Soon Cao Pi added, "Last night green mist rose from the ground to the sky." A highborn woman will die unjustly beneath heaven," said Zhou. He had already dispatched an edict commanding Empress Zhen to kill herself; hearing Zhou he tried to recall the courier but was too late. The Emperor again asked: "I dreamed rubbing the coin inscription, wishing to make it vanish yet it grew brighter; what is the meaning?" Zhou fell silent, troubled. Pressed again, he said, "This is your own family matter: you would erase your brother, but the empress dowager forbids it—hence the vanishing script that only shines the brighter." Cao Pi had meant to crush Cao Zhi but, blocked by the dowager, merely cut his fief. He made Zhou Xuan a palace gentleman attached to the imperial astronomer.
34
嘗有問宣曰:「吾昨夜夢見芻狗,其占何也?」 宣答曰:「君欲得美食耳!」 有頃,出行,果遇豐膳。 後又問宣曰:「昨夜復夢見芻狗,何也?」 宣曰:「君欲墮車折腳,宜戒慎之。」 頃之,果如宣言。 後又問宣:「昨夜復夢見芻狗,何也?」 宣曰:「君家失火,當善護之。」 俄遂火起。 語宣曰:「前後三時,皆不夢也。 聊試君耳,何以皆驗邪?」 宣對曰:「此神靈動君使言,故與眞夢無異也。」 又問宣曰:「三夢芻狗而其占不同,何也?」 宣曰:「芻狗者,祭神之物。 故君始夢,當得餘食也。 祭祀既訖,則芻狗為車所轢,故中夢當墮車折腳也。 芻狗既車轢之後,必載以為樵,故後夢憂失火也。」 宣之敘夢,凡此類也。 十中八九,世以比建平之相矣。 其餘效故不次列。 明帝末卒。
A client asked about dreaming a straw sacrifice-dog." You are in for a feast," Zhou said. Shortly after, the man walked out into a banquet. He returned to ask why he had dreamed the straw dog again." You will tumble from a cart and break a leg—take care," Zhou warned. It happened exactly as he said. A third time the man asked about the straw dog." Your house will catch fire—watch closely," said Zhou. Soon flames broke out. The man confessed, "I never dreamed those three times. I was only testing you—why did every guess hit?" Spirits moved your tongue," Zhou replied, "so it counts the same as a real dream." He pressed Zhou: "Why did the same dream mean three different things?" Xuan said: "A straw dog is a thing for sacrificing to spirits. The first time you were still at the feast—you got leftovers. After the rite the dog is run over—hence the second omen was a cart crash. Once crushed, it becomes fuel—hence the third sign was fire." Such was Zhou Xuan's way with dreams. He was right eight or nine times in ten, and people ranked him with Zhu Jianping. Other hits are omitted here for brevity. He died toward the end of Emperor Ming's rule.
35
管輅字公明,平原人也。 容貌粗醜,無威儀而嗜酒,飲食言戲,不擇非類,故人多愛之而不敬也。 〈輅別傳曰:輅年八九歲,便喜仰視星辰,得人輒問其名,夜不肯寐。 父母常禁之,猶不可止。 自言「我年雖小,然眼中喜視天文。」 常云:「家雞野鵠,猶尚知時,況於人乎?」 與鄰比兒共戲土壤中,輒畫地作天文及日月星辰。 每答言說事,語皆不常,宿學耆人不能折之,皆知其當有大異之才。 及成人,果明周易,仰觀、風角、佔、相之道,無不精微。 體性寬大,多所含受; 憎己不讎,愛己不褒,每欲以德報怨。 常謂:「忠孝信義,人之根本,不可不厚; 廉介細直,士之浮飾,不足為務也。」 自言:「知我者稀,則我貴矣,安能斷江、漢之流,為激石之清? 樂與季主論道,不欲與漁父同舟,此吾志也。」 其事父母孝,篤兄弟,順愛士友,皆仁和發中,終無所闕。 臧否之士,晚亦服焉。 父為琅邪即丘長,時年十五,來至官舍讀書。 始讀詩、論語及易本,便開淵布筆,辭義斐然。 於時黌上有遠方及國內諸生四百餘人,皆服其才也。 琅邪太守單子春雅有材度,聞輅一黌之俊,欲得見,輅父即遣輅造之。 大會賓客百餘人,坐上有能言之士,輅問子春:「府君名士,加有雄貴之姿,輅既年少,膽未堅剛,若欲相觀,懼失精神,請先飲三升清酒,然後言之。」 子春大喜,便酌三升清酒,獨使飲之。 酒盡之後,問子春:「今欲與輅為對者,若府君四坐之士邪?」 子春曰:「吾欲自與卿旗鼓相當。」 輅言:「始讀詩、論、易本,學問微淺,未能上引聖人之道,陳秦、漢之事,但欲論金木水火土鬼神之情耳。」 子春言; 「此最難者,而卿以為易邪?」 於是唱大論之端,遂經於陰陽,文采葩流,枝葉橫生,少引聖籍,多發天然。 子春及眾士互共攻劫,論難鋒起,而輅人人答對,言皆有餘。 至日向暮,酒食不行。 子春語眾人曰:「此年少盛有才器,聽其言論,正似司馬犬子遊獵之賦,何其磊落雄壯,英神以茂,必能明天文地理變化之數,不徒有言也。」 於是發聲徐州,號之神童。〉
Guan Lu, styled Gongming, hailed from Pingyuan. He was homely and unkempt, loved wine, and bantered freely with high and low—loved by many, respected by few. 〈His childhood biography says that at eight or nine he star-gazed, questioned every passerby, and refused sleep. His parents could not stop him. He said, "I am young, yet my eyes love the sky." Hens and wild geese know the seasons—should not a man?" With village playmates he traced constellations in the dirt. His talk baffled learned elders, who sensed a prodigy. As a man he mastered the Zhou yi, astrology, wind divination, sortilege, and face-reading with rare finesse. He was magnanimous and tolerant; he neither nursed grudges nor flattered himself, preferring to return harm with kindness. He often said: "Loyalty, filial piety, trust, and righteousness are people's root; one cannot fail to make them thick; while punctilious scruples were mere ornament for gentlemen, not worth pursuing." He himself said: "Those who know me are few, then I am precious; how could I cut off the Yangzi and Han flows to be clear as striking stone? I would argue cosmology with the diviner Jizhu rather than drift with the recluse on the river—that is my bent." He was a dutiful son, loving brother, and gentle friend—kindness came from the heart without stint. Even carping critics eventually bowed to him. His father governed Jiju in Langya; at fifteen Guan Lu went to the yamen to study. On first reading the Odes, Analects, and Changes primer he wrote with sudden depth and elegance. More than four hundred students in the hall deferred to his gift. Prefect Shan Zichun of Langya, a man of parts, heard of the boy and sent for him. At a banquet of a hundred guests Guan said to Shan, "You are a formidable host and I a timid boy; let me brace myself with three pints of wine before we spar." Delighted, Shan poured three pints and had him drink alone. When the wine was gone Guan asked, "Do you mean to debate me with every guest here?" I alone will match you," Shan replied. Guan said, "I have only the Odes, Analects, and Changes—I cannot discourse like a historian, only on the five phases and spirits." Shan began: "That is the hardest topic—do you call it easy?" Shan launched a soaring lecture on yin and yang, lush with metaphor and light on quotation. The hall piled on objections, yet Guan parried every thrust with room to spare. Dusk fell and the feast stalled untouched. Shan told the guests, "This boy sounds like Sima Xiangru's hunting fu—he will master heaven, earth, and change, not mere rhetoric." Word spread through Xu Province and men hailed him a child prodigy.〉
36
父為利漕,利漕民郭恩兄弟三人,皆得躄疾,使輅筮其所由。 輅曰:「卦中有君本墓,墓中有女鬼,非君伯母,當叔母也。 昔飢荒之世,當有利其數升米者,排著井中,嘖嘖有聲,推一大石,下破其頭,孤魂冤痛,自訴於天。」 於是恩涕泣服罪。 〈輅別傳曰:利漕民郭恩,字義博,有才學,善周易、春秋,又能仰觀。 輅就義博讀易,數十日中,意便開發,言難逾師。 於此分蓍下卦,用思精妙,佔黌上諸生疾病死亡貧富喪衰,初無差錯,莫不驚怪,謂之神人也。 又從義博學仰觀,三十日中通夜不臥,語義博:「君但相語墟落處所耳,至於推運會,論災異,自當出吾天分。」 學未一年,義博反從輅問易及天文事要。 義博每聽輅語,未嘗不推幾慷慨。 自言「登聞君至論之時,忘我篤疾,明闇之不相逮,何其遠也」! 義博設主人,獨請輅,具告辛苦,自說:「兄弟三人俱得躄疾,不知何故? 試相為作卦,知其所由。 若有咎殃者,天道赦人,當為吾祈福於神明,勿有所愛。 兄弟俱行,此為更生。」 輅便作卦,思之未詳。 會日夕,因留宿,至中夜,語義博曰:「吾以此得之。」 既言其事,義博悲涕沾衣,曰:「皇漢之末,實有斯事。 君不名主,諱也。 我不得言,禮也。 兄弟躄來三十餘載,腳如棘子,不可復治,但原不及子孫耳。」 輅言火形不絕,水形無餘,不及後也。〉
While Guan Lu's father served at Licao, the brothers Guo En—all lame—asked him to cast a hexagram for the cause. Guan Lu said, "The sign points to your family grave and a woman's ghost there—either a great-aunt or an aunt by marriage. In famine years someone robbed her of a few measures of rice, shoved her into a well, and dropped a rock that smashed her skull; her vengeful shade cried to Heaven." Guo En wept and confessed. 〈The anecdotal life: Guo En of Licao, styled Yibo, was a scholar of the Changes and Chunqiu and knew astrology. Guan Lu studied the Yi under him and within weeks was posing problems that stumped his teacher. He cast stalks for classmates' fortunes without a single miss, and they called him a prodigy. He spent thirty sleepless nights learning star lore, then told Guo, "Teach me the lay of ruins and villages; cosmic cycles and disasters I will read from my own gift." Within a year Guo En was the pupil asking Guan Lu about the Yi and the sky. Every lecture left Guo En slapping his knee in wonder. He said, "When I hear you speak, I forget my crippling sickness—what a gulf between ignorance and light!" Yibo set himself as host, alone invited Lu, fully told his hardships, himself saying: "We three brothers all have crippling illness—do not know what cause? He begged a divination to learn the reason. If guilt was involved, he asked Guan to intercede with the gods without stinting offerings. If we brothers can walk again, it will be a new life for us." Guan Lu cast the hexagram but needed time to read it. It happened to be evening; therefore he stayed overnight; reaching midnight he told Yibo: "By this I obtain it." When Guan Lu spoke, Guo sobbed through his robe: "It happened in the dying days of Han. You spared the culprit's name—that was discretion. I may not tell—that is propriety. We have been crippled thirty years with feet like briars—no cure remains; I only hope our children escape it." Guan Lu said the fire line would not extend to posterity, the water line was exhausted—so the curse would not pass down.〉
37
廣平劉奉林婦病困,已買棺器。 時正月也,使輅佔,曰:「命在八月辛卯日日中之時。」 林謂必不然,而婦漸差,至秋發動,一如輅言。 〈輅別傳曰:鮑子春為列人令,有明思才理,與輅相見,曰:「聞君為劉奉林卜婦死亡日,何其詳妙,試為論其意義。」 輅論爻象之旨,說變化之義,若規圓矩方,無不合也。 子春自言:「吾少好譚易,又喜分蓍,可謂盲者欲視白黑,聾者欲聽清濁,苦而無功也。 聽君語後,自視體中,真為憒憒者也。」〉
The wife of Liu Fenglin of Guangping lay dying; the coffin was already ordered. It was the first month; they had Lu divine; he said: "Her fate lies at noon on the xinmao day of the eighth month." Liu scoffed, she rallied, then in autumn relapsed and died exactly as foretold. 〈Bao Zichun, magistrate of Lieren, asked Guan Lu to explain the divination for Liu Fenglin's wife." Guan Lu expounded the lines with compass-and-square precision. Zichun himself said: "In youth I liked discoursing on the Changes, also liked splitting milfoil—one may call it a blind man wishing to see black and white, a deaf man wishing to hear clear and muddy—bitter and without achievement. After hearing you, I see how confused I have been."〉"
38
輅往見安平太守王基,基令作卦,輅曰:「當有賤婦人,生一男兒,墮地便走入灶中死。 又床上當有一大蛇銜筆,小大共視,須臾去之也。 又烏來入室中,與燕共鬥,燕死,烏去。 有此三怪。」 基大驚,問其吉凶。 輅曰:「直客舍久遠,魑魅魍魎為怪耳。 兒生便走,非能自走,直宋無忌之妖將其入灶也。 大蛇銜筆,直老書佐耳。 烏與燕鬥,直老鈴下耳。 今卦中見象而不見其凶,知非妖咎之徵,自無所憂也。」 後卒無患。 〈輅別傳曰:基與輅共論易,數日中,大以為喜樂,語輅言:「俱相聞善卜,定共清論。 君一時異才,當上竹帛也。」 輅為基出卦,知其無咎,因謂基曰:「昔高宗之鼎,非雉所鴝,殷之階庭,非木所生,而野鳥一鴝,武丁為高宗,桑谷暫生,太戊以興焉。 知三事不為吉祥,原府君安身養德,從容光大,勿以知神姦汙累天真。」〉
Lu went to see the Anping prefect Wang Ji; Ji ordered him to make a hexagram; Lu said: "There ought to be a lowly woman who bears one male child; falling to earth he then runs into the stove and dies. A great snake would coil on the couch gripping a brush while all looked on, then vanish. A crow would enter, fight a swallow to the death, and leave. You will see these three oddities." Wang Ji was alarmed and asked whether they boded harm. Lu said: "Straight—guest quarters long abandoned, chi-mei wang-liang make marvels only. The infant did not run on its own; the fire-god sprite Song Wuji dragged it into the stove. The snake with the brush was an old clerk's ghost. The crow and swallow were old retainers reborn as birds. The hexagrams show images, not disaster—no true curse, so set your mind at ease." Nothing untoward followed. 〈The Separate Biography of Lu states: Ji and Lu discussed the Changes together for several days, and Ji was greatly delighted. He told Lu, "We have both heard that you are skilled at divination; let us have a clear discussion together. Your gift belongs in the histories," he said." " Lu for Ji cast a hexagram, knew he had no guilt, therefore told Ji: "Formerly at Gaozong's cauldron it was not pheasants that crowed; on Yin's steps and courtyard it was not mulberry that grew—yet when wild fowl crowed once, Wu Ding became Gaozong; when mulberry and grain briefly sprang, Taiwu thereby rose. I know the three matters are not auspicious signs; I pray the prefect pacify body and nurture virtue, at ease enlarge brilliance—do not let knowledge of spirit treachery defile true heaven."〉"
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時信都令家婦女驚恐,更互疾病,使輅筮之。 輅曰:「君北堂西頭,有兩死男子,一男持矛,一男持弓箭,頭在壁內,腳在壁外。 持矛者主刺頭,故頭重痛不得舉也。 持弓箭者主射肫腹,故心中縣痛不得飲食也。 晝則浮游,夜來病人,故使驚恐也。」 於是掘徙骸骨,家中皆愈。 〈輅別傳曰:王基即遣信都令遷掘其室中,入地八尺,果得二棺,一棺中有矛,一棺中有角弓及箭,箭久遠,木皆消爛,但有鐵及角完耳。 及徙骸骨,去城一十里埋之,無復疾病。 基曰:「吾少好讀易,玩之以久,不謂神明之數,其妙如此。」 便從輅學易,推論天文。 輅每開變化之象,演吉凶之兆,未嘗不纖微委曲,盡其精神。 基曰:「始聞君言,如何可得,終以皆亂,此自天授,非人力也。」 於是藏周易,絕思慮,不復學卜筮之事。 輅鄉里乃太原問輅:「君往者為王府君論怪,云老書佐為蛇,老鈴下為烏,此本皆人,何化之微賤乎? 為見於爻象,出君意乎?」 輅言:「苟非性與天道,何由背爻象而任胸心者乎? 夫萬物之化,無有常形,人之變異,無有常體,或大為小,或小為大,固無優劣。 夫萬物之化,一例之道也。 是以夏鯀,天子之父,趙王如意,漢祖之子,而鯀為黃熊,如意為蒼狗,斯亦至尊之位而為黔喙之類也。 況者協辰巳之位,烏者棲太陽之精,此乃騰黑之明象,白日之流景,如書佐、鈴下,各以微軀化為蛇、烏,不亦過乎!」〉
Women in the Xindu magistrate's house fell sick in turns from fright; Guan Lu was summoned. Lu said: "At the west end of your lordship's north hall are two dead men—one man holds a spear, one man holds bow and arrow; heads inside the wall, feet outside the wall. The spearman caused the crushing headaches. The archer caused the gnawing belly pain and loss of appetite. They haunted by day and afflicted the women at night." When the bones were dug up and moved, the household healed. 〈Wang Ji had the magistrate dig eight feet down and found two coffins—one with a spear, one with a horn bow and rotted shafts. Reburial ten li outside the city ended the sickness. Wang Ji said, "I thought I knew the Yi until I saw how subtle its numbers truly are." He went on to study the Yi and stars under Guan Lu. Guan Lu's readings of change and fortune were always meticulous. Wang Ji said, "At first your words seemed chaos; now I see they were heaven's language, not human craft." He shelved the Yi and gave up divination himself. Someone from Lu's home village then Taiyuan asked Lu: "Your lordship formerly for Prefect Wang discussed marvels, saying the old secretary became a snake, the old bell-ringer a crow—these were originally people; why transform to such base things? Was it appearing in the hexagram images, coming from your lordship's intent?" Guan Lu replied, "Unless you grasp nature and the Way of Heaven, you cannot read the lines by whim. All things change shape without fixed rank; people too may shrink or swell—no high or low in that. Such transformation follows one universal pattern. Gun became a yellow bear and Liu Ruyi a hound though both were royal—so there is no shame in low shapes. The swallow fits the chen-si stations, the crow embodies the sun—dark omens in daylight—so petty clerks appearing as snake and crow is hardly too strange!"〉"
40
清河王經去官還家,輅與相見。 經曰:「近有一怪,大不喜之,欲煩作卦。」 卦成,輅曰:「爻吉,不為怪也。 君夜在堂戶前,有一流光如燕爵者,入君懷中,殷殷有聲,內神不安,解衣彷徉,招呼婦人,覓索餘光。」 經大笑曰:「實如君言。」 輅曰:「吉,遷官之徵也,其應行至。」 頃之,經為江夏太守。 〈輅別傳曰:經欲使輅卜,而有疑難之言,輅笑而咎之曰:「君侯州里達人,何言之鄙! 昔司馬季主有言,夫卜者必法天地,象四時,順仁義。 伏羲作八卦,周文王三百八十四爻,而天下治。 病者或以愈,且死或以生,患或以免,事或以成,嫁女娶妻或以生長,豈直數千錢哉? 以此推之,急務也。 苟道之明,聖賢不讓,況吾小人,敢以為難!」 彥緯斂手謝輅:「前言戲之耳。」 於是輅為作卦,其言皆驗。 經每論輅,以為得龍雲之精,能養和通幽者,非徒合會之才也。〉
Wang Jing of Qinghe, home from office, met Guan Lu. Jing said: "Recently there has been one marvel, greatly displeasing—I wish to trouble you to make a hexagram." " When the hexagram was complete, Lu said: "The lines are auspicious—it is not a marvel. Your lordship at night before the hall door had a flowing light like a swallow; it entered your lordship's bosom, murmuring with sound; inner spirit not at peace; you stripped your robe and wandered, called your wife, searched for the remaining light." " Jing laughed greatly and said: "Indeed as your lordship said." " Lu said: "Auspicious—it is the sign of moving office; the response will arrive soon." Soon Wang Jing was named governor of Jiangxia. 〈The separate biography of Lu states: Jing wished to have Lu divine but had doubtful difficult words; Lu laughed and reproached him, saying: "Your lordship is an eminent man of the district—how vulgar your words! He quoted Sima Jizhu: diviners must mirror heaven, earth, seasons, and virtue. Fuxi invented the eight trigrams and King Wen the 384 lines that ordered the world. The Yi heals, saves, frees, and joins families—worth far more than a few coins. So divination is serious business. When the Way is clear, even sages defer—how dare a commoner call it trifling!" " Yanwei folded hands and apologized to Lu: "The former words were jest." Guan Lu cast again and every word came true. Wang Jing said Guan Lu held dragon-and-cloud essence and could harmonize life and read the unseen—not mere clever guessing.〉
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輅又至郭恩家,有飛鳩來在梁頭,鳴甚悲。 輅曰:「當有老公從東方來,攜豚一頭,酒一壺。 主人雖喜,當有小故。」 明日果有客,如所佔。 恩使客節酒、戒肉、慎火,而射雞作食,箭從樹間激中數歲女子手,流血驚怖。 〈輅別傅曰:義博從輅學鳥鳴之候,輅言君雖好道,天才既少,又不解音律,恐難為師也。 輅為說八風之變,五音之數,以律呂為眾鳥之商,六甲為時日之端,反覆譴曲,出入無窮。 義博靜然沈思,馳精數日,卒無所得。 義博言:「才不出位,難以追徵於此。」 遂止。〉
At Guo En's a mourning dove perched on the rafters. Lu said: "There ought to be an old man coming from the east, carrying one piglet, one pot of wine. The host would rejoice, yet a small mishap would follow." Next day the guest came as foretold. Guo told him to spare wine and meat and watch the fire, but the guest shot a chicken; the bolt glanced and wounded a little girl's hand. 〈Guan Lu tried to teach Guo En bird augury but said he lacked ear and genius for pitch. He lectured on winds, tones, pitch pipes, and the six jia until Guo's head spun. Guo pondered for days and grasped nothing. Guo said, "My talent stays within its limit—I cannot follow you here." He gave up the study.〉
42
輅至安德令劉長仁家,有鳴鵲來在閤屋上,其聲甚急。 輅曰:「鵲言東北有婦昨殺夫,牽引西家人夫離婁,候不過日在虞淵之際,告者至矣。」 到時,果有東北同伍民來告,鄰婦手殺其夫,詐言西家人與夫有嫌,來殺我婿。 〈輅別傳曰:勃海劉長仁有辯才,初雖聞輅能曉鳥鳴,後每見難輅曰:「夫生民之音曰言,鳥獸之聲曰鳴,故言者則有知之貴靈,鳴者則無知之賤名,何由以鳥鳴為語,亂神明之所異也? 孔子曰」吾不與鳥獸同群',明其賤也。 輅答曰:「夫天雖有大象而不能言,故運星精於上,流神明於下,驗風雲以表異,役鳥獸以通靈。 表異者必有浮沈之候,通靈者必有宮商之應,是以宋襄失德,六鶂並退,伯姬將焚,鳥唱其災,四國未火,融風已發,赤鳥夾日,殃在荊楚。 此乃上天之所使,自然之明符。 考之律呂則音聲有本,求之人事則吉凶不失。 昔在秦祖,以功受封,葛盧聽音,著在春秋,斯皆典謨之實,非聖賢之虛名也。 商之將興,由一燕卵也。 文王受命,丹鳥銜書,此乃聖人之靈祥,周室之休祚,何賤之有乎? 夫鳥鳴之聽,精在鶉火,妙在八神,自非斯倫,猶子路之於死生也。」 長仁言:「君辭雖茂,華而不實,未敢之信。」 須臾有鳴鵲之驗,長仁乃服。〉
At Liu Changren's of Ande an urgent magpie cried on the roof. Lu said: "The magpie says northeast there is a woman who yesterday killed her husband, dragging in the western neighbor's man Li Lou; the informer will not pass the sun before it sets in Yu abyss—he will arrive." At the appointed time a neighbor came from the northeast denouncing the wife's lie. 〈The separate biography of Lu states: Liu Changren of Bohai had disputing talent; at first although he heard Lu could understand birds' cries, afterward each time he saw Lu he challenged him, saying: "The sounds of living people are called speech; bird and beast sounds are called cries—therefore speech has the noble intelligence of knowing, cries have the base name of not knowing—how can you take birds' cries as language, confusing what the spirits illuminate as different? Confucius said, "I will not herd with birds and beasts"—clarifying their baseness." " Lu answered: "Although Heaven has great images, it cannot speak; therefore it moves star essences above, flows spirit illumination below, tests wind and cloud to show difference, employs birds and beasts to communicate numinousness. He cited omens—geese, Bo Ji's fire, winds before conflagration, red birds by the sun. These were heaven's own signs. Checked against pitch and human events, they never miss. Ancient Gelu heard meaning in animal cries, recorded in the Chunqiu—real precedent, not idle sage lore. The rise of Shang began from a single swallow's egg. King Wen's mandate came with a red bird bearing a text—a sage's omen and Zhou's good fortune—hardly a vulgar sign. As for listening to birds' cries, the essence lies in the "Quail Fire" lodge, the subtlety in the eight spirits; unless of this class, it is like Zilu's relation to death and life." Liu Changren replied, "Fine words, but I will not believe them yet." Moments later the magpie proved the case, and Liu conceded.〉
43
輅至列人典農王弘直許,有飄風高三尺餘,從申上來,在庭中幢幢迴轉,息以復起,良久乃止。 直以問輅,輅曰:「東方當有馬吏至,恐父哭子,如何!」 明日膠東吏到,直子果亡。 直問其故,輅曰:「其日乙卯,則長子之候也。 木落於申,鬥建申,申破寅,死喪之候也。 日加午而風發,則馬之候也。 離為文章,則吏之候也。 申未為虎,虎為大人,則父之候也。」 有雄雉飛來,登直內鈴柱頭,直大以不安,令輅作卦,輅曰:「到五月必遷。」 時三月也,至期,直果為勃海太守。 〈輅別傳曰:輅又曰:「夫風以時動,爻以像應,時者神之驅使,象者時之形表,一時其道,不足為難。」 王弘直亦大學問,有道術,皆不能精。 問輅:「風之推變,乃可爾乎?」 輅言:「此但風之毛髮,何足為異? 若夫列宿不守,眾神亂行,八風橫起,怒氣電飛,山崩石飛,樹木摧傾,揚塵萬里,仰不見天,鳥獸藏竄,兆民駭驚,於是使梓慎之徒,登高台,望風氣,分災異,刻期日,然後知神思遐幽,靈風可懼。」〉
At Wang Hongzhi's farm office a three-foot whirlwind rose from the southwest, spun through the yard, died down, then stirred again before it quit. Zhi used it to ask Lu; Lu said: "From the east there ought to come a horse courier; I fear a father weeping for a son—what to do!" Next day a messenger from Jiaodong came; Wang's son was dead. "" Zhi asked the reason; Lu said: "That day was yimao—the omen of the eldest son. Wood declines in shen, the dipper points shen, shen breaks yin—all emblems of mourning. Wind at noon meant horses. The trigram Li stands for documents—hence a clerk. Shen-wei is the tiger, the tiger the patriarch—hence a father's grief." " A male pheasant flew in, perched on the inner bell-post of Zhi's house; Zhi greatly felt unease and ordered Lu to cast a hexagram; Lu said: "By the fifth month you must be transferred." It was the third month; by the appointed time Wang Hongzhi was named prefect of Bohai. 〈Guan Lu added that seasonal wind and line-images were easy reading for those who knew the code." Wang Hongzhi was learned and dabbled in occult arts, yet never mastered them. He asked Lu: "Wind's shifts and changes—can they really be like this?" Guan Lu answered, "That gust was mere trivia. He pictured cosmic gales that topple mountains—omens that only masters like Zishen could date—and called that true wind lore.〉"
44
館陶令諸葛原遷新興太守,輅往祖餞之,賓客並會。 原自起取燕卵、蜂窠、蜘蛛著器中,使射覆。 卦成,輅曰:「第一物,含氣須變,依乎宇堂,雄雌以形,翅翼舒張,此燕卵也。 第二物,家室倒縣,門戶眾多,藏精育毒,得秋乃化,此蜂窠也。 第三物,觳觫長足,吐絲成羅,尋網求食,利在昬夜,此蜘蛛也。」 舉坐驚喜。 〈輅別傳曰:諸葛原字景春,亦學士。 好卜筮,數與輅共射覆,不能窮之。 景春與輅有榮辱之分,因輅餞之,大有高譚之客。 諸人多聞其善卜、仰觀,不知其有大異之才,於是先與輅共論聖人著作之原,又敘五帝、三王受命之符。 輅解景春微旨,遂開張戰地,示以不固,藏匿孤虛,以待來攻。 景春奔北,軍師摧衄,自言吾睹卿旌旗,城池已壞也。 其欲戰之士,於此鳴鼓角,舉雲梯,弓弩大起,牙旗雨集。 然後登城曜威,開門受敵,上論五帝,如江如漢,下論三王,如翮如翰; 其英者若春華之俱發,其攻者若秋風之落葉。 聽者眩惑,不達其義,言者收聲,莫不心服,雖白起之坑趙卒,項羽之塞濉水,無以尚之。 於時客皆欲面縛銜璧,求束手於軍鼓之下。 輅猶總干山立,未便許之。 至明日,離別之際,然後有腹心始終。 一時海內俊士,八九人矣。 蔡元才在朋友中最有清才,在眾人中言:「本聞卿作狗,何意為龍?」 輅言:「潛陽未變,非卿所知,焉有狗耳,得聞龍聲乎!」 景春言:「今當遠別,後會何期? 且復共一射覆。」 輅佔既皆中。 景春大笑,「卿為我論此卦意,紓我心懷」。 輅為開爻散理,分賦形象,言徵辭合,妙不可述。 景春及眾客莫不言聽後論之美,勝於射覆之樂。 景春與輅別,戒以二事,言; 「卿性樂酒,量雖溫克,然不可保,寧當節之。 卿有水鏡之才,所見者妙,仰觀雖神,禍如膏火,不可不慎。 持卿叡才,遊於雲漢之聞,不憂不富貴也。」 輅言:「酒不可極,才不可盡,吾欲持酒以禮,持才以愚,何患之有也?」〉
When Zhuge Yuan left Guantao for Xinxing, Guan Lu attended his farewell banquet. Zhuge sealed a swallow egg, a wasps' nest, and a spider in a jar for divination. When the hexagram was complete, Lu said: "The first object: it holds qi and must transform; it relies on hall and roof; male and female take form; wings spread—this is a swallow egg. The second was an inverted hive full of venom that ripens in autumn. The third was a long-legged spider spinning for prey by night." The guests gasped in delight. 〈Zhuge Yuan, styled Jingchun, was a scholar. Zhuge loved divination and often challenged Guan Lu at cover-guess, never stumping him. Rivals in debate at parting, Zhuge gathered brilliant guests for the send-off. They knew his astrology but not his genius, so they opened with sage texts and dynastic portents. Guan Lu read Zhuge's thrust, opened the field, feigned weakness, and laid a trap in the empty-death hexagrams. Zhuge retreated in rout, muttering that Guan Lu's banners had broken his city. Would-be champions beat drums, raised ladders, and bristled with arrows and banners. Guan Lu mounted the rhetorical wall, discoursed on the Five Emperors like rolling rivers and the Three Kings like soaring wings; his flourishes bloomed like spring blossoms, his attacks fell like autumn leaves. Listeners reeled; even Bai Qi's massacre or Xiang Yu's river slaughter paled beside his eloquence. The guests felt ready to surrender at the drum like defeated kings. Guan Lu stood firm as a mountain and would not accept their capitulation. Only at dawn, as they parted, did true friendship seal. For one night eight or nine of the realm's finest minds were there. Cai Yuancai cried, "We thought you a cur—how are you a dragon?" Guan Lu retorted, "Hidden yang has not yet turned—you are still a dog listening for dragons." Zhuge said, "We part for long—who knows when we meet again? Let us have one last round of cover-guess." Guan Lu named every hidden object. Zhuge laughed and begged him to unpack the lines and ease his mind." Guan Lu unfolded the imagery with uncanny precision. All agreed the commentary outshone the game. At farewell Zhuge warned him of two things: "You love wine; though you hold it well, temper it. Your mirror mind reads wonders, but stargazing burns like fat in a flame—be careful. With your gifts you will roam the clouds—riches need not worry you." Guan Lu answered, "I will drink with ritual and feign dullness with talent—then what peril remains?"〉
45
輅族兄孝國,居在斥丘,輅往從之,與二客會。 客去後,輅謂孝國曰:「此二人天庭及口耳之間同有凶氣,異變俱起,雙魂無宅, 〈輅別傳曰:輅又曰:「厚味臘毒,天精幽夕,坎為棺槨,兌為喪車。」〉 流魂於海,骨歸於家,少許時當並死也。」 復數十日,二人飲酒醉,夜共載車,牛驚下道入漳河中,皆即溺死也。
Guan Lu visited his cousin Xiao Guo at Chiqiu and met two travelers. After the guests left, Lu told Xiao Guo: "These two men between forehead court and mouth and ears alike have ill qi; strange changes both rise; twin souls without a home, 〈He added, "Rich food is slow poison; dusk hides heaven's breath; Kan means coffins, Dui hearses."〉 Their souls will drift to the sea, their bones come home—soon both will die." Ten days later they drowned when a drunken ox cart plunged into the Zhang.
46
當此之時,輅之鄰裡,外戶不閉,無相偷竊者。 清河太守華表,召輅為文學掾。 安平趙孔曜薦輅於冀州刺史裴徽曰:「輅雅性寬大,與世無忌,仰觀天文則同妙甘公、石申,俯覽周易則齊思季主。 今明使君方垂神幽藪,留精九皋,輅宜蒙陰和之應,得及羽儀之時。」 徽於是辟為文學從事,引與相見,大善友之。 徙部鉅鹿,遷治中別駕。
In those days Guan Lu's neighbors left doors unbolted and lost nothing to thieves. Prefect Hua Biao of Qinghe appointed him literary clerk. Zhao Kongyao urged Inspector Pei Hui: "Guan Lu matches Gan Gong and Shi Shen in stars and Sima Jizhu in the Yi. Your grace ranges the wilds for talent—let Guan Lu join your winged court." Pei Hui hired him as literary attendant and befriended him warmly. He followed the office to Julu and rose to administrator and chief of staff.
47
初應州召,與弟季儒共載,至武城西,自卦吉凶,語儒云:「當在故城中見三貍,爾者乃顯。」 前到河西故城角,正見三貍共踞城側,兄弟並喜。 正始九年舉秀才。 〈輅別傳曰:輅為華清河所召,為北黌文學,一時士友無不嘆慕。 安平趙孔曜,明敏有思識,與輅有管、鮑之分,故從發干來,就郡黌上與輅相見,言:「卿腹中汪汪,故時死人半,今生人無雙,當去俗騰飛,翱翔昊蒼,云何在此? 聞卿消息,使吾食不甘味也。 冀州裴使君才理清明,能釋玄虛,每論易及老、莊之道,未嘗不注精於嚴、瞿之徒也。 又眷吾意重,能相明信者。 今當故往,為卿陳感虎開石之誠。」 輅言:「吾非四淵之龍,安能使白日晝陰? 卿若能動東風、興朝雲,吾志所不讓也。」 於是遂至冀州見裴使君。 使君言:「君顏色何以消減故邪?」 孔曜言:「體中無藥石之疾,然見清河郡內有一騏驥,拘縶後厩歷年,去王良、伯樂百八十里,不得騁天骨,起風塵,以此憔悴耳。」 使君言:「騏驥今何在也?」 孔曜言:「平原管輅字公明,年三十六,雅性寬大,與世無忌,可謂士雄。 仰觀天文則能同妙甘公、石申,俯覽周易則能思齊季主,遊步道術,開神無窮,可謂士英。 抱荊山之璞,懷夜光之寶,而為清河郡所錄北黌文學,可為痛心疾首也。 使君方欲流精九皋,垂神幽藪,欲令明主不獨治,逸才不久滯,高風遐被,莫不草靡,宜使輅特蒙陰和之應,得及羽儀之時,必能翼宣隆化,揚聲九圍也。」 裴使君聞言,則慷慨曰:「何乃爾邪! 雖在大州,未見異才可用釋人鬱悶者,思還京師,得共論道耳,況草間自有清妙之才乎? 如此便相為取之,莫使騏驥更為凡馬,荊山反成凡石。」 即檄召輅為文學從事。 一相見,清論終日,不覺罷倦。 天時大熱,移床在庭前樹下,乃至雞向晨,然後出。 再相見,便轉為鉅鹿從事。 三見,轉治中。 四見,轉為別駕。 至十月,舉為秀才。 輅辭裴使君,使君言: 「(丁) 、鄧二尚書,有經國才略,於物理不精也。 何尚書神明精微,言皆巧妙,巧妙之志,殆破秋毫,君當慎之! 自言不解易九事,必當以相問。 比至洛,宜善精其理也。」 輅言:「何若巧妙,以攻難之才,遊形之表,未入於神。 夫入神者,當步天元,推陰陽,探玄虛,極幽明,然後覽道無窮,未暇細言。 若欲差次老、莊而參爻、象,愛微辯而興浮藻,可謂射侯之巧,非能破秋毫之妙也。 若九事皆至義者,不足勞思也。 若陰陽者,精之以久。 輅去之後,歲朝當有時刑大風,風必摧破樹木。 若發於乾者,必有天威,不足共清譚者。」〉
At first answering the province's summons, together with his younger brother Jiru he rode in a cart; reaching west of Wucheng, he self-divined good and ill, told Ru: "We ought in the old city to see three wildcats—then it will be manifest." At the river ruin they found three cats as foretold and rejoiced. In Zhengshi 9 he was nominated as a cultivated talent. 〈Summoned by Prefect Hua to the northern academy, he won every scholar's envy. Zhao Kongyao, his sworn friend, rode from Fagan to say, "Your mind is an ocean—half the age is dead and none alive can match you; why linger here instead of soaring? News of you here ruins my appetite. Inspector Pei of Ji is lucid on mystery and never tires of Yi, Laozi, and Zhuang. He esteems me and keeps faith. I will go plead for you with the sincerity that moves tigers and splits stone." Guan Lu answered, "I am no dragon of the four seas—I cannot darken the noon sun. Unless you can raise the east wind and morning clouds, do not ask miracles of me." So Zhao went to Ji and presented his case to Pei Hui. The envoy said: "Why has your lordship's complexion thinned so?" Zhao said, "I am not ill, but Qinghe cages a thoroughbred a hundred eighty li from Wang Liang and Bole—that breaks my heart." Where is this horse?" Pei asked." Kongyao said: "Guan Lu of Pingyuan, courtesy name Gongming, thirty-six sui, by nature broad and large, without jealousy toward the world—may be called a hero among scholars. He rivals Gan and Shi in stars, Sima Jizhu in the Yi, and plumbs the Dao without end—a champion among scholars. He holds Jing Mountain jade and a night-shining pearl yet serves as a petty clerk—an outrage. He urged Pei to range the marshes for talent so the throne need not rule alone and Guan Lu could spread his wings across the realm." Pei Hui cried, "How can that be? In this great province I have seen no genius to cheer me—I thought of returning to court for discourse—can the weeds hide such a man? I will fetch him—do not let the thoroughbred become a hack or Jing jade turn to field rock." He issued a summons naming Guan Lu literary attendant. They talked pure philosophy all day without tiring. In great heat they moved the couch under a tree and talked until cockcrow. At the second meeting he became Julu attendant. The third meeting won him administrator. The fourth made him chief of staff. By the tenth month he was nominated cultivated talent. When Guan Lu took leave of Prefect Pei, Pei addressed him. "(Text variant: the graph Ding.) Ministers Ding and Deng govern the state yet lack subtle science. Minister He is razor-keen—beware his questions. He admits nine points of the Yi he cannot fathom—he will quiz you on them. Before you reach Luoyang, master those nine problems." Guan Lu answered, "He Yan is clever at hard questions but skims the surface—he has not touched the spirit of the Yi. True mastery of spirit means pacing the sky pivot, plumbing yin and yang, sounding the void—only then does the Way open without end; fine chatter is beneath it. Ranking Laozi against hexagrams and chasing rhetorical flowers is archery trickery, not the hair-splitting subtlety of the Yi. If those nine questions are only orthodox doctrine, they hardly strain the mind. Yin and yang repay lifelong study. After I leave, the New Year will bring punishing gales that snap trees. If it rises from the qian trigram, expect heaven's wrath—no fit topic for salon chat."〉"
48
十二月二十八日,吏部尚書何晏請之,鄧颺在晏許。 晏謂輅曰:「聞君著爻神妙,試為作一卦,知位當至三公不?」 又問:「連夢見青蠅數十頭,來在鼻上,驅之不肯去,有何意故?」 輅曰:「夫飛鴞,天下賤鳥,及其在林食椹,則懷我好音,況輅心非草木,敢不盡忠? 昔元、凱之弼重華,宣惠慈和,周公之翼成王,坐而待旦,故能流光六合,萬國咸寧。 此乃履道休應。 非卜筮之所明也。 今君侯位重山岳,勢若雷電,而懷德者鮮,畏威者眾,殆非小心翼翼多福之仁。 又鼻者艮,此天中之山, 〈臣松之案:相書謂鼻之所在為天中。 鼻有山象,故曰:「天中之山」也。〉 高而不危,所以長守貴也。 今青蠅臭惡,而集之焉。 位峻者顛,輕豪者亡,不可不思害盈之數,盛衰之期。 是故山在地中曰謙,雷在天上曰壯; 謙則裒多益寡,壯則非禮不履。 未有損己而不光大,行非而不傷敗。 原君侯上追文王六爻之旨,下思尼父彖象之義,然後三公可決,青蠅可驅也。」 颺曰:「此老生之常譚。」 輅答曰:「夫老生者見不生,常譚者見不譚。」 晏曰:「過歲更當相見。」 〈輅別傳曰:輅為何晏所請,果共論易九事,九事皆明。 晏曰:「君論陰陽,此世無雙。」 時鄧颺與晏共坐,颺言:「君見謂善易,而語初不及易中辭義,何故也?」 輅尋聲答之曰:「夫善易者不論易也。」 晏含笑而讚之「可謂要言不煩也」。 因請輅為卦。 輅既稱引鑑戒,晏謝之曰:「知幾其神乎,古人以為難; 交疏而吐其誠,今人以為難。 今君一面而盡二難之道,可謂明德惟馨。 詩不云乎,『中心藏之,何日忘之』!」〉 輅還邑舍,具以此言語舅氏,舅氏責輅言太切至。 輅曰; 「與死人語,何所畏邪?」 舅大怒,謂輅狂悖。 歲朝,西北大風,塵埃蔽天,十餘日,聞晏、颺皆誅,然後舅氏乃服。 〈輅別傳曰:舅夏大夫問輅:「前見何、鄧之日,為已有凶氣未也?」 輅言:「與禍人共會,然後知神明交錯; 與吉人相近,又知聖賢求精之妙。 夫鄧之行步,則筋不束骨,脈不制肉,起立傾倚,若無手足,謂之鬼躁。 何之視候,則魂不守宅,血不華色,精爽煙浮,容若槁木,謂之鬼幽。 故鬼躁者為風所收,鬼幽者為火所燒,自然之符,不可以蔽也。」 輅後因得休,裴使君問:「何平叔一代才名,其實何如?」 輅曰:「其才若盆盎之水,所見者清,所不見者濁。 神在廣博,志不務學,弗能成才。 欲以盆盎之水,求一山之形,形不可得,則智由此惑。 故說老、莊則巧而多華,說易生義則美而多偽; 華則道浮,偽則神虛; 得上才則淺而流絕,得中才則遊精而獨出,輅以為少功之才也。」 裴使君曰:「誠如來論。 吾數與平叔共說老、莊及易,常覺其辭妙於理,不能折之。 又時人吸習,皆歸服之焉,益令不了。 相見得清言,然後灼灼耳。」〉
On the 28th of the twelfth month He Yan, minister of personnel, summoned him; Deng Yang was present. Yan told Lu: "I have heard you treat the lines as divinely subtle—try to cast one hexagram: do you know whether rank will reach the Three Dukes?" Again he asked: "Repeatedly I dreamed several tens of green flies come on my nose; driving them they would not go—what meaning?" Lu said: "As for the flying owl, it is the realm's base bird; yet when in the forest it eats mulberries, then it cherishes my fine sound—how much more Lu's heart is not grass or tree—dare I not exhaust loyalty? Eight worthies aided Shun with mercy; the Duke of Zhou kept vigil for the boy king—thus their virtue lit the world. That is the reward of walking the Way. It is not something divination clarifies. You tower like a peak and strike like lightning, yet few love you and many fear you—hardly the humble care that wins heaven's favor. The nose is the Gen trigram—the "mountain amid heaven. 〈Pei Songzhi notes: Face-readers call the bridge of the nose "mid-heaven. The nose resembles a mountain, hence the phrase.〉 High without danger—that is how rank endures. Now stinking flies swarm that height. Lofty stations topple; swaggering pride dies—think on the toll of excess and the turn of fate. Hence the hexagrams Modesty—mountain under earth—and Strength—thunder above heaven. Modesty trims excess to help the needy; Strength refuses unrighteous paths. None who humbled himself failed to shine; none who broke ritual escaped ruin. Study King Wen's lines and Confucius's judgments—then you may win the Three Dukes and brush away the flies." Deng Yang sneered, "Threadbare moralizing." Guan Lu shot back, "The 'old pedant' is deathless only in name; 'common talk' never reaches the uncommon." He Yan said they would meet again after the New Year." 〈He Yan hosted him and they cleared nine Yi problems together. Yan said: "Your lordship's discourse on yin and yang—this generation has no pair." At that time Deng Yang sat together with Yan; Yang said: "You are called good at the Changes, yet your speech at first does not reach the Changes' wording and meaning—what reason?" Guan Lu answered, "Those who truly know the Yi do not chatter the Yi." He Yan smiled and called it the essence without fuss." He then asked for another casting. After the admonition He Yan thanked him: "Reading the subtle signs is hard even for the ancients; to speak plainly to a new acquaintance is harder still for us today; yet you did both at one sitting—true fragrant virtue. As the Classic says, "Treasured in the heart—when could I forget?"'"〉" Guan Lu told his uncle everything; the uncle scolded him for being too blunt. Guan Lu said: "Why fear words to walking corpses?" The uncle raged and called him mad. At New Year a black gale blew for days; when He Yan and Deng Yang died, the uncle conceded. 〈His uncle asked whether he had seen ill omens on He and Deng that day." Guan Lu said, "Sit with the doomed and you see heaven's mesh; stand by the fortunate and you see how sages seek the subtle. Deng Yang walked like a flailing ghost—tendons loose, frame unstrung. He Yan looked like a ghost in shadow—spirit adrift, face like dry wood. Ghost-fidget falls to the wind; ghost-gloom feeds the fire—such signs cannot be hidden." Later because he obtained rest, Inspector Pei asked: "He Pingshu one generation's talent and fame—what is he really like?" Guan Lu said, "His mind is basin-deep—clear on the surface, turbid below. His spirit roamed wide but skipped study—so he never ripened into genius. Trying to map a mountain from a puddle only muddles the mind. Hence his Laozi-Zhuang talk was clever but florid, his Yi glosses pretty but hollow. Floridity floats the Way; falseness empties the spirit. Against a true master he would run dry; against middling minds he seemed brilliant—small beer, in my view." Pei Hui said, "You speak truth. I often debated Laozi, Zhuangzi, and the Yi with He Yan and found his words subtler than his logic, yet I could not corner him. Fashion bowed to him, which only deepened the fog. Hearing you, the matter burns clear."〉"
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始輅過魏郡太守鍾毓,共論易義,輅因言「卜可知君生死之日。」 毓使筮其生日月,如言無蹉跌。 毓大愕然,曰:「君可畏也。 死以付天,不以付君。」 遂不復筮。 毓問輅:「天下當太平否?」 輅曰:「方今四九天飛,利見大人,神武升建,王道文明,何憂不平?」 毓未解輅言,無幾,曹爽等誅,乃覺寤云。 〈輅別傳云:魏郡太守鍾毓,清逸有才,難輅易二十餘事,自以為難之至精也。 輅尋聲投響,言無留滯,分張爻象,義皆殊妙。 毓即謝輅。 輅卜知毓生日月,毓愕然曰:「聖人運神通化,連屬事物,何聰明乃爾!」 輅言:「幽明同化,死生一道,悠悠太極,終而復始。 文王損命,不以為憂,仲尼曳杖,不以為懼,緒煩蓍筮,宜盡其意。」 毓曰:「生者好事,死者惡事,哀樂之分,吾所不能齊,且以付天,不以付君也。」 石苞為鄴典農,與輅相見,問曰:「聞君鄉里翟文耀能隱形,其事可信乎?」 輅言:「此但陰陽蔽匿之數,苟得其數,則四岳可藏,河海可逃。 況以七尺之形,遊變化之內,散雲霧以幽身,布金水以滅跡,術足數成,不足為難。」 苞曰:「欲聞其妙,君且善論其數也。」 輅言:「夫物不精不為神,數不妙不為術,故精者神之所合,妙者智之所遇,合之幾微,可以性通,難以言論。 是故魯班不能說其手,離硃不能說其目。 非言之難,孔子曰『書不盡言』,言之細也,『言不盡意』,意之微也,斯皆神妙之謂也。 請舉其大體以驗之。 夫白日登天,運景萬里,無物不照,及其入地,一炭之光,不可得見。 三五盈月,清耀燭夜,可以遠望,及其在晝,明不如鏡。 今逃日月者必陰陽之數,陰陽之數通於萬類,鳥獸猶化,況於人乎! 夫得數者妙,得神者靈,非徒生者有驗,死亦有徵。 是以杜伯乘火氣以流精,彭生託水變以立形。 是故生者能出亦能入,死者能顯亦能幽,此物之精氣,化之遊魂,人鬼相感,數使之然也。」 苞曰:「目見陰陽之理,不過於君,君何以不隱?」 輅曰:「夫陵虛之鳥,愛其清高,不原江、漢之魚; 淵沼之魚,樂其濡濕,不易騰風之鳥:由性異而分不同也。 僕自欲正身以明道,直己以親義,見數不以為異,知術不以為奇,夙夜研幾,孳孳溫故,而素隱行怪,未暇斯務也。」〉
At first when Lu passed Wei commandery Prefect Zhong Yu, together they discussed the Changes' meaning; Lu therefore said, "Divining can know your lordship's day of birth and death." Zhong tested him on his natal day; Guan Lu hit it exactly. Zhong Yu gasped, "You are a fearsome man. I leave death to Heaven, not to you." He refused further divination. Yu asked Lu: "Will the realm attain great peace?" Guan Lu cited the Yi: the fourth nine ascends, the great man appears, divine martial is founded, kingly culture shines—peace is coming." Zhong did not grasp it until Cao Shuang fell and he understood the omen. 〈Zhong Yu, a refined scholar, posed twenty Yi puzzles he thought unanswerable. Guan Lu answered each in turn, unfolding the lines with marvelous clarity. Zhong Yu apologized at once. Lu divined and knew Yu's birth day and month; Yu startled said: "Sages move spirit and penetrate transformation, chaining together things—how could intelligence be thus!" Lu said: "Dark and bright share transformation; death and life are one path; vast and long the Great Ultimate—ends and begins again. King Wen shortened his days without grief; Confucius faced death with his staff—so stalk and shell should speak plain." Zhong answered, "Life loves good news, death hates bad—I cannot level joy and sorrow; I leave it to Heaven, not to you." Shi Bao as Ye agricultural director met Lu and asked: "I have heard that in your lordship's village Zhai Wenyao can hide his form—is the affair trustworthy?" Lu said: "This is only yin and yang's numbers of concealment and hiding; if one obtains their numbers, then the four peaks can be hidden, rivers and seas can be escaped. For a seven-foot man to veil himself in mist or mercury is easy once the formula is complete." Bao said: "I wish to hear its subtlety—your lordship for now finely discuss its numbers." Lu said: "As for things, if not refined they are not spirit; if numbers are not subtle they are not art—therefore the refined is where spirit joins, the subtle is where wisdom meets; joining in the finest trifle can be penetrated by nature, hard to discuss in words. So Lu Ban could not explain his hand nor Li Zhu his eye. Confucius said writing cannot exhaust speech nor speech meaning—that is true subtlety. Let me sketch the broad proof. The sun lights all heaven yet vanishes in a pit like a coal's glow. The full moon outshines the night yet pales beside a mirror by day. Those who slip sun and moon ride yin-yang; if beasts change form, so can men! Numbers bring subtlety, spirit brings wonder—both living and dead leave signs. So Duke She rode fire as a wraith; Prince Peng took water to clothe his ghost. Thus the living pass in and out, the dead show and hide—qi and wandering souls answer one another by number." Shi Bao asked, "If you know yin-yang so well, why not vanish yourself?" Lu said: "As for birds that mount the void, they love their lofty purity and do not covet the fish of the Yangzi and Han; deep fish love slime and do not envy wind-riders—natures divide them. I mean to stand straight in the Way and duty, not chase marvels; I study the subtle nightly, not perform roadside tricks."〉"
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平原太守劉邠取印囊及山雞毛著器中,使筮。 輅曰:「內方外圓,五色成文,含寶守信,出則有章,此印囊也。 高岳岩岩,有鳥硃身,羽翼玄黃,鳴不失晨,此山雞毛也。」 邠曰:「此郡官舍,連有變怪,使人恐怖,其理何由?」 輅曰:「或因漢末之亂,兵馬擾攘,軍屍流血,汙染丘山,故因昬夕,多有怪形也。 明府道德高妙,自天祐之,原安百祿,以光休寵。」 〈輅別傳曰:故郡將劉邠字令元,清和有思理,好易而不能精。 與輅相見,意甚喜歡,自說注易向訖也。 輅言:「今明府欲勞不世之神,經緯大道,誠富美之秋。 然輅以為註易之急,急於水火; 水火之難,登時之驗,易之清濁,延於萬代,不可不先定其神而後垂明思也。 自旦至今,聽採聖論,未有易之一分,易安可注也! 輅不解古之聖人,何以處乾位於西北,坤位於西南。 夫乾坤者天地之象,然天地至大,為神明君父,覆載萬物,生長無首,何以安處二位與六卦同列? 乾之象彖曰:『大哉乾元,萬物資始,乃統天。』 夫統者,屬也,尊莫大焉,何由有別位也?」 邠依易係詞,諸為之理以為註,不得其要。 輅尋聲下難,事皆窮析。 曰:「夫乾坤者,易之祖宗,變化之根源,今明府論清濁者有疑,疑則無神,恐非注易之符也。」 輅於此為論八卦之道及爻象之精,大論開廓,眾化相連。 邠所解者,皆以為妙,所不解者,皆以為神。 自說:「欲注易八年,用思勤苦,歷載靡寧,定相得至論,此才不及易,不愛久勞,喜承雅言,如此相為高枕偃息矣。」 欲從輅學射覆,輅言:「今明府以虛神於注易,亦宜絕思於靈蓍。 靈蓍者,二儀之明數,陰陽之幽契,施之於道則定天下吉凶,用之於術則收天下豪纖。 纖微,未可以為易也。」 邠曰:「以為術者易之近數,欲求其端耳。 若如來論,何事於斯?」 留輅五日,不遑卹官,但共清譚。 邠自言:「數與何平叔論易及老、莊之道,至於精神遐流,與化周旋,清若金水,鬱若山林,非君侶也。」 邠又曰:「此郡官舍,連有變怪,變怪多形,使人怖恐,君似當達此數者,其理何由也。」 輅言:「此郡所以名平原者,本有原,山無木石,與地自然; 含陰不能吐雲,含陽不能激風,陰陽雖弱,猶有微神; 微神不真,多聚凶姦,以類相求,魍魎成群。 或因漢末兵馬擾攘,軍屍流血,汙染丘岳,強魂相感,變化無常,故因昏夕之時,多有怪形也。 昔夏禹文明,不怪於黃龍,周武信時,不惑於暴風,今明府道德高妙,神不懼妖,自天祐之,吉無不利,原安百祿以光休寵也。」 邠曰:「聽雅論為近其理,每有變怪,輒聞鼓角聲音,或見弓劍形象。 夫以土山之精,伯有之魂,實能合會,干犯明靈也。」 邠問輅:「易言剛健篤實,輝光日新,斯為同不?」 輅曰:「不同之名,朝旦為輝,日中為光。」 晉諸公贊曰:邠本名炎,犯晉太子諱,改為邠。 位至太子僕。 子粹,字純嘏,侍中。 次宏,字終嘏,太常。 次漢,字仲嘏,光祿大夫。 漢清衝有貴識,名亞樂廣。 宏子咸,徐州刺吏。 次耽,晉陵內史。 耽子恢,字真長,尹丹楊,為中興名士也。〉
Liu Bin of Pingyuan sealed a purse and mountain-pheasant plumes for him to read. Lu said: "Inner square outer round, five colors form pattern, holding treasure and keeping trust—going out then there is pattern: this is a seal-sachet. Lofty peak towering steep—there is a bird with vermilion body, wings black and yellow, cries without missing dawn: this is mountain pheasant tail-feathers." Bin said: "In this commandery official buildings, repeatedly there have been uncanny changes, making people terrified—what is the reason?" Lu said: "Perhaps because of Han's end chaos, horses and troops disturbed, army corpses bled, staining hills and mountains—therefore in dusk evenings many have strange shapes. Your virtue draws heaven's shield; may the hundred blessings settle on you." 〈Former prefect Liu Bin, styled Lingyuan, loved the Yi without mastering it. He met Guan Lu with delight, boasting he had finished a commentary on the Yi. Guan Lu said, "You mean to compass the Way itself—that is a glorious undertaking. Yet annotating the Yi is more urgent than fire or flood; fire and flood prove themselves at once, but the Yi's subtlety endures for ages—you must fix its spirit before you publish a gloss. From dawn till now I have heard no spark of the true Yi—how can you commentate it? I cannot see why the sages seated Qian in the northwest and Kun in the southwest. Qian and Kun image heaven and earth—vast parents of the spirits that cover all creation—how can they sit as merely two of eight trigrams? The Great Commentary calls Qian Yuan the root of all things and says it "unifies heaven." Unify" means "embrace all"; nothing ranks higher—so how can it share a corner with the rest?" Liu Bin's gloss followed the Xici but missed the kernel. Guan Lu pressed each point until every argument collapsed. He said, "Qian and Kun are the ancestors of the lines; if you doubt their clarity, you lack the spirit needed to gloss the Yi." He then unfolded the eight trigrams and line imagery in sweeping, linked fashion. What Liu grasped he called subtle; what baffled him he called divine. He himself said: "I wished to annotate the Changes eight years, used thought diligently and bitterly, years passed without peace—thinking I had reached ultimate discourse; this talent does not reach the Changes—I do not cling to long toil; gladly I receive elegant words—so we may pillow high and rest." When Liu asked to learn cover-guess, Guan Lu said, "If you pour spirit into the Yi, leave the stalks alone. The sacred stalks encode yin and yang; in the Way they judge fate, in technique they net every trifle. Those trifles are not the Changes themselves." Liu said, "I only wanted the lesser numbers that border the Yi. If that is so, why bother with them at all?" He kept Guan Lu five days, neglecting his desk for pure discourse. Bin himself said: "Several times with He Pingshu I discussed the Changes and Lao and Zhuang's Dao—reaching where spirit flows far and wheels with transformation, clear as molten metal, lush as mountain forest—not your peer." Bin again said: "In this commandery's official buildings repeatedly there have been uncanny changes; uncanny changes take many forms, making people terror-struck—you seem ought to penetrate these numbers; what is their reason?" Guan Lu said, "Pingyuan means level earth—no rocky hills; its yin cannot lift clouds nor its yang whip gales—only weak local spirits linger; impostor sprites flock like to like. Late Han slaughter soaked the hills; angry ghosts shift shape at twilight. Yu did not fear dragons nor King Wu freak storms; your virtue shields you—may blessings gather." Bin said: "Listening to elegant discourse nears the principle; whenever there are uncanny changes, then I hear drum and horn sounds, or see bow and sword images. Earth-spirits and Bo You's ghost can combine to trouble the living." He asked whether "radiance renewed" meant one thing or two. Guan Lu said dawn glow is "radiance," noon blaze is "light." The Jin appraisals note he was born Liu Yan but renamed Liu Bin to avoid the crown prince's taboo. He rose to groom of the heir apparent. His son Liu Cui, styled Chunga, became palace attendant. Next Liu Hong, styled Zhunga, became chamberlain for ceremonies. Next Liu Han, styled Zhunga, became supernumerary grandee. Liu Han was clear-minded, his fame just below Yue Guang's. Liu Hong's son Xian became inspector of Xu. Another son, Dan, became inner prefect of Jinling. Dan's son Kai, styled Zhenchang, governed Danyang—a celebrated Eastern Jin worthy.〉
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清河令徐季龍使人行獵,令輅筮其所得。 輅曰:「當獲小獸,复非食禽,雖有爪牙,微而不強,雖有文章,蔚而不明,非虎非雉,其名曰狸。」 獵人暮歸,果如輅言。 季龍取十三種物,著大篋中,使輅射。 云:「器中藉藉有十三種物。」 先說雞子,後道蠶蛹,遂一一名之,惟以梳為枇耳。 〈輅別傳曰:清河令徐季龍,字開明,有才機。 與輅相見,共論龍動則景雲起,虎嘯則谷風至,以為火星者龍,參星者虎,火出則雲應,參出則風到,此乃陰陽之感化,非龍虎之所致也。 輅言:「夫論難當先審其本,然後求其理,理失則機謬,機謬則榮辱之主。 若以參星為虎,則谷風更為寒霜之風,寒霜之風非東風之名。 是以龍者陽精,以潛為陰,幽靈上通,和氣感神,二物相扶,故能興云。 夫虎者,陰精而居於陽,依木長嘯,動於巽林,二氣相感,故能運風。 若磁石之取鐵,不見其神而金自來,有徵應以相感也。 況龍有潛飛之化,虎有文明之變,招雲召風,何足為疑?」 季龍言:「夫龍之在淵,不過一井之底,虎之悲嘯,不過百步之中,形氣淺弱,所通者近,何能𣿖景雲而馳東風?」 輅言:「君不見陰陽燧在掌握之中,形不出手,乃上引太陽之火,下引太陰之水,噓吸之間,煙景以集。 苟精氣相感,縣象應乎二燧; 苟不相感,則二女同居,志不相得。 自然之道,無有遠近。」 季龍言:「世有軍事,則感雞雉先鳴,其道何由? 復有他佔,惟在雞雉而巳?」 輅言:「貴人有事,其應在天,在天則日月星辰也。 兵動民憂,其應在物,在物則山林鳥獸也。 夫雞者兌之畜,金者兵之精,雉者離之鳥,獸者武之神,故太白揚輝則雞鳴,熒惑流行則雉驚,各感數而動。 又兵之神道,佈在六甲,六甲推移,其占無常。 是以晉柩牛呴,果有西軍,鴻嘉石鼓,鳴則有兵,不專近在於雞雉也。」 季龍言:「魯昭公八年,有石言於晉,師曠以為作事不時,怨讟動於民,則有非言之物而言,於理為合不?」 輅言:「晉平奢泰,崇飾宮室,斬伐林木,殘破金石,民力既盡,怨及山澤,神痛人感,二精並作,金石同氣,則兌為口舌,口舌之妖,動於靈石。 傳曰輕百姓,飾城郭,則金不從革,此之謂也。」 季龍欽嘉,留輅經數日。 輅佔獵既驗,季龍曰:「君雖神妙,但不多藏物耳,何能皆得之?」 輅言:「吾與天地參神,蓍龜通靈,抱日月而遊杳冥,極變化而覽未然,況茲近物,能蔽聰明?」 季龍大笑,「君既不謙,又念窮在近矣。」 輅言:「君尚未識謙言,焉能論道? 夫天地者則乾坤之卦,蓍龜者則卜筮之數,日月者離坎之象,變化者陰陽之爻,杳冥者神化之源,未然者則幽冥之先,此皆周易之紀綱,何僕之不謙?」 季龍於是取十三種物,欲以窮之,輅射之皆中。 季龍乃歎曰:「作者之謂聖,述者之謂明,豈此之謂乎!」〉
Xu Jilong, magistrate of Qinghe, sent hunters and asked Guan Lu what they would bag. Lu said: "You ought to catch a small beast, again not a edible fowl; although it has claws and teeth, slight and not strong; although it has pattern, luxuriant yet not bright; not tiger, not pheasant—its name is called civet." At dusk they brought back exactly that. Xu sealed thirteen objects in a hamper for cover-guess. Saying: "Inside the vessel, rustling, there are thirteen kinds of things." Guan Lu named each in order, mistaking only a comb for a similar fruit-picker. 〈Xu Jilong of Qinghe, styled Kaiming, was a clever man. They debated whether Orion and Mars, not beasts, raised wind and cloud. "Lu said: "In hard questioning one ought first to examine the root, then seek its principle; if principle is lost then mechanism is wrong; if mechanism is wrong then masters of glory and shame err. Call Orion the tiger and "valley wind" becomes a killing frost—not the Yi's gentle east wind. The dragon is yang in essence yet hides in yin; spirit rises and harmony answers—so clouds gather. The tiger is yin in form yet lives in yang; roaring in the woods of xun, the two breaths couple and stir wind. Like a lodestone drawing iron unseen—resonance proves the rule. Dragons dive and soar, tigers blaze with pattern—why doubt they summon weather?" Xu objected that a pool dragon and a hundred-pace tiger are too petty to move heaven's winds." Lu said: "Have you not seen the yin-yang burning-mirror held in the palm—form does not leave the hand, yet above it draws the great sun's fire, below it draws the great moon's water; between puff and suck, mist and gleam collect. When essences couple, the paired mirrors answer; without resonance even two sisters in one bed disagree. Nature knows no distance." Jilong said: "When the age has military affairs, then cocks and pheasants cry first—what is the path of this? Are there omens besides chickens and pheasants?" Lu said: "When noble men have affairs, their response lies in Heaven; in Heaven then sun, moon, and stars. When armies march, read earth—hills, woods, birds, and beasts. Cocks belong to Dui and metal—arms; pheasants to Li—fire; when Venus flares, cocks crow; when Mars runs, pheasants panic—each answers its star. War omens also ride the six jia, which shift without fixed sign. Jin's funeral ox and Hongjia's drumming stones foretold armies—omens are not limited to barnyard fowl." Jilong said: "In Duke Zhao's eighth year, a stone spoke in Jin; Musician Kuang thought that when work was untimely, slanderous complaints stirred among the people—then there are things without speech that speak—is this consonant with principle or not?" Lu said: "Jin Ping was extravagant and grand, exalted and adorned palace chambers, cut down forest trees, maimed and broke metal and stone—people's strength was exhausted, resentment reached hills and marshes; gods pained and men stirred—two essences together acted; metal and stone share qi—then dui becomes mouth and tongue; the mouth-and-tongue prodigy stirred in the numinous stone. The tradition says mistreating the people and gilding walls makes metal rebel—that is this case." Xu admired him and kept him several days. Lu's divination on the hunt having verified, Jilong said: "Although your lordship is spirit-subtle, you only do not often hide things—how can you obtain them all?" Guan Lu replied that he ranged with heaven and earth and tortoise shells—trifles could not deafen him." Xu laughed, "You are not humble—and your wit may soon run dry." Guan Lu retorted, "You cannot read humility—how dare you lecture on the Way? Heaven and earth are Qian and Kun, stalks and shells are numbers, sun and moon are Li and Kan—how am I immodest?" Xu tried thirteen objects to stump him; Guan Lu named every one. Xu sighed, "This is what the Classic means by maker and transmitter!"〉
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輅隨軍西行,過毌丘儉墓下,倚樹哀吟,精神不樂。 人問其故,輅曰:「林木雖茂,無形可久; 碑誄雖美,無後可守。 玄武藏頭,蒼龍無足,白虎銜屍,硃雀悲哭,四危以備,法當滅族。 不過二載,其應至矣。」 卒如其言。 後得休,過清河倪太守。 時天旱,倪問輅雨期,輅曰:「今夕當雨。」 是日暘燥,晝無形似,府丞及令在坐,咸謂不然。 到鼓一中,星月皆沒,風雲並起,竟成快雨。 於是倪盛脩主人禮,共為歡樂。 〈輅別傳曰:輅與倪清河相見,既刻雨期,倪猶未信。 輅曰:「夫造化之所以為神,不疾而速,不行而至。 十六日壬子,直滿,畢星中已有水氣,水氣之發,動於卯辰,此必至之應也。 又天昨檄召五星,宣布星符,刺下東井,告命南箕,使召雷公、電母、風伯、雨師,群岳吐陰,眾川激精,雲漢垂澤,蛟龍含靈,堃堃硃電,吐咀杳冥,殷殷雷聲,噓吸雨靈,習習谷風,六合皆同,欬唾之間,品物流形。 天有常期,道有自然,不足為難也。」 倪曰:「譚高信寡,相為憂之。」 於是便留輅,往請府丞及清河令。 若夜雨者當為啖二百斤犢肉,若不雨當住十日。 輅曰:「言念費損!」 至日向暮,了無雲氣,眾人並嗤輅。 輅言:「樹上已有少女微風,樹間又有陰鳥和鳴。 又少男風起,眾鳥和翔,其應至矣。」 須臾,果有艮風鳴鳥。 日未入,東南有山雲樓起。 黃昏之後,雷聲動天。 到鼓一中,星月皆沒,風雲並興,玄氣四合,大雨河傾。 倪調輅言:「誤中耳,不為神也。」 輅曰:「誤中與天期,不亦工乎!」〉
Marching west he stopped at Wuqiu Jian's tomb, leaned on a tree, and chanted in grief. Asked why, he said, "Though the grove is thick, it cannot last; though the elegy is fair, no heirs remain to tend it; the tomb layout shows Xuanwu headless, Qinglong footless, Baihu biting a corpse, Zhuque weeping—four fatal flaws portending clan extinction. Within two years the omen will strike." It happened as he said. Later, on leave, he visited Prefect Ni of Qinghe. At the time heaven was drought; Ni asked Lu the term for rain; Lu said: "This very night ought to rain." The day blazed cloudless; the staff scoffed. At the first drum stars and moon vanished, wind rose, and a hard rain fell. Ni feasted him in gratitude. 〈Ni doubted even after Guan Lu set the hour of rain. Lu said: "As for creation's being called spirit—not fast yet swift, not walking yet arriving. The sixteenth was a "full" day under Renzi; the Net lodge already held moisture rising at mao-chen—proof of rain. He pictured heaven dispatching the five planets, thunder gods, and dragons to pour rain in a breath. Heaven keeps schedule; the Way is natural—nothing miraculous." Ni said: "High discourse, few believers—I worry for you." He kept Guan Lu and summoned witnesses. He wagered two hundred jin of veal if it rained, else Guan Lu must stay ten days. "Lu said: "Speaking of the expense hurts!" At dusk the sky stayed clear and the crowd mocked him. "Lu said: "On the trees already there is young girl's slight wind; among the trees again there is yin birds' harmonious cry. Then the young-male wind rose and birds wheeled together—the sign had come." Soon the northeast wind rose and birds called. Before sunset layered clouds piled in the southeast. After dusk thunder rolled across the sky. At first drum stars and moon vanished, wind and black mist closed in, and rain fell in torrents. Ni teased Lu, saying: "A lucky hit—not to be called spirit." Guan Lu answered, "Luck that keeps heaven's schedule is art enough!"〉
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正元二年,弟辰謂輅曰:「大將軍待君意厚,冀當富貴乎?」 輅長歎曰:「吾自知有分直耳,然天與我才明,不與我年壽,恐四十七八間,不見女嫁兒娶婦也。 若得免此,欲作洛陽令,可使路不拾遣,枹鼓不鳴。 但恐至太山治鬼,不得治生人,如何!」 辰問其故,輅曰:「吾額上無生骨,眼中無守精,鼻無梁柱,腳無天根,背無三甲,腹無三壬,此皆不壽之驗。 又吾本命在寅,加月食夜生。 天有常數,不可得諱,但人不知耳。 吾前後相當死者過百人,略無錯也。」 是歲八月,為少府丞。 明年二月卒,年四十八。 〈輅別傳曰:既有明才,遭硃陽之運,於時名勢赫奕,若火猛風疾。 當塗之士,莫不枝附葉連。 賓客如雲,無多少皆為設食。 賓無貴賤,候之以禮。 京城紛紛,非徒歸其名勢而已,然亦懷其德焉。 向不夭命,輅之榮華,非世所測也。 弟辰嘗欲從輅學卜及仰觀事,輅言:「卿不可教耳。 夫卜非至精不能見其數,非至妙不能睹其道,孝經、詩、論,足為三公,無用知之也。」 於是遂止。 子弟無能傳其術者。 辰敘曰:「夫晉、魏之士,見輅道術神妙,佔候無錯,以為有隱書及象甲之數。 辰每觀輅書傳,惟有易林、風角及鳥鳴、仰觀星書三十餘卷,世所共有。 然輅獨在少府官舍,無家人子弟隨之,其亡沒之際,好奇不哀喪者,盜輅書,惟餘易林、風角及鳥鳴書還耳。 夫術數有百數十家,其書有數千卷,書不少也。 然而世鮮名人,皆由無才,不由無書也。 裴冀州、何、鄧二尚書及鄉里劉太常、潁川兄弟,以輅禀受天才,明陰陽之道,吉凶之情,一得其源,遂涉其流,亦不為難,常歸服之。 輅自言與此五君共語使人精神清發,昏不暇寐。 自此以下,殆白日欲寢矣。 又自言當世無所原,欲得與魯梓慎、鄭裨灶、晉卜偃、宋子韋、楚甘公、魏石申共登靈臺,披神圖,步三光,明災異,運蓍龜,決狐疑,無所复恨也。 辰不以闇淺,得因孔懷之親,數與輅有所諮論至於辨人物,析臧否,說近義,彈曲直,拙而不工也。 若敷皇、羲之典,揚文、孔之辭,周流五曜,經緯三度,口滿聲溢,微言風集,若仰眺飛鴻,漂漂兮景沒,若俯臨深溪,杳杳兮精絕; 偪以攻難,而失其端,欲受學求道,尋以迷昏,無不扼腕椎指,追響長嘆也。 昔京房雖善卜及風律之佔,卒不免禍,而輅自知四十八當亡,可謂明哲相殊。 又京房目見遘讒之黨,耳聽青蠅之聲,面諫不從,而猶道路紛紜。 輅處魏、晉之際,藏智以樸,卷舒有時,妙不見求,愚不見遺,可謂知幾相邈也。 京房上不量萬乘之主,下不避佞諂之徒,欲以天文、洪範,利國利身,困不能用,卒陷大刑,可謂枯龜之餘智,膏燭之末景,豈不哀哉! 世人多以輅疇之京房,辰不敢許也。 至於仰察星辰,俯定吉凶,遠期不失年歲,近期不失日月,辰以甘、石之妙不先也。 射覆名物,見術流速,東方朔不過也。 觀骨形而審貴賤,覽形色而知生死,許負、唐舉不超也。 若夫疏風氣而探微候,聽鳥鳴而識神機,亦一代之奇也。 向使輅官達,為宰相大臣,膏腴流於明世,華曜列乎竹帛,使幽驗皆舉,秘言不遺,千載之後,有道者必信而貴之,無道者必疑而怪之; 信者以妙過真,夫妙與神合者,得神無所惑也。 恨輅才長命短,道貴時賤,親賢遐潛,不宣於良史,而為鄙弟所見追述,既自闇濁,又從來久遠,所載卜佔事,雖不識本卦,捃拾殘餘,十得二焉。 至於仰觀靈曜,說魏、晉興衰,及五運浮沉,兵革災異,十不收一。 無源何以成河? 無根何以垂榮? 雖秋菊可採,不及春英,臨文慷慨,伏用哀慚。 將來君子,幸以高明求其義焉。 往孟荊州為列人典農,嘗問亡兄,昔東方朔射覆得何卦,正知守宮、蜥蜴二物者。 亡兄於此為安卦生象,辭喻交錯,微義豪起,變化相推,會於辰巳,分別龍蛇,各使有理。 言絕之後,孟荊州長嘆息曰:『吾聞君論,精神騰躍,殆欲飛散,何其汪汪乃至於斯邪!』」 臣松之案:辰所稱鄉里劉太常者,謂劉寔也。 辰撰輅傳,寔時為太常,潁川則寔弟智也。 寔、智並以儒學為名,無能言之。 世語稱寔博辯,猶不足以並裴、何之流也。 又案輅自說,云「本命在寅」,則建安十五年生也。 至正始九年,應三十九,而傳云三十六,以正元三年卒,應四十七,傳云四十八,皆為不相應也。 近有閻續伯者,名纘,該微通物,有良史風。 為天下補綴遺脫,敢以所聞列於篇左。 皆從受之於大人先哲,足以取信者,冀免虛誣之譏云爾。 嘗受辰傳所謂劉太常者曰:「輅始見聞,由於為鄰婦卜亡牛,云當在西面窮牆中,縣頭上向。 教婦人令視諸丘塚中,果得牛。 婦人因以為藏己牛,告官案驗,乃知以術知,故裴冀州遂聞焉。」 又云:「路中小人失妻者,輅為卜,教使明旦於東陽城門中伺擔豚人牽與共鬥。 具如其言,豚逸走,即共追之。 豚入人舍,突破主人甕,婦從甕中出。」 劉侯云甚多此類,辰所載才十一二耳。 劉侯云:「辰,孝廉才也。」 中書令史紀玄龍,輅鄉里人,云「輅在田舍,嘗候遠鄰,主人患數失火。 輅卜,教使明日於南陌上伺,當有一角巾諸生,駕黑牛故車,必引留,為設賓主,此能消之。 即從輅戒。 諸生有急求去,不聽,遂留當宿,意大不安,以為圖己。 主人罷入,生乃把刀出門,倚兩薪積間,側立假寐。 歘有一小物直來過前,如獸,手中持火,以口吹之。 生驚,舉刀斫,正斷要,視之則狐。 自此主人不復有災。」 前長廣太守陳承祐口受城門校尉華長駿語云:「昔其父為清河太守時,召輅作吏,駿與少小,後以鄉里,遂加恩意,常與同載周旋,具知其事。 云諸要驗,三倍於傳。 辰既短才,又年縣小,又多在田舍,故益不詳。 辰仕宦至州主簿、部從事,太康之初物故。」 駿又云:「輅卜亦不悉中,十得七八,駿問其故,輅云:『理無差錯來卜者或言不足以宣事實,故使爾。』 華城門夫人者,魏故司空涿郡盧公女也,得疾,連年不差。 華家時居西城下南纏里中,三厩在其東南。 輅卜當有師從東方來,自言能治,便聽使之,必得其力。 後無何,有南征厩騶,當充甲卒,來詣盧公,佔能治女郎。 公即表請留之,專使其子將詣華氏療疾,初用散藥,後復用丸治,尋有效,即奏除騶名,以補太醫。」 又云:「隨輅父在利漕時,有治下屯民捕鹿者,其晨行還,見毛血,人取鹿處來詣厩告輅,輅為卦語云:'此有盜者,是汝東巷中第三家也。 汝徑往門前,伺無人時,取一瓦子,密發其碓屋東頭第七椽,以瓦著下,不過明日食時,自送還汝。」 其夜,盜者父病頭痛,壯熱煩疼,然亦來詣輅卜。 輅為發祟,盜者俱服。 輅令擔皮肉藏還者故處,病當自愈。 乃密教鹿主往取。 又語使復往如前,舉椽棄瓦盜父病差。 又都尉治內史有失物者,輅使明晨於寺門外看,當逢一人,使指天畫地,舉手四向,自當得之。 暮果獲於故處矣。
In the second year of Zhengyuan, younger brother Chen said to Lu: "The great general treats your lordship generously—do you hope to become noble and rich?" Lu long sighed and said: "I myself know there is a fated portion only; yet Heaven gave me bright talent, did not give me long lifespan—I fear between forty-seven and forty-eight I will not see my daughter married or my son take a wife. If spared, he would rather govern Luoyang until lost goods lay untouched and lawsuits ceased. More likely he would judge ghosts on Mount Tai than living men in Luoyang." Chen asked the reason; Lu said: "On my forehead there is no living bone; in my eyes no guarding essence; in my nose no pillar beams; in my feet no heaven root; on my back no three jia; in my belly no three ren—these all are signs of not long life. He was born under Yin on a night of eclipse. Heaven's term cannot be dodged—men simply do not see it. He had read death on more than a hundred faces without a miss." That eighth month he became assistant chamberlain. The next February he died at forty-eight. 〈His gifts met a red-sun age of blazing fame. Every man in office clung to him like leaves on a branch. Guests swarmed like clouds, and he fed them all. High or low, he received each with courtesy. The capital sought him for power and for kindness. Had he lived, his glory would have outstripped measure. Younger brother Chen once wished to follow Lu in learning divination and looking up; Lu said: "You cannot be taught. Divination demands utmost refinement; the Filial Classic and Analects suffice for high office without it." Chen gave up. No kinsman inherited his art. Chen's preface states: "As for Jin and Wei gentlemen, seeing Lu's Dao arts spirit-subtle, divining and watching without error, they thought he had hidden writings and tortoise-armor numbers. His shelf held only the standard Yilin, wind augury, and star texts—nothing arcane. He died alone in office; ghoulish curiosity-seekers stole his books, leaving only the common titles. The occult canon runs to thousands of scrolls. Few masters appear for want of genius, not want of ink. Pei Hui, He Yan, Deng Yang, Liu Shi, and the Yingchuan brothers bowed to his grasp of fate. He said debate with those five men left him sleepless with joy. With anyone else he could nap at noon. He wished only to stand with the great diviners of old on the observatory tower. Guan Chen, though dull, consulted him on men and morals without skill. When Guan Lu expounded the canon, stars, and subtle words, listeners felt swept into abyss or sky. Hard questions left them lost and sighing. Jing Fang died for his art; Guan Lu foreknew forty-eight—wiser by far. Jing Fang saw slander and warned in vain. Guan Lu hid wit in simplicity between dynasties—true foresight. Jing Fang lectured emperors and died for it—last sparks of a spent torch, pitiable. The world paired him with Jing Fang; Guan Chen refused the match. In stars and calendars he matched Gan Gong and Shi Shen. At cover-guess he outdid Dongfang Shuo. In physiognomy he rivaled Xu Fu and Tang Ju. In wind lore and bird augury he was unique to his age. Had he reached high office, his proofs would fill histories and convince later sages. Faith comes when subtlety touches spirit. He died young and obscure; this dull brother salvages one word in five from memory. His star lore on Wei-Jin fate survives less than one word in ten. A river without a headwater cannot run. A tree without roots cannot bear glorious boughs. Autumn chrysanthemums cannot match spring blooms—writing this, I blush with shame. May later readers of clear mind recover the full sense. Meng once asked my late brother which hexagram Dongfang Shuo used to name gecko and lizard in cover-guess. My brother cast the lines, spun images, and split dragon from snake at chen-si. After speech ended, Governor Meng of Jingzhou long sighed and said: "Hearing your lordship's discourse, my spirit leaps as if about to fly apart—how vast and deep it reaches to this!" 〈Pei Songzhi: "Liu Tai chang" is Liu Shi. Guan Chen wrote when Liu Shi held that office; "Yingchuan" means his brother Zhi. Both were famed Confucians, not debaters. Shishuo calls Liu Shi eloquent, yet not in Pei or He's league. His "birth in yin" implies Jian'an 15 (210 CE). Zhengshi 9 should make him thirty-nine, not thirty-six; Zhengyuan 3 death age forty-seven, not forty-eight—the chronology slips. Yan Zuan lately mends such gaps in historian style. He adds trustworthy notes at the margin. He records only what elders vouched for, to avoid idle slander. He once received from Chen's biography the so-called Grand Master Liu's saying: "Lu's first fame came from divining for a neighbor woman her lost ox, saying it ought to be westward in a ruined wall, head hung upward. She searched the tombs and found the beast. She accused theft until officials learned it was divination—thus Pei Hui heard of him." Again it says: "A little man on the road who lost his wife—Lu for him divined, teaching that the next morning at Dongyang city gate he should wait for a man shouldering a pig, quarrel with him in a fight. The pig bolted; they chased it as told. It crashed into a jar and the missing wife crawled out." Liu said Guan Chen recorded barely a tenth of the tales. Grandee Liu said: "Chen is a cultivated-talent's ability." Central document clerk Ji Xuanlong, Lu's fellow villager, said: "Lu in the field hut once waited on a distant neighbor whose master fretted over repeated fires. Guan Lu told him to detain a scholar with black ox and old cart on the south road. The host obeyed. The scholar tried to leave; forced to stay, he feared a plot. When the host slept, the scholar stood guard with a knife by two woodpiles. A small beast crept up blowing fire. He struck and halved a fox arsonist. The fires stopped." Former Changguang Prefect Chen Chengyou orally received from camp gate commandant Hua Changjun's words saying: "Formerly when his father was Qinghe prefect, he summoned Lu to be a clerk; Jun was young with him, afterward because of same village gradually added favor, always rode in the same cart with him and knew the affairs fully. Hua said thrice as many marvels happened as were written. Guan Chen was young, dull, and rural—hence the thin record. Chen's official career reached prefecture chief clerk and department attendant; in the first years of Taikang he passed away." Jun again said: "Lu's divining also was not entirely on target—seven or eight out of ten hit; Jun asked the reason; Lu said: "There is no error in principle; those who come to divine sometimes their words are not enough to declare the facts—therefore it is so. The gate commandant's wife was a Lu daughter of Zhuo—ill for years. The Huas lived west of the city in Nanchan; three stables stood to their southeast. Guan Lu said an eastern healer would cure her if hired. Soon a stable conscript bound south offered a cure. Minister Lu kept him; his powders and pills worked, and the groom became court physician." Again it says: "When following Lu's father at Licao, there was a garrison commoner who caught deer; in the morning returning he saw fur and blood at the place where someone took the deer; he came to the stable to tell Lu; Lu for the hexagram told him: 'Here is a thief—it is the third household in your east lane. You go straight to the gate front, wait until no one is there, take one roof-tile, secretly lift the seventh rafter on the east of his pestle-house, place the tile below—before tomorrow's mealtime he will of himself return it to you." That night the thief's father fell ill and also consulted Guan Lu. Guan Lu exposed the guilt and the thief confessed. He ordered the meat returned to the kill site to lift the curse. He secretly told the hunter to reclaim his venison. Removing the tile healed the thief's father. Another clerk in the commandant's office lost something; Guan Lu told him to watch at the temple gate at dawn for a passerby who would wave toward heaven and earth and the four quarters—that encounter would lead him straight to the missing goods. By evening the property turned up exactly where he had left it.