Shen Jian (申鑑)

申鑑儒家

Shen Jian (Extended Mirror), Confucian category. (The received text has a rare character here, lost in transcription.)

【臣】等謹案申鑑五卷漢荀悅撰悅字仲豫潁川潁隂人淑之孫爽之兄子也獻帝時官秘書監侍中後漢書本傳稱悅侍講禁中見政移曹氏志在獻替而謀無所用乃作申鑑五篇其所論辨通見政體既成奏上帝覽而善之其書見於隋經籍志唐藝文志者皆五卷卷各一篇一曰政體二曰時事皆制治大要及時所當行之務三曰俗嫌皆破禨祥防緯之説四曰襍言上五曰襍言下則皆泛論義理頗似揚雄法言後漢書取其政體篇為政之方一章時事篇正尚主之制復內外註記二章載入傳中又稱悅別有崇徳正論及諸論數十篇今並不傳惟漢紀及此書尚行於世漢紀文約事詳足稱良史而此書剖析事理尤為深切著明蓋由其原本儒術故所言皆極醇正於治道深有禆益焉明正徳中吳縣黃省曽復為之注凡萬四千餘言引據博洽多得悅防其於後漢書所引間有同異者亦並列其文於句下以便考訂然如政體篇真實而已句今本後漢書實作定不肅而治句今本後漢書治作成而省曾均未之及則亦不免於偶疎也乾隆四十二年十月恭校上

[Your servants] respectfully note: Shen Jian, five scrolls, was compiled by Xun Yue of the Han dynasty. Xun Yue, courtesy name Zhongyu, was a native of Yingyin in Yingchuan, grandson of Xun Shu and son of the elder brother of Xun Shuang. Under Emperor Xian he rose to Director of the Palace Library and Palace Attendant. The biography in the Hou Han Shu says that Xun Yue, lecturing in the palace, saw that governmental power had fallen into the hands of the Cao family, and though he was eager to offer advice for correction, his plans had nowhere to be used, so he wrote five chapters of Shen Jian. His discussions in the book all penetrated the essentials of government, and when it was completed and presented, Emperor Xian read it and approved. This work is recorded in the Sui Shu Jingji Zhi and the Tang Shu Yiwen Zhi as five scrolls, each scroll one chapter: first, Zhengti (The Substance of Government), second, Shishi (Affairs of the Times), both on the great essentials of governing a state and what needed to be done in his day; third, Suxian (Doubts of Custom), all on dispelling the doctrines of omens and fortune and the (a rare character here, lost in transcription) apocrypha; fourth, Zayan Shang (Miscellaneous Sayings, Part One), and fifth, Zayan Xia (Miscellaneous Sayings, Part Two), all general discussion of principle, much like Yang Xiong's Fayan. The Hou Han Shu took the chapter "The Method of Governing" from Zhengti and the two chapters "Correcting the System of Marrying Princesses" and "Restoring the Inner and Outer Records" from Shishi and entered them in the biography. It also says Xun Yue wrote besides these Chongde, Zhenglun and dozens of other essays, none of which survive today, and only the Han Ji and this book remain current in the world. The Han Ji is concise in words and thorough in facts, and deserves to be called good history; this book is especially deep and clear in analyzing principles, presumably because he was originally trained in Confucian learning, so all that he says is quite pure and of great benefit to governance. In the Zhengde era of the Ming, Huang Shengzeng of Wuxian also wrote a commentary on it, some fourteen thousand characters in all, with wide and learned citations, which often caught Xun Yue's (a rare character here, lost in transcription). Where the book differs from what the Hou Han Shu quotes, the texts are also set side by side below the lines to aid comparison. Yet for example in the Zhengti sentence "it is only a matter of being real", the present text of the Hou Han Shu has "settled" in place of "real", and in the sentence "orders without strictness" the present Hou Han Shu has "accomplished" in place of "governed", and Huang Shengzeng mentions neither, so he too is not free of occasional oversights. Respectfully collated and submitted in the tenth month of the forty-second year of Qianlong.

夫道之本仁義而已矣五典以經之群籍以緯之詠之歌之之舞之前鑑既明後復申之故古之聖王其於仁義也申重而已篤序無疆謂之申鑑聖漢統天惟宗時亮其功格宇宙粵有虎臣亂政【虎臣漢興輔弼之臣所與共成天功者亂治也治亂謂之亂猶治汙謂之汙也書泰誓曰予有亂臣十人】時亦惟荒圮湮【治荒曰荒】茲洪軌儀監於三代之典王允迪厥徳【迪蹈也】功業有尚天道在爾惟帝茂止【古茂□通用勉也】陟降膚止萬國康止允出茲斯行逺矣立天之道曰隂與陽立地之道曰柔與剛立人之道曰仁與義【此引易繫辭文以見人道惟在仁義為政者當申重之也】隂陽以統其精氣【所謂在天成象】剛柔以品其群形【所謂在地成形】仁義以經其事業是為道也【此三才之道所以立也】故凢政之大經法教而已矣教者陽之化也【教者徳禮之謂】法者隂之符也【法者政刑之謂】仁也者慈此者也義也者宜此者也禮也者履此者也信也者守此者也智也者知此者也是故好惡以章之喜怒以涖之哀樂以恤之若乃二端不愆【二端者教與法也】五徳不離【五徳者仁義禮智信也】六節不悖【六節者好惡喜怒哀樂也】則三才允序五事交備【洪範次二曰敬用五事一曰貌二曰言三曰視四曰聽五曰思恭從明聰睿所謂交備也】百工惟釐庶績鹹熈【堯典曰允釐百工庶績鹹熈注曰工官釐治庶眾績功鹹皆熈廣也】天作道皇作極【洪範次五曰建用皇極又曰惟皇作極極中也】臣作輔民作基【輔助也弼也基址也謂臣工協棐民心鞏固也】惟先喆【古哲喆通用賔戲曰聖喆之治】王之政一曰承天二曰正身三曰任賢四曰恤民五曰明制六曰立業承天惟允正身惟常任賢惟固恤民惟勤明制惟典立業惟敦是謂政體也致治【按漢書作政字】之術先屏四患乃崇五政一曰偽二曰私三曰放四曰奢偽亂俗私壞法放越軌奢敗制四者不除則政末由行矣【按漢書矣下有夫字】俗亂則道荒雖天地不得保其性矣【所謂天生蒸民其命匪諶靡不有初鮮克有終者也】法壊則世傾雖人主不得守其度矣軌越則禮亡雖聖人不得全其道矣制敗則欲肆雖四表不能充其求矣是謂四患【此偽私放奢所以為患而當先屛也按當時如董卓鳴鐘鼔如洛以逐君側之惡為名而實有異志後則劫帝長安欲事成雄據天下偽莫有甚焉者卓以嚴刑脅眾睚眥之隙必報故當時法令苛刻愛憎滛刑更相被誣寃死私莫有甚焉者卓至西京乘青蓋金華車畫兩轓放莫有甚焉者卓築郿塢髙與長安城埒積穀為三十年儲珠玉錦綺竒玩雜物皆山崇阜積奢莫有甚馬者繼而傕汜擅政曹操柄國率由一軌海內成風故悅以為言】興農桑以養其生【按漢書作性字】審好惡以正其俗宣文教以章其化立武備以秉其威明賞罰以統其法是謂五政民不畏死不可懼以罪【老子曰民不畏死柰何以死愳之】民不樂生不可觀【按漢書作勸字】以善雖使卨布五教咎繇作士政不行焉【無死之畏法何由施無生之樂教何由立】故在上者先豐民財以定其志帝耕籍田後桑蠶宮【月令孟春之月乃擇元辰天子親載耒耜棤之於參保介之御間帥三公九卿諸侯大夫躬耕帝籍天子三推三公五推卿諸侯九推又季春之日後妃齋戒親東鄉躬桑祭義曰天子為籍千畆冕而朱紘躬秉耒諸侯為籍百畆冕而青紘躬秉耒以事天地山川社稷先古以為醴酪齊盛於是取之敬之至也又古者天子諸侯必有公桑蠶室近川而為之築宮仞有三尺棘牆而外閉之及大昕之朝君皮弁素積卜三宮之夫人世婦之吉者使入蠶室奉種浴於川桑於公桑風戾以食之至漢文帝常詔開籍田而漢制皇后亦帥公卿諸侯夫人蠶此所謂興農桑也】國無逰民野無荒業財不虛【按漢書作賈字】用力不妄加以周民事是謂養生【此政之當崇者一也】君子之所以動天地應神明正萬物而成王治【按漢書作化字】者必本乎真實而已故在上者審則儀道以定好惡【按漢書作審定好醜焉】善惡要於【一作乎】功罪譭譽效於凖驗聴言責事舉名察實【功罪凖驗事實之謂也】無或詐偽以蕩眾心故事無不核物無不切【按漢書作功字】善無不顯【功得其跡也】惡無不彰【罪得其情也】俗無奸怪民無淫風【滛過無節也伊訓曰敢有殉於貨色恆於逰畋時謂淫風】百姓上下睹利害之存乎已也故肅恭其心慎脩其行內不忒【按漢書作回字】惑外無異望慮其睹去徼倖無罪過不憂懼請謁無所聴【一作行】財賂無所用則民志平矣是謂正俗【此政之當崇者二也】君子以情用小人以刑用【俗本誤作形】榮辱者賞罰之精華也故禮教榮辱以加君子化其情也桎梏鞭樸以加小人治【漢書作化】其刑也【在手曰梏在足曰桎重者鞭以治之輕者樸以撻之樸榎楚也周禮掌囚凡囚者上罪梏拲而桎中罪桎梏下罪梏條狼氏誓大夫曰敢不□鞭五百虞典曰鞭作官刑樸作教刑】君子不犯辱況於刑乎【刑不能以逮君子】小人不忌刑況於辱乎【辱不足以治小人】若夫中人之倫則刑禮兼焉教化之廢推中人而墜於小人之域教化之行引中人而納於君子之塗【塗路也】是謂章化【此政之當崇者二也】小人之情緩則驕驕則恣恣則急急則怨怨則畔危則謀亂安則思欲非威強無以懲之故在上者必有武備以戒不虞【易曰君子以除戎器戒不虞】以遏冦虐【詩民勞曰式遏冦虐俗本誤作虞】安居則寄之內政【國語桓公曰國安矣吾欲從事於諸侯其可乎管子對曰未可君若正卒伍修甲兵則大國亦將正卒伍修甲兵則難以速得志矣君有攻伐之器小國諸侯有守禦之備則難以速得志矣君欲速得志於天下諸侯則事可以隱令可以寄政桓公曰為之若何管子曰作內政而寄軍令焉韋昭解曰內政國政也因治政以寄軍令若有徵伐隣國不知也】有事則用之軍旅是謂秉威【此政之當崇者四也】賞罰政之柄也明賞必罰審信慎令賞以勸善罰以懲惡人主不妄賞非徒愛其財也賞妄行則善不勸矣不妄罰非徒慎其刑也罰妄行則惡不懲矣賞不勸謂之止善【賞及淫人則善無所勸而為善者止矣】罰不懲謂之縱惡【罰及吉人則惡無所懲而為惡者縱矣】在上者能不止下為善不縱下為惡則國治矣【按漢書作國法立矣】是謂統法【此政之當崇者五也】四患既蠲五政既【漢書作又】立行之以誠守之以固簡而不怠踈而不失【老子曰天網恢恢踈而不失】無為為之使自施之無事事之使自交之【老子曰為無為事無事】不肅而治【按漢書此下有不嚴而化一句】埀拱揖遜【漢書作讓】而海內平矣是謂為政之方也

The root of the Dao is nothing but benevolence and righteousness. Take the Five Canons as its warp and the many books as its woof; chant it, sing it, (a rare character here, lost in transcription), and dance it. The earlier lessons are already clear, and one states them once more later. Therefore the ancient sage-kings, with regard to benevolence and righteousness, only restated them and added emphasis, sincerely arranging them without end; this is called Shen Jian, the Extended Mirror. The sage Han dynasty holds the whole world only by honoring what is timely and assisting what is bright, and its achievement fills the cosmos. So there were martial ministers to govern affairs ["tiger ministers" refers to the assisting ministers who, from the Han's founding, together brought about Heaven's work. "Luan" means "to govern". To call governing disorder "disorder" is like calling cleaning dirt "dirtying". The Shangshu, in Taishi, says: "I have ten ministers to govern."] and even then there were places that were desolate, ruined and buried [to govern desolation and chaos is called desolating]; so great models and rules were established, taking the institutions of the Three Dynasties as examples. If the king can sincerely tread that virtue ["di" means "to tread", to put into practice], there is something to esteem in achievement, and the Way of Heaven is here. May the emperor only strive [in ancient times "mao" and a character that is damaged in the received text were interchangeable and mean to strive], so that rising and falling are both fine and the myriad states are at peace. Sincerity going out from here can travel far. The Way that establishes heaven is called yin and yang; the Way that establishes earth is called soft and hard; the Way that establishes humankind is called benevolence and righteousness [this cites the Appended Judgments of the Book of Changes, to show that the human way lies only in benevolence and righteousness, which those who govern should restate and emphasize]. Yin and yang are used to govern essence and qi [this is what is meant by forming images in heaven]; soft and hard are used to distinguish the many forms [this is what is meant by forming shapes on earth]; benevolence and righteousness are used to manage affairs; this is the Dao [this is the reason the way of the three powers can be established]. Therefore the great warp of all government is nothing but law and teaching. Teaching is the nurturing of yang [teaching refers to virtue and ritual]; law is the verification of yin [law refers to administration and punishment]. Benevolence is what loves this; righteousness is what makes this fitting; ritual is what practices this; trustworthiness is what keeps this; wisdom is what knows this. Therefore make it manifest through likes and dislikes, approach it through joy and anger, and care for it through sorrow and delight. If the two ends make no mistake [the two ends are teaching and law], the five virtues are not scattered [the five virtues are benevolence, righteousness, ritual, wisdom and trustworthiness], and the six measures are not disordered [the six measures are liking, disliking, joy, anger, sorrow and delight], then the three powers are in due order and the five matters are mutually complete [the second category of the Hongfan chapter of the Shangshu says "respectfully employ the five matters": the first is appearance, the second speech, the third seeing, the fourth hearing and the fifth thinking. Respectfulness, accord, clarity, keenness and sagacity are what is meant by mutual completeness]; the hundred officials are governed and all achievements are broad [the Yao Dian chapter of the Shangshu says: "Sincerely order the hundred officials, and all achievements are broad." The old commentary says: gong means officials, li means to govern, shu means many, ji means achievements, xian means all, xi means broad]. Heaven completes the Way, the sovereign completes the pole [the fifth category of the Hongfan says "establish and use the sovereign's pole", and also "only the sovereign makes the pole". The pole means the center]; ministers complete the assistance, and the people complete the foundation [assistance means help, means to aid; foundation means base. It means that ministers help and assist, and the people's hearts are firm]. Only the government of the wise kings of earlier ages [in ancient times zhe and zhe, two forms of the word for "wise", were interchangeable; the Bin Xi says "the government of the sage and wise"] has six things: the first is to receive Heaven's mandate, the second to rectify oneself, the third to employ the worthy, the fourth to care for the people, the fifth to clarify institutions, and the sixth to establish enterprises. To receive Heaven's mandate one must be sincere, to rectify oneself one must be constant, to employ the worthy one must be steadfast, to care for the people one must be diligent, to clarify institutions one must conform to the canons, and to establish enterprises one must be generous; this is called the substance of government. The method of bringing about good government is first to remove four afflictions and then to honor five policies. The first is falsehood, the second is selfishness, the third is license, the fourth is extravagance. Falsehood disturbs custom, selfishness ruins the law, license oversteps the track, and extravagance ruins institutions. If these four are not removed, government has no way to be carried out [note: the Han Shu has the particle "fu" after "yi"]. When custom is disordered the Way is abandoned, and even heaven and earth cannot keep their nature [this is what is meant by Heaven giving birth to the multitude of people whose fates cannot be relied on, none lacking a beginning and few reaching an end]; when law is ruined the age is overturned, and even a ruler cannot keep his rules. When the track overshoots ritual one perishes, and even a sage cannot preserve his Way. When institutions are ruined desire runs wild, and even the four extremes cannot fill his demands. These are called the four afflictions [this is the reason falsehood, selfishness, license and extravagance are the afflictions that should be removed first. Note: at that time, for example, Dong Zhuo struck bells and beat drums as if in Luoyang, using the name of driving out the evil beside the ruler while actually harboring other ambitions, and later seized Emperor Xian and took him to Chang'an, intending to hold the world with a heroic grip once his plan succeeded; no falsehood was greater than this. Dong Zhuo cowed people with severe punishments and repaid even the smallest grudges, so the laws of the time were harsh, punishments were freely applied by love and hatred, and people falsely accused each other and died wronged; no selfishness was greater than this. When Dong Zhuo went to the western capital, he rode in a green-canopied gold-flowered carriage, (a rare character here, lost in transcription) with two banners painted; no license was greater than this. Dong Zhuo built the Mei fortress as high as the wall of Chang'an and stored grain for thirty years, and pearls, jade, brocades and rare playthings were piled up like mountains; no extravagance was greater than this. Then Li Jue and Guo Si monopolized government, and Cao Cao held the reins of state, all following the same track, so that within the seas it became a fashion, and so Xun Yue says these things]. Promote farming and sericulture to nourish the people's livelihood [note: the Han Shu has the character xing, nature]; examine likes and dislikes to rectify custom; spread culture and teaching to make teaching manifest; build military readiness to hold awe; make rewards and punishments clear to govern the law; this is called the five policies. If the people do not fear death, one cannot make them afraid with punishment [the Laozi says: "If the people do not fear death, why frighten them with death?"]; if the people do not delight in life, one cannot encourage them with goodness [note: the Han Shu has the character for "encourage"]; even if Xie were to spread the five teachings and Gao Yao were made judge, government could not be carried out [without the fear of death, where would law be applied; without delight in life, where would teaching be established]. Therefore those above first make the people's wealth abundant to settle their aims. The Son of Heaven personally plows the ceremonial field and the empress personally tends silkworms in the silkworm palace [the Liji, Yueling, says that in the first month of spring, on an auspicious day, the Son of Heaven personally carries the plow, places it between the guard and the driver, and leads the Three Dukes, Nine Ministers, feudal lords and grand masters to plow the imperial field: the Son of Heaven pushes three times, the Three Dukes five times, and the ministers and lords nine times. In the last month of spring, the consort fasts and personally gathers mulberry leaves facing east. The Jiyi says: the Son of Heaven has a thousand mu of ceremonial field and, in a crown and vermilion sash, personally holds the plow; feudal lords have a hundred mu of ceremonial field and, in a crown and blue sash, personally hold the plow, in order to serve heaven and earth, the mountains and rivers, the altars of soil and grain and the ancestors, and wine, sweet drink, sauce, curds and sacrificial rice all come from here, reverence at its utmost. Also in ancient times, the Son of Heaven and feudal lords surely had public mulberry groves and silkworm chambers, built near rivers, with palace walls one ren and three chi high, enclosed by thorn walls and barred from the outside. At dawn, the ruler, wearing a skin cap and plain skirt, divined among the ladies and consorts of the three palaces for the auspicious ones, and had them enter the silkworm chambers, take the silkworm eggs and wash them in the river, gather mulberry on the public groves, and dry the leaves in the wind to feed the silkworms. In the time of Emperor Wen of Han, edicts were often issued to open ceremonial fields, and under the Han system the empress also led the wives of the ministers and lords in tending silkworms. This is what is called promoting farming and sericulture.] The state has no idle people, the countryside has no abandoned work, wealth is not wasted [note: the Han Shu has the character for "trade"], and labor is not recklessly applied, so that the people's affairs are made complete; this is called nourishing life [this is the first of the five policies to be honored]. What enables the gentleman to move heaven and earth, evoke response from the spirits, set all things right and accomplish a king's governance [note: the Han Shu has the character for "transform"] must be rooted in nothing but being real. Therefore those above examine the rules and take their model from the Dao to fix likes and dislikes [note: the Han Shu has "examine and determine what is fine and what is ugly"]; good and evil are determined by [one text has "hu"] merit and offense, and praise and blame are verified by standards; listen to a person's words and hold him responsible for his work, cite his name and examine his reality [meaning merit and offense, standards and facts]; do not use deceit and falsehood to shake the people's hearts. Then there is no matter that is not verified and no thing that is not close at hand [note: the Han Shu has the character for "merit"]; there is no good that is not made known [merit gets its traces]; there is no evil that is not made clear [offense gets its facts]; custom has no wickedness and the people have no excess [excess means going beyond and lacking restraint. The Shangshu, in Yi Xun, says: "If any dare to indulge in goods and women, or are constant in roaming and hunting, this is called the excessive custom."]. When the people, high and low, see that benefit and harm lie in themselves, they respectfully compose their hearts and carefully cultivate their conduct; within, there is no error [note: the Han Shu has the character for "deviation"] or confusion, and without, there is no improper hope; they take care that others will see them and so drop hope of luck; with no offense they have no fear, there is nowhere for private requests to be heard [one text has "carried out"], and no place for bribes to be used, and then the people's aims are leveled. This is called rectifying custom [this is the second of the five policies to be honored]. The gentleman is governed through feeling, the petty person through punishment [the vulgar text mistakenly has "form"]; honor and disgrace are the essence of reward and punishment. So when ritual teaching and honor and disgrace are applied to the gentleman, it moves his feelings; when fetters and the whip are applied to the petty person, it is the punishment that governs him [the Han Shu has "transforms"] [on the hands it is called a gu, on the feet a zhi. For the heavy, the whip is used to govern; for the light, the rod is used to beat. The rod is a stick of catalpa or thorn. The Zhouli, Zhangqiu: for prisoners, those of the highest crime are put in hand and foot fetters, those of the middle crime in foot and hand fetters, and those of the lowest crime in hand fetters. The Tiaolangshi has the grand masters swear "dare not", followed by a character damaged in the received text, "five hundred strokes of the whip." The Yu Shu says: "The whip is for official punishment, the rod for teaching punishment."]. The gentleman does not even incur disgrace, let alone punishment [punishment cannot be used on the gentleman]; the petty person does not even fear punishment, let alone disgrace [disgrace is not enough to govern the petty person]. As for middling people, punishment and ritual are used together. When teaching is abandoned, the middling are pushed into the position of the petty; when teaching is carried out, the middling are drawn onto the path of the gentleman [tu means path]. This is called manifesting transformation [this is the third of the five policies to be honored; the "second" in the received text should be a miswriting of "third"]. The feelings of the petty person: when relaxed they grow proud, when proud they run wild, when wild they become urgent, when urgent they resent, and when resentful they turn against you; in danger they plot disorder and in security they seek to satisfy their desires, and without strong authority there is no way to warn them. Therefore those above must have military readiness to guard against the unforeseen [the Book of Changes says: "The gentleman removes weapons to guard against the unexpected."] and to check bandits and violence [the Shijing, Min Lao, says "to check bandits and violence"; the vulgar text mistakenly has "yu"]. In time of peace it is lodged in domestic government [in the Guoyu, Duke Huan said: "The state is at peace now; I wish to take up affairs with the feudal lords, may I?" Guan Zi answered: "Not yet. If you reorganize the ranks and repair armor and weapons, the great states will also reorganize their ranks and repair armor and weapons, and it will be hard to achieve your aim soon. If you have the tools of attack, the small states and lords will have preparations for defense, and it will be hard to achieve your aim soon. If you want to achieve your aim quickly among the lords of the world, affairs can be concealed and orders lodged within government." Duke Huan asked how. Guan Zi said: "Carry out domestic government and lodge the military orders in it." Wei Zhao explains: domestic government is state government, using the management of government to lodge military orders so that if there is a campaign, neighboring states do not know it.]; in time of trouble it is used in the army; this is called holding awe [this is the fourth of the five policies to be honored]. Rewards and punishments are the handle of government. Rewards must be clear and punishments must be certain, trust applied with care and orders issued with care. Rewards are used to encourage good, punishments to chastise evil. The ruler's not giving rewards carelessly is not only to save goods; if rewards are carelessly given, good cannot be encouraged. Not punishing carelessly is not only caution in using punishment; if punishments are carelessly given, evil cannot be chastised. Rewards that cannot encourage are called stopping the good [when rewards reach the licentious, there is nowhere for good to be encouraged, and those who do good stop]; punishments that cannot chastise are called indulging evil [when punishments reach the fortunate, there is nowhere for evil to be chastised, and those who do evil run wild]. If those above can neither stop those below from doing good nor indulge them in doing evil, the state is governed [note: the Han Shu has "the laws of the state are established"]. This is called unifying the law [this is the fifth of the five policies to be honored]. When the four afflictions have been removed and the five policies have been [the Han Shu has "further"] established, carry them out with sincerity, keep them with firmness, be simple but not lazy, be sparse but not leaky [the Laozi says: "Heaven's net is vast; though its mesh is wide, nothing slips through."]. Do by not-doing and let it carry itself out; attend to by not-attending and let it connect itself [the Laozi says: "Do the not-doing, attend to the not-attending."]. Order without strictness [note: the Han Shu has after this the sentence "transform without severity"], with robes hanging down and hands folded, bowing and yielding [the Han Shu has "yielding"], and the realm within the seas is at peace. This is called the method of governing.

惟【缺】六則以立道經一曰中二曰和三曰正四曰公五曰誠六曰通以天道作中以地道作和以仁德作正以事物作公以身極作誠以變數作通【易傳曰通其變又曰變則通】是謂道實

Only [the received text probably has missing text here] six rules establish the constant of the Dao: the first is the mean, the second is harmony, the third is uprightness, the fourth is fairness, the fifth is sincerity, and the sixth is thoroughness. Use the Way of Heaven to make the mean, the Way of Earth to make harmony, benevolent virtue to make uprightness, affairs and things to make fairness, one's own utmost to make sincerity, and the number of transformations to make thoroughness [the Yi Zhuan says "to penetrate its changes", and also "when it changes, it penetrates"]. This is called the substance of the Dao.

惟恤十難以任賢能【周禮注賢謂有徳行者能謂有道藝者】一曰不知二曰不進【有知而不能進者】三曰不任【有進而不能任者】四曰不終【有任而不能終者】五曰以小怨棄大徳六曰以小過黜大功七曰以小失掩大美八曰以奸訐傷忠正九曰以邪說亂正度十曰以防嫉廢賢能【賢能所以不進不任不終者不過以小怨小過小失奸訐邪説防嫉數端妨之而已故歴言之以足十難】是謂十難十難不除則賢臣不用用臣不賢則國非其國也

Only by caring about the ten difficulties can the worthy and capable be employed [the Zhouli commentary says: "worthy" refers to those of virtuous conduct and "capable" to those of skill in the Way and arts]: the first is not knowing, the second is not advancing [there are those who know but cannot bring them forward], the third is not employing [there are those who bring them forward but cannot employ them], the fourth is not seeing through [there are those who employ them but cannot carry it through to the end], the fifth is to cast aside great virtue because of a small grudge, the sixth is to dismiss great merit because of a small fault, the seventh is to cover up great excellence because of a small lapse, the eighth is to harm the loyal and upright through crafty attacks, the ninth is to disturb correct standards through heterodox talk, and the tenth is to discard the worthy and capable through (a rare character here, lost in transcription) jealousy [the reason the worthy and capable are not advanced, not employed and not seen through is only that they are hindered by small grudges, small faults, small lapses, crafty attacks, heterodox talk and (a rare character here, lost in transcription) jealousy; so each is named in order to make up the ten difficulties]. These are called the ten difficulties. If the ten difficulties are not removed, worthy ministers cannot be used; and if the ministers employed are not worthy, the state is no longer his state.

惟察九風以定國常一曰治二曰衰三曰弱四曰乖五曰亂六曰荒七曰叛八曰危九曰亡君臣親而有禮百僚【僚官也書臯陶謨曰百僚師師】和而不同讓而不爭勤而不怨無事惟職是司【皆言百僚】此治國之風也【如唐虞三代盛時所謂治國之風】禮俗不一【教化不洽不能大同】位職不重小臣防嫉庶人作議【論語曰天下有道則庶人不議】此衰國之風也君好讓【一作嫌】臣好逸士好逰民好流【萬民離散不安其居如水之流也】此弱國之風也君臣爭明朝廷爭功士大夫爭名庶人爭利此乖國之風也上多欲下多端法不定政多門【不統於一】此亂國之風也以侈為博以伉為髙以濫為通遵禮謂之劬守法謂之固【以遵禮者為勞苦以守法者為執滯】此荒國之風也以苛為密【苛謂法令煩細】以利為公以割下為能以附上為忠此叛國之風也上下相疏內外相防【互相欺蔽】小臣爭寵大臣爭權【當時如進讓相謀汜傕相鬬之類也】此危國之風也上不訪下不諫【君無諮詢臣無納忠】婦吉用【政由房闥】私政行此亡國之風也故上必察乎國風也

Observe the nine kinds of ethos to establish the constant way of a state: the first is order, the second decline, the third weakness, the fourth discord, the fifth disorder, the sixth dissipation, the seventh rebellion, the eighth peril, and the ninth ruin. Where ruler and ministers are close and observe ritual, the hundred officials ["liao" means officials; the Documents, in "Counsels of Gao Yao," says "the hundred officials model themselves on one another"] are harmonious without echoing one another, are modest without contending, labor without resentment, and when there is nothing to do attend only to their own duties [all this refers to the hundred officials]: this is the ethos of a well-ordered state [as in the flourishing times of Tang, Yu and the Three Dynasties, which is what is meant by the ethos of a well-ordered state]. Where rites and customs are not unified [teaching and transformation are not pervasive, and there is no great concord], official posts are not valued, minor ministers are jealous (a rare character in the base text, lost in transcription), and commoners debate [the Analects says: "When the Way prevails in the world, commoners do not debate"]: this is the ethos of a declining state. Where the ruler likes to defer [one text has "suspect"], ministers like ease, scholars like roaming, and the people like to drift [the myriad people scatter and are not at peace in their dwellings, flowing like water]: this is the ethos of a weak state. Where ruler and ministers vie to be conspicuous, the court vies for merit, the scholar-officials vie for fame, and commoners vie for profit: this is the ethos of a discordant state. Where those above have many desires, those below have many threads, the laws are unfixed, and government comes from many gates [not unified under one]: this is the ethos of a disordered state. Where extravagance is taken for breadth, arrogance for loftiness, excess for open-mindedness, observing ritual is called drudgery, and abiding by law is called stubbornness [those who follow ritual are counted as toilers, those who keep the law as rigid]: this is the ethos of a dissipated state. Where pettiness is taken for strictness [pettiness means laws that are fussy and minute], profit for the public good, bleeding the lower people for ability, and echoing those above for loyalty: this is the ethos of a rebellious state. Where high and low keep apart, inside and outside (a rare character in the base text, lost in transcription) each other [deceive and cover up for one another], minor ministers vie for favor and major ministers vie for power [as with Jin Rang and Xiang Mou, or Li Jue and Guo Si fighting each other, in that time]: this is the ethos of a perilous state. Where those above do not consult and those below do not remonstrate [the ruler has no consultation and ministers offer no loyal counsel], women's words are adopted [government issues from the inner chambers], and private government prevails: this is the ethos of a doomed state. So those above must observe the ethos of the state.

惟慎庶獄以昭人情天地之大德曰生【易繋辭文】萬物之大極曰死【洪範六極一曰兇短折】死者不可以生刑者不可以復【漢文帝十三年齊大倉令淳于公有罪當刑其少女緹縈上書謂死者不可復生刑者不可復屬雖欲改過自新其道無繇也】故先王之刑也官師以成之【周禮鄉士遂士縣士方士各職聴於朝司冦聴之防其獄其訟於朝群士司刑皆在各麗其法以議獄訟獄訟成士師受中所謂官師以成之也】棘槐以斷之【周禮朝士掌建邦外朝之法左九棘孤卿大夫位焉群士在其後右九棘公侯伯子男位焉群吏在其後面三槐三公位焉州長眾庶在其後左嘉石平罷民焉右肺石達窮民焉又王制曰成獄辭史以獄成告於正正聴之正以獄成告於大司冦大司冦聴之棘木之下大司冦以獄之成告於王王命三公參聴之三公以獄之成告於王王三宥然後制刑所謂棘槐以斷之也】情訊以寛之【周禮司刺掌三刺三宥三赦之法以賛司冦聴獄訟一刺曰訊群臣再刺曰訊群吏三刺曰訊萬民一宥曰不識再宥曰過失三宥曰遺忘一赦曰防弱再赦曰老耄三赦曰惷愚以此三法者求民情斷民中而施上服下服之罪然後刑殺所謂情訊以寛之也】朝市以共之【周禮掌囚及刑殺告刑于王拲而適朝士加明梏以適市而刑殺之所謂朝市以共之也】矜哀以恤之刑斯斷樂不舉【施刑之日則弛縣】慎之至也刑哉刑哉其慎矣夫

Be careful with all lawsuits in order to make human feeling clear. The great virtue of Heaven and Earth is called life [words from the Book of Changes, "Appended Remarks"]; the great extreme of the myriad things is called death [the six extremes of the Great Plan, of which the first is calamity, shortened life and untimely death]. The dead cannot be revived, and those who have suffered mutilation cannot be restored [in the thirteenth year of Emperor Wen of Han, Chunyu Gong, the granary prefect of Qi, was guilty and due to be punished; his youngest daughter Tiying submitted a memorial saying that the dead cannot be revived and the mutilated cannot be made whole again, and even if they wished to reform, there would be no path for them]. So when the former kings applied punishments, the officials and masters completed them [in the Rites of Zhou, the township, outlying, county and regional scholar-officials each heard cases at court, and the minister of crime heard them, (a rare character in the base text, lost in transcription) the case; it was judged at court, with the many scholar-officials in charge of punishment all present, each deliberating the case according to law. When the case was done, the master of scholars received the middle-level record. This is what is meant by "the officials and masters complete it"]; judged beneath the thorn and locust trees [in the Rites of Zhou, "Court Scholars" has charge of establishing the law of the outer court of the state: on the left, nine thorn trees mark the seats of the solitary ministers and senior officials, with the scholar-officials behind; on the right, nine thorn trees mark the seats of the dukes, marquises, earls, viscounts and barons, with the many officials behind; in front, three locust trees mark the seats of the Three Dukes, with the district heads and the multitude behind; on the left is the Garden Stone to settle those who are to be released from labor, and on the right the Lung Stone to reach the destitute. And the Royal Regulations says: when the case record is complete, the clerk reports it to the magistrate, who hears and rules; the magistrate reports the finished case to the Grand Minister of Crime, who hears and rules beneath the thorn trees; the Grand Minister of Crime reports it to the king, and the king commands the Three Dukes to hear it together; the Three Dukes report to the king, and the king shows leniency three times before fixing the punishment. This is what is meant by "judged beneath the thorn and locust trees"]; eased through inquiry into the circumstances [in the Rites of Zhou, the "Officer of Pricking" has charge of the laws of the three inquiries, three leniencies and three pardons, to assist the minister of crime in hearing cases. The first inquiry is of the ministers, the second of the officials, the third of the myriad people; the first leniency is for the unwitting, the second for the accidental, the third for the forgetful; the first pardon is for (a rare character in the base text, lost in transcription) the weak, the second for the aged, the third for the dull. Using these three methods to seek the people's feelings and decide what is fair for the people, one applies the upper or lower grade of penalty, and only then carries out punishment or execution. This is what is meant by "eased through inquiry into the circumstances"]; jointly carried out in court and market [in the Rites of Zhou, "Keeper of Prisoners," when the time comes for execution, it is reported to the king, and the prisoner is put in fetters and sent to the market for execution. This is what is meant by "jointly carried out in court and market"]; and tempered with compassion. Once a punishment is decided, no music is played [on the day the punishment is carried out, the hung musical instruments are loosened]: this is the extreme of caution. Punishment, oh punishment, be cautious!

惟稽五赦以綏民中一曰原心【心可矜也】二曰明徳【徳可釋也】三曰勸功【功可凖也】四曰褒化【化所關也】五曰權計【權時之宜非常典也】凡先王之攸赦必是族也非是族焉刑茲無赦【族類也即祭法非此族也不在祀典之族】

Examine the five pardons to settle the rightness of the people's hearts: the first is excusing by the heart [the heart has something worthy of pity], the second is clarifying virtue [the virtue has something that can release], the third is encouraging merit [merit can serve as a standard], the fourth is commending transformation [what bears on moral teaching], the fifth is weighing expediency [balancing what suits the times; not a regular statute]. Whatever the former kings pardoned must have been of these kinds; if not of these kinds, then punishment falls here and there is no pardon ["kind" is as in "if not of this kind, it is not in the sacrificial canon" in the Regulations of Sacrifice].

天子有四時朝以聽政晝以訪問夕以脩令夜以安身【本公孫僑告叔向之言杜氏曰聴政聴國政也訪問問可否也脩令念所施也】上有師傅【成王作周官立太師太傅太保茲惟三公論道經邦爕理隂陽官不必備惟其人少師少傅少保曰三孤貳公化寅亮天地弼予一人班固曰三公蓋參天子坐而議政無不總統故不以一職為官名又立三少為之副】下有諍臣大有【按有當作則字】講業小則諮詢不拒直辭不恥下問公私不愆外內不二是謂有交【易曰上下交而其志同也】

The Son of Heaven has four times: in the morning he hears government, by day he makes inquiries, in the evening he refines orders, and at night he settles himself [from what Gongsun Qiao told Shuxiang. Du Yu says: hearing government is hearing the affairs of state, making inquiries is asking what is permissible, and refining orders is thinking over what is to be carried out]. Above there are teachers and tutors [King Cheng wrote the Offices of Zhou and established the Grand Preceptor, Grand Tutor and Grand Guardian, who are the Three Dukes, discussing the Way and managing the state, harmonizing yin and yang; the offices need not be filled, depending only on the man. The Junior Preceptor, Junior Tutor and Junior Guardian are called the Three Solitaries, who assist the dukes in spreading transformation, reverently regulating Heaven and Earth, and aiding the one man, the Son of Heaven. Ban Gu says: the Three Dukes took part in sitting and discussing government with the Son of Heaven, and there was nothing they did not oversee, so no single post served as their office name; the three juniors were set up as their deputies]; below there are remonstrating ministers; at the greatest, they discuss and study their work, and at the least, they are consulted [note: "you" here should read "ze"]. He does not reject upright words and is not ashamed to ask those below him; public and private have no errors, and inside and outside have no difference; this is called having communion [the Book of Changes says: "When high and low commune, their wills are the same"].

問明於治者其統近【俗本誤作迫】萬物之本在身天下之本在家治亂之本在左右內正立而四表定矣【身脩家齊而左右防非正人則內正立矣四表四外猶言四方也四方定則國治天下平矣】

Question: One who understands governing has a thread of principle close to [vulgar texts mistakenly write "pressing"] this: the root of the myriad things is oneself, the root of the world is the family, and the root of order and disorder is those at one's side. When the rectitude within is established, the four directions are settled [when one's person is well cultivated and one's household well ordered, and those at one's side (a rare character in the base text, lost in transcription) are not upright people, inner rectitude is established. The four exteriors are the four directions. When the four directions are settled, the state is ordered and the world is at peace].

問通於道者其守約【孟子曰守約而施博者善道也】有一言而可常行者恕也【論語子貢問一言而可以終身行之者乎子曰其恕乎】有一行而可常履者正也恕者仁之術也【孟子曰強恕而行求仁莫近焉】正者義之要也至哉此謂道根萬化存焉爾【仁義而天下之理得矣】是謂不思而得不為而成執之胷心之間而功覆天下也【守約施博】自天子達於庶人好惡哀樂其脩一也豐約勞佚各有其制【言上下情無不同其貴豐而逸賤約而勞者分殊爾】上足以備禮下足以備樂夫是謂大道天下國家一體也君為元首臣為股肱【書曰元首明哉股肱良哉】民為手足【元首股肱手足為一體】下有憂民則上不盡樂下有饑民則上不備膳下有寒民則上不具服徒跣而垂旒非禮也【下民憂而上盡樂下民飢而上備膳下民寒而上具服所謂徒跣而垂旒】故足寒傷心民寒傷國

Question: One who has penetrated the Way keeps to the essentials [Mencius says: "One who keeps to the essentials and spreads broadly has the good Way"]. There is one saying that can be practiced constantly, and it is reciprocity [in the Analects, Zigong asked whether there is one word that can be practiced for a lifetime, and Confucius said: "Perhaps reciprocity"]; there is one conduct that can be carried out constantly, and it is rectitude. Reciprocity is the method of benevolence [Mencius says: "Strive to practice reciprocity, and there is no nearer way to seek benevolence"]; rectitude is the essence of righteousness. At the utmost, this is called the root of the Way, and the myriad transformations lie here [with benevolence and righteousness, the principles of the world are obtained]; this is called gaining without thinking and achieving without doing, holding fast in the breast while the achievement covers the world [keeping to the essentials and spreading broadly]. From the Son of Heaven down to the commoner, likes and dislikes, sorrows and joys, are cultivated in the same way. Generosity or frugality, toil or ease, each has its regulation [this means the feelings of high and low are not different, only that the noble have abundance and ease, and the humble have frugality and toil, a difference of status]. Above, enough to prepare ritual; below, enough to prepare music: this is called the Great Way. The world and the state are one body: the ruler is the head, the ministers are the limbs [the Documents says: "The head is bright, the limbs are good"], and the people are the hands and feet [head, limbs, hands and feet are one body]. When there are worried people below, those above dare not enjoy themselves to the full; when there are hungry people below, those above dare not set a full table; when there are cold people below, those above dare not put on full clothing. For the people to go barefoot while the ruler wears a hanging-beaded crown is not ritual [when below the people worry and above one revels to the full, below the people are hungry and above one sets a full table, below the people are cold and above one wears full clothing, this is the so-called barefoot beneath a beaded crown]. So cold feet will hurt the heart, and cold people will hurt the state.

問君以至美之道道民民以至美之物養君【美道五典之類美物五穀之類】君降其惠民升其功此無徃不復相報之義也故太平備物非極欲也物損禮闕【年兇禮】非謙約也其數雲耳

Question: The ruler guides the people with the finest Way, and the people nourish the ruler with the finest goods [the finest Way is the Five Canons and the like, the finest goods are the five grains and the like]. The ruler sends down kindness and the people offer their service; this is the principle of nothing going without return, of repaying one another. So in times of peace one prepares all things, which is not pushing desire to the limit; in lean years and with rites abbreviated [rites are reduced in famine years], that is not modesty. It is only that the numbers are so.

問人主有公賦無私求有公用無私費有公役無私使有公賜無私惠有公怒無私怨私求則下煩而無度是謂傷清私費【費出無經】則官耗【府庫空虛】而無限是謂傷制私使則民撓擾而無節是謂傷義【義謂使民之義】私則下虗望而無凖是謂傷正【正謂賜予之正】私怨則下疑懼而不安是謂傷德

Question: A ruler has public levies but no private demands, public expenditure but no private spending, public labor service but no private conscription, public bestowals but no private favors, public anger but no private grudges. With private demands, those below are troubled without limit, and this is called harming clarity. With private spending [expenditures without regular rule], the government treasuries are drained [storehouses empty] without limit, and this is called harming regulation. With private conscription, the people are harassed without moderation, and this is called harming righteousness [righteousness here is the righteousness of employing the people]. With private favors, those below hope in vain without any standard, and this is called harming rectitude [rectitude here is the rectitude of bestowal]. With private grudges, those below are suspicious and uneasy, and this is called harming virtue.

問善治民者治其性也或曰冶金而流去火則剛激水而升舍之則降惡【平聲】乎治曰不去其火則常流激而不止則常升【金流水升喻民治也】故大冶之爐可使無剛【説文曰冶消也又爐鑄謂之冶屍子曰蚩尤造九冶又鑄匠謂冶】踴水之機可使無降【莊子子貢謂漢隂丈人曰有械於此一日浸百畦用力甚寡而見功多夫子不欲乎為圃者仰而視之曰柰何曰鑿木為機後重前輕挈水若抽數如沃湯其名曰橰悅所謂機蓋是類也】善立教者若茲則終身治矣故凡器可使與顔冉同趨【凡常也善立教者愚可使賢】投百金於前白刃加其身雖巨蹠弗敢掇也【利在前刑在後則畏而止矣巨蹠莊子栁下季之弟名曰盜跖從卒九千人橫行天下侵暴諸侯穴室樞戶驅人牛馬取人婦女】善立法者若茲則終身不掇矣故蹠可使與伯夷同功【善立法者貪可使亷】問民由水也濟大川者太上乘舟其次泅【泅浮行水上也】泅者勞而危乘舟者逸而安虗入水【既不乘舟又不能泅所謂虛入水也】則必溺矣以知能治民者泅也以道德治民者舟也縱民之情謂之亂絶民之情謂之荒【上無道徳次無智能所謂亂與荒也】曰然則如之何曰為之限使勿越也【不縱不絶為之界限使不得逾分】為之地亦勿越故水可使不濫不可使無流【猶民可使不越不可使無情慾也】善禁者先禁其身而後人不善禁者先禁人而後身善禁之至於不禁【上既正則民不禁自正】令亦如之若乃肆情於身而繩欲於眾行詐於官而矜實於民求已之所有餘奪下之所不足舍已之所易責人之所難怨之本也【凡此皆所謂先禁人而後身者不惟不能禁人而民怨集矣】謂理之源斯絶矣【先禁其身者理之源也】自上御下猶夫釣者焉隠於手【按手下當有而字】應於鉤則可以得魚自近御逺猶夫御馬焉和於手而調於銜【馬口勒也】則可以使馬故至道之要不於身非道也睹孺子之驅雞也而見御民之方孺子驅雞者急則驚緩則滯【急急驅之緩緩驅之皆非所以驅雞也悅之取喻即其所謂小人之情緩則驕驕則恣急則怨怨則畔爾】方其北也遽要之則折而過南方其南也遽要之則折而過北迫則飛踈則放【過南過北飛放者皆不循路入門也】志閒則比之【比近也竢雞志閒然後近之則不驚】流緩而不安則食之【食之則不滯】不驅之驅驅之至者也【比之食之不驅之驅也】志安則循路而入門

Question: One good at governing the people governs the people's nature. Someone said: melt metal and it flows, remove the fire and it hardens; agitate water and it rises, release it and it falls; how can this be governed? Answer: If you do not remove the fire it flows constantly; if you agitate without stopping it rises constantly [flowing metal and rising water are metaphors for the people being governed]. So the furnace of a great smith can keep metal from hardening [the Shuowen says: "ye" means melting. And casting in a furnace is called "ye." Master Shi says Chiyou made nine smelters. Also a founder is called a smelter]; the machine for lifting water can keep water from falling back [in the Zhuangzi, Zigong said to the old man of Hanyin: "There is a device that irrigates a hundred plots a day, with little effort and great result; would the Master not want it?" The gardener looked up and said: "How?" He said: "Chisel wood to make a device, heavy at the back and light in front, lifting water as if drawing it, as fast as boiling soup, called a well-sweep." What Xun Yue calls a machine is probably of this kind]. One good at establishing teaching is like this, and can govern for a lifetime. So even ordinary vessels can be made to go along with Yan Yuan and Ran Yong ["ordinary" means common. One good at establishing teaching can make the foolish worthy]. Put a hundred pieces of gold in front and a white blade upon one's body, and even the great robber Zhi would not dare pick it up [profit in front and punishment behind, so he stops out of fear. The great Zhi, in the Zhuangzi, was the younger brother of Liuxia Ji, called Robber Zhi, who with nine thousand followers ran riot across the world, assaulted the lords, dug through walls and broke into houses, drove off people's oxen and horses, and seized people's wives]. One good at establishing law is like this, and no one dares pick it up for a lifetime. So even Zhi can be made to share merit with Boyi [one good at establishing law can make the greedy honest]. Question: The people are like water. For one crossing a great river, the best is to take a boat and next is to swim [swimming is floating through water]; swimmers are weary and in danger, while those in a boat are at ease and safe. To go into the water empty-handed [neither in a boat nor able to swim, which is what is meant by entering water empty] is to be sure to drown. To govern the people with knowledge and ability is swimming; to govern the people with the Way and virtue is the boat. To indulge the people's feelings is called disorder, and to cut off the people's feelings is called dissipation [those above have no Way and virtue, and next, no knowledge and ability; this is what is meant by disorder and dissipation]. Question: Then what should one do? Answer: Set limits for them so that they do not overstep [neither indulge nor cut off, setting boundaries so that they cannot exceed their share], and give them room, also so that they do not overstep. So water can be made not to overflow but cannot be made not to flow [like the people, who can be made not to exceed their station but cannot be made without feelings and desires]. One good at prohibiting first prohibits himself and then others; one not good at prohibiting first prohibits others and then himself. Good prohibition reaches the point of needing no prohibition [when those above are already upright, the people correct themselves without prohibition]. Orders are the same. As for one who indulges his own desires while restraining the desires of the multitude, who acts deceitfully in the government office while boasting of honesty to the people, who seeks what he has in surplus and seizes what those below lack, who drops what is easy for himself and blames others for what is hard: this is the source of resentment [all these are the so-called prohibiting others before oneself, which not only fails to prohibit others but gathers up the people's resentment]. The source of reason is cut off here [the one who first prohibits himself is the source of reason]. To manage those below from above is like fishing: hidden in the hand [note: there should be a word "and" after "hand"] responding on the hook, one can get the fish. To manage the distant from the near is like driving a horse: the hand is gentle and the bit is balanced [the bit is the bridle in the horse's mouth], and one can get the horse to obey. So the essence of the supreme Way is that if it is not in oneself, it is not the Way. Watch a small child chasing chickens and you see the way to manage the people. A small child chasing chickens startles them if hasty and leaves them stuck if slow [chasing in a hurry or chasing slowly are both not the way to drive chickens. Xun Yue takes this analogy, as in his saying that the feelings of petty people, when slackened, become proud, pride leads to license, and when pressed, resentment, and resentment leads to rebellion]. When they are heading north and are suddenly blocked, they turn south; when heading south and suddenly blocked, they turn north. Press close and they fly; stay distant and they wander [going too far south or north, flying off or wandering off, none enters the gate by the road]. Wait until their minds are at ease and then draw near ["bi" means near; when the chicken's mind is at ease and you then draw near, it is not startled]; if they move slowly and uneasily, feed them [feeding keeps them from being stuck]. Driving without driving is the utmost of driving [drawing near and feeding them is driving without driving]; when their minds are settled, they follow the path and enter the gate.

太上不空市其次不偷竊其次不掠奪上以功惠綏民下以財力奉上【即悅所謂君降其惠民升其功】是以上下相與空市則民不與民不與則為巧詐而取之謂之偷竊偷竊則民備之備之而不得【不得巧詐而取也】則暴迫而取之謂之掠奪民必交爭則禍亂矣

The best is not to empty the market, the next is not to steal, and the next is not to plunder. Above, one uses merit and kindness to settle the people; below, the people use their labor and wealth to serve those above [this is what Xun Yue says, that the ruler sends down kindness and the people offer service]. So high and low give to each other. Emptying the market makes the people not give; when the people do not give, one takes through trickery, which is called stealing; with stealing the people guard against it; guarding against it and still not getting [not getting what was taken by trickery], one takes by force, which is called plunder. The people are sure to fight one another in turn, and disaster arrives.

或曰聖王以天下為樂曰否聖王以天下為憂【如帝堯存心天下加志窮民一民飢曰我飢之一民寒曰我寒之一民有罪曰我陷之是已】天下以聖王為樂【如帝堯之世天下太和耕田鑿井歌於擊壤立我烝民謡於康衢是已】凡主以天下為樂【如履癸瓊宮瑤臺肉山脯林酒池糟堤以為樂者是已】天下以凡主為憂【如夏邑民曰時日曷喪予及汝偕亡是已】聖王屈己以申天下之樂【屈己而憂】凡主申己以屈天下之憂【申己而樂】申天下之樂故樂亦報之【民樂則聖王必享其樂】屈天下之憂故憂亦及之【民憂則幾主必至於憂】天下之道也

Someone said: The sage-king takes the world as his joy. Answer: No. The sage-king takes the world as his worry [as with Emperor Yao, who set his heart on the world and put his will on the destitute; if one person was hungry he said it was he who made him hungry, if one person was cold he said it was he who made him cold, if one person was guilty he said it was he who made him fall into it]. The world takes the sage-king as its joy [as in the age of Emperor Yao the world was in great harmony, with people tilling fields, digging wells, beating the ground and singing, "you established us people," and ballads in the busy streets]. A mediocre ruler takes the world as his joy [as with Jie of Xia, who built a jade palace and a crystal terrace, mountains of meat and forests of dried meat, pools of wine and embankments of lees, as his pleasure]. The world takes a mediocre ruler as its worry [as the people of Xia said: "When will this sun perish? I would die together with you"]. The sage-king bends himself to extend the world's joy [bending himself and worrying]; the mediocre ruler extends himself and bends the world's worry [extending himself and enjoying]. Extending the world's joy, so joy returns to him [when the people rejoice, the sage-king will surely share in joy]; bending the world's worry, so worry falls on him [when the people worry, the mediocre ruler will surely fall into worry]. This is the principle of the world.

治世所貴乎位者三一曰逹道於天下二曰達惠於民三曰達德於身【道非位不行惠非位不降徳非位不顯治世之所貴者此也】衰世所貴乎位者三一曰以貴髙人二曰以富奉身三曰以報肆心【勢非位不隆欲非位不厭讎非位不報衰世之所貴者此也】治世之位真位也衰世之位則生災矣苟髙人則必損之災也苟奉身則必遺之災也苟肆心則必否之災也

In an ordered age, what is valued in a position is threefold: first, to extend the Way throughout the world; second, to extend kindness to the people; third, to extend virtue to oneself [the Way cannot be practiced without a position, kindness cannot be sent down without a position, virtue cannot be displayed without a position. These are what the ordered age values]. In a declining age, what is valued in a position is also threefold: first, to press on others with nobility; second, to nourish oneself with wealth; third, to indulge one's will through revenge [power cannot be magnified without a position, desire cannot be satisfied without a position, enmity cannot be avenged without a position. These are what the declining age values]. The position in an ordered age is a true position, and the position in a declining age brings disaster. If one presses on others, one will surely be diminished, and that is disaster; if one nourishes oneself, one will surely be abandoned, and that is disaster; if one indulges one's will, one will surely be blocked, and that is disaster.

治世之臣所貴乎順者三一曰心順二曰職順三曰道順【此下疑脫衰世之臣所貴乎順者三一曰體順二曰亂順三曰事順二十二字】治世之順真順也衰世之順生逆也【當作則生逆矣】體苟順則逆節【逆節則心不順矣】亂苟順則逆忠【逆忠則職不順矣】事苟順則逆道【逆道則道不順矣】髙下失序則位輕班級不固則位輕【漢爵有二十級】祿薄卑寵則位輕官職屢改則位輕遷轉煩瀆則位輕黜陟不明則位輕【黜退降也陟升進也舜典曰三載考績三考黜陟幽明】待臣不以禮則位輕夫位輕而政重者未之有也聖人之大寶曰位【易繫辭文】輕則喪吾寶也

What ministers in an ordered age value in compliance is threefold: first, compliance of the heart; second, compliance of duty; third, compliance of the Way [below this there seems to be a gap of twenty-two characters: "what ministers of a declining age value in compliance is threefold: first, compliance of the body; second, compliance with disorder; third, compliance in affairs"]. Compliance in an ordered age is true compliance, and compliance in a declining age gives rise to disobedience [it should read "then gives rise to disobedience"]. If the body complies, it goes against integrity [going against integrity, the heart does not comply]; if disorder is complied with, it goes against loyalty [going against loyalty, duty does not comply]; if affairs are complied with, it goes against the Way [going against the Way, the Way does not comply]. When high and low lose their order, the position is slight; when the ranks are not firm, the position is slight [the Han had twenty grades of nobility]; when salary is meager and favor is low, the position is slight; when offices are frequently changed, the position is slight; when transfers are vexatious, the position is slight; when demotion and promotion are unclear, the position is slight [demotion is lowering and promotion is raising. The Canon of Shun says: "Examine achievements every three years; after three examinations, demote or promote, the obscure and the clear"]; when ministers are treated without ritual, the position is slight. There has never been a case where the position is slight and government is weighty. The great treasure of the sage is called position [words from the "Appended Remarks" of the Book of Changes]; to make it slight is to lose my treasure.

好惡之不行其俗尚矣嘉守節而輕狹陋疾威福而尊權右賤求欲而崇克濟貴求己而榮華譽萬物類是己夫心與言言與事參相應也好惡譭譽賞罰參相福也六者有失【六者謂好惡譭譽賞罰有失謂不能詢事考言占外知內而謬施之】則實亂矣守實者益榮求己者益達處幽者益明然後民知本也

If likes and dislikes cannot be carried out, such custom has been long-standing. We praise keeping integrity yet make light of the narrow; we hate those who lord it over others yet honor those of power and right; we despise those who seek desires yet esteem self-restraint that gets things done; we value seeking within oneself yet glorify flowery fame; the myriad things are all of this kind. Heart and word, word and deed, must be checked against one another. Likes and dislikes, blame and praise, rewards and punishments, must be checked against one another to see what blessings follow. If there is a failing in the six [the six are likes and dislikes, blame and praise, rewards and punishments; a failing means failing to inquire into affairs and examine words, to know the inside from the outside, and so carrying them out wrongly], then substance is disordered. When those who hold to substance become more honored, those who seek within become more successful, and those in obscurity become more illustrious, then the people will know the root.

最凡有二十一首其初二首尚知貴敦也其二首有申重可舉者十有九事一曰明考試二曰公卿不拘為郡二千石不拘為縣三曰置上武之官四曰議州牧五曰生刑而死者但加肉刑六曰徳刑並用七曰避讎有科八曰議祿九曰議專地十曰議錢貨十一曰約祀舉重十二曰天人之應十三曰月正聴朝十四曰崇內教十五曰備博士十六曰至德要道十七曰禁數赦令十八曰正尚主之制十九曰復外內註記者

In total there are twenty-one pieces. The first two esteem knowledge and value sincerity; the rest name nineteen matters that should be restated and given weight: first, making examinations clear; second, not confining high ministers to serving as commandery governors and not confining two-thousand-bushel officials to serving as county magistrates; third, establishing officials who esteem martial affairs; fourth, discussing provincial governors; fifth, for those whose sentence goes from life-sparing to death, applying only bodily punishment; sixth, using virtue and punishment together; seventh, regulations for avoiding vendettas; eighth, discussing salaries; ninth, discussing monopolizing land; tenth, discussing coin and goods; eleventh, economizing on sacrifices and holding up the essentials; twelfth, the response between Heaven and humans; thirteenth, hearing court affairs in the first month; fourteenth, esteeming inner teaching; fifteenth, filling the ranks of erudites; sixteenth, supreme virtue and essential Way; seventeenth, forbidding repeated amnesties; eighteenth, correcting the system of marrying princesses; nineteenth, restoring records of inner and outer court.

盤庚遷殷革奢即約【盤庚殷王名自契至湯八遷始居亳自湯至盤庚五遷乃渉河南復湯故居行湯之政以具貝玉總貨寶為戒乃革奢即約之類】化而裁之與時消息眾寡盈虗不常厥道尚知貴敦古今之法也民寡則用易足土廣則物易生事簡則業易定厭亂則思治創難則思靜【殷自中丁以來廢適而更立諸弟子或爭相代立比九世亂諸侯莫朝】或曰三皇民至敦也其治至清也天性乎曰皇民敦秦民時也【皇秦之時不同故敦不同】山民樸市民玩處也【山市之處不同故樸玩不同】桀紂不易民而亂湯武不易民而治政也【桀紂湯武之政不同故治亂不同】皇民寡寡斯敦【三皇之時烝庶鮮少機智不生所以至敦】皇治純純斯清【三皇之治無為而化繁苛不尚所以至清】奚惟性不求無益之物不蓄難得之貨節華麗之飾退利進之路則民俗清矣簡小忌去淫祀絶竒怪則妖偽息矣致精誠求諸已正大事則神明應矣放邪説去淫智抑百家【諸子殽亂之言】崇聖典則道義定矣去浮華舉功實絶末伎同本務則事業脩矣【能盡五事則民敦治清矣此初二首所謂尚知貴敦也】

Pan Geng moved the capital to Yin, abolishing extravagance and turning toward frugality [Pan Geng was a king of Yin. From Xie to Tang they moved eight times before settling at Bo, and from Tang to Pan Geng they moved five more times, then crossed the Yellow River southward and returned to Tang's former home, carried out Tang's government, and took as warnings the amassing of shells and jade and the hoarding of goods and treasures, which is the sort of thing meant by abolishing extravagance and turning to frugality]. Transform and adapt, rise and fall with the times, with many and few, full and empty; the Way is not always one form. Esteeming knowledge and valuing sincerity is the law of past and present. When the people are few, expenses are easily met; when land is broad, goods are easily produced; when affairs are simple, livelihoods are easily settled; having wearied of disorder, one wants order; having been wounded by hardship, one wants calm [from Zhong Ding onward Yin set aside the heir and installed younger sons instead, or they contended to succeed in turn, and disorder continued for nine generations, with the lords not coming to court]. Someone said: The people of the Three Sovereigns were the most sincere and their government the purest; was this because of their innate nature? Answer: The people of the age of the Sovereigns were sincere and the people of the age of Qin were thin, because the times differed [the times of the Sovereigns and Qin differ, so sincerity and thinness differ]. Mountain people are plain and market people play at cleverness, because the places differ [mountain and market differ in place, so plainness and cleverness differ]. Jie and Zhou did not change the people yet there was disorder, Tang and Wu did not change the people yet there was order, because the governments differ [the governments of Jie and Zhou and of Tang and Wu differ, so order and disorder differ]. In the age of the Sovereigns the people were few, and being few, they were sincere [in the time of the Three Sovereigns the population was sparse and cleverness did not arise, so they were most sincere]; the government of the Sovereigns was pure, and being pure it was clear [the Three Sovereigns governed by non-action and transformed, not esteeming the complex and harsh, so it was most clear]. How could it be only a matter of nature? Do not seek useless things, do not hoard hard-to-get goods, restrain splendid decoration, and shut the roads of seeking profit and advancement, and customs among the people will be clear. Simplify small taboos, remove licentious sacrifices, and cut off the strange, and fraud and falsehood will cease. Reach utmost sincerity, seek within oneself, and set great matters right, and the divine will respond. Discard heterodox doctrines, remove licentious cleverness, and restrain the hundred schools [the confused doctrines of the various masters], esteem the sacred texts, and the Way and righteousness will be settled. Remove flashiness, bring up real achievement, cut off trivial skills, and unite them with fundamental tasks, and affairs will be well ordered [if one can complete these five things, the people will be sincere and government will be clear. This is what the first two pieces mean by esteeming knowledge and valuing sincerity].

誰毀誰譽譽其有試者萬事之概量也【孔子曰吾之於人也誰毀誰譽如有所譽者其有所試矣概所以戛摩取平者鬥斛曰量言考試品賢能之虛實猶概量較米粟之多寡也】以茲舉者試其事處斯職者考其績【詢事驗舉省績察職】賞罰夫實以惡反之人焉飾哉語曰盜跖不能盜田尺寸寸不可盜況尺乎【纎惡細善不可閟掩】夫事驗必若土田之張於野也則為私者寡矣【田佈於野不可隱者喻惡不可掩也】若亂之墜於澳也則可信者觧矣【亂朱子曰舟之截流橫渡者澳厓內近水之處舟登於陸不可信者喻善不可偽也】故有事考功有言考用動則考行靜則考守【此一首所謂明考試也】

Whom do I blame and whom do I praise? Praise must be tested; this is the leveler and the measure for all affairs [Confucius said: "Of people, whom do I blame, whom do I praise? If there is anyone I praise, he must have been tested." The leveler is the tool for scraping a dou or hu measure level, and the dou and hu are called measures. It means testing and evaluating the substance or emptiness of the worthy and able, like using a leveler to compare the amount of grain]. For one recommended, test his deeds; for one in his post, assess his achievements [verify recommendation by inquiring into his deeds, and examine his duty by reviewing his achievements]. Rewards and punishments must match reality; use evil as counter-evidence, and what can a person still hide? As the saying goes: Robber Zhi cannot steal a foot of field, cannot even steal an inch, much less a foot [even the slightest evil and the finest good cannot be hidden]. The verification of affairs must be like fields spread out across the open country, so that there is less that is private [fields spread across the open cannot be concealed, a metaphor for evil that cannot be covered up]. If it is like a tangled boat dropped into a bay, there is less that is trustworthy ["luan," Zhu Xi says, is a boat crossing the current sideways; "ao" is the place near the water inside the bank. A boat on land cannot be trusted, a metaphor for goodness that cannot be faked]. So when there is a task, examine merit; when there is speech, examine use; when in motion, examine conduct; when at rest, examine keeping [this piece is what is meant by making examinations clear].

公卿不為郡二千石不為縣未是也【公謂三公師傅保也卿謂六卿冡宰至司空也郡謂郡守郡尉縣謂縣令縣長也班固曰郡守秦官掌治其郡秩二千石郡尉秦官掌佐守典武職甲卒秩比二千石縣令長皆秦官掌治其縣萬戶以上為令秩千石至六百石減萬戸為長秩五百石至三百石】小能其職以極登於大故下【俗本誤作不】位競【小職有登則下位競修其業矣】大橈其任以墜於下故上位慎【大任有墜則上位慎共其職矣】其鼎覆刑焉何憚於降【易鼎九四曰鼎折足覆公餗其形渥兇此言大臣廢壞國事刑之尚可何況降位】若夫千里之任不能充於郡而縣邑之功廢惜矣哉不以過職絀則勿降所以優賢也以過職絀則降所以懲愆也【此一首所謂公卿不拘為郡二千石不拘為縣也】

That high ministers do not serve as commandery governors and two-thousand-bushel officials do not serve as county magistrates is wrong ["dukes" means the Three Dukes, Grand Preceptor, Grand Tutor and Grand Guardian; "ministers" means the six ministers from the Chief Steward to the Minister of Works; "commandery" means governors and commandery commandants; "county" means county magistrates and chiefs. Ban Gu says: the commandery governor is an office of Qin, in charge of governing a commandery, with a salary of two thousand bushels; the commandery commandant is an office of Qin, who assists the governor in managing military affairs and soldiers, with a salary equal to two thousand bushels; county magistrates and chiefs are all offices of Qin in charge of governing a county; those over ten thousand households are magistrates, with salaries from a thousand to six hundred bushels, and those under ten thousand households are chiefs, with salaries from five hundred to three hundred bushels]. A minor official who can fulfill his duties may rise to a major one, so those in low positions [vulgar texts mistakenly read "not"] compete in effort [minor posts have promotion, so low positions compete to improve their work]. A major official who is not up to the task falls to the bottom, so those in high positions are careful [major responsibilities carry the risk of a fall, so high positions are careful in office]. If a tripod overturns, punishment still follows, much less demotion [the fourth line of the tripod hexagram in the Book of Changes says: "The tripod's leg breaks, the duke's dish is overturned, his form is soaked; ill fortune." This means that when a great minister ruins the affairs of state, punishment is still permissible, not to speak of demotion]. As for thousand-li responsibilities that cannot be filled in a commandery, while the achievements of counties and towns are abandoned, what a pity! Those who are demoted for exceeding their office are not lowered, in order to treat the worthy well; those who are demoted for exceeding their office are lowered, in order to warn against faults [this piece is what is meant by not confining high ministers to commandery governors and two-thousand-bushel officials to counties].

孝武皇帝以四夷未賔冦賊奸宄初置武功賞官以寵戰士【大司農陳臧錢經用賦稅既竭不足以奉戰士有司請令民得買爵及贖禁錮免贓罪請置賞官名曰武功爵級十七萬凡直三十餘萬金諸買武功爵官首者試補吏先除千夫如五大夫其有罪又減二等爵得至樂卿以顯軍功按茂陵中書有武功爵一級曰造士二級曰閒輿衞三級曰良士四級曰元戎士五級曰官首六級曰秉鐸七級曰千夫八級曰樂卿九級曰執戍十級曰政戾庶長十一級曰軍衛此武帝所制以寵軍功】若今依此科而崇其制置尚武之官以司馬兵法選位秩比博士【齊將司馬穰苴撰兵法三卷秩比博士六百石也】講司馬之典簡搜狩之事【古者中春教振旅遂以搜田中夏教苃舍遂以苗田中秋教治兵遂以獮田中冬教大閱遂以狩田詳見周禮】掌軍功爵賞小統於五校【校俗本誤作枚五校者一曰屯騎二曰越騎三曰步兵四曰長水五曰射聲俱掌宿衞兵所謂大駕鹵簿五校在前是也】大統於太尉【太尉秦官金印紫綬掌武事武帝建元二年省元狩四年初置大司馬以冠將軍之號建武二十七年復為太尉】既周時務禮亦宜之周之末葉兵革繁矣莫亂於秦民不荒殄今國家忘戰日久毎冦難之作民瘁幾盡不教民戰是謂棄之信矣【孔子曰以不教民戰是謂棄之古者四時于田所以教爾此一首所謂置尚武之官也】

Emperor Xiaowu, because the four barbarians had not submitted and there were bandits and traitors, began setting up martial-merit ranks to honor warriors [the Grand Minister of Agriculture reported that the treasuries' coin had been spent and taxes drained, not enough to support the warriors. The officials asked to let the people buy ranks and redeem from confinement and be exempted from corruption penalties, and asked to establish rank offices called Martial Merit Ranks, each grade at 170,000, in total worth over 300,000 gold. Those who bought a Martial Merit rank up to "Official Head" were tested and given priority in appointment as clerks; a "Thousand-Man Leader" was like a Fifth-Rank Grandee; if guilty, one's penalty was reduced by two grades; the rank could reach "Music Minister," to publicize military merit. According to the Maoling Central Records, the Martial Merit ranks are: first grade Learned Scholar, second Leisure Escort, third Good Scholar, fourth Chief Warrior, fifth Official Head, sixth Bell Holder, seventh Thousand-Man Leader, eighth Music Minister, ninth Wielder of Arms, tenth Governing Elder, eleventh Army Guard. These were set up by Emperor Wu to honor military merit]. If now we follow these regulations and elevate this system, setting up officials who honor martial affairs, appointing them by the Sima's military methods, with rank equal to the erudites [Sima Rangju, a general of Qi, compiled three volumes of military methods. Rank equal to an erudite at six hundred bushels], lecturing on the Sima texts and reviewing the matters of the hunt [in ancient times, in mid-spring they taught the forces to assemble and held the searching hunt; in mid-summer, they taught camping and held the seedling hunt; in mid-autumn, they taught military drills and held the autumn hunt; in mid-winter, they taught the great review and held the winter hunt; see the Rites of Zhou for details], in charge of military merit ranks and rewards, the smaller under the Five Colonels ["colonel" is mistakenly written "mei" in vulgar texts. The five colonels: first, the cavalry garrison; second, the Yue cavalry; third, the infantry; fourth, the Changshui; fifth, the sound-shooters, all in charge of palace guard soldiers, which is the so-called five colonels in the lead of the grand imperial procession], the greater under the Grand Commandant [the Grand Commandant is an office of Qin, with gold seal and purple ribbon, in charge of military affairs. Emperor Wu abolished it in the second year of Jianyuan; in the fourth year of Yuanshou the Grand Marshal was first established and added to the general's title; in the twenty-seventh year of Jianwu it was restored as Grand Commandant]. It would meet current needs and also be proper by ritual. In the late Zhou there were many wars; no disorder was greater than Qin's, yet the people were not laid waste. Today the state has long forgotten war, and whenever bandit troubles break out, the people are exhausted nearly to death. "To lead people to war without having taught them is called abandoning them"; so it is [Confucius said: "To lead people to war without having taught them is called abandoning them." In ancient times the four seasonal hunts were used to teach war. This piece is what is meant by establishing officials who honor martial affairs].

或問曰州牧刺史監察御史三制孰優【監御史秦官掌監郡漢興省之至惠帝三年又遣御史監三輔郡所察之事凡九條監者二嵗更之其後諸州復置監察御史文帝十三年以御史不奉法下失其職乃遣丞相史出刺並督察監御史武帝元封元年御史止不復監至五年乃置部刺史掌奉詔六條察州凡十二州焉居部九嵗舉為守相成帝綏和元年以為刺史位下大夫而臨二千石輕重不相凖乃更為州牧秩真二千石位次九卿建平二年復為刺史元壽二年復為牧建武十八年復為刺史十二人各主一外州舊以八月廵行所部録囚徒考殿最初嵗盡詣京師奏事中興但因計吏不復自詣京師雖父母之防不得去職或謂州府為外臺靈帝中平五年改刺史惟置牧是時天下方亂多自九卿出領州牧州牧之任自此重矣】曰時制而已【三制隨時所定】曰天下不既定其牧乎曰古諸侯建家國世位權柄存焉於是置諸侯之賢者以牧總其紀綱而已不統其政不御其民今郡縣無常【不若古諸侯之世位】權輕不固【不若古諸侯之權柄存】而州牧秉其權重勢異於古【不若古諸侯之牧不統政御民】非所以強幹弱枝也而無益治民之實監察御史斯可也【言監御史愈於州牧】若權時之宜則異論也【此一首所謂議州牧也】

Someone asked: Of the three systems, provincial governors, inspectors and investigating censors, which is better [the investigating censor is an office of Qin, in charge of overseeing the commanderies. The Han dynasty rose and abolished it. In the third year of Emperor Hui, censors were again sent to oversee the three capital-area commanderies, with nine items to inspect, and the inspectors were rotated every two years. Later, the various provinces also set up investigating censors. In the thirteenth year of Emperor Wen, because the censors did not uphold the law and those below neglected their duty, the chancellor's clerks were sent out to inspect and supervise the censors. In the first year of Yuanfeng under Emperor Wu, the censors stopped inspecting, and only in the fifth year were regional inspectors established, who by imperial edict used six articles to inspect provinces, twelve provinces in all, and after nine years in office were promoted to governor or chancellor. In the first year of Suihe under Emperor Cheng, it was held that the inspector's position was that of a junior grandee yet he oversaw two-thousand-bushel officials, an imbalance, so it was changed to provincial governor, with a true two-thousand-bushel salary, ranking next to the nine ministers. In the second year of Jianping it was restored to inspector, and in the second year of Yuanshou restored to governor. In the eighteenth year of Jianwu it was restored to twelve inspectors, each in charge of one outer province. Under the old system, in the eighth month they toured their districts, recorded prisoners, and assessed merit and demerit, and at the start of the year they all went to the capital to report; after the Restoration they only sent accountants, and did not go to the capital in person, not leaving their posts even for their parents (a rare character in the base text, lost in transcription). Some called the provincial offices the outer terrace. In the fifth year of Zhongping under Emperor Ling, the inspector was changed to a governor only, and with the world in turmoil at the time, many provincial governors came from among the nine ministers, and the governor's office became weighty from then on]? Answer: It is only a matter of the system of the time [the three systems were fixed according to the time]. Question: Since the world is not yet settled, should we use governors? Answer: In ancient times the feudal lords established their own houses and states and held power from generation to generation, so the most worthy among the lords were set up as governors to oversee their general discipline, without governing their affairs or controlling their people. Now the commanderies and counties have no fixed tenure [not like the ancient lords who held their seats for generations], their power is light and not firm [not like the ancient lords who retained their power], while the provincial governors hold heavy power, so the situation is different from ancient times [not like the governors of ancient lords who did not govern affairs or control the people]. This does not strengthen the trunk and weaken the branches, and is of no benefit to the real governing of the people. Investigating censors would be enough [meaning censors are better than governors]. If it is an expedient measure, that is another discussion [this piece is what is meant by discussing provincial governors].

肉刑古也或曰復之乎曰古者人民盛焉今也至寡整眾以威撫寡以寛道也復刑非務必也生刑而極死者復之可也【如斬右趾本生刑也而改為棄市則極死矣斯則斬右趾之刑復之可也】自古肉刑之除也斬右趾者死也惟復肉刑是謂生死而息民【孝文下令除肉刑張蒼等立律曰諸當完者完為城旦舂當黥者髠鉗為城旦舂當劓者笞二百當斬左趾者笞五百當斬右趾及殺人先自告及吏受賕枉法守縣官財物而即盜之已論命復有笞罪者皆棄市是後外有輕刑之名內實殺人斬右趾者又當死笞五百三百率多死至景帝更定棰令此言肉刑極死者復之則死者生而民生息矣此一首所謂生刑而死者但加肉刑也】

Bodily punishment existed in antiquity. Someone said: Should it be restored? Answer: In antiquity there were very many people, and now there are very few. To regulate the many one uses severity, and to soothe the few one uses leniency; this is the Way. Restoring bodily punishment is not necessary. Where a life-sparing punishment has gone to the extreme penalty of death, restoring it is acceptable [for example, cutting off the right foot was originally a life-sparing punishment but was changed to execution in the marketplace, which reached extreme death. In that case, restoring the punishment of cutting off the right foot is acceptable]. Since bodily punishment was abolished in ancient times, those whose right foot was cut off died. Only by restoring bodily punishment can those who should die be allowed to live and the people be given rest [Emperor Xiaowen ordered bodily punishments abolished, and Zhang Cang and others drew up statutes: those to be left whole were made wall-builders or grain-pounders, those to be tattooed had their hair shaved and were fettered as wall-builders or grain-pounders, those to have the nose cut were beaten two hundred strokes, those to have the left foot cut were beaten five hundred, and those to have the right foot cut, and those who killed and first reported themselves, officials who took bribes and bent the law, those who guarded official goods and stole them, and those already sentenced who also had flogging offenses, were all executed in the marketplace. After that, outwardly the punishments bore a light name, while inwardly they killed people in fact. Those whose right foot was to be cut were again to die, and those given five hundred or three hundred strokes mostly died. Only under Emperor Jing was the flogging ordinance revised. This means that where bodily punishment reaches extreme death, restoring it lets those who would die live and the people recover. This piece is what is meant by applying only bodily punishment where a life-sparing sentence went as far as death].

問德刑並用常典也或先或後時宜【或先徳後刑或先刑後徳隨時所宜】刑教不行勢極也【常典不行過伉耳】教初必簡刑始必略事漸也【創始欲民易從宜於簡略】教化之隆莫不興行然後責備【簡者以漸而備】刑法之定莫不避罪然後求密【略者以漸而密】未可以備謂之虛教【教化未隆民不興行而責備焉是謂虛教也】未可以密謂之峻刑【刑法未定民不避罪而求密焉是謂峻刑也】虛教傷化峻刑害民君子弗由也設必違之教不量民力之未能是招民於惡也故謂之傷化【未可以備而責備則教必違】設必犯之法不度民情之不堪是陷民於罪也故謂之害民【未可以密而求密則法必犯】莫不興行則一毫之善可得而勸也然後教備【民行脩飭則教備而不違】莫不避罪則纎介之惡可得而禁也然後刑密【民知畏罪則法密而不犯此一首所謂徳刑並用也】

Question: Using virtue and punishment together is the constant statute, and which comes first or later is a matter of timeliness [sometimes virtue comes first and punishment later, sometimes punishment first and virtue later, as suits the time]. Punishment and teaching cannot be carried out, which is a situation that has reached an extreme [when the constant statute cannot be carried out, it is because one has been too harsh and rigid]. At the start, teaching must be simple and punishment must be brief, for things come gradually [at the beginning, make it easy for the people to follow, and simplicity and brevity are fitting]. When teaching flourishes and none fail to rise and practice it, only then demand completeness [the simple gradually becomes complete]; when punishment is settled and none fail to avoid crime, only then seek strictness [the brief gradually becomes strict]. To seek completeness before it can be complete is called empty teaching [when teaching has not flourished and the people have not risen to practice, yet one reproaches them, that is empty teaching]; to seek strictness before it can be strict is called harsh punishment [when punishments have not been settled and the people do not avoid crime, yet one seeks strictness, that is harsh punishment]. Empty teaching harms transformation and harsh punishment harms the people; the noble person does not take this road. To establish a teaching that will certainly be violated, without gauging whether the people's strength can manage it, is to invite the people toward evil, and so it is called harming transformation [if one demands completeness before it can be complete, the teaching will surely be violated]. To establish a law that will certainly be broken, without measuring whether the people's feelings can bear it, is to trap the people in crime, and so it is called harming the people [if one seeks strictness before it can be strict, the law will surely be broken]. When none fail to rise and practice, even a bit of goodness can be encouraged, and only then is teaching complete [the people's conduct is well ordered, and when teaching is complete it will not be violated]. When none fail to avoid crime, even a trifle of evil can be forbidden, and only then is punishment strict [the people know to fear crime, and when law is strict it will not be broken. This piece is what is meant by using virtue and punishment together].

或問復讎古義也曰縱復讎可乎曰不可【縱之則人將倚法專殺亂滋生矣】曰然則如之何曰有縱有禁有生有殺【弗避而報者無罪所謂有縱有生避而報之殺所謂有禁有殺】制之以義【據禮經則義不同天】斷之以法【徵法令則殺人者死】是謂義法並立曰何謂也曰依古復讎之科使父讎避諸異州千里兄弟之讎避諸異郡五百里從父從兄弟之讎避諸異縣百里【周禮調人凡和難父之讐闢諸海外兄弟之讐闢諸千里之外從父兄弟之讐不同國君之讐眡父師長之讐眡兄弟主友之讐眡從父兄弟弗闢則與之瑞節而以執之凡殺人有反殺者使邦國交讐之凡殺人而義者不同國令勿讐讐之則死此古復讐之科也又禮記曰父之讐弗與共戴天兄弟之讐不反兵交逰之讐不同國又子夏問於孔子曰居父母之讐如之何夫子曰寢苫枕幹不仕弗與共天下也遇諸市朝不反兵而鬬曰請問居昆弟之讐如之何曰仕弗與共國銜君命而使雖遇之不鬬曰請問居從父昆弟之讐如之何曰不為魁主人能則執兵而陪其後按此異州乃九州之州】弗避而報者無罪【未闢之前但知有復讐之義而已故報者生之】避而報之殺【既闢之後則有王禁在焉故報者誅之】犯王禁者罪也復讎者義也以義報罪從王制順也犯制逆也以逆順生殺之凡以公命行止者不為弗避【此一首所謂闢讐有科也】

Someone asked: Avenging is an ancient principle. Question: Can we allow avenging freely? Answer: No [if allowed freely, people will rely on the law to kill at will, and disorder will grow worse]. Question: Then what should be done? Answer: There is indulgence and prohibition, life and death [one who avenges without having been avoided is innocent, which is indulgence and life; one who avenges after having been avoided is killed, which is prohibition and death]. Restrain it with righteousness [by the ritual classics, righteousness is that one does not share the sky with one's father's killer]; judge it with law [by the statutes, the killer must die]; this is called establishing righteousness and law side by side. Question: What does this mean? Answer: Following the ancient regulations on avenging, the killer of one's father must avoid to another province a thousand li away, the killer of one's brother must avoid to another commandery five hundred li away, and the killer of one's paternal uncle or cousin must avoid to another county a hundred li away [the Rites of Zhou, "Reconciler": in all reconciliation of feuds, the killer of one's father avoids beyond the seas, the killer of one's brother avoids a thousand li away, and the killer of one's paternal uncle or cousin does not live in the same state; the killer of one's lord is treated like the killer of one's father, the killer of one's teacher or elder like the killer of a brother, the killer of a master's friend like the killer of a paternal cousin. If he does not avoid, one gives the avenger the jade tally to go and seize him. Whenever a killing is answered with killing in return, it causes states to become one another's enemies. Whenever a killing is righteous, they do not live in the same state, and are ordered not to hold a grudge, and if they do, they are killed. These are the ancient regulations on vengeance. And the Book of Rites says: one does not share the sky with the killer of one's father; against the killer of a brother one does not turn away one's weapon; against the killer of a friend one does not live in the same state. And Zixia asked Confucius: how should one deal with the killer of one's parents? The Master said: sleep on straw with a shield for a pillow, do not take office, do not share the world with him, and if you meet him at market or court, do not go back for weapons but fight him at once. Asked how to deal with the killer of a brother? He said: if in office, do not share the state with him, and if sent abroad on the ruler's commission, do not fight him even if you meet him. Asked how to deal with the killer of a paternal cousin? He said: do not lead, and if the host can avenge, follow him with weapons in hand. Note: here "another province" means a province of the nine provinces]. One who avenges without having avoided is innocent [before avoiding, one knows only the principle of avenging, so one who avenges is allowed to live]; one who avenges after having avoided is killed [after avoiding, the king's prohibition exists, so one who avenges is put to death]. To violate the king's prohibition is a crime, and avenging is righteousness. To repay a crime with righteousness and to submit to the king's rule is compliance, and to violate the system is defiance. Use defiance and compliance to decide life and death. Those who act or stop on public orders are not counted as not having avoided [this piece is what is meant by regulations for avoiding vendettas].

或問祿曰古之祿也備【其詳見周禮孟子王制】漢之祿也輕【漢制祿秩自中二千石至百石各有等差】夫祿必稱位一物不稱非制也公生貶則私利生【言月俸貶損則賄賂行矣】私利祿則亷者匱而貪者豐也【潔白者窶貧汙墨者富羨】夫豐貪生私匱亷貶公是亂也先王重之曰祿可増乎曰民家財愆増之宜矣或曰今祿如何【今謂獻帝時】曰時匱也祿依食食依民叅相澹【澹古贍字給也即漢書猶未足以澹其欲及以澹不足之澹此言民以給食食以給祿所謂叅相贍也】必也正貪祿【黜汙吏】省閒冗【汰羨官】與時消息昭惠恤下損益以度可也【此一首所謂議祿也】

Someone asked about salaries. Answer: In antiquity salaries were complete [see the Rites of Zhou, Mencius and the Royal Regulations for details]; Han salaries were light [under the Han system, salary ranks ranged from two thousand bushels down to a hundred bushels, with differences]. Salary must match position, and when one thing does not match, it is not a system. Once public pay is reduced, private gain arises [meaning when monthly pay is cut, bribery spreads]; once private gain becomes salary, the honest are deprived and the greedy are enriched [the clean are poor and the corrupt are wealthy]. Wealth and greed produce private interest, and deprivation and honesty diminish the public good; this is disorder. The former kings valued this. Question: Can salaries be increased? Answer: When people's households have surplus resources, increasing is appropriate. Someone said: How are salaries at present [at present means in the time of Emperor Xian]? Answer: The age is in want. Salary depends on food, food depends on the people, and the three supply one another ["dan" is the old form of "shan," to supply; it is the "dan" in the Book of Han, "still not enough to supply his desires" and "to supply what is lacking." This means the people's resources supply food and food supplies salary, the so-called three supplying one another]. One must correct those greedy for salary [dismiss the corrupt officials], cut idle and redundant posts [weed out surplus offices], rise and fall with the times, make kindness clear and care for the lower people, and increase or decrease with proper measure, and that will do [this piece is what is meant by discussing salaries].

諸侯不專封富人名田逾限富過公侯是自封也大夫不專地人賣買由已是專地也【董仲舒説武帝曰秦用商鞅之法改帝王之制除井田民得賣買富者田連阡陌貧者亡立錐之地又顓川澤之地管山林之饒荒越制逾侈以相髙邑有人君之尊裡有公侯之富小民安得不困古井田法雖難卒行宜少近古限民名田以澹不足至哀帝時師丹建言累世承平豪富吏民訾數鉅萬而貧弱愈困宜畧為限丞相孔光大司空何武奏請諸侯王列侯皆得名田國中列侯在長安公主名田縣道及闗內侯吏民名田皆毋過三十頃時丁傅用事董賢隆貴皆不便也後遂寢不行】或曰復井田與曰否專地非古也井田非今也【言專地固非隆古之典而井田廢久又非今所可行】然則如之何曰耕而勿有以俟制度可也【耕而勿有不得賣買由已以俟制度不得逾限也此一首所謂議專地也】

Lords do not enfeoff on their own authority, and when rich people hold land beyond the limit and are richer than dukes and marquises, they are enfeoffing themselves. Senior officials do not monopolize land, and when people buy and sell by themselves, that is monopolizing land [Dong Zhongshu urged Emperor Wu: Qin used the law of Shang Yang, altered the system of the emperors and kings, abolished the well-field system, and let the people buy and sell, so that the rich had fields connecting the paths and the poor had no land to stand an awl on, and moreover they alone held the benefits of rivers, marshes, mountains and forests, living dissolutely beyond the system and vying in extravagance, so that a town had the dignity of a ruler and a village the wealth of a duke or marquis; how could the small people not be in want? The ancient well-field law is hard to carry out at once, but it should be brought somewhat closer to antiquity, limiting people's landholding to supply those in need. In the time of Emperor Ai, Shi Dan proposed: after generations of peace, wealthy officials and people have assets of many tens of thousands while the poor and weak are increasingly in want, and there should be slight limits. Chancellor Kong Guang and Grand Minister of Works He Wu memorialized asking that lords, kings and marquises all be allowed to hold land in their states, while marquises in Chang'an, princesses in counties and roads, and marquises within the passes, officials and people, may not hold more than thirty qing of land. At that time Ding and Fu held power and Dong Xian was exalted, and they all found it inconvenient, so afterward it was shelved and not carried out]. Someone said: Should the well-field system be restored? Answer: No. Monopolizing land is not an ancient law, and the well-field system is not what can be done today [this means that monopolizing land is certainly not a statute of high antiquity, while the well-field system has long been abolished and cannot be carried out now]. Then what should be done? Answer: Till without owning, and wait for a system, and that is enough [till without owning, so one may not buy and sell by oneself; wait for a system, so one may not exceed the limit. This piece is what is meant by discussing monopolizing land].

或問貨曰五銖之制宜矣【太公為周立九府圜法錢圜函方輕重以銖至漢孝武元狩五年初鑄五銖錢至平帝元始中成錢二百八十億萬餘王莾居攝變漢制於是更造大錢重十二銖又曰大錢五十又造契刀錯刀與五銖凡四品並行莾即真乃罷契刀錯刀及五銖更造錢貨六品而民便五銖私相市買莾下詔敢非井田挾五銖錢者為惑眾投諸四裔以御魑魅於是農商失業食貨俱廢世祖受命復五銖錢與天下更始觀此則五銖之制宜便於民者久矣】曰今廢如之何【今謂獻帝時廢者初平元年董卓壞五銖錢更鑄小錢是也】曰海內既平行之而已【言卓既誅此制宜復】曰錢散矣京畿【一作甸】虛矣其勢必積於逺方若果行之則彼以無用之錢市吾有用之物是匱近而豐逺也【曰散曰虗曰積曰無用之錢皆言五銖彼謂逺方也】曰事勢有不得官之所急者谷也牛馬之禁不得出百里之外若其他物彼以其錢取之於左用之於右貿遷有無周而通之海內一家何患焉【言五穀不得及逺他物以五銖貿遷不足以匱近為患也】曰錢寡矣曰錢寡民易矣若錢既通而不周於用然後官鑄而補之【言五銖由廢故易由易故寡不足官鑄以贍可也】或曰收民之藏錢者輸之官牧逺輸之京師然後行之曰事枉而難實者欺慢必眾奸偽必作爭訟必繁刑殺必深吁嗟紛擾之聲章乎天下矣非所以撫遺民成緝熈也【此言逺收五銖於京師而後行之騷動不可】曰然則收而積之與曰通市其可也【此言收五銖積貯亦不可】或曰改鑄四銖曰難矣【此言改鑄四銖以復孝文之舊亦不可】或曰遂廢之曰錢實便於事用民樂行之禁之難今開難令以絶便事禁民所樂不茂矣【此言廢五銖以絶民所便禁民所樂亦不可】曰起而行之錢不可如之何曰尚之廢之弗得已何憂焉【言或尚或廢其勢自有所不得已者蓋民便五銖不得而終廢之不憂其不行也厥後曹操為相還用五銖悅之言驗矣此一首所謂議錢貨也】聖王先成民而後致力於神【東觀書詔傳曰聖王先成民而後致力於神】民事未定【謂有日月水旱癘疫之災】郡祀有闕不為尤矣必也舉其重而祀之望祀五嶽四瀆其神之祀縣有舊常【五嶽岱衡華恆嵩也四瀆江河淮濟也按漢制岱宗廟在博縣西北三十里山虞長守之十月日合凍臘月日涸凍正月日解凍皆太守自侍祠法七十萬五千三牲燔柴上福脯三十朐縣次傳送京師衡廟在廬江縣華廟在農華隂縣恆廟在中山上曲陽縣嵩廟在潁川陽城縣皆同禮河廟在河南滎陽縣河隄謁者掌四瀆禮祠與五嶽同江廟在廣陵江都縣淮廟在平氏縣濟廟在東郡臨邑縣所謂其神之祀縣有舊常也】若今郡祀之而其祀禮物從鮮可也【言嶽瀆之祀雖曰縣有常典但民事未定望祀可也若必郡祀則禮物宜從省畧】禮重本示民不偷且昭典物其備物以豐年日月之災降異非舊也【此一首所謂約祀舉重也】

Someone asked about currency. Answer: the wuzhu coin system is suitable [Taigong established the nine treasuries and the round-coin system for Zhou, with coins round and holes square, weighed by the zhu. In the fifth year of the Yuanshou era of Emperor Xiaowu of Han, wuzhu coins were first cast, and by the Yuanshi era of Emperor Ping more than 28 billion myriad had been minted. When Wang Mang acted as regent he changed the Han system and cast a large coin weighing twelve zhu, said to be worth fifty, and also cast qi-dao and cuo-dao knife coins, running four denominations together with the wuzhu. When Wang Mang took the throne he abolished the knife coins and the wuzhu and cast six new denominations of coin, but the people found the wuzhu convenient and traded in them privately. Wang Mang issued an edict: whoever dared to criticize the well-field system or carry wuzhu coins was misleading the multitude and would be banished to the four borderlands to fend off sprites. Thus farmers and merchants lost their livelihoods and food and goods were both ruined. Shizu, receiving the mandate, restored the wuzhu coin and made things new with the world. Seen from this, the wuzhu system has long been convenient for the people]. Question: what of abolishing it now [“now” means the time of Emperor Xian. “Abolishing” refers to the first year of Chuping, when Dong Zhuo destroyed the wuzhu coins and cast small coins]? Answer: now that all within the seas is pacified, simply put it into practice [meaning that Dong Zhuo has been put to death and this system should be restored]. Question: when coin is scattered, the capital region [one text has “dian”] will be empty, and it will inevitably pile up in distant places. If it is really put into practice, they will use their useless coins to buy our useful goods, making the near lacking and the far abundant [what are called scattered, empty, piled up, and useless coins all refer to the wuzhu; “they” means the distant places]. Answer: circumstances sometimes allow no choice. What the government is anxious about is grain. The ban on oxen and horses means they cannot leave beyond a hundred li; as for other goods, they take coin from the left hand and spend it with the right, trading what is present for what is absent, circulating and flowing; within the seas it is one household, so what is there to worry about [meaning the five grains cannot be shipped far, while other goods trade with wuzhu coins, which is not enough to make the near suffer lack]? Question: coin will be scarce. Answer: when coin is scarce the people find things easy. If the coin has already circulated and is not enough, then the government can cast more to make up for it [meaning that the wuzhu is scarce because it was abolished, and appears insufficient because it is scarce; if it is insufficient, official casting will supply it]. Someone said: collect the coins that the people have stored and hand them to the government, send those from distant places to the capital, and then put it into practice. Answer: where matters are crooked and hard to verify, deception will surely be many, falsehood will surely arise, lawsuits will surely multiply, and punishments and killings will surely be harsh, and the sound of sighs and clamor will be proclaimed throughout the world; this is not the way to soothe the remnant people and accomplish the bright and shining [this says that collecting wuzhu coins from far away to the capital before putting it into practice would cause disturbance and is not acceptable]. Question: then collect it and store it? Answer: let it circulate in the market and that is enough [this says that collecting and storing wuzhu coins is also not acceptable]. Someone said: recast as four-zhu coins. Answer: that is difficult [this says that recasting four-zhu coins to restore the old system of Emperor Xiaowen is also not acceptable]. Someone said: then abolish it. Answer: coin is truly convenient for affairs, the people gladly practice it, and a ban is very hard. If one now issues a hard-to-obey order to cut off a convenient thing and forbid what the people delight in, it will not flourish [this says that abolishing the wuzhu to cut off what is convenient for the people and forbid what they delight in is also not acceptable]. Question: if one sets about to put it into practice, what if the coin cannot be done? Answer: honoring it and abolishing it are both unavoidable, so what is there to worry about [meaning that whether it is honored or abolished, circumstances have their own necessity. The people find the wuzhu convenient, and it cannot in the end be abolished, so there is no need to worry that it will not be put into practice. Later Cao Cao, as chancellor, still used the wuzhu, and Xun Yue’s words were borne out. This paragraph is what is called discussing coin and goods]. The sage kings first perfected the people and only then devoted themselves to the spirits [the edicts and biographies in the Dongguan Records say: “The sage kings first perfected the people and only afterward devoted themselves to the spirits.”]. When the people’s affairs are unsettled [meaning there are disasters of sun and moon, flood and drought, plague and pestilence], if a commandery’s sacrifices are incomplete, it is not a fault. One must pick the important ones to sacrifice to. In the sacrifices from afar to the Five Peaks and Four Rivers, the sacrifices to those spirits have an old regular practice in the counties [the Five Peaks are Dai, Heng, Hua, Heng, and Song, and the Four Rivers are the Yangtze, the Yellow River, the Huai, and the Ji. According to Han regulations: the temple of Mount Dai is thirty li northwest of Bo county, guarded by the mountain warden; on the ice-forming day of the tenth month, the ice-hardening day of the twelfth month, and the ice-thawing day of the first month, the grand administrator personally attends the sacrifice, with an official fund of 705,000 coins, the three sacrificial animals, burning of firewood, and thirty strips of dried meat offered for blessing, and the counties relay it in order to the capital. The temple of Mount Heng is in Qian county of Lujiang, the temple of Mount Hua in Huayin county of Hongnong, the temple of Mount Heng is in Shangquyang county of Zhongshan, and the temple of Mount Song in Yangcheng county of Yingchuan, all with the same rites. The temple of the Yellow River is in Xingyang county of Henan, and the River Embankment Chamberlain oversees the rites of the Four Rivers, the same as for the Five Peaks. The temple of the Yangtze is in Jiangdu county of Guangling, the temple of the Huai in Pingshi county, and the temple of the Ji in Linyi county of Dongjun. This is what is meant by saying that the sacrifices to those spirits have an old regular practice in the counties]. If it were now done by the commandery, simple offerings would be enough [this says that although the sacrifices to peaks and rivers are said to be regular in the counties, when the people’s affairs are unsettled sacrificing from afar is enough; if the commandery must perform it, the offerings should be reduced]. Ritual values the root, shows the people that one is not careless, and makes the canonical things clear. Preparing the offerings in full should be done in years of plenty. Disasters of sun and moon that send down anomalies are not part of the old regular practice [this paragraph is what is called pruning sacrifices and keeping the important ones].

天人之應所由來漸矣故履霜堅氷非一時也【坤初六曰履霜堅氷至】仲尼之禱非一朝也且日食行事或稠或曠一年二交非其常也洪範傳云六沴作見若是王都未見之無聞焉爾官脩其方而先王之禮保章視祲安宅敘降必書云物為備故也【周禮保章氏掌天星以志星辰日月之變動以觀天下之遷辨其吉凶以星土辨九州之地所封封域皆有分星以觀妖祥以十有二嵗之相觀天下之妖祥以五雲之物辨吉凶水旱降豐荒之祲象以十有二風察天地之和命乖別之妖祥凡此五物者以詔救政訪序事又眡祲掌十煇之法以觀妖祥辨吉凶一曰祲二曰象三曰鑴四曰監五曰闇六曰瞢七曰彌八曰敘九曰隮十曰想掌安宅敘降鄭氏曰宅居也降下也人見妖祥則不安主安其居處也次序其兇禍所下謂禳移之】太史上事無隱焉勿寢可也【百官志太史令掌天時星厯凡嵗將終奏新年厯凡國祭祀防娶掌奏良日及時節禁忌凡國有瑞應災異掌記之靈臺丞掌守靈臺候日月星氣屬太史漢官曰靈臺待詔四十二人其十四人候星二人日三人候風十二人氣三人候晷景七人候鐘律一人舍人此一首所謂天人之應也】

The response between Heaven and humankind comes gradually. So “treading on frost, solid ice arrives” is not the matter of a moment [the first yin line of the Kun hexagram says: “Treading on frost, solid ice will come.”], and Confucius’s prayer was not the matter of a single morning either. Moreover, in matters of solar eclipses the intervals are sometimes close and sometimes distant, and two crossings in a year are not the rule. The Commentary on the Great Plan says six kinds of ominous qi appear, and if the royal capital did not see them, it is only that they were not heard of. The officials cultivate their methods, and in the rites of the former kings, the Baozhang officer observes ominous vapors, sets homes at ease and arranges the descent of calamities, and must record clouds and phenomena, so as to be prepared [in the Rites of Zhou, the Baozhang officer is in charge of the stars of heaven and records the movements of stars, sun, and moon to observe the changes of the world and distinguish good and ill, uses the soil of the stars to distinguish the allotted stars of the Nine Provinces’ territories to observe omens, uses the aspects of the twelve years to observe the world’s omens, uses the phenomena of the five clouds to distinguish the ominous signs of good and ill, flood and drought, plenty and famine, and uses the twelve winds to observe the harmony of heaven and earth and name the omens of discord. These five kinds of things are used to report and relieve government and to consult on arranging affairs. Also the Shijin officer is in charge of the method of the ten halos to observe omens and distinguish good and ill: first the omen, second the image, third the hook, fourth the supervisor, fifth the darkness, sixth the dimness, seventh the spreading, eighth the order, ninth the rainbow, tenth the thought. He is in charge of settling homes and arranging descents. Zheng Xuan says: “zhai” means dwelling, and “jiang” means descending. When people see ill omens they are uneasy, and the officer sees to it that they are settled in their dwellings and arranges the order in which misfortunes descend, which is called averting and transferring]. The Grand Historian should report matters upward without concealment and not suppress them [Treatise on the Hundred Officials: the Grand Historian is in charge of the seasons of heaven and the calendar of stars, and at the end of the year presents the calendar of the new year; at all state sacrifices, weddings and (the received text has a rare character here, lost in transcription), he is in charge of presenting auspicious days and the prohibitions of the seasons; whenever the state has auspicious responses or disasters and anomalies, he is in charge of recording them. The Assistant of the Spirit Terrace is in charge of guarding the Spirit Terrace and observing the sun, moon, stars, and vapors, and belongs to the Grand Historian. The Han Offices says that at the Spirit Terrace there were forty-two men awaiting appointment: fourteen watched the stars, two the sun, three the wind, twelve the vapors, three the sundial shadows, seven the bells and pitch-pipes, and one was an attendant. This paragraph is what is called the response between Heaven and humankind].

天子南靣聴天下向明而治蓋取諸離【易繫辭離也者明也萬物皆相見南方之卦也聖人南面而聴天下向明而治蓋取諸此也】天之道也月正聴朝國家之大事也【禮儀志每月朔嵗首為大朝受賀其儀夜漏未盡七刻鐘鳴受賀及防公侯璧中二千石二千石羔千石六百石鴈四百石以下雉百官賀正月二千石以上上殿稱萬嵗舉觴御坐前司空奉羮大司農奉飯奏食舉樂百官受賜宴享大作樂其每朔惟十月旦從故事者髙祖定秦之月元年嵗首也】宜正其儀以明舊典【漢舊儀公卿以下每月常朝後以頻省唯六月十月朔後復以六月盛暑省之其儀不舉久矣此一首所謂月正聴朝也】

The Son of Heaven faces south to hear the world’s affairs and governs facing the light, taking this from the Li hexagram [the Commentary on the Book of Changes says: Li is brightness, in which all things see one another, the hexagram of the south. The sage faces south to hear the world’s affairs and governs facing the light, taking this from it]. This is the principle of Heaven. Holding court in the first month is a great affair of state [Treatise on Rites: on the first day of each month and at the new year’s opening, a great court is held to receive congratulations. The ceremony: when seven marks of the night water-clock remain, the bell sounds and congratulations are received and (the received text has a rare character here, lost in transcription); dukes and marquises use jade discs, officials of the full two thousand and two thousand shi ranks use lambs, those of the thousand and six hundred shi use wild geese, and those of four hundred shi and below use pheasants. The hundred officials congratulate the first month; those of two thousand shi and above go up into the hall and shout “ten thousand years,” raise cups to the imperial seat, the Minister of Works presents soup and the Minister of Agriculture presents rice, music is performed for the meal, and the officials receive a banquet with great music. Each month’s first day only the first day of the tenth month follows the old practice, because that was the month in which Emperor Gao pacified Qin and the opening of the first year]. One should correct the ceremony to make the old canon clear [the old Han ceremonies: officials from dukes and ministers down held regular court every month, but later, because it was too frequent, it was reduced and only the first days of the sixth and tenth months were kept; later the sixth month was also dropped for the heat of high summer. The ceremony has long not been performed. This paragraph is what is called hearing court at the first of the month].

古有掌隂陽之禮之官以教後宮【周禮內宰以隂禮教六宮以隂禮教九嬪以婦職之法教九御】掌婦學之法婦徳婦言【按此當有婦容二字】婦功【周禮九嬪掌婦學之法以教九御婦徳婦言婦容婦功各帥其屬而以時御敘於王所鄭氏曰婦徳謂貞順婦言謂辭令婦容謂婉娩婦功謂絲枲也】各率其屬而以時御序於王先王禮也宜崇其教以先內政覽列圖誦列傳遵典行內史執其彤管記善書過考行黜陟以章好惡男女正位乎內外正家而天下定矣【易家人曰女正位乎內男正位乎外男女正天地之大義也又曰正家而天下定矣】故二儀立而大業成君子之道匪闕終日造次必於是【此一首所謂崇內教也】

In ancient times there were officials in charge of the rites of yin and yang who instructed the rear palace [the Rites of Zhou: the Palace Steward uses the rites of yin to instruct the six palaces, uses the rites of yin to instruct the nine consorts, and uses the methods of women’s duties to instruct the nine attendants], in charge of the methods of women’s learning: women’s virtue, women’s speech [note: here there should be the two words for “women’s appearance”], and women’s work [the Rites of Zhou, “Nine Consorts”: in charge of the methods of women’s learning, instructing the nine attendants in women’s virtue, women’s speech, women’s appearance, and women’s work, each leading her subordinates to attend the king at the proper times in order. Zheng Xuan says: women’s virtue means chastity and compliance, women’s speech means choice of words, women’s appearance means gracefulness, and women’s work means silk and hemp work], each leading her subordinates to attend the king in order at the proper times; this was the rite of the former kings. One should honor this teaching so as first to govern the inner affairs, look at the illustrations of exemplary women, recite their biographies, follow the statutes, and have the Inner Recorder hold the red-shafted brush to record good and write down faults, and examine conduct to dismiss or promote, so as to make likes and dislikes plain. When men and women each correct their positions, inside and outside, and the household is set right, the world is settled [the Jiaren hexagram of the Book of Changes says: “The woman rightly takes her place within, the man rightly takes his place without; that men and women are right is the great principle of heaven and earth.” It also says: “When the household is set right, the world is settled.”]. Thus the two modes are established and the great enterprise is completed. The Way of the superior person does not break off, and even in constant haste it must rest on this [this paragraph is what is called honoring inner teaching].

備博士【博士秦官掌通古今武帝建元初置五經博士黃龍初稍増員十二人後漢百官志博士祭酒一人博士十四人掌易四施孟梁丘京氏尚書三歐陽大小夏侯氏詩三魯齊韓氏禮二大小戴氏春秋二公羊嚴顔氏掌教弟子國有疑事掌承問對】廣太學【辟雍也】而祀孔子焉禮也仲尼作經本一而已古今文不同而皆自謂真本經【各謂真傳】古今先師義一而已異家別説不同而皆自謂古今【此處有誤】仲尼邈而靡質【大聖已逝經無所質】昔先師歿而無間【老師已防義無所間】將誰使折之者秦之滅學也書藏於屋壁義絶於朝野【孔安國書序秦始皇滅先代典籍焚書坑儒天下學士逃難解散我先人用藏其家書於屋壁】逮至漢興收摭散滯固已無全學矣【藝文志漢興大收篇籍廣開獻書之路迄孝武世書缺簡脫禮壞樂崩】文有磨滅言有楚夏出有先後【如文帝時伏生口誦尚書以授晁錯僅得二十九篇至魯恭王壞孔子宅得所藏科斗文字定其可知者増多伏生二十五篇此出有先後之類也】或學者先意有所借定【無所徵據臆見損益】後進相放彌以滋蔓故一源十流天水違行而訟者紛如也【易訟曰天與水違行此以天上水下相違而行喻學者所傳背戾互相爭是也】執不俱是比而論之必有可參者焉【此一首所謂備博士也】

Providing Erudites in full [Erudite was an office of Qin, in charge of mastering past and present. In the early Jianyuan era Emperor Wu established Erudites of the Five Classics, and in the early Huanglong era the number gradually rose to twelve. Treatise on the Hundred Officials of the Later Han: one Chief Erudite and fourteen Erudites, in charge of the Changes in four schools, Shi, Meng, Liangqiu, and Jing; the Documents in three schools, Ouyang and the Greater and Lesser Xiahou; the Songs in three schools, Lu, Qi, and Han; the Rites in two schools, the Elder and Younger Dai; and the Spring and Autumn in two schools, Yan of the Gongyang and Yan of the Gu; they taught disciples and, when the state had doubtful matters, took charge of answering questions], enlarging the Imperial Academy [that is, the Biyong], and sacrificing to Confucius is ritual. The classics of Zhongni were originally one, but the old and new texts differ and each claims to be the true classic [each says it is the true transmission]. The meanings of the former teachers, old and new, were originally one, but the different schools differ and each claims to be old and new [there is an error here]. Zhongni is far away and there is no one to ask for correction [the great sage has passed away and the classics have no place to be corrected]; the former teachers of the past have died and there is no one to ask [the teachers have (the received text has a rare character here, lost in transcription) and there is nowhere to ask the meaning]; whom shall we have to judge between them? When Qin destroyed learning, the books were hidden in the walls of houses and meaning was cut off from court and country [the preface to the Documents by Kong Anguo: the First Emperor of Qin destroyed the canons of earlier ages, burned books and buried scholars, the world’s scholars fled and scattered, and my ancestor then hid the family books in the walls of his house]. By the time the Han arose, scattered and lost texts were gathered, and there was already no complete learning to be had [Treatise on Literature: when the Han arose, it greatly gathered texts and widely opened the way for presenting books, but by the time of Emperor Xiaowu the books were missing and the slips fallen away, and ritual was ruined and music in collapse]. Writing had wear and erasure, speech had Chu and Xia differences, and appearance came earlier and later [for example, in Emperor Wen’s time, Fu Sheng recited the Documents from memory and transmitted it to Chao Cuo, and only twenty-nine chapters could be had; when King Gong of Lu tore down Confucius’s house, the tadpole-script texts that were stored there were obtained, and when those that could be understood were determined, there were twenty-five more than Fu Sheng’s. This is one kind of “appearing earlier and later”], or scholars first had their own ideas and made certain amendments by borrowing [with no evidence, they added and removed on the basis of their own views], and later students imitated one another and spread them further, so that one source has ten streams, heaven and water move in opposition, and those who dispute are numerous [the Song hexagram of the Book of Changes says “heaven and water go in opposite directions.” Here the heaven above and water below going opposite ways is used as a figure for the way scholars’ transmissions run counter to one another and each insists it is right]. If one holds fast to one view, not all can be right; but comparing and discussing them, there must be things that can be consulted [this paragraph is what is called providing Erudites].

或曰至德要道約爾典籍甚富如而博之以求約也語有之曰有鳥將來張羅待之得鳥者一目也今為一目之羅無時得鳥矣【鳥喻道羅喻典籍】道雖要也非博無以通矣【孟子曰博學而詳説之將以反説約也】博其方約其説【此一首所謂至徳要道也】赦令權也【謂凶荒流離盜賊垢汙之後不得已而行者】或曰有制乎曰權無制制其義不制其事巽以行權【易繫辭文】義制也權者反經無事也問其象曰無妄之災大過兇其象矣不得已而行之禁其屢也【初平元年春正月山東州郡起兵以討董卓辛亥大赦天下二年春正月辛丑大赦天下三年春正月丁丑大赦天下五月丁酉大赦天下卓誅部將李傕等六月陷長安己未大赦天下四年春丁卯大赦天下興平元年春正月辛酉大赦天下二年春正月癸丑大赦天下建安元年春正月癸酉郊祀上帝於安邑大赦天下丁丑郊祀上帝大赦天下初平至此凡七年而大赦者十可謂數甚故悅以此規之】曰絶之乎曰權曰宜弗之絶也【既曰權宜著非常典此一首所謂禁數赦令也】尚主之制非古也釐降二女陶唐之典【堯典曰釐降二女於媯汭嬪於虞】歸妹元吉帝乙之訓【易泰九五曰帝乙歸妹以祉元吉】王姬歸齊宗周之禮【詩序曰雖則王姬亦下嫁於諸侯】以隂乘陽違天以婦凌夫違人違天不祥違人不義【悅之叔父荀爽於延熹九年對防陳便宜以漢承秦法設尚主之儀以妻制夫以卑臨尊違乾坤之道失陽唱之義宜改尚主之制今悅復以為言殆其家門素所商講者乎此一首所謂正尚主之制也】

Someone said: the supreme virtue and essential way is concise, yet the classics are abundant; how can one seek concision through breadth? As the common saying goes: when a bird is about to come, one spreads a net and waits, but what catches the bird is only one mesh of the net; now if one makes a net of a single mesh, one will never catch the bird [the bird is a figure for the Way, the net a figure for the classics]. Though the Way is simple and essential, without breadth there is no way to reach it [Mencius said: “Learn broadly and explain in detail, so as to return to explaining concisely.”]. Broaden its methods and make its statement concise [this paragraph is what is called the supreme virtue and essential way]. Amnesty decrees are expedients [meaning that they are carried out only when unavoidable, after famine and displacement, or after thieves and defilement]. Someone said: Is there a fixed system? Answer: expedients have no fixed system. What is regulated is righteousness, not the affair. Use “the gentle wind” to carry out expedients [words from the Appended Commentary of the Book of Changes]; righteousness is regulation. An expedient is contrary to the regular course and yet without trouble. Asked for its image: the calamity of the Wuwang hexagram and the misfortune of the Daguo hexagram are its images. It is to be carried out only when unavoidable, and one should forbid its being done again and again [in the first month of spring of the first year of Chuping, when the commanderies of Shandong raised troops against Dong Zhuo, a general amnesty was declared on the xinhai day; in the first month of spring in the second year, a general amnesty on the xinchou day; in the first month of spring in the third year, a general amnesty on the dingchou day, and another on the dingyou day of the fifth month; after Dong Zhuo was put to death, his lieutenants Li Jue and others took Chang’an in the sixth month, and a general amnesty was declared on the jiwei day; in the spring of the fourth year, a general amnesty on the dingmao day; in the first month of spring of the first year of Xingping, on the xinyou day; in the first month of spring of the second year, on the guichou day; in the first month of spring of the first year of Jian’an, on the guiyou day he sacrificed to the Lord on High at the suburb of Anyi and declared a general amnesty, and on the dingchou day sacrificed again to the Lord on High and again declared a general amnesty. From Chuping to this time, in seven years there were ten general amnesties, which may be called extremely frequent, and so Xun Yue used it to remonstrate]. Question: cut it off? Answer: it is an expedient. He said: it is better not to cut it off [since it is called an expedient, it is not a regular canon. This paragraph is what is called forbidding frequent amnesty decrees]. The system of marrying a princess is not ancient law. Sending down two daughters was the canon of Tao Tang [the Canon of Yao says: “He sent down his two daughters to the bend of the Gui River, to be consorts to Yu.”]. “Marrying the younger sister brings great good fortune” was the teaching of Emperor Yi [the fifth line of nine in the Tai hexagram of the Book of Changes says: “Emperor Yi married his younger sister; this brings blessing and supreme good fortune.”]. A royal princess’s marriage to Qi was the rite of the Zhou royal house [the Preface to the Songs says: “Even though she is a royal princess, she marries down to a feudal lord.”]. For yin to ride on yang goes against Heaven, and for a wife to bully a husband goes against humankind. To go against Heaven is inauspicious, and to go against humankind is unrighteous [Xun Yue’s uncle Xun Shuang, in the ninth year of Yanxi, presented suggestions to (the received text has a rare character here, lost in transcription) arguing that the Han inherited Qin law and established the ceremony of marrying princesses, so that the wife controls the husband and the lowly looks down on the honored, going against the way of Qian and Kun and losing the principle that yang leads, and so the system of marrying princesses should be changed. Now Xun Yue says the same again, probably because it was often discussed in their family. This paragraph is what is called correcting the system of marrying princesses].

古者天子諸侯有事必告於廟朝有二史左史記言右史記動【按漢書作事字玉藻曰卒食端而居動則左史書之言則右史書之】動為春秋【春秋記事】言為尚書【尚書記言】君舉必記臧否【按漢書作善惡】成敗無不存焉下及士庶等各有異【按漢書作苟有茂異】鹹在載籍或欲顯而不得或欲隱而名章【紀以至公】得失一朝而榮辱千載善人勸焉淫人懼焉故先王重之以嗣賞罰以輔法教宜於令者官以其日各書其盡則集之於尚書【按漢書作宜於令者備置史官掌其典文紀其行事毎於嵗盡舉之尚書則此上下必有脫誤】若史官使掌典其事不書詭常為善惡則書言行足以為法式則書立功事則書兵戎動眾則書四夷朝獻則書皇后貴人太子拜立則書【光武置貴人為三夫人】公主大臣拜免則書福淫禍亂則書祥瑞災異則書先帝故事有起居注【漢時有禁中起居故明徳馬皇后自撰顯宗起居注】日用動靜之節必書焉宜復其式內史掌之以紀內事【此一首所謂復內外註記者也】

In ancient times when the Son of Heaven and the feudal lords had matters, they would always report them at the temple. The court had two historians: the Historian of the Left recorded words and the Historian of the Right recorded actions [note: the History of the Han has the word “affairs” here. The Yuzao says: after eating, he changes to dark ceremonial robes and sits; when he acts, the Historian of the Left writes it down, and when he speaks, the Historian of the Right writes it down]. Actions became the Spring and Autumn Annals [the Annals record events], and words became the Book of Documents [the Documents record speech]. Every movement of the ruler must be recorded, and good and bad [note: the History of the Han has “good and evil”], success and failure are all preserved. Down to scholars and commoners, each had differing ranks [note: the History of the Han has “if there is outstanding distinction”], all in the records. Some want to be made known and cannot be, and some want to hide and their names instead are made plain [the records come out of utmost impartiality]. Gain and loss lie in a single court, while honor and disgrace last a thousand years; good people are encouraged and licentious people feel fear. So the former kings valued this, using it to continue rewards and punishments and to assist law and teaching. What suits the present time: officials each write by day, and at the end of the year they gather it and send it to the Imperial Secretariat [note: the History of the Han reads “what suits the present: fully appoint historians, in charge of their canonical writings, recording their conduct and affairs, and each year’s end present them to the Imperial Secretariat,” so the context here must have omissions and errors]. If historians were to be put in charge of such affairs: they would not record what is strange and out of the ordinary, but would record whether the act is good or evil; they would record words and deeds fit to serve as models; they would record the establishing of merit; they would record military campaigns and mobilizations; they would record the courts and tributes of the four barbarian peoples; they would record at once the appointment of empresses, honored ladies, and crown princes [Guangwu established honored ladies as the three consorts]; they would record the appointment and dismissal of princesses and great ministers; they would record fortune, license, calamity, and disorder; they would record auspicious omens and calamities. The former emperor’s precedents included the Diaries of Daily Activity [in Han times there was a diary of life within the palace, so the Empress Ming de herself compiled the diary of Emperor Xianzong]; the regulation of daily movement and stillness must be written down. One should restore that form, with the Inner Recorder in charge of recording matters within the palace [this paragraph is what is called restoring the inner and outer records].

或問卜筮曰徳斯益否斯損曰何謂也吉而濟兇而救之謂益吉而恃兇而怠之謂損【吉凶謂兆數之所值言修徳則足以協吉而消兇否則反是】

Someone asked about divination by tortoise and yarrow. Answer: with virtue there is increase, without virtue there is decrease. Question: what does that mean? To be fortunate and be able to carry it through, to meet misfortune and be able to rescue and help, is called increase; to be fortunate and rely on it, to meet misfortune and become lazy, is called decrease [good and ill fortune refer to what the omens and numbers indicate. This says that cultivating virtue is enough to help bring about good fortune and dispel misfortune, and otherwise the opposite].

或問曰時群忌曰此天地之數也非吉凶所生也東方主生死者不鮮西方主殺生者不寡南方火也居之不燋北方水也蹈之不沈【漢時俗有方忌如西益宅謂之不祥必有死亡商家門不宜南向徵家門不宜北向之類是也】故甲子昩爽殷滅周興【武成曰甲子昩爽受率其旅若林防於牧野罔有敵於我師前徒倒戈攻於後以北血流漂杵一戎衣天下大定所謂殷以甲子滅周以甲子興也言支幹不足忌矣】咸陽之地秦亡漢隆【秦都關中二世而亡漢遷長安歴年四百言相地家不足信矣】

Someone asked about the many taboos of the customs of the time. Answer: these are the numbers of heaven and earth and are not what gives rise to good and ill fortune. The east governs birth, yet those who die there are not few; the west governs killing, yet those born there are not scarce; the south is fire, yet those who live there are not scorched; the north is water, yet those who tread on it do not sink [in Han times customs had directional taboos, such as saying that extending a house on the west side is inauspicious and will surely cause death, that a merchant’s gate should not face south, and that a campaigner’s gate should not face north]. So on the day of jiazi at dawn, the Yin fell and the Zhou rose [the “Wu Cheng” chapter says: at dawn on the jiazi day, Zhou led his army like a forest, (the received text has a rare character here, lost in transcription) at Muye, and none could resist my army; the front ranks turned their halberds against the rear, blood flowed until it floated pestles, and with a single suit of armor the world was greatly settled. This is what is called Yin perishing on jiazi and Zhou rising on jiazi. It says that the sexagenary days are not worth fearing]. The land of Xianyang, where Qin perished and Han flourished [Qin made its capital in Guanzhong and perished after two reigns, while the Han moved to Chang’an and lasted four hundred years. This says that the geomancers who divine sites cannot be trusted].

或問五三之位周應也【五三五星三辰辰星熒惑太白嵗星填星日月鬥也志所謂周師初發嵗在鶉火日在析木月在天駟辰在斗柄星在天黿是也春秋元命苞曰殷紂之時五星聚於房房者蒼神之精周據而興】龍虎【虎當作尾】之防晉祥也【晉獻公問於卜偃曰攻虢何月也曰童謡有之曰丙之晨龍尾伏辰均服振振取虢之旂鶉之賁賁天防焞焞火中成軍虢公其奔火中而旦其九月十月之交乎韋氏解曰丙丙子晨蚤朝也龍尾尾星也伏隱也辰日月之交防也魯僖五年東周十二月夏十月丙子朔之朝日在尾月在天防也伏辰辰在龍尾隱而未見也鶉鶉火鳥星也賁賁鶉火星貌也天防尾上一星名曰天防一名傳說焞焞近日月之貌也火鶉火也中晨中也成軍軍有成功也傳曰冬十二月丙子朔晉滅虢虢公醜奔京師】曰官府設陳富貴者值之布衣寓焉不符其爵也獄犴若居有罪者觸之貞良入焉不受其罰也【布衣無位者貞良無罪者言布衣而寓官府則爵不符貞良而入獄犴則罰不受以喻周應晉祥惟武王獻公能當之也】或曰然則日月可廢歟曰否曰元辰先王所用也【辰謂日月所防自枵至星紀是也周禮馮相氏掌十有二嵗十有二月十有二辰】人承天地故動靜焉順順其隂陽順其日辰順其度數內有順實外有順文文實順理也休徴之符自然應也故盜泉朝歌孔墨不由【屍子曰孔子過於盜泉渴矣而不飲惡其名也劉向曰邑號朝歌墨子回車】惡其名者順其心也苟無其實徼福於忌斯成難也

Someone asked whether the positions of the five stars and three luminaries were the verification for Zhou [“five and three” refers to the five planets and three luminaries: Mercury, Mars, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, the sun, the moon, and the Dipper. The record says that when the Zhou army first set out, Jupiter was in Chunhuo, the sun in Xi Mu, the moon in Tian Si, the chen in the handle of the Dipper, and a star in Tian Yuan. The Spring and Autumn Apocrypha, “Yuan Ming Bao,” says: at the time of Zhou of Yin the five planets gathered in the Fang lodge; the Fang is the essence of the azure spirit, and Zhou took possession of it and arose], and the dragon and tiger [“tiger” should read “tail”] (the received text has a rare character here, lost in transcription) were the auspicious sign for Jin [Duke Xian of Jin asked Bu Yan: in which month should we attack Guo? He said: there is a children’s rhyme: “On the morning of bing, the dragon’s tail is hidden in the chen; the uniforms are all alike and imposing, and we shall take Guo’s banners. The quail is bright, the Heavenly Ce is glowing; when fire is at the meridian the army is formed, and the Duke of Guo will flee.” Fire at the meridian at dawn would be about the turn of the ninth and tenth months. Wei Zhao explains: bing is the bingzi day, chen here is the early morning; the dragon’s tail is the Wei star; hidden is concealed; chen is the meeting of sun and moon (the received text has a rare character here, lost in transcription). In the fifth year of Duke Xi of Lu, the twelfth month by the Eastern Zhou calendar, the tenth month by the Xia calendar, on the morning of the bingzi first day, the sun was in Wei and the moon in Tian Ce (the received text has “Tian Fang,” where “Fang” should be “Ce”), and “hidden in the chen” means the chen was in the dragon’s tail and hidden from sight. The quail is the Chunhuo bird star, “bright” is the look of the Chunhuo star, Tian Ce (the received text has “Tian Fang,” where “Fang” should be “Ce”) is a star above Wei called Tian Ce (the received text has “Tian Fang,” where “Fang” should be “Ce”), also called Fu Yue, “glowing” is the look of being near the sun and moon, fire is Chunhuo, meridian means at the meridian of dawn, and “the army is formed” means the army has success. The Commentary: in the twelfth month, on the bingzi first day, Jin destroyed Guo, and Chou, Duke of Guo, fled to the capital]. Answer: an official’s residence is for the rich and noble to encounter; if a commoner lodges in it, it does not match his rank. A prison is a residence that those with guilt meet; if the upright and good enter it, they do not receive that punishment [a commoner is one without rank, and the upright and good are those without guilt. This says that if a commoner lodges in an official’s residence, the rank does not match, and if the upright and good enter a prison, the punishment is not received; it is used as a figure for the fact that the Zhou verification and the Jin auspicious sign could be borne only by King Wu and Duke Xian]. Someone said: then can the sun and moon be discarded? Answer: no. He said: the chen were used by the former kings [chen refers to where the sun and moon (the received text has a rare character here, lost in transcription), from Xuanxiao to Xingji. The Rites of Zhou, the Fengxiang officer, is in charge of the twelve years, twelve months, and twelve chen]. Humans receive heaven and earth, and so their movement and stillness should be compliant: comply with their yin and yang, comply with their days and chen, comply with their degrees and numbers. If there is a compliant substance within and a compliant ornament without, with substance and ornament both in order, auspicious signs naturally come. So Robber Spring and Zhaoge were places Confucius and Mozi would not pass [the Shizi says: Confucius passed Robber Spring and would not drink even when thirsty, hating its name. Liu Xiang says: the town was named Zhaoge, and Mozi turned his carriage around]. Disliking the name is following the heart. If there is no substance and one seeks blessing in taboos, this is difficult.

或曰祈請者誠以接神自然應也【祈請求禱也如祈年祈子孫請雨請福之類周禮太祝掌六祈以同神】故精以底之犠牲玉帛以昭祈請吉朔以通之禮雲禮雲玉帛云乎哉請雲祈雲酒膳云乎哉非其禮則或愆非其請則不應

Someone said: prayer connects with the spirits by sincerity and so naturally gets a response [prayer means petitioning, such as praying for a good year, for descendants, for rain, or for blessings. The Rites of Zhou, the Grand Invocator, is in charge of the six kinds of prayer to bring ghosts, spirits, and deities together]. So one reaches it with refined purity, makes the prayer plain with sacrificial animals, jade, and silk, and connects it with auspicious days and the first of the month. “Ritual, ritual, does it mean only jade and silk?” “Prayer, prayer, does it mean only wine and food?” Without that kind of ritual there may be errors, and without that kind of prayer there will be no response.

或問祈請可否曰氣物應感則可性命自然則否【應感如土龍致雨之類】

Someone asked whether prayer is permissible. Answer: where it is a matter of qi and things responding to one another, it is permissible; where it is a matter of nature and fate being so of themselves, it is not [responding means such things as making earthen dragons to seek rain].

或問避疾厄有諸曰夫疾厄何為者也非身則神身不可避【身寓宇宙避將焉之】神不可逃【神寓形骸逃將焉之】可避非身可逃非神也持身隨天萬里不逸譬諸孺子掩目巨夫之掖而曰逃可乎

Someone asked: Is there such a thing as avoiding illness and calamity? Answer: what are illness and calamity? They are either the body or the spirit. The body cannot be avoided [the body is lodged in the universe; where could one avoid to?] and the spirit cannot be escaped [the spirit is lodged in the frame of the body; where could it flee to?]. What can be avoided is not the body, and what can be escaped is not the spirit. If you carry your body and follow Heaven, you cannot escape even in ten thousand li. It is like a child covering his eyes and hiding under the arm of a big man, saying he has escaped; can that be so?

或問人形有相曰蓋有之焉夫神氣形容之相包也自然矣貳之於行參之於時相成也亦參相敗也【行謂修徳為邪時謂亨期厄防所以應人骨體之善惡者】其數眾矣其變多矣亦有上中下品云爾或問神僊之術曰誕哉末之也已矣【言名生實死誕妄不足信也】聖人弗學【揚雄曰聖人不師僊】非惡生也終始運也【終死始生易繫辭曰原始反終故知死生之説揚雄曰有生者必有死有始者必有終自然之道也】短長數也【短長謂年之夭壽】運數非人力之為也曰亦有僊人乎曰僬僥桂莽產乎異俗【海外南經僬僥國在三首國東外傳云僬僥民長三尺短之至也詩含神霧曰從中州以東西四十萬裡得僬僥國人長一尺五寸也大荒南經冇小人名曰僬僥之國史記仲尼曰僬僥氏三尺短之至也】就有仙人亦殊類矣

Someone asked whether a person’s physical form has signs to be read. Answer: probably it does. Spirit and qi and bodily appearance enclose one another, which is natural. Then conduct is the second item and the fortune of the times is the third, which complete one another and also ruin one another [conduct refers to cultivating virtue or doing wrong, and the times to the periods of prosperity or hardship (the received text has a rare character here, lost in transcription), and so they correspond to the good or bad in a person’s bones and body]. The numbers are many and the changes are many, and there are only upper, middle, and lower grades. Someone asked about the arts of immortals. Answer: absurd, there is no such thing [this says that in name it is life and in substance it is death, so the absurd and false is not worth trusting]. The sage does not study it [Yang Xiong said: “The sage does not take immortals as teachers.”]. It is not that he hates life; beginning and end are simply a revolution [the end is death and the beginning is life. The Appended Commentary of the Book of Changes says: “Tracing the beginning and returning to the end, therefore we know the explanation of death and life.” Yang Xiong said: “What has life must have death, and what has a beginning must have an end; this is the Way of nature.”]. Short and long are a matter of number [short and long refer to short and long life spans]. Revolutions and numbers are not something human power can make. Question: are there also immortals? Answer: the Jiaoyao and the Guimang are produced in strange lands [the Classic of Mountains and Seas, “Beyond the Seas, South”: the Land of the Jiaoyao is east of the Land of Three Heads. The unofficial tradition says the Jiaoyao people are three feet tall, the extreme of shortness. The Shi Han Shenwu says: going forty myriad li east and west from the Central Province one reaches the Jiaoyao people, a foot and a half tall. The “Great Wilderness, South” has a small people called the Land of the Jiaoyao. The Records of the Historian has Zhongni saying that the Jiaoyao clan is three feet, the extreme of shortness]; even if there are immortals, they are a different kind.

或問有數百嵗人乎曰力稱烏獲【烏獲秦武王力士】捷言羌亥【羌亥疑豎亥之誤】勇期賁育【孟賁齊人能生防牛角夏育衛人】聖雲仲尼壽稱彭祖【以四者況壽言壽中俊傑有彭祖也列仙傳彭祖者殷大夫姓籛名鏗帝顓頊之孫陸終氏之中子歴夏至殷末八百餘嵗常食桂芝善導引行氣】物有俊傑不可誣也

Someone asked: Are there people who live several hundred years? Answer: for strength people say Wu Huo [Wu Huo was a strongman of King Wu of Qin], for agility they say Qiang Hai [Qiang Hai is probably an error for Shu Hai], for courage and force they hope for Meng Ben and Xia Yu [Meng Ben was a man of Qi who could (the received text has a rare character here, lost in transcription) the horns of an ox; Xia Yu was a man of Wei], for sageliness they say Confucius, and for long life they say Pengzu [these four are used to compare lifespans, meaning that among the outstanding in longevity there is Pengzu. Biographies of Immortals: Pengzu was a grandee of Yin, with the surname Jian and the personal name Keng, a grandson of Emperor Zhuanxu and the middle son of Lu Zhong, who lived through the Xia to the end of Yin for more than eight hundred years, constantly ate cassia and fungus, and was good at guiding and moving qi]. Things have their outstanding examples and cannot be falsely denied.

或問凡壽者必有道非習之功曰夫惟壽則惟能用道惟能用道則性壽矣苟非其性也脩不至也學必至聖可以儘性壽必用道所以盡命

Someone asked: all who live long surely have a way, and it is not the credit of practice. Answer: it is precisely because one is long-lived that one can use the way, and because one can use the way, one’s nature is long-lived. If one does not have that nature, cultivation cannot reach it. Learning must reach sagehood before it can fulfill one’s nature, and long life must use the way before it can fulfill one’s fate.

或曰人有自變化而僊者信乎曰未之前聞也然則異也【異謂怪異】非僊也男化為女者有矣死人復生者有矣【獻帝興平七年越雋男子化為女子四年武陵女子死十四日復活續漢志曰女子李娥年六十餘死瘞於城中有行人聞冢中有聲告家人出之此二事悅在興平中所親聞見者】夫豈人之性哉氣數不存焉或問曰有養性乎曰養性秉中和守之以生而已愛親愛德愛力愛神之謂嗇【老子治人事天莫如嗇夫惟嗇是以早復是謂深根固柢長生久視之道】否則不宣過則不澹故君子節宣其氣勿使有所壅閉滯底昏亂百度則生疾【宣散也壅外壅閉內閉底亦滯也謂血氣集滯也百度百事之節左傳曰於是乎節宣其氣勿使有所壅閉湫底以露其體茲心不爽而昏亂百度今無乃壹之則生疾矣】故喜怒哀樂思慮必得其中所以養神也寒暄虛盈消息必得其中所以養體也善治氣者猶禹之治水也若夫導引蓄氣歴藏內視【內經異法方宜論曰中央者其治宜導引按蹻導引謂揺筋骨動支節也】過則失中可以治疾皆非養性之聖術也夫屈者以乎申也蓄者以乎虛也內者以乎外也【屈謂導引蓄謂蓄氣內謂內視以申有屈以虛有蓄以外有內】氣宜宣而遏之體宜調而矯之神宜平而抑之必有失和者矣夫善養性者無常術得其和而已矣【宣其氣調其體平其神則得其和矣】隣臍二寸謂之關【黃庭外景經曰上有黃庭下關元后有幽闗前命門呼吸廬間入丹田解雲闗元在臍下三寸元陽之命在其前懸精如鏡明照一身不休是道】關者所以關藏呼吸之氣以稟授四體也【氣出為呼氣入為吸】故氣長者以關息氣短者其息稍升其脈稍促其神稍越至於以肩息而氣舒【莊子曰真人之息也以踵眾人之息以喉】其神稍專至於以關息而氣衍矣故道者常致氣於關是謂要術凡陽氣生養【陽氣者天氣生氣也生氣通天論曰陽氣者若天與日失其所則捫壽而不彰又曰陽氣者一日而主外平旦人氣生日中而陽氣隆日西而陽氣已虗氣門乃閉】隂氣消殺和喜之徒其氣陽也故養性者崇其陽而絀其隂陽極則亢隂極則凝亢則有悔凝則有兇夫物不能為春故候天春而生人則不然存吾春而已矣【存吾春謂順養其生氣也】藥者療也【療治也】所以治疾也無疾則勿藥可也肉不勝食氣況於藥乎【論語肉雖多不使勝食氣】寒斯熱熱則致滯隂藥之用也唯適其宜則不為害若已氣平也則必有傷唯針火亦如之【針謂九針火謂灸柄也】故養性者不多服也唯在乎節之而已矣

Someone said: There are people who transform themselves and become immortals; is that credible? Answer: I have not heard of it before. That is a strange thing [“strange” refers to the anomalous] and not an immortal. There have been men who changed into women, and there have been dead people who came back to life [in the Xingping era of Emperor Xian, a man of Yuexi turned into a woman; in the fourth year, a woman of Wuling died and came back to life after fourteen days. The Supplementary Han Treatise says that a woman named Li E died at over sixty and was buried in the city, and a passerby heard a sound in the tomb and told her family to dig her out. These two events Xun Yue himself heard in the Xingping era]; are these human nature? The numbers of qi do not reside there. Someone asked: Is there such a thing as nurturing one’s nature? Answer: nurturing one’s nature is only holding to the middle and the harmonious and keeping to it in order to live. To cherish one’s kin, to cherish virtue, to cherish strength, to cherish the spirit is called thrift [Laozi: in governing people and serving Heaven nothing is better than thrift. Because of thrift, one recovers early; this is called deep roots and firm foundation, the way of long life and long vision]. Otherwise, it does not flow freely, and if it goes too far it is not sufficient. So the superior person moderates and releases his qi so that nothing is blocked, shut in, or stagnant, and nothing disorders the hundred measures, or he will fall ill [“release” is to disperse. “Blocked” is external obstruction, “shut in” is internal closure, and “stagnant” is also being held back, meaning blood and qi collect and stagnate. The hundred measures are the regulation of the hundred affairs. The Zuo Commentary says: so he moderated and released his qi, so as not to let it be blocked, shut in, or stagnant and so reveal the body, for the heart is thus not at ease and the hundred measures are disordered. Now if it is concentrated in one place only, one will fall ill]. So joy, anger, sorrow, delight, and anxiety must get the middle, so as to nourish the spirit; cold and warmth, emptiness and fullness, waning and waxing must get the middle, so as to nourish the body. One who is good at regulating qi is like Yu regulating the waters. As for guiding and drawing, storing qi, and the inner inspection of the organs [the Inner Classic, “On the Suitable Methods of Different Regions,” says: the central region is suited to guiding and massage. Guiding refers to shaking the sinews and bones and moving the joints], when overdone they lose the middle; they can treat illness, but none of them is the sage’s art of nurturing nature. Bending is for the sake of extending, storing is for the sake of emptying, and inward is for the sake of outward [bending refers to guiding, storing refers to storing qi, inward refers to inner inspection: because there is bending there is extending, because there is storing there is emptying, because there is inward there is outward]. If qi should be released but is held back, the body should be harmonized but is forced, the spirit should be calm but is suppressed, there will surely be a loss of harmony. One who is good at nurturing nature has no fixed technique and simply attains its harmony [releasing his qi, harmonizing his body, and calming his spirit is attaining harmony]. Two inches beside the navel is called the “gate” [the Outer Scene of the Yellow Court Classic says: above is the Yellow Court, below the Guanyuan; behind is the Dark Gate, in front the Gate of Life; breath enters the Dantian through the hut between. The explanation: Guanyuan is three inches below the navel, the life of primal yang is in front of it, suspending essence like a mirror that illuminates the whole body, and not resting is the Way]. The gate is what shuts and stores the breath of respiration to supply the four limbs [qi going out is exhaling, qi coming in is inhaling]. So one with long breath breathes through the gate; one with short breath breathes slightly higher, with the pulse a little hurried and the spirit a little scattered; one who breathes with the shoulders only then feels his qi relaxed [the Zhuangzi says: the true person breathes with the heels, the multitude breathe with the throat], and the spirit is slightly more focused; one who breathes through the gate has qi that is broad and spacious. So those with the Way constantly send qi down to the gate, and this is called the essential technique. Generally, yang qi governs birth and nurturing [yang qi is the qi of heaven and the qi of life. The “Discourse on Life Qi Communicating with Heaven” says: yang qi is like heaven and the sun, and if it loses its place, life span is not manifest. It also says: yang qi governs the outside in one day; at dawn human qi is born, at midday yang qi is at its height, in the afternoon yang qi is already empty, and the gate of qi is just closing], and yin qi governs waning and killing. People who are harmonious and joyful have yang qi. So those who nurture their nature honor yang and demote yin. Yang at its extreme becomes overbearing, and yin at its extreme congeals. Overbearing brings regret, and congealing brings misfortune. Things cannot make spring themselves, and so wait for Heaven’s spring to be born; people are not so, and by preserving their own spring it is enough [“preserving my spring” means following and tending one’s own life qi]. Medicine is for treatment [“treat” means to cure] and is used to cure illness. Without illness there is no need to take medicine. Even meat should not be allowed to overcome the qi of food, much less medicine [the Analects: “Though there be much meat, he does not let it overcome the qi of the food.”]. When cold, one makes hot; when hot, it leads to stagnation; this is the use of yin medicine. Only when it suits what is fitting does it do no harm; if the qi is already level and one still uses it, there will surely be injury. Needles and fire are likewise [needles refers to the nine needles, fire refers to moxibustion]. So those who nurture their nature do not take much medicine, but simply moderate.

或問仁者壽何謂也【論語知者樂仁者壽】曰仁者內不傷性外不傷物上不違天下不違人處正居中形神以和故咎徵不至【咎徴惡行之騐】而休嘉集之壽之術也曰顔冉何【顔回子淵年三十二蚤死冉耕伯牛有惡疾而卒揚雄曰回牛之行徳矣曷壽之不益也亦同此意】曰命也麥不終夏花不濟春如和氣何【言麥雖不逾夏而秀花雖不越春而榮其如和氣之保合何】雖雲其短長亦在其中矣【言顔冉嵗齡雖短而天和不害無殘賊致夭之行故曰長亦在其中矣則知君子不以壽夭為慮而當務脩徳為要也】

Someone asked: the benevolent have long life; what does that mean [the Analects: “The wise delight, the benevolent live long.”]? Answer: the benevolent do not harm their nature within, do not harm things without, do not go against Heaven above, and do not go against people below; they dwell in the correct and stay in the middle, body and spirit are in harmony because of it, and so signs of fault do not come [signs of fault are the verifications of evil deeds] and blessings and goodness gather; this is the method of long life. Question: what of Yan Hui and Ran Geng [Yan Hui, courtesy name Ziyuan, died young at thirty-two; Ran Geng, courtesy name Boniu, died of a malignant disease. Yang Xiong said: “Hui and Niu were virtuous in conduct, so why was their long life not increased?” This is the same meaning]? Answer: it was fate. Wheat cannot get through summer, and flowers cannot get through spring; what about the harmonious qi [this says that though wheat does not pass beyond summer to flower, and flowers do not pass beyond spring to bloom, what about the preservation and union of harmonious qi]? Though it is called short, long is also contained in it [this says that though Yan and Ran were short in years, the harmony of Heaven within them was not harmed, and there was no cruel conduct that led to early death, so it is said that long is also within it. From this we know that the superior person does not worry about long or short life but makes cultivating virtue his essential task].

或問黃白之儔【抱朴子曰神仙經黃白之方二十五卷千有餘首黃者金也白者銀也古人秘重其道不欲指斥故隱之云爾按秦李少君言丹砂可化為黃金卒無驗病死漢宣時劉更生言黃金可成上令典尚方鑄作事費甚多方不驗毋怪乎世人疑為虛誕也】曰傅毅論之當也【傅毅字武仲肅宗時與班固賈逵共典校書考其傳無論黃白之説意亡矣】燔埴為瓦則可【埴黏土也】爍瓦為銅則不可以自然騐於不然詭哉歒犬羊之肉以造馬牛不幾矣不其然歟【丹砂為金河車作銀非同類矣】

Someone asked about the arts of making gold and silver and the like [the Baopuzi says: the immortal classics have twenty-five fascicles of recipes for yellow and white, with over a thousand pieces. Yellow is gold and white is silver. The ancients kept this Way secret and valued it, and did not wish to name it directly, so they hid it under the name “yellow and white.” Note: in Qin times Li Shaojun said that cinnabar could be turned into yellow gold, but in the end it had no verification and he died of illness; in the time of Emperor Xuan of Han, Liu Gengsheng said that yellow gold could be made, and the emperor ordered him to supervise the casting at the imperial workshop, at great expense, but the method had no verification. No wonder the world suspects it of being empty and absurd]. Answer: Fu Yi’s discussion was apt [Fu Yi, courtesy name Wuzhong, collated books together with Ban Gu and Jia Kui in the time of Emperor Suzong. Examining his biography, there is no statement on yellow and white, so it is probably lost]. Firing clay into tile is possible [“zhi” is clay], but melting tile into copper is not. To use what is natural to test what is not natural is deceit. To want to make horses and oxen from the flesh of dogs and sheep is nearly impossible; is that not so [cinnabar becoming gold and the river cart making silver are not of the same kind]?

世稱緯書仲尼之作也【世之説者謂孔子既敘六經以明天人之道知後世不能稽同其意故別立緯及防以遺來世光武之世篤信斯術學者風靡是以桓譚張衡輩常發其虛偽矣】臣悅叔父故司空爽辨之蓋發其偽也【爽字慈明董卓輔政徴之爽欲遁命吏持之急不得去因復就拜平原相行至宛陵復追為光祿勳視事三日進拜司空爽見董卓忍暴滋甚必危社稷其所辟舉皆取才略之士將共圖之亦與司徒王允及卓長史何顒等為內謀防病薨常著禮易傳詩傳尚書正經春秋條例公羊問辨防等篇按爽父淑有子八人儉緄靖燾汪爽肅專而悅則儉之子故爽於悅為叔父所謂辨防即其發偽之書也】有起於中興之前終張之徒之作乎【起於哀平】或曰雜曰以已雜仲尼乎以仲尼雜已乎若彼者以仲尼雜已而已然則可謂八十一首非仲尼之作矣【緯書有河圖九篇洛書六篇雲自黃帝至周文王所受本文又別有三十篇雲自初起至於孔子九聖之所増演以廣其意又有七經緯三十六篇並雲孔子所作並前合為八十一篇】或曰燔諸曰仲尼之作則否有取焉則可曷其燔【有取如劉彥和所謂羲農軒皡之源山瀆鐘律之要白魚赤鳥之符黃金紫玉之瑞事豐辭富無益經典而有助文章之類是也】在上者不受虗言不聴浮術不採華名不興偽事言必有用術必有典名必有實事必有功【有用謂不虗有典謂不浮有實謂不華有功謂不偽在上者如是則緯鉤防之説無所肆其矯誕矣】

People say the apocryphal texts were made by Confucius [common opinion holds that since Confucius had already set out the Six Classics to make clear the Way of Heaven and humankind, but knew that later ages could not examine and bring together his meaning, he established the apocrypha and (the received text has a rare character here, lost in transcription) separately to leave to later ages. In Emperor Guangwu’s time this art was deeply believed and scholars were swept up by it, so Huan Tan, Zhang Heng, and others often exposed its falseness]. Your servant Xun Yue’s uncle, the late Minister of Works Xun Shuang, argued about them, and in effect it was to expose their falseness [Xun Shuang, courtesy name Ciming. When Dong Zhuo took control of the government and summoned him, Shuang wished to flee for his life, but the officials pressed him hard and he could not get away, so he was again appointed Chancellor of Pingyuan, and on reaching Wanling was again appointed Minister of the Household, and three days after taking office he was promoted to Minister of Works. Shuang saw that Dong Zhuo was increasingly cruel and was sure to endanger the state, and all those he recommended were men of talent and strategy, to plot against him together; he also made secret plans inside with the Minister of the Masses Wang Yun and Zhuo’s chief clerk He Yong and others, and (the received text has a rare character here, lost in transcription) died of illness. He often wrote chapters such as the Commentary on the Rites and the Changes, the Commentary on the Songs, the Correct Classic of the Documents, the Regulations of the Spring and Autumn, Questions on the Gongyang, and the Discussion of (the received text has a rare character here, lost in transcription). Note: Shuang’s father Xun Shu had eight sons: Jian, Gun, Jing, Tao, Wang, Shuang, Su, and Zhuan, and Xun Yue was the son of Xun Jian, so Shuang was Yue’s uncle. What is called the discussion of (the received text has a rare character here, lost in transcription) is the book in which he exposed falseness]. Some arose before the Restoration, and are the works of the Zhongzhang group [arising in the Ai and Ping era]. Someone said they are a mixture. Question: is it mixing oneself into Confucius, or mixing Confucius into oneself? People like them only mix Confucius into themselves. Then one may say that all eighty-one pieces are not Confucius’s work [the apocrypha include the nine pieces of the River Diagram and six of the Luo Writing, said to be the original texts received from the Yellow Emperor down to King Wen of Zhou; there are another thirty pieces, said to have been expanded by the nine sages from the very beginning to Confucius to extend their meaning; and there are thirty-six pieces of the apocrypha of the seven classics, all said to be made by Confucius, together with the above totaling eighty-one]. Someone said: burn them? Answer: to say they are Confucius’s work is wrong; if they have something worth taking, then they can be used, so why burn them [there is something worth taking, such as what Liu Xie called the origins of Fu Xi, Shennong, Xuanyuan, and Shaohao, the essentials of mountains, rivers, bells, and pitch-pipes, the omens of the white fish and red crow, the auspicious signs of yellow gold and purple jade, matters rich and words abundant, of no benefit to the classics yet helpful to literature]? Those above should not accept empty words, listen to floating arts, adopt flowery names, or start false affairs. Words must be useful, arts must have canonical basis, names must have substance, and affairs must have achievement [being useful means not empty, having canonical basis means not floating, having substance means not flowery, and having achievement means not false. If those above are like this, then the claims of the apocrypha and weather-reading texts and the like (the received text has a rare character here, lost in transcription) have nowhere to apply their absurdities].

或問曰君子曷敦乎學【敦勉也】曰生而知之者寡矣學而知之者寡矣悠悠之民洩洩之士明明之治汶汶之亂皆學廢興之由敦之不亦宜乎【詩板曰天之方蹶無然洩洩大明曰明明在下】君子有三鑑世人鏡鑑【烝庶但知鏡鑑而已】前惟順人惟賢鏡惟明【此君子之三鑑】夏商之衰不鑑於禹湯也【桀紂不以前鑑】周秦之弊不鑑於民下也【幽厲政亥不以人鑑】側弁垢顔不鑑於明鏡也【此則不以鏡鑑側傾也弁者冠之大名詩賔之初筵曰側弁之俄】故君子惟鑑之務【務於前鑑人鑑】若夫側景之鏡亡鑑矣【但知鏡鑑是為無鑑】

Someone asked: Why does the superior person strive at learning [“dun” means to strive]? Answer: few are born knowing it, and few know it by learning. The drifting people, the idle scholars, the bright government, the dim disorder, all come from the decline and revival of learning; is striving not fitting [the “Ban” ode of the Songs says: “When Heaven is about to overthrow, do not be so idle.” The “Da Ming” says: “Brightly it is below.”]? The superior person has three mirrors, while ordinary people have only the bronze mirror [the multitude know only the bronze mirror]. In former ages he takes only what is compliant, in people he takes only the worthy, and in the mirror he takes only the clear [these are the superior person’s three mirrors]. The decline of the Xia and Shang did not take warning from Yu and Tang [Jie and Zhou did not use the earlier mirror]; the ruin of the Zhou and Qin did not take warning from the people below [Kings You and Li and the Qin ruler did not use the human mirror]; a crooked cap and a dirty face do not take warning from a clear mirror [this is not using the bronze mirror. “Ce” means tilted. “Bian” is the general name of a cap. The “Bin Zhi Chu Yan” ode of the Songs says “the tilted cap leans over”]. So the superior person devotes himself only to taking warning [devoting himself to the earlier mirror and the human mirror]. As for the mirror of a mere side profile, there is no mirroring at all [to know only the bronze mirror is to have no mirror].

或問致治之要君乎曰兩立哉【天無獨運君無獨理】非天地不生物非君臣不成治首之者天地也統之者君臣也哉先王之道致訓焉故亡斯湏之間而違道矣昔有上致聖由教戒因輔弼欽順四隣故檢柙之臣不虗於側【檢柙猶法度也言法度之臣常充左右也】禮度之典不曠於目先哲之言不輟於身非義之道不宣於心是邪僻之氣末由入也【缺一字】有間【缺一字】必有入之者矣是故僻志萌則僻事作【生於其心害於其政】僻事作則正塞正塞則公正亦末由入也矣不任不愛謂之公惟公是從謂之明齊桓公中材也末能成功業由有異焉者矣妾媵盈宮非無愛幸也群臣盈朝非無親近也然外則管仲射已【雍林人殺無知髙國先隂召小白於莒魯聞無知死亦發兵送公子糾而使管仲別將兵遮莒道射中小白帶鉤小白佯死先入齊髙傒立之是為桓公】衞姬色妾【桓公好內多內寵如夫人者六人長衞姬少衞姬鄭姬葛嬴潘密姬宋華子也】非愛也任之也【言桓公非親暱管仲欲其擔寄國事也】然後知非賢不可任非智不可從也夫此之舉矣哉膏肓純白【心下為膏肓鬲也】二豎不生茲謂心寧省闥清淨嬖孽不生茲謂政平夫膏肓近心而處阨針之不逺【逺當作達】藥之不中攻之不可二豎藏焉是謂篤患【晉侯疾病求醫於秦秦伯使醫緩為之未至公夢疾為二豎子曰彼良醫也懼傷我焉逃之其一曰居肓之上膏之下若我何醫至曰疾不可為也在肓之上膏之下攻之不可達之不及藥不至焉不可為也】故治身治國者唯是之畏【身畏二豎國畏嬖孽】

Someone asked: Does the key to bringing about good government lie in the ruler? The answer: Both sides must be established. [Heaven does not move alone, and the ruler does not govern alone.] Without heaven and earth nothing is born, and without ruler and ministers there is no good government. At the beginning are heaven and earth, and at the head are ruler and ministers. The Way of the former kings taught and instructed here, so they did not depart from the Way even for a moment. In the past, those above who reached sagehood did so through admonition and by relying on assistants, and by respectfully accommodating their four neighbors, so ministers of the law were not empty at their sides. ["Check and restrain" is like the law. It means that ministers of the law always filled the ruler's surroundings.] The canons of ritual and measure were not empty before their eyes, the words of the former sages did not cease in their persons, and the way of non-righteousness was not proclaimed in their hearts, so no crooked breath had any way to enter. [One character missing] Where there is a gap [one character missing] there is surely something that gets in. So when a crooked intention sprouts, crooked affairs arise [born in the heart, harming the government], and when crooked affairs arise, what is right is blocked, and when what is right is blocked, impartiality too has no way to enter. Not appointing and not favoring is called impartiality, and following only impartiality is called clear-sightedness. Duke Huan of Qi was a man of middling talent, yet in the end he could complete great achievements, because he had something exceptional. His harem was full of concubines, but it was not that he lacked favorites; his court was full of ministers, but it was not that he lacked intimates. Yet outside, Guan Zhong had shot him [the men of Yonglin killed Wuzhi; the Gao and Guo families first secretly summoned Xiaobai from Ju; Lu, hearing that Wuzhi was dead, also sent troops to escort Prince Jiu, and had Guan Zhong lead separate troops to block the road from Ju, and he shot Xiaobai in the belt hook. Xiaobai feigned death and entered Qi first, and Gao Xi established him; this is Duke Huan], and Ji of Wei was a concubine of beauty [Duke Huan was fond of the inner chambers and had many favorites, six like wives: Elder Ji of Wei, Younger Ji of Wei, Ji of Zheng, Ge Ying, Ji of Mi, and Song Huazi]. It was not love, but appointment [meaning that Duke Huan was not intimate with Guan Zhong, but wanted him to bear the affairs of state]. Only afterward did he know that one must not be appointed unless worthy and must not be heeded unless wise. This was a grand course of action! When the vital membranes are pure and white [the area below the heart is the gao, and the huang is the diaphragm], and the two boys are not born there, this is called a calm heart; when the palace gates are clear and still, and favorites and calamity are not born, this is called an even government. The gao and huang are near the heart and in a perilous narrow place, where a needle cannot reach (the text has a wrong character where "reach" is meant), medicine does not hit, and attack does not work; the two boys hide there, and this is called a deep affliction. [The Marquis of Jin was gravely ill and sought a physician from Qin, and the Earl of Qin sent Physician Huan. Before he arrived, the marquis dreamed the illness turned into two boys, who said: "He is a good physician and we fear he will harm us; where shall we flee?" One said: "Let us live above the huang and below the gao, and what can he do to us?" When the physician arrived he said: "The illness cannot be treated; it is above the huang and below the gao; attack does not work, reach does not get there, medicine does not arrive; it cannot be treated."] So those who govern their bodies and states fear only this. [For the body they fear the two boys, for the state they fear favorites and calamity.]

或曰愛民如子仁之至乎曰未也曰愛民如身仁之至乎曰未也湯禱桑林【湯時大旱七年太史占之曰當以人禱湯曰吾所為請雨者民也若以人禱吾請自當遂齋戒剪髪斷爪素車白馬身嬰白茅以身為犧禱於桑林之野】邾遷於繹【邾文公卜遷於繹史曰利於民而不利於君邾子曰苟利於民孤之利也天生民而樹之君以利之也民既利矣孤必與焉左右曰命可長也君何弗為邾子曰命在養民死之短長時也民苟利矣遷也吉莫如之遂遷於繹五月邾文公卒】景祠於旱【齊大旱景公卜之祟在髙山廣水欲祠靈山河伯以禱晏子曰祠之無益君誠避宮殿暴露與靈山河伯共憂其幸而雨乎於是景公出野暴露三日天果大雨民盡得種樹】可謂愛民矣【如子與子等耳如身與身等耳如三君者輕身重民然後為至】曰何重民而輕身也曰人主承天命以養民者也民存則社稷存民亡則社稷亡故重民者所以重社稷而承天命也【社者五土之神稷者於五土之中特指原隰之只古者立國天子諸侯大夫皆立社而國防則屋之不受天陽也故公羊傳云亡國之社掩其上柴其下孟子曰民為貴社稷次之君為輕言三君者之重民為欽奉天命以保社稷也】或問曰孟軻稱人皆可以為堯舜其信矣曰人非下愚【下愚則不移】則皆可以為堯舜矣寫堯舜之貌同堯舜之姓則否服堯之制行堯之道則可矣行之於前則古之堯舜也行之於後則今之堯舜也或曰人皆可以為桀紂乎曰行桀紂之事是桀紂也【本孟子語曹交意】堯舜桀紂之事常並存於世唯人所用而已楊朱哭岐路所通逼者然也【淮南子説林訓曰楊子見逵路而哭之為其可以南可以北髙誘曰閔其別與化也】夫岐路惡足悲哉中反焉若夫縣度之厄素舉足而已矣【西域傳烏秘國西有縣度縣度者石山也谿谷不通以繩索相引而度去喻為桀紂】損益之符微而顯也趙獲二城臨饋而憂陶朱既富室妾悲號【范蠡既雪會稽之恥乃乗扁舟浮於江湖變名易姓適齊為鴟夷子皮之陶為朱公乃治產積居與時逐三致千金而再散分與貧友昆弟後年衰老聴子孫脩業而息之遂至鉅萬故言富者稱陶朱】此知益為損之為益者也屈伸之數隱而昭也有仍之困復夏之萌也【帝相之後有仍國君女也寒浞殺羿滅夏氏時少康方在相後懷姙乃奔歸有仍之國而生少康長為仍牧正夏有舊臣靡自有鬲氏收二國之燼舉兵滅浞而立少康】鼎雉之異興殷之符也【武丁祭成湯有飛雉升鼎耳而雊祖已訓諸王武丁內反諸已以思王道三年蠻夷編髪重譯來朝者六國方無道武丁伐而三年克之殷道復興】邵宮之難隆周之應也【邵宮召公之室也厲王出犇於彘太子靜匿召公之家國人聞而圍之召公乃以其子代太子太子竟得脫長於召公家二相乃共立之是為宣王】會稽之棲霸越之基也【夫差二年吳王悉精兵以伐越敗之夫椒越王勾踐乃以餘兵五千人保棲於會稽使大夫種因吳太宰嚭而行成請委國為臣妾至十四年勾踐伐吳虜太子友二十一年越王滅吳夫差自剄死】子之之亂強燕之徵也【燕王噲讓國於其相子之而國大亂齊因伐之遂大勝燕噲死子之亡二年而燕人共立太子平是為燕昭王】此知伸為屈之為伸者也

Someone said: Is loving the people like one's own child the utmost of benevolence? The answer: Not yet. Question: Is loving the people like oneself the utmost of benevolence? The answer: Not yet. Tang prayed in the Mulberry Grove [In Tang's time there was a great drought for seven years, and the grand historian said by divination that a person should be used in prayer. Tang said: "What I ask for rain is for the people; if a person is to be used in prayer, let it be me." So he fasted, cut his hair and nails, rode a plain cart with white horses, clad himself in white thatch, and made himself the sacrifice, praying in the wilds of the Mulberry Grove.] Zhu moved to Yi [Duke Wen of Zhu divined about moving to Yi, and the scribe said it was beneficial to the people but not to the ruler. The lord of Zhu said: "If it benefits the people, it is my benefit. Heaven gave birth to the people and set up a ruler in order to benefit the people; once the people are benefited, I will surely be within it." Those around him said his life could be prolonged, and why would he not do it? The lord of Zhu said: "Fate lies in nurturing the people; the length or shortness of death is a matter of time; if the people benefit, moving is auspicious, and nothing is better than that." So he moved to Yi. In the fifth month Duke Wen of Zhu died.] Duke Jing of Qi performed a sacrifice for drought [Qi had a great drought, and Duke Jing divined and was told the curse lay with the high mountains and wide waters, and wished to sacrifice to the spirit mountains and the River Earl to pray. Master Yan said: "Sacrificing is of no use. If Your Lordship sincerely left the palace and stood exposed in the wilds, sharing the worry with the spirit mountains and the River Earl, perhaps it will rain." So Duke Jing went out into the wilds and was exposed for three days, and heaven indeed sent a great rain, and the people were able to plant]; these can be called loving the people. ["Like a child" only equals a child, and "like oneself" only equals oneself. Like these three rulers, who treated their own persons lightly and the people as weighty, only then is it the utmost.] Question: Why treat the people as weighty and oneself as light? The answer: The ruler receives the mandate of heaven to nurture the people. If the people survive, the altars of the state survive; if the people perish, the altars perish. So valuing the people is a way of valuing the altars of the state and receiving the mandate of heaven. [The she is the spirit of the five soils, and the ji is the spirit specifically of the plains and wetlands among the five soils. In ancient times when a state was established, the Son of Heaven, the feudal lords and the grand masters all set up a she; (the base text has a rare character here, lost in transcription) and so the roof is covered to keep it from the heavenly yang. So the Gongyang Commentary says that the she of a ruined state is covered above and fenced with brushwood below. Mencius said the people are most important, the altars of the state second, and the ruler lightest. This says that these three rulers' valuing of the people was a reverent obedience to the mandate of heaven in order to protect the altars.] Someone asked: Mencius said that everyone can become a Yao or Shun; is this credible? The answer: Unless a person is among the lowest of fools [the lowest of fools cannot be changed], everyone can become a Yao or Shun. To paint Yao's or Shun's face and use their surnames will not do; to wear Yao's regulations and practice Yao's Way will do. One who walks ahead is the Yao or Shun of ancient times, and one who walks behind is the Yao or Shun of the present. Someone said: Can everyone become a Jie or Zhou? The answer: One who does what Jie and Zhou did is a Jie or Zhou. [Based on the idea of Mencius's answer to Cao Jiao.] The deeds of Yao and Shun and of Jie and Zhou have always existed together in the world, and it depends only on which one a person uses. Yang Zhu wept at the fork in the road, because what it opened onto and pressed on him was like this. [The Huainanzi, Shuolin chapter, says that Master Yang saw a thoroughfare and wept because it could lead south or north. Gao You says: he pitied its branching and change.] How is a fork in the road worth grieving over? One can turn back midway. As for the hanging crossing's dangerous passes, it is only a matter of lifting one's foot. [In the Account of the Western Regions: west of the state of Wucha there is the Hanging Crossing. The Hanging Crossing is a stone mountain whose gorges cannot be passed, and people cross by pulling each other along with ropes. This is a metaphor for acting as Jie and Zhou did.] The responses of loss and gain are subtle yet clear. Zhao got two cities and was worried when faced with the gift; Tao Zhu was already rich, and the maids and concubines in his household wailed. [After Fan Li had washed away the shame of Kuaiji, he boarded a small boat and floated on the rivers and lakes, changed his name and surname, went to Qi as Chiyi Zipi, and to Tao as Lord Zhu; he managed property and stored goods, moved with the times, three times amassed a thousand in gold and then gave it away again to poor friends and brothers. Later in old age he let his sons and grandsons carry on his enterprise and increase it, and so it came to ten thousand times ten thousand, so those who are rich are said to be a Tao Zhu.] These are people who know that gain is loss and loss is gain. The reckoning of bending and stretching is hidden yet bright. The distress at Reng was the seed of the restoration of Xia. [The queen of Emperor Xiang was the daughter of the lord of Reng. When Han Zhuo killed Yi and destroyed the house of Xia, Shaokang was still in his mother's womb; she fled back to Reng and gave birth to Shaokang, who grew up to be the herdsman-chief of Reng. Xia had an old minister, Mi, who gathered the remnants of the two states from the You Ge clan, raised troops, destroyed Zhuo and set Shaokang on the throne.] The strange pheasant on the tripod was the sign of the rise of Yin. [When Wuding sacrificed to Cheng Tang, a flying pheasant rose onto the ear of the tripod and crowed. Zu Ji admonished the king, and Wuding looked inward and sought the Way of kings in himself, and in three years six states of the barbarians came to court with braided hair and relays of interpreters; the Guifang were lawless, and Wuding attacked them and conquered them in three years, and the Way of Yin was restored.] The disaster at the Duke of Shao's palace was the response to Zhou's flourishing. [The Shao palace was the Duke of Shao's residence. When King Li fled to Zhi, the crown prince Jing hid in the Duke of Shao's house, and the people of the state heard of it and surrounded it. The Duke of Shao substituted his own son for the crown prince, and the crown prince escaped and grew up in the Duke of Shao's house. The two chief ministers jointly established him, and this was King Xuan.] The refuge at Kuaiji was the foundation of Yue's hegemony. [In the second year of Fuchai, the King of Wu sent out all his elite troops to attack Yue and defeated it at Fujiao. King Goujian of Yue held Kuaiji with his remaining five thousand soldiers, and sent the grand master Zhong through Wu's grand steward Pi to ask for peace, asking to entrust the state to be vassals. In the fourteenth year Goujian attacked Wu and captured Crown Prince You, and in the twenty-first year the King of Yue destroyed Wu, and Fuchai cut his throat and died.] The disorder of Zizhi was the sign of Yan's becoming strong. [King Kuai of Yan yielded the state to his minister Zizhi and the state fell into great disorder; Qi took the opportunity to attack it and won a great victory over Yan, Kuai died and Zizhi perished. In the second year the people of Yan jointly established Crown Prince Ping, who was King Zhao of Yan.] These are people who know that stretching is bending and bending is stretching.

人主之患常立於二難之間在上而國家不治難也治國家則必勤身苦思矯情以從道難也有難之難闇主取之無難之難明主居之大臣之患常立於二罪之間在職而不盡忠直之道罪也盡忠直之道焉則必矯上拂下罪也有罪之罪【謂不盡忠直之道】邪臣由之無罪之罪【謂盡道而矯上拂下】忠臣置之人臣之義不曰吾君能矣不我湏也言無補也而不盡忠不曰吾君不能矣不我識也言無益也而不盡忠【孟子曰吾君不能謂之賊】必竭其誠明其道盡其義斯已而已矣【以道事君】不已則奉身以退【不可則止】臣道也故君臣有異無乖有怨無憾有屈無辱人臣有三罪一曰導非二曰阿失三曰屍寵以非引上謂之導從上之非謂之阿見非不言謂之屍導臣誅阿臣刑尸臣絀【絀與黜同貶下也】進忠有三術一曰防【防與導反】二曰救【救與阿反】三曰戒【戒與屍反】先其未然謂之防發而止之謂之救行而責之謂之戒防為上救次之戒為下下不鉗口上不塞耳則可有聞矣有鉗之鉗猶可解也無鉗之鉗難矣哉有塞之塞猶可除也無塞之塞其甚矣夫【無鉗之鉗無塞之塞獻帝之時如此】

The trouble of a ruler often stands between two difficulties: to be above and not govern the state well is difficult, but to govern the state surely requires toiling in body and thinking hard, and bending one's feelings to follow the Way is also difficult. The difficulty of having a difficulty is what the dim ruler takes; the difficulty of having no difficulty is where the clear-sighted ruler dwells. The trouble of a great minister often stands between two faults: to hold office and not fulfill the Way of loyalty and uprightness is a fault, but to fulfill the Way of loyalty and uprightness surely means correcting the ruler and opposing those below, which is also a fault. The fault of having a fault [meaning not fulfilling the Way of loyalty and uprightness] is where the crooked ministers go; the fault of having no fault [meaning fulfilling the Way but correcting the ruler and opposing those below] is where the loyal minister places himself. The duty of a minister is not to say, "My lord is already able and does not need me, and my words will add nothing," and thereby not be loyal; nor to say, "My lord is not able and does not know me, and my words will do no good," and thereby not be loyal. [Mencius said: "One who says 'my lord is not able' is a thief."] He must exhaust his sincerity, make the principle clear, and fulfill his duty, and that is enough. [Serving the ruler by the Way.] If it cannot be done, he withdraws with his own person. [If it cannot be done, he stops.] This is the minister's Way. So ruler and minister may differ without being estranged, may have grievances without resentment, and may be wronged without disgrace. A minister has three faults: first, leading into wrong; second, flattering error; third, occupying a post on favor alone. To lure the ruler into error is called leading; to follow the ruler's error is called flattering; to see error and not speak is called occupying a post. A leading minister deserves execution, a flattering minister deserves punishment, and a minister who only occupies a post deserves demotion. [Chu is the same as chu, to demote.] There are three arts for presenting loyalty: first, prevention [prevention is the opposite of leading]; second, rescue [rescue is the opposite of flattering]; third, warning [warning is the opposite of occupying a post]. To act before it happens is called prevention; to stop it once it begins is called rescue; to reproach after it has been done is called warning. Prevention is best, rescue next, and warning lowest. If those below do not clamp their mouths and those above do not stop their ears, then things can be heard. A clamp that is a clamp can still be undone, but a clamp that is no clamp is hard! A stopping that is a stopping can still be removed, but a stopping that is no stopping is all the worse! [The clamp that is no clamp and the stopping that is no stopping were just like this in the time of Emperor Xian.]

或曰在上有屈乎曰在上者以義申以義屈【義當申則申義當屈則屈】髙祖雖能申威於秦項而屈於商山四公【四公東園公綺裡季夏黃公角里先生也髙祖欲易太子太臣多爭未能得堅決呂后以留侯計雲四公皆上所不能致者遂使人奉太子書迎至及宴置酒太子侍四人者從太子上怪問四人前對各言其姓名上乃驚曰吾求公避逃我今公何自從吾兒逰乎四人曰陛下輕士善罵臣等義不辱故恐而亡匿今聞太子仁孝恭敬愛士天下莫不延頸願為太子死者故臣等來上曰煩公幸卒調防太子四人趨去上目送之召戚夫人指視曰我欲易之彼四人為之輔羽翼已成難動矣竟不易太子所謂屈於商山四公】光武能申於莾而屈於強項令【陳留董宣為雒陽令湖陽公主蒼頭白日殺人宣於夏門亭格殺之主訴帝帝召宣欲棰殺之宣曰陛下聖徳中興而縱奴殺人將何以治天下乎臣不須棰請得自殺即以頭擊楹流血被面帝令小黃門持之使宣叩頭謝主宣不從彊使頓之宣兩手據地終不肯俯因敕強項令出賜錢三十萬所謂屈於強項令】明帝能申令於天下而屈於鍾離尚書【尚書鍾離意也顯宗即位徴為尚書時交阯太守張恢坐贓徵還伏法以資物簿入大司農詔班賜群臣意得珠璣悉以委地而不拜賜帝怪而問其故對曰臣聞孔子忍渴於盜泉之水曽參回車於勝母之閭惡其名也此臧穢之寶誠不敢拜帝嗟嘆曰清乎尚書之言乃更以庫錢三十萬賜意轉為尚書僕射車駕數幸廣成苑意以為從禽廢政常當車陳諫般樂逰田之事天子即時還宮所謂屈於鍾離尚書】若秦二世之申欲而非笑唐虞【二世曰吾聞之韓子曰堯舜採椽不刮茅茨不翦飯土塯啜土形雖監門之養不觳於此禹鑿龍門通大夏決河亭水放之海身自持築臿脛毋毛臣虜之勞不烈於此矣凡所為貴有天下者得肆意極欲主重明法下不敢為非以制御海內矣夫虞夏之主貴為天子親處窮苦之實以徇百姓尚何於法此所謂非笑唐虞也】若定陶傅太后之申意而怨於鄭【傅太后元帝倢伃也生定陶恭王元帝崩隨王歸國稱定陶太后成帝無繼嗣太后賂趙昭儀隂為恭王子求漢嗣又以從弟晏子為王妃明年徴定陶王為太子是為哀帝帝即位累尊太后為皇太太后太后父同產弟子孟子喜中叔子晏防君子商同母弟鄭煇子業俱封侯太后既尊後尤驕與成帝母王太后語至謂之嫗防馮太后以祝詛罪令自殺哀帝崩王莽秉政奏貶傅太后號為定陶恭王母復奏發傅太后冡以木棺代去珠玉衣歸定陶葬恭王冡次孔鄉侯晏將家屬徙合浦宗族皆歸故郡趙皇后亦廢為庶人】是謂不屈不然則趙氏不亡而秦無愆尤故人主以義申以義屈也喜如春陽怒如秋霜威如雷霆之震恵若雨露之降【威怒言申喜惠言屈】沛然孰能御也

Someone asked: Does one in the highest position ever yield? The answer: One in the highest position stretches by righteousness and yields by righteousness. [When righteousness calls for stretching, he stretches; when it calls for yielding, he yields.] Though Gaozu could extend his might against Qin and Xiang, he yielded to the Four Gentlemen of Mount Shang. [The four gentlemen were Dongyuan Gong, Qili Ji, Xia Huang Gong and Luli Xiansheng. Gaozu wished to replace the crown prince, and many ministers argued but could not be firm. Empress Lü used the plan of the Marquis of Liu, saying the four gentlemen were people the emperor could not summon, and sent someone with the crown prince's letter to welcome them. When the banquet was set, the prince stood in attendance, and the four followed the prince. The emperor was surprised and asked them, and the four came forward and each gave his name. The emperor said in alarm: "I sought you and you fled from me; why do you now follow my son and travel with him?" The four said: "Your Majesty looks down on scholars and is fond of abuse, and out of righteousness we would not accept insult, so we hid; now we hear that the crown prince is benevolent, filial, respectful and fond of scholars, and none in the world does not crane his neck and wish to die for the crown prince, so we have come." The emperor said: "I trouble you to take good care of the crown prince." The four hurried away, and the emperor watched them go, summoned Lady Qi and pointed, saying: "I wanted to replace him, but these four assist him; his wings are complete and he is hard to move." In the end he did not replace the crown prince. This is what is meant by yielding to the Four Gentlemen of Mount Shang.] Guangwu could extend his might against Wang Mang, but yielded to the Stiff-Necked Magistrate. [Dong Xuan of Chenliu was magistrate of Luoyang. A servant of the Princess of Huyang killed a man in broad daylight, and Xuan struck him dead at the Xiamen Pavilion. The princess told the emperor, and the emperor summoned Xuan and wanted to have him beaten to death. Xuan said: "Your Majesty's sage virtue has restored the dynasty, yet you allow servants to kill; how will you govern the realm? There is no need to beat your servant; please let me kill myself." He struck his head against a pillar, and blood covered his face. The emperor ordered a young eunuch to hold him down and make him kowtow to the princess in apology, but Xuan would not comply; they forced him to bow, and he braced both hands on the ground and in the end would not bend. So the emperor ordered the Stiff-Necked Magistrate to go out, and gave him three hundred thousand cash. This is what is meant by yielding to the Stiff-Necked Magistrate.] Emperor Ming could issue orders to the world, yet yielded to the Secretary Zhongli. [The Secretary Zhongli Yi. When Emperor Xianzong came to the throne he summoned him to be a secretary. At the time the governor of Jiaozhi, Zhang Hui, had been summoned back and executed for corruption, and his goods were registered into the Ministry of Agriculture, and the emperor decreed they be distributed to the ministers. Yi, on receiving pearls and jewels, threw them to the ground and did not thank for the gift. The emperor was surprised and asked the reason, and he said: "I have heard that Confucius endured thirst at Robber Spring, and Zengzi turned his carriage back at the village gate of Victory over Mother, both hating the name. These treasures of filth I dare not accept." The emperor sighed and said: "How pure are the secretary's words." So he gave him three hundred thousand from the treasury instead, and transferred him to be Vice Director of the Secretariat. When the emperor's carriage several times visited the Guangcheng Park, Yi thought hunting neglected government, and often blocked the carriage to admonish against pleasure and hunting, and the Son of Heaven at once returned to the palace. This is what is meant by yielding to the Secretary Zhongli.] Like the Second Emperor of Qin, who gave rein to his desires and mocked and laughed at Tang and Yu. [The Second Emperor said: "I have heard Han Zi say that Yao and Shun used unplaned oak beams and uncut thatch, ate from earthen bowls and drank from earthen cups, and even a gatekeeper's provisions were no poorer; Yu cut through Longmen and opened the Daxia, drained the river into the sea, and himself took the pounder and spade, and his shins had no hair, and the toil of a captive slave was no more severe. The reason for valuing possession of the world is to be able to indulge all one's wishes and exhaust desire, with the ruler placing weight on clear laws so that those below dare not do wrong, in order to control all within the seas. The rulers of Yu and Xia were exalted as Sons of Heaven yet personally lived in hardship to follow the people; how then could laws be established?" This is what is meant by mocking and laughing at Tang and Yu.] Like Grand Empress Dowager Fu of Dingtao, who extended her own will and resented the Zheng family. [Empress Dowager Fu was a concubine of Emperor Yuan and bore King Gong of Dingtao. When Emperor Yuan died she followed the king back to his state and was called Empress Dowager of Dingtao. Emperor Cheng had no heir, and the dowager bribed Zhao Zhaoyi to secretly seek the Han succession for King Gong's son, and made the daughter of her cousin Yan his consort. The next year the King of Dingtao was summoned to be crown prince, and this was Emperor Ai. When the emperor took the throne he successively honored the dowager as Grand Empress Dowager. The dowager's brother's son Meng Zixi, Zhong Shu's son Yan, (the base text has a rare character here, lost in transcription) Jun's son Shang, and her younger brother by the same mother Zheng Yun's son Ye were all made marquises. After the dowager was honored she became especially arrogant, and in speaking with Emperor Cheng's mother, Empress Dowager Wang, she even called her old woman. Empress Dowager Feng was ordered to kill herself on a charge of cursing. When Emperor Ai died and Wang Mang took charge of government, he memorialized to demote the Fu dowager's title to Mother of King Gong of Dingtao, and also memorialized to dig up the Fu dowager's tomb, replace it with a wooden coffin, remove the pearl and jade garments, and rebury her beside the tomb of King Gong of Dingtao. The Marquis of Kongxiang, Yan, took his family and was moved to Hepu, the whole clan returned to their old commandery, and Empress Zhao was also deposed to a commoner.] This is what is called not yielding. Otherwise the house of Zhao would not have perished and Qin would have had no fault. So the ruler stretches by righteousness and yields by righteousness. Joy like spring sun, anger like autumn frost, awe like thunder, kindness like falling rain and dew [awe and anger speak of stretching, joy and kindness speak of yielding]; who can resist it when it pours forth.

或問曰難行曰若髙祖聴戍卒不懷居遷萬乘不俟終日【齊人婁敬戍隴西過洛陽脫挽輅衣羊裘因虞將軍見髙祖勸都秦地張良又是其説髙祖即日車駕西都長安】孝文帝不愛千里馬【孝文時有獻千里馬者帝曰鸞旗在前屬車在後吉行日五十里師行日三十里朕乘千里馬獨先安之下詔不受】慎夫人衣不曵地【班固贊文帝身衣弋綈所幸慎夫人衣不曵地】光武手不持珠玉【循吏傳敘曰光武身衣大練色無重防耳不聴鄭衛之音手不持珠玉之玩】可謂難矣【言三君者以規獻帝也】抑情絶欲不如是能成功業者鮮矣人臣若金日磾以子私謾而殺之【日防子二人皆愛為帝弄兒其後壯大不謹自殿下與宮人戲日防適見之惡其亂遂殺弄兒即日防長子也】丙吉之不伐【武帝末吉以故廷尉監徴詔治巫蠱郡邸獄時宣帝生數月以皇曾孫坐衛太子事系吉哀曾孫無辜擇謹厚女徒令保養曾孫置閒燥處望氣者言長安獄中有天子氣上遣使令一切殺之吉閉門拒使者得全曽孫曾孫病吉數敕乳母加致醫藥視遇甚有恩惠以私財物給其衣食自曽孫遭遇吉絶口不道前恩至宮婢則自陳甞有阿保之功辭引使者丙吉知狀上親見問然後知吉有舊恩而終不言上大賢之制詔丞相封吉為博陽侯】蘇武之執節【武留匈奴凡十九嵗始以彊壯出及還須髪盡白拜為典屬國】可謂難矣【言三臣者以諷操也】

Someone asked about hard things to do. The answer: Like Gaozu following the garrison soldier, not clinging to his residence, and moving the seat of ten thousand chariots without waiting for a day to end. [Lou Jing of Qi was garrisoning Longxi and, passing Luoyang, took off his hauling harness and, wearing a sheepskin coat, saw Gaozu through General Yu and urged him to make his capital in the Qin lands. Zhang Liang also approved his words, and Gaozu that very day drove west to make his capital at Chang'an.] Emperor Xiaowen did not love the thousand-li horse [in Xiaowen's time someone offered a thousand-li horse, and the emperor said: "With the phoenix banners ahead and the attendant carriages behind, an auspicious journey is fifty li a day and a military march thirty li; if I rode a thousand-li horse and went ahead alone, where would I go?" He issued an edict not to accept it]; Lady Shen's clothes did not trail on the ground [Ban Gu's praise of Emperor Wen says he wore thick black silk and the Lady Shen he favored wore clothes that did not touch the ground]; Guangwu did not hold pearls and jade in his hand [the Preface to the Biographies of Upright Officials says: Guangwu wore coarse silk, whose color had no extra (the base text has a rare character here, lost in transcription), his ears did not listen to the music of Zheng and Wei, and his hands did not hold pearls and jade as playthings]; these may be called hard. [This says that the three rulers are used to admonish Emperor Xian.] It is rare for one to restrain his feelings and desires to this degree and only then complete great achievements. As for ministers, like Jin Midi who killed his son because he was secretly licentious [both sons of Midi (the base text writes "fang" for Midi's name, which should be Midi) were favored and served as the emperor's playthings. Later when they grew up they were not careful and toyed with palace women below the hall. Midi happened to see it and hated their lewdness, so he killed the plaything, who was Midi's eldest son]; Bing Ji did not boast of his merit [in the last years of Emperor Wu, Ji was summoned as former Commandant's Assistant and ordered to try the witchcraft cases in the commandery prison. At the time Emperor Xuan, a few months old, was held there as the emperor's great-grandson because of the affair of Crown Prince Wei. Ji pitied the great-grandson's innocence, chose a careful and kind female prisoner to nurse him, and placed him in a quiet dry place. A star-gazer said there was an emperor's aura in the prisons of Chang'an, and the emperor sent envoys to have all killed. Ji shut the gate and refused the envoy, and the great-grandson was preserved. When he fell ill, Ji several times ordered the wet nurse to add medicine, treated him with kindness, and supplied food and clothing from his private funds. When the great-grandson came to the throne, Ji never mentioned his earlier favor. Only when a palace maid herself stated that she had had the merit of nursing him, and her testimony drew in the envoy Bing Ji as knowing, did the emperor personally ask him and learn that Ji had an old favor yet never spoke of it; the emperor greatly thought him worthy and issued an edict enfeoffing Ji as Marquis of Boyang]; Su Wu kept his integrity [Wu stayed among the Xiongnu for nineteen years in all; he left in his vigorous prime as an envoy and returned with his hair and beard all white, and was appointed Director of Dependent States]; these may be called hard. [This says that the three ministers are used to remonstrate with Cao Cao.]

或問厲志曰若殷髙宗能葺其徳藥瞑以瘳疾【瞑者令人憤悶之意方言云凡飲藥而毒東齊海岱間或謂之瞑或謂之説命啟乃心沃朕心若藥弗瞑厥疾弗瘳若跣弗視地厥足用傷】衞武箴戒於朝【武公和釐侯子年九十有五猶箴儆於國曰自卿以下至於師長士苟在朝者無謂我老耄而舍必恪恭於朝以交戒我又作賔之初筵抑戒之詩以自警】勾踐懸膽於坐【勾踐反國乃苦身焦思置膽於坐坐臥即仰膽飲食亦嘗膽也曰女忘會稽之恥耶】厲矣哉【言此欲獻帝勵志以再振漢業也】

Someone asked about stirring the will. The answer: Like Gaozong of Yin, who could mend his virtue and treated the dizziness of medicine as healing. ["Dizziness" means being made distressed. The Fangyan: whenever one takes medicine that is poisonous, in the Dong Qi region between the sea and Mount Tai it is called dizziness or giddiness. The Charge to Yue says: "Open your heart and irrigate mine. If the medicine does not make one dizzy, the illness will not be cured; if one goes barefoot and does not look at the ground, his feet will be hurt."] Duke Wu of Wei gave admonitions at court. [Duke Wu was the son of Marquis Xi, and at ninety-five was still giving warnings in the state, saying: "From ministers down to the heads of the divisions and scholars, all who are at court, do not say I am old and give up on me, but be sure to respectfully admonish me in turn at court." He also composed the poems "The Guests at the First Mat" and "Yi" to warn himself.] Goujian hung a gall bladder at his seat. [After Goujian returned to his state he toiled in body and was anxious in mind, put a gall bladder at his seat, and when sitting or lying he looked up at the gall, and when eating and drinking he also tasted the gall, saying: "Have you forgotten the shame of Kuaiji?"] This is stirring the will! [This says that these examples are meant to make Emperor Xian stir his will and restore the Han enterprise.]

寵妻愛妾幸矣其為災也深矣災與幸同乎曰得則慶否則災戚氏不幸不人豕【戚氏戚夫人也髙帝愛幸戚夫人常從之關東呂后年長常留守希見益疏屢欲立戚夫人子如意為太子不果髙帝崩呂后乃令永巷囚戚夫人髠鉗衣赭衣令舂未幾鴆殺趙王遂斷戚夫人手足去眼燻耳飲瘖藥使居鞠域中名曰人彘】趙昭儀不幸不失命【元帝始加昭儀之號位視丞相爵比諸侯王顔師古曰昭顯其儀示隆重也趙昭儀者孝成皇后趙飛燕女弟也後寵衰而絶幸昭儀居昭陽館顓寵十餘年成帝崩民間歸罪昭儀皇太后詔治問皇帝起居發病狀昭儀自殺】栗姬不幸不廢【景帝立齊栗姬男為太子長公主嫖有女欲與太子為妃栗姬妬而景帝諸美人皆因長公主見得貴幸栗姬日怨怒謝長主不許防薄皇后廢長公主日譖栗姬景帝心銜之而未發也王夫人又隂使人趣大臣立栗姬為皇后大行奏事文曰子以母貴母以子貴今太子母號宜為皇后帝怒遂案誅大行而廢太子為臨江王栗姬愈恚不得見以憂死】鉤弋不幸不憂殤【鉤弋夫人姓趙氏昭帝母也進為倢伃居鉤弋宮大有寵元始三年生昭帝號鉤弋子姙身十四月乃生武帝命其所生門曰堯母門後欲立鉤弋子為皇太子以其年穉母少恐女主顓恣亂國家猶豫久之鉤弋夫人從幸甘泉有過見譴以憂死因葬雲陽】非災而何【言戚氏昭儀栗姬鉤弋所謂否則災也按靈帝何貴人甚有寵幸性彊忌光和三年立為皇后時王美人姙娠畏後乃服藥欲除之而胎安不動後生皇子協即獻帝也何皇后酖殺美人至董卓立獻帝乃遷何皇后於永安宮亦酖弒之悅以美人獻帝母也不得顯言故申漢前事以為鑑戒】若慎夫人之知【孝文所幸慎夫人在禁中嘗與皇后同席坐袁盎引卻慎夫人夫人怒上亦怒盎曰臣聞尊卑有序則上下和今既已立後慎夫人乃妾耳豈可同坐陛下獨不見人彘乎上悅乃召語慎夫人夫人賜盎金五十斤】班婕妤之賢【婕妤之號自武帝始位視上卿爵比列侯婕言接幸於上也妤美稱也班婕妤者彪之姑況之女也入後宮始為少使俄而大幸為婕妤居増成舍成帝嘗欲與婕妤同輦載辭止太后以樊姬擬之婕妤每進見上疏依則古禮至趙飛燕譖告許後婕妤祝詛後宮詈及主上皇后坐廢婕妤以善對免因恐久見危乃求共養太后長信宮】明德皇后之德【明德馬皇后伏波將軍援之少女為顯宗貴人時賈氏生肅宗帝命貴人養之撫育過於所生後有司奏立長秋宮皇太后曰馬貴人徳冠後宮即其人也遂立為皇后愈自謙肅能誦易好讀春秋楚辭尤喜周官董仲舒書常衣大練裙不加縁每於侍執之際輒言及政事多所毘補而未嘗以傢俬幹故寵敬日隆始終無衰】邵矣哉【邵髙也言慎夫人班婕妤馬皇后所謂徳則慶也】

The love of wives and concubines is good fortune, but when it turns into disaster it runs deep. Are disaster and fortune the same? The answer: To obtain it is a blessing, otherwise it is a disaster. Lady Qi was unlucky enough to be turned into a human swine [Lady Qi is Consort Qi. Emperor Gao loved and favored Consort Qi and often took her east of the pass. Empress Lü was older and often stayed behind, seeing him rarely and becoming more distant. Several times he wanted to make Consort Qi's son Ruyi the crown prince, but did not succeed. When Emperor Gao died, Empress Lü had Consort Qi imprisoned in the long lane, her head shaved, her neck shackled, and made to pound grain in a red prisoner's robe. Soon she poisoned the King of Zhao, and then cut off Consort Qi's hands and feet, gouged out her eyes, burned her ears, gave her a drug to make her mute, and made her live in the privy, calling her the human swine.]; Zhao Zhaoyi was unlucky enough to lose her life [Emperor Yuan first added the title of Zhaoyi, with a rank equal to a chancellor and a title equal to a feudal king. Yan Shigu said: zhao means to make her bearing conspicuous, showing honor. Zhao Zhaoyi was the younger sister of Empress Xiaocheng, Zhao Feiyan. After the empress's favor faded, only the Zhaoyi was favored, and she lived in the Zhaoyang Hall and held exclusive favor for more than ten years. When Emperor Cheng died, the people blamed the Zhaoyi, and the empress dowager issued an edict to inquire about the emperor's daily life and the circumstances of his illness, and the Zhaoyi killed herself]; Consort Li was unlucky enough to be deposed [Emperor Jing made the son of Consort Li of Qi the crown prince. The Senior Princess Piao had a daughter she wished to marry to the crown prince, but Consort Li was jealous, and all of Emperor Jing's beauties gained access and favor through the princess; Consort Li resented and raged daily, and declined the princess's proposal. When Empress Bo was deposed, the Senior Princess spoke ill of Consort Li every day, and Emperor Jing nursed a grudge in his heart but had not yet acted. Lady Wang again secretly sent men to urge the ministers to establish Consort Li as empress. The Grand Herald memorialized: "A son is honored through his mother and a mother through her son; now the crown prince's mother should have the title of empress." The emperor was angry, and so had the Grand Herald examined and executed, and deposed the crown prince as King of Linjiang. Consort Li grew more resentful, was not permitted an audience, and died of grief]; Lady Gouyi was unlucky enough to die of sorrow [Lady Gouyi was surnamed Zhao, the mother of Emperor Zhao, and was advanced to Jieyu and lived in the Gouyi Palace and was greatly favored. In the third year of the Yuanshi era she bore Emperor Zhao, called Gouyi Zi, after a pregnancy of fourteen months. Emperor Wu named the gate of her residence the Mother of Yao Gate. Later he wished to make Gouyi Zi crown prince but, because he was young and his mother was youthful, feared that a female ruler would run riot and bring chaos to the state, and hesitated for a long time. Lady Gouyi followed him on a visit to Ganquan and was reprimanded for a fault, died of sorrow, and was buried at Yunyang]. What is this if not disaster? [This says that Lady Qi, the Zhaoyi, Consort Li and Lady Gouyi are what is meant by "otherwise it is a disaster." Note: Consort He of Emperor Ling was much favored, and her nature was firm and jealous. In the third year of the Guanghe era she was made empress. At the time Lady Wang the beauty was pregnant and feared the empress, took medicine to rid herself of the child, but the child stayed firm and did not move, and later she bore Prince Xie, who was Emperor Xian. Empress He poisoned the beauty. When Dong Zhuo established Emperor Xian, he moved Empress He to the Yong'an Palace and also poisoned her. Because the beauty was the mother of Emperor Xian and Xun Yue could not say so openly, he recounted earlier Han affairs as a warning.] Like Lady Shen's understanding [Lady Shen, whom Emperor Xiaowen favored, often sat on the same mat as the empress in the palace. Yuan Ang pulled Lady Shen's seat apart; the lady was angry, and the emperor was angry too. Ang said: "I have heard that when high and low are in order, above and below are in harmony. Now that an empress has been established, Lady Shen is a concubine; how can they sit together? Does Your Majesty alone not see the human swine?" The emperor was pleased, and called and told Lady Shen, and the lady gave Ang fifty catties of gold]; Ban Jieyu's worth [The title of Jieyu began with Emperor Wu, with a rank equal to a senior minister and a title equal to a marquis. Jie means receiving the ruler's favor, and yu is an honorific. Ban Jieyu was Ban Biao's aunt and Ban Kuang's daughter; entering the harem she first served as Shaoshi, and soon was greatly favored as Jieyu and lived in the Zengcheng Hall. Emperor Cheng once wished to share a carriage with the Jieyu, but she declined. The empress dowager compared her to Lady Fan. Each time the Jieyu presented a memorial she followed ancient ritual. When Zhao Feiyan falsely accused Empress Xu and the Jieyu of cursing the palace and abusing the sovereign, the empress was deposed, and the Jieyu was spared because she answered well, but fearing long-term danger she asked to leave and serve the empress dowager at the Changxin Palace]; the virtue of Empress Mingde [Empress Ma Mingde was the youngest daughter of General Ma Yuan, the Wave-Subduing General, and was a Consort of Emperor Xianzong. At the time Lady Jia bore Emperor Suzong, and the emperor ordered the Consort to raise him, and she brought him up better than her own. Later the officials memorialized to establish an empress, and the empress dowager said Consort Ma's virtue was the best in the harem, she was the one, and so she was made empress. She grew ever more modest and solemn, could recite the Changes, loved reading the Spring and Autumn and the Songs of Chu, and especially liked the Rites of Zhou and the writings of Dong Zhongshu, and she often wore a coarse silk skirt with no trimming. Each time in attendance she spoke of affairs of government, often with benefit, and never used family matters to interfere, so her favor and respect grew daily and never waned]. These are lofty! [Shao means lofty. This says that Lady Shen, Ban Jieyu and Empress Ma are what is meant by "to obtain it is a blessing."]

為世憂樂者君子之志也【公於四海覆載之度】不為世憂樂者小人之志也【私於一己形骸之見】太平之世事閒而民樂徧焉【君子所樂】使遽者揖讓百拜非禮也【窘急者無敬故不可以成禮】憂者歌鼓瑟非樂也【愁慼者不和故不可以為樂】禮者敬而已矣【揖讓百拜云乎】樂者和而已矣【歌鼔瑟云乎】匹夫匹婦處畎畆之中必禮樂存焉爾【敬和斯須不離】

To worry and rejoice on behalf of the world is the aspiration of a gentleman. [Public to all within the four seas, it is the measure that covers and bears.] Not to worry or rejoice on behalf of the world is the aspiration of a petty person. [Private to himself alone, it is the view of mere flesh and bones.] In a peaceful age, affairs are leisurely and the people are broadly at ease. [This is what the gentleman rejoices in.] To make a person in distress bow a hundred times in courtesy is not ritual. [A person in distress has no reverence, so cannot complete the ritual.] To make a person in grief play strings and drums is not music. [A person in sorrow has no harmony, so cannot make music.] Ritual is nothing but reverence. [How could it be only bowing a hundred times?] Music is nothing but harmony. [How could it be only playing strings and drums?] Even a common man and woman in the fields necessarily have ritual and music. [Reverence and harmony do not leave them for a moment.]

違上順道謂之忠臣【逆君從道所謂違而得道者】違道順上謂之防臣【逆道從君所謂順而失義者】忠所以為上也防所以自為也忠臣安於心防臣安於身故在上者必察乎違順【謂違上違道順上順道】審乎所為【謂為上自為】慎乎所安【謂安心安身】廣川王弗察故殺其臣【廣川惠王孫去初年十四五事師受易師數諫正去去益大逐之內史請以為掾師數令內史禁切王家去使奴殺師父子】楚恭王察之而遲故有遺言【成公十六年楚子救鄭不聴申叔之言及戰呂錡射恭王中目敗於鄢陵至襄公十三年楚子疾告大夫曰不穀不徳少主社稷生十年而防先君未及習師保之教訓而應受多福是以不徳而亡師於鄢以辱社稷為大夫憂其多矣若以大夫之靈獲保首領以歿於地唯是春秋窀穸之事所以從先君於禰廟者請為靈若厲大夫擇焉此所謂遺言也】齊宣王其察之矣故賞諫者【宣王喜文學逰説之士自如鄒衍淳于髠田駢接子慎到環淵之徒七十六人皆命曰列大夫為開第康莊之衢髙門大屋尊寵之不治而議論】或問人君人臣之戒曰莫匪戒也請問其要曰君戒專欲臣戒專利患之甚矣【缺五字】城重譯而獻珍非寶也腹心之人匍匐而獻善寶之至矣故明王慎內守除外冦而重內寶雲從於龍風從於虎【易曰云從龍風從虎正義曰龍吟則景雲出虎嘯則穀風生】鳳儀於韶【書曰簫韶九成鳳凰來儀】麟集於孔【哀公十四年春西狩獲麟說左氏者雲麟生於火而逰於土中央軒轅大角之獸春秋者禮也脩火徳以致其子故麟來而為孔子瑞也陳欽雲麟西方獸孔子立言西方故來劉向尹更始皆以為應孔子而至賈逵服防穎容等皆以為文成致麟而杜氏悉無所取】應也出於此應於彼善則祥祥則福否則則咎故君子應之【言善否感應各從其類】

To go against one's superior and follow the Way is called a loyal minister. [Opposing the ruler and following the Way is what is meant by "opposing yet gaining the Way."] To go against the Way and follow one's superior is called a (the base text has a rare character here, lost in transcription) minister. [Opposing the Way and following the ruler is what is meant by "following yet losing righteousness."] Loyalty is for the ruler, and (the base text has a rare character here, lost in transcription) is for oneself. A loyal minister is at peace in his heart, and a (rare character, lost in transcription) minister is at peace in his body. So those above must examine opposing and following [meaning opposing the ruler, opposing the Way, following the ruler, following the Way], inspect what they act for [meaning for the ruler, for oneself], and be careful where they find peace [meaning peace of heart, peace of body]. The King of Guangchuan did not examine, and so killed his minister. [Qu, a grandson of King Hui of Guangchuan, at first, at fourteen or fifteen, studied the Changes with a teacher, who several times admonished him. When Qu grew up he drove the teacher away, and the Interior Minister asked to employ the teacher as an aide, and the teacher several times had the Interior Minister restrain the royal house. Qu sent a servant to kill the teacher and his father.] King Gong of Chu examined but too late, and so left a final testament. [In the sixteenth year of Duke Cheng, the lord of Chu relieved Zheng without heeding Shen Shu's words, and when battle came Lü Qi shot King Gong in the eye and Chu was defeated at Yanling. In the thirteenth year of Duke Xiang the lord of Chu fell ill and told the grand masters: "I, the Not-Good, am without virtue; I took charge of the altars young, and at ten years old (the base text has a rare character here, lost in transcription) the former lord, and before I had learned the teachings of teacher and guardian I received many blessings, and so, being without virtue, I lost the army at Yanling, disgraced the altars, and became a worry to the grand masters; my faults are many. If by the grace of the grand masters I can keep my head and die on the ground, it is only a matter of the burial rites of spring and autumn, by which I am to follow the former lords to the ancestral temple; I ask that I be called Ling or Li, as the grand masters choose." This is what is meant by a final testament.] King Xuan of Qi was aware, and so rewarded those who remonstrated. [King Xuan loved scholars of literature and persuasion, such as Zou Yan, Chunyu Kun, Tian Pian, Jie Zi, Shen Dao, Huan Yuan and others, seventy-six in all, all named Grand Masters of the Roll, and for them he opened mansions on the thoroughfares, with high gates and great houses to honor and favor them, and they did not manage affairs but discussed them.] Someone asked about the warnings for rulers and ministers. The answer: There is nothing that is not a warning. Please tell me the essentials. The answer: The ruler should guard against indulging his desires, the minister against indulging in profit, for calamity would be too severe. [Five characters missing] Cities and moats offered after being translated through layer upon layer of interpreters are not treasure; a confidant who comes crawling to offer good is the utmost of treasure. So the clear-sighted king takes care to guard within, drive off outside invaders, and value the inner treasure. Clouds follow the dragon and wind follows the tiger [the Zhouyi says: "Clouds follow the dragon, wind follows the tiger." The commentary says: when the dragon sings, bright clouds appear; when the tiger roars, valley winds arise]; the phoenix came to dance at the Shao music [the Book of Documents says: "When the Xiao Shao was played nine times, the phoenix came to dance"]; the unicorn gathered for Confucius [in the spring of the fourteenth year of Duke Ai a unicorn was caught in a western hunt. Those who explain the Zuo Commentary say: the unicorn is born of fire and wanders on earth, and is the beast of the central Xuanyuan and the Great Horn. The Spring and Autumn is ritual, cultivating the virtue of fire to summon its offspring, so the unicorn came as a portent for Confucius. Chen Qin said: the unicorn is a beast of the west, and Confucius set up his words in the west, so it came. Liu Xiang and Yin Gengshi both held that it came in response to Confucius. Jia Kui, Fu (the base text has a rare character here, lost in transcription), and Ying Rong all held that the completion of the text brought the unicorn, but Du Yu took none of these]. Response, it comes from here and answers there. Good brings auspice, auspice brings blessing; otherwise disaster, and disaster brings fault. So the gentleman answers it. [This says that good and not good, response each follows its kind.]

君子食和羮以平其氣聴和聲以平其志納和言以平其政履和行以平其徳夫酸鹹甘苦不同嘉味以濟謂之和羮宮商角徴不同嘉音以章謂之和聲臧否損益不同中正以訓謂之和言趨舍動靜不同雅度以平謂之和行人之言曰唯其言而莫予違也則幾於喪國焉孔子曰君子和而不同【俱論語文】晏子亦云以水濟水誰能食之琴瑟一聲誰能聴之【晏子謂齊侯曰今據不然君所謂可據亦曰可君所謂否據亦曰否若以水濟水誰能食之若琴瑟之專壹誰能聴之同之不可也如是周太史伯告鄭桓公曰聲一無聴物一無文味一無果物一不講】詩云亦有和羮既戒且平奏假無言時靡有爭此之謂也【詩殷頌文亦晏子所引按後漢劉曼山著辨和同之論則當時在位之闇偽阿媚可知矣至獻帝時尤甚故悅以為言】

The gentleman eats harmonized soup to level his breath, listens to harmonized sound to level his will, accepts harmonized words to level his government, and practices harmonized conduct to level his virtue. Sour, salty, sweet and bitter differ, and fine flavor balances them, which is called harmonized soup; gong, shang, jue and zhi differ, and fine sound brings them out, which is called harmonized sound; good and bad, loss and gain differ, and the central and upright instruct them, which is called harmonized words; going and staying, moving and resting differ, and elegant measure balances them, which is called harmonized conduct. A saying of people goes: if there are only his words and no one opposes me, it is close to losing the state. Confucius said: the gentleman is harmonious but not the same. [All are words from the Analects.] Master Yan also said: if one gives water to water, who can eat it? If the zither and se had a single sound, who could listen? [Master Yan said to the Marquis of Qi: "Now Liangqiu Ju is not like this; if you say it is acceptable he too says it is acceptable, if you say no he too says no. If water is given to water, who can eat it; if the zither is only one tone, who can listen; sameness cannot be like this." The Grand Scribe Bo of Zhou told Duke Huan of Zheng: if sound is one, there is nothing to hear; if things are one, there is no pattern; if flavor is one, there is no result; if things are one, there is no care taken.] The Odes say: "There is also a harmonized soup, both seasoned and balanced. In presenting the offering without words, there is then no contention." This is what it says. [Words from the Odes of Shang, which Master Yan also quoted. Note: in the Later Han Liu Liang wrote an essay on distinguishing harmony from sameness, from which one can see how muddled, false and flattering those in office were at the time. By the time of Emperor Xian it was worse, so Xun Yue spoke these words.]

衣裳服者不昩於塵塗愛也【昩汚闇塗泥也衣裳者身之法象固不可不潔】衣裳愛焉而不愛其容止外矣【容止者人之符表尤不可不正】容止愛焉而不愛其言行末矣【言行者人之樞機尤不可不慎】言行愛焉而不愛其明淺矣【明者心之神哲尤不可不瑩】故君子本神為貴神和德平而道通是為保真人之所以立德者三一曰貞二曰達三曰志貞以為質【質實也主也】達以行之志以成之君子哉必不得已也守一於茲貞其主也人之所以立檢者四誠其心正其志實其事定其分心誠則神明應之況於萬民乎【誠格幽明】志正則天地順之況於萬民乎【正通上下】事實則功立【表裡相顧】分定則不淫【思不出位】曰才之實也行可為才不可也曰古之所以謂才也本今之所謂才也末也然則以行之貴也無失其才而才有失先民有言適楚而北轅者曰吾馬良用多御善此三者益侈其去楚亦逺矣【此喻為不善而有才者】遵路而騁應方而動【不至於適楚北轅】君子有行行必至矣【此喻為善而有才者】

Clothes are worn so that one is not soiled by dust and mud, because one loves them. [Mei means soiled and dark, tu means mud. Clothes are the pattern of the body, so naturally must be kept clean.] To love clothes but not love demeanor is to be superficial. [Demeanor is the sign of a person, and even more must be kept upright.] To love demeanor but not love words and conduct is to be at the tip. [Words and conduct are a person's pivot, and even more must be handled carefully.] To love words and conduct but not love clarity is to be shallow. [Clarity is the spirit and wisdom of the heart, and even more must be kept bright.] So the gentleman takes the spirit as the root, and that is what is valuable. When the spirit is harmonious, virtue level and the Way open, this is called keeping the true. The ways a person establishes virtue are three: first, constancy; second, penetration; third, will. Constancy serves as the substance [substance is the real, the master], penetration carries it out, and will accomplishes it; gentlemen! When it cannot be helped, hold to one of them, and constancy is the master. The ways a person establishes discipline are four: make the heart sincere, make the will upright, make the affairs real, and fix one's station. If the heart is sincere, the spirits respond; how much more the myriad people? [Sincerity can reach through the dark and the bright.] If the will is upright, heaven and earth comply; how much more the myriad people? [Uprightness can run through above and below.] If affairs are real, merit is established. [Inside and out look after each other.] If one's station is fixed, one does not overflow. [Thoughts do not go beyond one's place.] Question: What of the substance of talent? Conduct can be right yet talent not? The answer: What the ancients called talent was the root, and what is now called talent is the tip. So to value conduct does not lose talent, but talent has losses. The people of old had a saying: a man heading to Chu with his shafts turned north said, "My horse is good, my expenses ample, my driver skilled"; the more of these three he has, the farther he gets from Chu. [This is a metaphor for those who are not good yet have talent.] Gallop along the road and move according to the direction. [So as not to head north when going to Chu.] What the gentleman does, he surely arrives. [This is a metaphor for those who are good and have talent.]

或問聖人所以為貴者才乎曰合而用之以才為貴【如元愷之類才配乎徳體用兼全故聖人貴才】分而行之以行為貴【若徒有智能技藝而不本於徳末之尚矣】舜禹之才而不為邪甚於【缺一字】矣【此所謂合而用之以才為貴也】舜禹之仁雖亡其才不失為良人哉【此所謂分而行之以行為貴也】或問進諌受諌孰難曰後之進諌難也以受之難故也【後謂後世言臣畏犯顔由君拒諫而然】若受諌不難則進諌斯易矣【主明臣直】或問知人自知孰難曰自知者求諸內而近者也【反觀內省神明莫遁自知易也】知人者求諸外而逺者也知人難哉【密意深心矯言飾行知人難也】若極其數也明有內以識有外以暗【明於自知昩於知人】全有內以隱有外以顯【昩於自知明於知人】然則知人自知人則可以自知未可以知人也急哉【二者較之知人固難而自知為急也】用已者不為異則異矣君子所惡乎異者三好生事也好生竒也好變常也好生事則多端而動眾好生竒則離道而惑俗好變常則輕法而亂度故名不貴苟傳行不貴苟難【言生事生竒變常三者其名苟傳之名其行苟難之行何貴之有】權為茂矣其幾不若經【權不如經】辯為美矣其理不若絀【辯不如絀老子曰大辯若訥】文為顯矣其中不若樸【文不如樸】博為盛矣其正不若約【博不如約】莫不為道【道當作大】知道之體大之至也莫不為妙知神之幾妙之至也莫不為正知【缺一字】之【缺一字】正之至也故君子必存乎三至弗至斯有守無誖焉

Someone asked: Is it talent that makes the sage valuable? The answer: Used together, talent is valued. [As with the Eight Harmonizers and Eight Good Ones, talent matched with virtue, substance and function both complete, so the sage values talent.] Practiced separately, conduct is valued. [If one has only intelligence and skill and does not root them in virtue, the lesser current is not worth honoring.] Shun and Yu's talent did not serve evil, and surpassed even [one character missing]. [This is what is meant by "used together, talent is valued."] Even if Shun's and Yu's benevolence had been without talent, they would still have been good men. [This is what is meant by "practiced separately, conduct is valued."] Someone asked: Which is harder, offering remonstrance or receiving remonstrance? The answer: In later ages, offering remonstrance is hard, because receiving remonstrance is hard. ["Later" means later ages; it says that ministers fear offending the ruler's face because the ruler rejects remonstrance.] If receiving remonstrance were not hard, offering it would be easy. [When the ruler is clear-sighted, ministers are upright.] Someone asked: Which is harder, knowing others or knowing oneself? The answer: Knowing oneself is seeking within and is near. [Looking back and examining inwardly, the spirit has nowhere to hide, so knowing oneself is easy.] Knowing others is seeking outside and is far, so knowing others is hard. [With hidden intentions and deep minds, twisted words and adorned conduct, knowing others is hard.] If pushed to the extreme, some are bright within and dim outside [clear about knowing themselves, dull at knowing others], and some are hidden within and apparent outside [dull at knowing themselves, clear at knowing others]. So knowing others and knowing oneself: a person can know himself, but cannot yet know others. The urgent matter is this. [Comparing the two, knowing others is indeed hard, but knowing oneself is more urgent.] One who uses himself and does not make himself different has made himself different. There are three kinds of difference the gentleman dislikes: fondness for making trouble, fondness for making oddities, and fondness for changing the constant. Fondness for making trouble multiplies the threads and alarms the people; fondness for making oddities leaves the Way and confuses customs; fondness for changing the constant lightly regards the law and disturbs its rules. So a name is not valued for being carelessly passed on, nor conduct for being carelessly hard. [This says that the names of the three, making trouble, making oddities and changing the constant, are carelessly passed-on names and their conduct is carelessly hard conduct; what is valuable in them?] When expedients flourish, their subtlety is not as good as the constant. [Expedience is not as good as the constant.] When argument is fine, its principle is not as good as plainness. [Argument is not as good as plainness. The Laozi says: "Great eloquence seems halting."] When ornament is conspicuous, its center is not as good as simplicity. [Ornament is not as good as simplicity.] When breadth is great, its rightness is not as good as brevity. [Breadth is not as good as brevity.] There is nothing that is not the Way ("Way" should be "great"): to know its substance is the utmost of greatness; there is nothing that is not wonderful: to know the subtlety of the spirit is the utmost of wonder; there is nothing that is not right: to know [one character missing] of [one character missing] is the utmost of rightness. So the gentleman must abide in the three utmosts. Before reaching the three utmosts, he has something to hold and does not go astray.

或問守曰聖典而已矣【聖典謂六經】若夫百家者是謂無守莫不為言要其至矣莫不為徳其奧矣莫不為道聖人其矣【言聖典百家皆言皆徳皆道而唯聖典為至為奧為也】聖人之道其中道乎是為九達【爾雅曰九達之謂逵謂四道交出復有旁通也言聖道無所不達百家則私蹊曲徑而已】

Someone asked about holding fast. The answer: Only the sacred canon, nothing else. [The sacred canon means the Six Classics.] As for the hundred schools, that is having nothing to hold. There is nothing that is not words, the point lies in their utmost; there is nothing that is not virtue, the dark lies in its depth; there is nothing that is not the Way, the sages are the most expansive. [This says that the sacred canon and the hundred schools are all words, all virtue, all the Way, but only the sacred canon is the utmost, the profound and the expansive.] The Way of the sages is the middle way, perhaps; this is called the nine thoroughfares. [The Erya says that the nine thoroughfares are called kui, meaning four roads crossing with side roads. This says that the sage's Way reaches everywhere, while the hundred schools are only private paths and crooked lanes.]

或曰辭達而已矣聖人以文其隩也有五曰曰妙曰包曰要曰文幽深謂之【渾渾若川不可窮測】理微謂之妙【奧發天地幾宣神】數博謂之包【辭兼費隱義徹上下】辭約謂之要【簡而不繁要而不縟】章成謂之文【炳若丹青光如日月】聖人之文成此五者故曰不得已君子樂天知命故不憂【易繫辭文仁故不憂】審物明辨故不惑【知故不惑】定心致公故不懼【勇故不懼】若乃所憂懼則有之憂已不能成天性也懼已惑之憂不能免天命無惑焉

Someone said: Words need only get the meaning across. The sages' use of writing has five depths: it is called dark, wonderful, inclusive, essential, and patterned. Depth is called dark. [Thick and broad like a river, it cannot be fathomed.] Subtle principle is called wonderful. [Its depth can open heaven and earth, its subtlety can proclaim the spirits.] Broad number is called inclusive. [Its words embrace the manifest and the hidden, and its meaning runs through above and below.] Brief diction is called essential. [Concise and not wordy, essential and not ornate.] A completed passage is called patterned. [Bright like cinnabar and azure, shining like the sun and moon.] The sages' writing accomplishes these five, and so they say there was no help for it. The gentleman delights in heaven and knows fate and so does not worry. [Words of the Zhouyi Appendix. Benevolence is why he does not worry.] He examines things and discerns clearly and so is not confused. [Knowledge is why he is not confused.] He steadies his heart and brings about impartiality and so is not afraid. [Courage is why he is not afraid.] As for what he does worry and fear: he worries that he cannot fulfill his nature, and fears being confused. If he worries that he cannot escape fate, then there is no confusion.

或問性命曰生之謂性也形神是也【此本告子之説以氣言性莊子曰性者生之質也】所以立生終生者之謂命也吉凶是也【吉凶貧富貴賤壽夭禍福之類此亦以氣言命】夫生我之制性命存焉爾君子循其性以輔其命休斯承否斯守【休吉否兇】無務焉無怨焉【富貴無務貧賤無怨】好寵者乘天命以驕【好寵者為勢位所溺故乘富貴之命而驕則逾節陵分之事興矣】好惡者違天命以濫【好惡者為飢寒所逼故違貧賤之命而濫則苟且邪僻之行作矣】故驕則奉【奉當作承】之不成【不成承休】濫則守之不終【不終守否】好以取怠惡以取甚務以取福惡【惡當作怨】以成禍【怨則不守不守則濫故曰成禍】斯惑矣

Someone asked about nature and fate. The answer: What is born is called nature, and form and spirit are it. [This is based on Gaozi's view, speaking of nature in terms of qi. The Zhuangzi says: "Nature is the substance of life."] What establishes life and ends life is called fate, and good and ill fortune are it. [Good and ill fortune, poverty and wealth, high and low rank, long and short life, calamity and blessing and the like. This too speaks of fate in terms of qi.] The measure that gave me birth is where nature and fate dwell. The gentleman follows nature to assist fate: if it is good he accepts it, if it is ill he keeps to it. [Xiu is good fortune, pi is ill fortune.] He does not strive for it and does not resent it. [He does not strive after wealth and rank and does not resent poverty and low position.] One who is fond of favor rides on fate and becomes arrogant. [One fond of favor is drowned in power and position, so rides on the fate of wealth and rank and becomes arrogant, and then acts that overstep limits and trample on rank arise.] One who loves and hates goes against fate and becomes dissolute. [One who loves and hates is pressed by hunger and cold, so goes against the fate of poverty and low position and becomes dissolute, and then careless and crooked conduct arises.] So arrogance receives ("receive" should be "accept") and cannot accomplish. [Cannot accept good fortune.] Dissoluteness holds and cannot finish. [Cannot hold to ill fortune.] Fondness is used to gain laziness, hatred is used to gain excess, striving is used to gain blessing, and resentment ("hatred" should be "resentment") is used to bring about calamity. [Resentment does not hold, not holding becomes dissolute, so it is said to bring about calamity.] This is confusion.

或問天命人事曰有三品焉上下不移其中則人事存焉爾命相近也事相逺也則吉凶殊矣【孔子曰性相近也今既曰命命無不善不當雲相近矣】故曰窮理盡性以至於命【易繫辭文】孟子稱性善荀卿稱性惡【荀子有性惡篇大抵言人之性本惡其善者偽也】公孫子曰性無善惡揚雄曰人之性善惡渾【揚子修身篇曰人之性也善惡混修其善則為善人修其惡則為惡人氣也者所適善惡之焉與】劉向曰性情相應性不獨善情不獨惡【向之意以性善者情亦善情惡者性必惡故曰相應】曰問其理曰性善則無四凶【四凶共工驩兠三苗鯀也】性惡則無三仁【孔子曰殷有三仁焉謂微子箕子比干也】人無善惡文王之教一也則無周公管蔡【周公旦管叔鮮蔡叔度皆武王同母兄弟】性善情惡是桀紂無性而堯舜無情也性善惡皆渾是上智懷惠【惠當作惡】而下愚挾善也理也未究矣惟向言為然【韓子三品之説有類於此】

Someone asked about Heaven's decree and human affairs. The answer: there are three grades. The highest wisdom and the lowest folly do not change; it is only in the middle grade that human affairs come into play. Fate is close from one person to the next, but affairs differ greatly, and so fortune and misfortune differ. (Confucius said that natures are close. Since the topic here is fate, and fate is never not good, one should not say "close.") Hence it is said: exhaust principle and fulfill nature, so as to reach fate. (A saying from the Appended Phrases of the Book of Changes.) Mencius held that human nature is good, and Xunzi held that it is bad. (The Xunzi has a chapter "Human Nature Is Bad," which broadly says that human nature is originally bad and that goodness is a product of human effort.) Gongsun Zi held that nature is neither good nor bad, and Yang Xiong held that human nature is a mixture of good and bad. (The chapter "Cultivating the Self" in Master Yang's book says: human nature is a mixture of good and bad; cultivate the good and one becomes a good person, cultivate the bad and one becomes a bad person; qi is the vehicle by which one is drawn toward good or bad.) Liu Xiang held that nature and feelings correspond, that nature is not good alone and feelings are not bad alone. (Liu Xiang's meaning is that when the nature is good the feelings are good, and when the feelings are bad the nature must be bad, hence "correspond.") Asked about the principle in this: if nature were good there would not be the Four Villains (the Four Villains are Gong Gong, Huan Dou, the San Miao and Gun); if nature were bad there would not be the Three Humane Men (Confucius said that Yin had three humane men, meaning the Viscount of Wei, the Viscount of Ji and Bi Gan). If people were neither good nor bad, then under the same teaching of King Wen there would not be the Duke of Zhou on one side and Guan and Cai on the other (Dan the Duke of Zhou, Xian of Guan and Du of Cai were all full brothers of King Wu). If one says nature is good and feelings are bad, then Jie and Zhou had no nature and Yao and Shun had no feelings; if one says nature is a mixture of good and bad, then the highest wisdom hides badness in its bosom (the source text has a wrong character here that should read "badness") and the lowest folly carries goodness within. The principle has not been exhausted; only Liu Xiang's words are right. (Han Yu's doctrine of three grades is of the same kind.)

或曰仁義性也好惡情也仁義常善而好惡或有惡故有情惡也曰不然好惡者性之取捨也實見於外故謂之情爾必本乎性矣仁義者善之誠者也何嫌其常善好惡者善惡未有所分也何恠其有惡凡言神者莫近於氣有氣斯有形有神斯有好惡喜怒之情矣故人【人當作神】有情由氣之有形也氣有白黑神有善惡形與白黑偕【形之白黒隨氣而有】情與善惡偕【情之善惡隨神而彰即劉向性情相應之説】故氣黒非形之咎情【情當作神】惡非情之罪也【悅言形之黒本於氣情之惡本於性也】

Someone said: humaneness and righteousness are nature, while liking and disliking are feelings. Humaneness and righteousness are always good, while liking and disliking are sometimes bad, so there are bad feelings. The answer: not so. Liking and disliking are the choices of the nature, and only when actually expressed outwardly are they called feelings, which must be rooted in the nature. Humaneness and righteousness are the sincerity of the good; why object that they are always good? Liking and disliking are good and bad not yet separated; why blame them for being bad? Of all things spoken of as spirit, none is closer than qi: when there is qi there is form, and when there is spirit there are feelings of liking, disliking, joy and anger. So spirit (the source text has "person" here, which should read "spirit") has feelings just as qi has form. Qi may be white or black, and spirit may be good or bad. Form follows white and black (the whiteness or blackness of the form follows the qi), and feelings follow good and bad (the goodness or badness of the feelings shows according to the spirit, which is Liu Xiang's doctrine of correspondence between nature and feelings). So when qi is black, it is not the form's fault, and when spirit (the source text has "feelings," which should read "spirit") is bad, it is not the fault of the feelings. (Xun Yue means that the blackness of the form is rooted in qi, and the badness of the feelings is rooted in nature.)

或曰人之於利見而好之能以仁義為節者是性割其情也性少情多性不能割其情則情獨行為惡矣曰不然是善惡有多少也非情也有人於此嗜酒嗜肉肉勝則食焉酒勝則飲焉此二者相與爭勝者行矣【行謂食飲】非情慾得酒性慾得肉也有人於此好利好義義勝則義取焉利勝則利取焉此二者相與爭勝者行矣【行謂取義取利】非情慾得利性慾得義也其可兼者則兼取之其不可兼者則只取重焉若苟只好而已雖可兼取【當有闕文】矣若二好鈞平無分輕重則一俯一仰乍進乍退【相持不定】或曰請折於經曰易稱乾道變化各正性命是言萬物各有性也【幹彖曰乾道變化各正性命保合太和乃利貞】觀其所感而天地萬物之情可見矣是言情者應感而動者也【鹹彖曰天地感而萬物化生聖人感人心而天下和平觀其所感而天地萬物之情可見矣】昆蟲草木皆有性焉不盡善也【此復申情不獨惡之説】天地聖人皆稱情焉不主惡也【此復申性不獨善之説】又曰爻彖以情言亦如之【易繫辭曰八卦以象告爻彖以情言】凡情意心志者皆性動之別名也情見乎辭是稱情也【易繫辭曰聖人之情見乎辭】言不盡意是稱意也【易繫辭曰書不盡言言不盡意】中心好之是稱心也【詩彤弓曰我有嘉賔中心好之】以制其志是稱志也惟所宜各稱其名而已情何主惡之有故曰必也正名

Someone said: when people see profit they like it, and those who can restrain it by humaneness and righteousness are those whose nature cuts off their feelings. Nature is slight and feelings are many; when nature cannot cut off feelings, feelings act alone and do evil. The answer: not so. This is a matter of how much good and bad there is, not a question of feelings. Suppose someone is fond of both wine and meat: when meat prevails he eats meat, and when wine prevails he drinks wine; the two contend with each other, and whichever prevails is carried out (carrying out means eating and drinking), and it is not that the feelings want wine and the nature wants meat. Suppose someone likes both profit and righteousness: when righteousness prevails he takes righteousness, and when profit prevails he takes profit; the two contend with each other, and whichever prevails is carried out (carrying out means taking righteousness or taking profit), and it is not that the feelings want profit and the nature wants righteousness. What can be taken together is taken together, and what cannot be taken together, he takes only the weightier. If it is only a matter of liking alone, even if both could be taken (there seems to be missing text here). If the two likings are equal and one cannot tell which is weightier, then one bends and rises, advances and retreats by turns (remaining deadlocked). Someone said: please judge by the classics. The answer: the Book of Changes says that the Way of Qian transforms and changes and each sets its nature and destiny right, which means that all things have their own nature (the Commentary on the Judgment of Qian says: the Way of Qian transforms and changes, each sets its nature and destiny right, preserving and joining great harmony, and thus is it fitting and firm). Observe what they are moved by, and the feelings of heaven, earth and all things can be seen, which means that feelings move in response to stimulus (the Commentary on the Judgment of Xian says: heaven and earth are stimulated and all things are transformed and born; the sage stimulates people's hearts and the world is at peace; observe what they are stimulated by, and the feelings of heaven, earth and all things can be seen). Insects, grasses and trees all have nature, and not all are perfectly good (this reaffirms the thesis that "feelings are not bad alone"). Heaven, earth and the sage are all spoken of in terms of feelings, and these are not exclusively bad (this reaffirms the thesis that "nature is not good alone"). It is also said that the line statements and judgments speak in terms of feelings, and this is the same (the Appended Phrases of the Book of Changes say: the eight trigrams announce through images, and the line statements and judgments speak through feelings). Feelings, intent, heart and will are all other names for the movement of nature. "Feelings are revealed in the words" is calling it feelings (the Appended Phrases say: the feelings of the sage are revealed in the words). "Words do not exhaust the intent" is calling it intent (the Appended Phrases say: writing does not exhaust speech, and speech does not exhaust intent). "In the heart he loves them" is calling it heart (the Book of Songs, "The Red Bow," says: I have fine guests, and in my heart I love them). What is used to restrain one's aim is called will. They are simply each named according to what is suitable to them; how can feelings be exclusively bad? Therefore it is said that names must be rectified.

或曰善惡皆性也則法教何施曰性雖善待教而成性雖惡待法而消唯上智下愚不移【論語文】其次善惡交爭於是教扶其善法抑其惡得施之九品從教者半畏刑者四分之三其不移大數九分之一也一分之中又有防移者矣然則法教之於化民也幾盡之矣及法教之失也其為亂亦如之

Someone said: if good and bad both belong to nature, then what use are law and teaching? The answer: though nature may be good, it awaits teaching to be completed; though nature may be bad, it awaits law to be eliminated. Only the highest wisdom and the lowest folly do not change (a saying from the Analects). Next are those in whom good and bad contend, and so teaching helps the good and law restrains the bad. Of the nine grades that can be acted upon, half follow teaching, three quarters fear punishment, and those who do not change are about one ninth. Within one part there are also (the source text has a rare character here, lost in transcription) those who do not change. Thus law and teaching, as regards transforming the people, are almost exhaustive. When law and teaching are lost, the disorder it causes is also of this kind.

或曰法教得則治法教失則亂若無得無失縱民之情則治亂其中乎曰凡陽性升隂性降升難而降易善陽也惡隂也故善難而惡易縱民之情使自由之則降於下者多矣【若無法教則為惡者易故多】曰中焉在曰法教不純有得有失則治亂其中矣純徳無慝其上善也伏而不動其次也動而不行行而不逺逺而能復又其次也【動謂惡之萌動行則見之於外逺則行而不返】其下者逺而不近也凡此皆人性也制之者則心也動而抑之【遏於隱防】行而止之【禁於履踐】與上同性也行而弗止逺而弗近與下同終也

Someone said: when law and teaching are appropriate there is order, and when law and teaching are lost there is disorder. If there is neither gain nor loss and the people's feelings are given free rein, are order and disorder then in the midst of this? The answer: in general, the yang nature rises and the yin nature descends, and rising is hard while descending is easy. Good is yang and bad is yin, so good is hard and bad is easy. Therefore, when the people are left to do as they like, those who sink to the bottom are many (if there is no law and teaching, doing bad is easy, hence there are many). Asked: where is the middle? The answer: when law and teaching are not pure, with both gain and loss, order and disorder lie in the midst of this. Pure virtue without evil is the highest good; lying hidden without stirring is next; stirring but not acting, acting but not going far, going far but able to return, is again next (stirring refers to the stirring of the bad, acting is its manifestation outwardly, and going far is acting without return). The lowest is going far and not coming near. All these are human nature, and what restrains it is the mind. If it stirs, restrain it (stop it at the hidden place; the source text has a rare character here, lost in transcription), and if it acts, stop it (forbid it at the point of practice), then one is the same as the highest in character; if it acts without being stopped and goes far without coming near, one is the same as the lowest in outcome.

君子嘉仁而不責惠尊禮而不責意貴徳而不責怨其責也先已而行也先人淫惠曲意私怨此三者實枉貞道亂大徳然成敗得失莫匪由之救病不給其竟奚暇於道徳哉此之謂末俗故君子有常交曰義也有常誓曰信也交而後親誓而後故狹矣太上不異古今其次不異海內同天下之志者其盛徳乎大人之志不可見也浩然而同於道【大人之志渾合造化故不可窺量】眾人之志不可掩也察然而流於俗【眾庶之志流順世俗故易於昭鹽】同於道故不與俗浮沉【言大人合道故超俗】

The exemplary person commends humaneness but does not criticize generosity, honors ritual but does not criticize intention, values virtue but does not criticize resentment. His criticism begins with himself, and his action begins with others. Excessive generosity, bent intention and selfish resentment: these three truly warp the upright Way and disrupt great virtue. Yet success and failure, gain and loss all come from them, and when one cannot even cure illness in time, how can there be leisure to attend to morality? This is called the decadent custom. So the exemplary person's constant friendship is called righteousness, and his constant oath is called trustworthiness. To befriend first and then be close, or to swear first and then be intimate, is narrow. At the highest, one does not distinguish past from present; next, one does not distinguish within the seas. One who can unite the aims of the world has abundant virtue. The aim of the great person cannot be seen; it is vast and the same as the Way (the great person's aim merges with the work of creation, so it cannot be peered into or measured). The aim of the multitude cannot be hidden; it is plain and flows with the vulgar (the aim of the common crowd flows along with convention, and so is easily revealed). Being the same as the Way, he does not float and sink with the vulgar. (This says that the great person is in accord with the Way and so surpasses the vulgar.)

或曰脩行者不為人恥諸神明其至也乎曰未也自恥者本也恥諸神明其次也恥諸人外矣夫唯外則慝積於內矣故君子審乎自恥【能自愧恥則必能脩行而幽明無怍矣】

Someone said: one who cultivates conduct is not ashamed before others but ashamed before the spirits; is that the utmost? The answer: not yet. Shame before oneself is the root, shame before the spirits is next, and shame before others is external. Only when it is external does evil accumulate within. So the exemplary person examines his own sense of shame. (One who can feel shame before oneself will surely cultivate conduct, and so will be without shame before both the visible and the invisible.)

或曰恥者其志者乎曰未也夫志者自然由人何恥之有赴谷必墜失水必溺人見之也赴穽必陷失道必沈人不見之也不察之故君子慎乎所不察不聞大論則志不不聴至言則心不固思唐虞於上世瞻仲尼於中古而知夫小道者之足羞也想伯夷於首陽省四皓於商山而知夫穢志者之足恥也存張騫於西極【張騫漢中人建元中為郎應募使月氐與堂邑氏奴甘父俱出隴西徑匈奴匈奴得之傳詣單于留騫十餘嵗騫亡至大宛為發譯道抵康居康居傳致大月氐至大夏留嵗餘還並南山欲從羌中歸復為匈奴所得留嵗餘單于死國中亂騫與胡妻及堂邑父俱亡歸漢拜騫大中大夫初騫行時百餘人去十三嵗惟二人得還】念蘇武於朔埀【朔北方也】而知懷閭室者之足鄙也推斯類也無所不至矣德比於上【上謂聖賢】欲比於下【下謂貧賤】徳比於上故知恥欲比於下故知足恥而知之則聖賢其可幾知足而已則固陋其可安也聖賢斯幾況其為慝乎【必無邪慝】固陋斯安況其為侈乎【必無放侈】是謂有檢純乎純哉其上也其次得概而已矣莫匪概也得其概苟無邪斯可矣君子四省其身怒不亂德喜不【缺一字】義也

Someone said: is shame the aim? The answer: not yet. The aim comes naturally from a person, so what is there to be ashamed of? One who runs toward a valley will surely fall, and one who leaves the water will surely drown, and people can see this; one who runs toward a pit will surely fall into it, and one who loses the right way will surely sink, and people cannot see this. Because they do not perceive it, the exemplary person is careful about what is not perceived. If one does not hear great discourses, one's aim is not broad; if one does not hear supreme words, one's heart is not firm. Think of Yao and Shun in the high antiquity, look up to Confucius in the middle ancient age, and you will know that those who walk small paths have reason to be ashamed; think of Boyi at Shouyang and examine the Four Hoary Elders of Mount Shang, and you will know that those whose aims are foul have reason to feel shame; picture Zhang Qian in the far west (Zhang Qian was from Hanzhong, and in the Jianyuan years became a gentleman of the court; answering a call, he went as envoy to the Yuezhi, going out of Longxi together with Ganfu, a slave of the Tangyi family; passing through the Xiongnu, they were seized and sent to the Chanyu, who held Zhang Qian for more than ten years. Zhang Qian escaped to Dayuan, which sent men to translate and guide him to Kangju; Kangju sent him on to the Greater Yuezhi, and he stayed more than a year in Daxia before returning; following the Southern Mountains and hoping to return through the Qiang lands, he was again seized by the Xiongnu and kept for more than a year. When the Chanyu died and the state fell into turmoil, Zhang Qian fled back to Han with his Xiongnu wife and Tangyi Fu, and was appointed Grand Palace Grandee. When they first set out there were more than a hundred men; of those who went, in thirteen years only two returned), and think of Su Wu on the northern frontier (shuo means north), and you will know that those who only long for village lanes and home chambers are worthy of contempt. By analogy, there is nowhere this does not reach. Compare your virtue upward (upward means sages and worthies) and your desires downward (downward means the poor and lowly). Comparing virtue upward, one knows shame, and comparing desires downward, one knows contentment. Knowing shame, one can draw near to the sages and worthies; knowing contentment, one can be at ease in plainness. If one can draw near to the sages and worthies, how much less will one do evil (there will surely be no wickedness)! If one can be at ease in plainness, how much less will one be extravagant (there will surely be no excess)! This is called self-restraint. The purest is the highest, and next is to grasp the general outline only. There is nothing that is not an outline; if one grasps the general outline and has no wickedness, that is enough. The exemplary person examines himself four times: anger does not disorder virtue, and joy does not (one character missing) righteousness.