On Heaven and Man Overcoming Each Other天人相勝說
劉子曰。人衆者勝天。天定亦能勝人。予早服斯言久矣。今益信之也。何者。予嘗掌記完山。爲同寮者所讒見罷。及到京師。其人亦常在要會。簧其舌而鼓之。故凡九年莫見調。此乃人勝天也。豈天哉。及其人已斃。然後卽其年入補翰林。因累涉淸要。遄登高位。則此乃天勝人也。人豈可終妨哉。或難之曰。太公八十遇文王。朱賈臣五十而貴。此寧有人讒之而晚遇耶。實命數使然也。予曰。二公之晚遇者。如子所言命數也。算予命。雖於其時不至大蹇。有凶人乘之而鍛成其大故也。或又曰。命未大屯。而凶人乘而助之。亦命也。何謂是哉。予曰。我於其時。若小忍之而不與之爲隙。則必無是也。以予所自召而致之也。則何關乎命哉。或者服之曰。子之悔過也如此。宜乎遠到也。
Master Liu (劉子) said, 「When men are many they overcome Heaven; and when Heaven is settled it too can overcome man.」 I graved these words on my heart long ago, and now I believe them the more. Why so?
I was once Recorder at Wansan (完山), and was dismissed upon the slander of a colleague. Even after I came to the capital that man was always in some place of importance, and he plied his tongue and stirred the matter up, so that for nine years in all I got no post. This then was man overcoming Heaven; how should it have been Heaven? Only after that man was dead was I appointed, in that very year, to the Hanlin Academy (翰林); and from this I passed through several pure and important offices and rose swiftly to high station: this then was Heaven overcoming man. How could man block it in the end?
Someone objected, 「Taigong was eighty when he met King Wen, and Zhu Maichen (朱買臣) came to honor at fifty. Were these men late in meeting their lot because others slandered them? In truth it was the number of their destiny that made it so.」
I said, 「That those two were late in meeting their lot is, as you say, the number of their destiny. But when I reckon up my own destiny, it was not such as to be greatly blocked at that time; it was an evil man who rode upon it and forged it into something great.」
The man said again, 「That one's destiny was not greatly straitened, and that an evil man rode upon it and helped it on, is destiny as well. How can you speak as you do?」
I said, 「If at that time I had borne with him a little and made no breach with him, assuredly this would not have happened. I called it upon myself; what has it to do with destiny?」
The man sighed in admiration and said, 「That you repent your fault in this way — it is fitting that you have come so far.」