Leihai — Slander and Injury累害篇
凡人仕宦有稽留不進，行節有毀傷不全，罪過有累積不除，聲名有暗昧不明，才非下，行非悖也；有知非昏，策非昧也；逢遭外禍，累害之也。非唯人行，凡物皆然。生動之類，咸被累害。累害自外，不由其內。夫不本累害所從生起，而徒歸責於被累害者，智不明，暗塞於理者也。物以春生，人保之；以秋成，人必不能保之。卒然牛馬踐根，刀鐮割莖，生者不育，至秋不成。不成之類，遇害不遂，不得生也。夫鼠涉飯中，捐而不食。捐飯之味，與彼不污者鈞，以鼠為害，棄而不御。君子之累害，與彼不育之物、不御之飯同一實也。俱由外來，故為累害。
It happens that a man is blocked in his service and cannot come forward, that his conduct and his integrity are torn down and left broken, that faults and offenses pile up on him and are never cleared away, that his name is darkened and never made bright. It is not that his talent is low or his conduct crooked. It is not that his knowledge is dim or his planning foolish. He has met with a disaster from outside, and it has piled up and done him harm.
This is not true of men's conduct alone. All things are so. Everything that lives and moves suffers accumulated harm. Accumulated harm comes from outside. It does not arise from within. Now to fail to look to the root from which accumulated harm rises up, and merely to lay the blame on the one who has suffered it, is to have a wisdom that is not bright, blocked and dark to the way of things.
When a thing comes up in spring, men guard it. When it ripens in autumn, men cannot always guard it. All at once oxen and horses tread on the root, knife and sickle cut the stalk, and what was alive cannot grow. When autumn comes it does not ripen. The kind that does not ripen has met with harm, has not carried through, and cannot live.
Now when a rat runs through the middle of the rice, men throw it out and do not eat it. The taste of the rice thrown out is the same as rice that was never fouled. Yet because the rat did it harm, they throw it out and will not use it. When a gentleman suffers accumulated harm, it is one and the same thing as that plant that could not grow and that rice that is not used. Both come from outside, and so we call it accumulated harm.
修身正行，不能來福；戰栗戒慎，不能避禍。禍福之至，幸不幸也。故曰：得非己力，故謂之福；來不由我，故謂之禍。不由我者，謂之何由？由鄉里與朝廷也。夫鄉里有三累，朝廷有三害。累生於鄉里，害發於朝廷，古今才洪行淑之人遇此多矣。
A man may cultivate himself and set his conduct straight, and still he cannot make good fortune come. He may tremble and take care, and still he cannot escape disaster. That disaster and good fortune arrive at all is luck and the lack of luck. So it is said, what is got is not by one's own strength, and therefore we call it good fortune. What comes does not come from me, and therefore we call it disaster. What does not come from me, where does it come from? It comes from the village and from the court. Now the village has three accumulations and the court has three harms. The accumulations arise in the village and the harms break out at court, and in old times and now men of great talent and clean conduct have met with these many times.
何謂三累三害？凡人操行，不能慎擇友，友同心恩篤，異心薄，薄怨恨，毀傷其行，一累也。人才高下，不能鈞同，同時并進，高者得榮，下者慚恚，毀傷其行，二累也。人之交游，不能常歡，歡則相親，忿則疏遠，遠怨恨，毀傷其行，三累也。位少人眾，仕者爭進，進者爭位，見將相毀，增加傅致，將昧不明，然納其言，一害也。將吏異好，清濁殊操，清吏增郁郁之白，舉涓涓之言，濁吏懷恚恨，徐求其過，因纖微之謗，被以罪罰，二害也。將或幸佐吏之身，納信其言，佐吏非清節，必拔人越次，迕失其意，毀之過度，清正之仕，抗行伸志，遂為所憎，毀傷於將，三害也。夫未進也身被三累，已用也身蒙三害，雖孔丘、墨翟不能自免，顏回、曾參不能全身也。
What are the three accumulations and the three harms?
A man's conduct cannot always pick friends with care. A friend whose heart is the same is thick in kindness, and one whose heart is different grows thin. When he grows thin he bears a grudge and tears down that man's conduct. This is the first accumulation. Men's talents are high and low and cannot be made even. When they come forward side by side at the same time, the high one wins glory and the low one burns with shame and anger and tears down that man's conduct. This is the second accumulation. Men's dealings with each other cannot always be glad. When they are glad they are close, and when they are angry they grow distant. When they grow distant they bear a grudge and tear down that man's conduct. This is the third accumulation.
Posts are few and men are many. Those in service struggle to come forward, and those who have come forward struggle over posts. They see the chief and tear one another down, adding to it and fastening things on, and the chief is dim and not bright and takes in their words. This is the first harm. Chief and clerk like different things, and the clean and the muddy differ in their conduct. The clean clerk sets forth what is plainly white and brings up words clear as running water. The muddy clerk holds anger and rancor within, slowly seeks out his faults, and by some slight slander lays crime and punishment upon him. This is the second harm. The chief sometimes favors the person of an assisting clerk and trusts and takes in his words. If that assisting clerk has no clean integrity, he will surely pull men up out of their turn, and he will tear down beyond all measure anyone who crosses his will. Then the clean and upright officer who holds his conduct straight and unfolds his aim is hated in the end and torn down before the chief. This is the third harm.
Now before a man comes forward his person bears the three accumulations, and once he is used his person suffers the three harms. Even Kong Qiu and Mo Di could not free themselves from this, and Yan Hui and Zeng Shen could not keep their persons whole.
動百行，作萬事，嫉妒之人，隨而云起，枳棘鉤挂容體，蜂蠆之党，啄螫懷操，豈徒六哉！六者章章，世曾不見。夫不原士之操行有三累，仕宦有三害，身完全者謂之潔，被毀謗者謂之辱；官升進者謂之善，位廢退者謂之惡；完全升進，幸也，而稱之；毀謗廢退，不遇也，而訾之：用心若此，必為三累三害也。論者既不知〔被〕累害者行賢潔也，以塗博泥，以黑點繒，孰有知之？清受塵，白取垢，青繩所污，常在練素。處顛者危，勢丰者虧，頹墜之類，常在懸垂。屈平潔白，邑犬群吠，吠所怪也；非俊疑杰，固庸能也。偉士坐以俊杰之才，招致群吠之聲。夫如是，豈宜更勉奴下，循不肖哉！不肖奴下，非所勉也。豈宜更偶俗全身以弭謗哉！偶俗全身，則鄉原也。鄉原之人，行全無闕，非之無舉，刺之無刺也。此又孔子之所罪，孟軻之所愆也。
Set a hundred deeds in motion and do ten thousand things, and envious men follow and rise up like clouds. Thorn and bramble hook and hold the body, and the crowd of wasps and scorpions pecks and stings at the conduct a man carries within. How should there be only six? The six are plain enough, and yet the world has never seen them.
Men do not look into the fact that a scholar's conduct has three accumulations and office has three harms. They call the man whose person is whole clean, and the man who has been slandered disgraced. They call the man whose office has risen good, and the man whose post has been taken away evil. To be whole and to rise is only luck, and they praise it. To be slandered and set aside is only failing to meet with favor, and they find fault with it. When men use their minds like this, the three accumulations and the three harms are bound to come.
Those who judge do not know that the man who has suffered accumulated harm is worthy and clean in his conduct. They smear mud upon mud and mark silk with black, and who then can tell? What is clear takes in dust and what is white picks up grime, and the place the blowflies foul is always the bleached white silk. What stands at the top is in danger and what is full in force will wane, and the kind that crumbles and falls is always what hangs high.
Qu Ping was clean and white, and the dogs of the town barked at him in a pack. Dogs bark at what they think strange. To call the fine man wrong and to doubt the outstanding man is what the mean have always done. A great scholar sits with the talent of a fine and outstanding man and draws upon himself the sound of a barking pack.
Because it is so, should a man then strive to be low as a slave and follow after unworthiness? To be unworthy and low as a slave is not a thing to strive for. Should he then match himself to the common world to keep his person whole and put a stop to slander? To match the common world and keep the person whole is to be a village worthy. The village worthy is whole in conduct with nothing lacking. Blame him and there is nothing to bring up. Prick him and there is no place to prick. This too Confucius held to be a crime, and Meng Ke held it a fault.
古賢美極，無以衛身。故循性行以俟累害者，果賢潔之人也，極累害之謗，而賢潔之實見焉。立賢潔之跡，毀謗之塵安得之生？弦者思折伯牙之指，御者願摧王良之手。何則？欲專良善之名，惡彼之勝己也。是故魏女色艷，鄭袖（鼻）〔劓〕之；朝吳忠貞，無忌逐之。戚施彌妒，蘧除多佞。是故濕堂不灑塵，卑屋不蔽風；風衝之物不得育，水湍之岸不得峭。如是，牖里、陳蔡可得知，而沉江蹈河也。以軼才取容媚於俗，求全功名於將，不遭鄧析之禍，取子胥之誅，幸矣。孟賁之尸，人不刃者，氣絕也。死灰百斛，人不沃者，光滅也。動身章智，顯光氣於世；奮志敖党，立卓異於俗，固常通人所讒妒也。以方心偶俗之累，求益反損。蓋孔子所以憂心，孟軻所以惆悵也。
The worthy men of old were beautiful in the highest degree, and still they had no way to guard their persons. So the man who follows his nature in what he does and waits for accumulated harm is truly a worthy and clean man. Where the slander of accumulated harm runs to its end, the true substance of the worthy and clean man appears. When a man sets down the tracks of worth and cleanness, how should the dust of slander not arise?
The lute player wishes to break Bo Ya's fingers, and the driver hopes to crush Wang Liang's hands. Why is this? They wish to hold the name of good and fine all to themselves, and they hate the other man for standing above them. So when the woman of Wei was lovely in face, Zheng Xiu had her nose cut off. When Chao Wu was loyal and upright, Fei Wuji drove him out. The hunchback is the more envious, and the man bent double is full of flattery.
So a damp hall raises no dust, and a low house keeps out no wind. A thing the wind strikes cannot grow, and a bank the water rushes past cannot stand steep. Since it is so, what happened at Youli and between Chen and Cai can be understood, and so can the sinking into the Jiang and the treading into the He. A man who takes his rare talent and seeks to please the common world, who looks to keep his merit and his name whole before his chief, is lucky if he does not meet the disaster of Deng Xi or take the death of Zixu.
Men do not put a knife to the corpse of Meng Ben, because the breath is cut off. Men do not pour water on a hundred bushels of dead ash, because the light is out. To move the body and show forth wisdom, to make light and breath plain to the world, to rouse the will and stand above the crowd, to set up something high and unlike the common world, has always been what men of wide knowledge slander and envy. A man with an angular heart is burdened by trying to match the common world. He seeks to gain and instead he loses. This is why Confucius was troubled in heart and why Meng Ke was full of sorrow.
德鴻者招謗，為士者多口。
The man of great virtue draws slander, and the man who becomes a scholar draws many words.
以休熾之聲，彌口舌之患，求無危傾之害，遠矣。臧倉之毀，未嘗絕也；公伯寮之溯，未嘗滅也。垤成丘山，污為江河矣。夫如是市虎之訛，投杼之誤不足怪，則玉變為石，珠化為礫，不足詭也。何則？昧心冥冥之知使之然也。文王所以為糞土，而惡來所以為金玉也。非紂憎聖而好惡也，心知惑蔽，蔽惑不能審，則微子十去，比干五剖，未足痛也。故三監讒聖人，周公奔楚；後母毀孝子，伯奇放流。當時周世孰有不惑乎？後鴟作而黍離興，諷詠之者，乃悲傷之。故無雷風之變，周公之惡不滅；當夏不隕霜，鄒（行）〔衍〕之罪不除。德不能感天，誠不能動變，君子篤信審己也，安能遏累害於人？聖賢不治名，害至不免辟，形章墨短，掩匿白長；不理身冤，不弭流言，受垢取毀，不求潔完。故惡見而善不彰，行缺而跡不顯。邪偽之人，治身以巧俗，修詐以偶眾。猶漆盤盂之工，穿牆不見；弄丸劍之倡，手指不知也。世不見短，故共稱之；將不聞惡，故顯用之。夫如是，世俗之所謂賢潔者，未必非惡；所謂邪污者，未必非善也。
To use a fine and flourishing name to put a stop to the trouble of tongues, and to seek to be without the harm of a dangerous fall, is to look very far off indeed. The slander of Zang Cang has never once ceased, and the backbiting of Gongbo Liao has never once died out. An anthill becomes a hill and a mountain, and a puddle becomes a river and a great stream. Since it is so, the false report that a tiger was in the market and the mistake that made a mother throw down her shuttle are nothing to wonder at, and jade turning into stone and pearls turning into gravel are nothing strange.
Why is this? A dim heart and a knowledge in the dark make it so. This is why King Wen became dung and earth and Elai became gold and jade. It was not that Zhou (紂) hated the sage and liked the evil man. His heart and his knowledge were led astray and covered over. If a man is covered and led astray and cannot look into things, then though Weizi went away ten times and Bigan had his breast cut open five times, it would not be enough to grieve over.
So when the Three Overseers slandered the sage, the Duke of Zhou fled to Chu, and when a stepmother tore down a filial son, Boqi was driven out to wander. In that age of Zhou, who was not led astray? Afterward the Chixiao was made and the Shuli arose, and those who chanted them grieved over it. So had there been no strange thunder and wind, the ill name of the Duke of Zhou would never have been cleared, and had frost not fallen in summer, the crime of Zou Yan would never have been lifted.
Virtue cannot move heaven, and sincerity cannot stir up such strange signs. The gentleman can only believe deeply and look into himself. How could he block the accumulated harm that comes from others? Sages and worthy men do not dress up their names, and when harm comes they do not get free of it. The short black mark is plain and bright, and the long white is covered and hidden. They do not set right the wrong done to their persons and do not put a stop to the words that go about. They take the grime and take the slander, and do not seek to be clean and whole. So their evil is seen and their good is not made clear. Their conduct looks broken and their tracks do not show.
The crooked and false man orders his person so as to be clever before the common world, and works up his lies so as to match the crowd. He is like the workman who lacquers trays and bowls, who bores through the wall and is not seen, or like the player who juggles balls and swords, whose fingers no one can follow. The world does not see his shortcomings, and so men praise him together. The chief does not hear of his evil, and so he brings him out and uses him. Since it is so, the man the common world calls worthy and clean is not surely free of evil, and the man it calls crooked and foul is not surely free of good.
或曰：「言有招患，行有召恥，所在常由小人。」夫小人性患恥者也，含邪而生，懷偽而游，沐浴累害之中，何招召之有？故夫火生者不傷（濕）〔燥〕，水居者無溺患。火不苦熱，水不痛寒，氣性自然焉，招之？
Someone says, "There are words that draw trouble and deeds that draw shame, and wherever they are, they always come from the small man."
Now the small man is one whose nature holds trouble and shame. He is born with crookedness in his mouth and goes about with falsehood in his breast. He is bathing in the middle of accumulated harm. What is there for him to draw to himself? So what lives in fire is not hurt by dryness, and what lives in water has no fear of drowning. Fire does not suffer from heat, and water does not ache with cold. Their breath and their nature are simply so of themselves. What is there to be drawn?
君子也，以忠言招患，以高行招恥，何世不然！然而太山之惡，君子不得名；毫髪之善，小人不得有也。以玷污言之，清受塵而白取垢；以毀謗言之，貞良見妒，高奇見噪；以遇罪言之，忠言招患，高行招恥；以不純言之，玉有瑕而珠有毀。（焦）陳留〔焦〕君（兄）〔貺〕，名稱兗州，行完跡潔，無纖芥之毀；及其當為從事，刺史焦康絀而不用。夫未進也被三累，已用也蒙三害，雖孔丘、墨翟不能自免，顏回、曾參不能全身也。何則？眾好純譽之人，非真賢也。公侯已下，玉石雜糅。賢士之行，善惡相苞。夫采玉者破石拔玉，選士者棄惡取善。夫如是，累害之人負世以行，指擊之者從何往哉！
The gentleman draws trouble by loyal words and draws shame by high conduct, and in what age has it not been so? Yet evil as great as Mount Tai is never laid to a gentleman's name, and good the size of a hair's tip is never held by a small man.
Speak of being fouled, and what is clear takes in dust and what is white picks up grime. Speak of slander, and the upright and good man is envied and the high and rare man is clamored at. Speak of meeting with punishment, and loyal words draw trouble and high conduct draws shame. Speak of not being pure, and jade has its flaw and the pearl its blemish.
Jiao Junkuang of Chenliu had a name spoken of throughout Yanzhou. His conduct was whole and his tracks were clean, and there was not a mote of slander against him. Yet when the time came for him to be made an attendant clerk, the inspector Jiao Kang turned him away and would not use him. Now before a man comes forward he bears the three accumulations, and once he is used he suffers the three harms. Even Kong Qiu and Mo Di could not free themselves from this, and Yan Hui and Zeng Shen could not keep their persons whole.
Why is this? A man whom the crowd likes and praises without a flaw is not truly worthy. Below the rank of duke and marquis, jade and stone lie mixed together, and in the conduct of a worthy scholar good and evil are wrapped up in each other. Now the man who digs for jade breaks the stone and draws out the jade, and the man who picks scholars throws away the evil and takes the good. Since it is so, though the man who has suffered accumulated harm turn his back on the world and go his way, where will those who point and strike at him not follow?