Xing'ou — Luck and Chance幸偶篇
凡人操行有賢有愚，及遭禍福，有幸有不幸；舉事有是有非，及觸賞罰，有偶有不偶。并時遭兵，隱者不中。同日被霜，蔽者不傷。中傷未必惡，隱蔽未必善。隱蔽幸，中傷不幸。俱欲納忠，或賞或罰；并欲有益，或信或疑。賞而信者未必真，罰而疑者未必偽。賞、信者偶，罰、疑不偶也。
In men's conduct there is worth and there is folly, and in the disaster or blessing they meet there is luck and there is ill luck. In the affairs they undertake there is right and there is wrong, and in the reward or punishment they come to there is a chance that matches and a chance that does not match.
When war comes at one and the same time, the man in hiding is not struck. When frost falls on one and the same day, the plant that is covered is not harmed. To be struck and harmed is not necessarily to be bad, and to be hidden and covered is not necessarily to be good. To be hidden and covered is luck, and to be struck and harmed is ill luck. Men may all alike wish to offer their loyalty, and some are rewarded and some are punished. They may all alike wish to be of use, and some are trusted and some are doubted. The man rewarded and trusted is not necessarily true, and the man punished and doubted is not necessarily false. Being rewarded and trusted is a chance that matched, and being punished and doubted is a chance that did not match.
孔子門徒七十有餘，顏回蚤夭。孔子曰：「不幸短命死矣！」短命稱不幸，則知長命者幸也，短命者不幸也。服聖賢之道，講仁義之業，宜蒙福佑。伯牛有疾，亦復顏回之類，俱不幸也。螻蟻行於地，人舉足而涉之。足所履，螻蟻死；足所不蹈，全活不傷。火燔野草，車轢所致，火所不燔，俗或喜之，名曰幸草。夫足所不蹈，火所不及，未必善也。〔足〕舉火行，有適然也。由是以論，癰疽之發，亦一實也。氣結閼積，聚為癰；潰為疽創，流血出膿，豈癰疽所發，身之善穴哉？營衛之行，遇之通也。蜘蛛結網，蜚虫過之，或脫或獲；獵者張羅，百獸群擾，或得或失；漁者罾江河之魚，或存或亡；或奸盜大辟而不知，或罰贖小罪而發覺：災氣加人，亦此類也。不幸遭觸而死，幸者免脫而生，不幸者不僥幸也。
Confucius had more than seventy disciples, and Yan Hui died young. Confucius said, "Unluckily his destiny was short and he died!" Since he called a short destiny unlucky, it can be known that a man of long destiny is lucky and a man of short destiny is unlucky. He followed the way of the sages and worthies and expounded the work of humaneness and rightness, and he ought to have received blessing and help. Boniu falling ill was of the same kind as Yan Hui, and both were ill luck.
Mole crickets and ants travel over the ground, and a man lifts his foot and passes over them. Where the foot treads, the mole crickets and ants die, and where the foot does not tread they stay whole and alive and are not harmed. Fire burns the grass of the field, but where a cart wheel has passed the fire cannot burn it, and the common people are sometimes glad of this and name it lucky grass. Now what the foot does not tread and what the fire does not reach are not necessarily good. In the lifting of the foot and the going of the fire there is only what happened to fall out so.
Reasoning from this, the breaking out of a boil is the same thing. The breath is knotted and blocked and piles up and gathers and becomes a boil, and it bursts and becomes a running sore, and blood flows and pus comes out. Is the place where the boil broke out a good spot on the body? It is that the course of the nourishing breath and the guarding breath happened to run through there.
When a spider spreads its web, flying insects pass by and some slip free and some are caught. When a hunter spreads his net, all kinds of beasts crowd together and some are taken and some are lost. When a fisherman nets the fish of the rivers, some are left and some are taken. Sometimes a man does a great theft that deserves death and it is never known, and sometimes a man has a small offense he might redeem (贖) and it is found out. The breath of calamity coming upon men is of this kind. The unlucky man runs into it and dies and the lucky man slips free and lives, and to be unlucky is not to have got the lucky chance.
孔子曰：「人之生也直，罔之生也幸。」則夫順道而觸者為不幸矣。立岩牆之下，為坏所壓；蹈岸之上，為崩所墜，輕遇無端，故為不幸。魯城門久朽欲頓，孔子過之，趨而疾行。左右曰：「久矣。」孔子曰：「惡其久也。」孔子戒慎已甚，如過遭坏，可謂不幸也。故孔子曰：「君子有不幸而無有幸，小人有幸而無不幸。」又曰：「君子處易以俟命，小人行險以僥幸。」
Confucius said, "A man's life is upright; that a man lives without being upright is luck." Then one who follows the Way and still runs into harm is unlucky. To stand beneath a dangerous wall and be crushed by the fallen earth, and to tread the top of a cliff and drop when it gives way, is to meet it lightly and for no cause, and so it is ill luck.
A city gate of Lu had long been rotten and was about to fall, and Confucius passed it hurrying with quick short steps. Those beside him said, "It has been so a long time." Confucius said, "It is because it has been so long that I dislike it." Confucius warned himself and took care to the utmost, and if in passing he had met the fall it could well be called ill luck. Therefore Confucius said, "The gentleman has ill luck and has no luck; the small man has luck and has no ill luck." He also said, "The gentleman dwells on level ground and waits for his destiny; the small man walks in dangerous places and hopes for a lucky chance."
佞幸之徒，閎〔孺〕、籍孺之輩，無德薄才，以色稱媚，不宜愛而受寵，不當親而得附，非道理之宜。故太史公為之作傳，邪人反道而受恩寵，與此同科，故合其名謂之佞幸。無德受恩，無過遇禍，同一實也。俱稟元氣，或獨為人，或為禽獸；并為人，或貴或賤，或貧或富；富或累金，貧或乞食，貴至封侯，賤至奴仆，非天稟施有左右也，人物受性有厚薄也。俱行道德，禍福不鈞；并為仁義，利害不同。晉文修文德，徐偃行仁義，文公以賞賜，偃王以破滅。
The flatterers who were favored, men of the sort of Hong Ru and Ji Ru, had no virtue and thin talent, and were called charming for their looks. They received favor when they were not to be loved and clung close when they were not to be intimate, and this was not what right principle calls for. Therefore the Grand Historian made a chapter for them. That crooked men go against the Way and still receive grace and favor is of this same grade, and so he joined the two names and called it Flatterers Favored (佞幸). Receiving grace without virtue and meeting disaster without fault are one and the same thing.
All alike receive the primal breath, and yet some become men and others become birds and beasts. Men alike, and yet some are honored and some are lowly, some poor and some wealthy. The wealthy sometimes pile up gold and the poor sometimes beg their food, and the honored are enfeoffed as marquises while the lowly become slaves. It is not that Heaven is one-sided in what it gives and bestows, but that men and things are thick or thin in the nature they receive.
Men may alike practice the Way and virtue, and disaster and blessing are not even. They may alike do humaneness and rightness, and benefit and harm are not the same. Duke Wen of Jin cultivated the virtue of civil rule and King Yan of Xu practiced humaneness and rightness, and Duke Wen was rewarded for it while King Yan was broken and destroyed by it.
魯人為父報仇，安行不走，追者舍之；牛缺為盜所奪，和意不恐，盜還殺之。文德與仁義同，不走與不恐等，然文公、魯人得福，偃王、牛缺得禍者，文公、魯人幸，而偃王、牛缺不幸也。韓昭侯醉臥而寒，典冠加之以衣，覺而問之，知典冠愛己也，以越職之故，加之以罪，衛之驂乘者見御者之過，從後呼車，有救危之義，不被其罪。夫驂乘之呼車，典冠之加衣，同一意也。加衣恐主之寒，呼車恐君之危，仁惠之情，俱發於心。然而於韓有罪，於衛為忠，驂乘偶，典冠不偶也。
A man of Lu avenged his father and walked away calmly without running, and his pursuers let him go. Niu Que was robbed by bandits and was calm in mind and not afraid, and the bandits turned and killed him. The virtue of civil rule and humaneness and rightness are alike, and not running and not fearing are equal, yet Duke Wen and the man of Lu got blessing while King Yan and Niu Que got disaster. It is that Duke Wen and the man of Lu were lucky, and King Yan and Niu Que were unlucky.
Marquis Zhao of Han lay drunk and was cold, and the keeper of the cap (典冠) covered him with a robe. When he woke he asked about it and knew that the keeper of the cap cared for him, but because the man had gone beyond his office he laid a punishment on him. In Wei the side rider (驂乘) saw the driver's fault and called to the carriage from behind, and because there was rightness in his saving it from danger he was not punished. Now the side rider's calling to the carriage and the keeper of the cap's covering with a robe were one and the same intention. Covering with a robe came of fearing the ruler would be cold, and calling to the carriage came of fearing the ruler would be in danger, and the feeling of kindness and mercy rose from the heart in both. Yet in Han it was a crime and in Wei it was loyalty. The side rider's chance matched, and the keeper of the cap's chance did not match.
非唯人行，物亦有之。長數仞之竹，大連抱之木，工技之人裁而用之，或成器而見舉持，或遺材而遭廢棄。非工技之人有愛憎也，刀斧如有偶然也。蒸谷為飯，釀飯為酒。酒之成也，甘苦異味；飯之熟也，剛柔殊和。非庖廚酒人有意異也，手指之調有偶適也。調飯也殊筐而居，甘酒也異器而處，虫墮一器，酒棄不飲；鼠涉一筐，飯捐不食。夫百草之類，皆有補益，遭醫人采掇，成為良葯；或遺枯澤，為火所爍。等之金也，或為劍戟，或為鋒。同之木也，或梁於宮，或柱於橋。俱之火也，或爍脂燭，或燔枯草。均之土也，或基殿堂，或塗軒戶。皆之水也，或溉鼎釜，或澡腐臭。物善惡同，遭為人用，其不幸偶，猶可傷痛，況含精氣之徒乎！
It is not only in men's conduct. Things have it too. Bamboo several ren tall and trees a full arm span thick are cut and used by the craftsman, and some become vessels and are picked up and carried about, and others are left as timber and meet with being thrown away. It is not that the craftsman loves one and hates another. It is that the knife and the axe happened to fall so.
Grain is steamed to make cooked rice, and cooked rice is fermented to make wine. When the wine is made, sweet and bitter differ in taste, and when the rice is done, firm and soft differ in evenness. It is not that the cook and the brewer meant anything different. It is that the blending of the fingers happened to come out right. Rice of the same blend is put away in different baskets and sweet wine is kept in different vessels, and if an insect falls into one vessel that wine is thrown out and not drunk, and if a rat runs over one basket that rice is thrown out and not eaten.
All the hundred plants are of some benefit. Meeting a physician who gathers them they become good medicine, and some are left by a marsh and dry up and are burned by fire. The same metal becomes a sword or a spear in one place and a blade in another. The same wood becomes a beam in a palace in one place and a pillar of a bridge in another. The same fire melts an oil candle in one place and burns dry grass in another. The same earth is the ground of a hall in one place and is daubed on a door in another. The same water fills a cauldron in one place and washes away what is rotten in another. Things are alike in being good or bad, and in their use by men their ill luck and their unmatched chance are painful enough to see. How much more so for the kind that holds the essential breath!
虞舜聖人也，在世宜蒙全安之福。父頑母，弟象敖狂，無過見憎，不惡而得罪，不幸甚矣。孔子，舜之次也。生無尺土，周流應聘，削跡絕糧。俱以聖才，并不幸偶。舜尚遭堯受禪，孔子已死於闕里。以聖人之才，猶不幸偶，庸人之中，被不幸偶，禍必眾多矣。
Shun of Yu was a sage, and being in the world he ought to have received the blessing of wholeness and peace. His father was dull and his mother was foolish, and his younger brother Xiang was arrogant and wild, so that he was hated without fault and got blame without doing evil. His ill luck was extreme. Confucius comes next after Shun. He was born without a foot of land, and he wandered everywhere answering summons, and his tracks were scraped away and his food was cut off. Both had the talent of sages, and both alike were unlucky and their chance did not match. Shun at least met Yao and received the throne yielded to him, but Confucius died at Queli. If with the talent of a sage a man is still unlucky and unmatched, then among common men those who meet ill luck and an unmatched chance must have disasters many indeed.