Chubing — The Endowment at Birth初稟篇
人生性命當富貴者，初稟自然之氣，養育長大，富貴之命效矣。文王得赤雀，武王得白魚、赤烏。儒者論之，以為雀則文王受命；魚烏則武王受命；文、武受命於天，天用雀與魚烏命授之也；天用赤雀命文王，文王不受，天復用魚烏命武王也。若此者謂本無命於天，修己行善，善行聞天，天乃授以帝王之命也。故雀與魚烏，天使為王之命也。王所奉以行誅者也。如實論之，非命也。命，謂初所稟得而生也。人生受性，則受命矣。性命俱稟，同時并得，非先稟性，後乃受命也。何以明之？棄事堯為司馬，居稷官，故為后稷。曾孫公劉居邰，後徙居。後孫古公甫三子太伯、仲雍、季歷，季歷生文王昌。昌在襁褓之中，聖瑞見矣。故古公曰：「我世當有興者，其在昌乎！」於是太伯知之，乃辭之吳，文身斷髪，以讓王季。文王受命，謂此時也，天命在人本矣，太王古公見之早也。此猶為未，文王在母身之中已受命也。王者一受命，內以為性，外以為體。體者，面輔骨法，生而稟之。
When a man is born with a nature and a destiny that are to be rich and noble, he receives at the first the breath of what is so of itself, and when he has been reared and has grown up the destiny of wealth and rank shows itself. King Wen got a red sparrow, and King Wu got a white fish and a red crow. The scholars discuss this and hold that the sparrow was King Wen receiving his destiny, and that the fish and the crow were King Wu receiving his destiny; that King Wen and King Wu received their destiny from Heaven, and Heaven used the sparrow and the fish and the crow to hand it to them; and that Heaven used the red sparrow to give King Wen his destiny, and King Wen did not take it, and so Heaven used the fish and the crow again to give King Wu his destiny. To speak so is to say that at the root there was no destiny in Heaven, and that when a man cultivated himself and did good, and his good deeds were heard in Heaven, Heaven then handed him the destiny of an emperor and king. So they say that the sparrow and the fish and the crow are the destiny by which Heaven makes a man king, and what the king holds up when he carries out his punishments.
Discussed as it truly is, this is not destiny. Destiny means what is received at the first and with which a man is born. When a man is born and receives his nature, he has received his destiny. Nature and destiny are received together and got at one and the same time. It is not that the nature is received first and the destiny after. How is this made plain? Qi (棄) served Yao and became Minister of War (司馬), and he held the office of millet, and so he was called Hou Ji. His great grandson Gong Liu lived at Tai, and later he moved and lived elsewhere. His later descendant Gu Gong Danfu had three sons, Taibo, Zhongyong, and Jili, and Jili begot King Wen, Chang. While Chang was still in swaddling clothes, the omen of a sage appeared. So Gu Gong said, "In my line there should be one who rises, and it will be in Chang!" Then Taibo knew it, and he took his leave and went to Wu, tattooed his body and cut off his hair, and gave way to King Ji. King Wen's receiving of his destiny means this time, for Heaven's destiny was in the man at the root, and the Great King, Gu Gong, saw it early. Even this is not early enough: King Wen had already received his destiny while he was in his mother's body. When a king once receives his destiny, within him it becomes his nature and without it becomes his body. The body means the face and the cheeks and the law of the bones, which he receives at birth.
吏秩百石以上，王侯以下，郎將大夫以至元士，外及刺史太守，居祿秩之吏，稟富貴之命，生而有表見於面。故許負、姑布子卿輒見其驗。仕者隨秩遷轉，遷轉之人或至公卿，命祿尊貴，位望高大。王者尊貴之率，高大之最也，生有高大之命，其時身有尊貴之奇，古公知之，見四乳之怪也。夫四乳，聖人証也。在母身中，稟天聖命，豈長大之後，修行道德，四乳乃生？以四乳論望羊，亦知為胎之時，已受之矣。劉媼息於大澤，夢與神遇，遂生高祖，此時已受命也。光武生於濟陽宮，夜半無火，內中光明。軍下卒蘇永謂公曹史充蘭曰：「此吉事也，毋多言。」此時已受命。獨謂文王、武王得赤雀、魚烏乃受命，非也。上天壹命，王者乃興，不復更命也。得富貴大命，自起王矣。何以驗之？富家之翁，資累千金。生有富骨，治生積貨，至於年老，成為富翁矣。夫王者，天下之翁也，稟命定於身中，猶鳥之別雄雌於卵殼之中也。卵殼孕而雌雄生，日月至而骨節強，強則雄自率將雌。雄非生長之後，或教使為雄，然後乃敢將雌，此氣性剛強自為之矣。夫王者，天下之雄也，其命當王。王命定於懷妊，猶富貴骨生，（有）鳥雄卵成也。非唯人鳥也，萬物皆然。草木生於實核，出土為栽蘗，稍生莖葉，成為長短巨細，皆有實核。王者，長巨之最也。朱草之莖如針，紫芝之栽如豆，成為瑞矣。王者稟氣而生，亦猶此也。
Officers of a hundred piculs and upward, from the kings and marquises down, from the palace commanders and the grandees to the first officers, and beyond them the inspectors and the governors, all the officers who hold emolument and rank receive the destiny of wealth and rank, and from birth they have outward signs to be seen in the face. This is why Xu Fu and Gubu Ziqing saw the proof of it at once. Those in office move and are shifted according to their rank, and some of those who are shifted reach the highest offices, their destiny and emolument honored and noble, their place and their fame high and great. The king is the chief of the honored and noble and the highest of the high and great, and he is born with a high and great destiny, and at that time his body has the rarity of honor and nobility. Gu Gong knew it because he saw the strangeness of the four nipples. The four nipples are the proof of a sage. While he was in his mother's body he received from Heaven the destiny of a sage. Would the four nipples grow only after he had grown up and had cultivated and practiced the way and its power? Reasoning from the four nipples to the eyes that looked upward, it can be known that this too was already received while he was in the womb.
Dame Liu rested by a great marsh and dreamed that she met a spirit, and so she bore Gaozu, and at that time he had already received his destiny. Guangwu was born in the palace of Jiyang, and at midnight, with no fire there, it was bright within. Su Yong, a soldier of the camp, said to Chong Lan, the clerk of the office, "This is a lucky thing. Do not talk much of it." At that time he had already received his destiny. To say that King Wen and King Wu received their destiny only when they got the red sparrow and the fish and the crow is wrong. When high Heaven gives the destiny once, the king then rises, and it does not give the destiny over again. Having got the great destiny of wealth and rank, a man rises of himself and is king.
How is this proved? The old man of a rich house piles up a thousand in gold. He was born with the bones of wealth, he ordered his living and gathered goods, and when his years grew old he had become a rich old man. The king is the old man of the world, and the destiny he receives is fixed within his body, as a bird is parted into male and female within the shell of the egg. The egg is brooded and the male and the female come forth, and when the days and the months have come the bones and joints grow strong, and being strong the male of himself leads the female. It is not that after the male is born and grown someone teaches him to be male, and only then does he dare to lead the female. His breath and his nature are hard and strong, and he does it of himself. The king is the male of the world, and his destiny is to be king. The destiny of a king is fixed at the conceiving, just as the bones of wealth and rank are there at birth and the male bird is made within the egg. It is not men and birds alone: all things are so. Grasses and trees are born from fruit and seed. They come out of the earth as shoots, little by little they put out stalk and leaf, and they become long or short, great or small, and all of it is in the fruit and the seed. The king is the greatest of the long and the great. The stalk of the scarlet plant (朱草) is like a needle and the shoot of the purple fungus is like a bean, and they grow to be auspicious signs. The king receives breath and is born, and it is just like this.
或曰：「王者生稟天命，及其將王，天復命之，猶公卿以下，詔書封拜，乃敢即位。赤雀魚烏，上天封拜之命也。天道人事，有相命使之義。自然無為，天之道也。命文以赤雀，武以白魚，是有為也。管仲與鮑叔分財取多，鮑叔不與，管仲不求。內有以相知，視彼猶我，取之不疑。
Someone says, "A king at his birth receives the destiny of Heaven, and when he is about to be king Heaven gives him the destiny again, as the high ministers and those below them dare to take their places only after a decree has enfeoffed and appointed them. The red sparrow and the fish and the crow are high Heaven's destiny of enfeoffing and appointing. In the way of Heaven and the affairs of men there is the sense of the one commanding and employing the other."
To be so of itself and to do nothing, this is the way of Heaven. To give King Wen his destiny by a red sparrow and King Wu his by a white fish is to do something. When Guan Zhong divided goods with Bao Shu and took the larger share, Bao Shu did not hand it to him and Guan Zhong did not ask for it. Within, they knew each other, and each looked on the other as on himself, and so he took it without doubting.
聖人起王，猶管之取財也。朋友彼我，無有授與之義；上天自然，有命使之驗。是則天道有為，朋友自然也。當漢祖斬大蛇之時，誰使斬者？豈有天道先至，而乃敢斬之哉！勇氣奮發，性自然也，夫斬大蛇，誅秦，殺項，同一實也。周之文、武命伐殷，亦一義也。高祖不受命使之將，獨謂文、武受雀魚之命，誤矣。」難曰：《康王之誥》曰：「冒，聞於上帝，帝休，天乃大命文王。」如無命，史經何為言天乃大命文王？
A sage rising to be king is like Guan Zhong taking the goods. Between friends, between him and me, there is no sense of handing over and giving; yet high Heaven, which is so of itself, is said to have the proof of commanding and employing. That would make the way of Heaven a doing, and friends so of themselves. When the founder of Han cut the great snake, who made him cut it? Did the way of Heaven come to him first, so that only then he dared to cut it? His brave breath rose and broke out, and his nature was so of itself. Cutting the great snake, punishing Qin, and killing Xiang Yu are all one and the same thing. King Wen and King Wu of Zhou receiving the destiny to strike Yin is of one sense with it. Gaozu did not receive a destiny that commanded and led him, and to say that King Wen and King Wu alone received the destiny of the sparrow and the fish is a mistake.
An objection is raised. The Announcement of King Kang says, "It covered all and was heard by the High God, and the High God was pleased, and Heaven then gave King Wen the great destiny." If there were no destiny given, why does the classic of the recorders say that Heaven then gave King Wen the great destiny?
所謂大命者，非天乃命文王也，聖人動作，天命之意也，與天合同，若天使之矣。《書》方激勸康叔，勉使為善，故言文王行道，上聞於天，天乃大命之也。《詩》曰：「乃眷西顧，此惟予度。」與此同義。天無頭面，眷顧如何？人有顧睨，以人效天，事易見，故曰眷顧。天乃大命文王，眷顧之義，實天之命也。何以驗之？夫大人與天地合其德，與日月合其明，與四時合其序，與鬼神合其吉凶，先天而天之違，後天而奉天時。如必須天有命，乃以從事，安得先天而後天乎？以其不待天命，直以心發，故有先天後天之勤。言合天時，故有不違奉天之文。
What is called the great destiny is not that Heaven then gave a command to King Wen. The moving and acting of a sage is the meaning of Heaven's destiny, and it joins and agrees with Heaven, as though Heaven had set him to it. The Shu was just then stirring and urging Kang Shu, pressing him to do good, and so it says that King Wen walked in the way, and that it was heard above in Heaven, and that Heaven then gave him the great destiny. The Shi says, "Then he turned and looked to the west; this is my measure." It has the same sense. Heaven has no head and no face. How should it turn and look? Men turn and glance aside, and Heaven is figured by man so that the thing may be easy to see, and therefore it says turning and looking. "Heaven then gave King Wen the great destiny" has the sense of turning and looking, and this is what the destiny of Heaven truly is.
How is this proved? The great man joins his power with Heaven and Earth, his brightness with the sun and the moon, his order with the four seasons, and his good and ill fortune with the ghosts and the spirits. Going before Heaven, Heaven does not go against him; coming after Heaven, he serves the seasons of Heaven. If he had to wait for Heaven to give a command and only then follow the business, how could he go before Heaven and come after Heaven? Because he does not wait for Heaven's destiny but sets out straight from his heart, there is the diligence of going before Heaven and coming after it. It is said that he joins with the seasons of Heaven, and so there is the text about not going against Heaven and serving it.
《論語》曰：「大哉堯之為君，唯天為大，唯堯則之。」王者則天，不違奉天之義也。推自然之性，與天合同。是則所謂大命文王也，自文王意，文王自為，非天驅赤雀，使告文王，云當為王，乃敢起也。然則文王赤雀，及武王白魚，非天之命昌熾佑也。吉人舉事，無不利者。人徒不召而至，瑞物不招而來，黯然諧合，若或使之，出門聞（告）〔吉〕，顧睨見善，自然道也。文王當興，赤雀適來；魚躍烏飛，武王偶見：非天使雀至白魚來也，吉物動飛而聖遇也。白魚入於王舟，王陽曰：「偶適也。」光祿大夫劉琨前為弘農太守，虎渡何。光武皇帝曰：「偶適自然，非或使之也。」故夫王陽之言適，光武之曰偶，可謂合於自然也。
The Analects says, "Great was Yao as a ruler! Heaven alone is great, and Yao alone took it for his pattern." The king takes Heaven for his pattern, and this is the sense of not going against Heaven and serving it. He pushes out the nature that is so of itself and joins and agrees with Heaven. This is what is called giving King Wen the great destiny. It came from King Wen's own mind and King Wen did it himself. It was not that Heaven drove a red sparrow and made it tell King Wen that he was to be king, and only then did he dare to rise.
That being so, the red sparrow of King Wen and the white fish of King Wu were not Heaven's destiny helping them to flourish. When a lucky man undertakes a thing, there is nothing that does not go to his gain. Men come to him though they are not called, and auspicious things arrive though they are not beckoned. Quietly they meet and agree, as though someone had set it on. He goes out of the door and hears something lucky, and he turns and glances and sees something good. This is the way of what is so of itself. King Wen was to rise, and the red sparrow happened to come; the fish leaped and the crow flew, and King Wu happened to see them. It was not that Heaven made the sparrow come and the white fish arrive. Lucky creatures moved and flew, and the sage met with them. When the white fish came into the king's boat, Wang Yang said, "It happened so." Liu Kun, grandee of the palace, had before been governor of Hongnong, and a tiger crossed the river. Emperor Guangwu said, "It happened of itself. No one set it on." So Wang Yang saying that it happened, and Guangwu saying that it was by chance, may be said to agree with what is so of itself.