Yixu — False Tales of Prodigies異虛篇
殷高宗之時，桑谷俱生於朝，七日而大拱。高宗召其相而問之，相曰：「吾雖知之，弗能言也。」問祖己，祖己曰：「夫桑谷者，野草也，而生於朝，意朝亡乎！」高宗恐駭，側身而行道，思索先王之政，明養老之義，興滅國，繼絕世，舉佚民。桑谷亡。三年之後，諸侯以譯來朝者六國，遂享百年之福。高宗，賢君也，而感桑谷生，而問祖己，行祖己之言，修政改行。桑谷之妖亡，諸侯朝而年長久。修善之義篤，故瑞應之福渥。此虛言也。
In the time of Gaozong of Yin, a mulberry and a paper mulberry grew together in the court, and in seven days they were two arm-spans thick. Gaozong called his prime minister and asked him, and the prime minister said, "Though I know it, I cannot speak of it." He asked Zuji, and Zuji said, "Now the mulberry and the paper mulberry are grasses of the wild, and they have grown in the court. It means, I fear, that the court is to fall!" Gaozong was afraid and shaken. He bore himself humbly and walked in the Way, thought back on the government of the former kings, made clear the duty of caring for the old, raised up fallen states, continued broken lines, and lifted up men who had withdrawn. The mulberry and the paper mulberry disappeared. Three years later, six states among the feudal lords came to court through interpreters, and in the end he enjoyed a blessing of a hundred years. Gaozong was a worthy lord. He was moved by the growing of the mulberry and the paper mulberry, asked Zuji, acted on Zuji's words, mended his government, and changed his conduct. The uncanny thing of the mulberry and the paper mulberry disappeared, the feudal lords came to court, and his years were long and lasting. Because his purpose in cultivating goodness was deep, the blessing of an answering omen was rich. These are empty words.
祖己之言「朝當亡」（哉）〔者〕，夫朝之當亡，猶人當死。人欲死，怪出。國欲亡，期盡。人死命終，死不復生，亡不復存。祖己之言政，何益於不亡？高宗之修行，何益於除禍？夫家人見凶修善，不能得吉；高宗見妖改政，安能除禍？除禍且不能，況能招致六國，延期至百年乎！故人之死生，在於命之夭壽，不在行之善惡；國之存亡，在期之長短，不在於政之得失。案祖己之占，桑谷為亡之妖，亡象已見，雖修孝行，其何益哉！何以效之？
As to Zuji's saying that the court was bound to fall: a court that is bound to fall is like a man who is bound to die. When a man is about to die, a strange thing comes out; when a state is about to fall, its term is spent. When a man dies and his destiny is finished, the dead does not live again, and the fallen state does not stand again. What gain, toward not falling, was there in Zuji's speaking of government? What gain, toward sweeping away disaster, was there in Gaozong's cultivating his conduct? When a household sees an ill sign and cultivates goodness, it cannot get good fortune; how then could Gaozong, seeing an uncanny thing and mending his government, sweep away disaster? If he could not even sweep away the disaster, how much less could he draw in six states and stretch the term to a hundred years! Therefore the death and life of a man lie in whether his destiny is short or long, not in whether his conduct is good or evil; and the standing or falling of a state lies in whether its term is long or short, not in whether its government succeeds or fails. Consider: if by Zuji's divination the mulberry and the paper mulberry were the uncanny sign of a fall, then the shape of the fall had already appeared, and though he cultivated filial conduct, what gain was there in it! By what is it examined?
魯昭公之時，鵒來巢。師己采文、成之世童謠之語有鵒之言，見今有來巢之驗，則占謂之凶。其後，昭公為季氏所逐，出於齊，國果空虛，都有虛驗。故野鳥來巢，師己處之，禍（意）〔竟〕如占。使昭公聞師己之言，修行改政為善，居高宗之操，終不能消。何則？鵒之謠已兆，出奔之禍已成也。鵒之兆，已出於文、？成之世矣。根生，葉安得不茂；源發，流安得不廣。此尚為近，未足以言之。夏將衰也，二龍戰於庭，吐而去，夏王櫝而藏之。夏亡，傳於殷；殷亡，傳於周，皆莫之發。至幽王之時，發而視之，流於庭，化為玄黿，走入後宮，與婦人交，遂生褒姒。褒姒歸周，歷王惑亂，國遂滅亡。
In the time of Duke Zhao of Lu, mynahs came and nested. Shi Ji drew on the children's rhyme of the age of Duke Wen and Duke Cheng, in which there were words about mynahs, and seeing that there was now the proof of their coming to nest, he divined and called it ill. Afterward Duke Zhao was driven out by the Ji clan and went out to Qi, and the state was indeed left empty; so there had been proof that the capital would be empty. Thus Shi Ji reckoned the coming of the wild birds to nest, and the disaster was in the end as he had divined. Had Duke Zhao heard Shi Ji's words and cultivated his conduct, mended his government and made it good, and held to the bearing of Gaozong, in the end he could not have made it vanish. Why? The rhyme of the mynahs had already shown the sign, and the disaster of his flight was already made. The sign of the mynahs had come out in the age of Duke Wen and Duke Cheng. When the root grows, how should the leaves not be thick? When the source breaks open, how should the stream not be wide? This is still a near example, and not enough to speak by.
When Xia was about to decline, two dragons fought in the courtyard, spat, and went away, and the king of Xia put it in a box and kept it. When Xia fell it was passed to Yin; when Yin fell it was passed to Zhou; and none of them opened it. When it came to the time of King You, they opened it and looked, and it flowed over the courtyard and turned into a black turtle, which ran into the women's quarters and had dealings with a woman, and so Bao Si was born. When Bao Si came into Zhou, King Li was led astray into disorder, and the state at last perished.
幽、歷王之去夏世，以為千數歲，二龍戰時，幽、厲、褒姒等未為人也。周亡之妖，已出久矣。妖出，禍安得不就？瑞見，福安得不至？若二龍戰時言曰：「余，褒之二君也。」是則褒姒當生之驗也。龍稱褒，褒姒不得不生，生則厲王不得不惡，惡則國不得不亡。徵已見，雖五聖十賢相與卻之，終不能消。善惡同實，善祥出，國必興；惡祥見，朝必亡。謂惡異可以善行除，是謂善瑞可以惡政滅也。
King You and King Li are reckoned a thousand years and more away from the age of Xia, and when the two dragons fought, King You, King Li, Bao Si, and the rest were not yet men. The uncanny sign of Zhou's fall had come out long before. When the uncanny sign has come out, how should the disaster not be accomplished? When the good omen appears, how should the blessing not arrive? At the time when the two dragons fought they said, "We are the two lords of Bao." This then is the proof that Bao Si was bound to be born. Since the dragons named Bao, Bao Si could not but be born; once she was born, King Li could not but be evil; and once he was evil, the state could not but fall. Once the sign has appeared, though five sages and ten worthies should join to drive it back, in the end they could not make it vanish. Good and evil are the same in substance: when a good portent comes out, the state is bound to rise; when an evil portent appears, the court is bound to fall. To say that an evil strange event can be swept away by good conduct is to say that a good omen can be wiped out by evil government.
河源出於昆侖，其流播於九河。使堯、禹卻以善政，終不能還者，水勢當然，人事不能禁也。河源不可禁，二龍不可除，則桑谷不可卻也。王命之當興也，猶春氣之當為夏也。其當亡也，猶秋氣之當為冬也。見春之微葉，知夏有莖葉。睹秋之零實，知冬之枯萃。桑谷之生，其猶春葉秋實也，必然猶驗之。今詳修政改行，何能除之？
The source of the He comes out of Kunlun, and its flow spreads into nine branches. That Yao and Yu could not turn it back in the end even by good government is because the force of the water is bound to be so and the affairs of men cannot stop it. If the source of the He cannot be stopped and the two dragons cannot be swept away, then the mulberry and the paper mulberry cannot be driven back either. That a king's destiny is bound to rise is like the breath of spring being bound to become summer; that it is bound to fall is like the breath of autumn being bound to become winter. Seeing the small leaves of spring, one knows that in summer there will be stems and leaves. Seeing the fruit falling in autumn, one knows the withering and drying of winter. The growing of the mulberry and the paper mulberry is like the leaves of spring and the fruit of autumn, and that it must be so is proved all the more. Now though one mend his government and change his conduct, how can he sweep it away?
夫以周亡之祥，見於夏時，又何以知桑谷之生，不為紂亡出乎！或時祖己言之，信野草之占，失遠近之實。高宗問祖己之後，側身行道，六國諸侯偶朝而至，高宗之命自長未終，則謂起桑谷之問，改行修行，享百年之福矣。夫桑谷之生，殆為紂出，亦或時吉而不凶，故殷朝不亡，高宗壽長。祖己信野草之占，謂之當亡之徵。
Now since the portent of Zhou's fall appeared in the time of Xia, how is it known that the growing of the mulberry and the paper mulberry did not come out on account of the fall of Zhou (紂)? Perhaps when Zuji spoke he trusted the divination of the wild grasses and lost the true measure of far and near. After Gaozong asked Zuji he bore himself humbly and walked in the Way; the feudal lords of six states happened to arrive at court, and Gaozong's destiny was of itself long and not yet finished; and so it was said that he raised the question of the mulberry and the paper mulberry, changed and cultivated his conduct, and enjoyed a blessing of a hundred years. Now the growing of the mulberry and the paper mulberry perhaps came out on account of Zhou (紂), or perhaps it was auspicious and not ill, and so the court of Yin did not fall and Gaozong lived long. It was Zuji who trusted the divination of the wild grasses and called it the sign of a fall that was bound to come.
漢孝武皇帝之時，獲白麟戴兩角而共，使謁者終軍議之。軍曰：「夫野獸而共一角，象天下合同為一也。」麒麟野獸也，桑谷野草也，俱為野物，獸草何別？終軍謂獸為吉，祖己謂野草為凶。高宗祭成湯之廟，有蜚雉升鼎而。
In the time of Emperor Xiaowu of Han a white qilin was taken, bearing two horns joined into one, and he had the usher Zhongjun discuss it. Zhongjun said, "Now that a beast of the wild should have its horns joined in one is an image of all under Heaven joining and becoming one." The qilin is a beast of the wild, and the mulberry and the paper mulberry are grasses of the wild; both are things of the wild, so what difference is there between the beast and the grasses? Zhongjun called the beast auspicious, and Zuji called the wild grasses ill. When Gaozong sacrificed at the shrine of Cheng Tang, a pheasant flew up onto the tripod and cried.
祖己以為遠人將有來者，說《尚書》家謂雉凶，議駁不同。且從祖己之言，雉來吉也，雉伏於野草之中，草覆野鳥之形，若民人處草廬之中，可謂其人吉而廬凶乎？民人入都，不謂之凶，野草生朝，何故不吉？雉則民人之類。如謂含血者吉，長狄來至，是吉也，何故謂之凶？如以從夷狄來者不吉，介葛盧來朝，是凶也。如以草木者為凶，朱草莢出，是不吉也。朱草莢，皆草也，宜生於野而生於朝，是為不吉。何故謂之瑞？一野之物來至或出，吉凶異議。朱草莢善草，故為吉，則是以善惡為吉凶，不以都野為好丑也。周時天下太平，越嘗獻雉於周公。
Zuji took it that men from afar were about to come, while those who expound the Shangshu say that the pheasant was ill; so the discussions differ and do not agree. And if, following Zuji's words, the coming of the pheasant was auspicious: the pheasant crouches among the wild grasses, and the grass covers the body of the wild bird, just as the people live in huts of thatch. Can one say that the man is auspicious and the hut ill? When the people come into the capital it is not called ill; then when wild grasses grow in the court, for what reason is it called not auspicious? The pheasant is of the kind of the people. If what holds blood is auspicious, then the coming of the Changdi was auspicious too; for what reason was it called ill? If what comes from the barbarians is not auspicious, then Jie Gelu coming to court was ill. If grasses and trees are taken for ill, then the coming out of the scarlet plant (朱草) and the calendar pod plant (蓂莢) was not auspicious. The scarlet plant and the calendar pod plant are both grasses, and they ought to grow in the wild but grew in the court, so this is not auspicious. For what reason are they called good omens? The same things of the wild come or come out, and the discussion of auspicious and ill differs. If the scarlet plant and the calendar pod plant are good grasses and are therefore called auspicious, then it is good and evil that make the auspicious and the ill, and not the capital and the wild that make the fair and the foul. In the time of Zhou all under Heaven was at peace, and Yuechang presented a pheasant to the Duke of Zhou.
高宗得之而言。雉亦草野之物，何以為吉？如以雉所分有似於士，則亦仍有似君子；公孫朮得白鹿，占何以凶？然則雉之吉凶未可知，則夫桑谷之善惡未可驗也。桑谷或善物，象遠方之士將皆立於高宗之廟，故高宗獲吉福，享長久也。
Gaozong got it and spoke. The pheasant too is a thing of the grass and the wild; how is it called auspicious? If the divisions of the pheasant are said to have something like the scholar in them, then they will have something like the noble man in them as well; yet when Gongsun Shu got a white deer, why was the divination ill? That being so, if the auspicious or ill of the pheasant cannot be known, then the good or bad of the mulberry and the paper mulberry cannot be proved either. The mulberry and the paper mulberry were perhaps good things, an image that scholars of far regions would all stand in Gaozong's shrine, and so Gaozong got an auspicious blessing and enjoyed a long and lasting span.
說災異之家以為天有災異者，所以譴告王者，信也。
Those who speak of calamities and strange events hold that Heaven has calamities and strange events in order to reprove and warn the king, and this is believed.
夫王者有過，異見於國；不改，災見草木；不改，災見於五谷；不改，災至身。左氏《春秋傳》曰：「國之將亡，鮮不五稔。」災見於五谷，五谷安得熟？不熟，將亡之徵。災亦有且亡五谷不熟之應。（天）〔夫〕不熟，或為災，或為福。禍福之實未可知，桑谷之言安可審？論說之家著於書記者皆云：「天雨谷者凶。」
Now when a king has a fault, a strange event appears in the state; if he does not mend it, a calamity appears in the grasses and trees; if he does not mend it, a calamity appears in the five grains; if he does not mend it, the calamity reaches his person. The Chunqiu zhuan of Zuo says, "When a state is about to fall, it is rare that there are not five ripenings." When a calamity appears in the five grains, how can the five grains ripen? Their not ripening is the sign of a fall to come. And among calamities there is also the answering sign that the five grains do not ripen when a fall is coming. Now the not ripening is sometimes a calamity and sometimes a blessing. If the truth of disaster and blessing cannot be known, how can the word about the mulberry and the paper mulberry be settled? Those who discuss and speak and set it down in their writings all say, "When Heaven rains grain, it is ill."
（書）傳〔書〕曰：「蒼頡作書，天雨谷，鬼夜哭。」此方凶惡之應和者，天（何）〔偶〕用成谷之道，從天降而和，且猶謂之善，況所成之谷從雨下乎！極論訂之，何以為凶？夫陰陽和則谷稼成，不則被災害。陰陽和者，谷之道也，何以謂之凶？絲成帛，縷成布。賜人絲縷，猶為重厚，況遺人以成帛與織布乎！夫絲縷猶陰陽，帛布猶成谷也。賜人帛不謂之惡，天與之谷何故謂之凶？夫雨谷吉凶未可定，桑谷之言未可知也。
The transmitted books say, "When Cangjie made writing, Heaven rained grain and the ghosts wailed by night." If this is to be called the answering of ill and evil, then Heaven happened to use the way by which grain is made and came down from Heaven and was even, and this would still be called good; how much more when the grain already made comes down with the rain! Push the argument to its end and set it right: what is ill in it? Now when yin and yang are even, the grain crop is made; when they are not, it suffers harm. The evenness of yin and yang is the way of grain; how then is it called ill? Silk makes silk cloth, and yarn makes hempen cloth. To give a man silk and yarn is already generous; how much more to send a man finished silk cloth and woven hemp! Now silk and yarn are like yin and yang, and silk cloth and hemp are like grain already made. To give a man silk cloth is not called evil; then for what reason is Heaven's giving grain called ill? Since the auspicious or ill of a rain of grain cannot be settled, the word about the mulberry and the paper mulberry cannot be known either.
使暢草生於周之時，天下太平，人來獻暢草。暢草亦草野之物也，與彼桑谷何異？如以夷狄獻之則為吉，使暢草生於周家，肯謂之善乎！夫暢草可以熾釀，芬香暢達者，將祭灌暢降神。設自生於周朝，與嘉禾、朱草、莢之類不殊矣。然則桑亦食蠶，蠶為絲，絲為帛，帛為衣。衣以入宗廟為朝服，與暢無異。何以謂之凶？衛獻公太子至靈台，蛇繞左輪。御者曰：「太子下拜，吾聞國君之子，蛇繞車輪左者速得國。」太子遂不下，反乎舍。御人見太子，太子曰：「吾聞為人子者，盡和順於君，不行私欲，共嚴承令，不逆君安。今吾得國，是君失安也。見國之利而忘君安，非子道也。得國而拜，其非君欲。廢子道者不孝，逆君欲則不忠。而欲我行之，殆吾欲國之危明也。」投殿將死，其御止之不能禁，遂伏劍而死。夫蛇繞左輪，審為太子速得國，太子宜不死，獻公宜疾薨。今獻公不死，太子伏劍，御者之占，俗之虛言也。或時蛇為太子將死之妖，御者信俗之占，故失吉凶之實。夫桑谷之生，與蛇饒左輪相似類也。蛇至實凶，御者以為吉。桑谷實吉，祖己以為凶。禹南濟於江，有黃龍負舟。舟中之人，五色無主。禹乃嘻笑而稱曰：「我受命於天，竭力以勞萬民。生寄也，死歸也。死歸也，何足以滑和，視龍猶蜓也。」龍去而亡。
Take the changcao: in the time of Zhou all under Heaven was at peace, and men came and presented the changcao. The changcao too is a thing of the grass and the wild; how does it differ from that mulberry and paper mulberry? If what the barbarians present is called auspicious, then had the changcao grown in the house of Zhou, would they have been willing to call it good? Now the changcao can be brewed into liquor, and its fragrance spreads far; it is for pouring the chang libation at the sacrifice to bring the spirits down. Suppose it had grown of itself in the court of Zhou: it would have been no different from the fine grain, the scarlet plant, the calendar pod plant, and their kind. That being so, the mulberry too feeds silkworms, the silkworm makes silk, the silk makes silk cloth, and the silk cloth makes clothing. The clothing becomes the court robe worn into the ancestral shrine, and so it is no different from the changcao. How then is it called ill?
The crown prince of Duke Xian of Wei came to the Lingtai, and a snake wound around the left wheel. The driver said, "Let my prince get down and bow. I have heard that when a snake winds around the left wheel of the carriage of a lord's son, he will quickly get the state." The prince in the end did not get down, but turned back to his house. The driver came before the prince, and the prince said, "I have heard that one who is a son to another gives his whole harmony and obedience to his lord, does not act on private desire, receives his commands with respect and strictness, and does not go against his lord's peace. Now if I get the state, this is that my lord loses his peace. To see the gain of the state and forget the peace of one's lord is not the way of a son. To bow because one will get the state is not what one's lord desires. To cast aside the way of a son is unfilial, and to go against one's lord's desire is disloyal. Yet you would have me do it; it is clear, I fear, that I wish the state to be in danger." He threw himself down in the hall, meaning to die; his driver tried to stop him and could not hold him back, and at last he fell on his sword and died. Now if the snake winding around the left wheel truly meant that the prince would quickly get the state, then the prince ought not to have died and Duke Xian ought to have died soon. As it was, Duke Xian did not die and the prince fell on his sword; so the driver's divination was an empty saying of the common sort. Perhaps the snake was the uncanny sign that the prince was about to die, and the driver trusted the common divination and so lost the truth of auspicious and ill. Now the growing of the mulberry and the paper mulberry is of a kind with the snake winding around the left wheel. The snake's coming was truly ill, and the driver called it auspicious; the mulberry and the paper mulberry were truly auspicious, and Zuji called them ill.
When Yu crossed the Jiang to the south, a yellow dragon carried the boat on its back. The men in the boat lost all mastery of their color. Yu then laughed lightly and said, "I received my destiny from Heaven, and I spend my strength toiling for the ten thousand people. To live is to be lodged here, and to die is to go home. Since dying is going home, what is there in it to trouble the peace of my mind? I look on the dragon as I would on a lizard." The dragon went away and was gone.
案古今龍至皆為吉，而禹獨謂黃龍凶者，見其負舟，舟中之人恐也。夫以桑谷比於龍，吉凶雖反，蓋相似。野草生於朝，尚為不吉，殆有若黃龍負舟之異。故為吉而殷朝不亡。
Consider that in old times and now the coming of a dragon has always been auspicious, and that Yu alone called the yellow dragon ill because he saw it carrying the boat and the men in the boat afraid. Now if the mulberry and the paper mulberry are set beside the dragon, then though the auspicious and the ill are reversed, the two are alike. That wild grasses growing in the court was still called not auspicious is perhaps because it had something of the strange event of the yellow dragon carrying the boat. And so it was auspicious, and the court of Yin did not fall.
晉文公將與楚成王戰於城濮，彗星出楚。楚操其柄，以問咎犯，咎犯對曰：「以彗斗，倒之者勝。」文公夢與成王博，成王在上，其腦。問咎犯，咎犯曰：「君得天而成王伏其罪，戰必大勝。」文公從之，大破楚師。向令文公問庸臣，必曰：「不勝。」何則？彗星無吉，搏在（上）〔下〕，（無）凶也。夫桑谷之占，占為凶，猶晉當彗末博在下為不吉也。然而吉者，殆有若對彗見天之詭。故高宗長久，殷朝不亡。使文公不問咎犯，咎犯不明其吉，戰以大勝，世人將曰：「文公以至賢之德，破楚之無道。天雖見妖，臥有凶夢，猶滅妖消凶以獲福。」殷無咎犯之異知，而有祖机信常之占，故桑谷之文，傳世不絕，轉禍為福之言，到今不實。
When Duke Wen of Jin was about to fight King Cheng of Chu at Chengpu, a comet came out on the side of Chu. Chu held its handle, and he asked Jiu Fan about it. Jiu Fan answered, "When men fight with a broom, the one who holds it upside down wins." Duke Wen dreamed that he wrestled with King Cheng, and King Cheng was above him and sucked his brain. He asked Jiu Fan, and Jiu Fan said, "My lord has got Heaven, and King Cheng lies prostrate under his crime. If you fight, you will surely win a great victory." Duke Wen followed him and broke the army of Chu utterly. Had Duke Wen asked a common minister, that man would surely have said, "You will not win." Why? Because a comet has nothing auspicious in it, and to be underneath in wrestling is ill. Now the divination of the mulberry and the paper mulberry was divined as ill, just as Jin facing the tail of the broom and being underneath in the wrestling was not auspicious. Yet it turned out auspicious, perhaps because there was a reversal like that of facing the comet and seeing Heaven. And so Gaozong was long-lived and the court of Yin did not fall. Had Duke Wen not asked Jiu Fan, and had Jiu Fan not made clear that it was auspicious, and had he fought and won a great victory, the men of the world would have said, "Duke Wen with virtue of the highest worth broke the lawlessness of Chu. Though Heaven showed an uncanny sign and he had an ill dream as he lay, still he wiped out the uncanny sign and made the ill vanish and so got his blessing." Yin had no one with the rare knowledge of Jiu Fan, and had only Zuji's divination that trusted the common run of things; and so the writing about the mulberry and the paper mulberry has been handed down through the ages unbroken, and the saying that disaster was turned into blessing is untrue to this day.