Dinggui — What Ghosts Really Are訂鬼篇
凡天地之間有鬼，非人死精神為之也，皆人思念存想之所致也。致之何由？由於疾病。人病則憂懼，憂懼見鬼出。凡人不病則不畏懼。故得病寢衽，畏懼鬼至；畏懼則存想，存想則目虛見。何以效之？傳曰：「伯樂學相馬，顧玩所見無非馬者。宋之庖丁學解牛，三年不見生牛，所見皆死牛也。」
That there are ghosts between Heaven and earth is not because the spirits of dead men make them; they are all brought on by what men think and picture in the mind. What brings this on? Sickness brings it on. When a man is sick he grieves and fears, and grieving and fearing he sees ghosts come forth. A man who is not sick does not fear. So when he takes sick and lies down on his mat he fears that a ghost will come; fearing, he pictures it in his mind; picturing it, his eyes see what is not there. How is this proved? A tradition says, "Bo Le studied the judging of horses, and in all he turned to look on with pleasure there was nothing that was not a horse. Pao Ding of Song studied the carving of oxen, and for three years he did not see a living ox; all that he saw were dead oxen."
二者用精至矣。思念存想，自見異物也。人病見鬼，猶伯樂之見馬，庖丁之見牛也。伯樂、庖丁所見非馬與牛，則亦知夫病者所見非鬼也。病者困劇身體痛，則謂鬼持箠杖毆擊之，若見鬼把椎鎖繩立守其旁，病痛恐懼，妄見之也。初疾畏驚，見鬼之來；疾困恐死，見鬼之怒；身自疾痛，見鬼之擊：皆存想虛致，未必有其實也。夫精念存想，或泄於目，或泄於口，或泄於耳。泄於目，目見其形；泄於耳，耳聞其聲；泄於口，口言其事。晝日則鬼見，暮臥則夢聞。獨臥空室之中，若有所畏懼，則夢見夫人據案其身哭矣。覺見臥聞，俱用精神，畏懼存想，同一實也。
In these two the use of the mind was at its height. Thinking and picturing, they saw of themselves things that were not there. A sick man's seeing of ghosts is like Bo Le's seeing of horses and Pao Ding's seeing of oxen. If what Bo Le and Pao Ding saw were not horses and oxen, then one knows that what the sick man sees is not a ghost. When a sick man is worn down and his body aches, he says that a ghost holds a whip and a staff and beats him, or he sees a ghost gripping a mallet, a lock and a rope, standing guard at his side. He is sick and in pain and afraid, and sees it falsely. At the first of the sickness he is afraid and startled, and sees the ghost come; when the sickness wears him down and he fears death, he sees the ghost angry; when his body aches of itself, he sees the ghost strike him. All of this is brought on emptily by picturing in the mind, and need not have any reality in it. Now close thought and picturing may leak out at the eyes, or at the mouth, or at the ears. Leaking at the eyes, the eyes see its shape; leaking at the ears, the ears hear its voice; leaking at the mouth, the mouth speaks the matter. By day the ghost is seen, and lying down at evening he hears it in dreams. Lying alone in an empty room, if there is something he fears, he dreams that a man presses down on his body and wails. Seeing while awake and hearing while lying down both use the spirit, and fearing and picturing in the mind are one and the same reality.
一曰：人之見鬼，目光與臥亂也。人之晝也，氣倦精盡，夜則欲臥，臥而目光反，反而精神見人物之象矣。人病亦氣倦精盡，目雖不臥，光已亂於臥也，故亦見人物象。病者之見也，若臥若否，與夢相似。當其見也，其人能自知覺與夢，故其見物不能知其鬼與人，精盡氣倦之效也。何以驗之？以狂者見鬼也。狂痴獨語，不與善人相得者，病困精亂也。夫病且死之時，亦與狂等。臥、病及狂，三者皆精衰倦，目光反照，故皆獨見人物之象焉。
One view says: a man sees ghosts because the light of his eyes is confused with sleep. In a man's daytime his breath tires and his essence is spent, and at night he wants to lie down; lying down, the light of his eyes turns back, and turning back, his spirit sees the shapes of men and things. When a man is sick his breath likewise tires and his essence is spent, and though his eyes do not lie down, their light is already confused as in sleep, so he too sees the shapes of men and things. The seeing of a sick man is as if he lay down and as if he did not, and is like a dream. When he sees, the man is able to know for himself waking from dreaming, so in seeing a thing he cannot know a ghost from a man, and this is the proof that the essence is spent and the breath is tired. How is this tested? By the madman's seeing of ghosts. To be mad and foolish, to talk alone, not to get on with sound men, comes of the sickness wearing one down and the essence being confused. When a man is sick and about to die, he is the same as a madman. Sleep, sickness and madness, in all three the essence is weak and tired and the light of the eyes turns back and shines inward, so in all three a man alone sees the shapes of men and things.
一曰：鬼者人所見得病之氣也。氣不知者中人，中人為鬼，其氣象人形而見。故病篤者氣盛，氣盛則象人而至，至則病者見其象矣。假令得病山林之中，其見鬼則見山林之精。人或病越地者，〔其見鬼〕（病）〔則〕見越人坐其側。由此言之，灌夫、竇嬰之徒，或時氣之形象也。凡天地之間氣皆（純）〔統〕於天，天文垂象於上，其氣降而生物。氣和者養生，不和者傷害。本有象於天，則其降下，有形於地矣。故鬼之見也，象氣為之也。眾（星）〔氣〕之體為人與鳥獸，故其病人則見人與鳥獸之形。
One view says: a ghost is the breath of sickness that a man sees. A breath that knows nothing strikes a man, and what strikes the man becomes a ghost, its breath taking the shape of a man and being seen. So when a man is gravely sick the breath is strong, and when the breath is strong it comes in the likeness of a man, and when it comes the sick man sees its shape. Suppose he takes sick in the hills and woods: then in seeing a ghost he sees the essence of the hills and woods. If a man falls sick in the land of Yue, then in seeing a ghost he sees a man of Yue sitting at his side. Speaking from this, the likes of Guan Fu and Dou Ying were perhaps the shapes of such breath. All the breath between Heaven and earth is gathered under Heaven; the patterns of Heaven hang their shapes down from above, and their breath comes down and gives birth to things. Breath that is in harmony nourishes life, and breath that is not in harmony wounds and harms. Since it has a shape in Heaven to begin with, when it comes down it has a form on earth. So the seeing of ghosts is done by the breath of these shapes. The bodies of the many breaths become men and birds and beasts, so when they sicken a man he sees the forms of men and birds and beasts.
一曰：鬼者老物精也。
One view says: a ghost is the essence of an old thing.
夫物之老者，其精為人；亦有未老，性能變化，象人形。人之受氣，有與物同精者，則其物與之交；及病精氣衰劣也，則來犯陵之矣。何以效之？成事，俗間與物交者，見鬼之來也。夫病者所見之鬼，與彼病物何以異？人病見鬼來，象其墓中死人來迎呼之者，宅中之六畜也。及見他鬼非是所素知者，他家若草野之中物為之也。
Now when a thing is old its essence becomes a man, and there are also things not yet old whose nature can change and take a man's shape. Among men who receive breath there are some whose essence is the same as a thing's, and then that thing consorts with them; and when they fall sick and their essence and breath grow weak and poor, it comes to violate and overbear them. How is this proved? In things that have happened: among the common folk, those who consort with such things see ghosts come. How then does the ghost a sick man sees differ from the thing that sickens him? When a man is sick and sees a ghost come, and it takes the likeness of a dead man of his grave mound coming to greet and call him, that is one of the six domestic animals of his house. And when he sees another ghost that is not one he knew before, it is done by a thing of another house, or of the grass and the wilds.
一曰：鬼者本生於人，時不成人，變化而去。天地之性，本有此化，非道術之家所能論辯。與人相觸犯者病，病人命當死，死者不離人。何以明之？《禮》曰：「顓頊氏有三子，生而亡去為疫鬼：一居江水，是為虐鬼；一居若水，是為魍魎鬼；一居人宮室區隅漚庫，善驚人小兒。」
One view says: ghosts are born of men to begin with, and at times do not become men but change and depart. In the nature of Heaven and earth there is this change from the first, and it is not something the masters of the arts of the Way are able to argue out. Those whom they touch and violate fall sick, and when a sick man's destiny is due to end, the dying man is not left by them. How is this made clear? The Li says, "Zhuanxu had three sons, who were born and died and departed and became plague ghosts. One dwells in the Jiang River, and this is the cruel ghost (虐鬼); one dwells in the Ruo River, and this is the wangliang ghost (魍魎); one dwells in the corners and the damp storerooms of men's halls and houses, and is good at frightening men's little children."
前顓頊之世，生子必多，若顓頊之鬼神以百數也。諸鬼神有形體法，能立樹與人相見者，皆生於善人，得善人之氣，故能似類善人之形，能與善人相害。陰陽浮游之類，若雲煙之氣，不能為也。
In the age before Zhuanxu the sons born must have been many, so ghosts and spirits like Zhuanxu's would be counted by the hundred. Among the many ghosts and spirits, those that have the manner of a body, that can stand up and be seen by men, are all born of good men and have got the breath of good men, so they can be like the shape of a good man and can do harm to a good man. The drifting and floating kinds of yin and yang, being like the breath of cloud and smoke, cannot do this.
一曰：鬼者甲乙之神也。甲乙者天之別（一本作剛。）氣也，其形象人，人病且死，甲乙之神至矣。假令甲乙之日病，則死見庚辛之神矣。何則？甲乙鬼，庚辛報甲乙，故病人且死，殺鬼之至者，庚辛之神也。何以效之？以甲乙日病者，其死生之期，常在庚辛之日。此非論者所以為實也。天道難知，鬼神暗昧，故具載列，令世察之也。
One view says: a ghost is a spirit of jia and yi. Jia and yi are a separate breath of Heaven, and its shape takes after a man; when a man is sick and about to die, the spirit of jia and yi comes. Suppose he falls sick on a jia or yi day: then at his death he sees the spirit of geng and xin. Why so? Jia and yi are the ghost, and geng and xin repay jia and yi, so when a sick man is about to die, the killing ghost that comes is the spirit of geng and xin. How is this proved? By this, that one who falls sick on a jia or yi day has the term of his death or life always on a geng or xin day. This is not what the one who argues holds to be real. The way of Heaven is hard to know and ghosts and spirits are dark and dim, so it is all set down and laid out, that the age may look into it.
一曰：鬼者物也，與人無異。天地之間，有鬼之物，常在四邊之外，時往來中國，與人雜（則）〔廁〕，凶惡之類也。
One view says: a ghost is a thing, and no different from a man. Between Heaven and earth there are ghost things, always outside the four borders, at times coming and going in the Middle Kingdom and mingling among men; they are of the fierce and evil kind.
故人病且死者，乃見之。天地生物也，有人如鳥獸。及其生凶物，亦有似人象鳥獸者。故凶禍之家，或見蜚尸，或見走凶，或見人形，三者皆鬼也。或謂之鬼，或謂之凶，或謂之魅，或謂之魑，皆生存實有，非虛無象類之也。何以明之？成事，俗間家人且凶，見流光集其室，或見其形若鳥之狀，時流（人）〔入〕堂室，察其不謂若鳥獸矣。夫物有形則能食，能食則便利。便利有驗，則形體有實矣。
So it is men who are sick and about to die that see them. When Heaven and earth give birth to things there are men, and there are birds and beasts. And when they give birth to evil things, there are likewise those that are like men and those that take after birds and beasts. So in a house of ill fortune one sees a flying corpse, or a running evil thing, or a human shape, and all three are ghosts. Some call it gui, some call it xiong, some call it mei, some call it chi, and all of them live and truly exist; they are not empty nothings that merely resemble such kinds. How is this made clear? In things that have happened: among the common folk, when ill fortune is near a household, they see a flowing light gather in the room, or they see its shape like the form of a bird, and at times it flows into the hall and the chamber, and on looking at it they do not say it is like a bird or a beast. Now a thing that has a form is able to eat, and what is able to eat relieves itself. If there is proof in its dung and water, then its body has reality.
《左氏春秋》曰：「投之四裔，以御魑魅。」《山海經》曰：「北方有鬼國。」
The Zuoshi chunqiu says, "They cast them out to the four borders, to ward off the chimei." The Shanhai jing says, "In the north there is a land of ghosts."
說螭者謂之龍物也，而魅與龍相連，魅則龍之類矣。又言：國，人物之党也。《山海經》又曰：滄海之中，有度朔之山。上有大桃木，其屈蟠三千里，其枝間東北曰鬼門，萬鬼所出入也。上有二神人，一曰神荼，一曰郁壘，主閱領萬鬼。惡害之鬼，執以葦索而以食虎。於是黃帝乃作禮以時驅之，立大桃人，門戶畫神荼、郁壘與虎，懸葦索以御凶魅。
Those who explain the chi call it a thing of the dragon, and mei is joined with the dragon, so mei is of the dragon kind. It is said too: a land is a company of men and things. The Shanhai jing says further: In the midst of the Canghai sea there is Mount Dushuo. On it is a great peach tree, and its bending and coiling stretch three thousand li, and between its branches, to the northeast, is what is called the ghost gate, where the ten thousand ghosts go in and out. Above are two divine men, one called Shentu and one called Yulu, who are charged with reviewing and ruling the ten thousand ghosts. Ghosts that are evil and harmful they bind with a reed rope and feed to the tigers. At this the Yellow Emperor made rites to drive them out in season, set up great peach men, painted Shentu and Yulu and a tiger on the gate and door, and hung up a reed rope to ward off the evil mei.
有形，故執以食虎。案可食之物無空虛者，其物也性與人殊，時見時匿，與龍不常見，無以異也。
It has a form, so they bind it and feed it to the tiger. Looking into it, among things that can be eaten there is none that is empty and void. That thing is different from a man in its nature, and is seen at times and hidden at times, no different from the dragon, which is not always seen.
一曰：人且吉凶，妖祥先見。人之且死見百怪。鬼在百怪之中，故妖怪之動，象人之形，或象人之聲為應。故其妖動不離人形。天地之間，妖怪非一，言有妖，聲有妖，文有妖，或妖氣象人之形，或人含氣為妖。〔妖氣〕象人之形，諸所見鬼是也。人含氣為妖，巫之類是也。是以實巫之辭，無所因據，其吉凶自從口出，若童之搖矣。童謠口自言，巫辭意自出。口自言，意自出，則其為人，與聲氣自立，音聲自發，同一實也。
One view says: when good or ill fortune is near a man, the portent and the auspicious sign appear first. When a man is about to die he sees a hundred strange things. Ghosts are among the hundred strange things, so the stirring of portents takes the shape of a man, or takes a man's voice, in answer. So the stirring of a portent does not depart from a man's shape. Between Heaven and earth portents are not of one kind: there are portents in speech, portents in sound, portents in writing; and the breath of a portent may take a man's shape, or a man may hold breath within and become a portent. The breath of a portent taking a man's shape is what all these seen ghosts are. A man holding breath within and becoming a portent is what the shamans and their like are. For this reason the words of a shaman have truly nothing to rest upon; their good and ill fortune come out of the mouth of themselves, like a child's chanting. A child's rhyme is spoken by the mouth of itself, and a shaman's words come out of the mind of themselves. When the mouth speaks of itself and the mind comes out of itself, then the man is one and the same reality with sound and breath that stand of themselves and a voice that arises of itself.
世稱紂之時，夜郊鬼哭；及倉頡作書，鬼夜哭。氣能象人聲而哭，則亦能象人形而見，則人以為鬼矣。鬼之見也，人之妖也。天地之間，禍福之至，皆有兆象，有漸不卒然，有象不猥來。天地之道，入將亡，凶亦出；國將亡，妖亦見。猶人且吉，吉祥至；國且昌，昌瑞至矣。故夫瑞應妖祥，其實一也。而世獨謂鬼者不在妖祥之中，謂鬼猶神而能害人，不通妖祥之道，不睹物氣之變也。國將亡，妖見，其亡非妖也。人將死，鬼來，其死非鬼也。亡國者兵也，殺人者病也。何以明之？
The age tells that in the time of King Zhou ghosts wailed at night in the suburbs, and that when Cang Jie made writing the ghosts wailed at night. If breath is able to take a man's voice and wail, then it is also able to take a man's shape and be seen, and men take it for a ghost. The seeing of a ghost is a man's portent. Between Heaven and earth, when disaster or blessing comes, all of them have their omens and shapes; there is a gradual coming and nothing is sudden, there is a shape and nothing comes at random. In the way of Heaven and earth, when a man is about to perish the evil also comes forth, and when a state is about to perish the portent also appears. It is like a man about to have good fortune, to whom lucky signs come, and a state about to flourish, to which the signs of flourishing come. So auspicious response and portent and auspicious sign are in truth one. Yet the age says that ghosts alone are not among portents and auspicious signs, and says that ghosts are divine and can do harm to men. This is not to understand the way of portents and auspicious signs, and not to see the changes of things and breath. When a state is about to perish the portent appears, but its perishing is not the portent. When a man is about to die the ghost comes, but his death is not the ghost. What destroys a state is soldiers, and what kills a man is sickness. How is this made clear?
齊襄公將為賊所殺，游於姑棼，遂田於貝丘，見大豕。從者曰：「公子彭生也。」公怒曰：「彭生敢見！」引弓射之，豕人立而啼。公懼，墜於車，傷足喪履，而為賊殺之。夫殺襄公者賊也。先見大豕於路，則襄公且死之妖也。人謂之彭生者，有似彭生之狀也。世人皆知殺襄公者非豕，而獨謂鬼能殺人，一惑也。
Duke Xiang of Qi, when he was about to be killed by rebels, roamed at Gufen and then hunted at Beiqiu, and he saw a great boar. One of his followers said, "It is the prince Peng Sheng." The duke said in anger, "Does Peng Sheng dare to show himself!" He drew his bow and shot it, and the boar stood up like a man and cried out. The duke was afraid and fell from his chariot, hurt his foot and lost his shoe, and was killed by the rebels. Now what killed Duke Xiang were rebels. His seeing a great boar on the road beforehand was the portent that Duke Xiang was about to die. Men called it Peng Sheng because it had something like Peng Sheng's look. The men of the age all know that what killed Duke Xiang was not a boar, yet they say that ghosts alone are able to kill men. This is one delusion.
天地之氣為妖者，太陽之氣也。妖與毒同，氣中傷人者謂之毒，氣變化者謂之妖。世謂童謠，熒惑使之，彼言有所見也。
What becomes a portent of the breath of Heaven and earth is the breath of the great yang. Portent is the same as poison: breath that strikes and wounds a man is called poison, and breath that changes is called a portent. The age says that children's rhymes are made by Yinghuo, and that saying has something it has seen.
熒惑火星，火有毒熒。故當熒惑守宿，國有禍敗。火氣恍惚，故妖象存亡。龍，陽物也，故時變化。鬼，陽氣也，時藏時見。陽氣赤，故世人盡見。鬼，其色純朱。蜚凶，陽也。陽，火也。故蜚凶之類為火光，火熱焦物，故止集樹木，枝葉枯死。《鴻范》五行二曰火，五事二曰言。言火同氣，故童謠詩歌為妖言。言出文成，故世有文書之怪。世謂童子為陽，故妖言出於小童。童巫含陽，故大雩之祭，舞童暴巫，雩祭之禮，倍陰合陽。故猶日食陰勝，攻社之陰也。日食陰勝，故攻陰之類；天旱陽勝，故愁陽之党。巫為陽党，故魯僖遭旱，議欲焚巫。巫含陽氣，以故陽地之民多為巫。巫党於鬼，故巫者為鬼巫。鬼巫比於童謠，故巫之審者能處吉凶。吉凶能處，吉凶之徒也，故申生之妖見於巫。巫含陽，能見為妖也。申生為妖，則知杜伯、庄子義厲鬼之徒皆妖也。
Yinghuo is the fire star, and fire has a poisonous glow. So when Yinghuo keeps to a lodging, the state has disaster and defeat. The breath of fire is dim and shifting, so portents take the likeness of being there and not being there. The dragon is a thing of yang, so it changes at times. A ghost is the breath of yang, and is hidden at times and seen at times. The breath of yang is red, so the ghost that the men of the age all see is pure vermilion in color. The flying evil thing is yang. Yang is fire. So things of the flying evil kind become firelight, and the heat of fire scorches things, so where they settle on a tree the branches and leaves wither and die. In the Hongfan the second of the five phases is called fire, and the second of the five affairs is called speech. Speech and fire are of the same breath, so children's rhymes and songs become the speech of portents. Speech comes out and writing is made of it, so in the age there are strange things in documents. The age holds a child to be yang, so the speech of portents comes out of little children. Children and shamans hold yang within, so at the great rain sacrifice children are made to dance and shamans are set out in the sun, and the rite of the rain sacrifice turns its back on yin and joins with yang. So it is like an eclipse of the sun, where yin prevails and the yin of the altar of the soil is attacked. In an eclipse yin prevails, so the kinds belonging to yin are attacked; when Heaven is in drought yang prevails, so the company of yang is made to grieve. Shamans are the company of yang, so when Duke Xi of Lu met with drought there was talk of burning the shamans. Shamans hold the breath of yang within, and for this reason the people of yang lands are often shamans. Shamans are a company of the ghosts, so a shaman is a ghost shaman. The ghost shaman is likened to the children's rhyme, so the shaman who is exact is able to settle good and ill fortune. One who is able to settle good and ill fortune is of the company of good and ill fortune, so the portent of Shensheng appeared to a shaman. Shamans hold yang within, so they are able to be seen and become portents. If Shensheng was a portent, then one knows that Du Bo and Zhuang Ziyi and the like, the vengeful ghosts, were all portents.
杜伯之厲為妖，則其弓矢投措皆妖毒也。妖象人之形，其毒象人之兵。鬼毒同色，故杜伯弓矢皆朱彤也。毒象人之兵，則其中人，人輒死也。中人微者即為腓，病者不即時死。何則？腓者，毒氣所加也。妖或施其毒，不見其體；或見其形，不施其毒；或出其聲，不成其言；或明其言，不知其音。若夫申生，見其體，成其言者也；杜伯之屬，見其體，施其毒者也；詩妖童謠石言之屬，明其言者也；濮水琴聲、紂郊鬼哭，出其聲者也。
If Du Bo's vengeful ghost was a portent, then his throwing and laying on of bow and arrow were all the poison of a portent. The portent takes a man's shape, and its poison takes a man's weapons. Ghost and poison are of the same color, so Du Bo's bow and arrows were all red. If the poison takes a man's weapons, then when it strikes a man, the man dies at once. When it strikes a man only slightly it becomes fei, and the sick man does not die at once. Why so? Fei is what the poisonous breath has added. A portent may deal out its poison and not show its body, or show its shape and not deal out its poison, or give out its voice and not form its words, or make its words plain and one not know its sound. Shensheng was one that showed its body and formed its words; Du Bo and his kind showed their bodies and dealt out their poison; the portents in poems, children's rhymes and the speaking stone are those that made their words plain; the sound of the zither on the Pu River and the ghosts wailing in the suburbs of King Zhou are those that gave out their voice.
妖之見出也，或且凶而豫見，或凶至而因出。因出，則妖與毒俱行。豫見，妖出不能毒。申生之見，豫見之妖也。杜伯、庄子義厲鬼至，因出之妖也。周宣王、燕簡公、宋夜姑時當死，故妖見毒因擊。晉惠公身當獲，命未死，故妖直見毒不射。然則杜伯、庄子義厲鬼之見，周宣王、燕簡、夜姑且死之妖也。申生之出，晉惠公且見獲之妖也。伯有之夢，駟帶、公孫段且卒之妖也。老父結草，魏顆且勝之祥，亦或時杜回見獲之妖也。蒼犬噬呂后，呂后且死，妖象犬形也。武安且卒，妖象竇嬰、灌夫之面也。故凡世間所謂妖祥、所謂鬼神者，皆太陽之氣為之也。太陽之氣，天氣也。天能生人之體，故能象人之容。夫人所以生者，陰陽氣也。陰氣主為骨肉，陽氣主為精神。人之生也，陰陽氣具，故骨肉堅、精氣盛。精氣為知，骨肉為強，故精神言談，形體固守。骨肉精神，合錯相持，故能常見而不滅亡也。太陽之氣，盛而無陰，故徒能為象不能為形，無骨肉有精氣，故一見恍惚，輒復滅亡也。
The appearing and coming forth of portents may be beforehand, when ill fortune is near, or may follow upon the coming of ill fortune. When it follows, the portent and the poison go together. When it appears beforehand, the portent comes forth but is not able to poison. The appearing of Shensheng was a portent that appeared beforehand. The coming of the vengeful ghosts of Du Bo and Zhuang Ziyi was a portent that followed upon it. King Xuan of Zhou, Duke Jian of Yan and Yegu of Song were due to die at that time, so the portent appeared and the poison followed and struck. Duke Hui of Jin was due to be taken, but his destiny was not yet at an end, so the portent only appeared and the poison did not shoot. Then the appearing of the vengeful ghosts of Du Bo and Zhuang Ziyi was the portent that King Xuan of Zhou, Duke Jian of Yan and Yegu were about to die. The coming forth of Shensheng was the portent that Duke Hui of Jin was about to be taken. The dream of Boyou was the portent that Si Dai and Gongsun Duan were about to die. The old man knotting the grass was the auspicious sign that Wei Ke was about to win, and perhaps also the portent that Du Hui was to be taken. The grey dog that bit Empress Lü was the portent taking the shape of a dog when Empress Lü was about to die. When Wu'an was about to die, the portent took the shape of the faces of Dou Ying and Guan Fu. So all that the world calls portents and auspicious signs, and all it calls ghosts and spirits, are made by the breath of the great yang. The breath of the great yang is the breath of Heaven. Heaven is able to give birth to a man's body, so it is able to take the likeness of a man's face. Now what a man lives by is the breath of yin and yang. The breath of yin governs the making of bone and flesh, and the breath of yang governs the making of the spirit. When a man is born the breath of yin and yang are complete in him, so his bone and flesh are firm and his essence and breath are strong. Essence and breath make knowing, and bone and flesh make strength, so the spirit speaks and talks and the body holds firm. Bone and flesh and spirit are joined and mingled and hold to one another, so a man can always be seen and does not perish. The breath of the great yang is strong and has no yin, so it is able only to make a likeness and is not able to make a form; it has no bone and flesh and has essence and breath, so once seen it is dim and shifting and straightway perishes again.