Bushi — On Divination卜筮篇
俗信卜筮，謂卜者問天，筮者問地，蓍神龜靈，兆數報應，故舍人議而就卜筮，違可否而信吉凶。其意謂天地審告報，蓍龜真神也。如實論之，卜筮不問天地，蓍龜未必神靈。有神靈，問天地，俗儒所言也。
The common world trusts divination. It says that the one who divines with the tortoise asks Heaven and the one who divines with the yarrow asks earth, that the yarrow is numinous and the tortoise has power, and that the cracks and the numbers answer back. So men cast aside the counsel of men and go to divination, and turn from right and wrong to trust in lucky and unlucky. Their meaning is that Heaven and earth look into a matter, tell it and answer it, and that the yarrow and the tortoise are truly numinous. Argued from the facts, divination does not ask Heaven and earth, and the yarrow and the tortoise are not necessarily numinous. To say that something numinous is there, and that they ask Heaven and earth, is what the vulgar scholars say.
何以明之？子路問孔子曰：「豬肩羊膊可以得兆，葦？可以得數，何必以蓍龜？」孔子曰：「不然！蓋取其名也。夫蓍之為言耆也，龜之為言舊也，明狐疑之事當問耆舊也。」
How is this made clear? Zilu asked Confucius: "The shoulder of a pig and the leg of a sheep can give cracks, and reeds and rushes can give numbers. Why must it be the yarrow and the tortoise?" Confucius said: "Not so. It is perhaps their names that are taken. The word for yarrow means aged, and the word for tortoise means old. This makes clear that a doubtful matter should be asked of the aged and the old."
由此言之，蓍不神，龜不靈，蓋取其名，未必有實也。無其實則知其無神靈，無神靈則知不問天地也。且天地口耳何在，而得問之？天與人同道。欲知天，以人事。相問，不自對見其人，親問其意，意不可知。欲問天，天高，耳與人相遠。如天無耳，非形體也。非形體則氣也，氣若雲霧，何能告人？蓍以問地，地有形體，與人無異。問人，不近耳則人不聞，人不聞則口不告人。夫言問天，則天為氣，不能為兆；問地，則地耳遠，不聞人言。信謂天地告報人者，何據見哉？
Said from this, the yarrow is not numinous and the tortoise has no power. It is perhaps their names that are taken, and there need not be any substance in it. Where there is no substance, it is known that nothing numinous is there. Where nothing numinous is there, it is known that they do not ask Heaven and earth. And where are the mouth and the ears of Heaven and earth, that they could be asked? Heaven and man share one way. To know Heaven, go by the affairs of men. When men ask one another, if a man does not face the other himself and ask his meaning in person, that meaning cannot be known. One wishes to ask Heaven, but Heaven is high, and its ears are far from men. If Heaven has no ears, it is not a body. If it is not a body, it is breath. Breath is like cloud and mist. How can it tell a man anything? With the yarrow one asks earth, and earth has a body and is no different from a man. When a man is asked, if the mouth is not brought near his ear he does not hear, and if he does not hear, his mouth tells nothing. Now if it is said that Heaven is asked, Heaven is breath and cannot make cracks. If it is said that earth is asked, the ears of earth are far and do not hear the words of men. To trust that Heaven and earth tell men and answer them, on what ground is that seen?
人在天地之間，猶虮虱之著人身也。如虮虱欲知人意，鳴人耳傍，人猶人聞。何則？
Man between Heaven and earth is like nits and lice clinging to a man's body. If the nits and lice wish to know a man's meaning and cry beside his ear, the man still does not hear. Why is that?
小大不均，音語不通也。今以微小之人，問巨大天地，安能通其聲音？天地安能知其旨意？或曰：「人懷天地之氣。天地之氣，在形體之中，神明是矣。人將卜筮，告令蓍龜，則神以耳聞口言，若己思念，神明從胸腹之中聞知其旨。故鑽龜揲蓍，兆見數著。」
Small and great are not matched, and sound and speech do not pass between them. Now with a man tiny and small to ask the huge Heaven and earth, how can his sound get through, and how could Heaven and earth know his meaning? Someone says: "Man holds the breath of Heaven and earth. The breath of Heaven and earth is within his body, and that is the divine spirit. When a man is about to divine and tells the yarrow and the tortoise what he wants, the spirit hears with the ear and speaks with the mouth as if he were thinking within himself, and the divine spirit hears and knows his meaning from inside his breast and belly. So when the tortoise is bored and the yarrow counted, the cracks appear and the numbers show."
夫人用神思慮，思慮不決，故問蓍龜，蓍龜兆數，與意相應，則是神可謂明告之矣。時或意以為可，兆數不吉；或兆數則吉，意以為凶。夫思慮者己之神也，為兆數者亦己之神也。一身之神，在胸中為思慮，在胸外為兆數，猶人入戶而坐，出門而行也。行坐不異意，出入不易情。如神明為兆數，不宜與思慮異。天地有體，故能搖動。搖動，有生之類也；生，則與人同矣。問生人者須以生人，乃能相報。如使死人問生人，則必不能相答。今天地生而蓍龜死，以死問生，安能得報？枯龜之骨，死蓍之莖，問生之天地，世人謂之天地報應，誤矣。
Now a man uses his spirit to think a thing over, and when his thinking does not settle he asks the yarrow and the tortoise. If the cracks and numbers of the yarrow and the tortoise answer to his intent, then the spirit may be said to have told him clearly. But at times his intent holds a thing right while the cracks and numbers are not lucky, or the cracks and numbers are lucky while his intent holds the thing ill. Now the one that thinks is his own spirit, and the one that makes the cracks and numbers is also his own spirit. The spirit of one body, inside the breast, becomes thought; outside the breast, it becomes cracks and numbers. It is like a man who goes in at the door and sits, and goes out at the gate and walks. His intent is no different walking or sitting, and his feeling does not change going out or coming in. If the divine spirit makes the cracks and numbers, they ought not to differ from his thought. Heaven and earth have bodies, and so they can shake and move. What shakes and moves is of the living kind, and what lives is the same as man. One who asks a living man must use a living man, and only then can there be an answer. If a dead man is made to ask a living man, there can surely be no reply. Now Heaven and earth are alive and the yarrow and the tortoise are dead. With the dead to ask the living, how can an answer be got? The bone of a withered tortoise and the stalk of a dead yarrow ask the living Heaven and earth, and the men of the age call it the answer of Heaven and earth. They are wrong.
如蓍龜為若版牘，兆數為若書字，象類人君出教令乎，則天地口耳何在，而有教令？孔子曰：「天何言哉？四時行焉，百物生焉。」
If the yarrow and the tortoise are like tablets and letters, and the cracks and numbers are like written words, so that it resembles a ruler sending down his orders, then where are the mouth and the ears of Heaven and earth, that there should be orders? Confucius said: "What does Heaven say? The four seasons run their course, and the hundred things are born."
天不言，則亦不聽人之言。天道稱自然無為，今人問天地，天地報應，是自然之有為以應人也。案《易》之文，觀揲蓍之法，二分以象天地，四揲以象四時，歸奇於以象閏月。以象類相法，以立卦數耳，豈云天地（合）〔告〕報人哉？
If Heaven does not speak, then neither does it listen to the words of men. The way of Heaven is called so of itself and without doing. Now if men ask Heaven and earth and Heaven and earth answer, then what is so of itself is doing something in answer to men. Look at the text of the Yi and see the method of counting the yarrow. The stalks are parted in two to figure Heaven and earth, they are counted by fours to figure the four seasons, and the remainder is turned between the fingers to figure the intercalary month. Likeness is taken after likeness, and by it the number of the trigram is set up. How can it be said that Heaven and earth tell men and answer them?
人道，相問則對，不問不應。無求，空扣人之門；無問，虛辨人之前：則主人笑而不應，或怒而不對。試使卜筮之人空鑽龜而卜，虛揲蓍而筮，戲弄天地，亦得兆數，天地妄應乎？又試使人罵天而卜，驅地而筮，無道至甚，亦得兆數。苟謂兆數天地之神，何不滅其火，灼其手，振其指，而亂其數，使之身體疾痛，血氣湊踊，而猶為之見兆出數，何天地之不憚勞，用心不惡也？由此言之，卜卜筮不問天地，兆數非天地之報，明矣。
In the way of men, when they ask one another there is an answer, and when there is no asking there is no response. To knock at another man's gate with nothing to seek, to argue before another man with nothing to ask, and the master of the house smiles and does not respond, or grows angry and does not answer. Try letting a diviner bore the tortoise for nothing and divine, and count the yarrow for nothing and divine, making sport of Heaven and earth. He still gets cracks and numbers. Do Heaven and earth answer at random? Try again letting a man curse Heaven as he divines and beat the earth as he divines, with a want of the way that could not be worse. He still gets cracks and numbers. If the cracks and numbers are truly the spirit of Heaven and earth, why do they not put out his fire, scorch his hand, shake his fingers and throw his numbers into confusion, so that his body aches and his blood and breath leap? Instead they still show him cracks and bring out numbers for him. How is it that Heaven and earth do not shrink from the labor, and bear him no ill will? Said from this, it is clear that divination does not ask Heaven and earth, and that the cracks and numbers are not the answer of Heaven and earth.
然則卜筮亦必有吉凶。論者或謂隨人善惡之行也，猶瑞應應（一作隨。）善而至，災異隨惡而到。治之善惡，善惡所致也，疑非天地故應之也。吉人鑽龜，輒從善兆；凶人揲蓍，輒得逆數。何以明之？紂，至惡之君也。當時災異繁多，七十卜而皆凶，故祖伊曰：「格人元龜，罔敢知吉。」
Even so, divination must also have its lucky and unlucky. Some who argue say that it follows the good and evil conduct of the man, as an auspicious answer comes in answer to good and a calamity comes in the train of evil. The good and evil of a reign are what good and evil have brought about, and it seems it is not that Heaven and earth answer on purpose. When a lucky man bores the tortoise, he meets at once with a good crack; when an unlucky man counts the yarrow, he gets at once an adverse number. How is this made clear? King Zhou was the most evil of rulers. In his time calamities were many, and seventy divinations were all unlucky. So Zu Yi said: "The man who reaches the gods and the great tortoise dare not know any good fortune."
賢者不舉，大龜不兆，災變亟至。周武受命，高祖龍興，天人并佑，奇怪既多，丰、沛子弟，卜之又吉。故吉人之體，所致無不良；凶人之起，所招無不丑。衛石駘卒，無適子，有庶子六人，卜所以為后者，曰：「沐浴佩玉則兆。」五人皆沐浴佩玉。石祁子曰：「焉有執親之喪而沐浴佩玉！」
Worthy men were not raised up, the great tortoise gave no cracks, and disasters and strange changes came again and again. When King Wu of Zhou received his destiny and Gaozu rose like a dragon, Heaven and men helped them together, strange and wondrous things were already many, and when the young men of Feng and Pei divined, it was lucky again. So the person of a lucky man brings about nothing that is not good, and the rising of an unlucky man calls up nothing that is not foul. When Shi Tai of Wei died, he had no son by his wife, but six sons by his concubines. They divined who should be his heir, and it was said: "The one who bathes and wears jade will get the crack." Five of them all bathed and wore jade. Shi Qizi said: "How can a man be in mourning for his parent and yet bathe and wear jade!"
不沐浴佩玉，石祁子兆。衛人卜，以龜為有知也。龜非有知，石祁子自知也。祁子行善政，有嘉言，言嘉政善，故有明瑞。使時不卜，謀之於眾，亦猶稱善。何則？人心神意同吉凶也。
He did not bathe and did not wear jade, and Shi Qizi got the crack. The men of Wei divined because they held that the tortoise has knowledge. It is not that the tortoise has knowledge; Shi Qizi knew of himself. Qizi carried on a good government and had fine words. His words were fine and his government good, and so there was a bright omen. Had they not divined at the time but taken counsel with the many, they would still have called him good. Why? Because the heart of man and the mind of the spirit are one in their lucky and unlucky.
此言若然，然非卜筮之實也。
Though this saying is so, it is not the true state of divination.
夫鑽龜揲蓍，自有兆數，兆數之見，自有吉凶，而吉凶之人，適與相逢。吉人與善兆合，凶人與惡數遇，猶吉人行道逢吉事，顧睨見祥物，非吉事祥物為吉人瑞應也。凶人遭遇凶惡，於道亦如之。夫見善惡非天應答，適與善惡相逢遇也。鑽龜揲蓍有吉凶之兆者，逢吉遭凶之類也。何以明之？周武王不豫，周公卜三龜，公曰：「乃逢是吉。」
Now when the tortoise is bored and the yarrow counted, there are cracks and numbers of themselves, and in the showing of the cracks and numbers there is lucky and unlucky of itself, and a lucky or unlucky man just happens to meet with them. That a lucky man fits a good crack and an unlucky man meets a bad number is like a lucky man walking the road and meeting a lucky thing, or glancing aside and seeing an auspicious object. The lucky thing and the auspicious object are not an omen answering for the sake of the lucky man. It is the same on the road when an unlucky man comes upon what is evil. To see good and evil is not Heaven answering back; it is happening to meet with good and evil. That boring the tortoise and counting the yarrow have lucky and unlucky cracks is of the same kind as meeting with luck and running into ill. How is this made clear? When King Wu of Zhou was unwell, the Duke of Zhou divined with three tortoises, and the duke said: "This lucky thing has been met with."
魯卿庄叔生子穆叔，以《周易》筮之，遇《明夷》之《謙》。夫卜曰逢，筮曰遇，實遭遇所得，非善惡所致也。善則逢吉，惡則遇凶，天道自然，非為人也。推此以論，人君治有吉凶之應，亦猶此也。君德遭賢，時適當平，嘉物奇瑞偶至。不肖之君，亦反此焉。
Zhuang Shu, a minister of Lu, had a son Mu Shu, and divined for him with the Zhou yi. He met with Ming yi going to Qian. Now in tortoise divination it is called meeting, and in yarrow divination it is called encountering. What is got is truly got by meeting with it; it is not brought about by good or evil. That the good meet with luck and the evil meet with ill is the way of Heaven being so of itself; it is not done for the sake of men. Pushing this out in argument, the lucky and unlucky answers in a ruler's government are also like this. When a ruler's virtue meets with worthy men and the times happen to fall on peace, fine things and strange omens arrive by chance. With an unworthy ruler it is the other way about.
世人言卜筮者多，得實誠者寡。論者或謂蓍龜可以參事，不可純用。夫鑽龜揲蓍，兆數輒見，見無常占，占者生意。吉兆而占謂之凶，凶數而占謂之吉，吉凶不效，則謂卜筮不可信。周武王伐紂，卜筮之逆，占曰：「大凶。」
Many in the world speak of divination, but few get its true substance. Some who argue say that the yarrow and the tortoise may be consulted alongside other things in an affair, but cannot be used alone. Now when the tortoise is bored and the yarrow counted, the cracks and numbers appear at once, but in their appearing there is no fixed reading, and the reader brings his own meaning to them. A lucky crack he reads and calls unlucky, and an unlucky number he reads and calls lucky. When lucky and unlucky are not borne out, then it is said that divination cannot be trusted. When King Wu of Zhou attacked King Zhou, the divination went against him, and the reading said: "Greatly unlucky."
太公推蓍蹈龜而曰：「枯骨死草，何知而凶！」
Taigong pushed the yarrow away and trod on the tortoise, and said: "What do a withered bone and a dead plant know, that they should call it unlucky!"
夫卜筮兆數，非吉凶誤也，占之不審吉凶，吉凶變亂，變亂，故太公黜之。夫蓍筮龜卜，猶聖王治世；卜筮兆數，猶王治瑞應。瑞應無常，兆數詭異。詭異則占者惑，無常則議者疑。疑則謂（平）〔世〕未治，惑則謂（吉）〔占〕不良。何以明之？夫吉兆數，吉人可遭也；治遇符瑞，聖德之驗也。周王伐紂，遇烏魚之瑞，其卜曷為逢不吉之兆？使武王不當起，出不宜逢瑞；使武王命當興，卜不宜得凶。由此言之，武王之卜，不得凶占，謂之凶者，失其實也。魯將伐越，筮之，得鼎折足，子貢占之以為凶。何則？鼎而折足，行用足，故謂之凶。孔子占之以為吉，曰：「越人水居，行用舟不用足，故謂之吉。」
Now the cracks and numbers of divination are not a mistake in the lucky and the unlucky. It is that the reading did not look closely into the lucky and unlucky, so that lucky and unlucky were changed and thrown into confusion, and because they were changed and confused, Taigong cast them out. Divining by yarrow and divining by tortoise are like a sage king governing the age, and the cracks and numbers of divination are like the auspicious answers to a king's government. Auspicious answers hold to no fixed course, and cracks and numbers are strange and odd. When they are strange and odd, the reader is misled, and when they hold to no fixed course, those who discuss them are in doubt. In doubt, they say the age is not yet well governed. Misled, they say the divination is no good. How is this made clear? A lucky crack or number may be met with by a lucky man, and to meet with tallies and omens in one's government is the proof of sagely virtue. When the Zhou king attacked King Zhou, he met with the omen of the crow and the fish. Why then did his divination meet with a crack that was not lucky? If King Wu ought not to have risen, he ought not to have met with an omen when he went out. If King Wu's destiny ought to have risen, he ought not to have got an unlucky answer in the divination. Said from this, King Wu's divination did not get an unlucky reading, and those who called it unlucky lost its true state. When Lu was about to attack Yue, they divined and got a cauldron with a broken leg, and Zigong read it as unlucky. Why? Because a cauldron has its leg broken, and going uses the legs, and so he called it unlucky. Confucius read it as lucky, and said: "The men of Yue live on the water. Their going uses boats and does not use legs, and so I call it lucky."
魯伐越，果克之。夫子貢占鼎折足以為凶，猶周之占卜者謂之逆矣。逆中必有吉，猶折鼎足之占宜以伐越矣。周多子貢直占之知，寡若孔子詭論之材，故睹非常之兆，不能審也。世因武王卜無非而得凶，故謂卜筮不可純用，略以助政，示有鬼神，明己不得專。
Lu attacked Yue and did indeed overcome it. That Zigong read the broken cauldron leg as unlucky is like the diviners of Zhou calling their answer adverse. That within the adverse there must be something lucky is like the reading of the broken cauldron leg fitting the attack on Yue. In Zhou there were many with Zigong's knowledge of the straight reading and few with a talent like Confucius's for turning the argument about. So when they saw an uncommon crack, they could not look into it. Because King Wu's divination had nothing wrong in it and yet got an unlucky answer, the age says that divination cannot be used alone, that it roughly helps government, that it shows there are ghosts and spirits, and that it makes clear a man cannot decide by himself.
著書記者，采掇行事，若韓非《飾邪》之篇，明已效之驗，毀卜訾筮，非世信用。夫卜筮非不可用，卜筮之人占之誤也。《洪范》稽疑，卜筮之變，必問天子卿士，或時審是。夫不能審占，兆數不驗，則謂卜筮不可信用。晉文公與楚子戰，夢與成王搏，成王在上而其腦，占曰「凶」。
Those who write books and keep records gather up what has been done. The chapter Shi xie of Han Fei makes clear the proofs already borne out, tears down tortoise divination and reviles yarrow divination, and holds the age wrong for trusting and using them. Now divination is not a thing that cannot be used; it is the diviner's reading that goes wrong. The resolving of doubts in the Hong fan holds that for the changes of divination one must ask the Son of Heaven and the high ministers, and at times this looks into it rightly. When a man cannot look closely into a reading and the cracks and numbers are not borne out, then it is said that divination cannot be trusted and used. When Duke Wen of Jin fought the viscount of Chu, he dreamed that he grappled with King Cheng, and King Cheng was above him and sucked out his brains, and the reading said "unlucky."
咎犯曰：「吉！君得天，楚伏其罪。君之腦者，柔之也。」
Jiu Fan said: "Lucky! My lord gets Heaven, and Chu bows down to its guilt. That he sucks my lord's brains is his being made soft."
以戰果勝，如咎犯占。夫占夢與占龜同。晉占夢者不見象指，猶周占龜者不見兆者為也。象無不然，兆無不審。人之知暗，論之失實也。傳或言武王伐紂，卜之而龜，占者曰「凶」。太公曰：「龜，以祭則凶，以戰則勝。」武王從之，卒克紂焉。審若此傳，亦復孔子論卦，咎犯占夢之類也。蓋兆數無不然，而吉凶失實者，占不巧工也。
They fought and did indeed win, as Jiu Fan had read it. Now reading a dream and reading the tortoise are the same. That the dream reader of Jin did not see what the image pointed to is like the tortoise readers of Zhou not seeing what the crack was doing. There is no image that is not so, and no crack that cannot be looked into. It is that the knowledge of men is dark, and their discussion loses the true state. A tradition says that when King Wu attacked King Zhou he divined, and the tortoise burned, and the reader said "unlucky." Taigong said: "That the tortoise burned is unlucky for a sacrifice, but it wins in a battle." King Wu followed him and in the end overcame King Zhou. If this tradition is looked into and is so, it is again of the same kind as Confucius discussing the trigram and Jiu Fan reading the dream. It seems there is no crack or number that is not so, and where lucky and unlucky lose the true state, it is because the reading is not the work of a skilled hand.