Nansui — Objections on the Year Star難歲篇
俗人險心，好信禁忌，知者亦疑，莫能實定。是以儒雅服從，工伎得勝。吉凶之書，伐經典之義；工伎之說，凌儒雅之論。今略實論，令（親）〔觀〕覽，總核是非，使世一悟。
The common sort of men have dangerous minds. They love to trust in taboos, and even those who know are in doubt, so that no one can settle what is true. For this reason the refined scholars submit and the craftsmen and their arts win out. Books of ill and good fortune strike at the meaning of the classics, and the talk of the craftsmen and their arts tramples on the discussions of the refined scholars. Now I shall discuss the truth in outline and let men look at it, examining right and wrong all together, so that the age may awaken once for all.
《移徙法》曰：「徙抵太歲凶，負太歲亦凶。」
The Yixi fa says, "To move and strike against the Grand Year is unlucky, and to move with the Grand Year at one's back is also unlucky."
抵太歲名曰歲下，負太歲名曰歲破，故皆凶也。假令太歲在甲子，天下之人皆不得南北徙，起宅嫁娶亦皆避之；其移東西，若徙四維，相之如者皆吉。何者？不與太歲相觸，亦不抵太歲之衝也。實問：避太歲者何意也？令太歲惡人徙乎？則徙者皆有禍。令太歲不禁人徙，惡人抵觸之乎？則道上之人南北行者皆有殃。太歲之意，猶長吏之心也。長吏在塗，人行觸車馬，干其吏從，長吏怒之，豈獨抱器載物、去宅徙居觸犯之者而乃責之哉！昔文帝出，過霸陵橋，有一人行逢車駕，逃於橋下，以為文帝之車已過，疾走而出，驚乘輿馬。文帝怒，以屬廷尉張釋之，釋之當論。使太歲之神行若文帝出乎，則人犯之者，必有如橋下走出之人矣。方今行道路者，暴溺仆死，何以知非觸遇太歲之出也？為移徙者又不能處，不能處，則犯與不犯未可知，未可知，則其行與不行未可審也。
Striking against the Grand Year is called suixia, and turning one's back on the Grand Year is called suipo, and so both are unlucky. Suppose the Grand Year stands in jiazi. Then no one under Heaven may move north or south, and raising a house and taking a wife or a husband are all avoided as well; but those who move east or west, or move toward the four corners, and those who face one another so, are all lucky. Why? Because they do not touch the Grand Year, and they do not strike the place that stands opposite the Grand Year. I ask it truly. What is meant by avoiding the Grand Year? If the Grand Year hates men to move, then all who move should have disaster. If the Grand Year does not forbid men to move but hates men to strike against it, then all the men on the road who travel north and south should have calamity. The mind of the Grand Year would be like the mind of a senior officer. When a senior officer is on the road and a man walking strikes against his carriage and horses and offends the clerks who follow him, the senior officer is angry at him. How should he blame only those who hug their vessels and load their goods, who leave a house and move their dwelling and so strike against him? Long ago Emperor Wen went out and passed Baling Bridge. A man on the road met the imperial carriage and fled beneath the bridge. Thinking that the carriage of Emperor Wen had already gone by, he ran out quickly and startled the horses of the imperial coach. Emperor Wen was angry and handed him over to Zhang Shizhi, the commandant of justice, and Shizhi gave the judgment that fitted. If the spirit of the Grand Year travels as Emperor Wen went out, then among the men who offend against it there must be some like the man who ran out from under the bridge. Among those who travel the roads today some are suddenly drowned or fall down dead. How do we know this is not from striking against the Grand Year as it comes out? Those who make rules for moving house cannot settle this either. If they cannot settle it, then offending and not offending cannot be known; and if that cannot be known, then whether a man should go or not go cannot be made clear.
且太歲之神審行乎，則宜有曲折，不宜直南北也。長吏出舍，行有曲折。如天神直道不曲折乎，則從東西四維徙者，猶干之也。若長吏之南北行，人從東如西，四維相之如，猶抵觸之。如不正南北，南北之徙又何犯。如太歲不動行乎，則宜有宮室營堡，不與人相見，人安得而觸之？如太歲無體，與長吏異，若煙雲虹霓直經天地，極子午南北陳乎，則東西徙若四維徙者亦干之，譬若今時人行，觸繁霧蜮氣，無從橫負鄉皆中傷焉。如審如氣，人當見之，雖不移徙，亦皆中傷。
And if the spirit of the Grand Year truly travels, then its course should have turns and should not run straight north and south. When a senior officer leaves his lodging, his going has turns. If the spirit of Heaven goes by a straight road and does not turn, then those who move from east to west or toward the four corners offend against it all the same. It is as when a senior officer travels north and south. If a man goes from the east to the west, or faces him so from the four corners, he strikes against him all the same. And if the Grand Year does not lie straight north and south, what do movings north and south offend against? If the Grand Year does not move and travel, then it should have palace chambers and a walled camp and not be seen by men, and how could men strike against it? If the Grand Year has no body and is unlike a senior officer, but passes straight through Heaven and earth like smoke and cloud and rainbow, spread out north and south to the ends of zi and wu, then those who move east and west or move toward the four corners also offend against it, just as a man walking today strikes against a thick mist or the breath of the water-shooter, and whether he goes across it or along it, with his back to it or facing it, he is struck and harmed. And if it is truly like a breath, men ought to see it, and even if they do not move house they would all be struck and harmed as well.
且太歲，天別神也，與青龍無異。龍之體不過數千丈。如令神者宜長大，饒之數萬丈，令體掩北方，當言太歲在北方，不當言在子。其東有丑，其西有亥，明不專掩北方，極東西之廣，明矣。令正言在子位觸土之中，直子午者，不得南北徙耳。東邊直丑巳之地，西邊直亥未之民，何為不得南北徙？丑與亥地之民，使太歲左右通得南北徙及東西徙，（可）則丑在子東，亥在子西，丑亥之民東西徙，觸歲之位；巳未之民東西徙，忌歲所破。
And the Grand Year is a separate spirit of Heaven, no different from the Azure Dragon. The body of a dragon is no more than a few thousand zhang. If we allow that a spirit should be long and large, and grant it tens of thousands of zhang so that its body covers the north, then we should say the Grand Year is in the north and not say it is in zi. To its east is chou and to its west is hai, so it is clear that it does not cover the north alone but reaches the whole breadth of east and west. If we say strictly that it stands in the seat of zi and touches the middle of the earth, then only those who lie straight on the line of zi and wu may not move north or south. Why may the lands on the east side that lie straight on chou and si, and the people on the west side that lie straight on hai and wei, not move north and south? If the people of the lands of chou and hai are allowed to pass to the left and right of the Grand Year and to move north and south and east and west, then, since chou lies east of zi and hai lies west of zi, the people of chou and hai in moving east and west strike the seat of the Year, and the people of si and wei in moving east and west must shun what the Year breaks.
儒者論天下九州，以為東西南北盡地廣長。九州之內五千里，竟三河土中。周公卜宅，《經》曰：「王來紹上帝，自服於土中。」
The Confucian scholars discuss the Nine Provinces of the world and hold that east and west and north and south take in the whole breadth and length of the earth. Within the Nine Provinces are five thousand li, and the Three Rivers fill out the middle of the earth. The Duke of Zhou divined for a dwelling place, and the Classic says, "The king comes to carry on from the Lord on High and governs of himself in the middle of the earth."
雒則土之中也。鄒衍論之，以為九州之內五千里，竟合為一州，在東（東）〔南〕位，名曰赤縣州。自有九州者九焉，九九八十一，凡八十一州。此言殆虛。地形難審，假令有之，亦一難也。使天下九州如儒者之議，直雒邑以南，對三河以北，豫州、荊州、冀州之部有太歲耳。雍、梁之間，青、兗、徐、揚之地，安得有太歲？使如鄒衍之論，則天下九州在東南位，不直子午，安得有太歲？如太歲不在天地極，分散在民間，則一家之宅，輒有太歲，雖不南北徙，猶抵觸之。假令從東里徙西里，西里有太歲，從東宅徙西宅，西宅有太歲，或在人之東西，或在人之南北，猶行途上，東西南北皆逢觸人。
Luo, then, is the middle of the earth. Zou Yan discussed this and held that the five thousand li within the Nine Provinces come together in the end to make one province, lying in the southeast, and that it is named Chixian Province. And there are nine such sets of nine provinces, and nine nines are eighty-one, so there are eighty-one provinces in all. This saying is close to empty. The shape of the earth is hard to examine, and even if it were so, that is one difficulty. If the Nine Provinces of the world are as the Confucian scholars argue, then the Grand Year is only in the districts of Yu, Jing and Ji, which lie straight south of the city of Luo and face the land north of the Three Rivers. How could the land between Yong and Liang, and the lands of Qing, Yan, Xu and Yang, have the Grand Year? If it is as Zou Yan argues, then the Nine Provinces of the world lie in the southeast and do not lie straight on zi and wu, so how could they have the Grand Year? If the Grand Year is not at the ends of Heaven and earth but is scattered among the people, then every house of every family has its Grand Year, and even one who does not move north or south strikes against it all the same. Suppose a man moves from an eastern village to a western village: the western village has a Grand Year. He moves from an eastern house to a western house: the western house has a Grand Year. It lies now to a man's east and west, now to his north and south, just as on the road he meets and bumps into people to east and west and north and south alike.
太歲位數千萬億，天下之民，徙者皆凶，為移徙者何以審之？如審立於天地之際，猶王者之位在土中也。東方之民，張弓西射，人不謂之射王者，以不能至王者之都，自止射其處也。今徙豈能北至太歲位哉！自止徙百步之內，何為謂之傷太歲乎！且移徙之家禁南北徙者，以為歲在子位，子者破午，南北徙者抵觸其衝，故謂之凶。夫破者須有以椎破之也，如審有所用，則不徙之民皆被破害；如無所用，何能破之！
If the seats of the Grand Year are thousands of millions, then among the people of the world all who move are unlucky, and by what do those who make rules for moving house examine it? If it truly stands at the border of Heaven and earth, it is like the seat of a king in the middle of the earth. When the people of the east draw the bow and shoot westward, men do not say they shoot at the king, because the arrow cannot reach the king's capital and stops of itself at the place from which it is shot. How can one who moves today reach north as far as the seat of the Grand Year? He moves and stops within a hundred paces. Why is it said that he harms the Grand Year? Moreover, the house of moving forbids moving north and south because the Year stands in the seat of zi, and zi breaks wu, so that those who move north and south strike the place opposite it, and this is called unlucky. Now breaking must have a mallet with which to break. If it truly has something it uses, then the people who do not move would all suffer the harm of breaking; and if it has nothing it uses, how can it break anything?
夫雷，天氣也，盛夏擊折，折木破山，時暴殺人。使太歲所破若迅雷也，則聲音宜疾，死者宜暴。如不若雷，亦無能破。如謂衝抵為破，衝抵安能相破？東西相與為衝，而南北相與為抵。如必以衝抵為凶，則東西常凶而南北常惡也。如以太歲神其衝獨凶，神莫過於天地，天地相與為衝，則天地之間無生人也。或上十二神登明、從魁之輩，工伎家謂之皆天神也。
Thunder is the breath of Heaven. In high summer it strikes and snaps, breaking trees and splitting mountains, and at times it suddenly kills men. If what the Grand Year breaks were like swift thunder, then the sound should be quick and the deaths should be sudden. If it is not like thunder, then it can break nothing. If facing and striking are called breaking, how can facing and striking break each other? East and west face one another, and north and south strike one another. If facing and striking must be unlucky, then east and west are always unlucky and north and south are always ill. If, because the Grand Year is a spirit, the place opposite it alone is unlucky, then, since nothing is more spirit than Heaven and earth, and Heaven and earth face one another, there would be no living men between Heaven and earth. There are also the twelve spirits above, Dengming and Congkui and their kind, and the houses of the craftsmen and their arts call them all spirits of Heaven.
常立子丑之位，俱有衝抵之氣，神雖不若太歲，宜有微敗。移徙者雖避太歲之凶，猶觸十二神之害。為移徙時者何以不禁？
They stand always in the seats of zi and chou, and all of them have the breath of facing and striking. Though they are not such spirits as the Grand Year, there should be some small ruin from them. Though one who moves house avoids the ill of the Grand Year, he still strikes against the harm of the twelve spirits. Why do those who fix the times for moving house not forbid this?
冬氣寒，水也，水位在北方。夏氣熱，火也，火位在南方。案秋冬寒，春夏熱者，天下普然，非獨南北之方水火衝也。今太歲位在子耳，天下皆為太歲，非獨子午衝也。審以所立者為主，則午可為大夏，子可為大冬。冬夏南北徙者，可復凶乎？立春，艮王震相，巽胎離沒，坤死兌囚，乾廢坎休。王之衝死，相之衝囚，王相衝位，有死囚之氣。乾坤六子，天下正道，伏羲、文王象以治世，文為經所載，道為聖所信，明審於太歲矣。人或以立春東北徙，抵艮之下，不被凶害。太歲立於子，彼東北徙，坤卦近於午，猶艮以坤，徙觸子位，何故獨凶？正月建於寅，破於申，從寅申徙，相之如者無有凶害。太歲不指午，而空曰歲破，午實無凶禍，而虛禁南北，豈不妄哉！
The breath of winter is cold; it is water, and the seat of water is in the north. The breath of summer is hot; it is fire, and the seat of fire is in the south. But autumn and winter are cold and spring and summer are hot everywhere under Heaven, and it is not that water and fire face one another in the northern and southern quarters alone. Now the Grand Year stands only in zi, yet the whole world is made Grand Year, and it is not that zi and wu alone face one another. If we truly take the place where a thing stands as the master, then wu may be the great summer and zi the great winter. Can those who move north and south in winter and summer be unlucky again for that? At the beginning of spring, Gen is wang and Zhen is xiang, Xun is tai and Li is mo, Kun is si and Dui is qiu, Qian is fei and Kan is xiu. What faces wang is si, and what faces xiang is qiu, so that in the seats facing wang and xiang there is the breath of si and qiu. Qian and Kun and their six children are the right Way of the world. Fuxi and King Wen took them for images and governed the age. Their writing is what the classics carry, and their Way is what the sages trust, so they are clearer and surer than the Grand Year. Some men move to the northeast at the beginning of spring and strike beneath Gen, and they suffer no ill or harm. The Grand Year stands in zi, and when such a man moves to the northeast, the trigram Kun is near to wu, so it is as if Gen moved by way of Kun and struck the seat of zi. Why should this alone be unlucky? The first month is set up in yin and breaks in shen, and those who move from yin and shen, facing one another so, have no ill or harm. The Grand Year does not point at wu, yet men say emptily that this is suipo; wu truly has no ill or disaster, yet they forbid north and south for nothing. Is this not wild?
十二月為一歲，四時節竟，陰陽氣終，竟復為一歲，日月積聚之名耳，何故有神而謂之立於子位乎？積分為日，累日為月，連月為時，紀時為歲。歲則日月時之類也。歲而有神，日月時亦復有神乎？千五百三十九〔歲〕為一統，四千六百一十七歲為一元。歲猶統元也。歲有神，統元復有神乎？論之以為無。假令有之，何故害人？神莫過於天地，天地不害人。人謂百神，百神不害人。太歲之氣，天地之氣也，何憎於人，觸而為害？且文曰：「甲子不徙。」
Twelve months make one year. When the seasons of the four times are done and the breath of yin and yang comes to its end, then again it makes one year. It is only a name for the piling up of days and months, so why should there be a spirit in it, said to stand in the seat of zi? Parts are piled up to make a day, days are heaped to make a month, months are joined to make a season, and seasons are counted to make a year. A year, then, is of the same kind as days and months and seasons. If a year has a spirit, do days and months and seasons have spirits too? One thousand five hundred and thirty-nine years make one tong, and four thousand six hundred and seventeen years make one yuan. A year is like a tong or a yuan. If a year has a spirit, do the tong and the yuan have spirits too? I discuss it and hold that they do not. And even if there were one, why should it harm men? Nothing is more spirit than Heaven and earth, and Heaven and earth do not harm men. Men speak of the hundred spirits, and the hundred spirits do not harm men. The breath of the Grand Year is the breath of Heaven and earth. What does it hate in men, that striking against it should be harm? And the writing says, "On jiazi one does not move."
言甲與子殊位，太歲立子不居甲，為移徙者運之，而復居甲，為之而復居甲，為移徙時者，亦宜復禁東西徙。甲與子鈞，其凶宜同。不禁甲而獨忌子，為移徙時者，竟妄不可用也。人居不能不移徙，移徙不能不觸歲，（不）觸歲不能不得時死。工伎之人，見今人之死，則歸禍於往時之徙。俗心險危，死者不絕，故太歲之言，傳世不滅。
This says that jia and zi are different seats. The Grand Year stands in zi and does not dwell in jia, yet those who make rules for moving house set it in motion so that it dwells in jia as well; and if they do this so that it dwells in jia as well, then those who fix the times for moving house should also forbid moving east and west. If jia and zi are even, their ill should be the same. They do not forbid jia and shun zi alone, so those who fix the times for moving house are wild in the end and not to be used. Men who dwell cannot but move house, and moving house they cannot but strike the Year, and striking the Year they cannot but come at some time to die. The men of the craftsmen's arts, seeing the death of a man today, lay the disaster upon a move made in some past time. The common mind is dangerous and full of fear, and the dying never cease, and so the talk of the Grand Year is handed down through the ages and does not die out.