Jieshu — Questioning the House-Siting Art詰術篇
圖宅術曰：「宅有八術，以六甲之名數而第之，第定名立，官商殊別。宅有五音，姓有五聲，宅不宜其姓，姓與宅相賊，則疾病死亡，犯罪遇禍。」
The Tuzhai shu says, "A dwelling has eight arts. They are set in order by the names and numbers of the six jia, and when the order is fixed and the names are set up, gong and shang are marked off as different. A dwelling has the five tones and a surname has the five sounds, and if the dwelling does not suit the surname, and surname and dwelling harm each other, then there is sickness and death, the breaking of the law and the meeting of disaster."
詰曰：夫人之在天地之間也，萬物之貴者耳。其有宅也，猶鳥之有巢，獸之有穴也。謂宅有甲乙，巢穴復有甲乙乎？甲乙之神獨在民家，不在鳥獸何？夫人之有宅，猶有田也。以田飲食，以宅居處，人民所重，莫食最急，先田後宅，田重於宅也。田間阡陌可以制八術，比土為田，可以數甲乙，甲乙之術獨施於宅，不設於田，何也？府廷之內，吏舍比屬，吏舍之形制何殊於宅，吏之居處何異於民，不以甲乙第舍，獨以甲乙數宅，何也？民間之宅，與鄉亭比屋相屬，接界相連，不并數鄉亭，獨第民家，甲乙之神何以獨立於民家也？數宅之術行市亭，數巷街以第甲乙。入市門曲折，亦有巷街。人晝夜居家，朝夕坐市，其實一也。市肆戶何以不第甲乙？州郡列居，縣邑雜處，與街巷民家何以異？州郡縣邑何以不數甲乙也？
I challenge this and say: man, between Heaven and earth, is only the noblest of the ten thousand things. That he has a dwelling is like a bird having a nest and a beast having a burrow. If dwellings are said to have jia and yi, do nests and burrows have jia and yi too? Why do the spirits of jia and yi dwell only in the houses of the people and not in birds and beasts? That a man has a dwelling is like his having fields. By the fields he drinks and eats, and by the dwelling he lives and stays. Of what the people hold weighty nothing is more urgent than food, and the fields come first and the dwelling after, so the fields are weightier than the dwelling. The paths and ridges between the fields could be laid out in the eight arts, and if earth is set side by side to make fields, jia and yi could be counted there. Why is the art of jia and yi used for dwellings alone and not set up for fields? Within the courts of office the clerks' quarters stand joined side by side. How does the shape and make of a clerk's quarters differ from a dwelling, and how does a clerk's dwelling differ from a commoner's? Why do they not set the quarters in order by jia and yi, and count only dwellings by jia and yi? The dwellings among the people stand roof to roof with the village offices and post stations, joined and touching at the borders, yet they do not count the village offices and post stations along with them and set only the houses of the people in order. How do the spirits of jia and yi come to stand in the houses of the people alone? The art of counting dwellings is practiced in the market and the post station, where they count the lanes and streets and set them in order by jia and yi. Going in at the market gate and turning, there too are lanes and streets. A man dwells at home day and night and sits in the market morning and evening, and in truth these are one. Why are the doors of the market stalls not set in order by jia and yi? Provinces and commanderies lie ranged, districts and towns lie mixed together. How do they differ from the houses of the people in the streets and lanes? Why are provinces and commanderies and districts and towns not counted by jia and yi?
天地開辟有甲乙邪？後王乃有甲乙。
When Heaven and earth were opened, were there jia and yi? Only with the later kings were there jia and yi.
如天地開辟本有甲乙，則上古之時巢居穴處，無屋宅之居、街巷之制，甲乙之神皆何在？數宅既以甲乙，五行之家數日亦當以甲乙。甲乙有支干，支干有加時。支干加時，專此者吉，相賊者凶。當其不舉也未必加憂（支）辱也。事理有曲直，罪法有輕重，上官平心原其獄狀，未有支干吉凶之驗，而有事理曲直之效，為支干者何以對此？武王以甲子日戰勝，紂以甲子日戰負，二家俱期，兩軍相當，旗幟相望，俱用一日，或存或亡。且甲與子專比，昧爽時加寅，寅與甲乙不相賊，武王終以破紂，何也？
If jia and yi were there from the opening of Heaven and earth, then in high antiquity, when men lived in nests and stayed in caves and had no dwelling in roofed houses and no ordering of streets and lanes, where were all the spirits of jia and yi? Since dwellings are counted by jia and yi, the houses of the five phases should count the days by jia and yi as well. Jia and yi have their branch and stem, and branch and stem have their added hour. In branch and stem and added hour, those that hold to one another are lucky and those that harm one another are unlucky. Yet when a thing is not taken up, grief and disgrace are not always added to it. In the reason of an affair there is crooked and straight, and in crime and law there is light and heavy. When the higher officer levels his mind and traces the shape of a case, there is no proof there from the good and ill of branch and stem, but there is the effect of the crooked and the straight in the reason of the affair. What have those who work by branch and stem to answer to this? King Wu fought and won on a jiazi day, and King Zhou fought and lost on a jiazi day. The two houses set the same appointed time, the two armies stood against each other, their flags looked across at each other, and both used the one day, yet one stood and one perished. And jia and zi lay side by side alone, and at the hour of first light yin was added, and yin does not harm jia and yi. Why then did King Wu in the end break King Zhou?
日，火也，在天為日，在地為火。何以驗之？陽燧鄉日，火從天來。由此言之，火，日氣也。日有甲乙，火無甲乙。何日十而辰十二？日辰相配，故甲與子連。所謂日十者，何等也？端端之日有十邪，而將一有十名也？
The sun is fire. In Heaven it is the sun, and on earth it is fire. How is this proved? Turn the yangsui mirror toward the sun, and fire comes from Heaven. Speaking from this, fire is the breath of the sun. The days have jia and yi, but fire has no jia and yi. Why are the days ten and the hours twelve? Day and hour are matched to each other, and so jia is joined to zi. What is meant by saying that the days are ten? Are there ten round suns, or is there one sun with ten names?
如端端之日有十，甲乙是其名，何以不（從）〔徒〕言甲乙，必言子丑？何日廷圖甲乙有位，子丑亦有處，各有部署，列布五方，若王者營衛，常居不動？今端端之日中行，旦出東方，夕入西方，行而不已，與日廷異，何謂甲乙為日之名乎？術家更說日甲乙者，自天地神也。日更用事，自用甲乙勝負為吉凶，非端端之日也。夫如是，於五行之象，徒當用甲乙決吉凶而已，何為言加時乎？案加時者，端端之日加也。端端之日安得勝負？
If there are ten round suns and jia and yi are their names, why do they not speak of jia and yi alone but must speak of zi and chou? How is it that in the chart of the sun's court jia and yi have their seats and zi and chou have their places as well, each with its own office, spread out over the five quarters like the camp and guard of a king, always in place and never moving? Now the round sun travels through the middle, comes out in the east at dawn and goes into the west at evening, and travels without stopping, so it is unlike the sun's court. How then can jia and yi be called the names of the sun? The houses of art explain further that the jia and yi of the days are of themselves spirits of Heaven and earth, and that the days take up their business in turn, and that the winning and losing of jia and yi of themselves make good and ill fortune, and that it is not the round sun. If this is so, then among the images of the five phases one need only use jia and yi to settle good and ill. Why speak of the added hour? Now the added hour is an adding of the round sun, and how can the round sun win or lose?
五音之家，用口調姓名及字，用姓定其名，用名正其字。口有張歙，聲有外內，以定五音宮商之實。夫人之有姓者，用稟於天，天得五行之氣為姓邪？
The houses of the five tones use the mouth to tune the surname and the given name and the style name. By the surname they fix the given name, and by the given name they set right the style name. The mouth has opening and closing, and the voice has outer and inner, and by these they fix the truth of gong and shang among the five tones. Now does a man have a surname by what he receives from Heaven, so that Heaven gets the breath of the five phases and it becomes his surname?
以口張歙聲外內為姓也？如以本所稟於天者為姓，若五谷萬物稟氣矣，何故用〔口〕張（口）歙、聲內外定正之乎？古者因生以賜姓，因其所生賜之姓也。若夏吞薏苡而生，則姓苡氏；商吞燕子而生，則姓為子氏；周履大人跡，則姬氏。其立名也，以信、以像、以假、以類。以生名為信，若魯公子友生，文在其手曰「友」也。
Or do the opening and closing of the mouth and the outer and inner of the voice make his surname? If the surname is what he first received from Heaven, as the five grains and the ten thousand things receive breath, why is it fixed and set right by the opening and closing of the mouth and the inner and outer of the voice? In old times a surname was given from a man's birth; it was given from that by which he was born. Xia was born when Job's tears were swallowed, and so the surname was the clan Yi. Shang was born when a swallow's egg was swallowed, and so the surname was the clan Zi. Zhou trod on the footprint of a great man, and so the clan Ji. In setting up a given name they used xin, xiang, jia and lei. To name from birth is xin, as when Prince You of Lu was born and the writing on his hand said "You."
以德名為義，若文王為昌、武王為發也。以類名為像，若孔子名丘也。取於物為假，若宋公名杵臼也。取於父為類，有似類於父也。其立字也，展名取同義，名賜字子貢，名予字子我。
To name from virtue is yi, as King Wen was Chang and King Wu was Fa. To name from the kind of a thing is xiang, as Confucius was named Qiu. To take from a thing is jia, as the Duke of Song was named Chujiu. To take from the father is lei, there being a likeness to the father. In setting up a style name, they unfold the given name and take a meaning that is the same: named Ci, styled Zigong; named Yu, styled Ziwo.
其立姓則以本所生，置名則以信、義、像、假、類，字則展名取同義，不用口張歙、〔聲〕外內。調宮商之吏之氏姓也；孟氏、仲氏，王父字之氏姓也。
So the surname is set up by what a man was born from, the given name is placed by xin, yi, xiang, jia and lei, and the style name unfolds the given name and takes a meaning that is the same. The opening and closing of the mouth and the outer and inner of the voice are not used. The tuning of gong and shang is the clan surname of the clerk; Meng and Zhong are clan surnames from a grandfather's style name.
氏姓有三，事乎，吏乎，王父字乎？以本姓則用所生，以氏姓則用事、吏、王父字，用口張歙調姓之義何居？
Clan surnames are of three sorts. Is it from a calling, from an office, or from a grandfather's style name? For the root surname one uses what a man was born from, and for the clan surname one uses a calling, an office, or a grandfather's style name. Where then is the sense of tuning a surname by the opening and closing of the mouth?
匈奴之俗，有名無姓字，無與相調諧，自以壽命終，禍福何在？禮，買妾不知其姓則卜之。不知者，不知本姓也。夫妾必有父母家姓，然而必卜之者，父母姓轉易失實，禮重取同姓，故必卜之。姓徒用口調諧姓族，則禮買妾何故卜之！
In the customs of the Xiongnu there are given names but no surnames and no style names, and there is nothing to tune and bring into accord, yet they come to the end of their allotted years of themselves. Where are disaster and good fortune in that? The Li says that when one buys a concubine and does not know her surname, one divines about it. Not knowing means not knowing the root surname. A concubine must have the surname of her father and mother's house, and yet they always divine, because a father's and mother's surname may be changed about and lose its truth, and the rites count it a weighty thing to take one of the same surname; therefore they always divine. If a surname were only a matter of tuning the surname and the clan with the mouth, why would the rites divine when a concubine is bought?
圖宅術曰：「商家門不宜南向，徵家門不宜北向。」
The Tuzhai shu says, "The gate of a shang house should not face south, and the gate of a zhi house should not face north."
則商金，南方火也；徵火，北方水也。水勝火，火賊金，五行之氣不相得，故五姓之宅門有宜向。向得其宜，富貴吉昌；向失其宜，貧賤衰耗。夫門之與堂何以異？五姓之門，各有五姓之堂，所向無宜何？門之掩地，不如堂廡，朝夕所處，於堂不於門。圖吉凶者，宜皆以堂。如門，人所出入，則戶亦宜然。孔子曰：「誰能出之由戶？」
For shang is metal and the south is fire, and zhi is fire and the north is water. Water overcomes fire and fire harms metal, and the breaths of the five phases do not agree with each other, and so the gates of the dwellings of the five surnames have a direction that suits them. If the facing gets what suits it, there is wealth and honor, good fortune and flourishing; if the facing loses what suits it, there is poverty and lowness, decline and waste. Now how does a gate differ from a hall? The gates of the five surnames each have the halls of the five surnames. Why is there no fitting direction for what the halls face? A gate covers less ground than the hall and its side chambers, and where a man stays morning and evening is the hall and not the gate. Those who map good and ill should do it all by the hall. If it is because men go out and come in by the gate, then the door should be the same. Confucius said, "Who can go out and not go by the door?"
言戶不言門。五祀之祭，門與戶均。
He spoke of the door and did not speak of the gate. In the five sacrifices the gate and the door are equal.
如當以門正所向，則戶何以不當與門相應乎？且今府廷之內，吏舍連屬，門向有南北，長吏舍傳，閭居有東西。長吏之姓必有宮商，諸吏之舍必有徵羽。安官遷徙，未必角姓門南向也，失位貶黜，未必商姓門北出也，或安官遷徙，或失位貶黜何？姓有五音，人之質性亦有五行。五音之家，商家不宜南向門，則人稟金之性者，可復不宜南向坐、南行步乎？一日五音之門，有五行之人，假令商姓口食五人，五人中各有五色，木人青，火人赤，水人黑，金人白，土人黃。五色之人，俱出南向之門，或凶或吉，壽命或短或長，凶而短者未必色白，吉而長者未必色黃也，五行之家何以為決？南向之門，賤商姓家，其實如何？南方火也，使火氣之禍，若火延燔，徑從南方來乎，則雖為北向門猶之凶也。火氣之禍，若夏日之熱，四方洽浹乎，則天地之間皆得其氣，南向門家何以獨凶？南方火者，火位南方，一曰其氣布在四方，非必南方獨有火，四方無有也，猶水位在北方，四方猶有水也。火滿天下，水辨四方。火或在人之南，或在人之北。謂火常在南方，是則東方可無金，西方可無木乎？
If the facing should be set right by the gate, why should the door not answer to the gate as well? And within the courts of office today the clerks' quarters run on side by side, and their gates face north and south, while the quarters of the senior officers and the post houses and the dwellings in the wards face east and west. Among the surnames of the senior officers there must be gong and shang, and among the quarters of the many clerks there must be zhi and yu. Those settled in office and advanced have not always a jue surname with a gate facing south, and those who lose their place and are cast down have not always a shang surname with a gate opening north. Why then are some settled in office and advanced, and some lose their place and are cast down? Surnames have the five tones, and the stuff and nature of men have the five phases too. If among the houses of the five tones a shang house should not have a gate facing south, then should a man who has received the nature of metal also not sit facing south or walk toward the south? In a single day, at a gate of the five tones there are men of the five phases. Suppose a shang surname has five mouths to feed. Among the five, each has one of the five colors: the wood man is green, the fire man red, the water man black, the metal man white, the earth man yellow. The men of the five colors all go out by the gate that faces south, and some are unlucky and some lucky, and their lives are short or long. He who is unlucky and short-lived is not always white, and he who is lucky and long-lived is not always yellow. By what do the houses of the five phases settle it? What is the truth of it, that a gate facing south makes a house of the shang surname low? The south is fire. If the disaster of the fire breath comes straight from the south, as a fire spreads and burns, then even a gate facing north would be unlucky all the same. If the disaster of the fire breath soaks through the four quarters like the heat of a summer day, then everything between Heaven and earth gets that breath, so why is a house with a gate facing south unlucky alone? To say that the south is fire means that the seat of fire is the south. One account says that its breath is spread over the four quarters, and that it is not that the south alone has fire and the four quarters have none, just as the seat of water is in the north and yet the four quarters still have water. Fire fills the world, and water runs through the four quarters. Fire is now to a man's south and now to his north. If it is said that fire is always in the south, then may the east be without metal and the west without wood?