 | CHAPTER X. Lunheng |  |
CHAPTER X.
On Chance and Luck (Hsing-ou).
In their doings men may be clever or stupid, but with regard
to the happiness or unhappiness, which fall to their share, they
are either lucky or unlucky. Their works are good or evil, but,
whether they meet with rewards or punishment, depends on their
good or bad fortune. If several people suffer an armed attack
at the same time, those who find a hiding place, are not wounded,
and if some persons are overtaken by frost on the same day, those
who obtain shelter, suffer no injury. It does not follow that the
wounded or injured are wicked, or that those who found a hiding
place or a shelter, are meritorious. To find a refuge or shelter is
good luck, to be wounded or injured is bad luck. There are many
who would be pleased to give proofs of their loyalty, but out of
these some are rewarded, some punished; many would fain benefit
their country, but only some are trusted by their sovereign, the
others he suspects. Those whom he rewards and confides in, are
not necessarily trustworthy, nor are those whom he punishes and
mistrusts, of necessity traitors. Reward and trust is good fortune,
punishment and suspicion, bad.
From among the seventy odd pupils of Confucius, Yen Hui died
in early youth. Confucius said, "Unluckily his span was short,
therefore he died." If a short life be spoken of as unlucky, then
longevity must be a matter of luck, and a short life, something
unlucky. He who walks in the footsteps of sages and worthies,
and expounds the doctrines of kindness and justice, ought to enjoy
bliss and happiness. However, Po Niu[1]
fell sick, and did not fare
much better than Yen Hui; they were both unlucky.
Mole-crickets and ants creep on the ground. If man lifts his
foot, and walks on them, the crickets and ants crushed by his feet
die at once, whereas those which are untouched continue alive and
unhurt. Wild grass is consumed by fire kindled by the friction of
cart-wheels. People are fond of the grass which remained unburnt,
and commonly call it "lucky grass." Nevertheless, that an insect
has not been trodden upon, or some grass not been reached by
the feet, and the spread of the fire are merely accidental.
The same reasoning holds good for the breaking out of ulcers.
When the free circulation of humours is stopped, they coagulate,
and form a boil; as it begins to run, it becomes a sore:—the blood
comes out, and matter is discharged. Are those pores, where the
ulcer breaks through, better than others? No, only the working
of the good constitution has been checked in some places.
When the spider has woven its web, some of the flying insects
pass it unharmed, others are caught; when the hunter has
spread his nets, some of the beasts stirred up come to bay, the
others escape. In the fishing nets thrown into rivers and lakes
many fish are pulled out, others get away. It happens that robbers
and the like, guilty of the worst crimes, are never found out,
whereas people who have committed a small offence to be atoned
for by a fine only, are immediately discovered. Thus, general
calamities affect people differently. Such as are unlucky die of
the shock, and the lives of the fortunate are spared. Unlucky
means not favoured by circumstances. Confucius said:—"Man's life
must be upright. A life without it is based on good fortune only."[2]
Accordingly, those who on a smooth road meet with accidents, have
bad luck.
Should anybody standing at the foot of a high wall be
crushed by its fall, or, while walking on a river bank full of
crevices, be buried by the earth's collapsing under his feet, such
a one would simply have met with an accident, that is to say
would have been unlucky.
The city gate of the capital of Lu was in a state of decay
since a long time, and about to tumble down. When Confucius passed
it, he hurried up, and quickened his pace. His attendants said to
him:—"It has been like this ever so long." Confucius replied saying,
"Its having so long remained so is just what displeases me."
Confucius was precautious in the extreme; had the gate fallen down,
just when he passed it, one might speak of him as unlucky.
Confucius said, "Superior men may have no luck, but there are
none who have luck. Low people often have luck, and there are
none quite devoid of luck,"[3]
and further:—"The superior man keeps
dangers, relying on favourable circumstances."[4] Impostors like Hung
Ju, and Chieh Ju,[5] though possessed of no virtue or ability, were
nevertheless admired for their beauty; unworthy of love, they found
favour, and unfit to associate with, they were chosen as companions.
According to right and reason this ought not to be. Therefore,
the Grand Annalist devotes a chapter to them.[6] Bad characters
who in a similar way, though perverting all moral principles, are
honoured, and held in high esteem, are by a common name called
adventurers.
If a man devoid of virtue receives favours, it amounts to the
same, as if another without any fault of his own meets with misfortune.
All creatures originally endowed with vitality become
partly men, partly beasts, or birds. Of human beings, men though
they be one and all, some are honoured, others despised, some are
rich, others poor. The rich man may hoard up heaps of gold,
whereas a poor fellow is compelled to beg for his food. A nobleman
will perhaps rise to the rank of a marquis, whilst the low
born sinks into a state of slavery. It is not, because Heaven has
given them different qualities.
Man's natural disposition may be kind or mean; yet even if
the conduct of some persons be equally honest and virtuous, happiness
and misfortune are not equally divided among them, and
although they practise benevolence and justice in the same way,
success and failure are not the same. Wên of Chin[7]
sought to acquire
knowledge and virtue, and Yen of Hsü[8]
acted with benevolence and
justice; the former was rewarded, the latter utterly ruined. A man
of Lu[9]
having avenged his father, remained quietly where he was,
and did not flee. The pursuers let him off. Niu Ch`üeh was abducted
by robbers; he endured it fearlessly and with equanimity,
but the robbers killed him. Now, knowledge and virtue are
about the same as benevolence and justice, and not running
away as much as fearlessness, nevertheless Duke Wên and the man
of Lu were happy, and King Yen[10]
and Niu Ch`üeh, unhappy, the
drunk fell asleep, and would have caught cold but for the master
of caps, who covered him with a cloak. When the duke became
aware of it, he made inquiries, and learnt that the master of caps
had shown him this mark of his affection, yet he punished him for
having transgressed his proper duties. A lackey in Wei perceiving
that the charioteer was driving wrong, shouted from behind towards
the chariot with a view to preserving it from danger, but
was not called to account. The lackey when shouting towards
the chariot, and the master of the caps when spreading the cloak,
had the same intentions. The one was afraid that his master
might catch cold, the other that his prince would be in danger.
Both followed the impulses of goodness and kindheartedness, but
the man in Han was punished, the other in Wei, considered a faithful
servant. The lackey had good fortune, the master of the
caps not.
The same principle applies to things as well as to man.
Bamboos several tenths of feet in height, and trees measuring some
yards in circumference are cut down by artisans for use. Some
are worked into tools, and carried here and there, others are not
taken as material, and neglected. The artisans are not biased in
favour of some, or prejudiced against others, but knives and adzes
cut down the wood, as it were, by chance.
Grain, when steamed, becomes food; out of cooked grain wine
is distilled. Distilled wine has different flavours, it may be sweet
or bitter. Cooked food tastes differently, being either hard or soft.
The cook and the distiller while at work have not different intentions,
but the movements of hands and fingers are subject to
chance. Well done food is kept in different baskets, and sweet
wine is filled in various vessels. Supposing an insect drops into
such a vessel, then the wine is spilled, and not drunk; should a
mouse contaminate a basket, the food is thrown away, and not eaten.
The various plants are all good for something. Those which
happen to be plucked by a physician, become medicine, others are
left in the dried-up ravines, and burnt as fuel. So with metals:—
some are wrought into swords and halberds, some into spears and
hoes; so with wood:—some is shaped into the beams of a palace,
some into the pillars of a bridge. The same with fire:—it may
have to light a candle, or to burn dry grass; the same with earth:—
some builds up halls and mansions, some serves as plaster for
porches, and with water, which may be used for cleansing tripods
and cauldrons as well as for washing filthy things.
All things, whether good or bad, are used by man. If one
can be sorry for those things, which in this respect have no luck
and no chance, living creatures are still much more to be pitied.
Shun was a sage, and ought to have obtained perfect peace
and happiness in life. But he had a blockhead for a father and
a silly mother, and his brother was arrogant and brutal. They
disliked him, the faultless, and punished him, although he did no
wrong. His was extremely bad luck. Confucius was inferior to
Shun. He never owned a foot of land in his life, but restlessly
wandered about, seeking employment. His traces were obliterated,[11]
and his food cut off.[12]
In spite of their being sages these two
personages were visited with bad luck and bad chance. Shun still
happened to take over the empire, which Yao resigned to him, but
Confucius died in Chüeh-li. If even with the qualities of a sage
one has no luck, we cannot be surprised to find much bad luck
and misfortune among ordinary men.
The meaning is that the successes of superior men are due to their own
excellence, not to mere chance, but that they are often visited with misfortune.
With common people it is different. Their happiness is never their own work, but
luck, which often favours them.
| CHAPTER X. Lunheng | |