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CHAPTER I.

Coincidences (Ou-hui).

Fate holds sway over happiness and misfortune, being a spontaneous
principle and a decree to meet with certain incidents. There is no
alien force, and nothing else exercises an overwhelming influence or
affects the final result.

The world speaks of Tse Hsü[1] falling upon his sword, and of
Ch`ü Yuan[2] drowning himself. Tse Lan and Tsai P`i had slandered
them to the princes of Wu and Ch`u, and they died innocently. It just
so happened that the lives of the two were to end, that Tse Lan
and Tsai P`i defamed them, and that King Huai[3] and Fu Ch`ai[4] put
faith in their trumped up charges. It so happened that these princes
were short-sighted, so that their officers could be slandered. The
lives of the two unfortunate men chanced to be naturally of short
duration. It would seem as if there were two chances and three
coincidences,[5] but, as a matter of fact, there is but fate and
nothing else.

When the Hsia and Yin dynasties were just on the verge of
ruin, the crimes of Chieh and Chou happened to be rife, and when
the stars of the Shang and Chou[6] were just in the ascent, the virtues
of T`ang and Wu[7] happened to be flourishing.

Kuan Lung Fêng[8] met with a violent death, and Chi Tse[9] and
Pi Kan[10] both expired in jail. At that time the corruption of Chieh
and Chou was at its height, and the spans of the two men were to
terminate. The words of Yi Yin[11] were listened to, and the advice of

Lü Wang[12] was accepted. That was the period, when T`ang and
Wu were going to rise, and the time, when the two statesmen were
to be employed.

The destiny of a subject may be lucky or unlucky, and a
virtuous or a vicious sovereign meets with him. Wên Wang's time
was to be glorious, and it was Lü Wang's fate to become exalted.
Kao Tsung's[13] reign was to be peaceful, and Fu Yüeh's[14] virtue to
chime in with it. Not that Wên Wang and Kao Tsung were born for
their two subjects, or that Lü Wang and Fu Yüeh were created for
their two sovereigns. The sovereign being wise, and the minister
virtuous, they heard of each other's fame. Everything being adjusted
above, and well ordered below,[15] their lots came to be linked together.

When Yen Yuan[16] died, the Master said, "Heaven is destroying
me.",[17] and at the death of Tse Lu he exclaimed, "Heaven has cursed
me." These were expressions of the grief of Confucius and not in
accord with the true principle. Confucius was not predestinated to
become an emperor, and the lives of his two disciples were not to
be long. The fate allotted to them viz. not to become an emperor
and not to live long, was not the same, but their lots coincided,
and just happened to be connected.

The wonder of the two dragons had to appear, just when King
Li of Chou happened to open the box, and when Pao Sse had to
destroy the Chou State, it so happened that the nature which King
Yu had obtained proved to be wicked.[18] The two dragons did not
induce King Li to commit crimes, nor did Pao Sse beguile King Yu.
All these were merely chances and coincidences, which came together
of themselves.

The weird ditties of children turned out true, when the extraordinary
cockfight took place by hazard,[19] and the prophecy by

the mainah was fulfilled, when the calamity happened to befall Chao
of Lu.[20] Those ditties did not cause the fighting, nor did the mainah
bring about the misfortune of the prince: the date of these events
came of itself, and human activity coincided by chance.

It was Yao's fate to yield the empire to Shun, and Tan Chu's,
to be unprincipled, and when the power over Yü[21] had to pass over
to the Hsia dynasty, Shang Chün's conduct had to be flagitious. The
two sons were not induced to wickedness, in order to procure the
empire to Shun and Yü.[22] Goodness and badness, right and wrong
came together by hazard.

As regards the rising and setting of Mars and the Pleiades,
Mars comes out, when the Pleiades are down, and hides, when the
Pleiades are visible. It is not the nature of fire[23] that it should
counteract the Pleiades, but by chance their times are not the same,
and their courses are different.

When the first moon rests in the cyclical sign yin, the constellation
K`uei[24] of Ursa major is opposed to the sign shên. It is
not the establishment of yin which causes the ejection of shên,
but the revolutions of the two constellations happen to be thus
balanced.

When the father dies, the son succeeds him and, when the
mother-in-law expires, the daughter-in-law takes her place.[25] The
succession of son and daughter are not the causes of the decease
of father and mother, but the years of old and young people follow
each other of themselves.

They say that autumn's breath blights grain and grass. They
cannot stand it, and fade away and die. This idea is wrong:—Plants
germinate in spring, grow in summer, and ripen in autumn. Then
they just wither and die spontaneously. The Yin fluid then happens
to be in abundance and falls in with them. Whence do we
know this?

Some plants do not die in autumn, their vitality not yet being
exhausted. Man lives a hundred years ere he breathes his last,
and plants live one year before they die. If people aver that at
death the Yin fluid destroys them, what kind of fluid does man
encounter when his life ceases? Some perhaps may return that
ghosts kill him. If, when man expires, ghosts appear, and when
plants die, cold air supervenes, all this would be mere accident.
Men see ghosts before their end, but some perceive them without
dying. Plants meet cold when they die, but it happens also that
they encounter cold and yet do not wither.

Those who are crushed by a falling building, or buried
under a collapsing bank, are not killed by the essence of the house
or the fluid of the bank. The house was old, and the bank in decay.
Unfortunate men happened to be on the spot just at the moment
when the down-fall took place.

The moon fades in heaven, and shells shrink in the sea.[26] The
wind follows the tiger, and the clouds accompany the dragon.[27]
Belonging to the same sort and permeated by a similar fluid, their
natures can mutually affect one another. When, however, creatures

and things fall in together, and good or bad luck happen simultaneously,
there is no influence exercised by one fluid upon another.

The worst penalty which can be inflicted on a murderer, is
capital punishment. The punishment of the murderer must be heavy,
and the life of him who has to die, must be cut off. Therefore
the destruction coming down from above, first aims at the life of the
criminal. When, however, a holy emperor displays his virtue, those
having good luck first enjoy it. And then, if a kind edict be issued
in the palace, the culprit who has still long years to live comes
out of jail. In that case Heaven has not prompted the holy
emperor to issue such an edict for the sake of the culprit whose
time of death has not yet come. The holy emperor happened to
promulgate an act of grace, and the prisoner by chance escaped death.

It is like man's sleeping at night, and rising in the morning.
At night the light of the moon fades, it is impossible. to work,
and man's forces are likewise exhausted, so that he desires rest. When
the morning sun shines brightly, he awakes from his slumbers, and
his power is restored as well. Heaven does not make him work
during the day, and repose at night. Working goes along with the
day, and rest corresponds to the night.

The wild geese assemble at Kuei-chi,[28] having left the cold region
of Chieh-shih.[29] When they arrive they find the fields of the people
just ready. Walking about them, they feed on grass and corn.
When the corn has been eaten, and the food been used up, the
spring rains then just set in. Then they leave the hot climes for
the north, returning again to Chieh-shih.

The elephants tilling the tumulus acted in the same manner.[30]
It is on record that Shun was buried in Ts`ang-wu,[31] and that elephants
became his labourers, and that Yü was interred at Kuei-chi, and
had crows as tenants.[32] This is an untruth and an absurd statement.

When a husband has the physiognomy of a short-lived man,
the wife he marries must soon become a widow, and when

such a woman who is soon to be widowed marries, she falls in
with a husband who dies young. There is a common belief that,
in case males and females die prematurely, the husband injures
his wife, and the wife does harm to the husband. There can be
no question of mutual injury, it is all the outcome of fate, which
works spontaneously.

Provided that a flame be quenched by water, then we are
justified in speaking of water injuring fire. But when fire just
goes out of its own accord, and water happens to pour down on
it spontaneously, we must say that both have destroyed themselves
and did not injure one another. Now the untimely death of males
and females is not analogous to the quenching of fire by water,
but may be compared to the two elements extinguishing and pouring
down of themselves.

The son injuring his father and the younger brother ruining
the elder are on the same line. Since they are living under the
same roof, their fluids come into contact. They become weak and
sickly and pine away until they give up their ghost, but how can
this be called injury? It also happens that somebody dies abroad,
more than a thousand Li away, by sword or fire, crushed or
drowned. There cannot have been a collision of fluids: how could
any harm have been produced?

The aunt of Wang Mang, Lady Chêng, was bespoken in marriage
to two gentlemen, who both died, and when she was on her
way to Chao, its prince also passed away. Before her fluid could have
reached them, she destroyed three persons from afar, what a pity![33]

Huang Ts`e Kung married the daughter of a sorcerer in the
neighbourhood, after a soothsayer had pronounced her mien to be
noble. Therefore Huang Ts`e Kung rose to the rank of a prime
minister. As a matter of fact, this was not so. Huang Ts`e Kung
was predetermined to become a nobleman, when, on a journey, he
encountered the woman. She was likewise to be exalted, therefore
she entered Huang Ts`e Kung's house. It was a coincidence, and
they met at the proper time.[34]

Luckless people make no profit as merchants, and as agriculturists
reap no grain.[35] Their nature does not spoil the merchandise,
but their fate prevents the grain from growing. Predestinated

for poverty, they deal in unprofitable goods, and hampered with
bad luck, they plant seed which does not bear fruit.

The world says that dwellings are propitious or unpropitious,
and that in moving, special attention should be paid to the year
and the month.[36] This is not a correct statement of facts. The
ways of Heaven are difficult to know, but provided that an unlucky
fellow, or a doomed family build a house, they simply will
select a site of ill omen, and when they change their residence,
they just happen to choose a calamitous year or month which
should be avoided. When an entire family thus rushes into
disaster, so that its ten odd members all perish, unable to do
anything against it, they all must be persons whose prosperity is
shattered and whose fate put an end to them.

The same reasoning holds good concerning the promotion and
translation of officials. When the time of their removal has come, their
sovereign lends an ear to slanderous reports, and when it is time that
they should advance, some excellent man recommends them. When
a scholar is about to take office, some superior man assists virtue, and
when he is going to be dismissed, some villain has defamed talent.

Kung-Po Liao[37] impeached Tse Lu to Chi Sun.[38] Confucius said,
`It is fate.'[39] Tsang Ts`ang[40] of Lu slandered Mencius in the presence
of Duke P`ing, and Mencius remarked that is was Heaven.[41] As
long as the time for a new doctrine has not yet come, one meets
with backbiters, and before Heaven lends its help, the talk of
malicious people prevails. Therefore Confucius spoke of fate, and
did not cherish enmity against Kung-Po Liao; and Mencius referring
to Heaven did not bear a grudge against Tsang Ts`ang. They
clearly saw that time and fate must be spontaneous.

This is true of the success of a ruler introducing reforms as
well. If he is to become illustrious, there happens to be a time
of peace, and when there is to be a time of rebellion, his prosperity
will be ruined. The time of peace and revolution, victory
and defeat is like the progress and the reverses, the good and bad
fortune of an individual, which are encountered by chance.

The appearance of wise and sage men at various times falls
under the same law. A pious emperor soars up like a dragon all

at once, and an able help-mate is found out and instated in the
very nick of time. People imagine that because Han Hsin and Chang
Liang supported the king of Han, Ch`in was wiped out and Han came
to power, insomuch as Kao Tsu won the crown. It was Han Kao
Tsu's destiny to become emperor by himself at a time, when Han
Hsin and Chang Liang were to flourish by themselves. Thus both
sides met. If they had sought each other on purpose, and
for this reason Han Kao Tsu rose in Fêng and P`ei,[42] among the
young folks there many had physiognomies indicative of wealth
and honour, yet Heaven did not aid Kao Tsu through them.

Whether fate and physiognomies be grand or mean, there
is only a casual coincidence. Viscount Chien of Chao deposed
his heir-son Po Lu and raised Wu Hsü, the son of a concubine.
Wu Hsü happened to be intelligent, and he was predestined to
become prince of Chao to boot.[43] People say that Po Lu was depraved
and not equal to Wu Hsü. Po Lu was doomed to baseness,
moreover his mind was muddled.

The scholar Han An Kuo rose to be Minister of State. They
say that he owed this to I K`uan, but that is not the case.[44] High
honours were in store for the Minister, and by hazard he fell in
with I K`uan.

Chao Wu[45] hidden in the pantaloons did not cry the whole day.
Nobody shut his mouth or prevented him from giving a sound. but
it was his lot to live, therefore he chanced to escape by sleeping.

Thus marquises who have won laurels on the battle-field
must needs cut the heads of those slain in battle, and merchants
of wealthy houses will snatch away the property of poor families.
As regards those noblemen who are deprived of their land and
degraded, or officers and ministers who are dismissed, their guilt
is made public when their income is highest. Noxious air always
infects those people whose fates are short,[46] and in a year of dearth
the indigent have to suffer starvation.[47]