鐔津文集 7.6

7.6

萬物有數大小有分。以數知變化之故。以分見天地之理。是故君子於天道無所惑焉。於人道無所疑焉。氣凝而生。生則有飲食。氣散而死。死則與土靡。是人道之分也。穹隆無窮。日月星辰而已。餘物不容。是天道之分也。載山振水資生金石草木（或無草木二字）是地道之分也。人數極。雖天地（或無地字）不能重之。天地變。雖人不能與之。是又天地之定分也。今曰。天可昇海可入。黃金可以巧成。噏雲氣與神遇而不死。是焉知變化之故而見天地之理乎。雖庸人亦謂其不然也。而齊威燕昭秦王漢武。紛綸趨之。留連而忘返。亂巡狩之制。繆祭祀之禮。孰謂是四人主者聰明聖智度越於庸人乎。天道大公也。人道大同也。同者同其死生也。公者公其與人相絕也。苟其公眾人而私一人。孰謂天乎。苟其同形生而獨不死。豈謂人乎。是故聖人皆罕語天道。蓋不以天而惑人者也。嘗正祭祀。蓋不以人而瀆神道者也。

The myriad things have numbers, and the large and small have their allotments. Through numbers, one knows the reasons for change and transformation; through allotments, one sees the principles of Heaven and Earth. For this reason, the gentleman has no perplexity concerning the Way of Heaven, and has no doubt concerning the Way of Man. When qi condenses, there is life; with life, there is drinking and eating. When qi disperses, there is death; with death, one disintegrates into the soil. This is the allotment of the Way of Man. The boundless vault above consists only of the sun, moon, stars, and constellations, admitting no other things. This is the allotment of the Way of Heaven. Carrying mountains, rousing waters, and supporting the generation of metal, stone, grass, and trees—this is the allotment of the Way of Earth. When a person's number is exhausted, even Heaven and Earth cannot prolong it; when Heaven and Earth undergo changes, even humans cannot interfere with them. These are the fixed allotments of Heaven and Earth. Now, people say: 'One can ascend to heaven, plunge into the sea, make gold by cunning art, inhale clouds and mist, encounter spirits, and not die.' How does this demonstrate knowing the reasons for change and transformation or seeing the principles of Heaven and Earth? Even an ordinary person would declare that it is not so. Yet King Wei of Qi, King Zhao of Yan, the King of Qin, and Emperor Wu of Han rushed toward this in utter confusion, lingering on and forgetting to return, disrupting the system of imperial inspections and corrupting the rituals of sacrifice. Who could say that these four rulers possessed intelligence, sagely wisdom, and insight surpassing that of ordinary people? The Way of Heaven is supremely impartial; the Way of Man is supremely uniform. Uniformity means sharing the same life and death; impartiality means being equally severed from human beings. If Heaven were impartial toward the masses yet favored a single person, who would call it Heaven? If a person shared the same bodily form and birth, yet alone did not die, how could he be called a human being? Therefore, the sages all spoke rarely of the Way of Heaven, because they would not confuse people by means of Heaven; they regularly rectified sacrifices, because they would not profane the way of the spirits by means of humans.