三教平心論 2.7

2.7

The Shrine of the Two Consorts at Huangling is for spirits not recorded in the official sacrificial canons. When Yu was exiled to Chaoyang and passed across Lake Dongting, he thereupon prayed to the Two Consorts seeking deliverance from misfortune. When he was able to return, he gave out money to repair their shrine, offered sacrifices with full ritual, and wrote an essay to commemorate it. Now, does not a gentle, virtuous gentleman seek blessings without turning crooked? Why then did Yu act with such crooked servility in seeking blessings? Yu condemned the Buddha as a barbarian ghost, yet timid and cowering, wagging his tail to beg for mercy, he did so toward the ghosts of women! How utterly shameless he was! When a gentleman suffers hardship, he conducts himself appropriately in hardship; when he suffers poverty and low station, he conducts himself appropriately in poverty and low station. Yu had only just been banished when he immediately became disoriented, disturbed, depressed, and sorrowful. He both dropped hints to the Son of Heaven concerning the Feng and Shan sacrifices, sought [divinations of] fortune and misfortune from the Daoist Immortal Mao, and prayed to the Two Consorts over calamity and upheaval—was Yu one who steadfastly preserved the Way without changing? Therefore, at that time Dadian said to Yu: 'I know that life and death, misfortune and good fortune, are indeed tied to Heaven. How could that shrine at Huangling possibly bring you fortune? The Present Emperor succeeded after the Tianbao era. Treacherous ministers betrayed the state, and [the court] launched punitive campaigns against them; rations and souls gathered like clouds, and dead bodies filled the wild plains before victory could barely be won! Yet before the wounds have healed, you now wish to have the Feng and Shan sacrifices performed to report achievements, so as to flaunt them before and agitate the realm, with your true intention resting on your desire to return! How can you bear to do this? Moreover, to throw yourself into turmoil over adversity and sacrifice to female ghosts shows an ignorance of fate; to agitate the realm without regard [for others] merely to serve your own convenience shows an ignorance of humaneness!' He spoke with forceful words to confound him, and these words are recorded in the *Alternative Biography of Tuizhi*. From this, the conduct of Yu can be seen again.