法苑珠林 31.59

31.59

賈誼為長沙王太傅。四月庚子日。有鵩鳥飛入其舍止于座隅。良久乃去。誼發書占之曰。野鳥入處主人將去。誼忌之故作鵩鳥賦。齊死生而等禍福。以致命定志焉。

When Jia Yi was the grand tutor to the King of Changsha, on the gengzi day of the fourth month, an owl flew into his house and perched in the corner of his seat. Only after a long while did it depart. Yi opened a book to divine it, which read: 'When a wild bird enters a dwelling, the host is soon to depart.' Yi dreaded this, so he composed the 'Rhapsody on the Owl,' equalizing life and death and treating misfortune and fortune as the same, so as to resign himself to destiny and settle his mind.