Wang ch‘ung lun-hêng philosophical essays Traduits et annotés par Alfred forke

A contingency is some extraordinary change, such, for instance, as were experienced by Ch‘êng T‘ang ², when he was kept a prisoner in Hsia-tai and by Wên Wang ³, when detained at Yu-li. For sages, with all their perfections, to be thrown into jail, this certainly can be called an extraordinary contingency. But however great the change may be, in the case of a favourable destiny and a thriving luck it does no harm. This it what they call a contingent mishap. That winch befell Yen Tse ⁴ must be regarded as a great one. Let us suppose that a weapon be pointed at a man’s breast, that the bright blade be already touching his neck, that he rush forward to certain death, or that he oppose himself to the points of swords and halberds, let such a man be saved just at the moment, when he expects to die, then his destiny is so good, and his luck so flourishing, that the misfortune he encounters cannot injure him. At Li-yang and Ch‘ang p‘ing, where the catastrophe took place ⁵, were certainly people with a propitious fate and a thriving luck, who were all crushed to death in the same night. The disaster they met with was so paramount, that their good fate and thriving luck could not ward it off. This may be compared to the antagonism between water and fire. If the water is stronger, it quells the fire, and if the fire is stronger, it overcomes the water. To find employment, a man must get hold of an employer. In spite of a propitious fate and thriving luck nobody will be able to show what he is capable of, unless he comes into contact with a master who takes an interest in him ⁶.

The word chance conveys the idea of good and evil derived from accidents. A culprit, who succeeds in making his escape, has _p1.143 good fortune, whereas it is bad fortune, if an innocent man be arrested. He who after a short incarceration obtains his release, has a propitious destiny and thriving luck so, that the misfortune of an untimely end cannot affect him.

Now for the meaning of incident, which will be illustrated by the service offered to a sovereign. Provided that somebody serve the sovereign in the proper way, that the latter appreciate his words, and afterwards employ him, this is a lucky incident. Conversely, if the prince disprove of the man’s ways so, that he dismisses him, and sends him away, this is an unlucky incident. Should a man after a short period of disgrace still get an appointment through the recommendation of a higher official, he owes it to his good destiny and thriving luck, which do not allow that the harm caused by an unlucky incident keeps on for long.

Contingencies and chance either tally with destiny and luck or disagree with them. To hit on good chances, and thus reach the goal, or to meet with bad ones, and be ruined, is tallying with destiny and luck. To fall off in mid-career, without completing what is to come, good being suddenly turned into evil, this is contrary to fate and luck. In this world men’s dispositions and destinies are auspicious or unfavourable, their happiness and misfortune flourish or decline. All depends on contingencies. According to the chances they have, they either live or die. But those who accomplish all their good or bad deeds, and obtain all their heart’s, desires, are few.

CHAPTER IX

On Destiny and Fortune

3. I, III. Ming-lu

Thus it seems, as if the gods lent their help to the wealthy and the great folks, and as if the mishap of the poor and low class people were the work of the demons. When future grandees study with others, they alone reach the goal ¹, and after having taken office, they alone are promoted from among their colleagues. What the future rich men strive for with other competitors, they alone obtain, and what they do conjointly, they alone complete. With poor and low people it is just the reverse. They fail in their studies, fail to be promoted, and fail to complete what they have begun. They make themselves guilty, suffer punishment, fall sick, die, and perish. The loss of wealth and honour means poverty and meanness.

Consequently, there is no guarantee whatever that men of high endowments and excellent conduct will in any case attain to wealth and honour, and we must not imagine that others whose knowledge is very limited, and whose virtue is but small, are therefore doomed to poverty and misery. Sometimes, men of great _p1.145 talents and excellent conduct have a bad fate, which cripples them, and keeps them down, and people with scanty knowledge and small virtue may have such a propitious fate, that they soar up and take a brilliant flight.

Wisdom and dullness, pure and mean conduct under given circumstances are character and natural gifts ; high and low rank in the official career, and wealth and poverty in business depend on destiny and time. Destiny is not amenable to coercion, or time to compulsion. The knowing, therefore, leave every thing to Heaven, placid, serene, and equanimous even in case their poverty or misery should be changed into wealth and honour.

When in digging a creek or cutting firewood a special energy be shown, or great strength be displayed, then by dint of digging the creek will be deepened, and by dint of hewing much wood will be cut down. Even people without a fate would thus obtain their ends, how then would poverty and meanness, disasters and dangers come in ? Perhaps heavy showers might interfere with the completion of the creek, or the wood-cutter might fall in with a tiger, before he had gathered much wood. The low rank of an official and the unprofitableness of a business are like the showers interrupting the digging of a creek, and like the tiger met by the wood-cutter.

Perhaps able men find no occasion to use their talents, and the wise cannot practise their wisdom, or they use their talents, but have no success, and practise their principles, but do not accomplish what they had in view. Though being as gifted and as wise as Confucius, it may happen that they never come to the front. The world seeing their high moral standard will ask,

— How is it that these sort of worthies and wise men do not become exalted ?,

and admiring their deep thoughts, they will say,

— Why do men of such a wonderful intellect not become rich ?

Rank and wealth depend upon fate, happiness and fortune are not connected with wisdom and intelligence. Therefore it is said that wealth cannot be acquired by calculations, nor rank be secured by talents. Profound philosophy does not procure riches, and the highest accomplishments do not win an official post. Those who carry silver in their bosoms and wear pendants of red jewels, are not necessarily a Chi ¹ or a Hsieh ² in talent, and those who amass gold or heap up precious stones, must not be a Chu of _p1.146 T’ao ³ in wisdom. Not seldom simpletons are in possession of a thousand chin, and blockheads are made governors of a city. Officers may show the same ability in their administration, their different rank is the result of their fate, and in doing business people may display the same knowledge, their different wealth is the outcome of their fortune. It is fortune which determines wealth and poverty, through knowledge one does neither thrive nor perish, and it is destiny that fixes one’s high or low position, through talents one does not advance or fail in one’s career.

King Ch‘êng’s ¹ ability did not equal that of the Duke of Chou, and Duke Huan’s ² intelligence fell short of that of Kuan Chung. Nevertheless Ch‘êng and Huan were endowed with the most glorious fate, whereas the Duke of Chou and Kuan Chung received inferior appointments. In ancient times, princes very seldom did not learn from their ministers. Possessing an extensive knowledge the latter would, as a rule, act as their fathers and instructors. In spite of this unsufficiency, the princes would take the place of sovereigns, and their ministers with all their accomplishments had to serve as their menials. That shows that rank depends upon destiny, and not on intelligence, and that wealth is good fortune, and has nothing to do with mental faculties.

Most people discussing these questions fancy that men of genius ought to be made generals and ministers, and that less gifted persons should become peasants and traders. Observing that scholars of great abilities are not called to office, they are surprised, and reproach them with incompetency for practical business, and likewise they wonder at other scholars, who have a turn of mind for the practical (but do not get on), and imagine that they must be too weak in theory. As a matter of fact, they are not aware that, though a person may be most admirable either in theory or in practice, it is merely destiny that governs his official status and his emoluments. When clever men undertake something at a lucky and propitious time, and happiness survenes, then people will call them clever, whereas, when they witness a decline, and the arrival of misfortune, they regard them as stupid. They do not know a lucky and inauspicious fate, or a thriving and declining fortune.

When literati are able to comment upon one classic, in which they have become well versed in the capital, as lucidly as Kuang Chih Kuei and as thoroughly as Chao Tse Tu, who passed the first and the second examinations at the first trial, and immediately were promoted to the rank of a secretary of a ministry and of an academician, people believe that they have obtained this by their profound knowledge of the classics and their genius, which is wrong.

In the case of able speakers ¹ such as Fan Chü ², who in Ch‘in was ennobled as a Marquis of Ying, and of T‘sai Tse ³ who after he had spoken to Fan Chü, was appointed alien minister ⁴, they pretend that these happy results were brought about by the excellence of Fan Chü and T‘sai Tse, but that is erroneous. All the above-mentioned persons were predestinated for opulence and nobility, and it was just the proper time for these lucky events to happen.

Confucius said,

— Life and death depend on Destiny, wealth and honour come from Heaven ⁵.

Duke P‘ing of Lu wished to see Mencius, but his minion Tsang T’sang slandered Mencius, and dissuaded him. Mencius said,

— It is Heaven ⁶.

« Benevolence and meanness depend upon time, not on conduct, and profit and loss are brought about by fate, not by knowledge.

And Chia Yi ⁷ states,

« With Heaven one cannot fix a time, and with Tao one cannot lay plans. Early and late are predetermined by destiny. How could the time be known ?

When Kao Tsu fought against Ch‘ing Pu ⁸, he was hit by a stray arrow. His illness being very serious, the Empress Lü Hou consulted an able physician. This doctor said that the disease could be cured, but Kao Tsu abused him saying,

— I, a simple citizen, have with my sword of three feet conquered the world. Was that not Heaven’s decree ? Destiny depends on Heaven. Even a Pien Ch‘ioh ¹ would be no use ².

— The heavenly appointment, of which Your Majesty speaks, cannot be won by skill or force.

Yang Tse Yün ³ teaches that to meet with what one desires, or not to meet with it, is fate, and the Grand Annalist asserts that wealth and honour do not exclude poverty and meanness, and that the latter do not exclude wealth and honour. That means that opulence and nobility may turn into indigence and humbleness, and that indigence and humbleness may be changed into opulence and nobility. Rich and noble persons do not desire poverty and misery, but poverty and misery may come of themselves, and poor and humble fellows may not strive for wealth and honour, yet wealth and honour fall to their sort spontaneously.

When in spring or summer people die in prison, and when in autumn and winter they wear an air of prosperity ⁴, this is not the result of their works. The sun rises in the morning, and sets in the evening, not because people wish it, for the principle of Heaven is spontaneity. The King of Tai ⁵ arrived from Tai, and _p1.149 became the Emperor Wên Ti ⁶. Chou Ya Fu ⁷, an illegitimate son, was made Marquis of Tiao. At first, the King of Tai was not heir apparent, and Chou Ya Fu was not the legitimate son, but they encountered the proper time, and fell in with the right moment, which led to their elevation.

In case a person predestinated for poverty, acquires wealth by his exertions and his energy, he dies, when he has made a fortune, and should another doomed to humility win honours by his talents and abilities, he will be dismissed, when he has made himself a position. They win wealth and honour by their energy and their genius, but are unable to keep in possession of fate and luck, just as a vessel holds but a certain quantity, and as a hand lifts but a certain weight. If a vessel holds just one pint, then one pint exactly fills it, but, as soon as there is more than one pint, it flows over. Provided that a hand can just lift one chün ⁸, then it balances one chün, but, when one chün is exceeded, he who lifts it up, tumbles and falls.

Former generations knew the truth, therefore they ascribed every thing to destiny, and such is destiny indeed. Those who trust in destiny, can live in retirement and await their time. They need not exhaust their vitality, or harass their bodies, hunting after it — for it is like pearls and jewels, concealed in lakes and mountains. Heaven’s fate is difficult to know. People are unable to find it out. Although their fate be propitious, they have no confidence in it, and therefore seek it. If they understood it, they would be aware that, though fleeing wealth and shunning honour, at length they cannot get rid of it.

Thus they presume that force overcomes poverty, and that diligence vanquishes misfortune. They exert themselves, and do their utmost to acquire wealth, and they cultivate their faculties, and purify their conduct to win honour. But neglecting the proper time, and acting in a wrong way, they will never obtain the wealth and honour they crave for. Even though they admit the existence of fate, they imagine that it must be sought.

He who is convinced that fate cannot be sought, maintains that it must come of its own accord. One obtains it of itself without any alien assistance, it is completed without any work, and it arrives spontaneously without any cooperation on the part of the recipient. The nerves and sinews of those who are to be _p1.150 rich, become strong of themselves, and those who are to have rank and titles, get a fine intellect spontaneously, just as in a thousand Li horse ¹ the head, the eyes, the feet, and the hoofs all suit together.

That fate, if sought, cannot be obtained, does not mean that it can be won, if not affected. Men of great knowledge need not seek honour, for it comes of its own accord, and the active and energetic need not seek wealth, for it falls to them spontaneously. The happiness of wealth and honour cannot be attracted by any efforts, nor can the unhappiness of poverty and humbleness be simply avoided. Consequently, the fate of wealth and honour is obtained without any effort. Those who believe in fate will say they know that luck requires no seeking. When the heavenly fate is particularly lucky, it is obtained spontaneously without an effort, whereas, when it is unpropitious, all endeavours are of no help against it.

As creatures are born not because they have wished it, so men become exalted without having struggled for it. Human character is such, that some people are good of themselves without instruction, and that others never become good in spite of instruction. The heavenly nature is like fate. King Yi of Yüeh ² escaped into the mountains, earnestly desiring not to become king, and wishing to find a substitute. But the people of Yüeh smoked his den so, that at last he could not escape, and ascended the throne by force. By Heaven’s fate it had to be so. Though fleeing and running away from it, he could not avoid it at last. Thus he spontaneously obtained the honour which he had not sought.

CHAPTER X

On Chance and Luck

5. II, I. Hsing-ou

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 _p1.152 the fire, is not yet a proof of their excellence. The movement of 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 ¹.

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.

— Its having so long remained so is just what displeases me.

— 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 ²,

and further :

— The superior man keeps _p1.153 in safe places, thus awaiting his destiny, the ordinary man courts dangers, relying on favourable circumstances ³.