Xie Yichuan in the Later Han Dynasty

The Seventy-second Part/Full-text Translation of The History of the Later Han Dynasty (Ren Wengong, Guo Xian, Xu Yang, Gao Huo, Wang Qiao, Xie Yiwu, You Yang, Nan Li, Li He, Duan Yi, Liao Fu, Zhe Xiang, Fan Ying)

Confucius said in the preface of the Biography of alchemy that there are four "gentlemen's ways" in the Book of Changes, one of which is divination with tortoise shells or grass. The so-called "occupation" is the meaning that the former king used to predict fortune, decide problems, let the gods give instructions and decide everything in the future. Like those theories of Yin and Yang that speculate on the future, there are many records in ancient books. However, when the madman died, the jade policy gold rope was hidden in a mysterious place, sealed on Yao's altar, and now it is out of sight.

As for Hutuluo, the image of Turtle Dragon, Ji Zi's magic, Shi Kuang's secret book, Wei Hou and other symbols, they are all used to speculate on the unknown and test the good or ill luck of personnel, and sometimes they can be heard. Among them, there are many schools, such as wind angle, armor evasion, seven strategies (the sun, the moon and the five stars), the first year, seven points on the sixth day, every occupation, Japanese fortune telling (fortune telling), quite expert, instant, loneliness and so on. And those who look at the clouds and save gas and infer good or bad sometimes seem to be effective. But this kind of thing is somewhat vague, abstruse and mysterious after all, and it is quite difficult to explore, so Confucius does not talk about strange things, immortals and so on, and rarely talks about life. Sometimes the source is not mentioned in the end, and sometimes the main idea is to let people do it and not let people know the truth! From the beginning of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, he liked magic very much. People who know magic all over the world have heard of it without books.

Later, Wang Mang usurped the throne under the guise of fate. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, Emperor Guangwu believed in prophecy more, and some fashionable people ran to the emperor to discuss it. Therefore, and with their image to become great generals and fu. Zheng Xing and Jia Kui are famous for their appropriate responses, while Huan Tan and Yin Min failed because of their naysayers. Since then, many people have studied the science of divination, strange words and strange numbers. Therefore, some people of insight were very angry when they saw these strange things, and they all advised the emperor that they must be abandoned. Sima Qian also said: "Reading the books of Yin and Yang makes people bound and taboo." That's what I said. Everything is biased, and it is impossible to have no shortcomings. This is the way of a saint, and it is generally the same. Some people accuse the shortcomings of The Book of Songs of being too real and almost stupid. The historical record of The Book of Songs is not true, almost exaggerated. However, isn't the shortcoming of mathematics hiding and deceiving others? If we only talk about gentle and honest poetry teaching and get rid of some ignorance, we will deeply understand the Book of Songs. Don't pursue those false things. After reading the history of Tang Yu's three generations, you will deeply understand the classic books. If you only take the law of its change and don't believe those vulgar words, then you will deeply understand its mystery.

The ancients said: "If you don't really understand the truth, the road will not run rampant." It means that most people are lost in confusion, so they deviate too far from the right path. Zhang Heng is an authentic yin and yang scholar, and Lang Qi studies strange symptoms most carefully. Besides, there are many famous artists who are also very talented, but they still need to study hard. Now, some people who are good at promoting change and making up current events are commended here.

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