LIU CHI.
a.d. 1311-1375
[For many years a faithful servant of the quondam Buddhist-novice Emperor, who at length succeeded in overthrowing the dynasty of the Mongols and establishing himself, under the title of Hung Wu, as the first ruler of the House of Ming.]
DIVINATION.
WHEN Shao P‘ing fell,[1] he repaired to the abode of a famous augur to ask his fate by means of divination.
“What is it you would enquire about?” said the latter.
“He who has lain awhile,” replied Shao P‘ing, “longs to arise. He who has hidden awhile, longs to come forth. He whose nose is stuffed, longs to sneeze. And I have heard that that which is over-pent breaks out at last; that excessive sorrow finds its own relief; that excessive heat is followed by wind; and that excessive compression makes its own vent. Thus, too, the seasons follow one another with ceaseless change: one rolls away and another comes on. Yet I have my doubts, and would fain receive instruction at your hands.”
“Sir,” said the augur; “after all you have just now stated, pray tell me what further you would have me divine?”
“The abstruser mysteries,” answered Shao P‘ing, “I do not pretend to have penetrated; and would beg you to enlighten me thereon.”
“Alas!” cried the augur, “what is there that Heaven can bestow save that which virtue can obtain? Where is the efficacy of spiritual beings beyond that with which man has endowed them? The divining-plant is but a dead stalk; the tortoise-shell a dry bone. They are but matter like ourselves. And man, the divinest of all things, why does he not seek wisdom from within, rather than from these grosser stuffs?
“Besides, sir, why not reflect upon the past that past which gave birth to this present? Your cracked roof and crumbling
- ↑ As he did with the Ch‘in dynasty (206 b.c.), under which he had been Marquis of Tung-ling.
