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The Way of Heaven Is Far Away, While the Way of Man Is Near at Hand
天之道遙遠而人事之道切近。出自《左傳》，為春秋時鄭國大夫子產(chǎn)（？—前522）所言。子產(chǎn)所言“天道”主要指星辰運行等天象所遵循的法則，“人道”則指人事運行的規(guī)則。子產(chǎn)提出“天道遠，人道邇”之說，以天道、人道的遠近之別，來強調(diào)星象的變化與人事無關(guān)，反對用星象的變化來附會甚至干預(yù)人事。
This saying is recorded in Zuo's Commentary on The Spring and Autumn Annals and is attributed to Zichan (?-522 BC), a senior minister of the State of Zheng during the Spring and Autumn Period. Here, the way of heaven refers to the law of the heavenly phenomena, including the movement of celestial bodies, while the way of man denotes the norms of human affairs. By drawing a sharp distinction between the remoteness of the way of heaven and the closeness of the way of man, Zichan sought to make clear that human affairs have nothing to do with astral movements and to reject any correspondences or causal connection between heavenly phenomena and human affairs.
引例 Citations：
◎夏五月，火始昏見（xiàn）。丙子，風。梓慎曰：“是謂融風，火之始也。七日，其火作乎！”戊寅，風甚。壬午，大甚。宋、衛(wèi)、陳、鄭皆火。梓慎登大庭氏之庫以望之，曰：“宋、衛(wèi)、陳、鄭也?！睌?shù)日，皆來告火。裨（pí）灶曰：“不用吾言，鄭又將火。”鄭人請用之，子產(chǎn)不可。子大（tài）叔曰：“寶，以保民也。若有火，國幾亡。可以救亡，子何愛焉？”子產(chǎn)曰：“天道遠，人道邇，非所及也，何以知之？灶焉知天道？是亦多言矣，豈不或信？”遂不與，亦不復(fù)火。（《左傳·昭公十八年》）
夏五月，大火星（心宿二）在黃昏出現(xiàn)。丙子日，刮風。梓慎說：“這叫做融風，是火災(zāi)的起始。七天之后，恐怕就要出現(xiàn)火災(zāi)了吧？”戊寅日，風大了。壬午日，風更大了。宋國、衛(wèi)國、陳國、鄭國都出現(xiàn)了火災(zāi)。梓慎登上大庭氏的府庫眺望，說：“這是宋國、衛(wèi)國、陳國、鄭國?！边^了幾天，四國都來魯國告知火災(zāi)。裨灶說：“不聽信我的話，鄭國還會有火災(zāi)?！编崌苏埱蟛杉{裨灶的話，子產(chǎn)不同意。子太叔說：“寶器是用來保護百姓的。如果發(fā)生了火災(zāi)，鄭國幾近滅亡?？梢杂脤毼锿炀葴缤觯伪亓呦?？”子產(chǎn)說：“天之道遙遠而人事之道切近，兩者沒有關(guān)系，如何能由天道知道人事呢？裨灶哪里知曉天道呢？只是他說得多了，難道不會偶爾說中嗎？”于是沒有給祭神的寶物，鄭國也沒有再發(fā)生火災(zāi)。
In summer, in the fifth lunar month, the Fire Star (aka. Antares, the brightest star in the constellation Scorpius) became visible at dusk. On the bingzi day of the month, wind started to blow. Zi Shen said, "This is the northeast wind, a sign of fires in the near future. I am afraid fires will break out in seven days." Two days later (on the wuyin day) of the month, the wind blew much harder. Four days later (on the renwu day), when there was a gale blowing, fires raged in the states of Song, Wei, Chen, and Zheng. Zi Shen ascended the warehouse built at the site of the House of Dating, observed the situation, and claimed, "There are fires in Song, Wei, Chen, and Zheng." Several days afterward, envoys of all four states came to the State of Lu to report the blazes. Pi Zao said, "If you do not take my advice, a fire will break out again in Zheng." The people of Zheng heeded his warnings and requested that his advice be followed, but Zichan refused. Zitaishu asked, "Treasures are for protecting civilians. Once a fire breaks out, the state will be on the verge of collapse. Now we can trade the treasures for security. Why do you begrudge giving them up?" Zichan replied, "The way of heaven is far away, while the way of man is near at hand. How can we know the things that are beyond our reach? How can Pi Zao know the way of heaven? As long as one makes plenty of predictions, there will always be a few that will prove to be true." Consequently, Zheng did not offer sacrifices to the gods, and fires did not occur. (Zuo's Commentary on The Spring and Autumn Annals)
推薦：教育部 國家語委
供稿：北京外國語大學 外語教學與研究出版社
責任編輯：錢耐安
