好鬼戒

余曰:「子何其惑之甚歟！此皆適逢其會[4]，或傳聞之誤。況好事者多，而甚言[5]之耳。苟正神也，必以祐民為心，不若是，其作祸矣。至所謂鬼者，人死乃為鬼，凡人雖勇於有為，于死生禍福則不能自主焉。

己猶不能，况於人乎？人猶不能，鬼能之乎？蓋人之有鬼，猶火之有煙也，死則隨之而滅，何鬼之有？」 

曰：“然則竟無鬼乎 ？” 曰：「間有之死而即減者，乃其常也。有旬日而減至經年尚存者，蓋千百中之一二，然亦無能為也。若更歷久遠，乃靈鬼也。然鬼之能靈，猶人之有仙，不易得也。」

I say: “How are you confused to such an extent! These are all just coincidental encounters that happen to come across such (accidental) chances or wrong rumors. Besides, many people like to stir up right and wrong, and they are just trying too hard to clarify themselves. If there are righteous gods, they must have blessings for the people as their center of gravity; if not, they are creating disasters. As for the so-called ghosts, people become ghosts only after they die, and although ordinary people are brave and capable, they cannot make their own decisions in terms of death, life, misfortune, and fortune. 

One cannot decide (on these things) by oneself; how could other people do it? Humans cannot even do this (deciding their life events); how can ghosts do it? Probably, people having ghosts inside is just like fire having smoke, and when they die, it (the ghost) goes out with their death. Where do ghosts come from?”Therefore, people having ghost is like fire having smoke. When someone die, the ghost would disappear along with death, so what ghost is there?” 

Said: “If so, are there truly no ghosts?” Said: “At times there are dying and disappearing ones, and this is the usual case. The ghosts who exist from ten days to several years, are one or two among thousands, but still they could not make it. If they experience longer time existence, they are spiritual ghosts. However, for a ghost to become spiritual is like people achieving immortality, which is not easy to achieve.” 

孔子曰：「敬鬼神而遠之。」 夫此鬼神者，特謂當祭之。正神[6]爾。然雖當敬[7]之，又當逺[8]之。盖正神[9]教祭而不能逺，則不敬而無福。苟邪鬼[10]而信之矣，不惟無福，實取禍[11]之道也。客聞是言，黙然良乆，俯首側目而去，盖未之信也。嗚呼！是理亦淺而易知，然舉世鮮有能辨之者。總由不能修身[12]窮理[13]于平時，故臨事無主而卒[14]為惑也。夫淺而易知者猶如此，欲斯道[15]之明，不亦難㢤[16]！

Confucius said: “Respcting ghosts and gods but stay away from them.” These ghosts and gods are specifically are specifically said to be tributed properly.Oh gods! While they deserve reverence, it is equally important to maintain a proper distance. If one worships righteous deities but fails to maintain distance, it demonstrates disrespect and thus brings no blessings. However, if one chooses to believe in malevolent spirits, not only will they fail to bring blessings, but such belief will inevitably lead to calamity. Upon hearing these words, the guest remained silent for a long time, bowed his head, glanced sideways, and departed—perhaps because he did not believe them. Alas! This reasoning is both simple and easy to understand, yet few in the world can discern it clearly. This is entirely because people fail to cultivate themselves and explore deeper truths in their daily lives. As a result, when faced with challenges, they lack guidance and fall into confusion. If even reasoning that is so simple and straightforward is met with such difficulty, how much harder would it be to illuminate the great Way?