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

If heaven were elevated in the south, the southern stars should be elevated likewise. However, we see them going down. Is then heaven again depressed in the south ? The celestial bodies which are ‘near appear high, those which are distant, low. To people north of the pole it seems high, and the south they regard as low. The same holds good for the regions east and West of the pole. All regard as high, what is near, and as low, what is far from them.

He who from beneath the Northern Passes ³ looks up, sees the polar constellation above him. The north of the Hsiung-nu is the border-land of the earth. Seen in the north, heaven still appears high in the north and low in the south, and sun and moon in their courses ascend heaven there also. For a man standing on Mount T‘ai it is high, whereas ten Li from its foot it appears low. The height of heaven is like that of Mount T‘ai as seen by men.

The four quarters and the centre, which are level, are of the same height, if, therefore, heaven seems to be depressed at the four cardinal points, this must be an illusion caused by the distance. Heaven does not only seem depressed there, but joined to the earth.

Some savants hold that at sunrise and sunset, in the morning and in the evening, the sun is near, and that while in the zenith he is far away. Conversel_y, others maintain that the sun in the zenith is near, whereas at sunrise and sunset he is a long way off. Those who believe that the sun is near, when he rises or sets, and far off, when he culminates, have remarked the large size of the sun rising or setting, and his smallness at noon. We find that things are large, when they are near us, and small, when seen from a distance. Therefore the rising and setting sun is considered to be near, and the sun in the zenith to be far distant. Those who believe that at sunrise and sunset the sun is far off, and at noon near us, have on the other hand made the observation that at noon the sun is warm, and that he is cool, while rising or setting. When a fire comes near us, we feel hot, whereas, when it is at a distance, _p1.264 we feel cold. Hence the idea that the sun at noon is near, while he is at a distance, when he is rising or setting ⁴.

Both views are well-founded, and it has not yet been ascertained, which is right, and which is wrong. If we consider the question seriously, we arrive at the conclusion that the sun in the zenith is near, and at sunrise and sunset far off, as the following experiment will show. Place a pole upright in a room. The room is 30 feet high. The pole placed vertically under the roof-beam knocks against the latter above, and reaches to the bottom below. The beam then is 30 feet distant from the bottom. When the pole is inclined a little sidewards, its top diverges sidewards, and cannot touch the beam anymore, because the distance from the bottom is more than 30 feet.

When the sun is culminating, he just reaches the highest point on heaven, exactly like the pole standing upright so, that the distance from the bottom measures 30 feet. The sun rising or setting is deflected to our right or left like the pole inclining to one side, whereby the distance from the bottom exceeds 30 feet. We learn from this that the sun in the zenith is near, and the rising or setting sun more distant.

Let again a man be seated in the central hall of a house, and another walk on its roof. When he has reached the centre of the house, he is just above the man seated, and the distance from the man on the roof to the man sitting in the house, is 30 feet. When he is at the eastern or the western corner of the roof, his distance from the man in the house is greater than 30 feet. The sun in the zenith is like the man standing in the middle of the roof, when the sun is just rising or setting, he resembles the man at the eastern or western corner. The sun in the zenith is near us, therefore warm, at the time of his rising or setting, he is far, and consequently cool. However, when the sun stands in the zenith, he is small, whereas at sunrise and sunset he is large. That is because, when the sun is culminating, the brightness of daylight ¹ makes him appear small, and when the sun is rising or setting, daylight is fading, and he looks larger in consequence. In the same manner a fire looks small at day-time, but big at night. What is shown by fire, can be proved by the stars also. The stars _p1.265 are not visible during the day, because the brightness of the day eclipses them. At night there is no light, and the stars become visible. Now the sun and the moon are stars. When the sun approaches the horizon, and is about to set, his light fades, and he appears bigger.

The scholars argue that in the morning the sun rises from Fu Sang ², and in the evening sets in Hsi Liu ³. Fu Sang is the eastern region, Hsi Liu the western desert, both are the confines of heaven and earth, and the places where the sun and the moon use to rise and set.

I beg to put the following question : Every year in the second and the eighth months the sun rises exactly in the east, and sets exactly in the west ¹. We might say then that the sun rises in Fu Sang, and sets in Hsi Liu. But in summer, when the days are long, the sun rises in the north-east, and sets in the north west ². In winter, when the days are short, the sun rises in the south-east and sets in the south-west. In winter and summer rising and setting take place in four different corners. In which place exactly are Fu Sang and Hsi Liu situated then ? The above statement, therefore, is true for spring and autumn, but not for winter and summer. Yet, after all, the sun does not rise in Fu Sang nor set in Hsi Liu for the reason that he revolves with heaven and is visible, when near, and invisible, when far off. While he is in Fu Sang or Hsi Liu, the people there, from their standpoint, will say that the sun is in the zenith. At other times it may appear from Fu Sang and Hsi Liu, as though the sun were rising or setting. When he is above people’s heads, they call it noon, when he is on one side, they call it morning or evening. How can the sun under these circumstances rise in Fu Sang, and set in Hsi Liu ? The Literati again assert that heaven is revolving from right to left ³, and that the sun and the moon in their courses are not attached to heaven, but have each their own movement. It might be objected that, in case the sun and the moon had their proper movements, and were not attached to heaven, the sun would proceed one degree, and the moon thirteen. After their rise, both ought to go on and turn from west to east, how is it that nevertheless _p1.266 they commence to turn westward ? They are attached to heaven, and follow its movements during the four seasons. Their movement may be compared to that of arts crawling on a rolling mill-stone. The movements of the sun and the moon are slow, whereas heaven moves very fast. Heaven carries the sun and the moon along with it, therefore they really move eastward ⁴, but are turned westward.

*

Perhaps the following question might be raised : The sun, the moon, and heaven have their movement each, but the number of degrees which they traverse is not the same. To what can their velocity be compared, if referred to the things of this world ?

The moon moves on 13 degrees. 10 degrees being equal to 20,000 Li, and 3 degrees to 6,000, the distance made by the moon in one day and one night is 26,000 Li, which is like the flight of a wild duck.

Since heaven turns round 365 degrees, the multiplication gives 730,000 Li. This movement is very fast, and there is nothing like it. It can be compared to the rotation of a potter’s wheel or the speed of an arrow, shot from a cross-bow.

But although the rotation of heaven be so very fast, it appears to us slow, because heaven is so high, and far away, for distant objects in motion look motionless, and things shifting their place, stationary, as the following observation will show. If any body is on board a ship, sailing with the wind, in a river or on sea, her speed is fast, while she is near the shore, and slow, while she is far off. The ship’s real speed remains the same, its quickness or slowness merely depending on the distance from which she is seen.

When we look up to heaven, its movement does not appear as quick as that of the unicorn. With the sun over it the unicorn hastens on, but when darkness falls, the sun is in front, why ? _p1.267 Because the unicorn is near, whereas the sun is far. Distance conveys the impression of slowness, and proximity that of speed. If a journey extends over 60,000 Li, it is difficult to form an adequate idea of the real movement.

*

The Literati assert that the sun moves one degree, and heaven 365 during one day and one night, that heaven turns to the left, and, the sun and the moon to the right, and that they meet heaven.

« The sun, the moon, and the stars rely on heaven. Fruits, grasses, and trees rely on earth’ ¹.

Relying means that they are attached. The movement attached to heaven is like that of men walking round on the earth. The simile is like that of the ants crawling on the rolling mill-stone.

*

There is the question : How do we know that the sun does not detach himself from heaven, nor move straight on independently ? If the sun could do so, he ought to turn eastward of himself, and not share heaven’s movement to the west. The movement of the moon is the same as that of the sun, both being attached to heaven. This is proved by a comparison with the clouds.

Another question arises : The sun is fire. On earth fire does not move, why then does the sun move on heaven ?

The fluid attached to heaven has motion, that attached to the earth has not. If fire be attached to the earth, the earth does not move, consequently the fire does not move either.

Some one might object, how could water move, if the fluid attached to earth had no motion. The reply is that the water _p1.268 flows eastward into the ocean, because the north-western region is high, and the south-eastern low. It is the nature of water to seek the low places, whereas fire will rise. If the earth were not high in the west, the water would not run eastward either.

We will have to meet another objection as to how men, being attached to the earth, can move, if the fluid attached to the earth is motionless.

Human actions and desires all have an aim. Since purpose is at the root of human nature, man works and strives.

The ancients were plain and simple-minded. Though on the frontier of a neighbouring country they heard the cocks crow and the dogs bark, they never had any intercourse with that country.

Somebody will ask perhaps, why the stars do not move, if the fluid attached to heaven is in motion. I reply that the stars are fixed in heaven. Heaven moves, and since they are turned round along with heaven, they move also.

An opponent might urge that human nature is based on purpose, and therefore acts, but how could heaven move, since its principle is absence of purpose ? — Heaven’s movement consists in the spontaneous emission of fluid. The fluid being emitted, things are produced of themselves, but the fluid is not emitted on purpose, in order to produce things. Without movement the fluid cannot be emitted, and unless the fluid be emitted, things cannot be created. It is different from the movement of man. The movements of the sun, the moon, and the five planets all consist in the emission of fluid.

*

The Literati hold that there is a three-legged raven in the sun, and a hare and a toad in the moon. However, the sun is the heavenly fire which does not differ from the fire on earth. In the fire on earth there are no living beings, how could there be a raven in the heavenly fire ? There are no living creatures in the fire, when they enter it, they are burnt to death. How could a raven remain unscathed ?

And let us ask the Literati whether the raven, the hare, and the toad are living or dead. If they be dead, and remain for a long time in the sun and the moon, they must become charred, decay and putrefy. If they be alive, where are they at the time of a total eclipse of the sun or, when on the last day of a month the moon totally disappears ?

The raven, the hare, and the toad must be the fluid of the sun and the moon, as the intestines of man, or the heart, and backbone of animals are the fluid of these creatures. It is still possible to examine the moon, but, when we look at the sun, our eyes are dazzled, and we cannot make out what fluid really pervades the sun, yet we should be able to distinguish an object in the sun, and call it a raven ? In fact, we cannot see the entire body of a raven, and we should remark that it has three legs ? This is certainly not true.

Moreover, we hear the literati speak of many animals, why then is there only one raven in the sun, and one hare and a toad in the moon ?

The savants maintain that the eclipse of the sun is caused by the moon. They have observed that the eclipses of the sun always fall on the last and the first day of a month. At that time the moon is united with the sun, therefore she must eclipse him, they think. Many eclipses of the sun have occurred during the ‘ Spring and Autumn’ period. The Classic records that on the first day of such and such a moon the sun has been eclipsed, but it does not follow that the moon has any thing to do with these eclipses. If the chroniclers had known that the sun was eclipsed by the moon, why have they been silent on this point, and did not speak of the moon ?

They say that, when an eclipse of the sun takes place, the Yang is weak and the Yin strong. When a man possesses great strength, he can subdue others in this world. Now, on the last day of a month, the light of the moon is extinguished, and, on the first day of the new moon, it is gone so to say, which is the highest degree of weakness. How could it vanquish the sun, for the eclipse of the sun is said to be caused by the moon ? If, in an eclipse of the sun, the moon is believed to eclipse it, where is the moon ? The eclipse is not caused by the moon, since the moon herself is destroyed. If we regard the sun from the same point of view as the moon, his light at an eclipse is destroyed of itself.

Some say that, when the sun is eclipsed, the moon covers him. The sun being above, the moon below, her shadow falls on the sun’s body. When the sun and the moon are united, but the moon is above, and the sun below, the moon cannot cover the sun, whereas, when the sun is above, and the moon underneath him, she casts her shadow on him. The light of the moon then covers the light of the sun, hence the expression : eclipse ¹. The shadow of the moon is like that of the clouds which cover the sky in such a way that the sun and the moon are invisible.

Provided that both unite with their extremities, they must eclipse one another, and if both, when they come together, are joined like two pieces fitting one into the other, the sun must disappear as a matter of course. That the sun and the moon meet on the last and the first day of the month is a very common celestial phenomenon, but it is wrong to say that at an eclipse the moon covers the light of the sun for the following reason :

In case that, when the sun and the moon unite, the moon covers the light of the sun, the edges of the two luminaries must fall together at the beginning of the eclipse, and they must change their places, when the sun comes out again. Now, let us suppose that the sun stands in the east, the moon in the west. The moon moves quickly eastward, where she falls in with the sun. She covers the edge of the sun, and after a short time she passes the sun and proceeds eastward. The western edge of the sun has been covered first, its light must then come back. The eastern edge has not yet been overshadowed, it will be eclipsed next. _p1.271 Thus we see that during an eclipse of the sun the light of the western edge is extinguished, and that, when the sun comes back, the light of the western edge returns. Then the moon goes on, and covers the eastern edge, while the western edge returns. Can we say then that the sun and the moon are joined together, and that one covers and overshadows the other ? ²

The scholars assert that the shape of the sun and the moon is quite round. When they look up to them, they appear shaped like a peck, or a round basket. Their shape is a regular circle, they, are not like the fluid of a fire seen from afar, for a fluid is not round. — In reality the sun and the moon are not round, they only appear so through the distance, as will be seen from the following : The sun is the essence of fire, the moon the essence of water. On earth fire and water are not round, why should they be round in heaven alone ? The sun and the moon in heaven are like the Five Planets, and the Five Planets like the other stars. The stars are not round, only their radiance appears round, because they are so far from us. This will become evident from the following fact : During the ‘Spring and Autumn’ period stars fell down in the capital of Sung ¹. When people went near to examine them, they found that they were stones, but not round. Since the stars are not round, we know that the sun, the moon, and the planets are not round either.

*

The scholars discoursing on the sun, and the mechanics hold that there is only one sun, whereas in the ‘Tribute of Yü’ and in the Shan-hai-king it is stated that there are ten suns. Beyond the ocean in the east there is the ‘Hot Water Abyss’ ², over which rises Fu-sang. The ten suns bathe in the water. There is a huge tree. Nine suns remain in its lower branches, while one sun stays on the upper branch ³. Huai Nan Tse also writes in his book about ten suns which were shining. During the time of Yao the ten suns came out together, and scorched everything, whereupon Yao shot at them ⁴. Hence they never were seen together any more on the same day ⁵.

The sun is like the moon. If there be ten suns, are there twelve moons ? There are five planets, but the five elements ⁷ : metal, wood, water, fire, and earth all burn with a different light. Should there be ten suns, their fluids ought to be different. Now, we do not discover any difference in the light of the sun, and we find that his size is the same at different times. If there were really different fluids, the light would certainly be different. If, on the other hand, the fluid is identical, it must be united into one sun, and there cannot be ten.

We see that with a sun-glass fire is drawn from heaven, the sun being a big fire. Since on earth fire is one fluid, and the earth has not ten fires, how can heaven possess ten suns ? Perhaps the so called ten suns are some other things, whose light and shape resembles that of the sun. They are staying in the ‘Hot Water Abyss’, and always climb up Fu-sang. Yü and Yi ¹ saw them, and described them as ten suns.

Some people have measured the light of the sun, and calculated his size. They found the diameter to be 1,000 Li long. Provided that the rising sun is the sun on the Fu-sang tree, this tree must overhang 10,000 Li to cover the sun, for the diameter of one sun being 1,000 Li, ten suns will require 10,000 Li.

Heaven is more than 10,000 Li distant from us.

When we look up at the sun, his brilliancy is so dazzling, and his glare so bright, that it becomes unbearable. If the rising _p1.273 sun was the sun from the Fu-sang tree, Yü and Yi would not have been able to recognise him as the sun. A look at one sun would have sufficed to dazzle the eyes, how much more so, if there were ten suns. When Yü and Yi saw the suns, they appeared to them like pecks and round baskets, therefore they called them suns. The fires looked like pecks and baskets, but an object seen at a distance of 60,000 Li appears different from one looked at and examined quite near. Consequently what Yü and Yi saw they took for suns, but were not suns.

Among the things of heaven and earth many resemble one another in substance, yet they are not the same in fact. Beyond the ocean in the south-west there is a pearl-tree ². It has pearls, but they are not fish-pearls ³. The ten suns are like pearls of the pearl-tree. The pearls of the pearl-tree look like pearls, but are not real pearls. Thus the ten suns look like the sun, but are not real suns. Huai Nan Tse having read the Shan-hai-king wrongly asserted that for a Sage ten suns were lighted, and made the random statement that at Yao’s time ten suns rose together.