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

The sun is fire, the ‘Hot Water Abyss’ water. Water and fire annihilate one another. Therefore the ten suns bathing in the ‘Hot Water Abyss’ should have been extinguished and destroyed. Fire burns trees, Fu-sang is a tree. When ten suns rested upon it, it ought to be parched and scorched up. However, in spite of the bath in T‘ang-ku the light did not become extinguished, and though the suns ascended Fu-sang, its boughs were not scorched or parched. The ten suns are like the sun which rises to-day, yet they cannot be tested by the five elements ¹. Hence we infer that they were not real suns.

When Yü and Yi beheld ten suns, it cannot have been night-time, but must have been day. When one sun rose, the other nine must have been left behind, how could they rise all ten together ² ? It must have been like dawn before the sunrise ³.

Furthermore, heaven turns and passes through a certain number of degrees. If the various suns follow this movement, and turn _p1.274 round with heaven, how could they remain in the branches of Fu-sang or in the water of the ‘Hot Water Abyss’ ? In case they stay back, they miss the movement, and differences in the movement would bring disharmony. If, therefore, the rising sun be different from the ten suns, they only resemble suns, but are not suns.

« During the ‘Spring and Autumn’ period on the hsin mao day, in the fourth month of summer, in the seventh year of Duke Chuang at midnight the common stars were invisible, and stars fell down like rain ⁴.

Kung Yang in his commentary asks : What does ‘like rain’ mean ? It is not rain. Then, why use this expression ? ‘The unrevised Ch‘un-ch‘iu’ says,

« It rained stars, which previous to approaching to within a foot of the earth departed again.

The Sage corrected this, and said,

« The stars fell down like rain ⁵.

‘The unrevised Ch‘un-ch‘iu’ refers to the time, when the Ch‘un-ch‘iu was not yet revised. At that time the Chronicle of Lu had the following entry :

« The stars fell down like rain. They came near the earth at a distance of over a foot, and then departed again.

The Sage is Confucius. Confucius revised it, and said

« The stars fell like rain.

His idea was that on the earth there are mountains, hills, and high buildings, and he was afraid lest the statement about the stars coming near the earth at a distance of over a foot should not be true ¹. Therefore he made an alteration, and said ‘like rain’. Being like rain they came down from above the earth. The stars also fall down from heaven and depart again. On account of this similarity he says ‘like’. Although there was the notice that the stars came near the earth at a distance of over a foot, he merely said ‘like rain’. The expression ‘falling’ which he uses refers to those stars. Though he assigned them their places, and fixed the text, he speaks of the falling stars in the same way as the Chronicle does.

When from the plain we look up at Mount T‘ai, and behold a crane on its summit, it appears to us as big as a crow, and a crow, like a sparrow. It is the height of Mount T‘ai and its distance which cause us to lose the true estimate of the size of things. _p1.275 The distance of heaven from earth amounts to upwards of 60,000 Li, which is not only the height and the distance of the summit of Mount T‘ai. The stars are fixed to heaven. When we examine them, we do not obtain a correct idea of their nature, for the conditions, under which we see them, are still more unfavourable than those, under which we look at the crane or the crow. By calculations we find that the size of the stars must be a hundred Li. Their brilliancy is so strong, that they shed light. If, nevertheless, they appear to us only as big as a phœnix egg, we have lost the true estimate by distance.

Let us suppose that the falling stars are in fact stars falling from heaven, then we would not be able to recognise them as stars, when they approach the earth, because during their fall their size is not the same as that which they have in heaven ². Now, as long as we see the falling stars in heaven, they are stars, if they are not, they are made up of air. We see ghosts having the semblance of dead people. In reality it is but air condensed into those forms, not real dead people. Thus the falling stars are in reality not shaped like stars. Confucius correctly calls them falling, which means that they are not stars, and rightly characterises them as being like rain, i. e. they are not rain, both features being opposed to the real nature of stars.

The Tso-chuan remarks on the above quoted passage of the Ch‘un-ch‘iu,

« On the hsin-mao day, in the fourth moon during the night the common stars were not visible, because the night was bright. The stars fell like rain i. e. together with rain.

This remark that the stars were invisible owing to the brightness of the night tallies with a passage in the Yiking ³ to the effect that at mid-day the Dipper ⁴ is visible. If during the day the Dipper is visible, it must be dark, not bright, and if during the night the stars were invisible, the night must have been bright and clear. The facts were different, but the idea is the same, and it is consistent with truth.

The Tso-chuan says ‘together with rain’, which is tantamount to ‘combined’. On the hsin-mao day the night was bright, therefore the stars were invisible, but this brightness shows that there was no rain. The rain fluid is dark and obscure, how could there he brightness than ? There being brightness, rain is impossible, how could the stars fall ‘together with rain’ ? Consequently the _p1.276 expression ‘together with rain’ is wrong. Moreover, if it be said that the night was so bright, that the stars became invisible, how could the stars falling together with rain be seen ?

« On the wu-shên day of the first month in the 16th year of Duke Hsi five stones fell down in Sung ¹.

The Tso-chuan remarks that they were stars. Since falling stones are called stars, those stars are believed to have become stones by falling. The stars falling in the hsin-mao night were stars, but in reality stones then. If the stars falling in the hsin-mao night were like those stones, the earth had high buildings, which must have been smashed. Although Confucius omitted to mention that the stars came near the earth as far as one foot, there certainly has been a certain distance from the earth, and the historiographer of Lu, who saw the event with his own eyes, would not have said so at random.

According to the Tso-chuan the stars fell down together with rain. As rain collects on the earth, the stones must have done so likewise, but, since, when they touched the earth, they did not demolish the buildings, it is evident that they were not stars. Besides, on what does Tso Ch‘iu Ming base his statement that the stones were stars ? When the stones came down, their fall was very light, but why must they have fallen down from heaven ?

During the Ch‘in epoch three mountains disappeared. Partly they were not dispersed, but collapsed, where they stood, which must have caused a great noise. Perhaps at that time the mountain of the I Ti went off its base, and came down in Sung. When the people of Sung heard the stones fall, they called them stars, and when Tso Ch‘iu Ming had examined them, he also gave them this name.

The substance of the stars is identical with that of the various things and like that of the sun and the moon. The so-called Five Planets are the light of the substance of the five elements. The Five Planets and the other stars all have the same light, therefore I am afraid that we miss the truth, if we regard the fixed stars alone as stones. In reality the stars which fell during the hsin-mao night were like rain, but they were not stars, just as the ten suns in the ‘Hot Water Abyss’ resembled the sun, but were not real suns.

The Literati also maintain that the expression that rain comes from heaven means that it positively falls down from heaven. _p1.277 However, a discussion on this subject leads us to the conclusion that rain comes from above the earth, but not down from heaven. Seeing the rain gathering from above, we simply say that it comes down from heaven. As a matter of fact, it comes from above the earth. But how can we demonstrate that the rain comes from the earth, and rises from the mountains ? The Commentary to the Ch‘un-ch‘iu ¹ says,

« It breaks through the stones one to two inches thick, and gathers. That in one day’s time it spreads over the whole Empire, is only the case with the T‘ai-shan’ ².

From the T‘ai-shan it rains over the whole Empire, from small mountains over one State, the distance depends on the height. As regards the forthcoming of the rain from the mountains, some hold that the clouds carry the rain with them. When the clouds disperse, the water falls down, and is called rain. Thus the clouds are rain, and rain, clouds. When the water comes forth, it is transformed into clouds ; they condense, and become rain, and, when they are compressed still more, coagulate into dew. When garments are moistened as with rain, it is not the effect of the clouds, but of the rain which they carry.

Some persons will refer to the Shuking which says,

« When the moon follows the stars, there is wind and rain ³,

and to the Shiking, where we read that

« The moon approaches the Hyades, which will bring heavy showers of rain ⁴.

They all believe that according to there passages of the two Classics it is not heaven which is causing the rain. How is that ?

When the rain comes from the mountains, the moon passes the stars, and approaches the Hyades. When she approaches the Hyades, it must rain. As long as it does not rain, the moon does not approach, and the mountains have no clouds. Heaven and earth, above and below, act in spontaneous harmony. When the moon approaches above, the mountains are heated below, and the fluid unites. The fortuitous connexion between the various fluids and bodies is due to spontaneity. Clouds and fog show that there is rain. In summer it becomes dew, in winter frost. Warm it is rain, cold, snow. Rain, dew, and frost all proceed from earth, and do not descend from heaven.

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CHAPTER XXI

On Heat and Cold

41. XIV, II. Han-wên

Joy and anger originate in the bosom. Subsequently they find their way out, and once outside, are the causes of rewards and punishments, rewards and punishments being the manifestations of joy and anger. When heat and cold are sufficiently strong, things become withered, and men are injured, and that is done by heat and cold, which are said to be the representatives of joy and anger.

Within the course of a few days a sovereign is not always full of joy or anger, which sentiments having broken forth from the bosom, expand and appear as heat and cold outside, thus showing the feelings of the bosom. When the sovereign is pleased or angry, this fluid of his bosom is not changed into heat or cold. Why should the fluid in his bosom be different from the fluid within the territory of a country ? The fluid of the bosom is not transformed through joy or anger, how then should heat and cold originate within the territory ?

During the time of the Six States ¹, and the Ch‘in and Han epoch the feudal princes were subjugating one another, armour-clad warriors filling all the roads. The States were investing each other with the greatest animosity, and their leaders thought of nothing else than of vanquishing their enemies. A feeling of universal slaughter pervaded everything. Yet at that time it was not always cold in the Empire. The time of Yü was one of universal peace. The government was good, the people contented, and the sovereign always pleased. In every house they were playing the guitar, singing, beating drums, and dancing. Yet at that time it was not constantly warm in the Empire. Is the feeling of joy and anger evoked by small things only, and does it not care for great ones ? How is it so little in accordance with the deeds done ?

The fire in a stove, the water in a ditch, and the fluid in the human body are all governed by the same principle. When the sovereign is pleased or angry, this fluid of heat or cold ought to be especially strong in his private apartments, and much less so outside his territory. Now the temperature is the same without and within, consequently it cannot well be the result of the sovereign’s joy or anger, and the assertions of our scholars to that effect are futile.

With an emperor a sudden change of the mental fluid takes place in the empire, with princes in their territory, with ministers and high officers in their department, and with common people in their house. Since even ordinary people are liable to such changes, their joy and their anger must also produce such fluids (as heat and cold). The father quarrels with the son, and husband and wife reprove one another. If there ought to be anger, but anger be turned into joy, or if faults be forgiven, and the wrong done hushed up, there would be cold and heat in the same house. This shows us that the sudden changes (of temperature) are not being caused by joy and anger.

Some one will say that there is attraction by affinity. If a man be pleased, he is kind and genial, and in his kindness gives rewards. The Yang principle is giving, and the Yang fluid is warm, therefore the warm fluid corresponds to it. If a man be angry, he is enraged and indignant, and in his rage puts people to death. The Yin principle is cold murder, and the Yin fluid is cold, therefore the cold fluid corresponds to it.

« When the tiger howls, the wind blows from the valley, and when the dragon performs its antics, the brilliant clouds rise ¹.

Their fluids being identical, and their species the same, they attract one another. Hence the saying that with the body one removes the shadow, and that with the dragon one attracts the rain ². The rain responds to the dragon and comes, the shadow responds to the body and goes ³. The nature _p1.280 of heaven and earth is spontaneity. In autumn and winter punishments are meted out ⁴. Smaller misdemeanours are partly pardoned, but the capital punishments cause a bitter cold. The cold comes as an accompaniment of punishment, which shows that they attract one another.

If heat and cold be compared with wind and clouds, and joy and anger refer to the dragon and the tiger, a mutual attraction might be possible, provided that the fluids be the same and the categories similar ⁵. When the tiger howls, the wind rises from the valley, and when the dragon gambols, the clouds rise within a radius of one hundred Li, but in other valleys and other regions there is no wind nor clouds. Now, sudden changes of temperature take place everywhere, and at the same time. There may be executions within a territory of a hundred Li, but it is cold within a thousand Li, consequently this could not well be considered a proof of a connexion between the two events. Ch‘i and Lu were conterminous, and gave rewards and punishments at the same time. Had Ch‘i rewarded, white Lu punished, the effects would have been different also. Could then the Ch‘i State have been warm, whereas it was cold at the same time in the Lu country ?

In former times nobody was more cruel in punishing than Ch‘ih Yu and the doomed prince of Ch‘in ¹. The subjects of Ch‘ih Yu were most perverse and dissolute, and in doomed Ch‘in red clad criminals were walking on the roads shoulder to shoulder, and yet at that time it was not always cold in the Empire. On the market of the emperor’s capital oxen and sheep were slaughtered every day by hundreds. He who executes man as well as he who kills animals has a wicked heart. Albeit, the air on the market place of the capital cannot always be cold.

One might object that a man is far superior to animals, and that man alone provokes the fluid. However, does the one who puts to death provoke the fluid, or do those who are put to death, cause the change ? In the first case, no matter, whether the one who inflicts the death penalty executes a man, or kills an animal, the mind is the same, and in the latter men and beasts are both creatures. They all belong to the ten thousand beings, and would not a hundred mean ones be worth as much as one precious one ?

Some people will maintain that a sovereign alone can evoke the fluid, but not common people. If, to set the fluid in motion, _p1.281 a sovereign is required, why does the world make so much of Tsou Yen ? Tsou Yen was a commoner, and yet he could move the fluid quite alone, as everybody admits ².

When one man is put to death, the air becomes cold, but, when a man is born, does the temperature become warm then ? When a general amnesty is granted to the four quarters, and all punishments are remitted at the same time, the fluid of the month and the year does not become warm thereby.

In former years thousands of people have had their houses burnt, so that the flames and the smoke went up to heaven, and the Yellow River broke through its dykes, flooding a thousand Li, so that far and wide there was no bound to the prospect. Fire is identical with the hot fluid, and water with the cold one. At the time of the conflagration or the inundation of the Yellow River it has not been warm or cold. The setting in of heat and cold do not depend on government, I dare say, but eventually heat and cold may be simultaneous with rewards and punishments, and it is for this reason that the phenomenalists ³ describe them as such.

Spring is warm, summer hot, autumn cool, and winter cold. These four seasons are spontaneous, and do not concern the sovereign. The four seasons are not caused by government, but they say that heat and cold correspond to it. At the beginning of the first month and subsequently at the ‘commencement of spring’ all the punishments have been meted out, and the prisons remain empty. Yet one day it is cold, and one day warm. What manner of punishment is being inflicted, when it is cold, and what kind of rewards are given, when it is warm ? We see from this that heat and cold correspond to the time periods of heaven and earth ¹, and are not made by men.

When people are suffering from a cold or from fever, their actions have no influence upon these diseases. By exposure to the wind, or to bad air their body has become chilly or feverish. By changing their habits, or altering their style of life they do not _p1.282 get rid of their cold or their fever. Although the body is quite near, it cannot bring about a change and a cure. Now a city or a State is much more distant, how should it be possible to regulate their fluids ? — When a man has caught cold, he drinks medicine, which soothes his pain, and when, being somewhat weak, he has got fever, he swallows pills, which make him perspire, and thus cure him.

In Yen there was the ‘Cold Valley’ in which the five kinds of grain did not grow. Tsou Yen blew the flute, and the ‘Cold Valley’ could be cultivated. The people of Yen sowed millet in it, and called it ‘Millet Valley’. If this be true that with playing the flute the cold fluid was dispelled, how could this calamity be averted by a change of government or action ? Therefore, a cold and fever cannot be cured but with medicine, and the fluid of the ‘Millet Valley’ cannot be transformed but with music.

When Yao was visited with the Great Flood, he ordered Yü to regulate it. Cold and heat are essentially the same as the Great Flood ². Yao did not change his administration or conduct, being well aware that the Great Flood was not the result of government or conduct. Since the Flood was not brought about by government or conduct, we know that heat and cold cannot be caused by government either.

Some one might in disproof quote from the ‘Various Verifications’ of the Hung-fan which says that

« excitement is as a rule accompanied by cold, and cheerfulness by tepidity ³.

Accompanied means : followed, tepidity : warmth, and ‘as a rule’ : always. When the sovereign is excited, cold weather always follows, when he is cheerful, warm weather follows. Cold and heat correspond to excitement and cheerfulness, how can their connexion with the government be denied ? Does the Classic say that excitement causes no cold, and cheerfulness no warmth ?

The sovereign being excited or cheerful, cold or heat set in, but by chance and of their own accord. If they corresponded intentionally, it would be like the obtaining of omens by divining with shells, or like the finding of numbers by telling the fortune from straws. People pretend that heaven and earth respond to the questions addressed to them, but, as a matter of fact, it is nothing but chance. Heat and cold respond to excitement and cheerfulness, as omens and numbers are the response to the _p1.283 inquiries of the diviners. Externally they seem to respond, but actually it is hazard. How can we prove that ?

The principle of heaven is spontaneity. Spontaneity means absence of purpose. When the two kinds of divination are applied, things may meet eventually, or happen by accident, and perhaps coincide with human affairs. The heavenly fluid is there already, therefore one may speak of a principle. Should it correspond to government, however, there would be no more spontaneity.

Ching ¹ has distributed the 64 symbols of the Yiking over one year. One symbol rules over 6 days and 7/10. The symbols consist of Yin and Yang ². The fluid rises and falls. When the Yang fluid rises, it becomes warm, and, when the Yin fluid rises, it becomes cold. According to this theory heat and cold depend on the symbols, but do not correspond to government. In accordance with the ‘wu-wang’ symbol ³ of the Yiking, inundations and droughts have fixed times. All the innumerable calamities and disasters are of the same kind.

I am afraid that the phenomenalists have missed the truth for the following reason :

« The ideal man is endowed with the same virtue as heaven and earth. When man takes the lead, heaven does not disagree with him, and when he follows heaven, he respects heaven’s time ⁴.

The Hung-fan on the other hand says that