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

Thunder is fire. A man burned by this fluid must show traces of it. If those traces of burning look like written characters, people seeing them use to say that Heaven has written the man’s guilt to make it known to the whole world. This is also unreasonable.

If Heaven destroys men with its thunder, after they have perpetrated their misdeeds, it ought to make their wickedness quite public, with a view to frightening for the future, and write the characters clearly, but not quite indistinctly, as it does. When the ‘Plan’ came out of the Yellow River ¹, and the ‘Scroll’ emerged from _p1.295 the Lo ², Heaven and Earth produced them for men to read and take note of. The writing on people killed by thunder is also Heaven’s work. Why is it so difficult to understand ?

Let us assume that the human skin is not fit to be written upon. The wife of Duke Hui of Lu ³, Chung Tse was daughter to Duke Wu of Sung ⁴. When she was born, she had a writing on her palm to the effect that she was to be duchess of Lu. The writing was distinct and intelligible. Therefore Chung Tse was married to Lu. The thunder’s handwriting not being clear, it cannot serve as a deterrent for the future. Ergo the burnt spots are not characters engraved by Heaven.

Sometimes people exaggerate things that really exist, sometimes they invent things that have no real basis at all. Imposed upon by fallacies, they indulge in fabricating wonders and miracles as the following arguments will prove :

1. Thunder is fire. When a man dies struck by thunder, one discovers upon examining his body, if the head be bit, that the hair is singed, and if the body be struck, that the skin is charred. Coming near the body, one scents the smell of burning. 2. Taoist experimentalists hold that a stone heated by a thunder-clap, becomes red. If it be thrown into a well, the stone being burning hot, the well cool, an explosion ensues with a loud detonation like thunder. 3. When somebody takes cold, the cold fluid enters his stomach. The stomach being as a rule warm within, the warmth and the cold struggle together, and the exploding air gives a thunder-like sound. 4. In a thunder-storm brilliant lightnings appear every now and then like the glares of big fires. 5. When the lightning strikes, it often burns man’s houses and buildings, or grass and trees.

Those who declare thunder to be fire have these five arguments, those who pretend that thunder is Heaven’s anger, not a single one. Therefore this latter assertion is without any foundation.

However, it might be objected that there is a passage in the Analects to the effect that, when thunder followed thunder, and the storm raged, Confucius used to be deeply impressed ¹. The Liki says, _p1.296

« when a strong wind blows, and the thunder-claps quickly follow each other, and rain falls in torrents, a superior man will be deeply moved. Though it be night, he will rise, don his clothes and cap, and sit up ²

in awe of Heaven’s anger, fearing lest its punishment should reach him. If thunder were not the expression of Heaven’s anger, nor its striking a punishment of the guilty, why should a good man be frightened by thunder, put on his official robe, and sit straight ?

The Master ³ means that the relation of Heaven to man is similar to that of father and son. The father being moved, the son cannot remain indifferent. Therefore, when Heaven is moved, man must be likewise. Being in harmony with Heaven, he proves that he does not act in opposition to it.

Man suddenly hearing a dog bark outside the house, will be startled, and with trembling limbs harken to find out, what it means. How much more so, when he hears Heaven assuming an extraordinary voice like the noise made by the quick rolling of heavy carts !

The remark in the Analects and the observation of the Liki both refer to the wise man. The wise man displays the utmost care in all his doings and knows that he has no guilt, just like sun and moon, which, when eclipsed, have not clandestinely given impure food to men. Examining his heart, he feels no fear, wherefore should he be afraid of thunder ? If he is not afraid, his excitement can be no proof of Heaven’s anger, because he fears nothing for himself. Should he really be afraid of thunder, even that would not suffice to prove the punishment of hidden crimes, for people struck by lightning are mostly quite innocent. The wise man apprehends that he might be hit by chance. Therefore he is anxious and alarmed. But this alarm of the wise man cannot be put forward to demonstrate that thunder is Heaven’s anger. It shows, on the contrary, that thunder strikes at random. Because it hits at random, and does not punish the guilty, people are afraid. If thunder actually punished the guilty, the wicked ought to stand in awe, and the wise had no cause for apprehensions.

The king of Sung asked T‘ang Yang saying

— I have killed a great number of people, yet all the officials are still quite fearless. What is the reason ?

T‘ang Yang replied :

— Those that Your Highness has punished were exclusively bad characters. If the bad are called to account, _p1.297 why should the good be frightened ? If Your Highness wishes the officials to be in awe, the best way is to make no distinction between good and bad, and chastise them all occasionally. Then all the officialdom will be afraid ¹.

The king followed his advice, and all the functionaries became frightened, whereupon the king of Sung turned very angry. Owing to the indiscriminate punishments of the king of Sung, the whole people of Sung got greatly alarmed. Because thunder and lightning strike indiscriminately, a wise man becomes agitated. His alarm is like the great fright of the kingdom of Sung.

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CHAPTER XXIII

On Poison

66. XXIII, I. Yen-tu

Poison is the hot air of the sun ; when it touches a man, he becomes empoisoned. If we eat something which causes us such a pain in the stomach, that we cannot endure it, that which proves so unendurable is called poison. The fiery air of the sun regularly produces poison. This air is hot. The people living in the land of the sun are impetuous. The mouths and tongues of these impetuous people become venomous. Thus the inhabitants of Ch‘u and Yüeh ¹ are impetuous and passionate. When they talk with others, and a drop of their saliva happens to fly against their interlocutors, the arteries of the latter begin to swell and ulcerate.

The Southern Circuit ² is a very hot region. When the people there curse a tree, it withers, and, when they spit upon a bird, it drops down. Wizards are all able to make people ill by their prayers as well as to avert their misfortunes. They hail from Kiang-nan ³, and are imbued with the hot fluid. Poison is the fluid of the sun, therefore it burns like fire, when somebody is aspersed by it. When people bitten by a viper cut out the flesh, as _p1.299 sometimes they do, and put it on the ground, it burns and bubbles up, which shows that there is a hot fluid in it. At the four cardinal points are border-lands, but the south-eastern corner alone has broiling hot air, which always comes forth in Spring and Summer. In Spring and Summer the sun rises in the south-eastern corner, which is the proper sphere of the sun.

When the air of other things enters into our nose or eyes, they do not feel pain, but as soon as fire or smoke enter into our nose, it aches, and, when they enter into our eyes, they pain us. This is the burning of the hot air. Many substances can be dissolved, but it is only by burning fire that they are scorched.

Eating sweets is not injurious to man, but, when for instance he takes a little too much honey, he has symptoms of poisoning. Honey is a secretion of the bee, and the bee is an insect belonging to the Yang fluid.

If a man without having hurt himself against anything in his movements feels a sudden pain in his body, for which there is no apparent reason, and if those parts of his body which pain him show marks of flogging so to speak, he suffers from lumbago. This lumbago, they say, is caused by devils who are beating the person. Devils are supernatural apparitions produced by the sun. If the disease be less acute, one calls it sciatica, and uses honey and cinnabar to cure it. Honey and cinnabar are substances belonging to the Yang fluid. This cure is homeopathic. As an antidote against a cold one uses cold, and against fever one uses heat. Since to cure sciatica they take honey and cinnabar, it shows us that sciatica is the effect of the Yang fluid and of the diffusion of a poison.

Poisonous air is floating between heaven and earth. When a man comes into touch with it, his face begins to swell, a disease which people call a sun-stroke.

Men who have seen ghosts, state that they have a red colour. The supernatural force of the sun must, of course, have this colour. Ghosts are burning poison ; the man whom they assault, must die. Thus did Earl Tu shoot King Hsüan of Chou dead ¹. The paraphernalia of these demons of death are like the fire of the sun. The bow as well as the arrow of Tu Po were both red. In the south they term poison ‘small fox’. The apparition of Earl Tu had a bow in his hand, with which he shot. The solar fluid was kindled simultaneously, and, when it was thus intensified, it shot. _p1.300 Therefore, when he bit the king, he seemed provided with bow and arrow.

When heat is pent up, and the temperature increased, the poison in the blood is stirred up. Therefore eating the liver of a race horse will cause a man’s death, the fluid pent up in the liver having been chafed. During the dog-days, when a scorching heat prevails, people die by insulation ; the extreme heat has been turned into poison. We perspire, while running, near a stove, in the sunshine at noon, and, when we are feverish. The four causes have been different, but they all engender perspiration. The heat is the same, and it has been equally pent up.

Fire is a phenomenon of the sun. All created beings of the world are filled with the solar fluid and after their creation contain some poison. Reptiles and insects possessing this poison in abundance become vipers and adders, bees and scorpions, plants become croton seeds and wild dolichos, fishes become porpoises and ‘to-shu’ ¹ fish. Consequently men eating a porpoise liver die, and the bite of a ‘to-shu’ is venomous. Fishes and birds are related, therefore birds can fly, and fishes too ; birds lay eggs, and fishes also. Vipers, adders, bees, and scorpions are all oviparous and have a similar nature.

Among mankind bad characters take the place of these creatures. Their mouths do mischief. The bad men of the world are imbued with a poisonous fluid. The poison of the wicked living in the land of the sun is still more virulent, hence the curses and the swearing of the people of southern Yüeh produce such wonderful results.

A proverb says, ‘Many mouths melt metal’. The mouth is fire. Fire is the second of the five elements, and speech the second of the five actions ². There is an exact correspondence between speech and fire, therefore in speaking of the melting of metal one says that the mouth and the tongue melt it. They do not speak of pulling out wood and burning it, but expressly refer to the melting of metal. Metal is overcome by fire, fire and mouth belong to the same class ³.

Medicinal herbs do not grow in one place only. T‘ai Po left his country and went to Wu ⁴. The melting of metal does not take _p1.301 place in one foundry alone. People speak very much of T‘ang-chi in Ch‘u ⁵. The warm air on earth has its regions. One dreads to go into the southern sea, for the secretary falcon lives in the south, and he who drinks anything that has been in contact with it, must die ⁶.

Shên appertains to the dragon and ssĕ to the snake. Shên and ssĕ ⁷ are placed in the south-east. The dragon is poisonous, and the snake venomous, therefore vipers are provided with sharp teeth, and dragons with an indented crust. Wood engenders fire, and fire becomes poison. Hence the ‘Green Dragon’ holds the ‘Fire Star’ in its mouth ⁸.

Wild dolichos and croton seed both contain poison, therefore the dolichos grows in the south-east, and croton in the south-west. The frequence of poisonous things depends on the dryness and the humidity of the soil, and the strength of the poison is influenced by the locality, where they have grown. Snakes are like fish, therefore they grow in the grass and in marshes. Bees and scorpions resemble birds and are born in houses and on trees. In Kiang-pei ¹ the land is dry ; consequently bees and scorpions abound there. In Kiang-nan the soil is wet, hence it is a breeding place for great numbers of snakes.

Those creatures growing in high and dry places are like the male principle. The virile member hangs down, therefore bees and scorpions sting with their tails ². The creatures living in low and wet places resemble the female principle. The female organ is soft and extensible, therefore snakes bite with their mouths ³. Poison is either concealed in the head or the tail, whence the bite or the sting becomes venomous, or under the epidermis so that the eating causes stomach-ache, or it lies hidden in the lips and the throat, so that the movement of the tongue does mischief ⁴.

_p1.302 The various poisons are all grown from the same fluid, and however different their manifestations, internally they are the same. Hence, when a man dreams of fire, it is explained as altercation, and, when he sees snakes in his dreams, they also mean contention. Fire is an emblem of the mouth and the tongue ; they appear in snakes likewise, which belong to the same class, have sprung from the same root, and are imbued with the same fluid. Thus fire is equivalent to speed, and speech to bad men. When bad men say strange things, it is at the instigation of their mouths and their tongues, and the utterances of mouth and tongue are provoked by the influence heaven has exercised upon the persons in question. Consequently the second of the five actions is called speech.

« The objectionable manifestation of speech is presumptuous error, symbolized by constant sunshine ⁵.

Presumptuous error is extravagant and shining. In the same manner snakes are gaudily ornamented. All ornaments originate from the Yang, which produces them, as it were. Sunshine is followed by talk, which accounts for the weird songs so often heard ⁶.

The magical force engenders beauty, but the beautiful are very often vicious and depraved. The mother of Shu Hu ⁷ was a beauty. Shu Hsiang’s ⁸ mother knew her, and would not allow her to go to the chamber of her husband. Shu Hsiang remonstrated.

— In the depths of mountains and in vast marshes dragons and snakes really grow, said his mother. She is beautiful, but I am afraid, lest she give birth to a dragon or a snake, which would bring mishap upon you ¹. You are of a poor family. In the States great favours are sometimes given, but what can the recipient of such favours do, when he is being slandered by malicious people. How should I be jealous of her ?

She then allowed her to go to her husband’s couch, and she begot a son, named Shu Hu. Owing to his beauty and hero-like strength Shu Hu became a favourite of Luan Huai Tse ² ; however, _p1.303 when Fan Hsüan Tse expelled Luan Huai Tse ³, he killed Shu Hu, and so brought misfortune upon Shu Hsiang.

The recesses of mountains and vast marshes are the places where dragons and snakes breed. Shu Hu’s mother was compared to them, for under her charms the poison lay hidden. She bore a son, Shu Hu, whose beauty consisted in his hero-like strength. This strength grew from his beauty, and the disaster came from his strength.

Fire has splendour, and wood has a pleasant appearance. Dragons and snakes correspond to the east. Wood contains the essence of fire, hence its beautiful colour and graceful appearance. The gall being joined to the liver, courage and strength are produced. The force of the fire is violent, hence the great courage ; wood is hard and strong, hence the great strength. When there is any supernatural apparition produced, it is through beauty that it brings about misfortune, and through courage and strength that it injures like poison. All is owing to beauty.

Generous wine is a poison ; one cannot drink much of it. The secretion of the bees becomes honey ; one cannot eat much of it. A hero conquers an entire State, but it is better to keep aloof from him. Pretty women delight the eyes, but it is dangerous to keep them. Sophists are most interesting, but they can by no means be trusted. Nice tastes spoil the stomach, and pretty looks beguile the heart. Heroes cause disasters, and controversialists do great harm. These four classes are the poison of society, but the most virulent poison of all is that flowing from the mouths of the sophists.

When Confucius caught sight of Yang Hu ⁴, he retreated, and his perspiration trickled down, for Yang Hu was a glib-tongued man. The poison from a glib tongue makes a man sick. When a man has been poisoned, he dies alone, whereas a glib tongue ruins a whole State. Thus we read in the Shiking ⁵ :

« Endless are the slanderous reports. They threw four States ⁶ into confusion.

Four States were thrown into confusion, how much more would be a single individual. Therefore a man does not fear a tiger, but dreads the calumniator’s mouth, for his mouth contains the worst poison.

CHAPTER XXIV

On Anthroposcopy

11. III, II. Ku-Hsiang

According to tradition Huang Ti had a dragon face, Chuan Hsü was marked with the character Wu on his brow, Ti K‘u had joined teeth, Yao’s eye-brows had eight colours, Shun’s eyes double pupils, Yü’s ¹ ears three orifices, T‘ang had double elbows, Wên Wang four nipples, Wu Wang’s ² spine was curbed backwards, Chou Kung ³ was inclined to stoop forward, Kao Yao ⁴ had a horse’s mouth, Confucius’ arms were turned backwards ⁵. These Twelve Sages either held the positions of emperors and kings, or they aided their sovereigns, being anxious for the welfare of the people. All the world knows this, and the scholars speak of it.

These reports being given in the Classics and Annals can be relied upon. The light literature, such as journals, letters, and memoirs which the Literati do not read, afford a great many more instances : T‘sang Hsieh had four eyes and became one of Huang Ti’s officials. Ch‘ung Erh, prince of Chin ⁶, had a double rib, and became the foremost of all the feudal lords. Su Ch‘in ⁷ with a bone _p1.305 on his nose obtained the premiership in all the Six Kingdoms. Chang Yi ⁸ having a double rib was also made a minister in Ch‘in and Wei. Hsiang Yü, who owing to his double pupils was regarded as a descendant of the Emperor Shun, shared the empire with Kao Tsu. Ch‘ên P‘ing ⁹, a poor fellow who had not enough to eat and drink, had nevertheless a very fine appearance, which surprised every one so much, that they exclaimed : what on earth does Ch‘ên P‘ing eat to become such a portly man. Han Hsin ¹ was rescued from the axe of the executioner, when he caught the eye of the duke of T‘êng, and was pardoned also on account of his extraordinary appearance. Fine looks and stateliness can be characteristics as well ².

Kao Tsu had a high nose, a dragon face, a fine beard and 72 black spots on his left leg ³. Lü from Shan-fu ⁴ was skilled in prognosticating from looks. When he saw Kao Tsu’s carriage, he thought him very remarkable, and therefore gave him his own daughter, the later empress Lü Hou, to wife. Afterwards she gave birth to Prince Hsiao Hui ⁵ and to the princess Yuan of Lu. Kao Tsu was first a headborough on the river Sse ⁶. Then he gave up his post, and took to farming, again living with Lü Hou and his two children on his farm, when an old man passed by, and asked for a drink. In return he divined Lü Hou’s fate by her features saying :

— Madam, you belong to the great folks of the empire.

Called upon to foretell the fortune of her two children, he said in regard of Hsiao Hui :

— The cause of your greatness, Madam, will be this son,

and with respect to Yuan of Lu :

— You are all noble.

When the old man had left, Kao Tsu came home from abroad. Upon being informed by Lü Hou of what had taken place, he ran after the old man, and stopped him, wishing to hear his own fortune too. The old fellow rejoined :

— Before, the lady and her children bore a resemblance to you in their looks, but _p1.306 your mien is so grand, that words fail me to describe it ⁷.

Afterwards the empire devolved upon Kao Tsu, as the old man had foretold.