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

2 And it is likewise filled with the spontaneous fluid.

1 Ch‘in Chang, styled Tse K’ai, a disciple of Confucius.

2 Analects IX, 6 [Couvreur].

3 In the preceding chapters of the Lun-hêng.

1 The meaning is that, if the creation of man by Heaven and Earth be compared to the melting of copper or the burning of earthenware, these latter processes must be taken in their entirety like a body or an organism. Touching one member, one affects the whole organism. One cannot single out some constituent parts of the process, such as the moulding or the firing. Then ‘purpose’ is comprised in the image, which thereby becomes distorted.

2 The completion of a work done by man on purpose, depends on conditions and circumstances over which he has not always control. Man acts with a purpose, but the forces of nature which he sets in motion, and which bring about the final result, have no purpose.

3 The Five Elements of Chinese natural philosophy : metal, wood, water, fire, and earth.

1 In the ancient, so called natural philosophy of the Chinese, a cyclical character, such as Hsü, Ch‘ou, Wei, etc., and a certain animal are supposed to correspond to each of the five elements. From the relations between the elements one has drawn conclusions concerning their attributes. The greatest Chinese scholars have indulged in these plays, and mistaken them for natural science.

2 To wit the horse is hurt by the rat, because fire, the element of the horse, is quenched by water, which corresponds to the rat.

3 The points of the compass, the stars, hours, days, months, and years, colours, grains, etc. have all been incorporated into the afore-mentioned scheme, based on the interaction of the elements.

4 These Four Constellations are the Four Quadrants into which the Twenty-eight Stellar Mansions are divided. (Cf. Mayers Manual, Pt. II, N. 91 and 313.)

1 Those four constellations are stars, but not animals, though they bear the names of animals. How then could Heaven produce animals from their essence ?

2 The Twelve Horary Characters are the Twelve Branches or Twelve Cyclical Signs applied to the twelve double hours of the day. They as well as their corresponding animals have been enumerated above, though not in their regular sequence. The Twelve Animals are : Rat, ox, tiger, hare, dragon, serpent, horse, sheep, monkey, cock, dog, boar. (Vid. Giles, Dict. p. 1383.)

3 Metal is stronger than wood, as we were told above.

4 Yang Hu was the principal minister of the Chi family, one of the three leading families in the Lu State, Confucius’ country. Yang Hu being an usurper, scheming to arrogate the whole authority of the Lu State to himself, Confucius refused to see him. (Cf. Analects XVII, 1 [Couvreur].)

5 White overcomes blue.

6 Because the south is supposed to be stronger than the west.

1 In chap. VI, which in the Lun-hêng precedes chap. V.

2 A famous charioteer (cf. p. 138).

3 A one-legged bird said to portend rain.

1 Cheerfulness, anger, grief, joy, love, and hatred. It is more common to speak of Seven Passions. They are the same as those given above, but joy is replaced by fear, and desire is added.

2 Shi-chi chap. 27 p. 34v. The ‘Celestial Governors’ are the sun, the moon, and the planets. The passage referred to here speaks of 8 winds, however, and their attributes are different from those given by Wang Ch‘ung.

1 Heaven could not purposely act against the laws of nature, by which the vegetation grows in spring, and fades in winter.

2 Cf. p. 127 and Shi-chi chap. 27 p. 27v.

3 546-488 B. C.

4 We learn from Huai Nan Tse XII, 22r quoted in Lun-hêng IV, 13 (Pien-hsü) that Yen Tse told the Great Diviner that the earth-quake would take place, because the ‘Hook’ star was between the constellations of the ‘House’ and the ‘Heart’, whereupon the Great Diviner confessed to the Duke that the earth would shake, but that it would not be his doing (cf. p. 127).

5 I. e. man. The ancient Chinese foot was much smaller than the one now in use.

1 Cf. chap. XXI.

2 On officer of the Ch‘i State, who was slain in a battle against the Chü State (cf. Mencius Book VI, P. II chap. 6) [Legge] [Couvreur].

3 The ‘Elegies of Ch‘u’ comprising the Li-sao and some other poems of Ch‘ü Yuan and his contemporaries, all plaintive pieces referring to Ch‘ü Yuan’s disgrace.

1 King Huai of Ch‘u 327-294, King Ch‘ing Hsiang 294-261. Ch‘ü Yuan committed suicide in 294 B. C.

2 King Wu reigned from 739-688. His predecessor is called Hsiung Hsün (756-739) in the Shi-chi, not Li.

3 Pien Ho was taken for an impostor, and first sentenced to have his left foot cut off. When he presented the stone, a second time, his right foot was cut off. At last the genuineness of the jade-stone was discovered.

4 Cf. p. 171.

5 A eunuch, who together with Li Sse caused the death of Fu Su, eldest son of Ch‘in Shih Huang Ti, and under Hu Hai usurped all power. In 207 B. C.. he was assassinated by order of Tse Ying, son of Fu Su.

6 Cf. p. 167.

7 The grand father of Mêng T‘ien, also a general of Shih Huang Ti.

8 Cf. p. 136 and p. 166.

9 The chapter on Punishments in the Shuking, now entitled Lü-hsing.

10 Shuking, Lü-hsing, Pt. V, Bk. XXVII, 4 (Legge, Vol. III, Pt. II, p. 592).

1 The Chou epoch. The Chou calendar began with the 11th month, the Ch‘in calendar with the 10th. In 104 B. C. Han Wu Ti corrected the calendar, and made the year commence with the 1st month, so the Chou were 2 months ahead with their months.

2 A native of Wei of humble origin, who first served under Hsü Chia, and accompanied him on a mission to the court of King Hsiang of Ch‘i (696-683). This prince appreciating Fan Chü for his great dialectical skill, sent him some presents. Hsü Chia presuming that Fan Chü had betrayed some State secrets of Wei, denounced his servant to the premier of Wei, Wei Ch‘i, who had him beaten almost to death. Fan Chü was then wrapped in a mat, and thrown into a privy, where the drunken guests urinated upon him. Still he managed to escape, and later on became minister in Ch‘in.

3 Also a native of the Wei State from a poor family, who played a very important political rôle in Ch‘in and Wei. In his youth, he was suspected in Ch‘u of having stolen a valuable gem, and severely beaten. Died 310 B. C.

4 Shi-chi chap. 79 and 70.

5 Prince Tan of Yen was detained as a hostage in the Ch‘in State. Its sovereign promised with an oath to set him free, when the sun returned to the meridian, and Heaven rained grain, when the crows got white heads, and the horses, horns, and when the wooden elephants, decorating the kitchen door, got legs of flesh. Heaven helped the Prince, and brought about these wonders, when Tan was released, or, as others say, he made his escape in 230 B. C. The story is narrated in Lun-hêng V, 7 (Kan-hsü).

1 The same is said of Hsin Yuan Ping (Shi-chi chap. 28 p. 19v).

2 A city in Honan.

3 456-424 B. C.

4 A faithful servant of the Emperor Han Wu Ti, who appointed him Regent for his minor son, Chao Ti. He died in 68 B. C. His family was mixed up in a palace intrigue aiming at the deposition of the reigning emperor, which was discovered, when all the members of his family were exterminated.

5 Instead of Ch‘i [], an old feudal State in Honan, we ought probably to read [], the name of the Ch‘i State in Shantung, of which Ch‘i Liang was a native.

6 We learn from the Tso-chuan, Duke Hsiang 23rd year (550 B. C.) (Legge, Classics Vol. V, Pt. II, p. 504) [Couvreur, p. 405-406] and from the Liki, T‘an Kung Pt. III, 1 (Legge, Sacred Books Vol. XXVII, p. 188 [Couvreur]) that, when the bier of Ch‘i Liang was brought home to Ch‘i, the Marquis of Ch‘i, Chuang, sent an officer to present his condolences, but the widow declined them, because the road was not the proper place to accept condolences. The Marquis then sent them to her house. The ‘Prince of Lu’ of our text is probably a misprint, for why should the prince of Lu condole in Ch‘i ?

1 The Lieh-nü-chuan relates that Ch‘i Liang’s wife cried seven days over her husband’s corpse under the city wall, until it collapsed, and then died by jumping into a river.

2 Cf. chap. XXXIX and XL.

3 Cf. p. 114.

4 Yü Jang, a native of the Chin State, who made an unsuccessful attempt on the life of Viscount Hsiang of Chao, who had killed his master, Earl Chih. Vid. chap. XXIX.

5 A minister of Chao.

6 A place in the prefecture of Shun-tê fu (Chili)

7 This attempt on the life of Han Kao Tsu in 199 B. C. was frustrated.

8 The star Cor Hydra, mentioned in the Shuking (cf. Legge Vol. III, Pt. I, p. 19.)

9 The ‘Tail’ is a constellation consisting of nine stars in the tail of Scorpio, the 6th of the 28 Solar Mansions.

1 836-826 B. C.

2 Who explain natural phenomena by transcendent causes.

1 The grandfather of Wên Wang, the founder of the Chou dynasty.

2 Cf. p. 131.

3 The first and the second of the five ancient notes of the Chinese gamut.

4 Shuking Part V, Bk. X, 2 (Legge, Vol. III, Pt. II, p. 399) [Couvreur] cf. chap. XXXIX.

5 The Ch‘i State in Shantung.

6 Yen Ying, an official of Ch‘i, noted for his thrifty habits, died 493 B. C.

1 So small was the offering.

2 A younger brother of Chou Kung, the first Duke of Wei.

3 A son of Chou Kung and his successor in the Dukedom of Lu.

4 A minister of Wu Wang.

5 The lofty pine and the low Rottlera tree are emblems of father and son.

6 The 3rd diagram.

7 The 58th diagram.

8 In the terminology of the Yi-king.

9 Filth in a metaphorical sense.

1 The first advice of course. Bad odour can be removed by its contrary, perfumes, but not by more stench.

2 A worthy of the 5th century B. C. (Giles, Biogr. Dict. N. 678).

3 Another famous character of old (Giles, Biogr. Dict. N. 2088). Giles gives another version of the peculiarities of the two gentlemen regarding their belts. Cf. chap. XXXI.

4 612-589 B. C.

5 658-619.

6 The music of these two States was considered licentious, and most objectionable.

7 In the Shuking, Lü-hsing Pt. V, Bk. XXVII, 5 (Legge Vol. III, Pt. II, p. 593) [Couvreur] King Mu uses these words with reference to Huang Ti, who in this manner repressed the lawlessness of the Miao-tse.

8 Shuking, Yih-chi Pt. II, Bk. IV, 1.

1 Shuking, Wu-yi Pt. V, Bk. XV, 13 (Legge Vol. III, Pt. II, p. 471) [Couvreur, § 13].

2 Hsiao Wu = Han Wu Ti, 140-86 B. C.

3 A distinguished scholar and poet.

4 The emperor Han Wu Ti was infatuated with alchemy, and the magical arts taught by the Taoists.

5 Hsiao Ch‘êng = Han Ch‘êng Ti, 32-6 B. C.

6 The philosopher Yang Hsiung, a philosopher of note of the Confucian school, 53 B. C.-18 A. D.

7 A celebrated palace near Hsi-an-fu (Ch‘ang-an) originally founded by Ch‘in Shih Huang Ti.

8 Two high officers of the 2nd cent. B. C. Cf. chap. XVIII.

9 Cf. p. 131.

10 Aborigines in modern Kiangsu.

11 In 100 B. C. Su Wu was sent as envoy to the Hsiung-nu, who kept him prisoner for about nineteen years. Though the Hsiung-nu made every endeavour to win him over to their cause, he never threw off his allegiance to the Han, wherefore he is praised as a paragon of loyalty.

1 Only a barbarian would button his coat on the left side, a Chinaman will button it on the right.

2 A famous general of the 2nd cent. B. C., who subjugated the southern barbarians, and subsequently became their king. (Cf. chap. XXXI.)

3 Aborigines in Canton province.

4 Cf. chap. XXXI.

5 Two brothers of Chou Kung and of Wu Wang, who attempted to deprive their nephew Ch‘êng Wang of the throne, but their rebellion was put down by Chou Kung.

6 A new law was enacted in the 4th year of the Emperor Hsüan Ti (70 A. D.), by which descendants concealing their ascendants, and wives hiding their husbands guilty of a crime, were to be acquitted, whereas ascendants and husbands doing the same for their sons and wives, had to suffer capital punishment. Descendants were no doubt under a moral obligation to help their ascendants under any circumstances, but the same moral law did not exist for ascendants towards their sons. (Cf. Ch‘ien Han-shu chap. 8 p. 11.)

1 Which begins in November.

2 In 34 B. C. Ku Tse Yün = Ku Yung attributed an eclipse and an earth-quake to the excessive favour shown by the emperor to the ladies of his seraglio. He wrote many memorials against the abuses of the palace.

1 Cf. p. 121.

2 The planet Mercury.

3 The stars Beta, Delta, Pi, and Nun, in the head of Scorpio.

4 The stars Antares, Sigma, and Tau, in the heart of Scorpio.

5 Cf. p. 158.

6 A Taoist rhyme, quoted from the Lü-shih-ch‘un-ch‘iu. See also Huai Nan Tse XVII, 1v : ‘He who hears the sounding sound is deaf, but he who hears the soundless sound is quick at hearing’.

7 The Taoists despise the natural organs : the eye, the ear, the mouth, and pretend to see with a spiritual eye, to hear with a spiritual ear, etc.

8 Yi-king, 1st diagram (Ch‘ien).

9 The son of Tan fu (cf. p. 120).

1 We now speak of the Five Classics : Yiking, Shuking, Shiking, Liki, and Ch‘un-ch‘iu. During the Han period the ‘Book of Music’ was added, ranking as the fifth Classic before the Ch‘un-ch‘iu, bringing up the number to six.

2 Shuking, Shun-tien Pt. II, Bk. I, 2 (Legge, Vol. III, Pt. I, p. 32) [Couvreur] According to the commentators this passage means that Shun received the empire from Yao before the shrine of the latter’s ancestor, who thus might be regarded as the donor.

3 Vid. p. 134.

4 We read in the Shuking, Hung fan Pt. V, Bk. IV, 3 (Legge, Vol. III, Pt. II, p. 323) [Couvreur] ‘K‘un dammed up the inundating waters, and thereby threw into disorder the arrangement of the five elements. God was thereby roused to anger’.

1 Cf. Shi-chi, chap. 4, p. 8 (Chavannes, Mém. Hist. Vol. I, p. 216 Note 1, and p. 226).

2 Wên Wang did not yet attain the imperial dignity, which subsequently devolved upon his son, Wu Wang.

3 The ancestor of the Chou dynasty.

4 T‘ai and Pin were both situated in Shensi.

1 The Shi-chi chap. 4, p. 4 relates that T‘ai Po as well as Ch‘ung Yung, whom the Shi-chi styles Yü Ch‘ung, retired to the barbarians out of regard for their younger brother Chi Li.

2 The kingdom of Wu, the modern province of Kiangsu, at that time still inhabited by aborigines, hence the tattooing.

3 Chamberlains of the Palace Guard.

4 These offices are mentioned by Mencius Bk. V, Pt. II, chap. 2 [Legge] [Couvreur], who informs us that a chief minister had four times as much income as a ta-fu, and a ta-fu twice as much as a yuan-shih. Legge translates ‘great officer’ and ‘scholar of the first class’, which does not say much. I would like to say ‘Director of a Department ‘and ‘First Clerk’.

5 Two renowned physiognomists, cf. chap. XXIV.

6 A peculiarity of Wên Wang, cf. chap. XXIV.

7 See p. 177.

8 The first emperor of the Later Han Dynasty, 25-58 A. D.

9 Cf. p. 180.

1 Old coins.

2 Kuan Chung and Pao Shu Ya lived in the 6th cent. B. C. They were intimate friends, and are the Chinese Damon and Pythias.

3 The Shi-chi chap. 62 p. 1v, Biography of Kuan Chung, states that Kuan Chung cheated his friend. He there admits himself that in doing business with Pao Shu Ya, he took more than his share of the gain, but that he did it, because he was very poor, and not out of greed.

4 Kuan Chung took more than his share not on purpose, out of greed, but unintentionally.

1 The empire falls to the share of the Sage, he takes it as a matter of course, but does not long for it.

2 His actions are like those of intimate friends : natural, unpremeditated, and spontaneous.

3 This incident is told more fully on p. 178.

4 The imperial house of Ch‘in, which was dethroned by Han Kao Tsu.

5 Hsiang Yü committed suicide, when defeated by Han Kao Tsu.

6 Shuking Pt. V, Book IX, 4 [Couvreur].

7 Shiking Pt. III, Book I, Ode VII, 1 [Couvreur].

1 Quotation from the Yi-king, Ch‘ien Hexagram (N.1). The commentator says that the Sage and Heaven are always in accordance, no matter who acts first, because they both follow the same principles.