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

2 Analects VIII, 12.

3 Shi-chi chap. 4, p. 8. [Chavannes, Mém. Hist.]

4 A famous teacher and in later years a minister, of the 1st cent. A. D.

5 A native of Honan, died 57 B. C. Giles, Biogr. Dict. N. 1323.

6 A city in Honan.

1 The followers of Mê Ti.

2 A disciple of Confucius.

3 Analects XII, 5 [Couvreur].

4 A city in Anhui.

5 A city in Shansi.

6 This massacre took place in 260 B. C. (Cf. Mayers Reader’s Manual N. 544.)

7 722-481 B. C.

8 The founder of the former Han dynasty, a native of P‘ei in Kiangsu. Fêng was another region in the neighbourhood.

1 This great fire, which on the same day broke out in the capitals of the four States, is recorded in the Ch‘un-ch‘iu Book X, 18 (Duke Chao) as happening in 529 B. C. It is believed to have been foreshadowed by a comet, which appeared in winter of the preceding year. — These four States were comprised in Honan, except Sung which occupied the northern part of modern Kiangsu.

2 The rival of Han Kao Tsu, before the latter ascended the throne.

1 Wang Ch‘ung puts a construction upon the words of Tse Hsia, of which he probably never thought. Tse Hsia used Destiny and Heaven as synonyms, as we do.

2 Namely the stars.

3 The first legendary rulers of Chinese history.

4 Two famous charioteers of old, the latter the driver of the eight celebrated steeds of King Mu of Chou.

1 Mencius, Book VII, Pt. I, chap. 3 [Legge] [Couvreur].

2 Two famous robbers of antiquity, especially the former, to whom a chapter is devoted in Chuang Tse.

3 The same as Yen Hui, the favourite disciple of Confucius.

4 He worked too hard, and died at the age of thirty-two. His hair had turned quite white already. (Cf. Legge, Analects, Prolegomena p. 113.)

5 Ch‘ü Yuan or Ch‘ü P‘ing, a faithful counsellor of Prince Huai of Ch‘u in the 4th century B. C., committed suicide by drowning himself, because his admonitions were disregarded. The dragon-boat festival is celebrated in commemoration thereof. Wu Yuan or Wu Yün, a minister of the last king of Wu circa 520 B. C. was sentenced to perish by his own hand. His body was afterwards sewn into a leather wine-sack, and cast into the river near Soochow, where he has been deified as the spirit of the water like Ch‘ü P‘ing. This is the common tradition. (Cf. Mayers Manual N. 879 and Giles, Biogr. Dict. N. 2358. According to Wang Ch‘ung the body of Wu Yuan was cooked.)

1 The term nature is used in the sense of spiritual nature, disposition, as well as for constitution, i. e. physical qualities.

2 The Yüeh-ling is the Book III, N. 6 of the Li-Ki, the Book of Rites. The ‘same month’ referred to in the passage, quoted from the Yüeh-ling, is the second month of spring. Wang Ch‘ung seems to have had in view the final paragraph as well, which says that, if in the last month of winter the spring ceremonies were observed, the embryos would suffer many disasters. (Cf. Legge, Li Ki, Book IV, p. 260 and 310 [Sacred Books of the East, Vol. XXVII].)

3 A native of Chin, 6th cent. B. C.

4 The unworthy son of the emperor Yao 2357 B. C.

5 The degenerated son of the emperor Shun 2255 B. C.

6 Cf. Ta-tai-li chap. 3, p. 6v (Han Wei tsung shu).

1 The first emperor, a mythical personage.

2 The founder of the Shang dynasty, who was imprisoned by the last emperors of the Hsia.

3 The ancestor of the house of Chou. He was incarcerated at Yu-li by the last emperor of the Shang dynasty.

4 Under Yen Tse, Yen Ying, a celebrated statesman of the Dukes of Ch‘i, is usually understood. Since Yen Ying was very successful in his career, no misfortune whatever being recorded of him, I would suggest to alter [][] into [][], abbreviated for [][] Yen Hui, the name of the ill-fated disciple of Confucius, whose misfortune, his untimely death, is mentioned above p. 266 and elsewhere.

5 See above p. 136.

6 In addition to good luck, according to our author, he who seeks employment requires a contingency, he must find some one who appreciates him.

1 Passing the examinations, which is mere luck.

1 The god of cereals (cf. p. 130).

2 The wise minister of Shun (cf. chap. XXXIX).

3 This was the name assumed by the famous minister of the Yüeh State Fan Li, when, having retired from public life, he lived incognito in Ch‘i. Under this name he amassed a large fortune so, that T‘ao Chu Kung has become a synonym for a ‘millionaire’. (Cf. Giles, Bibl. Dict. No. 540.)

1 King Ch‘êng of the Chou dynasty (cf. chap. XI.).

2 Huan, duke of Ch‘i (cf. p. 176).

3 A keen business man, who flourished under the Marquis Wên of Wei in the 5th cent. B. C.

4 A disciple of Confucius, who became very rich.

5 Chu Fu Yen lived in the 2nd cent. B. C. He was an enemy of Tung Chung Shu (cf. p. 84).

1 Who could explain a book, and solve knotty questions in the presence of the sovereign.

2 Cf. p. 115.

3 Cf. chap. XXIV.

4 Because T‘sai Tsê was not a native of Ch‘in, but of Yen. King Chao of Ch‘in (305-250 B. C.) made him his minister on the recommendation of Fan Sui.

5 Cf. p. 136.

6 See chap. XXXIV.

7 A scholar of the 2nd cent., who wrote the Hsin-shu and some poetry.

8 The king of Huai-nan, who had revolted.

1 A celebrated physician.

2 The passage is quoted from the Shi-chi, chap. 8 (Chavannes, Mém. Hist. Vol. II, p. 400).

3 Cf. p. 124.

4 According to Chinese customs executions of criminals take place in autumn.

5 The fifth son of the emperor Kao Tsu. The empress Lü hou wished to leave the empire to one of the Lü princes, her own kinsmen.

6 179-157 B. C.

7 Chief minister of Han Wên Ti (cf. chap. XXIV).

8 30 catties.

1 A swift horse supposed to make a thousand Li in one day.

2 He was assassinated by his younger brother in 376 B. C. (Chavannes, Mém. Hist. Vol. IV, p. 433, Note 5).

1 Another disciple of Confucius. On his sickness cf. Analects VI, 8 [Couvreur] and p. 165.

1 Analects VI, 17 [Couvreur].

2 The meaning is that the successes of superior men are due to their own excellence, not to mere chance, but that they are often visited with misfortune. With common people it is different. Their happiness is never their own work, but luck, which often favours them.

3 Chung-yung (Doctrine of the Mean) chap. XV.

2 Two minions of the emperors Han Kao Tsu (206-194 B. C.) and Hui Ti (194-187).

3 Shi-chi chap. 125.

4 An old State in modern Shansi, where the Marquis Wên reigned from 779 -744 B. C.

5 The name of a State, whose lords were viscounts, in modern Anhui.

6 An old feudal State in Shantung.

7 Higher titles used to be given to those feudal princes than they were entitled to.

1 Chuang Tse XIV, 25v. (T‘ien-yün) informs us that the traces of Confucius were obliterated in Wei. Confucius spent there many years of his life, but without gaining any influence on its prince, and therefore left no trace.

2 When Confucius was travelling from the Ch‘ên State to T‘sai, his provisions became exhausted, and Confucius with his followers had to suffer hunger. Analects XV, 1 [Couvreur]. Ch‘ên and T’sai were situated in south-eastern Honan.

1 487-430 B. C.

1 Astrologer at the court of Duke Ching of Sung (515-451 B. C.) who venerated him like a god.

2 The planet Mars (cf. p. 127).

3 The ‘Great Diviner’ of Ch‘i, on whom vid. p. 112.

4 This fact is mentioned in the Shi-chi chap. 38, p. 14v [Chavannes, Mém. Hist. Vol. IV, p. 243]. The siege took place from 595-594 B. C. The whole story seems to be a quotation from Lieh Tse VIII, 6v. [Wieger] or from Huai Nan Tse XVIII, 6 who narrate it with almost the same words.

1 Hua Yuan was the general of Sung, Tse Fan that of Ch‘u. Both armies being equally exhausted by famine, the siege was raised.

2 According to Lieh Tse and Huai Nan Tse the two blind men were, in fact, saved from death by their blindness. Lieh Tse loc. cit. [Wieger] adds that over half of the defenders of the city wall were killed, and Huai Nan Tse says that all except the two blind men were massacred by the besiegers. Wang Ch‘ung follows the Shi-chi in his narrative of the salvation of the city.

3 6th cent. B. C.

1 Died 279 B. C.

2 This day is still now regarded as very unlucky in many respects, although it be the Great Summer Festival or the Dragon Boat Festival. On the reasons cf. De Groot, Les Fêtes annuelles à Émoui. Vol. I, p. 320.

3 A quotation from the Shi-chi, chap. 75, p. 2v.

1 A scholar of the Han time.

2 Demons and spirits who reward the virtuous, and punish the perverse, play an important part in the doctrine of Mê Ti. (Cf. Faber, Micius, Elberfeld 1877, p.91.)

3 The parallel passage in chap. XXVII speaks of nineteen extra years, with which the Duke was rewarded.

4 658-619 B. C.

5 634-626 B. C.

6 The Mu in the Duke of Ch‘in’s name =[a] does not mean ‘error and disorder’, it signifies ‘majestic, grand, admirable’. But this Mu is often replaced by the character [a], which has the bad meaning given by Wang Ch‘ung. I presume that in the original text of the Lun-hêng the latter character was used, whereas we now read the other. In the parallel passage chap. XXVII [a][] is actually written, and so it is in the Shi-chi chap. 5, p. 9v. et seq.

7 The Shi-chi knows nothing of such a miracle. Duke Mu was a great warrior as was Duke Wên, but the latter’s rule is described by Sse Ma Ch‘ien as very enlightened and beneficial. (Cf. on Duke Mu : Chavannes, Mém. Historiques. Vol. II, p. 25-43, and on Duke Wên. Vol. IV, p. 291-308.)

1 A disciple of Confucius.

2 One of the most famous disciples of Confucius, whose name has been connected with the authorship of the Great Learning.

3 Pu Shang was the name of Tse Hsia. Tse Hsia is his style.

4 A small river in the province of Shantung, flowing into the Sse.

5 Presumably the western course of the Yellow River.

6 Quoted from the Li-ki, T’an Kung I (cf. Legge’s translation, Sacred Books of the East Vol. XXVII, p. 135).

1 Quotation of Analects VI, 8 [Couvreur].

2 Po Niu, who was suffering from leprosy.

3 The favourite disciple of Confucius, whose name was Yen Hui.

4 The Tso-chuan, Book XII Duke Ai 15th year [Couvreur], relates that Tse Lu was killed in a revolution in Wei, struck with spears, no mention being made of his having been hacked to pieces (cf. Legge, Ch‘un Ch‘iu Pt. II, p. 842). This is related, however, in the Li-ki, T‘an-kung I (Legge Sacred Books Vol. XXVII, p. 123) and by Huai Nan Tse VII, 13v.

1 King Chao Hsiang of Ch‘in 305-249 B. C.

2 A famous general of the Ch‘in State who by treachery annihilated the army of Chao Vid. p. 136.

3 In Shansi.

4 Po Ch‘i had fallen into disfavour with his liege upon refusing to lead another campaign against Chao.

5 209-207 B. C.

6 A general of Erh Shih Huang Ti’s father, Ch‘in Shih Huang Ti, who fought successfully against the Hsiung-nu, and constructed the Great Wall as a rampart of defence against their incursions.

1 The Manchurian province of Fêng-t‘ien.

2 A city in Kansu at the western extremity of the Great Wall.

3 Quoted from the Shi-chi chap. 88, p. 5.

4 Remarks of Sse Ma Ch‘ien to Shi-chi chap. 88, p. 5v.

5 The earth is here treated like an animated being, and its wounding by digging out ditches for the earth-works requisite for the Great Wall, and by piercing mountains, is considered a crime. But provided that Mêng T‘ien suffered the punishment of his guilt, then another difficulty arises. Why did Heaven allow Earth to be thus maltreated, why did it punish innocent Earth ? Wang Ch‘ung’s solution is very simple. Heaven neither rewards nor punishes. Its working is spontaneous, unpremeditated, and purposeless. Mêng T‘ien’s death is nothing but an unfelicitous accident.

6 For his intercession in favour of the defeated general Li Ling the emperor Wu Ti condemned Sse Ma Ch‘ien to castration, which penalty was inflicted upon him in a warm room serving for that purpose. (Cf. Chavannes, Mém. Historiques Vol. I, p. XL.)

1 Shi-chi chap. 61, p. 3v. Po Yi (12th cent. B. C.) and his elder brother Shu Ch‘i were sons of the Prince of Ku-chu in modern Chili. Their father wished to make the younger brother Shu Ch‘i his heir, but he refused to deprive his elder brother of his birth-right, who, on his part, would not ascend the throne against his father’s will. Both left their country to wander about in the mountains, where at last they died of cold and hunger. They are regarded as models of virtue.

2 Died 125 B. C.

3 The Han dynasty. The Former Han dynasty reigned from 206 B. C.-25 A. D. the Later Han dynasty from 25-220 A. D.

4 A Turkish tribe.

5 A general term for non-Chinese tribes in the north.

1 District in Kansu.

2 Tribes in the West of China.

3 A quotation from Shi-chi chap. 109, p. 6, the biography of General Li Kuang.

4 A favourite and a general of Han Wu Ti, died 106 B. C.

1 A Chinese does not take exception to the incongruity of the equation : 100 : 1 = 10 : 1. The meaning is plain : a small percentage of survivors, and a great many dying.

2 Prime Minister of Ch‘in Shih Huang Ti and a great scholar. He studied together with Han Fei Tse under the philosopher Hsün Tse.

3 A Taoist philosopher, son of a duke of the Han State.

4 By his intrigues Li Sse had induced the king of Ch‘in to imprison Han Fei Tse. He then sent him poison, with which Han Fei Tse committed suicide. Vid. Shi-chi chap. 63, p. 11v., Biography of Han Fei Tse.

5 Li Sse fell a victim to the intrigues of the powerful eunuch Chao Kao. The Shi-chi chap. 87, p. 20v., Biography of Li Sse, relates that he was cut asunder at the waist on the market place. At all events he was executed in an atrocious way. The tearing to pieces by carts driven in opposite directions is a punishment several times mentioned in the Ch‘un-ch‘iu.

6 Shang Yang is Wei Yang, Prince of Shang, died 338 B. C. In the service of the Ch‘in State he defeated an army of Wei, commanded by Prince Ang, whom he treacherously seized, and assassinated at a meeting, to which he had invited him as an old friend. According to the Shi-chi, chap. 68, p. 9, Biography of Prince Shang, he lost his life in battle against his former master, and his corpse was torn to pieces by carts like Li Sse.

7 The culprit being bound to the carts, which then were driven in different directions.

1 Why does Heaven punish the innocent through the guilty ? If Han Fei Tse and Ang had sinned in secret, Heaven would have been unjust towards those they had wronged, and so on.

2 A high officer, who had gone into exile to avoid the tyrannous rule of Chou Hsin 1122 B. C., and subsequently joined Wên Wang.

3 Ning Ch‘i lived in the 7th cent. B. C.

4 Cf. p. 173.

1 The harsh and unfeeling father of the virtuous Shun.

2 Shun’s wicked brother.

3 Cf. Mencius Book V, Pt. I, chap. II (Legge p. 222-223) [Couvreur] and Shi-chi chap. I, p. 23 [Chavannes].

1 Vid. Shuking Pt. II, Book I, chap. II.

2 A mythical personage, the ‘Lord of the Grain’, said to have been Director of Husbandry under Yao and Shun.

3 The word mother, required by the context, must be supplemented in the original.

4 A legendary emperor prior to Yao, Hou Chi’s father, after one tradition.

5 A Kirghis tribe settled in the N. E. of Ferghana in the 2nd cent. B. C. (Shi-chi chap. 123, p. 4).

6 The powerful Turkish tribes, which were China’s northern neighbours during the Han time, perhaps the Huns. Long wars were waged between the Chinese and the Hsiung-nu.

7 The title of the chieftain of the Hsiung-nu.

8 This passage is taken almost literally from the Shi-chi chap. 123, p.9v. The Shi-chi still adds that K‘un Mo was suckled by a she-wolf.