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

9 A State in northern Corea, Ma-tuan-lin chap. 324, p. 14v., where our passage is quoted.

10 Barbarous, non Chinese tribes in the east.

1 In Liaotung.

2 The chief minister of T‘ang, the founder of the Shang dynasty 1766 B. C. Many legends are current about his origin.

3 In ancient times holes in the earth were used as mortars.

4 Namely the underground water.

5 Cf. p. 136.

6 In 686 B. C. Duke Hsiang was assassinated by his nephew Wu Chih (Ch‘un-ch‘iu III, 8). Tse Chiu was a brother of Duke Huan.

7 Kuan Chung and Pao Shu Ya were bosom-friends. At the recommendation of Pao Shu Ya, Kuan Chung, later on, entered into the service of Duke Huan, whom he had first opposed.

8 The ancient Chinese foot was much smaller than ours.

1 589-558 B. C.

2 558-543 B. C.

3 539-527 B. C.

4 The Shi-chi chap. 40, p. 14 tells this story with nearly the same words, and has taken it from the Tso-chuan, Duke Chao 13th year [Couvreur]. Vid. Legge, Chinese Classics Vol. V, p. 650, 1st col. and Chavannes, Mém. Historiques Vol. IV, p. 367.

5 A minister of the State of Chin 597 B. C.

6 Also a minister of Chin and rival of T‘u An Ku.

7 Likewise slain by T‘u An Ku.

8 Chao So’s widow, being a daughter of the ducal house of Chin, had sought refuge in the palace.

1 A faithful adherent of Chao So.

2 598-579 B. C.

3 Cf. the detailed account given in Chap. XVII.

4 The Mang Mountains were situated in Honan, the T‘ang Mountains in Kansu.

5 These myths about the first emperor of the Han dynasty are related in almost the same words in the Shi-chi chap. 8, p. 1v.

6 The famous counsellor of Kao Tsu’s rival, Hsiang Yü.

7 The title of Fan T‘sêng.

1 The story is told more in detail in the Shi-chi chap.7, p. 14v.

2 Partisans of Kao Tsu, whose success is to a great extent due to their efforts.

3 The wife of the emperor Wên Ti, 179-156 B.C., and the mother of Ching Ti, 156-140.

4 A district in Honanfu.

5 The capital under the former Han dynasty.

6 Ch‘ing-ho, a State in Honan, the present prefecture of K‘ai-fêng-fu, of which Kuan-chin formed a district.

7 Probably a misprint for Wu Ti ; for Wu Ti, not Wên Ti succeeded Ching Ti.

8 In K‘ai-fêng-fu (Honan).

1 The T‘ai-p‘ing-yü-lan quoting this passage writes T‘ang Wên Po. Nothing more is to be learned about this person from the cyclopedias.

2 The modern P‘u-Chou in Shansi.

3 Literally : the country east of the (Yellow) River.

4 An ancient name of the region about Ch‘êng-tu and T‘ung-ch‘uan in Sse-chuan.

5 The first number of the sexagenary cycle.

6 6-2 B. C.

7 This palace, once used by the Emperor Han Wu Ti as a travelling lodge, had been closed. Kuang Wu Ti’s father finding his yamen too wet to live in, had moved into the old palace, and installed himself in the halls at the back.

8 The modern T’sao-chou-fu in Shantung.

9 Cf. T‘ai-p‘ing-yü-lan (Kuang Wu Ti) where the Tung-kuan Han-chi is quoted.

10 Han Yuan Ti 48-32 B. C. The Tung-kuan Han-chi relates that the phenix came down at the birth of Kuang Wu Ti, 6 B. C.

11 An old name of T‘ai-an-hsien in Shantung.

1 A city in Honan.

2 Under the Han a district ‘north of the Yellow River’, corresponding to the modem P‘ing-lu-hsien in Shansi.

3 In case of a great political revolution.

4 In case of regular succession, the son following the father.

5 Both founders of new dynasties.

1 A gratuitous etymology, of which the Chinese are very fond. Shih=milfoil and kuei=tortoise have nothing whatever to do with ch‘i=old and kiu=aged.

1 From Chuang Tse chap. 26, p. 4v. it appears that for divining purposes the tortoise shell used to be cut into 72 pieces or divining slips.

1 Analects XVII, 18 [Couvreur].

2 Yi-king, Chi-t’se I (Legge’s transl. p. 365).

3 Which he uses in burning the tortoise shell.

1 The minister of Chou.

2 Cf. Shuking, Hsi po k‘an Li and Shi-chi chap. 3 (Chavannes, Mém. Hist. Vol. I, p. 204).

3 The countrymen of Kao Tsu, who was born in Fêng, in the sub-prefecture of P‘ei in Kiangsu.

4 The Li-ki writes Shih T‘ai Chung.

5 From his concubines.

6 A feudal lord in Wei, mentioned in the Tso-chuan, Duke Chuang 12th year (681 B. C.), as influencing the policy of his native State.

7 So far the story is culled from the Li-ki, T‘an Kung II (Legge, Sacred Books Vol. XXVII, p. 181).

1 The Duke of Chou had built three altars to his three ancestors, whom he consulted on the fate of his side brother Wu Wang. He probably had one tortoise for each altar. (Cf. Shi-chi chap. 33, p. 1v. [Chavannes, Mém. Hist.] and p. 205.)

2 Shu Sun Chuang Shu or Shu Sun Tê Chên. When he died in 603 B. C., he received the posthumous name Chuang.

3 The same as Shu Sun Mu Tse mentioned in Chap. XVII. His clan name was Shu Sun, Mu being his posthumous title.

4 The diagram Ming-i.

5 The diagram Ch‘ien. Wang Ch‘ung here quotes a passage from the Tso-chuan, Duke Chao 5th year (Legge Vol. V, Pt. II, p. 604) where the expression ‘encountered’ is used.

6 The last emperor of the Shang dynasty, Chou Hsin.

1 Those in power win the people over to their views by showing that the omens are favourable, and that the spirits causing them give their approval.

1 Chapter XIX of Han Fei Tse’s work.

2 Cf. Shuking, Hung-fan, Pt. V, Bk. IV, 20 (Legge Vol. III, Pt. II, p. 334). The viscount of Ch’u, who styled himself king.

3 The viscount of Ch‘u, who styled himself king.

4 The Tso-chuan calls him Tse Fan.

5 Quotation from the Tso-chuan, Duke Hei 28th year (631 B. C.) [Couvreur, pp. 395-396].

6 I surmise from the context that the character [] must denote some deformity of the tortoise. Kang-hi says in the appendix that the meaning is unknown.

1 The Six Domestic Animals are : the horse, the ox, the goat, the pig, the dog, and the fowl.

2 Cf. Chap. XXVII.

3 A series of mythical rulers of remotest antiquity.

1 The Five Virtues are : Benevolence, Justice, Propriety, Knowledge, and Truth ; the Five Organs : the Heart, the Liver, the Stomach, the Lungs, and the Kidneys.

2 No dictionary gives this meaning for t‘ien, which usually means ‘to exterminate, to cut off, to cease’. But it cannot be anything else here. The Chinese of to-day will likewise rail a faint ‘death’, or small death’, hsiao-sse.

1 A place in Lu (Shantung).

2 A quotation abridged from the Li-ki, T‘an Kung. Cf. Legge, Li-ki Vol. I, p. 123. Modern commentators explain the passage quite differently. The dictum of Confucius would mean that the ancients did not repair tombs, because they built them so well, that they could not collapse. Wang Ch‘ung’s interpretation is more natural.

1 Cf. Chap. XXXI.

1 Those who used its body as food.

2 His spirit.

1 827-781 B. C.

2 The story is given a little more in detail in the Chou Ch‘un-ch‘iu, which adds that the king broke his spine (cf. Chavannes, Mém. Hist. Vol. I, p. 278, Note 2) and also by Mê Ti chap. 8, p. 2.

3 In the Lun-hêng Bk. IV, p. 5 (Shu-hsü) he is called Viscount Chien of Chao. the same who is mentioned in chap. XVII.

4 On their fates cf. p. 140 and chap. XXXIX.

1 A brother of the Duke, who had been driven into death by court intrigues.

2 The ‘Lower Capital’ of Chin i. e. Ch‘ü-wu in modern Ping-yang-fu (Shansi).

3 The personal name of Duke Hui.

4 Quotation from the Tso-chuan, Duke Hsi 10th year (649 B. C., Legge, Classics Vol. V, Pt. I, p. 157) [Couvreur].

5 In Shansi.

2 A wife of Duke Hsien of Chin, who, in order to secure the throne for her own son, removed the heir-apparent, Shên Shêng.

3 The spirits of the father, the grandfather, and the great-grandfather of King Wu and his younger brother Tan, Duke of Chou.

1 Quoted in an abridged form from Shuking, Chin-t‘êng, Pt. V, Bk. VI, 1 seq. Legge Vol. III, Pt. II, p. 351 seq.).

2 An officer of the Chin State.

1 As was customary. Thus far the story, with some additions and omissions, has been culled from the Tso-chuan, Duke Hsiang 19th year (553 B. C.) [Couvreur].

1 670-624 B. C.

2 Quotation from the Tso-chuan Duke Wên 1st year (625 B. C.) [Couvreur] (Legge Vol. V, Pt. I, p. 230).

3 Ling [] might mean : animated, alive, a spirit, but it has many other significations besides, as : intelligent, ingenious, clever, which might well be used as a posthumous title.

4 This [] would mean : the completer, the perfect one.

1 Li [] is in fact not a proper honorary epithet, its sense being : oppressive, cruel, malicious, ugly, terrible.

2 According to the Tso-chuan in 542 B. C. [Couvreur]

3 Tse Ch‘an is the style of the celebrated statesman Kung Sun Ch‘iao of Chêng 581-521 B. C.

4 Duke Mu of Chêng 626-604 B. C.

1 Quotation from the Tso-chuan, Duke Chao 7th year (534 B. C.) [Couvreur] (Legge Vol. V, Pt. II, p. 618).

1 603-575 B. C.

2 Near Hsi-an-fu in Shansi.

3 In the Ping-yang prefecture (Shansi).

4 Aboriginal, non-Chinese tribes.

5 The Ti had dethroned him, and conquered his territory.

6 Wei K‘o’s father.

7 Quotation from the Tso-chuan, Duke Hsüan 15th year [Couvreur] (593 B. C.)

2 Cf. p. 95.

3 25-57 A. D.

4 In Shansi.

5 The father of Wên Wang.

1 546-488 B.C.

2 The Great Diviner of Ch‘i (cf. p. 112) and reputed author of the Yen Tse ch’un-ch’iu.

3 The founder of the Shang dynasty, 1766-1753 B.C.

4 T‘ang’s prime minister.

1 All four were sovereigns of the Shang dynasty. T’ai Chia reigned from 1753-1720, Wu Ting 1324-1265, and Tsu Yi 1525-1506 B.C.

2 The dukes of Sung derived their descent from the sovereigns of the Shang dynasty.

3 Quoted from Yen Tse ch’un-ch’iu (T‘ai p‘ing-yü-lan) with some variations.

4 Vid. p. 209.

5 His name was P‘ing (556-530 B. C.).

6 Prime minister of Chin.

1 The father of the Emperor Yü.

2 South of I-chou in Shantung.

3 The Hsia dynasty.

4 Hsia, Shang, and Chou.

5 Allied to the reigning house of Chou.

6 Quoted from the Tso-chuan, Duke Chao 7th year (534 B. C.) [Couvreur] (Legge Vol. V, Pt. II p. 617).

7 Cf. Chap. XXVII.

8 Like other dreams. The visions have mostly a symbolical meaning, and must not be semblances of real beings.

1 They would be evoked by his remembrance, but not be real.

2 The Taoist philosopher Huai Nan Tse.

3 Vid. chap. XXVIII.

4 With regard to the metamorphose of Kun.

5 Han Kao Tsu, 206 -194 B. C.

6 Cf. chap. XVIII.

1 Uncle of the Emperor Han Wu Ti.

2 District in Honan.

3 Commander-in-chief under the Emperor Ching Ti, 156-140 B. C., who was supplanted by T‘ien Fên.

4 We learn from the Ch‘ien Han-shu, chap. 52, p. 12, Biography of Kuan Fu, that T‘ien Fên felt pain all over the body, as if he were flogged, and cried for mercy. The emperor sent his visionist to look at him, who reported that the ghosts of Kuan Fu and Tou Ying were holding him, and beating him to death.

5 The present Ch‘ên-Chou in Honan.

1 Cf. chap. XX.

2 Cf. chap. XL.

3 Cf. p. 140.

4 P‘êng Yüeh, King of Liang, was executed by order of Han Kao Tsu in 196 B. C., when he had revolted against the emperor. All his relations to the third degree were put to death along with him. Vid. Shi-chi chap. 8, p. 33v.

5 An epithet often given to Ch‘in Shih Huang Ti and Wang Mang, both equally detested by the literati.

6 48-32 B. C.

7 In Ts‘ao-chou-fu (Shantung).

8 946-934 B. C.

1 Near Hsi-an-fu, where the tumulus of the mighty emperor is still visible.

2 209-206 B. C.

1 533-499 B. C.

2 On the border of the provinces Chili and Shantung.

3 556-530 B. C.

4 The Shi-chi chap. 24, p. 39 v. calls it the ‘Shi-hui terrace’, which was situated on the Fên river in Shansi.

1 Cf. Shi-chi chap. 4, p. 11 and Chap.XXXVIII.

2 I am not quite certain, whether G, C, and A major are a correct rendering of Chinese ch‘ing (clear) Shang, chih and chio. In the Mémoires concernant les Chinois Vol. VI, p. 115 these notes are identified with sol, ut, and la. At any rate ch‘ing (clear) and its correlate cho (obscure) would be appropriate terms to designate sharp and flat notes. — The parallel passage of the Shi-chi omits to specify the airs, as is done here.

1 The sacred Mount T‘ai is in the East, in Shantung, not in the West.

2 Some say that it is the spirit of wood. It is described as a bird with one wing, always carrying fire in its mouth, and portending fire in the house where it appears. According to the Shan-hai-king it would be a bird like a crane, but with one leg, a green plumage adorned with red, and a white beak.

3 A legendary person said by some to have been a minister of Huang Ti. Cf. Chap. XXXV.

4 All the details about the assembly of ghosts are omitted in the Shi-chi.

5 The same story, illustrative of the magical force of music, is told in a parallel passage of the Shi-chi, chap. 24, on music, p. 39 seq. Since the text of the Lun-hêng is fuller, I presume that Wang Ch‘ung did not quote the Shi-chi, but had an older source, probably the same, from which the Shi-chi his copied.

1 516-457 B. C.

2 Pien Ch‘io is the honorary appellative of Ch‘in Yüeh Jen, a celebrated physician who travelled from State to State.

3 A minister of Viscount Chien.

4 658-620 B. C.

5 Officers of Ch‘in.

1 675-651 B. C.

2 634-627 B. C.

3 626-620 B. C.

4 A defile in Honan.

5 On the battle of Yao which took place in 626 B. C. cf. Tso-chuan Duke Hsi, 33d year [Couvreur]. The weakness of Duke Hsiang consisted in releasing his prisoners at the request of his mother, a princess of Ch‘in, which was deeply resented by his officers. Vid. Chap. XL.

6 Northern barbarians. A Ti dog was probably a huge Mongolian dog, resembling a St. Bernard, much bigger than the common Chinese dog.

7 We ought to read ‘seven generations’ as the Shi-chi does. The characters for seven and ten can be easily confounded. Chien’s sickness took place in 500 B. C. under the reign of Duke Ting of Chin. From Duke Ting to the end of the Chin State, which in 375 broke up into the three marquisates of Wei, Chao, and Han, there are only seven rulers, Ting included. Viscount Chien was a vassal of Duke Ting and ancestor of the later marquises and kings of Chao.

8 Ying was the family name of the viscounts of Chao.