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

1 The Chou dynasty which Po Yi regarded as usurpers of the throne of the legitimate emperors of the house of Shang.

2 A mountain in Shensi.

3 Mencius VII, Pt. I, 2 [Legge][Couvreur].

4 Legge understands this passage differently.

5 Wang Ch‘ung denotes by natural destiny something different from what Mencius expresses by it, which explains his polemic. Wang Ch‘ung’s natural destiny is not influenced by human actions, whereas the natural, right, or correct destiny of Mencius is the upshot of proper conduct. Cf. p. 138.

1 Vid. p. 169.

2 Cf. p. 164.

3 On Yen Yuan and Po Niu see p. 165.

4 Cf. p. 485 Note 6.

5 Tse Hsü or Wu Tse Hsü, the same as Wu Yuan p. 140.

6 Cf. p. 165.

7 Vid. p. 179.

8 Mencius I, Pt. II, 16 [Legge][Couvreur].

9 During a tempest the Hsia emperor K‘ung Chia, 1879-1848 B. C., sought shelter in a cottage. The landlord imagined that the visit of the son of heaven was a lucky augury for his son, and that no misfortune would befall him in future. Yet this son, later on, doing carpenter’s work, accidentally broke his axe, and cut off his two legs. He then became a doorkeeper, the only office for which he was still fit (Lü Shi ch‘un-ch‘iu).

1 On the Taoist philosopher Han Fei Tse see p. 170.

2 In Chapt. 19, No.49, p. 1 of Han Fei Tse’s work. The chapter is entitled the : ‘Five kinds of voracious grubs’.

3 An ancient coin or a monetary unit whose value is doubtful.

4 Cf. Han Fei Tse XIII, 5v.

1 Analects III, 17 [Couvreur].

1 Cf. p. 168 Note 2.

2 The posthumous designation of Chan Huo, 6th and 7th cent. B. C., who was magistrate of the Liu-hsia district in Lu and famous for his virtue.

3 Ch‘in desisted from its invasion of Wei in 399 B. C., because the Wei State was so flourishing under the Marquis Wên, who honoured the worthies and literati. Vid. Shi-chi chap. 44, p. 3v.

4 Cf. p. 172. T‘ai Kung was the first duke of Ch‘i.

5 Han Fei Tse XIII, 5 speaks only of K‘uang Chüeh being put to death by T‘ai Kung, not of Hua Shih.

1 See p. 278 Note 1.

2 Cf. p. 380 Note 4.

3 The same as Chang Liang, the helpmate of Han Kao Tsu. Cf. p. 235.

1 Four recluses, who during the troubles attending the overthrow of the Ch‘in dynasty had taken refuge into the mountains near Hsi-an-fu.

2 From Han Fei Tse chap. 19, p. 2v. we learn that Yen was the sovereign of a small State covering 500 square li in Han-tung (Hupei). King Wên of Ch‘u, 688-675 B. C., fearing the growing power of the virtuous Yen — Han Fei Tse speaks of 36 States which were allied to him — destroyed the Hsü State. Huai Nan Tse XIII, 14v. also refers to Yen and mentions that 32 States were his allies.

1 Tuan Kan Mu.

2 Yao’s principality.

3 In 481 B. C. Ch‘ên Hêng alias T‘ien Ch‘êng Tse murdered the sovereign of Ch‘i, a descendant of T‘ai Kung. The Ch‘ên family had assumed the name T‘ien in Ch‘i. Cf. Shi-chi chap. 32, p. 24v. [Chavannes, Mém. Hist. Vol. IV, p. 82] and chap. 36, p. 7 [Chavannes, Mém. Hist. Vol. IV, p. 182].

1 Vid. Han Fei Tse XIII, 5.

2 Cf. p. 489.

1 Analects XV, 24 [Couvreur].

2 The depravity of the people cannot have been as great as Han Fei Tse presumed, for otherwise the progress made during the three dynasties : Hsia, Chang, and Chou could not have been accomplished.

3 1001- 946 B.C.

4 A legendary person said to have lived at the time of the Emperor Huang Ti. He rebelled against the latter, and was defeated. Some say that he was a prince, who terrorised the people, others that he was a minister of Huang Ti.

5 Quoted with some slight alterations from Huai Nan Tse chap. 16, p. 1.

6 408- 375 B. C.

7 His full name is K‘ung Tse Sse or K‘ung Chi, the grandson of Confucius, to whom the Chung-yang, the ‘Doctrine of the Mean’ is ascribed.

1 Han Fei Tse chap. 16, p. 5. The text slightly differs.

2 Tse Ch‘an is the style of Kung Sun Ch‘iao, a famous minister of the Chêng State, 581-521 B. C., who compiled a penal code.

1 Loc. cit. p. 5v.

2 Han Fei Tse chap. 16, p. 1.

3 During the 6th cent. B. C. the Chi family, a side branch of the ducal house of Lu, engrossed the power in Lu and almost superseded the reigning princes. Confucius openly condemned their usurpation. Cf. p. 395.

1 See above p. 440.

2 Han Fei Tse loc. cit.

3 Analects XVII, 12 [Couvreur].

4 Han Fei Tse chap. 19, p. 4.

1 The Five King or ancient Classics : Yiking, Shiking, Shuking, Liki, and Ch‘un-ch‘iu.

2 A scholar of great learning.

3 The capital of Shantung.

4 The Shi-chi chap. 121, p. 8 says ‘in a wall’.

5 156-141 B. C.

1 73-49 B. C.

2 A city in Huai-ch‘ing-fu (Honan).

3 In 156 B. C.

4 A son of the Emperor Ching Ti, who in 154 B. C. was made Prince of Lu.

5 In addition to these hundred chapters of the Shuking, a Li(ki) in 300 chapters, a Ch‘un-ch‘iu in 300 chapters and a Lun-yü in 21 chapters were brought to light. Cf. Lun-hêng XX, 4v. (Yi-wên).

6 32-7 B. C.

7 A place in Huai-an-fu (Kiangsu).

8 Tse Lu and Tse Kao were both disciples of Confucius.

9 A place in Shantung.

1 Analects XI, 24 [Couvreur].

2 On the burning of the books cf. p. 490.

3 This is a misprint. It was the 34th year (213 B. C.). See the Shi-chi chap. 6, p. 21v. [Chavannes, Mém. Hist. Vol. II, p. 169] and p. 490.

4 An official title under the Ch‘in and Han dynasties.

5 A noble of the State of Ch‘i, who in 481 B. C. put to death the reigning sovereign Duke Chien, and usurped the government of the State with the title of chief minister.

6 The chiefs of the six powerful families in Chin who struggled for supremacy. Three of these families were destroyed during these struggles, the remaining three : Chao, Han and Wei in 403 B. C. divided the Chin State among them.

7 Writers on philosophy and science.

1 There are 28 stellar mansions in all, 7 for each quadrant.

2 The twelve dukes of Lu, whose history is given in the Ch‘un-ch‘iu.

1 This translation is mere guess. [] might mean ‘rule for the new-born’. According to Chinese ideas pregnancy lasts 7-9 months or 210-270 days, whereas we reckon 182-300 days. The mean number would be 240 or 241 days. The dictionaries do not explain the expression.

1 These Five Timekeepers of the Hung-fan chapter are : the year, the month, the day, the stars, and the dates of the calendar. Shuking, Hung-fan, Pt. V, Bk. IV, 8 (Legge Vol. III, Pt. II, p. 327).

2 This would seem a misprint. Duke Yin of Lu reigned from 721-711 B. C. i. e. 10 years, not 50.

1 The chapter of the Shuking entitled ‘Hung-fan’.

2 The Emperor Shên Nung.

3 The Yiking of the Chou Dynasty, the only one which has come down to us.

4 We learn from the Ti-wang-shih-chi (3d cent. A. D.) that Fu Hsi made the eight diagrams, and that Shên Nung increased them to sixty-four. Huang Ti, Yao, and Shun took them over, expanded them, and distinguished two Yikings. The Hsia dynasty adopted that of Shên Nung, and called it Lien-shan, the Yin dynasty took the version of Huang Ti, and called it Kuei-tsang. Wên Wang expanded the sixty-four diagrams, composed the six broken and unbroken lines of which they were formed, and called it Chou Yi.

Others think that Lien-shan is another name of Fu Hsi, and Kuei-tsang a designation of Huang Ti.

5 The tradition about the Plan of the River and the Scroll of the Lo is very old. We find traces of it in the Yiking, the Liki, the Shuking, and the Analects. Cf. Legge’s translation of the Yiking, p. 14.

1 The author of the Tso-chuan.

2 Analects II, 23, 2 [Couvreur].

3 The Six Institutions or departments of the Chou : administration, instruction, rites, police, jurisdiction, and public welfare. Cf. Chou-li, Bk. II, T‘ien-kuan. (Biot’s translation, Vol. I, p.20.)

4 Now known as the Chou-li.

5 Under the Hsia dynasty the foot had ten inches, under the Yin nine, under the Chou eight. Now it has ten inches again. The foot of the Chou time measured but about 20 cm., whereas the modern foot is equal to 35 cm.

6 By Prince Kung. Vid. above p. 448.

1 It is not plain which rivers are meant. They must have been at the frontier of the two conterminous States. There was the Chi River, which in Ch‘i was called the Chi of Ch‘i, and in Lu the Chi of Lu.

2 86-74 B. C.

3 73-49 B. C.

4 The massive Li characters were invented during the Han time and form the link between the ancient seal characters and the modern form of script.

5 A place in Hupei province.

6 Analects = Lun-yü.

7 Our text of the Lun-yü consists of twenty books. In the Han time there were two editions of the Classic, one of Lu in twenty books and one of Ch‘i in twenty-two.

8 Mencius Bk. IV, Pt. II, chap. 21 [Legge][Couvreur].

9 The meaning of the names of these old chronicles, Ch‘êng and T’ao-wu, is as obscure as that of the Ch‘un-ch‘iu.

1 710-693 B. C.

2 Ch‘un-ch‘iu II, 17, 8.

3 I. e. the day of the sexagenary cycle, for the day of the month is mentioned.

4 Two other commentaries to the Ch‘un-ch‘iu, less important than the Tso-chuan.

5 T‘ang was situated in Pao-ting-fu (Chili).

6 In Shansi.

7 In K‘ai-fêng-fu (Honan).

8 Ch‘êng T‘ang, the founder of the Yin (Shang) dynasty.

9 A principality in Honan.

10 The kingdom of Chou in Shensi.

1 The kingdom of Ch‘in in Shensi.

2 In Shensi.

3 Principality in Nan-yang-fu (Honan).

4 The president of all the nobles of the empire.

5 Shuking Yao-tien, Pt. I, Bk. III, 12 (Legge Vol. III, Pt. I, p. 26).

1 Shuking Shun-tien, Pt. II, Bk. I, 2 (Legge Vol. III, Pt. I, p. 31).

2 Minister of Crime under Shun.

1 Mê Ti, the philosopher of universal love, a younger contemporary of Confucius, 5th or 4th cent. B. C. Cf. E. Faber, Lehre des Philosophen Micius, Elberfeld 1877 (Extracts from his works).

2 In the opinion of most Chinese critics the Ch‘un-ch‘iu, as we have it, has not been preserved, but was reconstructed from the Tso-chuan or from the other commentaries. This view is supported by what Wang Ch‘ung says here. See on this question Legge, Prolegomena to his translation of the Ch‘un-ch‘iu, p. 16 seq.

3 Cf. above pp. 448 and 456.

1 Kung Yang and Ku Liang are the surnames, Kao and Ch‘ih the personal names.

2 Hu Mu’s commentary is not mentioned in the Catalogue of the Han-shu.

3 To wit the Liki and the Shi-chi.

4 Liu Tse Chêng = Liu Hsiang, 80-9 B.D., was an admirer of the commentary of Ku Liang, whereas his son Liu Hsin stood up for the Tso-chuan.

5 25-57 A. D.

6 Fan Shu alias Fan Shêng.

7 Fan Shu in his report to the throne had attacked the Tso-chuan on fourteen points.

8 An important work on antique lore composed under the patronage of Prince Lü Pu Wei in the 3d cent. B. C.

9 Works relating marvellous stories.

10 Cf. my paper on the Chinese Sophists, Journal of the China Branch of the R. As. Soc., Shanghai 1899, p. 29 and appendix containing a translation of the remains of this philosopher.

1 Cf. p. 253.

2 Wei Yang, Prince of Shang, a great reformer of the civil and military administration of the Ch‘in State, which he raised to great power. Died 338 B. C.

3 One of the most celebrated statesmen of antiquity, who died in 645 B. C.

4 A speculative work which passes under the title of Kuan Tse. The one still in existence is perhaps a later forgery.

5 Sse Ma Ch‘ien extols Kuan Chung (Shi-chi chap. 62, p. 2v) and finds fault with Shang Yang (Shi-chi chap. 68, p.9), although, in Wang Ch‘ung’s opinion, their deeds and their theories are very similar. It must be noted, however, that Shang Yang’s criminal laws were very cruel. Wang Ch‘ung, who is to a certain extent imbued with Taoist ideas, feels a natural aversion to all forms of government, and to legislation in particular.

6 A place in Kiangsu.

7 Shi-chi chap. 13.

8 Shi-chi chap. 3.

9 Second wife of the Emperor Ku.

10 The first ancestor of the Yin dynasty.

11 Shi-chi chap. 3, p. 1.

12 Shi-chi chap. 4, p. 1.

1 First wife of the Emperor Ku.

2 Hou Chi = ‘Lord of the Soil’, the ancestor of the Chou dynasty.

3 Hsin-yü. The work still exists.

4 Lu Chia lived in the 2nd cent. B. C. at the beginning of the Han dynasty. Twice he was sent as envoy to the southern Yüeh. Cf. p. 383.

5 An author of the 2nd cent. B. C. He wrote the Ch‘un-ch‘iu-fan-lu, the ‘Rich Dew of the Spring and Autumn’, which has come down to us.

6 Cf. p. 206.

7 Cf. p. 214.

1 The philosopher Yang Hsiung. Cf. p. 124.

2 The largest affluent of the Yangtse.

3 Both tributaries of the Yellow River in Kansu and Shensi, which joined together, fall into the Huang Ho near its elbow in Shensi.

4 Vid. p. 319.

1 Analects VIII, 15 [Couvreur].

2 The music-master of Lu.

3 The first Ode of the Shiking. [Legge] [Couvreur] [Granet].

4 Cf. the great number of such collections enumerated in the Catalogue of the Han-shu, chap. 30.

5 Quotation from Mencius III, Pt. I, 1 [Couvreur] (Legge Vol. II, p. 110).

6 Huan Chün Shan = Huan Tan, a great scholar of the 1st cent. B.D. and A. D. People admired his large library. He incurred the displeasure of Kuang Wu Ti, whom he rebuked for his belief in books of fate, and was sentenced to banishment.

1 Four chapters of Han Fei Tse’s work, forming chap. 15 and 16, Nos. 36-39.

2 Yen-t‘ieh-lun, a treatise on questions of national economy.

3 Huan K‘uan, also called Chên Shan Tse, lived in the 1st cent. B. C.

4 Hsin-lun.

5 A region in Anhui.

6 A city in Chekiang.

7 Nothing is known of these authors or their writings. The cyclopedias do not even mention their names.

1 A place in Kiangsu.

2 The historian Pan Ku, author of the Han-shu ‘History of the Former Han Dynasty’, who died 92 A. D.

3 Who wrote the famous poem Li-sao cf. p. 113.

4 Chia Yü.

5 Ku Yung lived in the 1st cent. B. C. As censor he remonstrated against the abuses of the court, and presented over forty memorials upon divine portents.

6 Liu Tse Chêng = Liu Hsiang, 80-9 B. C., is a celebrated writer of the Han time, who did much for the preservation of ancient literature. Besides he wrote works on government and poetry.

7 Wang Ch‘ung’s prediction has not proved true. The authors of his time, whom he praises so much, are all forgotten, Pan Ku alone excepted.

8 At the court of the Emperor Ch‘êng Ti 32-7 B. C.