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

9 In the Catalogue of Literature, forming chapter 30 of the Han-shu, Liu Hsin divided the then existing body of literature under 7 heads : Classics, works on the six arts, philosophy, poetry, military science, divination, and medicine. Owing to the decline of the healing art under the Han dynasty, the last division was dropped, and no titles of medical books are given. There remained but the six divisions, mentioned in the text. Under these divisions were comprised 38 subdivisions with 596 authors, whose names and works are given in the Catalogue. Their writings contain 13,269 chapters or books.

1 This seems to have been the rule under the Chou dynasty. Cf. Liki, Nei-Tse Sect. II (Legge, Sacred Books Vol. XXVII, p. 478) [Couvreur].

1 The complexion is yellowish, the lips are red, the teeth white, the hair black, and the veins are bluish.

2 Cf. p. 486.

3 A contemporary of Confucius, famous for his beauty (cf. Analects VI, 14 [Couvreur]), but of a perverse character. He committed incest with his half-sister Nan Tse, the wife of Duke Ling of Wei.

4 The Chinese Methuselah.

5 The fourth wife of Huang Ti, an intelligent, but very ill-favoured woman.

6 9-23 A. D.

7 25-56 A. D.

8 A circuit in Anhui.

1 Yiking, Chi-t‘se II (Legge’s translation p. 385).

2 The most ancient mythical emperor.

3 Does that mean that the pre-historic Chinese lived in a state of matriarchate or in polyandry like the Tibetans ? We find the same notice in Chuang Tse chap.29, p. 22 v.

4 The Chou dynasty.

5 Analects III, 14 [Couvreur].

1 2205-1766 B. C.

2 1766-1122 B. C.

3 1122-249 B. C.

4 People like to contrast, even though there be little difference between the things thus contrasted.

5 A faithful minister of Duke I of Wei. Cf. p. 496.

6 When in 546 B. C. Chuang, Duke of Ch‘i, was murdered, Pu Chan drove to his palace and on hearing the affray, died of fright.

1 A place in Shantung.

2 A circuit in Anhui province.

3 A city in Chekiang.

1 These two works of the philosopher Yang Tse Yün have come down to us. The more celebrated of the two is the Fa-yen, the T‘ai-hsüan, soi-disant an elucidation of the Yiking, is very obscure.

2 Analects VIII, 19 [Couvreur].

3 When Chou was defeated, he burned himself on the ‘Deer Terrace’. Afterwards Wu Wang shot three arrows at the corpse, struck at it with his sword, and with his battle-axe severed the head from the body. Cf. Shi-chi chap. 3, p. 11 [Chavannes, Mém. Hist. Vol. I, p. 207].

1 Analects XIX, 20 [Couvreur].

2 The degenerate son of virtuous Yao.

3 Aboriginal tribes, against which Shun had to fight. Vid. p. 494.

1 The hatred of the scholars of the Han time towards Ch‘in Shih Huang Ti was still fresher and therefore more intense than their aversion to Chieh and Chou.

2 Cf. p. 359.

3 Cf. p. 372.

4 Cf. p. 365.

5 The Emperor Ch‘êng reigned from 1115 to 1078, K‘ang from 1078 to 1052.

6 The Emperor Chang Ti, 76-89 A. D., who succeeded Ming Ti. Under his reign the Lun-hêng seems to have been written. Vid. p. 372 Note 3.

7 The reigns of these three first sovereigns of the later Han dynasty were prosperous indeed.

1 Yü and Hsieh were both ministers of Yao and Shun. Yü became emperor afterwards.

2 Shuking Part V, Bk. XIV, 5 (Legge, Classics Vol. III, Pt. II, p. 455). The passage has been variously explained.

3 Analects VIII, 18 [Couvreur].

1 The last emperors of the Hsia dynasty.

2 Quoted from the Shuking Part V, Bk. XV, 7 (Legge, Classics Vol. III, Pt. II, p. 468).

3 Died 244 B. C. Wu Chi was a famous general of the Wei State, who inflicted some crushing defeats upon the armies of Ch‘in. For some time he succeeded in checking the encroachments of Ch‘in. It was not, until his later years, that he retired from public life, and gave himself up to debauchery.

4 The Shi-chi chap. 3, p. 10 likewise ascribes superhuman forces and extraordinary natural endowments to the last ruler of the Hsia dynasty [Chavannes, Mém. Hist. Vol. I, p. 199].

5 Fei Lien and O Lai were two clever, but wicked counsellors of King Chou. In the Shi-chi chap. 3, p. 11v. Fei Lien is called Fei Chung [Chavannes, Mém. Hist. Vol. I, p. 203].

6 The Chou dynasty which overthrew the Shang or Yin dynasty. The name of King Chou Hsin of the Shang dynasty has the same sound, but is quite a different character.

7 According to the Shi-chi and the Shuking King Chou fled, when his troops had been routed by Wu Wang, and burned himself, dressed in his royal robes, in the palace. He was not caught by Wu Wang.

1 Cf. p. 130.

2 Cf. p. 178.

3 Wu Wang had large, staring sheep’s eyes.

4 Cf. p. 305.

5 The wife of Han Kao Tsu.

6 Cf. p. 178.

7 The Han dynasty.

8 The Chou dynasty.

9 T‘ai Kung Wang, the counsellor of Wu Wang, laid the plans of the campaign against the Yin dynasty.

10 This plain was situated in Honan.

11 This is the title of the 3d Book of the 5th Part of the Shuking. (Cf. Legge, Classics Vol. III, Pt. II, p. 315.)

12 With which the soldiers were pounding their rice.

1 Mêng Pen and Hsia Yü are both famous for their gigantic strength. The one could tear off the horns, the other the tail from a living ox. Both lived in the Chou epoch.

2 The legendary rulers accomplished everything by their virtues.

3 Analects XIX, 20 [Couvreur]. In our text of the Lun-yü these words are not spoken by Confucius himself, but by his disciple Tse Kung.

4 A good man avoids the society of disreputable people, for every wickedness is put to their account, even if they be innocent. Thus King Chou has been better than his name, which has become a by-word for every crime. Cf. p. 478.

5 Mencius Book VII, Pt. II, chap. 3 [Legge][Couvreur]. The most humane was Wu Wang.

1 In the estimation of the Confucianists Mencius is only a Worthy, not a Sage like Confucius.

2 Wang Mang the usurper reigned from 9 to 23 A. D.

3 Pi Kan was a relative of Chou. When he remonstrated with him upon his excesses, Chou caused him to lie disembowelled.

4 1-6 A. D.

5 A city in southern Honan.

6 A terrace near Chang-an-fu, where Wang Mang made his last stand.

7 A feudal prince of gigantic size said to have lived under the Emperor Yü, who put him to death. Cf. Han Fei Tse chap. 19, p. 11v.

8 Ti is a general name for northern barbarians. The Shuking, Hung-fan, speaks of a Ti measuring over 50 feet, Ku Liang of three Ti brothers, of which one was so enormous, that his body covered 9 Mou.

9 I. e. ‘Announcement about wine’.

1 Cf. p. 121.

2 The shooting-feasts referred to are the competitions of archery, held in ancient times at the royal court, at the feudal courts, and at the meetings in the country. A banquet was connected with these festivities. Cf. Legge, The Li ki (Sacred Books of the east Vol. XXVII, p.57).

3 This wine-lake is mentioned in the Shi-chi chap. 3, p. 10v [Chavannes, Mém. Hist. Vol. I, p. 200].

1 Quoted from the Shi-chi chap. 3, p. 11 [Chavannes, Mém. Hist. Vol. I, p. 200].

2 A royal carriage ornamented with deers.

1 Tan, Duke of Chou, a younger brother of Wu Wang.

2 K‘ang Shu was the first prince of the Wei State (Honan), which he governed until 1077 B. C.

3 Cf. Shuking Part V, Book X, 11 (Legge, loc. cit. p. 408).

4 Chou Kung.

5 The sacrificial tripod is the emblem of royalty. The three chief ministers are likened to its three feet.

6 The Emperor Yü.

7 Quotation from the Shuking, Yi Chi Pt. II, Bk. IV, 8 [p. 59] (Legge Vol. III, Pt. I, p. 85) [Couvreur]. Modern commentators and Legge explain [] as ‘five land tenures’, Wang Ch‘ung as the Five State Robes worn by the Emperor and the officials, which are mentioned a few paragraphs before our passage (Legge, loc. cit. p. 80).

1 The Shiking and the Shuking.

2 213 B. C.

3 Near Hsi-an-fu in Shensi.

4 An official title.

5 The abolition of feudalism was much disliked by the Literati.

6 The text says, the ‘discussions of the hundred authors’, which means the writers on philosophy and science.

1 Various translations of this last passage have been proposed. Cf. Chavannes, Mém. Hist. Vol. II, p. 181 Note 2.

The foregoing narration is abridged from Shi-chi chap. 6, p. 21v et seq. Our text speaks of 467 scholars, whereas the Shi-chi mentions but 460 odd, and it uses the word ‘to throw into a pit’ instead of the vaguer term []. So perhaps Wang Ch‘ung has not culled from the Shi-chi, but both have used the same older source.

2 A State in Chili.

3 In 227 B. C. Ching K‘o made an unsuccessful attempt on Ch‘in Shih Huang Ti’s life, who at that time was still king of Ch‘in. It was not before 221 that, having vanquished all the rival States, he assumed the imperial title.

4 All the ascendants and descendants from the great-great-grandfather to the great-great-grandson.

5 A mountain in the province of Shensi.

6 Quoted from Shi-chi chap. 6, p.24.

7 A circuit or province comprising the south of Chili.

8 A quotation from Shi-chi chap. 6, p. 23v. Cf. p. 231.

1 The Shi-chi does not mention it.

1 Ch‘êng was the successor of King Wu Wang. He reigned from 1115-1078 B. C., and was succeeded by K‘ang 1078-1052.

2 Cf. Shi-chi chap. 4, p. 17 [Chavannes, Mém. Hist. Vol. I, p. 250].

3 A place in Honan.

4 The aboriginal Miao tribes which exist still to-day.

5 Shun banished Kung Kung, Huan Tou, the prince of the San Miao and K‘un. Cf. Mencius V, Pt. II, 3 [Legge][Couvreur] and Shuking Pt. II, I, 12.

6 The Huai, I, and Jung were non-Chinese tribes ; Hsü is the name of one of the Nine Provinces of Yü, in modern Shantung.

1 A minister of the Ch‘u State in the Chou epoch.

2 This must be a misprint, for no Duke of this name is known. The Lü shih ch‘un ch‘iu, which mentions the story, speaks of Duke I of Wei, 667-659 B. C.

3 The northern barbarians.

1 Hsiung Ch‘ü Tse lived during the Chou dynasty.

2 This story is told in the Hsin-hsü of Liu Hsiang.

3 Cf. above p. 495.

4 A general of Han Wu Ti, cf. p. 168.

1 The Tso-chuan, Duke Ch’êng 16th year (Legge, Classics Vol. V, Pt. I, p. 397) [Couvreur] informs us that in a battle fought by the Marquis of Chin against King Kung of Ch‘u in 574 B. C. I of Lü, an archer of Chin, shot at King Kung of Ch‘u and hit him in the eye. The king thereupon ordered his own archer, Yang Yu Chi, to revenge him, handing him two arrows. With the first arrow Yang Yu Chi killed I.

According to this account it was not the Marquis of Chin, who was hit in the eye, but the King of Ch‘u, and not Yang Yu Chi shot the arrow, but I of Lü.

2 The force of a bow, a cross-bow, or a ballista is measured by the weight required to draw them.

One stone or one picul in ancient times amounted to 120 pounds.

1 A celebrated mechanic of the Lu State, who lived contemporaneously with Confucius. Lu Pan is his sobriquet, his proper name being Kung Shu Tse. He has become the tutelary god of artisans.

2 The philosopher Mê Ti has been credited with mechanical skill, erroneously I presume.

3 A State in northern Honan.

4 A State comprising the southern part of Honan.

5 Cf. p. 155.

6 When the Master was in Ch‘i, he heard the Shao music, and for three months he did not know the taste of flesh’, so engrossed was he was this music, that he did not taste what he ate (Legge, Analects p. 199 ; Analects VII, 13 [Couvreur]).

7 The emissaries of a high officer of Sung tried to kill Confucius by pulling down the tree under which he was practising ceremonies. Cf. Legge, Analects p. 202 Note 22.

8 A city in southern Shantung.

9 A territory in Ch‘ên.

10 A princedom in Shantung.

1 Analects XIV, 14 [Couvreur].

2 Kung Shu Wên Tse was a high officer in the State of Wei, and Kung Ming Chia would seem to have been his disciple.

3 658-619 B. C.

4 626-619 B. C.

5 Western barbarians.

6 A dangerous defile in the district of Yung-ning, Honan.

7 According to the Ch‘un-ch‘iu, Duke Hsi 33d year, the army of Ch‘in was defeated at Yao in 626 B. C. The Tso-chuan narrates the campaign in detail [Couvreur], and relates that the three officers were first taken prisoners, but afterwards released by the intercession of the mother of the Duke of Chin, who was a princess of the ducal house of Ch‘in.

8 Cf. p. 161.

9 These four princes are known as the ‘Four Heroes’, living at the end of the Chou epoch, during the time of the ‘Contending States’, the 3rd century B. C.

1 Kao Ch‘ai or Kao Tse Kao, was a disciple of Confucius, noted for his filial piety.

2 Quotation from the Li-ki, T‘an Kung Sect. I, II, 14.

3 Ho of Ching i. e. of Ch‘u, known as Pien Ho viz. Ho of the Pien district. Cf. p. 113.

4 Posthumous title of the Shang emperor Wu Ting. See p. 328.

5 Quoted from the Shuking, Wu Yi Pt. V, Bk. XV, 5 (Legge Vol. III, Pt. II p. 466) [Couvreur].

1 Duke Mu of Ch‘in, 658-619 B. C.

1 A famous sword forged by Ou Yeh and Kan Chang, in later times a term for a good blade in general. Cf. p. 377.

2 The Shi-chi chap. 86, p. 16v. gives us a graphic description of the assault of Ching K‘o on Shih Huang Ti. When at a reception the envoy of Yen presented a map to the king, the latter caught sight of the dagger, which Ching K‘o had concealed. Then Ching K‘o ‘with his left hand grasped the sleeve of the King of Ch‘in, and with his right hand the dagger, and was going to strike the king, but, before he touched his body, the king frightened, retreated, and rose, tearing off his sleeve. He tried to draw his sword, but the sword was very long, and while engaged with the scabbard, he was so excited, and the sword was so hard, that he could not draw it out at the moment. Ching K‘o chased the king, who ran round a pillar. The assembled officers were thunderstruck. They all rose in a body, but were so much taken by surprise, that they completely lost their heads. By the rules of Ch‘in the officers, waiting upon the king in the palace hall, were not allowed to carry the smallest weapon with them. The armed guards were all stationed below the hall, but, without a special order, they were not permitted to walk up. At the critical moment there was no time to summon the soldiers below. This is the reason, why Ching K‘o could pursue the king, and that his attendants, though startled, did not strike the assailant. They all seized him with their hands, however, and the royal physician Hsia Wu Chü flung his medicine bag, which he was presenting, against him. While the King of Ch‘in was thus fleeing round the pillar, all were alarmed, but did not know what to do. The attendants only shouted, ‘Push your sword backwards, King ! Push your sword backwards ! The king then drew his sword, and hit Ching K‘o, cutting his left leg. Ching K‘o maimed then lifted his dagger and thrust it at the king, but missed him, and instead hit the copper pillar. Then the King of Ch‘in dealt him another blow, and thus Ching K‘o received eight wounds. Seeing that his scheme had failed, he leant against the pillar. Weeping, he squatted down, and said .... At that moment the attendants came forward, and killed Ching K‘o.

3 Two swords wrought by the noted sword-cutler Kan Chiang for Ho Lü, king of Wu 513-494 B. C. Mo-ya was the name of his wife. The Kan-chiang sword was regarded as the male, the Mo-ya as the female sword.