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

When T‘ai Po ¹ heard of it, he retired to Wu ², tattooed himself, and cut his hair in order to make room for Chi Li. Wên Wang is believed to have met with his fate at that period. Yet Heaven’s fate is already at work, when man comes into being. Tan Fu, the Old Duke, found it out very soon„ but it was already there, before Wên Wang was even conceived by his mother. The fate which emperors acquire becomes their mind internally and their body externally. To the body belong the features and the osseous structure, which man gets at his birth.

Officials with a yearly income of more than a hundred piculs, but of a lower rank than princes and counts, such as lang-chiang ³, ta-fu, and yuan-shih ⁴, or provincial officials like intendants and prefects, in short, all salaried functionaries have obtained a fate predestinating them for wealth and honour, which after their birth is apparent in their faces. Hsü Fu and Ku Pu Tse Ch‘ing perceived these signs ⁵. Officials rise in office, some to the ranks of lords and ministers. They are predestinated to grandeur and a very exalted position. An emperor possesses the highest dignity, and his rank is the most exalted. At his birth, he is endowed with a glorious fate, and his body shows peculiar signs of nobility at that time. The ‘Old Duke’ was well aware of this, when he beheld the remarkable four nipples ⁶, for these four nipples were the marks of a Sage. Wên Wang received the heavenly decree making him a sage, when he was still in his mother’s womb, or did the four nipples grow only, after he had become a man, and practised virtue ? _p1.132 As regards the four nipples, we know also that lambs have them already as embryos. Dame Liu sleeping by a big lake dreamt that she met with a genius, and thereupon gave birth to Kao-Tsu ⁷. At that time, he had already obtained his fate : When Kuang Wu ⁸ was born in the Chi-yang palace, a brilliant light shone in the room at midnight, though there was no fire. One of the soldiers Su Yung said to the secretary Ch‘ung Lan :

— This is a lucky thing,

and nothing more ⁹. At that time Kuang Wu had already got his destiny. The assertion that Wên Wang and Wu Wang received Heaven’s decree together with the scarlet bird, the fish, and the crow is, therefore, erroneous. Heaven’s order once being issued, an emperor arises, and there is no further need for another decree.

Favoured with a fate conferring the highest distinctions upon them, emperors are born as a matter of course, as will be seen from the following : Old men of wealthy families hoard up thousands of chin ¹. They come into the world with the physiognomies of rich men. They work, and produce, and amass wealth, until, in their old age, they have become rich old folks. Emperors are the old men in possession of the empire. Their fate is inherent to their bodies, precisely as with birds the distinction between cocks and hens exists already in the egg-shell. When the eggs are hatched, cocks and hens creep out. After days and months their bones wax stronger, and at last the cocks pair with the hens quite of their own accord. They are not taught to do so, after they have grown up so, that they would dare to pair only then. This is a spontaneous act, after their constitution has been strengthened. Now emperors are the cocks in the empire. They are destined to become emperors. This, their destiny comes down upon them, when they are still in an embryonic state in the same manner, as the future grandees get their peculiar physiognomies, which they possess at their birth, and as the cocks are formed in the egg.

This is not only true of men and birds, but of all organisms. Plants and trees grow from seeds. They pierce the earth as sprouts, by their further growth stem and leaves are formed. Their length and coarseness are developed from the seeds. Emperors are the acme of greatness. The stalk of the ‘vermilion grass’ is like a needle, the sapling of the ‘purple boletus’ like a bean. Both _p1.133 plants are auspicious. There is something auspicious about emperors also, who come into existence, endowed with the heavenly fluid.

Some people believe that emperors have received Heaven’s decree, when they are born, but that Heaven invests them again, when they assume the supreme power, just as lords, ministers, and the lower grades await the imperial brevet, before they dare to take charge of their post, and that the scarlet bird, the fish, and the crow were emblems of the investiture by august Heaven. That would mean that human affairs are ordered and regulated by Heaven’s interference, whereas spontaneity and inaction are the principles of Heaven. To enfeoff Wên Wang by means of a scarlet bird, and Wu Wang through a white fish, would be on purpose.

Kuan Chung divided gain with Pao Shu ² and apportioned more to himself ³. Pao Shu did not give it him, and he did not ask for it ⁴. That is, they knew each other, one regarded the other as his own self, and had no scruples about taking anything for himself. A Sage takes the empire, as Kuan Chung the property ¹. Amongst friends their is no question about giving or taking. August Heaven is spontaneous ². If it really issued orders, then its principle would be purpose, whereas friendship is spontaneous.

When Han Kao Tsu slew the big snake ³, who prompted him to do so ? Did an order from Heaven arrive first, which encouraged him to do the deed ? It was an outburst of his valour, a spontaneous impulse. The slaying of the big snake, the destruction of Ch‘in ⁴, and the killing of Hsiang Yü ⁵, all amount to the same. That the two Chou emperors Wên Wang and Wu Wang received Heaven’s decree, and defeated the Yin dynasty, must be understood in the _p1.134 same sense. If Kao Tsu took the reins of government without a special order, it cannot be true that Wên Wang and Wu Wang alone were invested through a bird and a fish.

The objection may be raised that in the ‘Announcement to K‘ang Shu’ it is stated that :

« God heard of it, and was pleased, and Heaven gave Wên Wang a great charge ⁶.

If such a decree were impossible, how could the Annals and Classics speak of a great command given by Heaven to Wên Wang ? — The expression great command does not signify that Heaven issued orders to Wên Wang. Whatever a Sage does, he fulfills the commands of Heaven. He agrees with Heaven, as if he had done what Heaven bade him. In the Shuking K‘ang Shu is just admonished and exhorted to do good, therefore it is mentioned that Heaven above heard of Wên Wang’s good deeds, and thereupon gave him a great charge.

The Shiking says :

« (God) sent his kind regards round to the west, and then gave an abode ⁷.

This is the same idea. Heaven has no head and no face, how could it look about. Man can look around. Human qualities have been ascribed to Heaven. It is easy to see that. Thus one speaks of looking about. Heaven’s command given to Wên Wang and his looking are very much the same. In reality Heaven gives no orders, which can be proved in this way :

« The perfect man resembles Heaven and Earth in virtue, sun and moon in brightness, the four seasons in regularity, and ghosts and spirits with regard to lucky and unlucky omens. When he acts first, Heaven does not disagree with him, and, when he follows Heaven, he conforms to his periods’ ¹.

If in order to act there would always be a decree of Heaven required, how could there be actions preceding that of Heaven, and others following it. Since the Sage acts, without waiting for Heaven’s decree, just on the impulse of his heart, sometimes he takes the initiative, sometimes he follows Heaven, which means that he is always in harmony with Heaven’s periods. Hence it is said that Heaven does not disagree, and that the Sage conforms to Heaven.

The Analects ² say :

« Great is Yao as a sovereign ! Heaven is great, and Yao corresponded to him.

Emperors correspond to _p1.135 Heaven, that is to say, they are not in opposition to, and obey Heaven. Bringing the spontaneous nature into harmony with Heaven, that is the meaning of the great command given to Wên Wang. Wên Wang had his own ideas, and acted by himself. He was not driven on by Heaven, nor was the scarlet bird commissioned to tell him that he should be emperor, whereupon he dared to assume the imperial sway. Wên Wang’s scarlet bird and Wu Wang’s white fish were not messengers bringing the assurance of Heaven’s glorious help.

Whatever a lucky man begins, turns to his advantage. He finds adherents without seeking them, and auspicious objects without taking any trouble to get them. A latent sympathy pervades all things. If he be induced to come forth, and to hear and look, and he then sees something very propitious, it is mere spontaneity. When Wên Wang was going to stand up as emperor, the scarlet bird happened to appear. The fish jumped up, and the bird came flying, and Wu Wang chanced to perceive them ³. It was not Heaven which sent the birds and the white fish. The lucky objects were moving about, and the Sages met them. Of the white fish which jumped into the Emperor’s boat, Wang Yang ⁴ said that it was a chance. At the time, when Liu K‘un ⁵, president of the Banqueting Office, was still governor of Hung-nung ⁶, a tiger crossed the Yellow River. The emperor Kuang Wu Ti said that it was nothing but a curious coincidence, and a spontaneous act, and that nobody had sent the tiger. What Wang Yang called a chance and Kuang Wu Ti a coincidence, were all, so to speak, instances of spontaneity.

CHAPTER VIII

What is meant by Destiny ?

6. II, II. Ming-yi

« Life and death depend on Destiny, wealth and honour come from Heaven ³.

Those who deny the existence of Destiny refer to the City of Li-yang ⁴, which sunk into a lake in one night, and to Po-Ch‘i, a general of Ch‘in, who buried alive the troops of Chao after their submission below Ch‘ang-p‘ing ⁵, altogether 400 000 men, who all died at the same time ⁶. When in the Ch‘un-ch‘iu period ⁷ armies were defeated, sometimes, they say, the grass was hidden by thousands of dead bodies. In time of famine, all the roads are full of starving people. During epidemics caused by malarial exhalations, thousands of families are extinguished. If there really should be Destiny, how is it, they ask, that in Ch‘in all were involved in the same catastrophe ?

The believers in Destiny will reply,

« When the vastness of the earth, and the great number of its inhabitants is taken into account, it is not to be wondered at that the people at Li-yang and Ch‘ang p‘ing should equally be doomed to die. Those whose destiny it was to be drowned, assembled at Li-yang, and those who were to be crushed to death, came together at Ch‘ang p‘ing for that purpose.

When Han Kao Tsu ⁸ began his career, a fortune-teller, who entered the territory of Fêng and P‘ei, found many persons who were made counts afterwards. But not all the old and young people, men and women bore the mark of nobility. As a rule exceptional _p1.137 persons are met with occasionally only. Yet at Li-yang men and women were all drowned, and at Ch‘ang p‘ing the aged and the young were buried to the last. Among tens of thousands there were certainly many who had still a long life before them, and ought not to have died. But such as happen to live in a time of decay, when war breaks out everywhere, cannot terminate their long lives. The span allotted to men is long or short, and their age flourishing or effete. Sickness, disasters, and misfortunes are signs of decay. The States of Sung, Wei, Ch‘ên, and Chêng were all visited with fire on the same day ¹. Among the people of the four kingdoms were certainly not a few whose prosperity was still at its height, and who ought not to have been destroyed. Nevertheless they all had to suffer from the conflagration, being involved in their country’s doom, for the destiny of a State is stronger than that of individuals.

The destiny regulating man’s life-time is more powerful than the one presiding over his prosperity. Man shows by his appearance, whether he will die old or young, and there are signs indicating, whether he will be rich or poor, high-placed or base. All this is to be seen from his body. Length and shortness of life are gifts of Heaven. Whether the structure of the bones be good or bad, is visible in the body. If a man’s life must be cut off in its prime, he cannot live long, although he be endowed with extraordinary qualities, and if it be decreed that he shall be poor and miserable, the very best character is of no avail to him. — When Hsiang Yü ² was going to die, he turned to his followers, and said,

— I am vanquished, but by fate, not by force of arms.

This is true, for in warfare Hsiang Yü was superior to Kao Tsu. The latter’s rise was due to Heaven’s decree only.

The destiny of the State is connected with the stars. Just as their constellations are propitious or unpropitious, the State is happy or unhappy. As the stars revolve and wander, men rise and fall. Human prosperity and distress are like the abundance and the scarcity of a year. Destiny is flourishing or declining ; things are either expensive or cheap. Within the space of one year, they are sometimes expensive, and at others cheap, as during _p1.138 a long life prosperity and distress alternate. The prices of things do not depend on the abundance or scarcity of the year, nor is human prosperity the outcome of ability or ignorance.

How is it that Tse Hsia says,

— Life and death depend on Destiny, wealth and honour come from Heaven

instead of saying,

— Life and death come from Heaven ¹, wealth and honour depend on Destiny ?

For life and death there are no heavenly signs, they depend on the constitution. When a man has got a strong constitution, his vital force is exuberant, and his body strong. In case of bodily strength life’s destiny is long ; the long-lived do not die young. Conversely, he who has got a weak constitution possesses but a feeble vital force, and a delicate bodily frame. Delicacy is the cause of the shortness of life’s destiny ; the short-lived die early. Consequently, if we say that there is a destiny, destiny means constitution.

As regards the transmission of wealth and honour, it is like the vital force, viz. an effluence emanating from the stars. Their hosts are on heaven, which has their signs. Being born under a star pointing at wealth and honour, man obtains wealth and honour, whereas under a heavenly sign implying poverty and misery, he will become poor and miserable. Thus wealth and honour come from Heaven, but how is this brought about ? Heaven has its hundreds of officials ² and multitudes of stars. Just as Heaven emits its fluid, the stars send forth their effluence, which keeps amidst the heavenly fluid. Imbibing this fluid, men are born, and live, as long as they keep it. If they obtain a fine one, they become men of rank, if a common one, common people. Their position may be higher or lower, and their wealth bigger or smaller, according as the stars distributing all this, rank higher or lower, are larger or smaller. — Heaven has many hundred officials and multitudes of stars, and so we have on earth the essence of tens of thousands of people, of the Five Emperors and the Three Rulers ³. Heaven has his Wang Liang and Tsao Fu ⁴, men have them also. He who is endued with their essence, becomes skilled in charioteering.

It is said that three different kinds of destiny can be distinguished, the natural, the concomitant, and the adverse one. One _p1.139 speaks of natural destiny, if somebody’s luck is the simple consequence of his original organisation. His constitution being well ordered, and his bones good, he needs not toil in order to obtain happiness, since his luck comes of itself. This is meant by natural destiny. Concomitant destiny comes into play, when a man becomes happy only by dint of hard work, but is pursued by misfortune, as soon as he yields to his propensities, and gives rein to his desires. This is to be understood by concomitant destiny. As for adverse destiny, a man may, contrary to his expectations, reap bad fruits from all his good deeds ; he will rush into misfortune and misery, which will strike him from afar. Therefore, one can speak of adverse destiny.

Every mortal receives his own destiny ; already at the time of his conception, he obtains a lucky or an unlucky chance. Man’s nature does not correspond to his destiny : his disposition may be good, but his destiny unlucky, or his disposition bad, and his fate lucky. Good and bad actions are the result of natural disposition, happiness and misfortune, good and bad luck are destiny. Good deeds may lead to mishap, then the disposition is good, but destiny cruel, and likewise misdeeds may result in happiness, in that case man’s nature is wicked, but fate smiling. Nature is good or bad of its own accord, and so is fate lucky or unlucky. A favourite of fate, though not doing well, is not, of necessity, deprived of happiness for that reason, whereas an ill-fated man does not get rid of his misfortune, though trying his best.

« To strive for a thing, one must have wisdom, but whether he attains it, depends upon destiny ¹.

With a good disposition one can struggle for it and, if fate be favourable, obtain it ; should, however, fate be averse, one may with a good nature strive for it, but never get it.

Bad deeds are followed by misfortune. Yet the robbers Chê and Chuang Ch‘iao ² were scourges to the whole empire. With some thousands of other bandits, whom they had collected, they assaulted and robbed people of their property, and cut them to pieces. As outlaws they were unequalled. They ought to have been disgraced ; far from it, they finished their lives as old men. In the face of this, how can the idea of a concomitant destiny be upheld ?

Men with an adverse destiny do well in their hearts, but meet with disasters abroad. How is it that men like Yen Yuan ³ and _p1.140 Po Niu came to disgrace ? They were both virtuous, and should have been rewarded by a concomitant destiny with bliss and happiness. Wherefore did they meet with misfortune ? Yen Yuan, confined to his study, killed himself by his great talents ⁴, Po Niu, while living quite alone, caught a horrible disease. Ch‘ü P‘ing and Wu Yuan were the most loyal ministers of their sovereigns, and scrupulously fulfilled their duties as servants to the king ⁵. In spite of this, the corpse of Ch‘ü P‘ing was left unburied in Ch‘u, and in Wu Yuan’s body was cooked. For their good works they should have obtained the happiness of concomitant destiny, but they fell in with the misfortune of adverse fate. How is such a thing possible ?

Concomitant destiny excludes adverse destiny, and adverse destiny, a concomitant one. On what basis can the scholastic distinction of three kinds of destiny then be established ? Moreover, fate is already visible from the structure of bones at the time of birth, now, if it be said to follow the actions, it comes afterwards, and is not yet there from the beginning. Wealth and honour, poverty and misery are determined at the first moment of receptibility of the human being, they do not arrive only in company with his actions, after the individual has grown up.

A man with a natural fate will die at the age of a hundred years, another with a concomitant fate at the age of fifty, but he whose fate is adverse, meets with distress from the moment he receives vitality ; as people say, he is confronted with ill-luck already as an embryo. He may have been born during a thunderstorm and, when he is grown up, die young.

These are what they call the three destinies, there are also distinguished three kinds of natures : natural, concomitant, and adverse. Naturally man is endowed with the five virtues, concomitant nature corresponds to that of father and mother, and adverse nature is caused by meeting some unpropitious object ¹. Thus a pregnant _p1.141 woman eating a hare will bear a harelipped son. In the Yüeh-ling ² it is stated that, in the same month the thunder is about to utter its voice, and that those who are not careful of their behaviour, will bring forth crippled children, and have great calamities.

They become dumb or deaf, lame or blind. The embryo having been affected by external influences, the child^’s character will be violent and rebellions. Yang Shê Shih Wo’s ³ voice, after his birth, sounded like that of a wolf. When he grew older, he showed a wicked disposition ; he met with misfortune, and died. He got this character already, when still in his mother’s womb. The like holds good for Tan Chu ⁴ and Shang Chün ⁵. Character and destiny are there from the beginning. Therefore the Li points out a method to instruct embryos ⁶. As long as the child is in the uterus, the mother must not sit down, if the mat be not properly placed, nor eat anything not cut in the proper manner. Her eyes must see but the proper colours, and her ears hear but the proper sounds. When the child grows up, it must be given intelligent teachers and good instructors, who will make it familiar with the relations of sovereign and subject, father and son, for at that period its virtue or depravity will become manifest. If at the moment, when the child receives the vitalising fluid, the mother does not take care to keep her heart free from wild fancies and fears of wickedness, her child, when grown up, will not be good, but fierce and refractory, and look ugly and wicked. A heavenly maiden explained to Huang Ti ¹ that to have five wives not only entails bodily injury on father and mother, but also most seriously affects the characters of sons and daughters.

Men have their destiny and luck, contingencies and chance. By destiny they are wealthy and poor, exalted and base ; their luck is thriving or declining, flourishing or fading. Those whose destiny it is to be rich and honoured, meet with a thriving luck ; they enjoy perpetual tranquillity, and are never in jeopardy. On _p1.142 the other hand do such as are doomed to poverty and misery, fall in with a declining luck ; they are the victims of ill-fortune ; always in trouble, they know no pleasure.