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Why does Heaven [send down] calamities and [cause] extraordinary events? It is to warn the Lord of men and make him conscious of his deeds, so that he may wish to repent his faults, attend to his spiritual power, and exercise deeper solicitude. The Yüan shên ch'i says: "When the conduct [of the Son of Heaven] shows shortcomings, and his passion goes against Heaven, it will provoke calamities to come down as a warning to men".
a. What does the expression tsai-i1 'calamities and miracles' mean? The Ch'un ch'iu ch'ien t'an pa says: "Tsai 'calamity' means shang 'to hurt' 2. According to the [nature of the mis]deed punishment is inflicted. I 'miracle' means kuai 'strange' 3. [Strange phenomena] appear as presages, to touch and move [the evil-doer]".
b. Why is it said that a calamity is [a case] for wailing? The Ch'un ch'iu says: "The new palace [,which was Duke Hsüan's shrine,] took fire; there was wailing for three days" 4. The Chuan says: "Why must they wail for three days? It is [demanded by] the rites" 5 The reason [for this three days' wailing] was that the ancestral temple is the place of rest for the forefathers, and their souls, [though] bodiless, would say: Now [our abode has] suddenly been struck by Heaven's fire, shall we get [another place] which will not be visited by this calamity? Therefore the wailing.
c. What does pien mean? Pien 'extraordinary event' means fei-ch'ang6 'what is not usual'. The Yüeh chi yao chia says: "When Yü was about to receive the throne Heaven intentionally [showed] abundant extraordinary events: sudden winds, uprooted trees, thunderstorms, and darkness by day".
d. What does yao7 'magic' mean? [We speak of magic] when clothes become now too large, now too small, and when unusual adages appear in speech. Therefore the Shang shu ta chuan says: "Suddenly there will appear magic in clothes".
e. What does yeh8 'freak' mean? It means that small insects grow up to unusual size. The Shang shu ta chuan says: "Suddenly there will appear freaks among the insects; suddenly there will appear freaks among the tortoises" 9.
f. When Yao was visited by the great flood and T'ang by the great drought was it also an omen? When Yao was visited by the great flood and T'ang by the great drought it was [only] an accident caused by destiny 10.
g. Why is it that sometimes there are calamities and extraordinary events, and sometimes miracles [alone]? Each [phenomenon] follows [a particular] behaviour, and conforms itself to a [particular] deed.
a. Shuang 'frost' means wang 'lost' 11. The yang has dispersed and is lost.
b. Pao 'hail' means ho 'to coagulate' 12. The very essence of the yin-fluid accumulates and coagulates to become hail. (Dew is the beginning of frost; when it turns cold [dew] changes into frost) 13.
a. When the sun is eclipsed, why must it be rescued? Because the yin is encroaching upon the yang.
b. A drum is beaten and a victim is sacrificed to the God of the Earth. This god is the personification of the assembled yin [-forces] 14. It is tied with a red cord 15, and a drum is beaten 16 to attack it; [thus] with [the help of] the yang the yin is reproved. Therefore the Ch'un ch'iu says: "[In the sixth month, the first day of the moon] the sun was eclipsed. Drums were beaten and victims offered to the God of the Earth" 17.
c. The reason why victims must be used is that the God of the Earth is a separate spirit of the earth. It must be honoured, and therefore one dares not reprove it loosely 18.
d. On [the occasion of] a sun-eclipse or a great flood a drum is beaten and a victim sacrificed to the God of the Earth; on [the occasion of] a great drought the 'rain-sacrifice' yü19 is offered and prayers for rain are said. [This is] no meaningless statement. When the yang has to be aided, the inferior [yin] is reprimanded; "this is the way of calling upon the yin" 20.
e. When the moon is eclipsed it must be rescued because [it is a case of] the yin losing its brightness. Therefore, when horn and tail [of the unicorn] intertwine 21 there will be a sun- or a moon- eclipse. [The officers charged with the task of] rescuing them tell the Spouses [of the Feudal Lords] to beat on metal mirrors, the wives of the great officers to sound the rattle, and the wives of the common people to beat on the door-posts 22.
(In a period of general peace there is seasonable rain and a seasonable clearness of the sky, not accompanied by interminable but by periodic sunshine: such is the manifestation of the humours of Heaven and Earth) 23.
1. 災 異 .
2. 傷 .
3. 怪 .
4. Ch'êng 4.
5. Kung yang chu shu, 17.10a-b, where the wording is a little different.
6. 變, 非 常 .
7. 妖 .
8. 孼 .
9. The Shang shu ta chuan, ed. by Ch'ên Shou-ch'i (2.7b-10a) further describes five kinds of strange phenomena corresponding with the Five Elements, viz. those with respect to clothing fu-yao 服 妖 (accompanied by a plague of tortoises); those with respect to speech shih-yao詩 丨 (accompanied by a plague of insects); those with respect to plants ts'ao-yao 草 丨(accompanied by a plague of vermin); those with respect to sounds ku-yao 鼓 丨(accompanied by a plague of fish); those with respect to secretions chih-i-yao 脂 液 丨 (accompanied by a plague of worms).
10. I.e., they were not caused by lack of virtue. For the flood see M.H. I. 98-99, for the drought cf. Granet, Danses et légendes, p. 450, n. 2.
11. 霜, 亡 .
12. 雹, 合 .
13. These words between round brackets are supplied by Sun I-jang, Tsa i, 10.3b, and Ch'ên 6.13b from a quotation in the Ch'u hsüeh chi (Sun) and the T'ai p'ing yü lan (Ch'ên).
14. For the translation 主 of by 'personification' cf. Chavannes, Le dieu du sol, p. 479, n. 2. On p. 483 Chavannes translates this passage as: "le dieu du sol préside à toutes les manifestations du yin".
15. Cf. for the explanation of the use of a red cord Kung yang chu shu, Chuang 25, 8.18a-b, and Ho Hsiu's comm. on it; further Chavannes, o.c. 481-482.
16. The Ku liang (chu shu, Chuang 25, 6.11b) says that the Son of Heaven in rescuing the eclipsed sun used five standards (in five colours), five weapons (for the four quarters and the centre), and five drums (in five colours). The Chou li (B. I. 265) gives six names of drums, among which the ling 靈 drum is said to have been used at the sacrifice to the Gods of the Earth and of the Millet.
17. Chuang 25.
18. Ho Hsiu says that the god is first reproved (by the beating of the drum), and afterwards treated with ceremony (by the offering of victims). The Ku liang chuan (l.c.) and the Tso chuan (L. 109), however, both hold that the use of victims is against the rites.
19. 雩 . See for a description of the sacrifice and the prayers Franke, Studien zur Geschichte des konfuzianischen Dogmas, p. 270-273). Cf. also the Lun h êng (Forke's transl. II. 327).
20. 求 陰 之 道 也 , see the Kung yang chuan, Chuang 25 (l.c.). The meaning is that when the yin exceeds the yang it is reprimanded ( 求 is explained by Ho Hsiu as 責 求 , cf. Chavannes, o.c. p. 481, n. 1), whereas when the yang exceeds the yin (as in a case of drought) it, being the superior, is only implored (cf. Franke, o.c. 266, where a passage from the Ch'un ch'iu fan lu, bearing on the subject, is discussed).
21. 角 尾 交 chüeh-wei chiao. Ch'ên (6.15b), referring to a passage in the Ch'un ch'iu wei yen k'ung t'u (Yü han, 56.55b) and the Huai nan tzŭ (ch. T'ien wên hsün, 3.2a), where it is said that there will be a sun- or moon-eclipse when 'unicorns' ch'i-lin fight, suggests reading 獨 角 tu-chüeh 'one-horned' inst. of chüeh-wei.
22. For 'Spouses of the Feudal Lords'夫 人 and 'wives of the great officers' 孺 人 see Li chi, ch. Ch'ü li (C. I. 94). For the sounding of the rattle and the beating on the door-posts cf. the Ku liang chu shu, 6.11b and the Erh ya chu shu, 4.2b (Kuo P'o's comm.).
23. This paragraph is supplemented by Ch'ên (6.16a) following a quotation in the Ch'u hsüeh chi.
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