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XXXIV Heaven and Earth

207---Explanation of the Names Heaven and Earth (IV A. 1a).

a. What does t'ien 'Heaven' mean? T'ien means chên 'to govern' 1. Resting on high, [Heaven] regulates [all that is] below it, governing on behalf of man.

b. Earth is created out of the primeval fluid, and is the ancestor of the ten thousand things. Ti 'Earth' means shih 'to spend', ti 'to examine' 2. Responding [to Heaven] it spends [its nourishing powers] and brings about transformations; it investigates and examines unerringly; 3 reverencing the beginning it honours the end; therefore it is called ti.

208---The Beginnign of Heaven and Earth (IV A. 1b).

a. The ten thousand things contain the capacity of mutation and change. In the very beginning there was first the Great Origin 4, then came the Great Beginning 5; when the assuming of form was completed it was called the Great Simplicity 6. It was [still] chaotic, undivided, invisible, inaudible. Then it divided, and after the clear and the muddy were separated the infinitesimal and sparkling [elements] emerged and dispersed, and the multitudes of things were endowed with life.

b. The infinitesimal [elements] became the Three Luminary Bodies 7 and the Five Elements. The Five Elements produced the emotions and instincts; the emotions and instincts produced harmony and equilibrium8; harmony and equilibrium produced intelligence and understanding; intelligence and understanding produced the spiritual power [proceeding from the possession] of the Way; this again produced cultural refinement. 9 Therefore the Ch'ien tso tu says: "The Great Origin is the beginning of the [primeval] fluid; the Great Beginning is the beginning of the forms; the Great Smplicity is the beginning of matter 10. The yang leads, the yin conforms; the man goes [ahead], the woman follows" 11.

209---The Meaning of the Left and Right Revolutions (IV A. 1b).

Why is it that Heaven's way is a revolution to the left, whereas that of Earth is a revolution to the right 12? Because Heaven and Earth, though moving, do not separate, and in going [their courses] do not leave each other. Therefore the revolutions to the left and right are like the oppositeness of Lord and subject, of the yin and the yang.

210---Why Heaven and Earth have No Generic Name (IV A. 2a).

The generic name for a man and a woman being 'man', why have Heaven and Earth no generic name? The answer is: Heaven is round, Earth is square; they are not of the same species, and have therefore no generic name.

211---Heaven Toils for Earth (IV A. 2a).

Since the Lord should be at ease while the Minister hurries because the inferior's duty is to toil, why, on the contrary, does Heaven work constantly? 13 Because if the yang did not move its discipline would not be practised, and if the yin were not quiescent it would not bring about its transformation. Though all the day active [the yang] never leaves its place. Therefore the I says: "All the day active, treading the Way over and over again". 14

Notes

1. 天, 鎮 . Chên originally means 'to press down'.

2. 地, 施, 諦 . For this last word cf. Vol. 1, p. 299, n. 185.

3. The text reads: 審 諦 不 設sh ên-ti pu-shê, which is unintelligible. The Li t'ung by Ho Shu (6th cent. A.D.) contains an almost similar passage ending with these four words, but instead of shê 'to establish' it has 誤 wu 'to err' (Yü han, 29.64a; Erh ya chu shu, 6.1a, Hsing Ping's sub-comm.). Even with this emendation the statement does not make much sense.

4. 太 初 t'ai-ch'u.

5. 太 始 t'ai-shih.

6. 太 素 t'ai-su.

7. 三 光 san-kuang, i.e. the sun, the moon, and the stars. Hereafter follows 號 者, which is superfluous acc. to Ch'ên (9.14a).

8. 汁 (=協) 中 hsieh-chung (Liu, 74.1b).

9. 文 章 w ên-chang.

10. This statement also occurs in the Lieh tzŭ, T'ien jui, 1.2a.

11. Cf. Vol. 1, p. 244, par. 235b.

12. On a similar statement in the Ch'un ch'iu wei yüan ming pao Sung Chung's comm. says that "the movement to the right is a movement to the east" (Yü han, 57.23b). Cf. also ch. XXXV, par. 212.

13. Cf. ch. XXXV, par. 213a (also ch. IX, par. 81ee and Vol. I, p. 245, par. 237a).

14. Chou i chu shu, Ch'ien kua, Hsiang, 1.11b; L. 267.

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