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SACRIFICIAL ODES OF ZHOU, DECADE OF QING MIAO

QING MIAO

	Ah! solemn is the ancestral temple in its pure stillness.
	Reverent and harmonious were the distinguished assistants;
	Great was the number of the officers: --
	[All] assiduous followers of the virtue of [king] Wen.
	In response to him in heaven,
	Grandly they hurried about in the temple.
	Distinguished is he and honoured,
	And will never be wearied of among men.

WEI TIAN ZHI MING

	The ordinances of Heaven, --
	How deep are they and unintermitting!
	And oh! how illustrious,
	Was the singleness of the virtue of king Wen!
	How does he [now] show his kindness?
	We will receive [his favour],
	Striving to be in accord with him, our king Wen;
	And may his remotest descendant be abundantly the same!

WEI QING

	Clear, and to be preserved bright,
	Are the statutes of king Wen.
	From the first sacrifice [to him],
	Till now when they have issued in our complete State,
	They have been the happy omen of [the fortunes of] Zhou.

LIE WEN

	Ye, brilliant and accomplished prince,
	Have conferred on me this happiness.
	Your favours to me are without limit,
	And my descendants will preserve [the fruits of] them.
	Be not mercenary nor extravagant in your States,
	And the king will honour you.
	Thinking of this great service,
	He will enlarge the dignity of your successors.
	What is most powerful is the being the man; --
	Its influence will be felt throughout your States.
	What is most distinguished is being virtuous; --
	It will secure the imitation of all the princes.
	Ah! the former kings are not forgotten!

TIAN ZUO

	Heaven made the lofty hill,
	And king Da brought [the country about] it under cultivation.
	He made the commencement with it,
	And king Wen tranquilly [carried on the work],
	[Till] that rugged [mount] Qi,
	Had level roads leading to it.
	May their descendants ever preserve it!

HAO TIAN YOU CHENG MING

	Heaven made its determinate appointment,
	Which [our] two sovereigns received.
	King Cheng did not dare to rest idly in it.
	But night and day enlarged its foundations by his deep and silent virtue.
	How did he continue and glorify [his heritage],
	Exerting all his heart,
	And so securing its tranquillity!

WO JIANG

	I have brought my offerings,
	A ram and a bull.
	May Heaven accept them!
	I imitate and follow and observe the statutes of king Wen,
	Seeking daily to secure the tranquillity of hte kingdom.
	King Wen, the Blesser,
	Has descended on the right and accepted [the offerings].
	Do not I, night and day,
	Revere the majesty of Heaven.
	Thus to preserve [their favour]?

SHI MAI

	Now is he making a progress through the States,
	May Heaven accept him as its Son!
	Truly are the honour and succession come from it to the House of Zhou.
	To his movements,
	All respond with tremulous awe.
	He has attracted and given rest to all spiritual Beings,
	Even to [the Spirits of] the He, and the highest hills.
	Truly is the king the sovereign Lord.
	Brilliant and illustrious is the House of Zhou.
	He has regulated the positions of the princes;
	He has called in shields and spears;
	He has returned to their cases bows and arrows.
	I will cultivate admirable virtue,
	And display it throughout these great regions: --
	Truly will the king preserve the appointment.

ZHI JING

	The arm of king Wu was full of strength;
	Irresistable was his ardour.
	Greatly illustrious were Cheng and Kang,
	Kinged by God.
	When we consider how Cheng and Kang,
	Grandly held all within the four quarters [of the kingdom],
	How penetrating was their intelligence!
	The bells and drums sound in harmony;
	The sounding stones and flutes blend their notes;
	Abundant blessing is sent down.
	Blessing is sent down in large measure;
	Careful and exact is all our deportment;
	We have drunk, and we have eaten, to the full;
	Our happiness and dignity will be prolonged.

SI WEN

	O accomplished Hou-ji,
	Thou didst prove thyself the correlate of Heaven;
	Thou didst give grain-food to our multitudes; --
	The immense gift of thy goodness.
	Thou didst confer on us the wheat and the barley,
	Which God appointed for the nourishment of all;
	And without distinction of territory or boundary,
	The rules of social duty were diffused throughout these great regions.


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Published by The Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities, © Copyright 2003 by Anne Kinney and the University of Virginia