b)Anon. (Chou and Han dynasties), Close exegeses/standards (Erh-ya 爾雅), gives the Nine Regions as: Chi 冀, Yu 幽, Yen 兗, Ying 營, Hsü 徐, Yang 揚, Ching 荊, Yü 豫 and Yung 雍. This was the system of the Yin dynasty, joining the Ch’ing of “Yü-kung”’s nine with Hsü, and Liang with Yü, and dividing Chi into Chi and Yu regions. (It’s said that during the reign of the [mythical world-ruler] Shun, Chi was once divided into the three regions of Chi, Yu and Ping 幷: cf. Shih-erh-chou 十二州.)
c)In Anon. (late Chou-early Han), Chou rites (Chou-li 周禮), the nine are given as: Chi, Yu, Ping, Yen, Ch’ing, Yang, Ching, Yü and Yung. This was the Chou dynasty system, which combines the Hsü of” Yü-kung” with Ching, and Liang with Yung, and Chi is divided into Chi, Yu and Ping.
ii)Tsou Yen 鄒衍 (late Warring States) divided China or the world into Nine Regions. Ssu-ma Ch’ien 司馬遷 (ca. 147 BC - 90 BC), Historians’ records (Shih-chi 史記), “Meng K’e chuan”, says: “The Central States (Chung-kuo 中國, China) were called Crimson-county Divine Region (Ch’ih-hsien Shen-chou 赤縣神州). In Crimson County Divine Region itself there are nine regions, which are the Nine Regions related by Yü 禹, and cannot have been the number of regions. Beyond the Central States, there were nine such as Crimson-county Divine Region, these being what were called the Nine Regions, having the Brimming Sea (Pi-hai 裨海) surrounding them. Those in the which none of the ordinary populace, birds and beasts are able to communicate with each other, if they’re in one area, constituting one region. There are nine such, and they have the Great Ying Sea (Ta Ying-hai 大瀛海) outside and circling them, the rim of Heaven and Earth being there.”
In addition, Liu An 劉安 (?BC - 122 BC), Sir Huai-south (Huai-nan Tzu 淮南子), “Chui-hsing”, says: “What’s meant by the Nine Regions? Divine Region (Shen-chou 神州) in the south-east is called Farming Land (nung-t’u 農土), Tz’u-chou 次州 in due south is called Fertile Land (Wo-t’u 沃土), Jung-chou (Jung-chou 戎州) in the south-west is called Pervading Land (Tao-t’u 滔土), Yen-chou 弇州 in the due west is called Annexed Land (Ping-t’u 幷土), Chi-chou 冀州 right in the middle is called Middle Land (Chung-t’u 中土), T’ai-chou in the north-west is called Fecund Land (Fei-t’u 肥土), Chi-chou in the due north is called Completed Land (Ch’eng-t’u 成土), Po-chou 薄州 to the north-east is called Hidden Land (Yin-t’u 隱土), and Yang-chou 陽州 to the due east is called Extended Land (Shen-t’u 申土). This theory is similar to that of Tsou Yen.
iii) the name of one of Japan’s Four Great Islands.
Pa-huang 八荒, the Eight Wildernesses, is a term similar to Pa-chi 八極, the Eight Extremities. Liu Hsiang 劉向 (77 BC - 6 BC), Hunting-park of anecdotes (Sho-yȕan 說苑), “Pien-wu”, says: “Within the Eight Wildernesses there are the Four Seas (Ssu-hai 四海), and within the Four Seas are the Nine Regions (Chiu-chou 九州), the Son of Heaven occupying the Central Region (Chung-chou 中州), and governing the Eight Cardinal Regions (Pa-fang 八方).”
Chia Yi 賈誼 (201 BC - 169 BC), Discourse on passing through Ch’in (Kuo Ch’in lun 過秦論), says: “Duke Hsiao of Ch’in (Ch’in Hsiao-kung 秦孝公 [reigned 361 BC - 338 BC]) had the wish to roll up the whole world in his mat, to lift up the universe in his bundle, and to put the Four Seas in his sack, and the desire to swallow up [annex] all the Eight Wildernesses.”
1065Tung-hai 東 海, the Eastern Sea/Ocean, what Westerners call the East China Sea, the ocean to the east of present-day Kiangsu, Chekiang and Fukien provinces, etc.
1066San-tao 三島, Three Isles, a term for the mountain islands said to be where immortals dwell: Erigeron-chenopodium (P’eng-lai 蓬萊), Square Ten-feet (Fang-chang 方丈) and Ocean Isle (Ying-chou 瀛洲). Also known as Three Divine Mountains (San Shen-shan 三神山) and as Three Kettles (San-hu 三壺).
1067Shih-chou 十州, Ten Islands. Tung-fang Sho 東方朔 (ca. 161 BC - ca. 87 BC) (attr., but probably by anon. Six Dynasties author), Ten islands (Shih-chou chi 十州記), tells us that Emperor Warrior (Wu-ti 武帝) of the Han dynasty heard the goddess Royal Mother of the West (Hsi Wang-mu 西王母) say that in the giant ocean (chȕ-hai 巨海) there were ten islands: Ancestor (Tsu 祖), Ocean (Ying 瀛), Dark (Hsȕan 玄), Flame (Yen 炎), Long (Ch’ang 長), Origin (Yȕan 元), Flow (Liu 流), Born (Sheng 生), Phoenix-and-unicorn (Feng-lin 鳳麟) and Gathered-grottos (Chü-k’u 聚窟). which were places where traces of human activities were sparse or non-existent.
1068ts’ang-ts’ang 蒼蒼:
i) deep blue colour. Anon. (Chou and Han dynasties), Close exegeses/standards (Erh-ya 爾雅), “Shih-t’ien”, says: “‘Vault/dome sky, the vault of the sky’ (ch’iung-ts’ang 穹蒼) [a poetic term for “sky”] means “(deep-) blue sky” (ts’ang-t’ien 蒼天).” A note to that says: “The sky’s shape is a vault/arched roof (ch’iung-lung 穹隆), and its colour is deep blue, hence this term for it.”
ii) Chang Yi 張揖 (Latter Wei dynasty), in his Expanded “Exegeses” (Kuang “Ya” 廣雅), “Shih-Hsȕn”, gives the meaning “lush”, “luxuriant”. Wang Nien-sun 王念孫 (1744 - 1832) Explanations and verifications of “Expanded ‘Exegeses’” (“Kuang Ya” shu-cheng 廣雅疏證). “The poem Hyssop shoots and reed shoots (Chien-chia 蒹葭) [verse 2, line 1 of no. 129 of Anon. (ed. around 600 BC or earlier), Songs classic (Shih-ching 詩經)] has the line, ‘The hyssop shoots and reed shoots are so luxuriant,’ The commentary says: ‘ts’ang-ts’ang means
iii) grizzled, greying, speckled white (pan-pai 斑白). Han Yü 韓愈 (768 - 824), Essay for a sacrificial service for Young-gentleman Twelve (Chi Shih-erh-lang wen 祭十二郎文), has the words: “I’m not yet forty-years old, but my eyesight is hazy and blurred, and my hair grizzled.”
1069Hung Sheng gives the note that this line derives from a poem by Huang T’ao 黃滔 [fl. ca. AD 900].
1070Hung Sheng gives the note that this line derives from a poem by Chao Ku 趙嘏 [fl. ca. 810 - 856].
1071Hung Sheng gives the note that this line derives from a poem by Ch’in Hsi 秦系 [fl. ca. 720 - 810].
1072Hung Sheng gives the note that this line derives from a poem by Wei Chuang 韋莊 [fl. ca. AD 900].
1073Hsȕan-kung 璇宮, Fine-jade-ornamented Palace, the name of a palace of Heaven.
1074yȕan-yang-tieh 鴛鴦牒, Mandarin-duck-and-drake Documents, supernatural love records.
1075san-sheng 三生, three lives/ lifetimes, i.e. the past, present and future of humans. Pai Chü-yi 白居易 (772 - 846) has a poem with the lines: “People talk of past, present and future lives, and if they’re not mistaken, we together suspect we were [the famous hermits] Ch’ao-fu 巢父 and Hsü Yu 許由 in previous life.”
1076Tao-li-t’ien 忉利天, Trayastrimsas, also found transliterated as Ta-li-yeh-ta-li-she 怛唎耶怛唎奢 and as To-lo-yeh-teng-ling-she 多羅夜登陵舍, the Heaven of the Thirty-three Devas (San-shih-san-t’ien 三十三天), the second of the Desire Heavens, the heaven of Indra (Ti-shih 帝釋). It’s the Svarga of Hindu mythology, situated on the summit of Mount Sumeru with thirty-two deva-cities, eight on each of its four sides. A central one of these cities is Shan-chien city (Shan-chien-ch’eng 善見城), Sudarsana or Amaravati, where Indra, with one thousand heads and four arms, lives in his palace, called Vaijayanta (Shan-yen 禪延, P’i-she-yen 毘闍延, P’i-shan-yen 毘禪延), and revels in numberless sensual pleasures together with his wife Saci and one hundred and nineteen thousand concubines. There he’s said to receive the monthly reports of the Four Maharajas as to the good and evil in the world. The whole myth may have an astronomical/astrological or meteorological background, e.g. the number thirty-three indicating the eight Vasus, eleven Rudras, twelve Adityas and two Asvins, of Vedic mythology.
1077yeh-chang 業障:
i) Karmavarana hindrance, karma (chieh-mo 羯摩) screen, a Buddhist term, i.e. the screen or hindrance of a person’s past karma to him/her. The term is also colloquially found as nieh-chang 孽障, “sin screen/hindrance”.
ii) a swear
-word, used to curse at a person, implying that he plagues/troubles the speaker like the speaker’s evil karmaic consequence. Similar to the term ye-chung 業種, “Karmavarana seed/kind”, like nieh-chung 孼種, “sinful/ evil kind/seed”.
There’s also the term yeh-chang-ch’u 業障除, “Karmavarana Removal”, referring to a symbol indicating the cutting away of all karmaic hindrances by the sword of wisdom.
1078yü-yin玉音, Jade Sound:
i) euphemism for “a ruler’s statement”. Ssu-ma Hsiang-ju 司馬相如 (179 BC - 117 BC), Tall-gate rhapsody (Ch’ang-men fu 長門賦), has the lines: “I pray I may be granted to question you, and to present myself to Your Majesty, and receive my esteemed ruler’s Jade Sound.”
ii) an honorific term for someone else’s words. Hsieh Chuang 謝莊 (421-466), Moon rhapsody (Yȕeh-fu 月賦), has the lines: “Respectfully wearing at my waist your Jade Sounds, I take them unsatedly.”
Anon. (around 600 BC), Songs classic (Shih-ching 詩經), no. 186, verse 4, lines 5 & 6: “Don’t treat your news as gold or jade, or feel you must keep your distance.” Ch’en Huan 陳奐 (1786 - 1863), Mr. Mao’s passed-down explanations of “Songs” (Shih Mao-shih ch’uan-shu 詩毛氏傳疏), comments on that: “It means that the words of virtuous influence of a noble-minded person are like gold or jade.” The later term Jade Sound must have been based on this.
iii) K’ung Ch’iu 孔丘 (551 BC - 479 BC), (ed.), History classic (Shu-ching書經), “Ta-chuan”, says: “None of the one thousand seven hundred and seventy-three rulers of subordinate states subdues their Jade Sound.” A note to that says: “Jade Sound means the tune of Vast Killing/Stopping.”
iv) Li Pai 李白 (701 - 762), Attendant-censor Han playing the flute (Han Shih-yü ch’ui-ti 韓侍御吹笛詩), has the line: “Miserably flows the Jade Sound.” Here the term refers to the music of the flute. In addition, T’ao Ch’ien陶潛 (372 - 427) has a poem with the line: “Divine rocs tune their Jade Sounds.” This refers to the gentle harmony of bird-song.
1079Hung Sheng gives the note that this line derives from a poem by T’ien-chu Mu-t’ung 天竺牧童, Indian Cowboy [circa T’ang dynasty].
1080Hung Sheng gives the note that this line derives from a poem by Ts’ao T’ang 曹唐 [fl. ca. AD 867].
1081Hung Sheng gives the note that this line derives from a poem by Hsȕeh Feng 薛逢 [fl.ca. AD 853].
1082Hung Sheng gives the note that this line derives from a poem by Hsȕeh Neng 薛能 [AD? - AD 880].
1083he-ching 鶴徑, crane path. I.e. the route taken by the crane, a bird figuring large in Taoistic mythology.
1084yȕn-fang 雲房, Cloud House, a poetic term for “a mountain dwelling of a hermit, Taoist adept or Buddhist bonze”. Yao Hu’s姚鵠 (fl. ca. AD 853) poem On a recluse’s dwelling on Mount Chung-nan (T’i Chung-nan-shan yin-che chü 題終南山隱者居) has the line: “In spring dream closing Cloud House.” Wei Ying-wu’s韋應物 (736 - 830) poem A trip to a Lang-ya mountain-monastery (Yu Lang-ya shan-ssu 遊瑯琊山寺) has the line: “Piling up rocks to build a Cloud House.” Liu Te-jen’s劉得仁 (fl. ca. AD 838) poem Seeking a Taoist adept in the mountains but not encountering him (Shan-chung hsȕn tao-jen pu-yü 山中尋道人不遇) has the lines: “On mountain path I came expressly to seek the Taoist adept, but futilely saw no more than immortal path to his Cloud House.”
1085Chu-chi-kung 珠璣宮, Pearl Palace, name for a palace in Heaven. Chu-chi 珠璣:
i) the chu 珠 means “(round) pearl”, and chi 璣 means “a pearl that’s not round”. Ssu-ma Ch’ien 司馬遷 (ca. 145 BC - ca. 85 BC), Historians’ records (Shih-chi 史記, “Huo-chih chuan”, mentions “Cinnabar, rhinoceros-horn, tortoise-shell, chu-chi, tusks, hides.” Liu An 劉安 (?BC - 122 BC), Sir Huai-south (Huai-nan Tzu 淮南子), “Jen-chien hsȕn”, says: “Further benefitting from rhinoceros-horn, elephant-tusks, emeralds and chu-chi.”.
ii) a poetic term of praise for poetry or literary prose, as in the expression “to have a full belly of pearls” (man-fu chu-chi 滿腹珠璣), meaning “to be replete with literary excellence”, and the expression “every character/word is a pearl” (tzu-tzu chu-chi 字字珠璣), meaning “to have rare excellence of literary brilliance in one’s every word”.
1086Chung-kuan 重關, Heavy Door:
i) a Buddhist term for the grave/heavy barriers to meditation and enlightenment, the difficulties of obstacles to becoming enlightened to cosmic truths.
ii) referring to deep, heavy frontier barriers. Yü Shih-Nan 虞世南 (558-638) has a poem with the lines: “The horses are frozen and the Heavy Door/Heavy Pass-barrier is cold, Wheels are destroyed and nine tenths imperiled.”
In this play, the meaning seems rather to be the palace door, or door on door.
1087yin-jung 音容, voice and looks. The term is often used for the dead, as in the expression yin-jung tun-yao 音容頓杳, “voice and looks are suddenly distant.”
1088Or she to him.
1089Elsewhere it seems (sometimes) to be “hairpins”.
1090Hung Sheng gives the note that this line derives from a poem by Pai Chü-yi白居易 [772 - 846].
1091he-meng 鶴夢, Crane Dream, the crane bird being associated with immortals in Taoistic mythology. Hung Sheng gives the note that this line derives from a poem by Ts’ao T’ang 曹唐 [fl. ca. AD 867].
1092Hung Sheng gives the note that this line derives from a poem by Wang Chien 王建 [fl. ca. 751 - 835].
1093Hung Sheng gives the note that this line derives from a poem by Li Shang-yin 李商隱 [813 - 858].
1094Wu-yang 巫陽:
i) Shaman-south, a term meaning “south of Shaman Gorge (Wu-hsia 巫峽)”. Pai Chü-yi白居易 (772 - 846) has a poem with the line: “Only when the gibbons cross over Shaman-south do they sever their guts/ break their hearts.”
ii) Shaman Sunlight/South, the name of an ancient fortune-teller. Wang Yi 王逸 (fl. ca. 114 - 142), (ed.) (who says that it was compiled by Liu Hsiang 劉向 [77 BC - 6 BC], Ch’u elegies (Ch’u-tz’u楚辭), “Chao-hun”, lines 7 - 11: “God announced to Shaman Sunlight, saying ‘There’s a man down there below, Whom I want to assist; His spiritual and nervous souls have left him and scattered, By means of yarrow-stalk divination re-join them.’”
1095Hsien-t’an 仙壇, Immortals Alter-platform. A place where immortal transcendentals are located. Yȕan Chieh元結 (723 - 772) has a poem with the lines: “The second peak of Nine Doubts, Up on it there’s an Immortals Altar-platform.” Liu Ts’ang劉滄 (fl. ca. AD 867) has a poem with the lines: “On the mountain ridge there are millions of strips of clouds, and often are heard rocs and cranes alighting on the Immortals’ Altar-platform.” Popular parlance also calls any divination altar (chi-t’an 乩壇) an Immortals Altar-platform.
1096Hung Sheng gives the note that this line derives from a poem by Lu Lun 盧綸 [fl. ca. AD 773].
1097Hung Sheng gives the note that this line derives from a poem by Pai Chü-yi 白居易 [772 - 846]
1098Hung Sheng gives the note that this line derives from a poem by Hsü Yin 徐夤 [fl. ca. AD 873].
1099Hung Sheng gives the note that this line derives from a poem by Tai Shu-lun 戴叔倫 [732 - 789].
1100K’ung Sheng chen-jen 孔昇真人, Transcendental K’ung Sheng, K’ung Ascended-to-transcendentality, name of a Taoist, Emperor Dark-progenitor’s (Hsȕan-tsung 玄宗) identity in a previous life. See Yȕeh Shih 樂史 (930 - 1007), Unofficial biography of Grand-truth (T’ai-chen wai-chuan 太真外傳).
1101i.e. pellucid.
1102The next nine lines are a slight alteration from a tz’u-lyric by Su Shih 蘇軾 (1036 - 1101), Water-tune Song (Shui-tiao Ke-t’ou 水調歌頭), When will there be a bright moon (Ming-yȕeh chi-shih yu 明月幾時有).
1103Chȕn-t’ien 鈞天, Level Heaven:
i) name of a Heaven. Lü Pu-wei 呂不韋 (?BC - 235 BC) (attr.), Mr. Lü’s Springs-and-autumns (Lü-shih ch’un-ch’iu 呂氏春秋), “Yu-shih”, says: “The centre (chung-yang 中央) is called Chȕn-t’ien,” A note to that sa
ys: “Chȕn means ‘level’ (p’ing 平), it being the master/controller of the world’s Four Regions (Ssu-fang 四方), which is why it’s called Level [Equalling] Heaven.” .
Level Heaven Vast Court-music (Chȕn-t’ien Kuang-yȕeh 鈞天廣樂) is a term for Heaven’s court-music. Ssu-ma Ch’ien 司馬遷 (ca. 147 BC - 90 BC), Historians’ records (Shih-chi 史記), “Chao shih-chia”, says: “When Viscount Chien of Chao (Chao Chien-tzu 趙簡子 [reigned 517 BC - 458 BC]) fell ill, for five days he didn’t recognise anybody. [The archetypical medical doctor] Pien Ch’ȕeh 扁鵲 diagnosed and revived him. ‘Formerly’, said Pien Ch’ȕeh, ‘Duke Solemn of Ch’in (Ch’in Mu-kung 秦穆公 [reigned 659 BC - 621 BC]) was once also like that, coming-to after seven days. On the day that he came-to, he informed Kung-sun Chih 公孫支: The place of our God is most merry. Now you my ruler have had the same illness as him.’ Viscount Chien came-to after two and a half days. ‘Our God’s place is most merry,’ he told his great-man ministers. ‘I roamed in Level Heaven with all the gods and the Vast Court-music nine times performed Ten-thousand dance (Wan-wu 萬舞), in a way dissimilar to the court-music of the Three Eras, its sounds being most moving.’”
Chang Heng 張衡 (78 - 139), Western Capital rhapsody (Hsi-ching fu 西京賦), （Wen-Hsȕan 文選, scroll 2, pp.22 - 46）has the words: “Of yore Great God was pleased with Duke Mu of Ch’in, and granted him an audience, treating him to Heaven-level Vast Court-music.”.
Anon. (circa third century AD), Sir Lieh (Lieh-tzu 列子), “Chou Mu-wang”, says: “The king [King Solemn] of the Chou [Chou Mu-wang 周穆王, traditionally reigned 1001 BC - 947 BC] truly considered that the Pure Metropolis (Ch’ing-tu 清都) and the Scarlet Obscurity (Tzu-wei 紫微) with their Heaven-level and Vast Court-music, were the place where God dwelled.”
Appendices and Endnotes Page 53