by An Liu
Ji Lu (also known as Zilu and Zhong You [542–480 B.C.E.]) was a disciple of Confucius. Militarily inclined, he served as steward to the powerful Ji clan.
Zixia (also known as Bu Shang [b. 507 B.C.E.]) was a disciple of Confucius and traditionally is ascribed a major role in the transmission of the Classics.
Ran Boniu was another disciple of Confucius.
55. Zengzi (also known as Zeng Can [505–435 B.C.E.]) was a prominent disciple of Confucius mentioned in many early texts. A text attributed to him once circulated but exists now only in fragments.
56. Tai Huang (Great Sovereign) and Tai Yi (Grand One or Primal Unity) are constellations.
57. The Qiu You were a tribe of northern “barbarians” who were given the gift of a great bell by Earl Zhi. But in order to bring it home, they had to build a road, which provided a convenient path for Earl Zhi to invade and conquer them. A passage similar to this line and the following three lines appears in 9.25.
58. The prince of Yu sold the right of passage across his territory for a rare jade disk of Chuiji, and this route was later used by the state of Jin to conquer him. See Zhu zhuan, Xi 2. See also 10.47, 11.7, 17.57, and 18.5.
59. Duke Xian of Jin (r. 676–651 B.C.E.) had his own heir killed in order to replace him with the son he had fathered with the “barbarian” Lady Li Ji, and the struggle for title to the throne lasted for four generations.
60. Duke Huan of Qi (r. 685–643 B.C.E.) was one of the most powerful rulers of the Spring and Autumn period. He was the first to hold the post of hegemon and employed the famous statesman Guan Zhong as his prime minister. He is said to have been so taken with Yi Ya’s cuisine that he gave him many favors. Thus when the duke died, Yi Ya was powerful enough to fight for several months for the throne against the duke’s heirs. Because of this, no one had time to bury the duke.
61. The king of the Hu, a Western tribe, was so taken by the allures of dancers and singers that he totally neglected his defenses and lost a great deal of territory to Duke Mu of Qin. See Claude Larre, “Les Esprits légers et subtils,” in Les Grands Traités du Huainanzi, vol. 75, Variétés sinologiques, ed. Claude Larre, Isabelle Robinet, and Elisabeth Rochat de la Vallée (Paris: Institut Ricci, 1993), 102n.30.
62. Three of these anecdotes are recounted again in 9.25.
63. A somewhat similar statement appears in 9.10.
Eight
THE BASIC WARP
“THE BASIC Warp” uses several different but generally complementary descriptions of an imagined historical past to raise questions about the nature of sagerulership and to criticize government in the present era. In all these scenarios, an archaic era of agrarian primitivism is idealized as a time when sages, embodying the Way and its Potency, could govern almost invisibly by means of non-action. Both the human and the natural worlds responded resonantly to the sages’ superior qualities. Qualities like Humaneness and Music were intrinsic to the sage and were not (as they later became) mere expedients to control the populace in times that departed ever more profoundly from the Way. But inevitably the world began to devolve from the archaic ideal. People perceived deficiencies in their lives and increasingly took steps to satisfy their desires. The more they did so, the more the situation degenerated from primordial simplicity and unity. Thus we find ourselves in an era of discord and turmoil. What is to be done?
The answer is perhaps surprising: although latter-day calamities have led to suffering and turmoil, they also create an opportunity for a contemporary ruler—one wise enough to avoid the pitfalls of extravagance, excess, cruelty, and greed—to establish a new era of sagely rule. In tranquil times, there is no need for remarkable men or extraordinary measures. But in times of danger and trouble, a ruler who knows how to embody the unmediated unity of the Grand One, align himself with the Way and its Potency, match his actions to the rhythms of the cosmos, and become imbued with spirit illumination, has a golden opportunity to govern as a sage.
The Chapter Title
The title of the chapter is “Ben jing” , which we have translated as “The Basic Warp.” Ben means “root,” as opposed to branch; therefore “basis, basic; foundation, fundamental.” Jing is often encountered in extended or metaphorical meanings, such as “constant, standard, norm,” and especially as “classic, canonical work of literature,” and it would be possible to understand ben jing in that way, translating it as “The Fundamental Classic.” But we do not think that that is the intended meaning in this case. The literal meaning of jing is “warp”—that is, the tensioned threads strung on a loom as a substrate into which weft threads (wei ) are woven to create a fabric. We are confident that the word is used here in that literal sense, hence our translation as “The Basic Warp.”1
Weaving metaphors appear a number of times in the Huainanzi. For example, in 8.7 we read that the Grand One “knots the net of the eight directional end points and weaves the web of the six coordinates.” A closely similar expression appears in the opening lines of chapter 21, where the authors announce that they have written this book “to knot the net of the Way and its Potency, and weave the web of humankind and its affairs.” The image is of a cloth that is integral, tightly woven, strong, and seamless. Chapter 2 likens the Way to a fabric: “The Way has both a warp and a weft that are linked together.”2 Chapter 13 also uses a weaving metaphor, in this case applied to two of the conventional virtues: “Humaneness is the warp, Rightness is the skein of [weft] threads.”3
A warp cannot consist of one thread but must be made up of many, strung in parallel and evenly tensioned; only then can the weft be woven in to create a fabric. As this chapter argues, the warp of the Huainanzi ’s philosophy consists of several strands that together make up the character of the sage.
Summary and Key Themes
The chapter begins with a paean to an archaic (and mythical) era of Grand Purity, a time of primitive agrarian communitarianism when people were ignorant and industrious; rulers had little to do; and everything conformed to the Way. Accordingly, crops ripened in timely fashion, and auspicious beasts such as qilins and phoenixes appeared. This vision of archaic bliss is reiterated in several other sections (8.3, 8.5, 8.6, 8.11, 8.12), with differing emphases. Section 8.3, for example, stresses a lack of social controls and conventions, while 8.5 emphasizes that a Perfected Person must resemble the primitive era in being free of artifice and contrivances. Sections 8.11 and 8.12 stress the harmony and perfection of government in antiquity and the unity of will that bound the ruler and his people. Thus the chapter as a whole is consistent in positing an ideal archaic age of unity and harmony but describes that era in several different ways.
Whatever its specific characteristics, the era of primitive unity and harmony was followed by an age of decline, when people became acquisitive and competitive, and the natural world responded by falling out of joint, with yin and yang confused, the four seasons disordered, and various natural disasters ensuing. The age degenerated further; the extravagance of the rich and the exploitation of the poor knew no bounds; and warfare and suffering permeated the world. The conventional villains Jie (last ruler of the Xia dynasty) and Djou (last ruler of the Shang dynasty) are cited in 8.6 as exemplars of degenerate rule at its worst.
All this conforms with the model established in chapter 6, “Surveying Obscurities”: ganying resonance operates everywhere and always, so it is entirely to be expected that a degenerate age in the human realm will provoke both social and natural disasters. Section 8.2 provides a mechanism by which we can understand the decline of the world into degeneracy: “when the hearts of high and low become estranged from each other,” “noxious qi” (zei qi ) is generated, which in turn communicates the disorder of the human world to the natural realm.
Echoing Laozi, sections 8.3 through 8.5 emphasize the importance of holding to the fundamental and disregarding the peripheral and of identifying with the Way and its Potency and eschewing artifice. Yet here, as so often in the Huainanzi, the Huainan masters put their own spin on
the canonical work that they use as their point of departure. They are not willing to advocate a return to primitivism or to dispense altogether with expedient means to govern during an era in decline.
We become aware of this as the chapter’s argument takes an unexpected turn in section 8.6, initiating a line of persuasion that continues to the end of the chapter. We live in a degenerate age, the writer concedes, but the very turbulence of chaotic times offers an opportunity for a true sage to emerge. The Five Thearchs and the Three Kings adapted their actions to suit the exigencies of their times. To be an embodiment of the Grand One is the best thing of all, but not every ruler can achieve that, so kings, hegemons, and princes must use methods appropriate to their own stations. Meanwhile, to be successful, any ruler must follow (as does Yaoguang, the bright star at the end of the handle of the Northern Dipper, whose annual circuit of the heavens points out the seasons) the natural rhythms of the cosmos, avoid being distracted by sensory stimuli, avoid being seduced by extravagance, understand the wellsprings of emotion and their appropriate expressions, and make use of the lessons of history. He must also (as 8.6 reminds us) be fortunate enough to live in an era in which the qualities of a sage can be recognized and employed. The true ruler embraces the Moral Potency of Humaneness and Rightness and uses his power to maintain a proper hierarchy in the realm of human affairs. Thus, the chapter concludes, “If the foundation is established, the Way can be implemented.”
While this chapter takes an idealized vision of an era of agrarian primitivism under the rule of a sage as its point of departure, it neither advocates nor concedes the possibility of returning to such a state. The picture painted here is a more accommodating view of sage-government, in which the sage-ruler employs such expedient means as circumstances and the historical era may require. In the Huainanzi’s view, a sage must be of and for his time.
Sources
Much of “The Basic Warp” reads like an anthology of passages on the subject of the ideal primitivism of high antiquity, but in most cases it is no longer possible to identify the sources of those passages. We think it is highly likely that many, if not all, of these passages are quoted from works now lost. An exception is section 8.3, which approaches the theme of agrarian primitivism by taking as its point of reference the famous chapter 38 of the Laozi, which describes society’s gradual decline from conformity with the Way. The Huainanzi paraphrases the key lines from Laozi 38:
When the Way is lost, then there is Potency.
When Potency is lost, then there is Humaneness.
When Humaneness is lost, then there is Rightness.4
When Rightness is lost, then there is Ritual.
Thus as primordial unity disappears, there is a concomitant rise of the human virtues: Rightness and Humaneness, Ritual and Music. The closing lines of section 8.3 identify shenming, “spirit illumination,” as more important than even the Way and its Potency for the implementation of sage-government.5 Sections 8.4 and 8.5 show little regard for virtues such as Humaneness and Rightness and for rulership that depends on inventions and contrivances rather than the qualities of a sage.
The grounding of section 8.3 in Laozi 38 is unmistakable. But while it seems likely that the other descriptions of harmonious archaic eras found in “The Basic Warp” were assembled into an anthology from other sources available to the Huainan masters, the actual language of those descriptions can no longer be traced to works that have come down as part of the received literature of early China. Nonetheless, the many mythical and historical figures mentioned in the chapter are known today from a wide range of received literary works. Although such figures are part of the broad cultural heritage of early China, their appearances here again cannot generally be traced to a specific extant source.
Based on their literary style, two other sections of the chapter probably borrowed from now-lost works. Section 8.9, a poetic essay about “Profligate Indolence,” is written in a highly ornate and richly metrical style, adhering to the literary form of fu (poetic exposition) that was fashionable at the time. Its language is quite different from that of the rest of the chapter, and it has the quality of a set piece, composed for oral recitation, that can stand on its own. It seems likely, therefore, that this was originally a separate composition, now lost as an independent work, that was copied in its entirety into (or composed especially for) “The Basic Warp.” For analogous reasons, we might surmise that section 8.10, a short and rather self-contained essay on the emotions of joy, sorrow, and anger, may have been copied into chapter 8 from some other source.
Nevertheless, while much of the chapter seems to comprise a congeries of earlier material, it cannot be said to be lacking in originality. Instead, its originality lies primarily in its interpretation of the concept of sage-government. The chapter’s line of argument coheres through an artful arrangement of borrowed passages.
The Chapter in the Context of the Huainanzi as a Whole
As usual, chapter 21 of the Huainanzi gives us a useful and pertinent summary:
“The Basic Warp” provides the means by which to
illuminate the Potency of the great sages,
and penetrate the Way of the Unique Inception.6
Delineating and summarizing the devolution of decadent eras from past to present,
it thereby praises the flourishing prosperity of earlier ages
and criticizes the corrupt governments of later ages.
It is what enables you to
dispense with the acuity and keenness of hearing and sight,
still the responses and movements of the essence and spirit,
restrain effusive and ephemeral viewpoints,
temper the harmony of nourishing your nature,
distinguish the conduct of [the Five] Thearchs and [Three] Kings,
and set out the differences between small and great. (21.2)
As we noted, “The Basic Warp” begins with an idealized picture of an archaic era of unity and harmony, and humankind’s gradual decline from that idyllic time. The theme of decline appears also in chapters 2 and 11, which complement the vision of history presented here. The other side of the coin is found in chapters 7 and 19, the first of which argues that sagely self-cultivation is possible in the present era, just as it was in the past, whereas the second vigorously challenges the notion that the remote past was a time when sages had nothing to do.
“The Basic Warp” is linked in interesting ways with other chapters of the Huainanzi. It echoes the theme of devolution from an early age of unity, simplicity, and harmony that had already been explicated in detail in sections 6.7 through 6.9. Looking ahead in the text, we could consider this chapter as forming a pair with chapter 9, “The Ruler’s Techniques,” because the discussion of sage-rulership in history in chapter 8 provides the basis for chapter 9’s more specific discussion of the means by which government can succeed. At the same time, chapter 8 is the last of the “theoretical” (or “root”) chapters of the Huainanzi. With chapter 9, the book shifts to more practical (“branch”) considerations. These later chapters offer numerous illustrations and suggested applications of the arts of rhetoric and persuasion, as well as an overview of the military, advice on how to evaluate and employ subordinates, how to apply the principles of non-action, and other matters of pragmatic concern to the ruler.
As its own title implies, chapter 8 delineates the warp threads on which the fabric of sage-government is to be woven. What are those threads of the “basic warp”? This chapter privileges the Laoist qualities of identification with a personified primordial unity (variously called, in the Huainanzi, by such names as “Grand Inception,” “Grand Purity,” “Grand Beginning,” and “Grand One”);7 spirit illumination; and identification with dao and de, the Way and its Potency. The conventional virtues (Humaneness, Rightness, Ritual, Music) are generally treated here as derived and secondary qualities, weft threads rather than part of the warp, although nonetheless necessary for the completion of the fabric. We could say that
the viewpoint of chapter 8 is broadly consistent with that of the Huainanzi overall: enlightenment and the ability to respond appropriately to the circumstances of his time are the essential characteristics of the sage, whereas the conventional virtues are functional but not fundamental.
John S. Major
1. Csikszentmihalyi 2004, 134n.71, and Le Blanc and Mathieu 2003 reach the same understanding: “The Basic Warp” and “De la chaîne originelle,” respectively. Ames 1994, 22, translates the title as “The Fundamental Constancy.”
2. See 2/11/28, dao you jing ji tiao guan ; ji (a skein of threads) is often used as a synonym for wei , “weft.”
3. See 13/121/25, ren yi wei jing, yi yi wei ji .
4. This passage in turn echoes Laozi 18: “[Where] the Great Way is dispensed with, there is Humaneness and Rightness.”
5. Shenming as a characteristic of the sage is introduced in 1.14 and extensively explored in some of the later chapters of the Huainanzi. See also 2.9, 2.11, 4.9, 7.1, 7.3, 8.3, 8.4, 11.12, 12.44, 13.21, 15.3, 15.25, 19.5, 20.1, 20.6, 20.10, 21.2, and 21.3. The passage in 12.44 is especially noteworthy. The term shenming carries a double charge of significance, as it means both “spiritlike illumination” (i.e., the sort of illumination characteristic of a spirit) and “spirit illumination” (the means by which one attains that state; i.e., illumination by means of or through one’s inner spirit).
6. Wei chu ; this puzzling phrase is not mentioned by the commentators. We take it to refer to the uniqueness of the inception of the cosmos, but it could also be understood to be equivalent to tai chu , “Grand Beginning.” The French translation takes that approach and renders the phrase as “commencement suprême” (Le Blanc and Mathieu 2003, 1014).
7. “Grand Inception” (taishi ) appears in 3.1; “Grand Purity” (taiqing ), in 2.5, 7.7, 8.1, and 12.1; “Grand Beginning” (taichu ), in 14.1; and “Grand One” (taiyi ), in 8.7 and numerous other passages throughout the text.