by An Liu
26. Nao Chi (d. 284 B.C.E.) was a general of Chu employed by King Min as prime minister. According to one account, when King Min was driven from his capital, Nao Chi, in an attempt to curry favor with the victors, seized King Min, pulled out his tendons, and suspended him by them from a bridge at a place called Miao (here Dongmiao).
27. Yangzi (also known as Yang Zhu [fourth century B.C.E.]) was a philosopher famously said to have declared that he would not sacrifice a hair off his arm to save the world. Little is known of his origins or history, and he is not reported to have left any writings, but according to the testimony of many early texts, he and his followers were quite influential at the height of the Warring States period.
28. These two lines also appear in 6.1, where they are used in connection with Duke Lu Yang’s miraculous victory in a battle with Hann.
29. Mencius (also known as Meng Ke [ca. 390–305 B.C.E.]) was a latter-day disciple of Confucius and a follower of the tradition of Confucius’s grandson Zisi. He traveled to many states in search of a sovereign who could become a true king. The text attributed to him, the Mencius, ultimately became one of the most influential works of the Confucian tradition.
30. All these are peoples or countries beyond the area of Sinitic culture and political control.
31. Emperor Gao (also known as Han Gaozu and Liu Bang [265–195 B.C.E., r. 206–195 B.C.E.]) was the founder of the Han dynasty and grandfather of Liu An, eponymous patron of the Huainanzi. He rose from humble origins to unite the realm in the wake of the collapse of the Qin dynasty.
32. It also is possible to read these two lines as “He continued the undertakings of [King] Wen and established the merits of [King] Wu”; that is, in establishing the Han dynasty, he balanced the virtues of the two founders of the Zhou.
33. The “Pool of Xian” (Xianchi ) is the name of a constellation and of a classical musical composition. See 11.2 and 11.9.
34. The flight of the grand astrologers from these failing dynasties was the first sign of their imminent collapse. The stories of Zhong Gu and Xiang Yi (called Xiang Zhi in that text) are related in Lüshi chunqiu 16.1.
35. Tian Dan was a general of Qi during the reign of King Min. When Qi was overrun by the army of Yue Yi in 284 B.C.E., Tian Dan successfully defended the city of Jimo, the last piece of Qi territory to resist the invaders’ onslaught.
36. Odes 241, verse 1.
37. According to tradition, there were many more texts from previous dynasties than those anthologized into the extant Documents. The cited passage is presumably from one of the excised and subsequently lost Documents of Zhou.
38. This figure appears in Analects 13.18, in which the Duke of She boasts of him to Confucius. Confucius replies that where he comes from, those deemed “straight” cover up for their kin rather than informing on them.
39. Wei Sheng refused to leave the spot of their appointed rendezvous, even though the water in the river was rising, and eventually drowned. See also 16.100 and 17.242.
40. Jiao ming ; that is, when they act as if orders have been issued when in fact none have been. “Three Armies” is a conventional term for the armed forces of a state.
41. A longer version of this story appears in 12.40 and another in 18.12. See also LSCQ 16.4/93/20– 16.4/94/11; and Zuozhuan, Xi 33. The merchant pretended to be an official ambassador from the court of Zheng, sent to greet the Qin troops. The Qin army, believing that the element of surprise had been lost, then abandoned its campaign.
42. King Gong of Chu reigned from 590 to 560 B.C.E.
43. Duke Li of Jin reigned from 580 to 573 B.C.E.
44. The actual name of the historic battle site was Yanling . It is rendered as “Yin” in the Huainanzi because the two characters were homophones in the Han. See Zhang Shuangdi 1997, 2:1407n.13.
45. Lü Qi was a knight of Jin.
46. This line is currently not in the extant text but is contained in the Gao You commentary. Most modern scholars agree it has been mistakenly moved from the text into the commentary and should be replaced here. See Lau, HNZ, 125n.5; and Zhang Shuangdi 1997, 2:1404n.14.
47. The battle of Yanling took place in 575 B.C.E. It is recounted in Zuozhuan, Cheng 16. The Zuo ’s account does not contain the episode of King Gong’s capture, though it does report that he was shot in the eye by Lü Qi. Shen Wang, Yang Youji, and the others all were grandees of Chu.
48. Cang Wurao , according to Gao You, was a man who lived at the time of Confucius. See Zhang Shuangdi 1997, 2:1404n.17.
49. Analects 9.30.
50. Su Qin (d. 284 B.C.E.) was a statesman, wandering persuader, and diplomat who figures in many colorful stories from the Warring States period. A native of Zhou, he reportedly rose to hold the prime minister’s seal of six states simultaneously, which he wielded in a failed attempt to forge an anti-Qin alliance. He was ultimately caught spying on behalf of Yan in the state of Qi and met his grisly end. His biography is recorded in Shiji 69.
51. King Yan of Xu was a semilegendary figure variously identified in early sources. The Shiji has him as the leader of a non-Chinese people in south-central China who rose in rebellion against King Mu of Zhou. The Hanfeizi has him as the leader of a Chinese vassal state during the Spring and Autumn period.
52. According to Hanfeizi 49, King Wen of Chu (r. 689–676 B.C.E.) destroyed Xu out of fear of King Yan’s growing power.
53. Grand Minister Zhong (also known as Wen Zhong) was a native of Chu who devised a plan on behalf of King Goujian of Yue (then held captive in Wu), explaining how he might avert the destruction of his state by bribing the prime minister of Wu. After Goujian was restored to his own throne, he was persuaded by slander to order Zhong to commit suicide.
54. Shu Lou is the name of a treasured sword. The Huainanzi presumably means that Goujian presented Zhong with this sword, with which to commit suicide. Both the Shiji and the Hanfeizi report that this sword was presented by King Fuchai of Yue to his minister Zixu for the purpose of committing suicide. See Zhang Shuangdi 1997, 2:1416n.8.
55. Caozi (also known as Cao Mo ) was a general of Lu during the reign of Duke Zhuang (r. 693–622 B.C.E.). His biography is included among those of the “assassin retainers” in Shiji 86, and a text bearing his name was recently discovered among a group of bamboo manuscripts looted from a tomb of ancient Chu.
56. The meeting at Ke occurred in 681 B.C.E. It is recorded in the Zuozhuan, Zhuang 13, although no mention is made in that text of the dramatic events involving Cao Mo. Many other early texts inscribe this story, however. See, for example, Lüshi chunqiu 19.7; and Guanzi 18.
57. Prince Jiu (d. 685) was the older brother of Duke Huan of Qi and a potential heir to the ducal throne of that state. When their older brother Duke Xiang died, Prince Jiu and Duke Huan fought over who would succeed him. Prince Jiu ultimately lost, dying as a prisoner in Lu.
58. Guan Zhong originally served Prince Jiu. Upon the prince’s death, Guan accepted service as prime minister of Qi under Duke Huan. See Guanzi 18, 19; and Zuozhuan, Zhuang 8.
59. The same vivid image occurs in Sanskrit in the word gospada. See Zhu Qingshi, Some Linguistic Evidence for Early Cultural Exchange Between China and India, Sino-Platonic Papers, no. 66 (Philadelphia: Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, University of Pennsylvania, 1995), 3–5.
60. Variants of this proverb appear in 2.10 and 9.11.
61. Yan Zhuoju was an intriguing figure mentioned in many early texts about whom little concretely is known. He is said to have studied with Confucius and to have assisted Tian Chang in his rise to power in the state of Qi.
62. Duangan Mu was a celebrated recluse. See 19.3.
63. Meng Mao (also known as Mang Mao) served as minister of education under King Zhao of Wei (r. 295–277 B.C.E.). Zhanguoce 309 records his meritorious service to Wei. See Crump, Chan-kuo Ts’e, 390–91.
64. Jing Yang was a general of Chu. In 275 B.C.E., he led an expedition to lift the siege of Handan by the armies of Qin. Zhanguoce 212 records a cle
ver stratagem with which he caused the armies of Yan and Qi to withdraw without giving battle. See Crump, Chan-kuo Ts’e, 261–62. This may be what the Huainanzi means by “awed the Lords of the Land.”
65. This passage, which continues chap. 13’s emphasis on quan , “balance” or “equilibrium,” recalls Gongyang zhuan, Duke Huan 11.4, where it states, “one eventually achieves goodness, although at an initial stage one has acted contrary to constant standards.”
66. This is Gongxi Ai (courtesy title Ji’ai or Jici ), a disciple of Confucius. Shiji 67:2209 records Confucius’s praise of Gongxi Ai as the only one of his disciples who refused on principle to serve in government.
67. Chen Zhongzi was a recluse knight of Qi during the fourth century B.C.E., famous for absolutely refusing to sully himself with the vulgar concerns of politics or commerce. He is the subject of a long anecdote in Mencius 3B.10.
68. Changes, hexagram 62, Xiaoguo .
69. Various lists of the “Five Hegemons” are recorded in early texts. Gao You identifies them as Duke Huan of Qi, Duke Wen of Jin, Duke Xiang of Song (r. 650–637 B.C.E.), King Zhuang of Chu, and Duke Mu of Qin (Zhang Shuangdi 1997, 2:1429n.18). Other lists include King Helu of Wu (r. 514–496 B.C.E.) and King Goujian of Yue rather than the former rulers of Song and Qin.
70. Lau renders this phrase , but Zhang Shuangdi 1997, 2:1424, reads , an alternative label for the “Five Hegemons” indicated earlier in the text by the phrase . As the Gao You commentary to this line indicates, the Five Hegemons are clearly the subject.
71. This reflects the ambivalent normative position of the Five Hegemons in early literature. Although they were praised as dynamic leaders, they also were denigrated as expedient operators who usurped the legitimate authority of the Zhou kings. See app. A.
72. A famous jade ritual object that was part of the ducal regalia of the state of Lu. See 7.6, 16.90, and 17.2.
73. All these are medicinal herbs indigenous to East Asia. According to Gao You, the members of each pair look alike but have different scents. See Zhang Shuangdi 1997, 2:1436–37n.7.
74. Qi Dun , a poor knight of Lu during the Spring and Autumn period, became wealthy raising cattle and sheep. He was renowned as the world’s greatest connoisseur of jade.
75. The identity of this figure is unclear. A displaced scion of the ducal house of Wu bore the name Zhuyong , but he defected to Chu and was enfeoffed at Shu. See Shiji 31. A knight of Qi named Zhuyong Zhiyue is mentioned in Zuozhuan, Ai 23. Xue ultimately became a vassalage of Qi, but at that time it was still an independent state. Thus the Zhuyongzi of the Huainanzi may be a different person entirely.
76. Accepting Yu Yue’s proposed emendation. See Lau, HNZ, 128n.5.
77. Yu Er was a renowned gourmet of ancient times. Zhuangzi 8 calls him Yu Er. Xu Shen identifies him as having lived during the time of the Yellow Emperor. See Zhang Shuangdi 1997, 2:1439n.14.
78. Lüshi chunqiu 19.2 reports that Duke Jing of Qi offered this fief to Confucius during an audience, but Confucius declined because the duke had rewarded him before putting any of his advice into practice.
79. Gao He was a knight in the retinue of Viscount Xiang, identified in the Lüshi chunqiu as Gao She .
80. This anecdote also appears in 18.10, Lüshi chunqiu 14.4, and Hanfeizi, chap. 36, “Refutations, Part 1” (nan yi ). See HFZ 36/115/9–20. Hanfeizi takes this as an example of not rewarding officials correctly. See the introduction to chap. 19, where we translate the Hanfeizi version.
81. An abbreviated version of this story appears in 20.9 with a somewhat different moral. See also the version in Lüshi chunqiu 5, in which Duke Mu explains to the rustics that if they eat the meat of a piebald horse without taking a drink of liquor afterward, it will be dangerous to their health. See Knoblock and Riegel 2000, 202–3.
82. Yang Shuda and Yu Dacheng propose emendations to this section of text based on Guo yu and Guanzi parallels. See Lau, HNZ, 129n.2; and Zhang Shuangdi 1997, 2:1445n.15.
83. Parallels to this anecdote appear in Guanzi 19 and 20 and in Guo yu 6.
84. Vice-Director Mao (d. 496 B.C.E.) was a grandee of Lu who, according to Shiji 47:1917, had “disordered” the government of Lu. Confucius executed Vice-Director Mao, even though he was quite popular, because he combined all five types of wicked character singled out by the ancient sage-kings for extirpation.
85. This anecdote is recorded in Xunzi 28, Shuo yuan 15, and Yantie lun 58.
86. Deng Xi (ca. 545–501 B.C.E.) was a legal reformer and logician of Zheng. A text bearing his name is extant but is generally thought to be a later forgery.
87. Zichan’s execution of Deng Xi is recounted in Lüshi chunqiu 18.4.
88. According to the “Seasonal Rules,” autumn is the season for carrying out punishments. See chap. 5.
89. A hu is a large storage vessel; a zhi is a small drinking cup.
90. A Han “foot” (chi ) was about nine inches long, so a person “seven feet tall” in Han measure would have been about five feet, three inches, in modern terms.
91. This anecdote is recounted in 12.49 and 18.25.
92. The grammar here suggests a translation of jingshen as “essence and spirit,” in parallel with “mind and will,” rather than as the usual “Quintessential Spirit.”
93. All these are fabulous creatures of uncertain description. The Xiaoyang is a bird, sometimes said to be emblematic of a perfected human being; the Wangxiang is a water monster of some kind; the Bifang is another magical bird, with gorgeous plumage, said to be responsible for forest fires; and the Fenyang is an earth deity in the shape of a sheep that has neither male nor female characteristics.
94. Compare this usage of du , “unique,” with the sage’s “ear that uniquely hears, discernment that uniquely sees” near the end of 13.5, and “things that the sage uniquely sees” near the beginning of 13.13.
95. This line apparently refers to the making of actual physical statues, sculptures, and funerary goods, such as the taotie , “glutton mask,” and the bixie , “tomb-guardian monster,” metamorphic images that embody common people’s beliefs in monsters and prodigies. They draw on “expanded forms” (there are real four-footed animals, so why not bixie?) and “extended categories” (there are ravenous beasts, so why not taotie?).
96. The point here is that the foolish need some reason to believe that an accidental injury incurred during a fencing match was not inflicted intentionally, so this “folk saying” (in fact a clever piece of propaganda by the sages) provides a convenient pretext to explain why such mishaps occur: the Grand Ancestor “bumped the elbow” of the fencer who inflicted the accidental injury.
97. The description of Mount Tai’s clouds is quoted from the Gongyang zhuan, Duke Xi 31.
98. Yan Di was a fire god who warred with the Yellow Emperor. See 15.1. In 3.6, he is depicted as the god of the south and the planet Mars.
99. (lit., “those for whom he had exercised his Potency”). In other words, all those who had benefited from his efforts as a vigilante rallied to defend him from the bandits.
100. Accepting Yu Dacheng’s proposed emendation. See Lau, HNZ, 131n.2.
Fourteen
SAYINGS EXPLAINED
“SAYINGSE EXPLAINED” is a collection of gnomic sayings (yan ), most of which are further expanded or explicated to clarify their significance. Although at first glance, the sayings and explications seem to be merely a congeries of received wisdom, on more careful perusal they can be seen to recapitulate and reinforce important concepts and themes addressed elsewhere in the Huainanzi: What are the essential attributes of the sage? How does the sage bring order to his intrinsic self and, by extension, to the world? The sayings collected in this chapter address these central concerns, and the truths they are intended to express are explained through various analogies and illustrations that usually follow each saying. The sayings and explications also depict several ideal types that illustrate what a sage-ruler can and should be. The Genuine Person (zhen ren ) embodies a pristine
, primeval time before time, when there was perfect unity; he identifies completely with the Grand One, the primal nondifferentiation. The sage is fundamentally, although not exclusively, associated with the empty, nameless, formless, non-active, non-striving, non-intervening attributes of the Way. His ability to embody these aspects of the Way empowers him to sustain an inner equanimity in his person and a harmonious unity in his governance. Thus in ordering his person, the sage avoids the various external distractions that can entangle the mind and disturb the nature. In ruling, the sage’s qualities enable him to have to suffer neither the malice of his underlings nor the resentment of the common people. The Superior Man (junzi ) is more deeply engaged with the differentiated world of affairs but nevertheless rises above petty concerns. The Genuine Person, the sage, and the Superior Man all have lessons to teach about the nature and practice of sage rulership.
The Chapter Title
The title of this chapter is “Quan yan” , which we translate as “Sayings Explained.” We take the phrase quan yan to be essentially a verb–object construction (explaining sayings), but we have reversed the order of the words to make a more graceful construction in English. The primary meanings of quan are “to explain” or “to comment on,” giving the word an association with elucidation and explication. The second term, yan, means “a saying” or “an utterance”; all the word’s connotations revolve around spoken language. “Sayings Explained” expresses its authors’ aim of gathering together and explaining sayings that express basic truths about the ideal ruler and his governance.
Some other scholars have translated the chapter title as “Explanations and Theories” (taking quan yan as a double noun) or as “Des paroles probantes” (that is, “convincing sayings,” a somewhat unconventional understanding of quan).1 In our view, these renderings overlook the important literary form of the chapter. That is, it consists of not “explanations and sayings” but rather discrete sayings that are explained to bring out their sometimes subtle or recondite significance. The chapter summary in chapter 21 of the Huainanzi supports this interpretation. The summary comments only briefly and generally on the chapter’s content, focusing instead on the literary techniques employed throughout the chapter: