It was in this light that ancestors were regarded in Chou times. During the Shang, great ancestors were either identified with the Lord,3 or considered as mediators through whom requests were made to the Lord. In the Chou, they were still influential but, as in the case of Heaven, their influence was exerted not through their power but through their moral example and inspiration. They were to be respected but to be kept from interfering with human activities. Individual and social categories were to be stated in moral terms according to a “Great Norm.”
The above beliefs are illustrated in the following selections. They are taken from the Book of History,4 the Book of Odes,5 the Tso chuan (Tso’s Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals),6 and the Kuoyü (Conversations of the States).7 The former two contain the oldest material of Chinese literature. Although the latter two are much later works, they record events of pre-Confucian times.
1. ANCESTORS AND THE LORD ON HIGH
Abundant is the year, with much millet and much rice,
And we have tall granaries,
With hundreds of thousands and millions of units.
We make wine and sweet spirits
And offer them to our ancestors, male and female,
Thus to fulfill all the rites,
And bring down blessings to all.
(Book of Odes, ode no. 279, “Abundant is the Year”)
Heaven produces the teeming multitude;
As there are things, there are their specific principles (tse).
When the people keep to their normal nature,
They will love excellent virtue.
Heaven, looking down upon the House of Chou Sees that its light reaches the people below,8
And to protect the Son of Heaven,
Gave birth to Chung Shan-fu [to help him].9
(ibid., ode no. 260, “The Teeming Multitude”)
Comment. Neo-Confucianists, injecting a more metaphysical sense into the second line of this ode, made it mean that inherent in every single thing there are specific principles about its being. There is no doubt, however, that from very early days the Chinese believed that existence implies a certain principle. Significantly, the word tse10 means not just principle but specific principle, though perhaps it did not have this meaning at the time when the poem was written. In any case, those who believe that, to the Chinese, reality is something like an undifferentiated void should revise their opinion in the light of this long tradition of specific principles for specific things. Mencius, it is to be noted, quoted this poem to support his theory of the originally good nature of man.11
2. THE MANDATE OF HEAVEN, ANCESTORS, AND VIRTUE
The Mandate of Heaven,
How beautiful and unceasing!
Oh, how glorious
Was the purity of King Wen’s12 virtue!
With blessings he overwhelms us.
We will receive the blessings.
They are a great favor from our King Wen.
May his descendants hold fast to them.
(ibid., ode no. 267, “The Mandate of Heaven”)
Comment. Both Cheng Hsüan (127-200)13 and Chu Hsi (1130-1200)14 remarked that the Mandate of Heaven (T’ien-ming) means the “Way” or the moral order of Heaven (T’ien-tao), thus interpreting it in the naturalistic sense. However, in early Chou the belief in an anthropomorphic God was still quite strong.
Thus Duke Chou (d. 1094 b.c.) said, “Prince Shih,15 Heaven, without pity, sent down ruin on the Yin dynasty (1384–1112 b.c.). Yin having lost the Mandate of Heaven, we, the Chou, have received it. But I dare not say with certainty that our heritage will forever truly remain on the side of fortune. If Heaven renders sincere help, I do not dare say with certainty that the final end will result in misfortune. Oh! you have said, Prince, ‘It depends on ourselves.’ I also dare not rest in the Mandate of the Lord on High, forever refraining from thinking of the awe-inspiring power of Heaven. At the same time when the péople do not complain, so long are there men [like you]! If our successors should prove utterly unable to reverence Heaven above and the people below, and so bring to an end the glory of their forefathers, could you, by remaining at home, be unaware of it?
“The Mandate of Heaven is not easily [preserved]. Heaven is hard to depend on. Those who have lost the mandate did so because they could not practice and carry on the reverence and the brilliant virtue of their forefathers. As for the present, it is not that I, a little one, have a way of correcting our king. My way of leading him would be merely to make it possible to apply the glory of the forefathers to our young king.”
Duke Chou also said, “Heaven is not to be trusted. My way is simply to continue and extend the virtue of our peace-establishing king, and Heaven will not have occasion to remove the mandate received by King Wen. . . .” (Book of History, “Prince Shih”)
They (descendants of Yin) became subject to Chou.
Heaven’s Mandate is not constant.
The officers of Yin were fine and alert.
They assist at the libation in our capital.
In their assisting in the libation,
They always wear skirted robes and close caps [peculiar to Yin],
Oh, you promoted servants of the king,
Don’t you mind your ancestors!
Don’t you mind your ancestors!
Cultivate your virtue.
Always strive to be in harmony with Heaven’s Mandate.
Seek for yourselves the many blessings.
Before Yin lost its army,
Its kings were able to be counterparts to the Lord on High.
In Yin you should see as in a mirror
That the great mandate is not easy [to keep],
---------(Book of Odes, ode no. 235, “King Wen”)
Comment. The line “Don’t you mind your ancestors” has given scholars a great deal of trouble. Because of the deep Chinese reverence for ancestors, they could not see how the advice not to mind the ancestors could be consonant with Confucianism. Therefore Legge had to drop the word “don’t” (“Ever think of your ancestors”),16 Karlgren had to turn it into a question (“Should you not think of your ancestors?”),17 and Waley had to interpret the term “to mind” to mean “shame.”18 If we realize that humanism was growing strong, and that the emphasis was on self-dependence rather than dependence on Heaven or ancestors, there is no need to twist the original and obvious meaning of the text to conform to any earlier or later custom of ancestor worship.
The Lord on High said to King Wen:
“I cherish your brilliant virtue,
Which makes no great display in sound or appearance,
Nor is changed with age.19
Without any manipulation or deliberation,20
You follow the principles of the Lord.”
-(ibid., ode no. 241, “August”)
“Let the king first bring under his influence the administrators of the affairs of Yin and place them in the midst of the administrators of the affairs of our Chou. Their natures will thus be regulated, and they will improve daily.
“Let the king be serious in what he does. He should not neglect to be serious with virtue.” (Book of History, “The Announcement of Duke Shao”)
Comment. The emphasis on virtue necessarily raises the question of man’s original nature. This eventually became one of the most persistent questions, perhaps the most persistent, in the history of Chinese philosophy. But the question was not specifically discussed until Mencius’ time. Here is the earliest reference to it. Since nature has to be regulated, especially in the sense of restraint, the implication is that man’s nature is originally indifferent or perhaps even evil, which is quite different from the later-established doctrine that human nature is originally good.
3. THE “GREAT NORM”
In the thirteenth year (1121 b.c.) the King [Wu] visited Viscount Chi. The King said, “Oh! Viscount Chi. Heaven, working unseen, has decisively made men with certain hidden springs of character, aiding also the harmonious development of it in their vario
us conditions. I do not know how the various virtues and their relations should be regulated.”21
Viscount Chi thereupon replied, “I have heard that of old (Great Yü’s father) Kun dammed up the flood and thereby created a chaos among the Five Agents. The Lord (of Heaven) was aroused to anger and did not give him the Great Norm with its Nine Categories. The various virtues and their relations declined in due course, and K’un was executed. Yü thereupon rose to continue the heritage. Heaven gave him the Great Norm with its Nine Categories. And the various virtues and their relations were regulated. . . .
“The first category is the Five Agents (Five Elements); namely, Water, Fire, Wood, Metal, and Earth [which correspond to various human activities]. . . .22 The second category is the Five Activities; namely, appearance, speech, seeing, hearing, and thinking. The virtue of appearance is respectfulness; that of speech is accordance [with reason]; that of seeing is clearness; that of hearing is distinctness; and that of thinking is penetration and profundity. Respectfulness leads to gravity; accordance with reason, to orderliness; clearness, to wisdom; distinctness, to deliberation; and penetration and profundity, to sageness [all of which should be cultivated by the ruler]. The third category is the Eight Governmental Offices; namely, those of food, commodities, sacrifices, public works, education, and justice, the reception of guests, and the army. [All these functions should be fulfilled in harmony with the next category.] The fourth category is the Five Arrangements of Time, namely, the year, the month, the day, the stars, planets, zodiacal signs, and the calendarie calculations. The fifth category is the Supreme Standard. The sovereign, having established the highest standard, gathers in him the Five Blessings and spreads over his people. Then the people, following your standard, preserve it with you. . . .
“The sixth category is the Three Virtues; namely, correctness and uprightness, strong government, and weak government. In times of peace and tranquillity, apply correctness and uprightness; in times of violence and disorder, apply strong government; and in times of harmony and order, apply weak government.23 Apply strong government to the reserved and retiring, and apply weak government to the lofty and intelligent. . . . The seventh category is the Examination of Doubts. Select and appoint officers for divination by tortoise shells and by stalks, and command them thus to divine. . . . The calculation of the passage of events is the function of experts whose duty it is to perform the divination. When three of them divine, follow the words of two of them. If you have any doubt about important matters, consult with your own conscience, consult with your ministers and officers, consult with the common people, and consult the tortoise shells and stalks. If you, the tortoise shells, the stalks, the ministers and officers, and the common people all agree, this is called a great concord. There will be welfare to your own person and prosperity to your descendants. The result will be auspicious. If you, the tortoise shells, and the stalks agree but the ministers and officers and the common people oppose, the result will be auspicious. If the ministers and officers, the tortoise shells, and the stalks agree but you and the common people oppose, the result will be auspicious. If the common people, the tortoise shells, and the stalks agree but you and the ministers and the officers oppose, the result will be auspicious. If you and the tortoise shells agree but the stalks, ministers and officers, and the common people oppose, internal operations will be auspicious but external operations will be unlucky. If both the tortoise shells and stalks oppose the views of men, inactivity will be auspicious but active operations will be unlucky.
“The eighth category is the General Verifications [that is, checking governmental measures against natural phenomena], namely, rain, sunshine, heat, cold, wind, and seasonableness [corresponding to the Five Agents]. When the five all come and are complete, and each in its proper order, even the common grain will be luxuriant. . . . The ninth category is the Five Blessings, namely, longevity, wealth, physical and mental health, cultivation of excellent virtue, and an end crowning a good life.
“Negatively, these are the Six Extremities [a punishment for evil conduct]; namely, premature death, sickness, sorrow, poverty, wickedness, and weakness.” (Book of History, “Great Norm”)
Comment. This document is important for two reasons. One is that it contains the doctrine of the Five Agents (which will be dealt with later). The other is that it encompasses early Chinese ideas about the interrelationship of nature (categories nos. 1, 5, 8), the cultivation of personal life (nos. 2 and 6), government (nos. 3, 4, 6), retribution (no. 9), and a central principle, the Supreme Standard (no. 5). Heaven, Earth, and man are correlated, preparing for the later development of the doctrine of the unity of man and Nature that was to dominate the course of Chinese history. Some scholars think that this document is much later than the twelfth century b.c., but concrete proof is lacking. Besides, its spirit is perfectly consonant with that of the songs of Early Chou, that is, that the power of Heaven is recognized, but the deciding factor is human virtue.
4. SPIRITS, THE SOUL, AND IMMORTALITY
In the fifteenth year (of King Hui, 662 b.c.), a spiritual being descended, and appeared in Hsin. The King asked his minister Kuo, saying, “Why is this? Is there such a thing?”
Kuo replied, “Yes. When a state is about to rise, its ruler is solemn, illustrious, sincere, and correct. He is discriminating, pure, kind, and affable. His virtue is sufficient to make his fragrant offerings manifest, and his kindness is sufficient to unify the people. As the spiritual beings enjoy his offerings and the people listen to him, neither the people nor the spiritual beings have any complaint. Therefore brilliant spiritual beings descend in his state, see the evidence of the virtue of the government, and spread blessings everywhere. When the state is about to perish, its ruler is greedy, reckless, depraved, and perverted. He is lewd, indolent, negligent, and lazy. He is vulgar and cruel. Because his government has a disgusting odor, his offerings do not rise [to reach the spiritual beings]. And because his punishments are imposed on the basis of treachery and slander, his people desert him and divert their loyalty elsewhere. The brilliant spiritual beings no longer give him purification, and his people want to leave him.24 Both the people and the spiritual beings blame him and hate him, and there is nothing in him for them to cling to. The spiritual beings likewise go to such a state, see the evidence of oppression and evil, and send down calamity.” (Kuo-yü or Conversations of the States, sppy, 1:11a-12b)
The Marquis of Chin again (in 655 b.c.) borrowed a way through Yü to attack Kuo. (Great Officer) Kung Chih-ch’i remonstrated with him. . . . The marquis said, “My sacrificial offerings have been abundant and pure. Spiritual beings will comfort me.”25
Kung Chih-ch’i replied, “I have heard that spiritual beings are not endeared to man as such but cleave only to virtue. Therefore it is said in the ‘Book of Chou’ that ‘August Heaven has no affections; it helps only the virtuous.’26 It further says, ‘It is not the millet that has the fragrance [which attracts the spiritual beings]. Illustrious virtue alone has the fragrance.’27 It also says, ‘People have not slighted the things, but it is virtue that makes things acceptable.’28 Therefore if a ruler acts against virtue, his people will not be attached to him and spiritual beings will not accept his offerings. It is virtue that the spiritual beings will adhere to.” (Tso chuan, Tso’s Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals, Duke Hsi, 5th year)
[In 535 b.c.] the people of Cheng frightened one another about Po-yu [who was a drunkard],29 crying, “Po-yu has arrived.” They all ran off, not knowing where they were going. In the second month of the year when the criminal code was cast, someone dreamed that Po-yu walked by him in armor and said, “In the year jen-tzu I will kill Tai and the next year, the year jen-yin, I will kill Tuan. When Ssu Tai did die in the year jen-tzu, the terror of the people increased. Then when in the year jen-yin, in the month that the Ch’i and Yen states made peace, Kung-sun Tuan died, the terror of the people increased further. It did not stop until the next month when [Prime Minister] Tzu-ch’an
appointed Kung-sun Hsieh and [Po-yu’s son] Liang-chih [as successors to their fathers] in order to pacify them. Tzu Ta-shu asked him for the reason. Tzu-ch’an replied, “When spiritual beings have a place to return to, they will not become malicious. I have given them a place to return to. . . .”
When Tzu-ch’an went to Chin, Chao Ching Tzu asked him, “Can even Po-yu become a spiritual being?” Tzu-ch’an answered, “Yes, he could. In man’s life the first transformations are called the earthly aspect of the soul (p’o). After p’o has been produced, that which is strong and positive is called the heavenly aspect of the soul (hun).30 If he had an abundance in the use of material things and subtle essentials, his hun and p’o will become strong. From this are developed essence and understanding until there are spirit and intelligence. When an ordinary man or woman dies a violent death, the hun and p’o are still able to keep hanging about men and do evil and malicious things. How much more would be the case of Po-yu, a descendant of Duke Mu (r. 659–619 b.c.), the grandson of Tzu-liang, the son of Tzu-erh, all ministers of our state, engaged in government for three generations! Cheng is not a great state but a small, insignificant one; nevertheless, because his family had administered the government for three generations, his use of material things must have been extensive and his enjoyment of subtle essentials abundant. Furthermore, his clan is large and there was much to which he could cling. Is it not proper that having died a violent death he should become a spiritual being?” (ibid., Duke Chao, 7th year)
In the spring of the twenty-fourth year (of Duke Hsiang, 546 b.c.), Mu-shu (great officer of Lu) went to Chin. Fan Hsüan Tzu met him, saying, “The ancients had the saying ‘Dead but immortal.’ What does it mean?”
Before Mu-shu replied, Hsüan Tzu went on to say, “Anciently, the ancestors of our Fan family, from the time of Emperor Shun (3rd millennium b.c.) and earlier, were the Princes of T’ao and T’ang. In the time of Hsia (2183-1752 b.c.?), their ancestors were the lords of Yü-lung. In the time of Shang, they were the lords of Shih-wei. And in the beginning of Chou, they were the lords of T’ang and Tu. Now Chin has achieved the control of the great alliance and become the lords of Fan. Is this [unbroken heritage] what is meant by immortality?”
A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy Page 3