a) In Heaven:—the Celestial Bodies and the Five Planets.
The whole universe, the material as well as the intellectual world
are nothing else than transformations of the Five Elements. The world
has been evolved from the primary essences the Yin and the Yang, of which
the elements are derivates or compounds.
We have seen that Kuan Tse (p. 450) joined the heavenly bodies to
the different quarters:—the earth to the centre, the sun to the south, the
moon to the north, the stars to the east, and the zodiacal signs to the
west. It is natural that the earth should be regarded as the centre of the
universe and the sun be connected with the south, the seat of heat and
light. The moon then had to go to the opposite direction, the north,
where cold and darkness reign. Then the stars had to take the two
remaining quarters, the east and west. We learn from Wang Ch`ung that
in his time not only the sun was regarded as fire, but that the moon also
was believed to consist of water (cf. I, p. 268 and 357). Fire being the
element of the south and water that of the north, the celestial bodies were
believed to be formed of the element belonging to their quarter. The Earth
consists of earth, the element of the centre. Then the stars must be of
wood and the zodiacal constellations, of metal.
But the combination of the Five Planets with the Five Quarters or
the Five Elements is much more common than that of the celestial bodies
in general. Huai Nan Tse III, 3 r. seq. declares the Five Planets:—Jupiter,
Mars, Saturn, Venus, and Mercury[1989]
to be the spirits [OMITTED] of the Five Quarters.
The Shi-chi chap. 27 says that the Five Planets are the elements of the
Five Quarters ruling over the Seasons, e. g., "Mars is said to be the fire
of the south and governs summer"[1990]
(eod. p. 18v.). Of course one may
translate that Mars corresponds to the fire, but the literal translation seems
to me preferable and more in accordance with the materialistic views of
the Chinese to whom Mars, the Fire Star [OMITTED], is made of fire, and
Jupiter, the Wood Star [OMITTED], is made of wood. These characteristic
terms of the Planets are frequently used in the Shi-chi. The Chin-shih
(14th cent. A.D.) distinctly states that in heaven the fluid of the essence
of the Five Elements becomes the Five Planets, on earth, the Five Substances
and in man the Five Virtues and the Five Business.
[1991]
From
another modern treatise we learn that looking up to the Five Planets at
dusk we see their five colours quite clearly, without the least confusion,
because they are the essences of the Five Elements.
[1992]
Here again we notice
quite analogous conceptions in
Agrippa (
loc. cit. p. 198), who likewise takes
the planets for products of the elements. Mars and the Sun he pronounces
to be fiery, Jupiter and Venus to be airy, Saturn and Mercury to be watery,
and the Moon to be earthy.
We do not know which consideration led to the connexion of each
element with each planet. Probably it was in the different colours of the
planets that the Chinese imagined they recognised the five colours:—green,
red, yellow, white, and black of the elements. That at dusk we see the
five colours quite distinctly, without the least confusion, as the above quoted
Chinese author would have us believe, is out of the question. The ancients
as well as the moderns are at variance in regard to the colours of the
planets (see above p. 443). There only seems to be some unanimity about
the red colour of Mars and the white one of Venus.
Valens goes so far as to give the reasons why the planets logically
must have the colours which he assigns to them:—Saturn, he says, is
black, because it is Time or Kronos which obscures everything. Jupiter
is radiant, because he cares for glory and honour. Venus shows various
colours owing to the various passions which she excites, and Mercury is
yellow, for he governs the gall which is yellow.[1993]
These arguments are
very queer, but quite in the Chinese way of reasoning, and it would not
be surprising to find them slightly modified, in an ancient Chinese writer.
As we have learned from Huai Nan Tse in the Chou epoch already
the Five Planets were regarded as the spirits of the Five Quarters. As
such they were venerated and named the "Five Emperors." They were
distinguished by their colours as the Green Emperor = Jupiter, the Red
Emperor = Mars, the Yellow Emperor = Saturn, the White Emperor =
Venus, and the Black Emperor = Mercury. (Cf. Shi-chi chap. XXVIII,
Chavannes, Mém. Hist. Vol. III, p. 449).
