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CHAPTER VII.

Heaven's Original Gift (Ch`u-ping).

A man predestinated at his birth for wealth and honour, is
imbued with the spontaneous fluid from the beginning. After he
has been brought up, and grown to manhood, his lucky fate manifests
itself.

Wên Wang received a scarlet bird, Wu Wang, a white fish and
a red crow.[1] The scholars are of opinion that with the bird
Heaven's decree was transmitted to Wên Wang, which in the case
of Wu Wang was done by the fish and the crow. Thus Wên Wang
and Wu Wang would have received their fate from Heaven, which
used the bird, the fish, and the crow to pass it on to them. Heaven
used a scarlet bird to invest Wên Wang, but Wên Wang did not receive
the mandate of Heaven.[2] Then Heaven took a fish and a
crow, and enfeoffed Wu Wang. This would imply that primarily
the two received no fate from above, and that it was not before
they purified themselves, and did good, and the news thereof
reached Heaven, that Heaven endowed them with imperial honours.
The bird, the fish, and the crow would then be heavenly messengers
carrying the investiture, which emperors must have received to
have the power over life and death. However, a thorough investigation
shows us that fate has nothing to do with these cases.

Fate is what comes over people at the beginning, when they
are created. They then receive their mind as well as their fate.
Mind and fate come together and at the same time. The mind
does not precede, or fate follow. How can this be made clear?

Ch`i[3] served under Yao as territorial official, became superintendant
of agriculture, and therefrom received the title of Lord
of Agriculture (Hou Chi). His great-grandson Duke Liu lived at T`ai,
but later on moved to Pin.[4] His great-great-grandson Tan Fu, the

"Old Duke" had three sons:—T`ai Po, Ch`ung Yung and Chi Li.
The son of Chi Li was Ch`ang, the later Wên Wang. When he was
still in his swaddling clothes, there appeared portents indicative of
his holiness. Therefore Tan Fa said:—"It is through Ch`ang that
my family will become illustrious." When T`ai Po[5] heard of it,
he retired to Wu,[6] tattooed himself, and cut his hair in order to
make room for Chi Li. Wên Wang is believed to have met with his
fate at that period. Yet Heaven's fate is already at work, when
man comes into being. Tan Fu, the Old Duke, found it out very
soon, but it was already there, before Wên Wang was even conceived
by his mother. The fate which emperors acquire becomes
their mind internally and their body externally. To the body
belong the features and the osseous structure, which man gets at
his birth.

Officials with a yearly income of more than a hundred piculs,
but of a lower rank than princes and counts, such as lang-chiang,[7]
ta-fu, and yuan-shih,[8] or provincial officials like intendants and prefects,
in short, all salaried functionaries have obtained a fate predestinating
them for wealth and honour, which after their birth is
apparent in their faces. Hsü Fu and Ku Pu Tse Ch`ing perceived
these signs.[9] Officials rise in office, some to the ranks of lords
and ministers. They are predestinated to grandeur and a very
exalted position. An emperor possesses the highest dignity, and
his rank is the most exalted. At his birth, he is endowed with a
glorious fate, and his body shows peculiar signs of nobility at that
time. The "Old Duke" was well aware of this, when he beheld
the remarkable four nipples,[10] for these four nipples were the marks
of a Sage. Wên Wang received the heavenly decree making him a
sage, when he was still in his mother's womb, or did the four
nipples grow only, after he had become a man, and practised virtue?

As regards the four nipples, we know also that lambs have them
already as embryos. Dame Liu sleeping by a big lake dreamt
that she met with a genius, and thereupon gave birth to Kao-Tsu.[11]
At that time, he had already obtained his fate: When Kuang Wu[12]
was born in the Chi-yang palace, a brilliant light shone in the room
at midnight, though there was no fire. One of the soldiers Su
Yung said to the secretary Ch`ung Lan:—"This is a lucky thing,"
and nothing more.[13] At that time Kuang Wu had already got his
destiny. The assertion that Wên Wang and Wu Wang received
Heaven's decree together with the scarlet bird, the fish, and the
crow is, therefore, erroneous. Heaven's order once being issued,
an emperor arises, and there is no further need for another decree.

Favoured with a fate conferring the highest distinctions upon
them, emperors are born as a matter of course, as will be seen
from the following:—Old men of wealthy families hoard up thousands
of chin.[14] They come into the world with the physiognomies
of rich men. They work, and produce, and amass wealth, until,
in their old age, they have become rich old folks. Emperors are
the old men in possession of the empire. Their fate is inherent to
their bodies, precisely as with birds the distinction between cocks
and hens exists already in the egg-shell. When the eggs are
hatched, cocks and hens creep out. After days and months their
bones wax stronger, and at last the cocks pair with the hens quite
of their own accord. They are not taught to do so, after they
have grown up so, that they would dare to pair only then. This
is a spontaneous act, after their constitution has been strengthened.
Now emperors are the cocks in the empire. They are destined to
become emperors. This, their destiny comes down upon them, when
they are still in an embryonic state in the same manner, as the
future grandees get their peculiar physiognomies, which they possess
at their birth, and as the cocks are formed in the egg.

This is not only true of men and birds, but of all organisms.
Plants and trees grow from seeds. They pierce the earth as sprouts,
by their further growth stem and leaves are formed. Their length
and coarseness are developed from the seeds. Emperors are the
aeme of greatness. The stalk of the "vermilion grass" is like a
needle, the sapling of the "purple boletus" like a bean. Both

plants are auspicious. There is something auspicious about
emperors also, who come into existence, endowed with the heavenly
fluid.

Some people believe that emperors have received Heaven's
decree, when they are born, but that Heaven invests them again,
when they assume the supreme power, just as lords, ministers, and
the lower grades await the imperial brevet, before they dare to
take charge of their post, and that the scarlet bird, the fish, and
the crow were emblems of the investiture by august Heaven. That
would mean that human affairs are ordered and regulated by
Heaven's interference, whereas spontaneity and inaction are the
principles of Heaven. To enfeoff Wên Wang by means of a scarlet
bird, and Wu Wang through a white fish, would be on purpose.

Kuan Chung divided gain with Pao Shu[15] and apportioned more
to himself.[16] Pao Shu did not give it him, and he did not ask for
it.[17] That is, they knew each other, one regarded the other as his
own self, and had no scruples about taking anything for himself.
A Sage takes the empire, as Kuan Chung the property.[18] Amongst
friends their is no question about giving or taking. August Heaven
is spontaneous.[19] If it really issued orders, then its principle
would be purpose, whereas friendship is spontaneous.

When Han Kao Tsu slew the big snake,[20] who prompted him
to do so? Did an order from Heaven arrive first, which encouraged
him to do the deed? It was an outburst of his valour, a spontaneous
impulse. The slaying of the big snake, the destruction of Ch`in,[21]
and the killing of Hsiang Yü,[22] all amount to the same. That the
two Chou emperors Wên Wang and Wu Wang received Heaven's decree,
and defeated the Yin dynasty, must be understood in the

same sense. If Kao Tsu took the reins of government without a
special order, it cannot be true that Wên Wang and Wu Wang alone
were invested through a bird and a fish.

The objection may be raised that in the "Announcement to
K`ang Shu" it is stated that:—"God heard of it, and was pleased,
and Heaven gave Wên Wang a great charge."[23] If such a decree
were impossible, how could the Annals and Classics speak of a
great command given by Heaven to Wên Wang?—The expression
great command does not signify that Heaven issued orders to Wên
Wang. Whatever a Sage does, he fulfills the commands of Heaven.
He agrees with Heaven, as if he had done what Heaven bade him.
In the Shu-king K`ang Shu is just admonished and exhorted to do
good, therefore it is mentioned that Heaven above heard of Wên
Wang's good deeds, and thereupon gave him a great charge.

The Shi-king says:—"(God) sent his kind regards round to
the west, and then gave an abode."[24] This is the same idea.
Heaven has no head and no face, how could it look about. Man
can look around. Human qualities have been ascribed to Heaven.
It is easy to see that. Thus one speaks of looking about. Heaven's
command given to Wên Wang and his looking are very much the
same. In reality Heaven gives no orders, which can be proved in
this way:—

"The perfect man resembles Heaven and Earth in virtue,
sun and moon in brightness, the four seasons in regularity, and
ghosts and spirits with regard to lucky and unlucky omens. When
he acts first, Heaven does not disagree with him, and, when he
follows Heaven, he conforms to his periods."[25]

If in order to act there would always be a decree of Heaven
required, how could there be actions preceding that of Heaven,
and others following it. Since the Sage acts, without waiting for
Heaven's decree, just on the impulse of his heart, sometimes he
takes the initiative, sometimes he follows Heaven, which means
that he is always in harmony with Heaven's periods. Hence it is said
that Heaven does not disagree, and that the Sage conforms to Heaven.

The Analects[26] say:—"Great is Yao as a sovereign! Heaven is
great, and Yao corresponded to him." Emperors correspond to

Heaven, that is to say, they are not in opposition to, and obey
Heaven. Bringing the spontaneous nature into harmony with Heaven,
that is the meaning of the great command given to Wên Wang. Wên
Wang had his own ideas, and acted by himself. He was not driven
on by Heaven, nor was the scarlet bird commissioned to tell him
that he should be emperor, whereupon he dared to assume the
imperial sway. Wên Wang's scarlet bird and Wu Wang's white fish
were not messengers bringing the assurance of Heaven's glorious help.

Whatever a lucky man begins, turns to his advantage. He
finds adherents without seeking them, and auspicious objects without
taking any trouble to get them. A latent sympathy pervades all
things. If he be induced to come forth, and to hear and look,
and he then sees something very propitious, it is mere spontaneity.
When Wên Wang was going to stand up as emperor, the scarlet
bird happened to appear. The fish jumped up, and the bird came
flying, and Wu Wang chanced to perceive them.[27] It was not Heaven
which sent the birds and the white fish. The lucky objects were
moving about, and the Sages met them. Of the white fish which
jumped into the Emperor's boat, Wang Yang[28] said that it was a
chance. At the time, when Liu K`un,[29] president of the Banqueting
Office, was still governor of Hung-nung,[30] a tiger crossed the Yellow
River. The emperor Kuang Wu Ti said that it was nothing but a
curious coincidence, and a spontaneous act, and that nobody had
sent the tiger. What Wang Yang called a chance and Kuang Wu
Ti a coincidence, were all, so to speak, instances of spontaneity.