University of Virginia Library

CHAPTER XXII.

On Thunder and Lightning (Lei-hsü).

In midsummer thunder and lightning rapidly following each
other, split trees, demolish houses, and occasionally kill men. Common
people are of opinion that, when the lightning strikes a tree,
or demolishes a house, Heaven fetches a dragon, whereas, when a
man is killed, they say that it is for his hidden faults. If in eating
and drinking people use impure things, Heaven becomes angry, and
strikes them dead. The deep rolling sound is the expression of
Heaven's anger like the breathing and gasping of angry men. Every
one, no matter whether intelligent or stupid, says so. But if we
look into the matter, taking human nature as a basis, we find that
all this is nonsense.

By a thunder-stroke one fluid is set in motion, and one sound
produced.[1] A tree is hit, and a dwelling damaged, and at the same
time a man may be killed. When a man is slain, a tree may be
struck, and a house damaged also. But they assert that, when a
tree is struck, and a house damaged, Heaven fetches a dragon,
whereas, when it kills a man, it punishes him for his hidden
guilt. In that case something inauspicious would clash with the
auspicious fetching of the dragon.[2] That both things should happen
at the same moment, and with the same sound, would not be proper.

It has been argued that the rolling is the sound of Heaven's
growling. That would be appropriate for the punishment of the
guilty, but out of place for fetching dragons. In meting out punishment,
Heaven may be angry, but, when it fetches a dragon,
what fault has it, that it should be irritated like that? Provided
that the dragon be a spirit, then Heaven in fetching it, ought not
to be angry. If, however, a dragon has faults, which are to be
atoned for like those of man, Heaven would kill it, but why must
it still fetch it? While destroying a man, Heaven may be in wrath,
but, when it fetches a dragon, what wrong has the dragon done,
that Heaven should be so enraged at it? Having smitten a man,
Heaven does not fetch him. If under the same circumstances it

does so with a dragon, what difference is there between human
guilt and that of dragons? If both are put to death, where does
a difference come in? We can no more accept the assertion that
Heaven fetches dragons, than approve of the idea that the guilty
meet with their dues for the following reasons:

When the thunder instantaneously follows upon the lightning,
and a man falls to the ground dead, the rolling sound is close
above his head, which brings about his death. But is the rolling
really Heaven's anger? If so, in its wrath, it would kill a man
by the angry breath of its mouth. But how can the angry breath
of a mouth kill a man? On examining the body of a man, who
has been struck by a thunderbolt, one discovers traces of burning.
Provided that Heaven used its mouth in its anger, could its angry
breath become fiery then?

Moreover, the mouth is connected with the body, and its movements
must be the same as those of the body. When lightning
strikes, the sound is on the earth, and, when the work of destruction
is done, it is again in the sky. Now, the moment, when the
sound is on the earth, the mouth must approach it, and the body
do the same. But, if at a thunder-clap we look up to Heaven, we
do not see it descending. Since we do not see it come down,
the rolling sound cannot be the expression of Heaven's anger.

Heaven's anger cannot be different from that of man. When
an angry person comes near anybody, his voice sounds loud, when
he is for off, his voice seems low. Now, Heaven's voice is near,
but its body far away. Therefore, anger is out of the question.

When the peals of thunder rapidly succeed one another, the
sound may be in the East, the West, the North or the South.
Provided that Heaven be angry and move its body, then, if its
mouth is in an eastern, western, northern, or southern direction,
looking up we ought to see Heaven in one of these directions
likewise.

Some one might object that Heaven really was in one of these
directions, but could not be seen by man owing to the obscurity,
caused by the clouds and the rain. Yet over a distance of a thousand
Li there are not the same winds, and within a hundred Li there
is not the same tempest. As the Yiking has it:—"A hundred Li
are frightened by the concussion."[3] The region where the thunderstorm
is raging, is darkened by the thunder-clouds and the rain,
but beyond a hundred Li, where no rain is falling, one ought to

see Heaven moving eastward, westward, north- or southward. The
mouth being joined to Heaven, Heaven must follow it. Whenever
the mouth moves, the entire Heaven must shift its place also, and
it is not only where the tempest rages, that Heaven follows the
movements of its mouth.

And who is it, whom we believe to be angry? The Spirit
of Heaven or the dark blue sky? If we say, the Spirit of Heaven,
an angry spirit can give no sound, and, if we say, the dark blue
sky, its body cannot become angry, for anger requires a mouth.

Heaven and Earth are like husband and wife, they are father
and mother of mankind. Now, let a son have committed a fault,
and his father in a fit of passion beat him to death, would not
his mother weep for him? When Heaven in its wrath slays a man,
Earth ought also to cry over him, but one only hears of Heaven's
anger, and never of Earth's crying. If Earth cannot shed tears,
Heaven cannot be angry either.

Furthermore, anger must have its counterpart in joy. Men
have hidden faults, but they have also latent virtues. Hidden faults
in a man call forth Heaven's anger, which prompts it to kill him,
but in case of latent virtues Heaven ought also to requite him
with good. If the rolling sound is regarded as an expression of
Heaven's anger, Heaven, when pleased, ought to give a hearty laugh.

Men are pleased or angry, therefore the same is said of Heaven.
We try to get a conception of Heaven by ascribing human qualities
to it. The source of this knowledge of Heaven is man. If man
would feel no anger, there is no reason either, why Heaven should.
Since our knowledge of Heaven is derived from that of man, human
nature in its entirety must be taken as basis. A man, when angry,
breathes heavily, when pleased, he sings and laughs. We much less
often hear of Heaven's joy, than of its anger, and much more
seldom see it reward, than punish. Is Heaven always irritated
and never content? Does it mete out punishment pretty freely,
but is rather sparing of its rewards? How does its anger and vindictiveness
become manifest, whereas there are no instances of its
joy and liberality?

When lightning strikes, it hits a tree, damages a house, and
eventually kills a man. This is looked upon as Heaven's anger. But
not unfrequently a thunder-clap is without effect, causing no damage,
and destroying no human life. Does Heaven in such a case indulge
in useless anger? A sovereign's joy and anger are not in vain. Being
pleased or angry, he will certainly reward or punish. Useless anger
without punishment would be unbecoming in Heaven. Doing something

unseeming, it would lose its dignity thereby. That is not
Heaven's way.

The writers on government hold that cold and heat coincide
with joy and anger. When the sovereign is pleased, ths weather
is mild, when he is angry, it is cold. Then on the day of a thunderstorm
the temperature ought to be cold.

Before Han Kao Tsu was born, Dame Liu[4] while sleeping on
the banks of a big pond had intercourse with a spirit in her dream.
At that time there was thunder and lightning, and a great darkness.
Heaven was just then emitting its fluid, and ought to have
been pleased,[5] why was it irritated and thundering?

If striking and breaking is construed as a sign of Heaven's
anger, and not striking or breaking as a sign of Heaven's joy, the
rolling noise would not be appropriate in both cases.[6] Man expresses
joy and anger by different sounds, if Heaven used the same
sound for two different purposes, there would be a fundamental
difference between him and man. From what circumstance then
could we infer Heaven's anger?

To give other persons impure things to eat is a small offence.
For Heaven to chastise such small offenders in person with its
own most precious body, would be derogatory to its majesty.
Exalted persons do not punish personally, therefore does the emperor
not execute the criminals with his own hand. Heaven is
more exalted than the emperor. If it punished small misdemeanours
itself, its virtue would be inferior to that of the emperor.

Heaven's sentiments must be similar to man's feelings. When
a prince punishes the wicked, he upon first hearing of their crime,
becomes furious and condems them, but when it comes to taking
their lives, he commiserates and pities them. Therefore the Analects
say "When you have found out the truth, be grieved and pity
them, and do not feel joy."[7] Chou was utterly depraved, yet, when
Wu Wang was going to put him to death, he deplored and pitied
him. Thus in the Shuking he says:—"I commanded the wild tribes,
but I am sorry for you."[8] A sovereign puts the bad to death,

but with a feeling of commiseration, whereas Heaven in punishing
misdemeanours, strikes people dead in its rage. Thus Heaven
would be less merciful than man.

Rain is believed to be a fluid emitted by Heaven. Put forth
by Heaven, it becomes moistened, and gives the rain. When the
rain saturates everything, one speaks of timely showers. Unless
he be in good humour, man does not show kindness, and unless
it be pleased, Heaven does not pour down rain. If thunder be
taken for an expression of Heaven's anger, then rain must be a
sign of its joy. When there is thunder, it is always accompanied
by rain. One must suppose, therefore, that Heaven is at the same
time grumbling and laughing. A sovereign does not mete out rewards
and punishments on the same day. Should Heaven's anger
and joy coincide in time, Heaven and man would not be in harmony,
and their ways of rewarding and punishing quite different. Moreover,
anger and joy are both fitful. To fly into a fit of passion
out of disgust at man's conduct, to punish him for his offence,
and, in doing so, to be guided by passion, would be unwortly of
Heaven.

Regarding a thunderstorm in winter, people assert that the
Yang fluid has lost its force. When it thunders in spring, they
say, it comes out, but when there is a tempest in summer, instead
of owning that then the fluid has its greatest force, they speak of
Heaven's anger. Of course that is nothing but idle talk.

Man is a creature between Heaven and Earth. Other creatures
are likewise creatures. What other creatures eat and drink, Heaven
does not know, and it should be aware of what man eats and
drinks? All beings are to Heaven like children. The kindness
and love of father and mother to all their children are the same.
Why then does Heaven watch the nobler and more intelligent
being so closely, but takes no heed of the humbler and less gifted
ones? Why does it pry into all that man does, but ignores other
creatures?

Dogs and pigs eat human excrements, yet Heaven does not
kill them for that. Provided that Heaven restricts only man on
account of his superiority, then, if rats contaminate his drink or
food, and man unwittingly eat it by mistake, Heaven does not
destroy the rats. If Heaven can pardon the rats, it can do the
same for man. Man may by mistake give others impure things to
eat, and those unaware of it, may eat them. But they will never
offer rotten things on purpose. Should they do so, the others
would not take them.

The Empress Lü Hou[9] cut off Lady Ch`i's hands, tore out
her eyes, and placed her in a privy as a human swine. Then she
called people, and showed them her victim. All felt sick at heart.
When the emperor Hui Ti saw her, he fell sick, and did not rise
again.[10] Lü Hou acted on purpose, but Heaven did not punish her.
If on the other hand Heaven strikes people dead for a mere inadvertence
without mercy or regard for the faults, its government
is tyrannical.

When men eat something impure, they do not discover it
by the taste. If they feel it, after having swallowed it, they call
it a pollution of their bowels. When Lady Ch`i was put into the
cess-pool, her whole body was disgracefully soiled, which is nothing
else than impurity, for the body does not differ from the bowels.
To care for the intestines, but disregard the body, to resent impurity,
but not to feel the afore-mentioned horrible disgrace, would
not be like Heaven.

The news that anybody has eaten something unclean does
not disturb people's minds, whereas all that saw Lady Ch`i felt
sick at heart. Man being hurt, Heaven must feel pity too. Commiserating
Lady Ch`i, it must hate Lü Hou. Notwithstanding, when
Lü Hou died, she was not struck by a thunderbolt.

The Taoist Liu Ch`un made a fool of the king of Ch`u, Ying,
and caused him to eat some dirty stuff. Liu Ch`un died later on,
but it needed no lightning to make him die.

In the 6th month of summer of the year 79 a.d. Chin Chuan
of K`uei-chi[11] was killed by lightning. Of the sheep which he used
for his daily meals, five died together with him. What hidden
faults had these animals, that the lightning killed them?

Boatmen sometimes pollute a stream up-river, while other people
drink its water down-river. Yet the boatmen do not die by lightning.

The Spirit of Heaven dwells in heaven just as a king in his
residence. A king lives behind many gates, therefore the Spirit of

Heaven must stay in some secluded place likewise. As the king has
his palaces and halls, Heaven also has the T`ai-wei, Tse-kung, Hsüan-yuan
and Wên-ch`ang mansions.[12]

A king being far away from men does not know their occult
crimes. How could the Spirit of Heaven in his four palaces see
the secret misdeeds of men? If a king hears of the faults of his
subjects, he learns it through others. If Heaven becomes cognizant
of the crimes of men, it must have it from its angels. In case
the spirits are Heaven's informants as to crimes, it must also
entrust the spirits with retributive justice. Such being the case,
the so-called anger of Heaven is not that of Heaven, but of the
spirits.

A king inflicts capital punishment in autumn,[13] Heaven kills
in summer. Thus the king in meting out justice, does not observe
the time of Heaven. As Heaven's anointed he should in executions
also imitate the example of majestic Heaven. Heaven chooses
summer for killing, whereas the king executes in autumn. Heaven
and man are thus at variance, which would never do for Heaven's
deputy.

Some people will argue that giving impure things to eat or
drink is a great crime before Heaven, which in killing the culprit
does not pay attention to time.[14] Great crimes in the eyes of kings
are high-treason, rebellion, and lawlessness, whereas Heaven considers
the offering of unclean things to others as food or drink as
a serious offence. The crimes condemned by Heaven are of different
gravity. Were the light and the serious ones all equally
dealt with, the king would have to imitate Heaven's government,
and put to death every one, who had given others unclean things
to eat or drink. When the holy emperors were ruling, they had
not such a penalty. That would mean that the holy emperors
were remiss, and had forgotten this punishment.[15]

It may be said that the ghosts have power over what is secret,
and that a king's sway extends over what is public only.
Secret faults are wrapt in darkness and invisible to man, therefore
spirits must be employed to watch over them. I reply, there being

not only one secret fault, why are not all the offenders put to
death? To fix upon one single offence would not be a just retribution
for hidden sins.

Heaven vents its anger, before the sun returns, and an outburst
of human ire takes less than the time one needs to turn
round upon one's heels.[16] However, secret crimes of men often
become manifest in winter and not exclusively in summer. If he
who misconducts himself in winter, is not struck by thunder forthwith,
but must wait till summer, Heaven's wrath cannot be quicker
than a revolution of the sun.

When painters represent the thunder, it is like so many joined
drums, heaped together. They also paint a man having the semblance
of an athlete and call him "the Thunderer" (Lei Kung).
With his left hand they give him joined drums to pull, in his
right hand he brandishes a hammer, as though he were going to
strike. It means that the rolling sound of thunder is produced by
the knocking together of the united drums, and that the sudden
crashing noise is the blow of the hammer. When a man is killed,
he is struck with the drums and the hammer at the same time.

People also believe in this, and nobody objects. But if we
get at the bottom of it, we find that these pictures are pure fictions.
Thunder is either a sound or a fluid. How can a sound
or a fluid brandish a hammer, or pull drums, and have the shape
of joined drums? If the thunder can really swing or pull these
things, it must be a creature. That which, when knocked together,
produces sounds, can be either a drum or a bell. Should the rolling
sound be produced by drums or bells? In that case, bells and
drums could not hang free in the air, they would require a frame
with vertical and cross-beams. Suspended between, they could be
sounded. Now, the bells and drums have nothing to hang upon,
and the feet of the Thunderer nothing to walk upon, how then
should the thunder be produced?

Somebody might object that for this very reason there must
be a spirit, for, if in order to produce thunder a frame were required,
or a support for the feet, it would be quite human, and
by no means spirit-like.

I hold that spirits are diffuse and incorporeal. Departing or
coming in they need no aperture, nor have they any hold above or
below. Therefore one calls them spirits. Now the Thunderer has
a body, and for the thunder there are instruments, how can he be

deemed a spirit? If the Thunderer were incorporeal, his semblance
could not be drawn, and, if he possesses a body, he does not
deserve the name of a spirit.

People talk of the dragon spirit rising to heaven. But whoever
thoroughly examines the question, discredits this idea. Men
sometimes see the shape of a dragon, and owing to this circumstance
they paint the shape of a dragon rising to heaven. The
best proof that, as a fact, there is no spirit is, that it can be
pictorially represented.

My opponents will argue: "Men also see apparitions of ghosts.
Are they not spirits?" I say: "If men see ghosts sometimes, has
anybody already seen the Thunderer? Ghosts are called spirits,
but they walk about on earth like men. The Thunderer, however,
does not rest his head in heaven, nor walk on earth with his feet.
How can he, therefore, be a thunderer?"

All flying creatures have wings. Those who can fly without
wings are styled genii. In representing the forms of genii men
give them wings. Provided the Thunderer is like the genii, he
ought to have wings equally. If, in case the Thunderer does not
fly, the painters pretend that he can fly, they are wrong, and if
he really could fly, but had no wings, it would be wrong likewise.
Thus the pictures of the Thunderer's outward appearance, made
by painters, are merely fancy work.

Those who argue about thunder aver that it is Heaven's
angry snorting, whereas those who sketch it, contend that the
Thunderer in his anger pulls the joined drums. If it is really as
the critics say, the painters are wrong, and if they are right, the
critics must be in error. The two classes are antagonistic. If both
their views were taken as genuine, there would he no difference
of right and wrong, and in default of that, no real right and wrong.
Doubts would not be settled, and fallacies would triumph.

The Liki speaks of a goblet with the thunder carved upon
it.[17] One thunder rushes forth, the other reverts, one is coiled up,
the other stretched forth. Their friction would give a sound. They
look as if they were colliding, piled up in a grotesque and phantastic
way. This form represents the thunder. When through
friction the air breaks, there is a rolling sound, the sound of friction.

A sudden crash is the sound of the shooting forth of the air.
When this shooting air hits a man, he dies.

In fact thunder is nothing else than the exploding solar fluid.
How do we know?—In the first month the Yang fluid begins to
be roused, consequently we have the first thunder during the first
moon. In the fifth month Yang is at its cynosure, therefore at
that time thunder rapidly follows upon thunder. In autumn and
winter Yang declines, therefore thunder ceases during these seasons.
In the midst of summer the sun reigns supreme, but the
Yin fluid endeavours to get the upperhand. In this dispute of the
Y-ang and the Yin fluids it comes to frictions, and these frictions
lead to explosions and shooting, which are destructive. A man
struck by these forces is killed, a tree split, and a house demolished.
A person under a tree or in a house may also by chance be hit
and killed.

To test the justness of this statement take a basin full of
water, and throw it on a fire, used for melting purposes. The
vapour will explode with a puff like the sound of thunder. Should
any one be too near, his body will be burned. Heaven and earth
are like a great furnace, the Yang fluid is an immense fire, clouds
and rain are huge masses of water. When they struggle, explode
and shoot, the effects must be most violent, and a man hit and
injured cannot but die.

When founders melt iron, they make a mould of earth, into
which the liquid iron runs down. Else it bursts out, flows over,
and spurts. Hitting a man's body, it burns his skin. The fiery
Yang fluid is not only as hot as liquid iron, the exploding Yin
fluid has not merely the wetness of earth and clay, und when
the Yang fluid hits a man, it does not simply cause the pain of
burning.

Thunder is fire. A man burned by this fluid must show traces
of it. If those traces of burning look like written characters, people
seeing them use to say that Heaven has written the man's guilt
to make it known to the whole world. This is also unreasonable.

If Heaven destroys men with its thunder, after they have
perpetrated their misdeeds, he ought to make their wickedness quite
public, with a view to frightening for the future, and write the characters
clearly, but not quite indistinctly, as it does. When the "Plan"
came out of the Yellow River,[18] and the "Scroll" emerged from

the Lo,[19] Heaven and Earth produced them for men to read and
take note of. The writing on people killed by thunder is also
Heaven's work. Why is it so difficult to understand?

Let us assume that the human skin is not fit to be written
upon. The wife of Duke Hui of Lu,[20] Ch`ung Tse was daughter to
Duke Wu of Sung.[21] When she was born, she had a writing on
her palm to the effect that she was to be duchess of Lu. The
writing was distinct and intelligible. Therefore Ch`ung Tse was
married to Lu. The thunder's handwriting not being clear, it cannot
serve as a deterrent for the future. Ergo the burnt spots are not
characters engraved by Heaven.

Sometimes people exaggerate things that really exist, sometimes
they invent things that have no real basis at all. Imposed
upon by fallacies, they indulge in fabricating wonders and miracles
as the following arguments will prove:—

1. Thunder is fire. When a man dies struck by thunder, one
discovers upon examining his body, if the head be hit, that the
hair is singed, and if the body be struck, that the skin is charred.
Coming near the body, one scents the smell of burning. 2. Taoist
experimentalists hold that a stone heated by a thunder-clap, becomes
red. If it be thrown into a well, the stone being burning hot, the
well cool, an explosion ensues with a loud detonation like thunder.
3. When somebody takes cold, the cold fluid enters his stomach.
The stomach being as a rule warm within, the warmth and the
cold struggle together, and the exploding air gives a thunder-like
sound. 4. In a thunder-storm brilliant lightnings appear every now
and then like the glares of big fires. 5. When the lightning strikes,
it often burns man's houses and buildings, or grass and trees.

Those who declare thunder to be fire have these five arguments,
those who prentend that thunder is Heaven's anger, not a
single one. Therefore this latter assertion is without any foundation.

However, it might be objected that there is a passage in the
Analects to the effect that, when thunder followed thunder, and the
storm raged, Confucius used to be deeply impressed.[22] The Liki says,

"when a strong wind blows, and the thunder-claps quickly follow
each other, and rain falls in torrents, a superior man will be deeply
moved. Though it be night, he will rise, don his clothes and cap,
and sit up"[23] in awe of Heaven's anger, fearing lest its punishment
should reach him. If thunder were not the expression of Heaven's
anger, nor its striking a punishment of the guilty, why should a
good man be frightened by thunder, put on his official robe, and
sit straight?

The Master[24] means that the relation of Heaven to man is
similar to that of father and son. The father being moved, the
son cannot remain indifferent. Therefore, when Heaven is moved,
man must be likewise. Being in harmony with Heaven, he proves
that he does not act in opposition to it.

Man suddenly hearing a dog bark outside the house, will be
startled, and with trembling limbs harken to find out, what it means.
How much more so, when he hears Heaven assuming an extraordinary
voice like the noise made by the quick rolling of heavy carts!

The remark in the Analects and the observation of the Liki
both refer to the wise man. The wise man displays the utmost
care in all his doings and knows that he has no guilt, just like
sun and moon, which, when eclipsed, have not clandestinely given
impure food to men. Examining his heart, he feels no fear, wherefore
should he be afraid of thunder? If he is not afraid, his excitement
can be no proof of Heaven's anger, because he fears nothing
for himself. Should he really be afraid of thunder, even that would
not suffice to prove the punishment of hidden crimes, for people
struck by lightning are mostly quite innocent. The wise man apprehends
that he might be hit by chance. Therefore he is anxious
and alarmed. But this alarm of the wise man cannot be put forward
to demonstrate that thunder is Heaven's anger. It shows,
on the contrary, that thunder strikes at random. Because it hits
at random, and does not punish the guilty, people are afraid. If
thunder actually punished the guilty, the wicked ought to stand
in awe, and the wise had no cause for apprehensions.

The king of Sung asked T`ang Yang saying "I have killed a
great number of people, yet all the officials are still quite fearless.
What is the reason?"

T`ang Yang replied:—"Those that Your Highness has punished
were exclusively bad characters. If the bad are called to account,

why should the good be frightened? If Your Highness wishes all
the officials to be in awe, the best way is to make no distinction
between good and bad, and chastise them all occasionally. Then
all the officialdom will be afraid."[25]

The king followed his advice, and all the functionaries became
frightened, whereupon the king of Sung turned very angry. Owing
to the indiscriminate punishments of the king of Sung, the whole
people of Sung got greatly alarmed. Because thunder and lightning
strike indiscriminately, a wise man becomes agitated. His alarm is
like the great fright of the kingdom of Sung.