University of Virginia Library

CHAPTER XV.

Fictitious Phenomena (Pien-hsü).

There is a tradition that [during the time of Duke Ching of
Sung, the Planet Mars stood in the constellation of the Heart.[683] The
duke, alarmed, summoned Tse Wei[684] and asked him what it meant
that Mars was in the Heart.

Tse Wei replied, "Mars means a punishment of Heaven. Sung
is that part of the earth which corresponds to the Heart. A misfortune
is menacing Your Highness. Nevertheless, it can be shifted
on the prime minister."

`The prime minister,' said the duke, `is required for the
administration of the State. To bring death upon him would be
most unfortunate.'

Tse Wei suggested that it might be shifted upon the people,
but the duke retorted by saying, `When the people are dead, whom
have I to care for? It is better that I die alone.'—

Tse Wei said that it might be shifted on the year. `If the
people starve,' replied the duke, `they will perish. Should a ruler
of men contrive the death of his people, with a view to preserving
his own life, who would still consider me a sovereign? It is
inevitable that my life must come to a close, therefore speak no
more of it.'

Tse Wei took his leave, but turned to the north, he bowed
again and said, "Your servant begs to congratulate Your Highness.
Heaven is on high, but it hears what is below.[685] Your Highness
has uttered three maxims worthy of a superior man. Heaven surely
will confer upon you three favours. This night the planet will
pass through three solar mansions, and the life of Your Highness
will increase by 21 years."

Upon the duke inquiring how he knew this, he replied,
"Your Highness has three accomplishments,[686] hence the three favours,

and the three motions which the planet must make. By each it
will pass seven stars.[687] One star is equivalent to one year. Three
times seven makes 21. Therefore 21 years will be added to the
life of Your Highness. Your servant desires to fall down on the
steps of the palace[688] and to await the event. Should the planet
not pass, your servant is willing to die."

The same night the planet Mars really passed through three
solar mansions,][689] just as Tse Wei had predicted.[690] Thus, in fact, the
prolongation of the duke's life by 21 years came into effect. Since
the planet really passed, this prolongation took place, and, this
prolongation being apparent, Heaven rewarded the duke for his
goodness. Consequently, if some one be able to act like the duke,
he would be sure to obtain the same blessing.

All this is absurb. Provided that almighty Heaven was
wreaking its anger; and caused Mars to stay in the constellation
of the Heart, owing to Duke Ching's personal wickedness, then even
if he had listened to Tse Wei's advice, it would not have been of
any benefit to him. In case Duke Ching was not the object of
Heaven's wrath, although he took no heed of Tse Wei's words, it
could not injure him.

[In the time of Duke Ching of Ch`i there appeared a comet,[691]
and the duke enjoined upon the people to avert it by prayer.
Yen Tse[692] declared, "It boots not, and it is but a superstition.
Heaven's way is not hidden, and its will must not be suspected.
Why then deprecate it? Moreover Heaven uses the Sweeping Star[693]
to sweep away filth. Your Highness' virtue is not filthy, wherefore
should you pray? Should however your virtue be tarnished, of
what use would these deprecations be? The Shiking says:—[This
king Wên, Watchfully and reverently, With entire intelligence served
God, And so secured the great blessing. His virtue was without
deflection; And in consequence he received the allegiance of the

States from all quarters.][694] If Your Highness' virtue does not degenerate,
all the States round about will submit to you, what evil
can befall you through a comet? The Shiking likewise has it
that:—`I have no beacon to look at, But the Sovereigns of Hsia
and Shang. It was because of their disorders That the people fell
away from them.'[695]

If the virtue declines and degenerates, the people will be
scattered and lost, and all the incantator's and historiographer's
prayers would be of no avail." The duke was pleased and had
his orders countermanded.][696]

The prince of Ch`i wanted to avert the calamitous presage
of the comet, as Tse Wei was endeavouring to remove the misfortune
which Mars was portending. The duke of Sung would not
listen to the advice which was given him, just as Yen Tse declined
to comply with his master's order. Thus the prince of Ch`i was
like Tse Wei, and Yen Tse took the place of the duke of Sung. The
same calamity was sent down on both sovereigns, but Heaven only
recognised the virtue of the duke of Sung, by making Mars pass
through three solar mansions and adding 21 years to his span, and
did not, for Yen Tse's sake, cause the comet to disperse nor prolong
his life. Why was Heaven so biassed and unjust in requiting
goodness?

When an honest man does good, his goodness springs from
his heart, and his good maxims issue from his mind. They flow
from a common source and are essentially the same. When Duke
Ching of Sung worded the three excellent sentiments, his conduct
must have been good before he gave utterance to them. That being
the case, his administration was likewise good, and under a good
government propitious omens abound, and bliss and happiness
supervene. Then does the planet Mars not intrude upon the Heart.
If, on the other hand, something was amiss in the dealings of Duke
Ching, so that his administration became vitiated, under a perverted
government dreadful prodigies must have appeared.

Mars staying in the Heart was like the paper-mulberry tree
growing in court.[697] Kao Tsung removed this portent by his administration,

not by words. In the same manner Duke Ching should
have averted the extraordinary phenomenon of the planet Mars by
his actions. Provided that Duke Ching's proceedings were blameworthy,
and that, for this reason, Mars was staying in the Heart,
how could he hope to touch Heaven, or how would Heaven have
responded, if, instead of changing his government and reforming,
he had merely propounded three excellent sentiments, but done
nothing? How can we substantiate our view?

Let us suppose that Duke Ching had enounced three wicked
maxims, could he have induced Mars to take its place in the constellation
of the Heart thereby? Since three bad maxims would
not have had this effect, how should the three excellent sentiments
have caused the planet to revert three solar mansions? If by three
good maxims 21 years were obtained, would, by the utterance of
a hundred fine things, the span of human life be extended to a
thousand years? The idea of a heavenly reward of virtue is preposterous,
in reality there is nothing but fortune.

According to what Tse Wei said, Heaven is high, but hears
what is low. The prince having spoken three maxims of a superior
man, Heaven would confer three graces upon him.

Heaven has a body, and in this respect does not differ from
earth. In all creatures possessed of a body, the ears are joined to
the head, and it does not happen that the ears and the body are
separated. As to Heaven's height, it is many ten thousand Li
distant from us. Now, in case the ears be attached to Heaven,
hearing words at the distance of several ten thousand Li, it would
be unable to understand them. If a man, sitting on a high tower,
were to look out for the ants on the ground, he could not distinguish
their forms; and how should he hear their sounds? The simple
reason is that the bodies of ants are so minute and not so big as
the human, and that their sounds cannot transcend the vast expanse
of air. Now the altitude of Heaven is quite a different thing to
that of a tower, and the proportion of the human body, compared
to Heaven, not merely like that of ants and man. They say that
there is no such relation between man and Heaven as between
ants and man, and urge that Heaven hears what man says and,
according to its quality, sends good or bad luck. That is a
misconception.

When the Savages from the four quarters come to China,
they must use interpreters, to make themselves understood. Although
they are similar to the Chinese in body and mind, their speech is
unintelligible. Even the Five Emperors and the Three Rulers could

not do without interpreters, and understand the savages alone.[698]
Now fancy Heaven with a body quite other than the human; must
not its speech be different as well?

Man is not cognisant of Heaven's proceeding; how should
Heaven know what man is about? If Heaven has a body, its ears
are too high and far away, to hear what men say, and if it be
air (air like clouds and fog), how could such hear human speech?

The phenomenalists assert that man lives between heaven and
earth as fish in the water. By his actions he can affect heaven
and earth, just as fish beat and agitate the water. The fish moving,
the water is shaken and the air stirred up.

This is not true. Should it really be so, human influence
would not reach up to Heaven. A fish, a foot long, moving in
the water, would only stir up the water by its side in a circumference
of several feet. If it were only as big as a man, the waves caused
by it would not proceed farther than a hundred steps. Beyond
a Li, the waters would remain tranquil and unruffled, owing to the
distance.

If human activity affect the air far and near, it must be
similar to that of the fish, and the air thus affected and responsive
to the impetus, would be like the water. A tiny corporeal frame
of seven feet[699] and in this frame a subtle breath[700] would hardly be
more powerful than the fire rising from a sacrificial vessel, and
should it, ascending from the earth, have any influence upon august
Heaven with its tremendous height?

Furthermore, Duke Ching was but a worthy. Worthies in
their dealings do not come up with sages above, nor do they pass
the line of wickedness below.[701] Of all the ages none were truer
sages than Yao and Shun, and none greater criminals than Chieh
and Chou. The proceedings of Yao and Shun were full of excellence,
yet they had not the effect of moving the planet Mars. The government
of Chieh and Chou was very wicked, but they overthrow the
argument that Duke Ching escaped misfortune. Provided that,
because of Duke Ching's three excellent sentiments, his life time
was increased by 21 years, then Yao and Shun ought to have
obtained a thousand years, and Chieh and Chou ought to have died
early. That was not so; they all completed their full span. Yao

and Shun as well as Chieh and Chou became nearly a hundred years
old. Consequently Tse Wei's remarks are altogether without foundation,
and what he says about the lengthening of life, is erroneous.

Tse Wei also stated that Mars was Heaven's agent, that Sung
was the territory on earth corresponding to the Heart, and that
misfortune was awaiting its sovereign. Under these circumstances
Heaven would have employed Mars to inflict calamity upon Duke
Ching, but how could it be diverted upon the premier, the year,
or the people?

Heaven uses Mars as the king does the chief of the princes.[702]
When a feudal lord has been guilty of a capital crime, the king
sends the chief of the princes, to besiege his State and take
possession of it. The prince, then, is tried before the king's deputy,
who knows that the guilt lies upon the prince.[703] He may, however,
try to turn it off upon one of his own ministers or his subjects.
Should a prince, following the counsel of a minister, instruct him
to turn the guilt upon the State, would the chief of the princes,
upon hearing of this, be inclined to entertain such a proposal?
Would he absolve the sovereign of all guilt and shift it upon his
subjects? The chief would not consent, because the guilt is the
sovereign's and not the people's. Since he would not consent, the
prince's guilt being too evident, how should Mars agree to divert
the calamity upon the people? Therefore Tse Wei's view is wrong.

Let us presume that Duke Ching had listened to the counsel
of Tse Wei, how could he have affected Heaven by so doing?
Would, in case a prince disregarded the advice of his minister and
took all the guilt upon himself, the chief of the princes, hearing
of his resolution, acquit the culprit and dismiss him? He would
not condone his crime; why then should Mars consent to pass
through three solar mansions?

Listening and not listening have nothing to do with luck and
merit.[704] The alleged movement of the planet can therefore not be
taken as a fact.

Heaven and man have the same law,[705] in which good and
evil do not differ. If something is impossible by human law, we
know that it would not come into effect under heavenly law either.

Sung, Wei, Ch`ên, and Chêng were simultaneously afflicted with
a conflagration.[706] A change in the air could be observed in the
sky. Tse Shên,[707] foreseeing the disaster, asked Tse Ch`an whether it
might be averted, but Tse Ch`an took no notice. The law of Heaven
had to be fulfilled, and human endeavour was powerless against
it. Would the four States have got rid of the calamity in case
Tse Ch`an had listened to Tse Shên?

At the time when Yao met with the great flood, his ministers,
no doubt, were no less clever than Tse Shên or Tse Wei, still they
could not avert it. Yao had the same feeling as Tse Ch`an.

According to Tse Wei's statement Mars was Heaven's agent,
the Heart had its corresponding place in Sung, and misfortune was
threatening its sovereign. If these were facts, the disaster could
not be avoided, and the planet not be averted.

Whenever heat and cold are anomalous, or wind and rain
unseasonable, the philosophers on government hold that some fault
has been the cause, and that good government and virtuous acts
are apt to bring about the normal state again.

If, when Mars takes its position within the Heart, death and
ruin are sure to follow, how can they be avoided, and how can
administrative and moral reforms avert them? Good government
and virtuous acts cannot ward them off, and to say that the
utterance of three inane sentences averted the planet, turned off
the disaster, increased the years of life, and procured the enjoyment
of a long time of bliss, is a mistake. According to Tse Wei's
reply Duke Ching spoke of the calamity, which was threatening
from Mars. That has no reference to heat and cold, wind or rain,
but was an omen implying death and the end of life.

When a State is about to perish, or an individual to expire,
a strange air is perceived in the sky, and a peculiar look in the
face, and this look of the face no righteous deeds can wipe off,
for it is the sign of death, which thus becomes visible. Since that
expression on the face cannot be got rid of by words, how should
the strange phenomenon on the sky be removed by government?

When a sick man is at the point of death, that peculiar
expression is seen on his face, of which people sometimes say that
it is the mark of certain death. Nevertheless it might be transferred
on the neighbours or the slaves. But would that look of

the dying man, who just cannot speak any more, be wiped off by
some appropriate words, or his life, which comes to a close, be
lengthened? That expression cannot be done away with, and his
life does not admit of any prolongation. Therefore, how could
the planet Mars be averted, and how the years of Duke Ching be
added to?

Ergo, when Mars stood in the Heart, we do not know what
happened that Duke Ching did not die.

Then it is said that the planet passed through three solar
mansions. What does that mean? Did the star three times transcend
one mansion, or did it at once pass through three mansions?

Tse Wei said that the prince had spoken three maxims worthy
of a superior man, wherefore Heaven would certainly bestow three
favours upon him. That very night the planet would transcend
three mansions, and, in fact, the star went through three solar
mansions. Now Duke Ching put forward three precious arguments
at one sitting, whereupon the planet moved through three mansions.
Provided that he had uttered ten excellent thoughts, would the
star then have gone through ten mansions?

Mars occupying the Heart, reverted owing to the excellent
sentiments; if, conversely, Duke Ching had enunciated three bad
ones, would Mars then have eclipsed the Heart? Good words
made it revert, and bad ones, proceed; in case the speech of the
duke had been neither good nor bad, would it then have remained
quiet and motionless?

Sometimes when Mars stands in the Heart, a drought, but
not the death of the duke is imminent, and Tse Wei, ignorant of
this, took it for an ill omen of death, trusting like common people
in the efficiency of perfect sincerity.[708]

It just so happened, no doubt, that Mars had to leave its
position of itself, and that Duke Ching was not to die. The world
then imagined that Tse Wei's words were true and that Duke Ching
touched Heaven by his sincerity.

Or perhaps Tse Wei was aware that the planet in its course
was just about to move, and he gave himself the air of knowing
personally that this movement was the result of the prince's selflessness
in regard to his subjects. Seeing that the number of stars
was seven, he then called seven stars a mansion and obtained
21 years, computing the number of years from stars and mansions.

His case is analogous to that of the Great Diviner of Ch`i.
[Duke Ching of Ch`i asked the Great Diviner, what he could do
with his wisdom. The other returned that he could shake the
earth. When Yen Tse called upon the duke, he said to him, "I
have asked the Great Diviner what his art availed him, and he
replied that he could shake the earth. The earth is steady, can
it be shaken?" — Yen Tse remained silent and made no reply. He
went out, met the Great Diviner and said, "Formerly I have observed
that, when the Hook star is between the House and the
Heart, an earthquake is imminent." — The Great Diviner assented.
When Yen Tse had left, the Great Diviner went to see the duke.
"Your servant," said he, "cannot shake the earth. It is steady
and will move of its own accord."][709]

Tse Wei's allegation as to the progress of the planet is like
the Great Diviner's remark on the earthquake. The earth, being
steady, moves of its own accord, yet the Great Diviner contended
that he could move it. The planet is likewise steady and shifts
its position of itself, but Tse Wei maintained that the prince could
move it. If Yen Tse had not said that the Hook star was between
the House and the Heart, the artful reply of the Great Diviner
would not have been detected. In Sung there was no officer with
Yen Tse's knowledge, therefore this one utterance of Tse Wei was
afterwards held to be true.

In the chapter Hsü Ch`in[710] of Tse Wei's Shu-lu,[711] we also have
the notice that Tse Wei said, "The prince spoke three excellent
maxims, and Mars was liable to move. He then waited for this
event, and, in fact, it left the solar mansion." Nothing is said
about three. Perchance the planet was bound to move, and Tse
Wei took it for a corroboration of his view. It really withdrew
from one mansion, of which, by exaggeration, people made three
mansions. As they carelessly magnified the number of solar mansions,
they likewise invented the 21 additional years.