University of Virginia Library

CHAPTER XL.

Criticisms on Certain Theories (Ch`i-shu).

The theory of drawing plans of houses teaches us that there are
eight schemes, and that houses are numbered and classed according
to the names of the cycle of the six chia.[1852] Their position having
been fixed, and their names being established, kung, shang,[1853] and
the other sounds manifest their difference. Houses have the Five
Sounds,[1854] as the surnames (of the owners) are provided with the
Five Tones. When the houses do not accord with the surnames,
and the latter disagree with the houses, people contract virulent
diseases and expire, or pay the penalty of some crime and meet
with adversity.[1855]

I beg to offer the following criticism: In this world man is
the noblest of all creatures. His houses resemble the nests of birds
and the dens of wild beasts. If his houses be held to bear the
cyclical signs chia, yi, &c., have nests and dens these signs as well?
Why do the spirits of chia, yi[1856] solely stay in men's houses, but not
among birds and brutes?

Men have their houses as they have their fields. From these
fields they derive their food and drink, and their houses serve as
dwellings. For people, I should say, food is of paramount importance,
therefore do the fields rank first, and the houses come after, the fields
being of greater consequence. To the paths crossing the fields from
north to south and from east to west, the eight schemes might be
applied. By joining together lots of land, fields are formed, which
might be numbered chia, yi. Why is the chia, yi system merely
used for houses, and not transferred to fields?

In courts and public buildings the residences of officers are
connected, and not of a shape different from that of other houses.
How do the places inhabited by officers distinguish themselves from

those of laymen? Yet they are not counted by the cycle of ten,
which is merely employed for houses. For what reason?

The dwellings of the people may be contiguous to the office
of the head-borough, and conterminous to his land, but this calculation
does not apply to his office, being restricted to the houses of the
people. Wherefore do the spirits of chia, yi merely stay in the houses
of the people?

The system of numbering houses is applied to market inns;
streets and alleys there being marked with chia, yi, &c. But having
passed through the market gate, and turning round, one again
finds streets and alleys.[1857] During the day and at night, people stay
in their homes, but in the morning and in the evening, they are
in the habit of sitting in the market-place, which is the same as
sitting at home.[1858] Why then are the booths and bazaars in the
market not included in this computation with the cycle of ten?[1859]

Provinces and circuits are equally inhabited, and districts and
cities are crowded with people; they do not differ from streets and
alleys, or houses. Wherefore then are provinces and circuits, districts
and cities not reckoned by chia, yi?

Does this cycle of ten exist since the creation of Heaven and
Earth, or did it originate with the subsequent rulers? If it existed
from the time of creation, in remote antiquity people would seek
shelter in nests and caverns, and had no dwellings to live in, nor
were there regular streets or alleys; where then were the spirits
of chia, yi staying at that period?

If, for expressing the situation of houses, the cycle of ten is
made use of, the physicists concerned with the Five Elements must
count the days by this cycle likewise.[1860] Chia and yi are contained
in the Ten Stems and Twelve Branches,[1861] and these symbols are
added to the hours.[1862] There being a special agreement between
hours and symbols, there is luck, whereas their antagonism augures
ill. But in the last case only something is to be avoided, and sorrow
or shame are not a necessary consequence. All depends on the

question whether a person be right or wrong, and so the penalties
inflicted, are heavy or mild. The high commissioners try the merits
of the case with impartiality. There is no evidence of the Stems
and Branches causing luck or misfortune, and it is obvious that
the persons affected thereby are in the right or in the wrong.
What have the champions of the Stems and Branches to say
against this?

Wu Wang won a victory on a chia-tse day, and Chou succumbed
on the same day. Both leaders chose the same time:—their armies
met, and their flags and standards were in view of one another, all
on the same day. The one survived, and the other fell. Besides
there was a special harmony between chia and tse.[1863] The hour of
early dawn bore the sign yin,[1864] which was not at variance with
chia and yi,[1865] yet Wu Wang destroyed Chou under these signs all the
same. Why?

The sun is fire:—in the sky it is the sun, and on earth it is
fire. How shall we prove it? A burning glass being held up towards
the sun, fire comes down from heaven. Consequently fire is the
solar fluid.

The sun is connected with the cycle of ten,[1866] but fire is not.
How is it that there are ten suns[1867] and twelve constellations?[1868] The
suns are combined with these constellations, therefore chia is joined
to tse.[1869] But what are the so-called ten suns? Are there ten real
suns, or is there only one with ten different names?

Provided that there be ten real suns, and that chia, yi be
their names, why are they not simply designated by the cycle of
ten and must the duodenary cycle be employed too?[1870]

In the drawings of the court of the sun[1871] the Ten Stems
have their positions, and so have the Twelve Branches assigned
their places. All have their own departments, being arranged in
the five directions. It is like a king's castle, where he stays, without
moving. Now the genuine sun passes through the middle, rising in
the east every morning, and setting in the west every evening, always
moving on and never stopping. It is widely different from the court
of the sun, why then denote this sun with the names chia, yi, &c.?

The house experts will retort by saying that the chia, yi, &c.
of the days, of course, are spirits of Heaven and Earth, displaying
their activity by turns, changing every day, that, therefore, they
are designated by the cycle of ten, and that their preponderance
and defeat[1872] determine good and bad fortune.—These names have
no connexion with the true sun. Under these circumstances, the
physicists treating of the Five Elements, should only make use of
the cycle of ten, to find out fate; why do they still speak of adding
hours? For hours being added, the real sun comes into play;[1873] how
could it be potent or weak?

The experts of the Five Sounds articulate the surnames, personal
names, and styles with their mouths, using the surname to fix the
personal name, and the personal name to determine the style. By
opening and closing the mouth, they produce outward and inward
tones, and thus fix the Five Sounds, and modulate kung and shang
in the proper way.[1874]

Now, men have received their surnames from Heaven. Does
Heaven produce these surnames by the fluid of the Five Elements
inherent in it, or are they the result of the opening and shutting
of the mouth, and of outward and inward tones? If they are originally
obtained from Heaven, they are like the fluid pervading the Five
Grains and other productions,[1875] what necessity would there be still
for opening the mouth, shutting out sounds, and thus producing the
right modulations of the voice without and within?

In ancient times, surnames used to be given with reference
to the birth of the person in question.[1876] According to the manner in
which he was born a surname was bestowed upon him. For example,
the ancestor of the Hsia dynasty was engendered by the swallowing
of some pearl-barley, whence he received the surname Sse. The
Shang dynasty owes its origin to a consumed swallows-egg, whence
its surname Tse, and the house of Chou grew from the treading
upon the foot-steps of a giant, and thus received the surname Chi.[1877]

Personal names are given from some pre-intimation, from some
auspice, from some appearance, from some other object, or from
some similarity. When a child is born with a name on it, that is
a pre-intimation. So Yo, Prince of Lu, had the character Yo on
his hand, when he was born.[1878] When the name is derived from some
virtue this is called an auspice. Thus Wên Wang was called Ch`ang,[1879]
and Wu Wang, Fa.[1880] A name from some resemblance is a name from
appearance. Confucius e. g. was called Ch`iu.[1881] A name taken from
some other object is borrowed; a duke of Sung, for example, was
named Ch`u-chiu (Pestle and Mortar),[1882] and when the name is taken
from the father it is a name from similarity, there being some
resemblance to the father.[1883]

A style is given by expanding the personal name and finding
a similar meaning. The personal name being T`se,[1884] the style was
Tse Kung,[1885] and the name being Yü,[1886] the style was Tse Wo.[1887]

Accordingly, a surname is given with reference to the circumstances
of the birth of the person, a personal name is taken from

some pre-intimation, some auspice, some appearance, some other
object, or from some similarity, and a style determined from the
personal name, by expanding it and finding a similar meaning. There
is no need for opening and closing the mouth, or for articulating
outward and inward tones, and thus producing kung and shang;
on what then do the advocates of the Five Sounds theory base
their view?

The ancients had proper surnames[1888] and clan surnames.[1889] T`ao[1890]
and T`ien[1891] are clan surnames intimating the occupation of the bearer,
Shang-Kuan[1892] and Sse-Ma[1893] are clan surnames indicative of some office,
and the clan surnames Mêng and Chung[1894] are derived from the style
of the deceased grandfather.[1895] Thus we have three classes of clan
surnames, either describing the occupation, or the office of the
bearer, or referring to the style of his deceased grandfather. Proper
surnames are connected with a person's birth, whereas clan surnames
refer to the occupation, the office, or the style of the deceased
grandfather. What room is there still left for articulating these
surnames by opening and closing the mouth?

With the Hsiung-nu it was customary to have only a personal
name and no surname or style. Although these names did not
harmonise, the Hsiung-nu reached an old age. How about good and
bad luck then?

The Rites prescribe that in case the surname of a bought
concubine be unknown, it should be ascertained by divination.[1896]
Those ignoring it do not know the proper surname of the concubine,
for, at all events, she bears the family surname of her parents.
By this divination the surname of her father and mother must
necessarily be changed, and a wrong one be substituted, but since
the Rites are very strict, as regards the marriage of a woman of
the same surname,[1897] this divination of the surname cannot be

dispensed with. If merely by correct pronunciation the surname
and the family name could be set right, why would the Rites still
require that the name of a purchased concubine be determined by
divination?

The theory of drawing plans of houses enjoins that the doors
of a house of a family with a shang[1898] surname should not face
the south, and that the doors of a house belonging to a family
with a chih[1899] surname should not be turned to the north. For
shang corresponds to metal, and the south, to fire; chih is equal to
fire, and the north, to water. Water conquers fire, and fire injures
metal. The fluids of the Five Elements may be hostile, wherefore,
in the dwellings of families with the five classes of surnames,
the doors should have their proper bearings. The bearings being
correct, wealth and happiness, luck and prosperity are the consequences,
whereas improper bearings are fraught with poverty and
ignominy, disgrace and ruin.

Now, is there any difference between gates and halls? To
the gates of families with the five kinds of surnames halls must
correspond, why are their bearings of no consequence? Gates
closing some place are less important than halls and rooms. During
the day, and at night, people stay in their halls, and not at the
gates, therefore the experts calculating happiness and misfortune,
ought to base their computations on the halls.

Since gates merely serve as entrances and issues, the inner
doors should be dealt with in the same manner. Confucius
said, ["Who can go out without passing through the door?"].[1900]
He speaks of the inner door, and not of the gate. The Five
Sacrifices[1901] are equally offered to the gate and the door. If it be
necessary to rectify the bearings of the gate, ought not the inner
doors to correspond to the gate?

Moreover, in the dwellings of the officials joined together in
public buildings, the doors often face the south or the north, and
in the temporary residences of high officers, the gateways may
look eastward or westward. Among high officers there are certainly
many with a kung or a shang[1902] surname, and many of the

houses of officials are marked chih or yü.[1903] Those functionaries
who live at peace, or are promoted, need not of necessity bear a
chio[1904] surname, or their gate face the south, and those who lose
their office, and are degraded, have not always a shang surname, nor
is their gate turned northward. Some live at ease, and are promoted,
whereas others lose their positions, and are degraded. How
is this?

As the surnames are connected with the Five Sounds, so, in
human characters, the Five Elements also play an important part.
If, among people related to the Five Sounds, a person with a
shang surname is not allowed to have a gate facing the south, then
can a man imbued with a metal nature sit down facing the south,
or walk in a southerly direction?

There is another objection:—To the gates combined with the
Five Sounds men endowed with one of the Five Elements must
correspond. Provided that there be five such living men, all
bearing a shang surname, then each of them should have his
peculiar colour. The one imbued with the element wood would
be green, the one filled with fire, red, the water man would be
black, the metal man, white, and the one endued with the element
earth, yellow. These men of five colours passing through a gate
facing the south, some would become unhappy, others happy, some
would die early, others live long. The miserable and short-lived
would not necessarily be white,[1905] nor would the happy and long-lived
be yellow.[1906] How do these theorists solve this dilemma
with their Five Elements? What is the real cause of the gate
facing the south injuring people bearing a shang surname?

The south is fire. Provided that a calamity resulting from
fiery air be like a real fire, burning and spreading, and that it
come straight from the south, then even gates facing the north
would be involved in the catastrophe. Should, on the other side,
this fiery air be like the heat of a summer day, diffused over all
the four quarters, then everything between Heaven and Earth
would be affected by this air, for wherefore should families with
gates facing the south alone have to suffer?

The south is fire, which has its place in the south. To this
an objection may be urged:—This air spreads over all the four
quarters, the south is not alone in possession of fire, nor are the
other quarters devoid of it, just as water has its seat in the north,
and yet all the four quarters have water. Fire fills the world,
and water is dispersed over all the four quarters, it may be south
of us, or it may be north of us. To contend that fire can only
be in the south, would be like maintaining that the east cannot
have any metal, and that in the west there cannot be any wood.[1907]