him the Great Plan with its nine divisions, and
thus the unvarying principles (of Heaven's method)
were allowed to go to ruin.* Khwan was therefore
' See the commencement of Book i.
^ Khung Ying-ta of the Thang dynasty says on this: ā 'The
people have been produced by supreme Heaven, and both body and
soul are Heaven's gift. Men have thus the material body and the
knowing mind, and Heaven further assists them, helping them to
harmonize their lives. The right and the wrong of their language,
the correctness and errors of their conduct, their enjoyment of
clothing and food, the Tightness of their various movements ; ā all
these things are to be harmonized by what they are endowed with
by Heaven.'
I40 THE SHU KING. PARTY.
kept a prisoner till his death, and his son Yti rose up
(and entered on the same undertaking). To him
Heaven gave the Great Plan with its nine divi-
sions, and the unvarying principles (of its method)
we:e set forth in their due order.' *
2. ' (Of those divisions) the first is called " the
five elements ; " the second, " reverent attention to
the five (personal) matters ; " the third, " earnest
devotion to the eight (objects of) government ; "
the fourth, " the harmonious use of the five dividers
of time ; " the fifth, " the establishment and use of
royal perfection ; " the sixth, " the discriminating
use of the three virtues ; " the seventh, " the intel-
ligent use of (the means for) the examination of
doubts ; " the eighth, " the thoughtful use of the
various verifications ;" the ninth, "the hortatory use
of the five (sources of) happiness, and the awing
use of the six (occasions of) suffering." '
3. i. ' First, of the five elements ^ ā The first is
^ Gaubil gives here 'les cinq hing,' without translating the
Chinese term. English sinologists have got into the habit of
rendering it by ' elements,' but it hardly seems possible to deter-
mine what the Chinese mean by it. We intend by ' elements '
' the first principles or ingredients of which all things are com-
posed.' The Pythagoreans, by their four elements of earth, water,
air, and fire, did not intend so much the nature or essence
of material substances, as the forms under which matter is actually
presented to us. The character hsing, meaning ' to move,' 'to
be in action,' shows that the original conception of the Chinese
is of a different nature ; and it is said in the Khang-hsi Dictionary,
'The five hsing move and revolve between heaven and earth,
w-ithout ever ceasing, and hence they are named.' The editors of
the latest imperial edition of the Shvi say, ' Distributed through the
four seasons, they make " the five dividers of time ; " exhibited in
prognostications, they give rise to divination by the tortoise-shell
and the reeds ; having lodgment in the human body, they produce
" the five personal matters; " moved by good fortune and bad, they
BOOK IV. THE GREAT PLAN. I4I
water ; the second is fire ; the third, wood ; the
fourth, metal; and the fifth, earth. (The nature of)
water is to soak and descend ; of fire, to blaze and
ascend ; of wood, to be crooked and straight ; of
metal, to yield and change ; while (that of) earth is
seen in seed-sowing and in-gathering. That which
soaks and descends becomes salt ; that which blazes
and ascends becomes bitter ; that which is crooked
and straight becomes sour ; that which yields and
changes becomes acrid ; and from seed-sowing and
in-sfatherino- comes sweetness.^
ii. ' Second, of the five (personal) matters ^ ā The
first is the bodily demeanour ; the second, speech ;
the third, seeing ; the fourth, hearing ; the fifth,
thinking. (The virtue of) the bodily appearance is
respectfulness ; of speech, accordance (with reason) ;
of seeing, clearness ; of hearing, distinctness ; of
thinking, perspicaciousness. The respectfulness be-
comes manifest in gravity; accordance (with reason),
in orderliness ; the clearness, in wisdom ; the dis-
tinctness, in deliberation ; and the perspicaciousness,
in sageness.'
iii. 'Third, of the eight (objects of) government^. ā
produce " the various verifications ;" communicated to organisms,
they produce the different natures, hard and soft, good and evil ;
working out their results in the changes of those organisms, they
necessitate ā here benevolence and there meanness, here longevity
and there early death : ā all these things are from the operation of
the five hsing. But if we speak of them in their simplest and most
important character, they are what man's life depends on, what
the people cannot do without,' After all this, I should still be
sorry to be required to say what the five hsing are.
^ These five ' matters ' are represented as being in the human
person what the five hsing are in nature. Demeanour is the
human correspondency of water, speech that of fire, &c.
^ Medhurst calls the eight (objects of) government ' the eight
142 THE SHtj KING.
PART V.
The first is food ; the second, wealth and articles
of convenience ; the third, sacrifices ; the fourth, (the
business of) the Minister of Works ; the fifth, (that
of) the Minister of Instruction ; the sixth, (that of)
the Minister of Crime ; the seventh, the observances
to be paid to guests ; the eighth, the army.'
iv. ' Fourth, of the five dividers of time ^ ā The
first is the year (or the planet Jupiter) ; the second,
the moon ; the third, the sun ; the fourth, the stars
and planets, and the zodiacal spaces ; and the fifth,
the calendaric calculations.'
v. * Fifth, of royal perfection ^. ā The sovereign,
having established (in himself) the highest degree
and pattern of excellence, concentrates in his own
person the five (sources of) happiness, and proceeds
to diffuse them, and give them to the multitudes
of the people. Then they, on their part, embody-
ing your perfection, will give it (back) to you, and
secure the preservation of it. Among all the mul-
titudes of the people there will be no unlawful con-
federacies, and among men (in office) there will be
no bad and selfish combinations ; ā let the sovereign
regulators,' and Gaubil calls them 'les huit regies du gouverne-
ment.' The phrase means the eight things to be attended to in
government, ā its objects and departments.
^ ' The five dividers of time ' are with Medhurst ' the five
arrangers,' and with Gaubil ' les cinq p^riodes.' This division of
the Great Plan is substantially the same as Yao's instructions to his
astronomers.
"^ By 'royal perfection' we are to understand the sovereign
when he is, or has made himself, all that he ought to be. ' Perfec-
tion ' is * the utmost point,' the extreme of excellence, realized in
the person of the sovereign, guiding his administrative measures,
and serving as an example and attractive influence to all below,
both ministers and people.
BOOK IV. THE GREAT PLAN. 1 43
establish in (himself) the highest degree and pattern
of excellence.
'Among all the multitudes of the people there
will be those who have ability to plan and to act,
and who keep themselves (from evil) : ā do you
keep such in mind ; and there will be those who,
not coming up to the highest point of excellence,
yet do not involve themselves in evil : ā let the
sovereign receive such. And when a placid satis-
faction appears in their countenances, and they say,
*' Our love is fixed on virtue," do you then confer
favours on them ; ā those men will in this way ad-
vance to the perfection of the sovereign. Do not
let him oppress the friendless and childless, nor let
him fear the high and distinguished. When men
(in office) have ability and administrative power,
let them be made still more to cultivate their con-
duct ; and the prosperity of the country will be pro-
moted. All (such) right men, having a competency,
will go on in goodness. If you cannot cause them
to have what they love in their families, they will
forthwith proceed to be guilty of crime. As to
those who have not the love of virtue, although
you confer favours (and emoluments) on them, they
will (only) involve you in the guilt of employing the
evil.
' Without deflection, without unevenness,
Pursue the royal righteousness.
Without selfish likings,
Pursue the royal way.
Without selfish dislikings,
Pursue the royal path.
Avoid deflection, avoid partiality; ā
Broad and long is the royal way.
144
THE Sli(j KING. PART V.
Avoid partiality, avoid deflection ; ā
Level and easy is the royal way.
Avoid perversity, avoid one-sidedness ; ā
Correct and straight is the royal way.
(Ever) seek for this perfect excellence,
(Ever) turn to this perfect excellence.'
He went on to say, ' This amplification of the
royal perfection contains the unchanging (rule),
and is the (great) lesson ; ā yea, it is the lesson of
God.* All the multitudes of the people, instructed
in this amplification of the perfect excellence, and
carrying it into practice, will thereby approximate
to the glory of the Son of Heaven, and say, "The
Son of Heaven is the parent of the people, and so
becomes the sovereign of all under the sky." '
vi. ' Sixth, of the three virtues \ ā The first is
correctness and straightforwardness ; the second,
strong rule; and the third, mild rule. In peace
and tranquillity, correctness and straightforwardness
(must sway) ; in violence and disorder, strong rule ;
in harmony and order, mild rule. For the reserved
and retiring there should be (the stimulus of) the
strong rule; for the high(-minded) and distinguished,
(the restraint of) the mild rule.
* It belongs only to the sovereign to confer
dignities and rewards, to display the terrors of
majesty, and to receive the revenues (of the king-
dom). There should be no such thing as a minis-
ter's conferring dignities or rewards, displaying the
terrors of majesty, or receiving the revenues. Such
^ ' The three virtues ' are not personal attributes of the sove-
reign, but characteristics of his rule, the varied manifestations of
the perfection described in the preceding division.
BOOK IV. THE GREAT PLAN. 145
a thing is injurious to the clans, and fatal to the
states (of the kingdom) ; smaller affairs are thereby
managed in a one-sided and perverse manner, and
the people fall into assumptions and excesses.'
vii. 'Seventh, of the (means for the) examination
of doubts ^ ā Officers having been chosen and ap-
pointed for divining by the tortoise-shell and the
^ The practice of divination for the satisfaction of doubts was
thus used in China from the earliest times. In the Counsels of
Yu, p. 50, that sage proposes to Shun to submit the question of
who should be his successor on the throne to divination, and Shun
replies that he had already done so. Gaubil says that according to
the Great Plan divination was only used in doubtful cases ; but if
such was the practice of the sages, diviners and soothsayers must
have formed, as they do now, a considerable and influential class in
society. The old methods of divination have fallen into disuse,
and we do not know how far other methods are employed and
sanctioned by the government. Those old methods were by
means of the tortoise-shell, and the stalks of the Kh\ plant. ' The
tortoise,' says Au Hsi, ' after great length of years becomes intelli-
gent ; and the Kh\ plant will yield, when a hundred years old, a
hundred stalks from one root, and is also a spiritual and inteUi-
gent thing. The two divinations were in reality a questioning of
spiritual beings, the plant and the shell being employed, because
of their mysterious intelligence, to indicate their intimations. The
way of divination by the shell was by the application of fire to
scorch it till the indications appeared on it ; and that by the stalks
of the plant was to manipulate in a prescribed way forty-nine of
them, eighteen different times, till the diagrams were formed.'
The outer shell of the tortoise was removed, leaving the inner
portion on which were the marks of the lines of the muscles of the
creature. This was smeared with a black pigment, and, fire being
applied beneath, the pigment was examined, and according as it
had been variously dried by the heat, presented the indications
mentioned in the text. The KhX plant was probably the Achillea
millefolium. It is cultivated largely on the mound over the grave
of Confucius. I brought from that two bundles of the dried stalks
in 1873.
[I] L
14^ THE SHU KING.
PART V.
Stalks of the Achillea, they are to be charged (on
occasion) to execute their duties, (In doing this),
they will find (the appearances of) rain, of clearing
up, of cloudiness, of want of connexion, and of
crossing; and the inner and outer diagrams. In
all (the indications) are seven ; ā five given by the
shell, and two by the stalks ; and (by means) of these
any errors (in the mind) may be traced out. These
officers having been appointed, when the divination
is proceeded with, three men are to interpret the
indications, and the (consenting) words of two of
them are to be followed.'"'
' When you have doubts about any great matter,
consult with your own mind ; consult with your high
ministers and officers ; consult with the common
people ; consult the tortoise-shell and divining
stalks. If you, the shell, the stalks, the ministers
and officers, and the common people, all agree about
a course, this is what is called a great concord, and
the result will be the welfare of your person and
good fortune to your descendants. If you, the shell,
and the stalks agree, while the ministers, and officers,
and the common people oppose, the result will be
fortunate. If the ministers and officers, with the
shell and stalks, agree, while you and the common
people oppose, the result will be fortunate. If the
common people, the shell, and the stalks agree,
while you, with the ministers and officers, oppose,
the result will be fortunate. If you and the shell
agree, while the stalks, with the ministers and
officers, and the common people, oppose, internal
operations will be fortunate, and external under-
takings unlucky. When the shell and stalks are
both opposed to the views of men, there will be
BOOK IV. THE GREAT PLAN. 1 47
good fortune in being still, and active operations
will be unlucky.' ""
viii. ' Eighth, of the various verifications ^ ā
They are rain, sunshine, heat, cold, wind, and
seasonableness. When the five come, all complete,
and each in its proper order, (even) the various
plants will be richly luxuriant. Should any one of
them be either excessively abundant or excessively
deficient, there will be evil."'
' There are the favourable verifications^: ā namely,
^ P. Gaubil renders by ' les apparences ' the characters which I
have translated ' the various verifications,' observing that he could
not find any word which would cover the whole extent of the
meaning. He says, ' In the present case, the character signifies
meteors, phenomena, appearances, but in such sort that these have
relation to some other things with which they are connected ; ā ā
the meteor or phenomenon indicates some good or some evil. It
is a kind of correspondency which is supposed, it appears, to exist
between the ordinary events of the life of men and the constitution
of the air, according to the different seasons ; ā what is here said
supposes ā I know not what physical speculation of those times. It
is needless to bring to bear on the text the interpretation of the
later Chinese, for they are full of false ideas on the subject of
physics. It may be also that the count of Kh\ wanted to play the
physicist on points which he did not know.' There seems to
underlie the words of the count that feeling of the harmony
between the natural and spiritual worlds, which occurs at times to
most men, and strongly affects minds under deep religious thought
or on the wings of poetic rapture, but the way in which he en-
deavours to give the subject a practical application can only be
characterised as grotesque.
^ Compare with this what is said above on the second division of
the Plan, ' the five (personal) matters.' It is observed here by S^ai
^^an, the disciple of Kxx. Hsi, and whose commentary on the Shu
has, of all others, the greatest authority: ā ' To say that on occasion
of such and such a personal matter being realized, there will be
the favourable verification corresponding to it, or that, on occasion
of the failure of such realization, there will be the corresponding
L 2
148 THE SHU KING.
PART V.
of gravity, which is emblemed by seasonable rain ;
of orderliness, emblemed by seasonable sunshine ; of
wisdom, emblemed by seasonable heat ; of delibera-
tion, emblemed by seasonable cold ; and of sageness,
emblemed by seasonable wind. There are (also)
the unfavourable verifications : ā namely, of reckless-
ness, emblemed by constant rain ; of assumption,
emblemed by constant sunshine ; of indolence, em-
blemed by constant heat ; of hastiness, emblemed
by constant cold ; and of stupidity, emblemed by
constant wind.' '""
He went on to say, ' The king should examine
the (character of the whole) year ; the high ministers
and officers (that of) the month ; and the inferior
officers (that of) the day. If, throughout the year,
the month, the day, there be an unchanging season-
ableness, all the grains will be matured ; the measures
of government will be wise ; heroic men will stand
forth distinguished ; and in the families (of the
people) there will be peace and prosperity. If,
throughout the year, the month, the day, the season-
ableness be interrupted, the various kinds of grain
will not be matured ; the measures of government
will be dark and unwise ; heroic men will be kept in
unfavourable verification, would betray a pertinacious obtuseness,
and show that the speaker was not a man to be talked with on the
mysterious operations of nature. It is not easy to describe the
reciprocal meeting of Heaven and men. The hidden springs
touched by failure and success, and the minute influences that
respond to them: ā who can know these but the man that has
apprehended all truth ? ' This is in effect admitting that the state-
ments in the text can be of no practical use. And the same
thing is admitted by the latest imperial editors of the Shu on the
use which the text goes on to make of the thoughtful use of the
verifications by the king and others.
BOOK V. THE HOUNDS OF LU. I49
obscurity ; and in the families (of the people) there
will be an absence of repose.
' By the common people the stars should be
examined. Some stars love wind, and some love
rain. The courses of the sun and moon give winter
and summer. The way in which the moon follows
the stars gives wind and rain.'
ix. ' Ninth, of the five (sources of) happiness ^ ā
The first is long life ; the second, riches ; the third,
soundness of body and serenity of mind ; the fourth,
the love of virtue ; and the fifth, fulfilling to the
end the will (of Heaven).* Of the six extreme
evils, the first is misfortune shortening the life ; the
second, sickness ; the third, distress of mind ; the
fourth, poverty ; the fifth, wickedness ; the sixth,
weakness
9 '
Book V. The Hounds of Lij.
Lij was the name of one of the rude tribes of the west, lying
beyond the provinces of ^au. Its situation cannot be more
exactly defined. Its people, in compliment to king W
impressed by a sense of his growing power, sent to him some
of their hounds, and he having received them, or intimated that
he would do so, the Grand-Guardian remonstrated with him,
showing that to receive such animals would be contrary to pre-
cedent, dangerous to the virtue of the sovereign, and was ifot
the way to deal with outlying tribes and nations. The Grand-
Guardian, it is supposed, was the duke of Shao, author of the
Announcement which forms the twelfth Book of this Part. The
Book is one of the ' Instructions ' of the Shu.
^ It is hardly possible to see how this division enters into the
scheme of the Great Plan.
2 * Wickedness ' is, probably, boldness in what is evil, and ' weak-
ness/ feebleness of will in what is good.
150 THE SHU KING. PART V.
1. After the conquest of Shang, the way being
open to the nine tribes of the P and the eight of
the Man\ the western tribe of Lii sent as tribute
some of its hounds, on which the Grand-Guardian
made ' the Hounds of Lii,' by way of instruction
to the king.
2. He said, 'Oh ! the intelHgent kings paid careful
attention to their virtue, and the wild tribes on every
side acknowledged subjection to them. The nearer
and the more remote all presented the productions
of their countries, ā in robes, food, and vessels for
use. The kings then displayed the things thus
drawn forth by their virtue, (distributing them) to
the (princes of the) states of different surnames from
their own, (to encourage them) not to neglect their
duties. The (more) precious things and pieces of
jade they distributed among their uncles in charge
of states, thereby increasing their attachment (to the
throne). The recipients did not despise the things,
but saw in them the power of virtue.
' Complete virtue allows no contemptuous fami-
liarity. When (a ruler) treats superior men with such
familiarity, he cannot get them to give him all their
hearts ; when he so treats inferior men, he cannot
get them to put forth for him all their strength.
Let him keep from being in bondage to his ears
and eyes, and strive to be correct in all his measures.
By trifling intercourse with men, he ruins his virtue ;
by finding his amusement in things (of mere pleasure),
^ By ' the nine I and eight Maa ' we are to understand generally
the barbarous tribes lying round the China of Kin. Those tribes
are variously enumerated in the ancient books. Generally the I
are assigned to the east, the Zung to the west, the Ti to the
north, and the Man to the south.
BOOK VI. THE METAL-BOUND COFFER. 1 5 1
he ruins his aims. His aims should repose in what
is right ; he should listen to words (also) in their
relation to what is right.
* When he does not do what is unprofitable to the
injury of what is profitable, his merit can be com-
pleted. When he does not value strange things to
the contemning things that are useful, his people
will be able to supply (all that he needs). (Even)
dogs and horses that are not native to his country
he will not keep. Fine birds and strange animals
he will not nourish in his state. When he does
not look on foreign things as precious, foreigners
will come to him ; when it is real worth that is
precious to him, (his own) people near at hand will
be in a state of repose.
' Oh ! early and late never be but earnest. If you
do not attend jealously to your small actions, the
result will be to affect your virtue in great matters ;
ā in raising a mound of nine fathoms, the work may
be unfinished for want of one basket (of earth). If
you really pursue this course (which I indicate), the
people will preserve their possessions, and the throne
will descend from generation to generation.'
Book VI. The Metal-bound Coffer.
A CERTAIN chest or coffer, that was fastened with bands of metal,
and in which important state documents were deposited, plays
an important part among the incidents of the Book, which is
therefore called 'the Metal-bound Coffer.' To what class
among the documents of the Shu it should be assigned is
doubtful.
King Wu is very ill, and his death seems imminent. His brother,
the duke of A'au, apprehensive of the disasters which such an
152 THE SHU KING. party.
event would occasion to their infant dynasty, conceives the idea
of dying in his stead, and prays to ' the three kings,' their imme-
diate progenitors, that he might be taken and king Wu left.
Having done so, and divined that he was heard, he deposits
the prayer in the metal-bound coffer. The king gets well,
and the duke is also spared ; but five years later, Wu does die,
and is succeeded by his son, a boy only thirteen years old.
Rumours are spread abroad that the duke has designs on the
throne, and he withdraws for a time from the court. At length,
in the third year of the young king, Heaven interposes. He has
occasion to open the coffer, and the prayer of the duke is found.
His devotion to his brother and to the interests of their family
is brought to light. The boy-monarch weeps because of the
unjust suspicions he had harboured, and welcomes the duke
back to court, amid unmistakeable demonstrations of the
approval of Heaven.
The whole narrative is a very pleasing episode in the history of
the times. It divides itself naturally into two chapters : ā the