Section 43.1
Heaven’s great numbers conclude with ten periods of ten days.
The ten-day period: for everything between Heaven and Earth, ten suffices to initiate them.
The ten-day period: for everything that achieves birth and growth, ten suffices to complete them.
Ten is where Heaven’s regularities come to a halt. The sages of antiquity, in accordance with the place where Heaven’s regularities come to a halt, created numbers to record things.
1 [In recording things,] when they reached [the number] ten, they began anew. The common people through the ages transmitted this practice but did not know enough to investigate its origins.
If you know enough to investigate its origins,
you will observe the place where Heaven’s regularities begin.
If you observe the place where Heaven’s regularities begin,
you will know the place where honor, dishonor, compliance, and deviation lie.
If you know the place where honor, dishonor, compliance, and deviation lie,
the true nature of Heaven and Earth will become evident,
and the true substance
2 of the sage will emerge.
Thus, yang
qi avails itself of the first month to begin to emerge from the earth, engendering and nourishing [things] above [its surface]. Arriving at the point when its achievements necessarily are brought to completion, ten months have accrued. Human beings likewise are engendered in ten months, matching the number of Heaven. Thus,
with ten months, the Way of Heaven is brought to completion,
and with ten months [of gestation,] humans likewise are brought to completion,
thus matching the Way of Heaven. Hence, yang qi
emerges in the northeast and withdraws in the northwest,
comes out in the first month of spring and expires in the first month of winter.
All things respond to this cycle.
When yang begins to emerge, things likewise begins to emerge.
When yang begins to prosper, things likewise begin to prosper.
When yang begins to decline, things likewise begin to decline.
Things follow yang and so emerge and withdraw;
numbers follow yang and so begin and end;
the rectification of the Three Kings
3 followed yang and so arose anew.
From this we observe how to honor yang and denigrate yin.
4 Hence,
when counting the days, do so according to the mornings and not the evenings;
when counting the years, do so according to the yang [i.e., odd] and not the yin [i.e., even] years.
[Such] is the righteous principle of not being permitted to enumerate yin.
For this reason, when the
Spring and Autumn discussed the marriage ceremony, it mentioned the duke of Song but did not mention the mother of the marquis of Ji.
5 It was proper for the mother of the marquis of Ji to be referred to indirectly but not mentioned, whereas it was not proper for the duke of Song to be referred to indirectly but not mentioned. To mention yang and not to mention yin accords with what the Way of Heaven regulates.
Although a husband may be from the humble class, he is considered yang in every case.
Although a wife may be from the noble class, she is considered yin in every case.
All things in the yin [category] are likewise to be considered yin.
All things in the yang [category] are likewise to be considered yang.
All those in superior positions are considered yang by their subordinates;
all those in subordinate positions are considered yin by their superiors.
Yin resembles [the word] “to sink.”
6 Whence its name? Whence its content? Both combine and unite in yang. [Yin] expends all its strength but [still] subordinates its achievements [to yang]. Hence, [yin] sends forth the clouds and initiates the rains [but] invariably directs them to fall from Heaven.
7 Hence they are called “Heaven’s rain.” [Yin] does not dare hold the place from whence it emanates. The superior is good; the inferior is evil. When you promote goodness and demote evil, those who are bad receive [goodness], but those who are good do not receive [evil]. [43/50/25–43/51/8]
As for the expressions of happiness, anger, sorrow, and joy and warmth, coolness, heat, and cold, their substance is of a single category.
Happy qi is warming and corresponds to spring;
angry qi is cooling and corresponds to autumn;
joyful qi is Greater Yang and corresponds to summer;
sorrowful qi is Greater Yin and corresponds to winter.
These four [aspects of] qi are what Heaven and humankind identically possess. They are not something that humankind can accumulate [on its own]. Therefore [humankind] can regulate these four [aspects of qi,] but it cannot stop them altogether.
When they are regulated, there is compliance;
when they are stopped, there is chaos.
Human beings are born of Heaven, and they derive their [various] transformations from Heaven:
Happy qi derives from spring;
joyful qi derives from summer;
angry qi derives from autumn;
sorrowful qi derives from winter.
[These are] the heart’s four [aspects] of qi.
In response, each of the four limbs has its proper position. That the heating and chilling of the four seasons cannot shift is similar to the limbs of the body:
When the limbs of the body shift and change their positions, it is called a “deformed person”;
when chilling and heating shift and change their positions, it is called “a disastrous harvest”;
when happiness and anger shift and change their positions, it is called “a chaotic age.”
The enlightened king
rectifies his happiness to correspond to spring;
rectifies his anger to correspond to autumn;
rectifies his joy to correspond to summer;
rectifies his sorrow to correspond to winter.
Superior and inferior emulate this and thereby appropriate the Way of Heaven:
Spring qi is loving;
autumn qi is stern;
summer qi is joyful;
winter qi is sorrowful.
Loving qi is for giving birth to things;
stern qi is for bringing completion to things;
joyous qi is for nourishing life;
sorrowful qi is for mourning death.
This is Heaven’s will. This is why
the warming of the summer qi is the means by which Heaven is loving and produces things;
the cooling of the autumn qi is the means by which Heaven is stern and completes things;
the heating of the summer qi is the means by which Heaven is joyous and nourishes things;
the chilling of the winter
qi is the means by which Heaven is sorrowful and stores away things.
Spring governs giving birth;
summer governs nourishing;
autumn governs reaping;
winter governs storing.
With life, its joy is entirely devoted to nourishing;
with death, its sorrow is entirely devoted to storing.
9Hence
the conduct of the four seasons is the Way of the father and son;
the will of Heaven and Earth is the righteousness of the ruler and minister;
the patterns of yin and yang are the models of the sage.
Yin is the qi of punishment.
Yang is the qi of bounty.
Yin begins in autumn.
Yang begins in spring.
Chun [meaning “spring”], as a term, resembles
chun [meaning “to move”].
10
Qiu [meaning “autumn”], as a term, resembles
qiu [meaning “mournful”].
11
Chun [meaning “to move”] [implies] an attitude of happiness and joy.
Qiu [meaning “mournful”] [implies] an expression of sadness and sorrow.
For this reason,
spring is happiness;
summer is joy;
autumn is sadness;
winter is grief;
grief [means] death, but joy [means] life. To nourish spring in summer and store up autumn in winter constitutes the will of the great man. For this reason,
he puts love first and sternness behind;
he rejoices in life and mourns death.
This accords with Heaven, and humankind appropriates [these models] from Heaven. [43/51/8–23]
[Heaven] emphasizes accretion and deemphasizes recision.
13 This is why human rulers
draw near to what Heaven draws near to,
moves away from what Heaven moves away from,
increase what Heaven increases,
and decrease what Heaven decreases.
This is why Heaven’s regularities
esteem yang and do not esteem yin,
strive for accretion and do not strive for recision.
Punishment cannot be used to perfect the age, just as yin cannot be used to complete the year. Those who constitute government by using punishment are said to defy Heaven. This is not the Way of the True King.
14 [43/51/23–25]