Section 44.1
When the ancients invented writing, they drew three [horizontal] lines that they connected through the center [by a vertical stroke] and called this “king.”
1 These three lines represent Heaven, Earth, and humankind, and the line that connects them through the center unifies their Way. Who, if not a [true] king, could take the central position between Heaven, Earth, and humankind and act as the thread that joins and penetrates them? Therefore the king acts only on Heaven’s behalf.
He extends Heaven’s seasons and brings them to completion.
He emulates Heaven’s commands and circulates them among the people.
He emulates Heaven’s numbers and employs them when initiating affairs.
He brings order to Heaven’s Way and uses it when promulgating laws.
He brings order to Heaven’s will and returns to humaneness.
The beauty of humaneness rests with Heaven. Heaven is humane. Heaven
protects and shelters the myriad things,
transforms and engenders them,
nourishes and completes them.
Its affairs and achievements are limitless. When it reaches the end, it begins again. All that [Heaven] supports, it bequeaths to humankind. If we examine Heaven’s intentions, we will see that it is inexhaustibly and boundlessly humane.
Human beings receive their destiny from Heaven. Human beings derive their humaneness from Heaven and thereby are humane. Therefore human beings receive as [part of] their destiny the Heaven-venerated relationships of father and elder brother, son and younger brother.
They possess hearts that are loyal, trustworthy, kind, and virtuous.
They possess conduct that exhibits propriety, righteousness, honesty, and conciliation.
They possess knowledge that recognizes what is right and wrong, what complies with and what deviates from [Heaven].
Their refinement and principles are manifest and abundant, their knowledge broad and extensive. It is the Way of humankind alone that is able to connect with Heaven.
It is the intention of Heaven to constantly love and confer benefit.
It is the task [of Heaven] to nourish and bring to maturation.
Spring, autumn, winter, and summer all are Heaven’s instruments for this. Similarly,
it is the intention of the king to constantly love and confer benefits to all under Heaven.
It is the task of the king to bring peace and contentment to the age.
His love, hatred, happiness, and anger all are instruments for this. Thus the ruler’s love and hatred, happiness, and anger, are equivalent to the spring, summer, autumn, and winter of Heaven. Heaven combines warming, cooling, heating, and chilling to alter, transform, complete, and achieve things.
When Heaven sends forth these four in a timely manner, there are good harvests;
when Heaven sends forth these four in an untimely manner, there are poor harvests.
[Likewise,]
when the ruler sends forth [his] four [temperaments] in accordance with righteousness, the age is well ordered;
when he sends forth [his] four [temperaments] and they are not in accordance with righteousness, the age is disordered.
Therefore to order the age and to improve the harvest are of the same category. And to bring disorder to the age and to spoil the harvest are of the same category. From this, we see that the inner principles of humankind correlate with Heaven’s Way. [44/51/30–44/52/11]
Heaven has cold and heat.
3 [The phase] Earth resembles “earth” [meaning “soil”
].
4 Earth rules righteousness [as Heaven rules humaneness]. Thus in the
Spring and Autumn, the lord is not designated evil, and the minister is not designated good. In every case, goodness is associated with the ruler, and evil is associated with the minister. The righteousness of the minister is comparable to earth [“soil”]. Thus,
those who are the ministers of others observe how earth [“soil”] serves Heaven;
those who are the sons of others observe how [the phase] Earth serves Fire.
Although [the phase] Earth dwells in the center, it also rules for seventy-two days of the year, helping Fire blend, harmonize, nourish, and grow. Nevertheless, it is not named as having done such things, and all the achievement is ascribed to Fire. Fire obtains it and thereby flourishes. [Earth’s] not daring to take a share of the merit from its father
5 is the ultimate in the perfection of filial piety. Thus both the conduct of the filial son and the righteousness of the loyal minister are modeled on Earth. Earth serves Heaven just as the subordinate serves the superior. Although Earth is the counterpart to Heaven, it does not mean that they are equal. Thus, if you draw out the essence of Heaven and Earth and turn over [in your mind] the categories of yin and yang in order to distinguish the principles of compliance and deviation, where could you point to a place where they are not to be found? They lie in [the distinction between] superior and subordinate, great and small, strong and weak, worthy and foolish, and good and evil. Things categorized as evil ultimately are yin, whereas things categorized as good ultimately are yang.
Yang constitutes accretion;
yin constitutes recision.
Recision is the opposite of accretion, yet it complies with accretion and so in the end belongs to the category of expediency. Although it is called expediency, in every case it is brought to completion by constant norms.
6 Thus,
yang moves in compliance [with Heaven’s Way];
yin moves contrary to [Heaven’s Way].
To move contrariwise yet to be in compliance is yang;
to move compliantly but to be contrary is yin.
7Thus
Heaven uses yin for expediency;
Heaven uses yang as its constant norm.
8Yang emerges and [moves] southward;
yin emerges and [moves] northward.
Constant norms are used at the height [of the yearly cycle];
expediency is used at its final stage.
From this, we see that Heaven manifests its constant norms while it conceals its expediency. Heaven places accretion first and recision afterward. Thus it is said:
Yang is Heaven’s accretion;
yin is Heaven’s recision.
Yang qi warms;
yin qi chills.
Yang qi confers;
yin qi takes away.
Yang qi is humane;
yin qi is violent.
Yang qi is generous;
yin qi is stingy.
Yang qi is loving;
yin qi is hateful.
Yang qi gives birth;
yin qi kills.
Thus,
yang always occupies a full position and is active at the height [of the yearly cycle];
yin always occupies a hollow position and is active at its final stage.
This is the meaning of why Heaven
loves humaneness and moves close to it,
despises the vicissitudes of violence and keeps its distance from it,
and makes much of accretion and slights recision.
It gives priority to the constant norms and places expediency behind;
it honors yang and denigrates yin.
Thus in the summer, yin withdraws and resides below and is not permitted to play a part in the activities of the harvest. In the winter, it emerges and resides above, relegated to the vacuous wastes. During the season of nourishment and maturation, it lies submerged below. It is set apart at a distance and not permitted to take up the activities of yang. During the season of idleness, it is brought up to the vacuous wastes and is made to fill the secondary role of arranging and guarding [the activities of] shutting up and stopping up. These all are instances of Heaven drawing near to yang and keeping its distance from yin. [44/52/11–26]
Section 44.3
The ruler of humankind occupies a position [at the fulcrum] of life and death and, together with Heaven, grasps the positional advantage of alteration and transformation. Nothing fails to respond to Heaven’s transformations. The transformations of Heaven and Earth are like the four seasons.
When the winds of what they love blow, there is warming qi, and giving birth becomes general;
when the winds of what they hate blow, there is cooling qi, and killing becomes general;
when the winds of what they find joy in blow, there is heating qi and nourishment and growth;
when the winds of what angers them blow, there is chilling qi and sealing and closing off.
The ruler employs his love, hatred, happiness, and anger to change habits and customs;
Heaven employs warming, cooling, heating, and chilling to transform the grasses and trees.
When happiness and anger are timely and proper, then the harvest will be good;
When they are untimely and improper, then the harvest will be bad.
Heaven, Earth, and the ruler are one. Nonetheless, the ruler’s love, hatred, happiness, and anger [must correspond to] Heaven’s warming, cooling, chilling, and heating. [The ruler] cannot [help] but examine their proper locations and exhibit [love, hatred, happiness, and anger] accordingly. Thus
when it should to be hot but it is cold or when it should be cold but it is hot, invariably there will be a bad harvest;
when the ruler should be happy but is angry or when he ought to be angry but is happy, invariably there will be a disorderly age.
This is why the ruler must ensure that he is careful of what is stored [inside him] and regulates what is within [himself].
He must ensure that his love, hatred, happiness, and sorrow invariably correspond to righteousness and only then let them issue forth; just as warming, cooling, heating, and chilling invariably correspond to their respective seasons and only then issue forth. When the ruler grasps this and does not lose it, ensuring that his love, hatred, happiness, and anger will never once fall short [of what is proper], just as spring, autumn, winter and summer will never once be excessive, it can be said that he “participates in Heaven.” What deeply stores up these four [seasons and emotions] and does not allow them to issue forth recklessly may be called heavenly. [44/52/26–44/53/6]