THE QUESTION OF HEAVEN

1

From the far origin of all antiquity,

who hands the story down to us?

 

2

Before heaven and earth take shape,

how do you delve into what’s there?

 

3

When light and dark are still a blur,

who can see through to their source?

 

4

When it’s altogether primal chaos,

how do you see the shape of things?

 

5

Blazing radiance and utter darkness

and nothing more: how did it happen?

 

6

And when yin and yang first gave birth—

what was rooted, and what transformed?

 

7

Nine celestial compass-points arrayed,

calibrated perfectly and measured out

 

8

just so—how was heaven ever made,

how, in the beginning, set into motion?

 

9

How could its vast turning be tethered?

And how was its axle-pole lofted there?

 

10

How were its eight pillars put in place,

and why is the southeast tilting down?

 

11

The boundaries of its nine regions—

how could they join, how lead away?

 

12

And all their meanders back and forth,

who knows how many there might be?

 

13

What makes heaven entire and whole?

And how is it split into twelve palaces?

 

14

How are sun and moon joined together?

And how are scattered stars patterned?

 

15

Rising from the depths of Boiling Abyss,

returning to rest in the Gulf of Obscurity,

 

16

from morning light on to evening dark:

the sun’s journey lasts how many miles?

 

17

Then night’s radiant one—by what power

can it die out and soon come back to life,

 

18

a bright moon? And what does it gain

from a rabbit inside its belly gazing out?

 

19

Star Mother never mated—so how is it

she gave birth to nine star-children?

 

20

Where does great Elder Wind-Star live?

And where do warm ch’i-breezes dwell?

 

21

What closes in to bring evening dark?

What opens out to bring morning light?

 

22

Before the stars announcing spring rise,

how is Splendor-Spirit sun hidden away?