Shungu — Beating the Drum at Floods順鼓篇

In the meaning of the Chunqiu, when there is a great flood they beat the drum and use a victim at the altar of the soil. Those who explain it say, "The drum means attacking it." Some say, "It means threatening it." To threaten is to attack. Yin has won, and so they attack the altar of the soil to rescue from it.

Someone objects and says: attacking the altar of the soil may be said to catch the meaning of winning and losing, but it does not catch the measure of the meaning of complying. The ruler serves Heaven as his father and earth as his mother. If the kindred of the mother do harm, can he attack the mother to rescue from it? It is the ruler who, by losing the way in his decrees of government, has put yin and yang out of order. Instead of attacking himself to make it good, he goes against measure and offends against his elders; how should Heaven and earth be willing to help him over? If the flooding water harmed and hurt Heaven, and it were not by earth that Heaven was harmed, then attacking it would be right. Now what the flooding water hurt is things, and all things are low beside the earth. The harm offends against the body of the highest of all and goes against the way, and yet those who discuss the Chunqiu have never known how to press the question. Now look: rain comes out of the mountains and flows into the streams, so the kindred of the flooding water are the mountains and the streams. In the calamity of a great flood they do not attack the mountains and the streams. The altar of the soil is earth. In the nature of the five elements water and earth are not the same. Because water does harm they attack earth, for earth overcomes water. Is not this meaning of attacking the altar of the soil like the workman of our day using his mallet and chisel? With the mallet he strikes the chisel and makes the chisel pierce the wood. Now do they perhaps strike the earth to make it hold the water down? Again, the meaning of attacking the altar of the soil is held to be attacking the kindred of yin. If Jia turns robber and hurts the people, and Jia is still there and not gone, will leaving Jia alone and attacking the house of Yi be able to stop Jia? Now rain is water. The water is there, and instead of attacking the water itself they attack the altar of the soil. Now look: when Heaven is about to rain, the mountains first send out clouds; the clouds gather and become rain, and the rain flows and becomes water. If so, then the mountains are the parents and the water the sons and younger brothers. In a heavy crime the punishment reaches the kindred; do they punish the parents and the sons and brothers, or do they punish their company? Reckon the mountains and the water and the altar of the soil: all are the kindred of rain, but which is the near one? The altar of the soil is earth. The five elements differ in breath, and the distance between them is far.

In the time of Taiwu of Yin, mulberry and paper mulberry (桑穀) grew up together. Someone says, "Gaozong was afraid and startled, and bent himself to walk in the way. He sought out the government of the former kings, raised up fallen states, carried on broken lines, brought forward men who had withdrawn, and made clear the meaning of nourishing the aged; and the mulberry and the paper mulberry withered away, and he held the state long."

This saying is what those who discuss the Chunqiu all hear alike. In what way is the calamity of the flood different from the strange growth of the mulberry and the grain? The king of Yin mended his government, and the Chunqiu attacks the altar of the soil; the two ways run contrary to one another, so which is to be followed in practice? In the time of King Cheng of Zhou thunder and rain over all under Heaven laid the grain flat and pulled up trees, and the harm was great. King Cheng opened the writing of the Jin teng and searched out what had been done. He learned the merit of the Duke of Zhou, and holding the writing he wept; the rain was held back and the wind stopped, the grain came up again and the great trees stood up once more. A great rain and a long flooding are in truth one thing. King Cheng mended his fault, and the Chunqiu attacks the altar of the soil. With two classics and two meanings, how is one to act?

The school of the monthly ordinances holds that when insects eat the grain crops they take the clerk of the class the insect stands for and flog him and put him to shame, and so put an end to the strange thing. Those who argue from the reality say that this is not of necessity truly right, and yet it is done to press it into agreement with the wishes of men. Now what brought the rain on was the government and the clerks; but they do not change that government and do not punish those clerks, and merely attack the altar of the soil. What can that make good, and what can it stop? If it is truly held that one ought to attack the kindred of the thing, then the fine breath of all yin is the moon; when the fangzhu is turned toward the moon the water comes down of itself, and when the moon draws near to Bi and comes out on the northern road of Fang, it is rare that there is no rain. The beasts within the moon are the hare and the toad. Their kindred on earth are the snail and the clam. When the moon wanes in Heaven the snail and the clam shrink away, so that they are of one kind is clear. When the rain is long and does not clear, then in attacking the kindred of yin they ought to catch and cut down hares and toads, and crack snails and clams with a mallet, to get at the reality of it. Locusts come in their season, and now they fly and now they settle. On the land where they settle the grain and the grass wither away. Clerks and soldiers and the people of the district dig trenches along the roads and make pits, and drive the locusts into the trenches and the pits, and rake the locusts up in heaps to be reckoned by the thousand bushel. They attack the very bodies of the locusts, and still the locusts do not stop. Still less, when they merely attack the kindred of yin, should the rain be willing to clear.

The Great Tradition of the Shang shu says, "When the smoke and the breath of the suburban sacrifice and of the altar of the soil are not kept up, and the mountains and the streams are not prayed to, so that wind and rain come out of season and frost and snow do not fall, the blame lies with the Duke of Heaven; when subjects often kill their lords and sons of concubines often kill the head of the line, so that the five ranks of kin are not taught, the blame lies with the Duke of Men; when the walls and the ramparts are not repaired and the ditches and the ponds are not kept up and the springs do not rise, so that water does harm to the people, the blame lies with the Duke of Earth."

The three dukes of the king each have what they take charge of, and the feudal lords and the ministers and great officers each have their divided offices. In a great flood they do not blame the ministers and the great officers, but beat the drum and attack the altar of the soil. How is that? If it is not so, then Lu lost the rite, and Confucius made the classic and set it down as a warning. Gongyang Gao could not get at the reality and Dong Zhongshu could not settle it, and so the meaning of attacking the altar of the soil is carried on again to this day. If Gao were still alive and Zhongshu not yet dead, one would press them and say, "When long rain makes the flooding water overflow, who brought it on? If it is the ruler, he ought to mend his government and alter his conduct to make it good and stop it. If it is a subject, that man ought to be punished, and the fault laid open to Heaven. If it is neither ruler nor subject, then the breath of yin and yang has happened to meet the turning of the season, and by beating the drum and attacking the altar of the soil what would be rescued or stopped?"

A saying on the Chunqiu says, "When the ruler is overweening in yang he brings on drought, and when he sinks and drowns in excess he brings on flood."

Now if this is so, then in a drought he should behave as one who sinks and drowns, and in a flood he should bear himself as one overweening in yang; how then should he attack the altar of the soil? Attacking the altar of the soil cannot be explained away, and winding it about with red silk thread is another thing that cannot be understood. Those who explain it hold that the altar of the soil is yin and that red is yang, and that water is yin, and so they wind it about with the color of yang, helping the drum and rescuing thereby. Now when a great mountain catches fire and a jar of water is poured on it, all men know that it cannot be rescued. Why? The fire is strong and the water little, and it cannot overcome the heat. Now a state under flooding water is like a great mountain catching fire, and to wind the altar of the soil about with a thread like a cord and call it a rescue is like pouring a jar of water on a great mountain.

They dig out the heart of Heaven by the wishes of men, and shape the rule of Heaven after the affairs of men. When men strike at one another, if their breath does not match and their soldiers do not carry one another, they cannot win. Now when one state is flooded, if it were truly meant to attack yang and cut off its breath, all the people of the state would have to be sent out gripping swords and holding staves to strike at it, as they drive out the plague at the end of the year; only then would it do. Between Chu and Han, and in the time of the six states, they fought and struck with weapon and armor; where the strength was great they won, and where it was weak and poor they lost. In attacking the altar of the soil one man beats the drum, and there is none of the dread of weapon and armor; how could that rescue anyone from the rain?

Now one rain and one clearing are like one day and one night, and meeting with a flood or a drought like those of Yao and Tang is like one winter and one summer. If someone wishes by the affairs of men and by sacrifice to make good and stop that change, it is to ask that winter become summer and that night become day. How is this shown? When the rain is long and does not clear, try letting the ruler lay his pillow high and lie at ease: the rain still stops of itself. When the stopping has lasted long and comes to a great drought, try letting the ruler lay his pillow high and lie at ease: the drought still turns to rain of itself. Why? Because when yang reaches its end it turns back to yin, and when yin reaches its end it turns back to yang. So then, how do we know that a flooding in Heaven and earth is not like a man having the water sickness? And how do we know that a drought in them is not like a man having the jaundice? They pray and petition and seek blessing, and in the end it is not cured; they alter their bearing and change their conduct, and in the end they cannot rescue it. They set the physician to give medicine, hoping it may be cured; but when the life is spent and the term is come, physician and medicine are of no effect.

Yao met with the great flood, the great flood of the Chunqiu. The sage ruler knew it: he did not pray to the spirits and did not mend his government, but set Yu to govern it, and the hundred streams flowed east. Now Yao's setting Yu to govern the water is like a man sick with the water sickness setting a physician to work. If so, Yao's great flood was the water sickness of Heaven and earth, and Yu's governing of the water was the good physician of the great flood. With what do those who explain change this? The meaning of attacking the altar of the soil does not hold in fact. When the rain does not clear they sacrifice to Nu Wa: where is that seen in the rites? Fu Xi and Nu Wa are both sages. Of leaving Fu Xi aside and sacrificing to Nu Wa the Chunqiu says nothing. What then is the ground of Dong Zhongshu's argument? Now the classic of the Chunqiu says only "drum"; where does it say "attack"? Those who explain it, seeing the word "drum," say at once that it is attacking. Now the drum is not of necessity attacking; it is those who explain it who put a meaning of their own upon it.

The Ji clan was richer than the Duke of Zhou, and Qiu gathered and levied for them and added to their store. Confucius said, "He is not of my following. My young men, it is right to sound the drum and attack him."

To attack is to blame, that is, to blame and reproach him. That the six states struck at one another with weapon and armor cannot be pressed against this; this too is wrong. For the low to blame the high is to go against measure. Or do they blame it on the ground of Heaven? The king serves earth as his mother; if the mother has a fault, may the son blame her on the ground of the father? Of those below toward those above it is proper to say that they remonstrate. To follow in service is the rite of a subject and a son, and blame is properly a warning to those below. If beating the drum must be taken as attacking this altar of the soil, then the sounding of bells and the beating of drums is an attack upon those above.

Using the drum in a great flood is perhaps a second telling to the altar of the soil, because yin is too strong and the rain floods and does not clear. Yin strong and yang faint is not what the way calls right, and since praying with the mouth does not reach far enough they help themselves with the drum. This is one in meaning with beating the drum and using a victim at the altar of the soil at an eclipse of the sun. Both are the telling of an urgent thing, making plain that yin is strong. For a matter great and urgent they use bell and drum, and for one small and slow they use the hand bell and the clapper; they make the matter plain and tell that it is urgent, and so help the breath of the mouth. The great way is hard to know. Even if a great flood long standing were brought on by government, still the urgent thing is told first, and only then is that government carried out. The rising of robbers is a doing of the same kind. Robbers too are brought on by government, and yet, beside the seeking out of what was left undone, the report is still sent out first. Beating the drum and using a victim at the altar of the soil is the making of it known. The altar of the soil is the elder of all yin, and so they beat the drum to let the altar of the soil know. Those who explain the drum hold it to be attacking, and so the objection about attacking the mother and going against measure comes in by that way. Now if we say that they tell of yin being strong and yang faint, where would the objection about attacking one's elders come from? Again, telling goes well with using a victim, and using a victim does not go well with attacking. To use a victim in telling of a matter is a rite; where is the use of a victim in attacking seen in the rites? That the red silk is like a cord shows that it is there. The breath is truly faint, and so what is used is a slight thing. Set an inch of needle and put one pellet of moxa on the path of the blood and the veins, and a heavy sickness may be healed. Is the red silk like the inch of needle and the pellet of moxa? Wu struck Chu and broke it, and King Zhao fled away; Shen Baoxu went by byways on foot to Qin and wept and cried for rescue, and at last got troops to help, drove Wu back and kept Chu standing. With the man who beats the drum it is only a question of what his sincerity is; if his sincerity were like Shen Baoxu's, one man beating would get it. Suppose one man beating the drum could make the altar of the soil feel it as the king of Qin did: then with the dread of earth overcoming water it would drive back and stop the clouds and the rain. If the breath of cloud and rain came to be as Wu was, it would likely scatter away and go into the mountains, and the people who had been harmed would have clear and quiet weather, and there would be the peace that Chu had. At swift thunder and fierce wind the gentleman must change his face, and though it be night he must rise and sit in his robe and cap, for he fears the dread and the strange change.

Now flood and drought are like thunder and wind; and though the turning of the breath be Wuwang (無妄), would one have the ruler lay his pillow high and lie in his tent to wait for the season, with no heart of pity and care for the people? That Yao used no victim was perhaps because the upper ages were plain. Cang Jie made writing and Xi Zhong made the cart. Can we say, because in the time of the former ages there was no business of writing and carts, that the later ages were wrong to make them? When the times are the same and the making is different, the matter may be pressed; but when the age is other and the customs are changed, how should they call one another wrong! The common sort paint the image of Nu Wa in the shape of a woman, and they call her title "woman." Zhongshu's meaning was perhaps that Nu Wa was a woman ruler of old. The male is yang and the female yin, and since the breath of yin was doing harm they sacrificed to Nu Wa to seek blessing and help. The tradition says further that Gong Gong strove with Zhuan Xu to be the Son of Heaven, and not winning, he grew angry and butted against Mount Buzhou, and broke the pillar of Heaven and cut the cords of earth; and that Nu Wa melted down stones of five colors to patch the blue sky, and cut off the feet of a sea turtle to set up the four poles. Zhongshu's sacrificing to Nu Wa was perhaps because he had seen this tradition. Since there was from the first a spirit that patched the blue sky and set up the four poles, then when the breath of Heaven was out of tune and the way of yang did not win, perhaps Nu Wa with her fine spirit might help the sage king and stop the flooding of the rain!