get rid of their cold or their fever. Although the body is quite near, it cannot bring about a change and a cure. Now a city or a State is much more distant, how should it be possible to regulate their fluids?-When a man has caught cold, he drinks medicine, which soothes his pain, and when, being somewhat weak, he has got fever, he swallows pills, which make him perspire, and thus cure him.

In Yen there was the "Cold Valley" in which the five kinds of grain did not grow. Tsou Yen blew the flute, and the "Cold Valley" could be cultivated. The people of Yen sowed millet in it, and called it "Millet Valley." If this be true that with playing the flute the cold fluid was dispelled, how could this calamity be averted by a change of government or action? Therefore, a cold and fever cannot be cured but with medicine, and the fluid of the "Millet Valley" cannot be transformed but with music.

When Yao was visited with the Great Flood, he ordered Yü to regulate it. Cold and heat are essentially the same as the Great Flood. Yao did not change his administration or conduct, being well aware that the Great Flood was not the result of government or conduct. Since the Flood was not brought about by government or conduct, we know that heat and cold cannot be caused by government either.

as

Some one might in disproof quote from the "Various Verifications" of the Hung-fan which says that "excitement is as a rule accompanied by cold, and cheerfulness by tepidity."2 Accompanied means: followed, tepidity: warmth, and a rule:" always. When the sovereign is excited, cold weather always follows, when he is cheerful, warm weather follows. Cold and heat correspond to excitement and cheerfulness, how can their connexion with the government be denied? Does the Classic say that excitement causes no cold, and cheerfulness no warmth?

The sovereign being excited or cheerful, cold or heat set in, but by chance and of their own accord. If they corresponded intentionally, it would be like the obtaining of omens by divining with shells, or like the finding of numbers by telling the fortune from straws. People pretend that heaven and earth respond to the questions addressed to them, but, as a matter of fact, it is nothing but chance. Heat and cold respond to excitement and cheerfulness, as omens and numbers are the response to the in

1 They are all natural phenomena.

2 Shaking, Hung-fan Pt. V, Bk. IV, 34 (Legge Vol. III, Pt. II, p. 340).

quiries of the diviners. Externally they seem to respond, but actually it is hazard. How can we prove that?

The principle of heaven is spontaneity. Spontaneity means absence of purpose. When the two kinds of divination are applied, things may meet eventually, or happen by accident, and perhaps coincide with human affairs. The heavenly fluid is there already, therefore one may speak of a principle. Should it correspond to government, however, there would be no more spontaneity.

Ching has distributed the 64 symbols of the Yiking over one year. One symbol rules over 6 days and 10. The symbols consist of Yin and Yang.2 The fluid rises and falls. When the Yang fluid rises, it becomes warm, and, when the Yin fluid rises, it becomes cold. According to this theory heat and cold depend on the symbols, but do not correspond to government. In accordance with the "wu-wang" symbol of the Yiking, inundations and droughts have fixed times. All the innumerable calamities and disasters are of the same kind.

I am afraid that the phenomenalists have missed the truth for the following reason: "The ideal man is endowed with the same virtue as heaven and earth. When man takes the lead, heaven does not disagree with him, and when he follows heaven, he respects heaven's time." The lung-fan on the other hand says that "excitement is as a rule accompanied by cold, and cheerfulness by tepidity." According to this passage of the Hung-fan the heavenly fluid follows man. The Yiking however only says that, when man takes the lead, heaven does not disagree with him. But why does it add that, when he follows heaven, he respects heaven's time? To follow means that heaven was already cold or hot before, and that man followed with his rewards and punishments afterwards. This statement of men does not agree with the Shuking. That is my first doubt.

Ching determines heat and cold by the Yin and the Yang fluids ascending and descending, whereas the phenomenalists lay all the stress on punishments, joy and anger. The two schools walk different ways. That is my second doubt.

When people determine heat and cold, it may be cold to-day, and warm to-morrow, or at dawn there is plenty of hoar-frost,

1 Ching Fang, a metaphysician of the 1st cent. B.C., who spent much labour

on the elucidation of the Yiking.

2 Marked by broken and unbroken lines.

3 The 25th hexagram of the Yiking.

4 Quotation from the Yiking, 1st diagram (Chien). Cf. pp. 98 and 128.

and in the evening resplendent light, or one morning is rainy, but warm, and another bright and cold. Now rain is Yin, and brightness Yang, and conversely cold is Yin, and warmth is Yang. A rainy day may clear up, and become cold, and a bright day become rainy, and warm. The categories do not correspond correctly. That is my third doubt.

These three doubts are not set at rest, and the principle of spontaneity is not upheld either.

CHAPTER XXII.

On Thunder and Lightning (Lei-hsü).

In midsummer thunder and lightning rapidly following each other, split trees, demolish houses, and occasionally kill men. Common people are of opinion that, when the lightning strikes a tree, or demolishes a house, Heaven fetches a dragon, whereas, when a man is killed, they say that it is for his hidden faults. If in eating and drinking people use impure things, Heaven becomes angry, and strikes them dead. The deep rolling sound is the expression of Heaven's anger like the breathing and gasping of angry men. Every one, no matter whether intelligent or stupid, says so. But if we look into the matter, taking human nature as a basis, we find that all this is nonsense.

By a thunder-stroke one fluid is set in motion, and one sound produced. A tree is hit, and a dwelling damaged, and at the same time a man may be killed. When a man is slain, a tree may be struck, and a house damaged also. But they assert that, when a tree is struck, and a house damaged, Heaven fetches a dragon, whereas, when it kills a man, it punishes him for his hidden guilt. In that case something inauspicious would clash with the auspicious fetching of the dragon.2 That both things should happen at the same moment, and with the same sound, would not be proper. It has been argued that the rolling is the sound of Heaven's growling. That would be appropriate for the punishment of the guilty, but out of place for fetching dragons. In meting out punishment, Heaven may be angry, but, when it fetches a dragon, what fault has it, that it should be irritated like that? Provided that the dragon be a spirit, then Heaven in fetching it, ought not to be angry. If, however, a dragon has faults, which are to be atoned for like those of man, Heaven would kill it, but why must it still fetch it? While destroying a man, Heaven may be in wrath, but, when it fetches a dragon, what wrong has the dragon done, that Heaven should be so enraged at it? Having smitten a man, Heaven does not fetch him. If under the same circumstances it

1 The same force destroys the tree, the house, and the man.

2 The dragon is accounted a sacred animal.

does so with a dragon, what difference is there between human guilt and that of dragons? If both are put to death, where does a difference come in? We can no more accept the assertion that Heaven fetches dragons, than approve of the idea that the guilty meet with their dues for the following reasons:

When the thunder instantaneously follows upon the lightning, and a man falls to the ground dead, the rolling sound is close above his head, which brings about his death. But is the rolling really Heaven's anger? If so, in its wrath, it would kill a man by the angry breath of its mouth. But how can the angry breath of a mouth kill a man? On examining the body of a man, who has been struck by a thunderbolt, one discovers traces of burning. Provided that Heaven used its mouth in its anger, could its angry breath become fiery then?

Moreover, the mouth is connected with the body, and its movements must be the same as those of the body. When lightning strikes, the sound is on the earth, and, when the work of destruction is done, it is again in the sky. Now, the moment, when the sound is on the earth, the mouth must approach it, and the body do the same. But, if at a thunder-clap we look up to Heaven, we do not see it descending. Since we do not see it come down, the rolling sound cannot be the expression of Heaven's anger.

Heaven's anger cannot be different from that of man. When an angry person comes near anybody, his voice sounds loud, when he is for off, his voice seems low. Now, Heaven's voice is near, but its body far away. Therefore, anger is out of the question.

When the peals of thunder rapidly succeed one another, the sound may be in the East, the West, the North or the South. Provided that Heaven be angry and move its body, then, if its mouth is in an eastern, western, northern, or southern direction, looking up we ought to see Heaven in one of these directions. likewise.

Some one might object that Heaven really was in one of these directions, but could not be seen by man owing to the obscurity, caused by the clouds and the rain. Yet over a distance of a thousand Li there are not the same winds, and within a hundred Li there is not the same tempest. As the Yiking has it:-"A hundred Li are frightened by the concussion." The region where the thunderstorm is raging, is darkened by the thunder-clouds and the rain, but beyond a hundred Li, where no rain is falling, one ought to

1 Yiking Book V, Chen Hexagram (No. 51).