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1 I. In the thirteenth year, the king went to inquire of the vis2 count of Ke, and said to hin “Oh! viscount of Ke, Heaven, unseen, has given their constitution to mankind, aiding also the harmonious development of it in their various conditions. I do not know how their proper virtues in their various relations should be brought forth in due order."

The Name of the Book. The perhaps only made it known that he would flee Great Plan.’洪大,‘great.’範=法,

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-to Corea. King Woo respected and admired his attachment to the fallen dynasty, and invested him with that territory. He now felt constrained to appear at the court of Chow, when the king took the opportunity to consult him on the great principles of government, and the result was that he communicated this Great Plan, with its nine Divisions.' Being first made public under the Chow dynasty, it is ranked among the Books of Chow.' It is often referred to, however, as one of the 'Books of Shang,' as having emanated from the viscount of Ke, who should properly be adjudged to that dynasty. When we read the Book itself, we see that it originally belonged to the time of Hea, and at least the central portion, or text of it,-par. 4,-should be ascribed to the great Yu.' We have therefore a fragment in it of very ancient learning. How this had come into the possession of the viscount of Ke we cannot tell. It does not seem to have occurred to the Chinese critics to make the inquiry. Whether we should ascribe all the paragraphs from the 5th downwards to the viscount, is also a point on which I cannot undertake to pronounce a posi

Near the head of the tortoise, it is said, were

tive opinion. Hea Seuen (; Sung dyn.) the nine open marks, and opposite was the one

says that though the words are those of the viscount of Ke, the record of them was made by the historians of Chow.'

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close mark. The two and the four were at the shoulders; the six and the eight were by the feet Three and seven were on the left and right, and five were in the centre. Out of those numbers, odd and even, heavenly and earthly, now multiplied, now added together, the whole of the Plan and its Divisions is developed, with a glibness of tongue and a leger-de-plume, which only familiarity with the Yih-king, and the applications of it to astrology, geomancy, and other follies can produce. There is of course no solid learning'

That the central portion of the Book, and more or less of the expository part, came down from the times of Hea is not improbable. The use of the number nine, and the naming of the various divisions of the Plan,' are in harmony with Yu's style and practice in his Counsels,' and in what we may call the 'Domesday Book.' We are told that Heaven-God-gave the plan with its Divisions to Yu.' Upon this Gan-kwo says that Heaven gave Yu the mysterious tortoise, which made its appearance in) in all this. We shall have to endeathe waters of the Lo, bearing marks on its back well defined, from 1 to 9; and thereupon Yu determined the meaning of those numbers, and completed the nine divisions of the plan.'

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This legend has been fathered on Confucius, as we read in the Appendix to the Yih king' ), Pt i., p. 38, that the Ho

(易經

gave forth the Scheme, and the Lo gave forth the Book (or defined characters), which the sages (or sage) took as their pattern'

洛出書聖人則之). If we admit

that these words proceeded from Confucius or were edited by him, while it is absurd enough to speak of the two rivers giving forth the Scheme and the Book, he says nothing of the Scheme being on the back of a dragon, which has been the current statement for more than 2,000 years, or of the Book being on the back of a tortoise. Moreover, there is no evidence that he meant to connect the Book of Lo' with the Great Plan' at all. We should rather imagine that he supposed the Scheme and the Book to be equally related to the diagrams of the Yih, and to have been both presented to Fuh-he. I hardly know an interpreter, however, but Lin Che-k'e, who has not adopted the statement of Gan-kwo; and the consequence is that the explanations of this Book are overlaid with absurd twaddle about the virtue of numbers as related to Heaven and Earth, to the Yin and the Yang, the cardinal points, &c., &c.. The following figure has been imagined as that which was exhibited to Yu:

VOL. III.

vour to treat seriously of it, when we come to the Yih-king, but it should be exploded from the study of 'The great Plan.' The Book will be found dark enough in itself, but the viscount of Ke says nothing of occult qualities of numbers, from which the ideas in the different divisions of the Plan could be deduced. It will be my object, therefore, simply to elucidate the meaning of the whole as a scheme of government, intended to guide all rulers in the discharge of their duties.

Gaubil says that the Book is a treatise at once of Physics, Astrology, Divination, Morals, Politics, and Religion; and that it has a suffithe Lucanian.' There is a shadowy resemblance ciently close resemblance to the work of Ocellus between the Great Plan and the curious specimen of Pythagorean doctrine which we have in ties are still greater and more numerous. More the treatise On the Universe. The dissimilariespecially are the different characters of the Greek mind, speculative, and the Chinese mind, practical, apparent in the two Works. Where the Chinese writer loses himself in the sheerest follies of his imagining, he would yet grope about for a rule to be of use in the conduct of human affairs. One of the most interesting the Summer palace' near Peking, was a curiosities which were obtained in 1861 from scroll, purporting to be in the handwriting of the emperor Keen-lung, dilating on the meaning ofThe great Plan,' and the lessons to be learned by sovereigns from it. general agreement among the critics in assigning its place to the Book either among the 'Counsels' of the Shoo, or among the Instructions.'

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CONTENTS. I avail myself here, with a little variation, of the account of these given in the Complete Digest' of commentaries on the

Shoo (書經備合).-The whole dividees

itself into three chapters. The first, parr. 1-3,
is introductory, and describes how the Great
Plan with its Divisions' was first made known
to Yu, and came at this time to be communi-
cated to king Woo. The second, in p. 4, contains
the Plan and its Divisions. The third, parr.
5-40, contains a particular description of the
several Divisions. The whole,' says the writer,
'exhibits the great model for the govt. of the
empire. The fifth or middle division on Royal
Perfection is, indeed, the central one of the whole,
that about which the Book revolves.
four divisions that precede it show how this
royal Perfection is to be accomplished, and the
four that follow show how it is to be maintained.'

The

Ch. I. Pp. 1-3. KING WOO APPLIES TO THE VISCOUNT OF KE FOR INFORMATION ABOUT

41

HOW THE GOVERNMENT OF THE EMPIRE SHOULD

BE CONDUCTED, AND IS TOLD BY HIM OF THE

Men have thus the material

GREAT PLAN WITH NINE DIVISIONS WHICH YU body and the knowing mind, and Heaven furGOT FROM HEAVEN.

1. +

—the commentators observe that, the Shang term for 'year,' is here used instead of the Chow , the viscount of Ke using the character to which he had been accustomed. 訪

acc.

to Ts'ae, =就而問之‘went to and

asked him.' It implies consultation.'

the note on the History of the Book.

ther assists them, helping them to harmonize their lives. The right and the wrong of their language, the correctness and errors of their conduct, their enjoyment of clothing and food, the rightness of their various movements:-all these things are to be harmonized by what they are endowed with by Heaven. Accordance with the right way gives life, and error from it leads to death. Thus Heaven has not only given life

to men, and conferred upon them a body and

See mind, but it further assists them to harmonize

2.

their conditions of life, so as to have a pro

王乃言日,the king thereupon spoke, vision for its continuance' (天非徒賦

saying. The protracts the style, and in

dicates the deliberation with which the king 復佑助諧合其業使有常

made his inquiry. So in the next

箕子乃言曰:箕子,一king Woo,生之資). The fact is that the obscure text

it is observed, addressed the noble by his Shang title, not having yet invested him with the territory of Corea. It may be so; but he might

also address him thus, the old designation being

familiar to him, even if he had already given

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can only be brought out obscurely. We cannot

do better than understand as meaning

the principles in which men should rest in

their various conditions,' belonging to the complex constitution which God has given them.

him his new appointment. 天陰險下 I have said that Heaven is the subject spoken 民相協厥居-陰=默‘secretly, of in相協厥居: The text certainly sup'by a hidden influence;' to settle.' plies no other; but Wang Suh supposed a 王 Sze-ma Ts'een gives the text as, before P, thinking the meaning to be

TE, which shows at least how he under-
The meaning then of the

stood the term

first clause is that Heaven, working unseen,
has made men with certain hidden springs
of character.' As Gan-kwo says,
言而默定下民

This inter

pretation is much to be preferred to that adopted by Keang Shing and others from Ma Yung, who makes to cover,' 'to overshadow,' and

produce.'

=

---4, 'to

TR is thus simply

that Heaven having produced men with their

peculiar constitution, and taking an interest in them, it devolves on the sovereign to give effect

to the wishes of Heaven for men's virtue and happiness.' Keang Shing follows this view. It cannot be said not to be in harmony with the general teaching of the classics. The text is thereby, indeed, brought into strict accordance with that in the Announcement of Tang,' p. 2. But the language in that passage is sufficiently explicit. I can find no subject in the text for but. The next clause, however, must be understood, I think, with reference to the duty of the sovereign, so that the

whole paragraph may be considered as very

Heaven that overshadows produced the in-nearly equivalent to that referred to in the

ferior people.' The next clause is continua

tive, and is to be referred to Heaven as its subject.

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unite,' 'to harmonize.' their dwelling or abiding.' This expression is difficult. Both the Daily Explanation,' and Keang Shing

paraphrase it by ELZ, by其所當居止之理,

the principles in which they ought to abide.' Gan-kwo's language upon it is enigmatical. He says that 'Heaven thus aids and harmonizes their abiding, so that they shall have a provision

for prolonged life (是助合其居使
有常生之資).
2. Ying-tă in expanding

this has some striking things. He says that
'the people have been produced by supreme
Heaven (民是上天所生), and both

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'constant,' regular;' meaning here the nature
of man, acting according to the regular laws
of its constitution appointed by Heaven. Com-
pare in the She King, Pt, III., Bk. III., Ode vi.,
Heaven, in
之秉好是懿德
st. 1, 天生烝民有物有則民
giving birth to the multitudes of men, to every
endowment appointed its appropriate law. The
people, holding fast this constant nature, love
the virtue which is admirable倫=人倫

6

body and soul are Heaven's gift the relations of human society, in which are

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3

彞錫惠攸洪帝水聞箕其 乃範乃在子彝

倫禹

攸洪 洪嗣鯀九震陳昔乃倫 敘範 疇怒其鯀言攸

○九天殛彝不五陞日救。 初疇乃死倫畀行洪我O

The viscount of Ke thereupon replied, "I have heard that of old time K'wan dammed up the inundating waters, and thereby threw into disorder the arrangement of the five elements. God was thereby roused to anger, and did not give him 'the great Plan with its nine Divisions,' whereby the proper virtues of the various relations were left to go to ruin. K'wan was then kept a prisoner till his death, and Yu rose up to continue his undertaking. To him Heaven gave the great Plan with its nine Divisions,' and thereby the proper virtues of the various relations were brought forth in their order.

seen the virtues of man's nature, intended by | cette regle: quelle est elle?" Medhurst endeato keep more close to the text:- Heaven

彝攸=所;攸敘=所以敘assecretly settled the lower people, aiding

how they are arranged.'

I have said that this clause is to be understood with reference to the work and duty

of the sovereign. Gan-kwǒ, indeed, supposes

and according with that in which they rest;

but I do not know the arrangement of those invariable principles.'

P.3. 鯀陞洪水,陞-塞,(to

that Heaven is still the subject (dam up. Instead of finding a vent for the 天所以定民之常道理次 accumulated waters, as his son Yu did, K'wän 敘問何由); but the other view is gene attempted to remedy the evils of their inundarally adopted. The explanation of the whole tion by damming them up. 汨陳五行 paragraph, given by Chin Ya-yen (陳雅 the five elements,' see the 5th par. 汨= -for 言; Ming dyn.) is the best which I have seen: 亂, 'to confuse,' 'to throw into disorder.' 一武王意人君代天理物必 (to arrange,' and 陳五行=上 列, 仰承天意以治民而使其 帝所陳列之五行 帝所陳列之五行‘the five ele居之順其常得其正以無 the waters-dealing wrongly with one ng 頁上天陰騰 其 敘

也,我

協秉

ments arranged by God.' How K'wan's dam

element-should derange all the other elements, is a statement which I can make nothing of.

人倫 不畀洪範九疇-畀=與, 以敘 to give to;疇=類‘sorts, ‘classes,' 'divi之之道當何如此問箕子 sions. 彝倫攸-(read too) 為治之道也,箕子於是 一敗, ‘to subvert,' ‘to ruin.' How the consc 告 洪範九疇爲為治之 quence here stated took place, is likewise a 法蓋九疇之敘即彝之所 thing which I don't understand. 鯀則 也 Gaubil's translation is Leciel 殛死 ,-see the 'Can. of Shun,' p. 12. a des voies secrettes, par lesquelles il rend le|天乃錫禹洪範九疇-we have

peuple tranquille et fixe. Il s'unit à lui pour seen, in the second introductory note, how it is l'aider à garder son Etat. Je ne connois point fabled that Yu received the great Plan from

九曰明用皇次三日 日

用三極 極次四 四曰敬日 嚮用稽 次五 五曰農用五 用庶疑次 日 協用五行 五徵次七日建用八 建用八事次 福次入曰父用五政次二

4 II. “

II. "Of those divisions, the first is called 'The five Elements;' the second is called 'The Reverent Practice of the five Businesses'; the third is called 'Earnest Devotion to the eight objects of Government;' the fourth is called "The Harmonious Use of the five Arrangements'; the fifth is called 'The Establishment and Use of Royal Perfection'; the sixth is called 'The Cultivation and Use of the three Virtues'; the seventh is called 'The Intelligent Use of the Examination of Doubts'; the eighth is called 'The Thoughtful Use of the various Verifications'; the ninth is called 'The Hortatory Use of the five Happinesses, and the Awing Use of the six Extremities.'

Heaven. Lin Che-k'e held that all which is meant by the text is that Heaven gave Yu the mind and the enlightenment to conceive and describe the Plan. Choo He was asked what he thought of this view, and whether it was not

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This paragraph is supposed to be the work of Yu. According to Lew Hin, indeed, the whole 65 characters were upon the back of the

tortoise;--see the 前漢書五行志

contrary to the Yih King, which says that the 上,凡此六十五字皆洛書

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Lo gave forth the Book.' He answered, 'Suppose that Heaven had only now given the Book of Gan-kwo says he did not know Lo, if it did not also give the mind to interpret how many characters were on the back of the it, no man would understand it! Neither the tortoise, but that the numbering of the Divisions, old account, nor Lin Che-k'e's, is to be set aside' ‘first,'‘second,’&c., (初 一 日 次 二 Cure would be 38 characters left. Some take 日云云) was done by Yu. In this way

(便使而今天錫洛書若非 天啟其心亦無人理會得 兩說似不可偏廢也

have said I don't understand how the virtues and relations were left to go to ruin, in conse

quence of K'win's failure: Chin Sze-kae has

there

,

I away the half of these again,-those, namely,

which have a verbal or hortatory force,' (敬

leaving the names of the 用農用云云),

tried to explain the difficulty, but with little divisions. The prevailing opinion now, however,

Buccess.

open and close, upon the creature; but even

6

of the tortoise and the book of Lo' is only fit

He says: -陶唐之盛於變 is that there were only the 45 small circles, 時雍之際又何倫之斁 thus much cannot be allowed. The whole story 哉此非言朝廷也蓋五行 to be told to children. In the paragraph before 既汨九功未敘獸蹄鳥迹 us, the characters 五行五事, &c, had 之道交於中國堯甚憂之敬用農用, &c, had done the same; 此彝倫之所以也豈必 初一日,次二日, &c, were spoken 綱常絕滅而後謂之哉 by the viscount of Ke in the narrative which

Ch. II. P. 4. THE GREAT PLAN AND ITS NINE DIVISIONS. The reader must not suppose that the great Plan was something different from its nine Divisions. It was merely the combination of them,

come down from the times of Hea; perhaps the

he gave to Woo.

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