shared by reader, narrator, and narratees alike). This is a paradox
faced by all Traditionalist advisors: the very people most in need of
their advice are the least likely to heed it. The narrative provides key instances of Duke Ling’s “unrulerness.” He fails in his public duties
by exacting taxes to gratify his own appetites rather than to improve
his state as a whole. He fails in his personal impulses by tormenting
his people for his own amusement rather than pursuing the proper
pleasures of a king. He is “unkingly” without and within. The last
egregious instance—the murder of an incompetent chef—provides a
bloody transition from a general list of Duke Ling’s failings to the
particulars of this anecdote. That Duke Ling realizes the difference
between right and wrong is shown in his clumsy attempt to conceal
the cook’s murder from the attendants at court by stuffing the
corpse in a basket. Having his ladies lug the basket through the au-
dience chamber, however, was not the most inconspicuous means of
disposing of the body. When the two advisors, Zhao Dun and Shi
Ji, spot the dead man’s hand protruding from the basket, their keen
faculties tell them that something is amiss. This act of “interpreta-
tion” seems a macabre parody of a process reiterated in the Tradi-
tion itself: surmising the state of the interior from external evidence.
The advisors, fully aware of the duke’s recalcitrance and violent
temper, hatch a plan to remonstrate with him in succession. What is
never stated explicitly by Shi Ji, but is surely implied in his proposal, is that remonstrating with such a ruler poses a grave risk. The duke
may do more than ignore the message; he may kill the messenger.
A good Traditionalist must be willing to die in defense of his
Tradition. When Shi Ji tells Zhao Dun, “If he does not accept what I
say, then you may carry on after me” 不 入 則 子 繼 之 , he is
acknowledging that just as there is a position of Ruler that will be
This content downloaded from 130.111.46.54 on Sat, 03 Aug 2019 08:33:49 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
58
Performing the Tradition
filled by a succession of rulers, so too is there a position of Advisor
that will be filled by a succession of advisors.
Shi Ji is aware of the proper way to approach the duke: advancing
in stages until he is noticed. This tactic—aside from building sus-
pense in the narrative, for we surely know what is in store for this
hapless advisor—simultaneously signifies both Shi Ji’s respect for
the duke’s authority and his determination to remonstrate with
him. Duke Ling correctly interprets the signal and, much as a child
would do to avoid a spanking, attempts to head off the remonstra-
tion by immediately avowing his guilt and declaring that he will
change. The reader senses that the duke has made this promise many
times before. Shi Ji is a skillful advisor, though, and will not be
preempted. He seizes the duke’s avowal as an opportunity to re-
monstrate with him on his recidivist nature. Shi Ji bows his head to
the ground as he does so, placing his body in a posture of humble
deference even as he utters words calculated to place the duke in a
state of discomfiture.
Shi Ji opens his speech in a conciliatory tone, acknowledging that
everyone makes mistakes but that the important thing is to change
one’s behavior to avoid repeating them. He seems to hold out hope
for his reprobate ruler. Then he cites the following lines from
“Grand” 蕩 (Mao #255): “There is nobody who has not a beginning /
but few can have a normal end” 靡不有初。鮮克有終. Shi Ji ex-
plicitly announces that he is citing this source of Traditional
knowledge; in addition, the meter in which they are uttered (two
lines of four characters each), their parallel grammatical structure,
and the characteristic usage of some of the words ( mi 靡, xian 鮮, and ke 克) all endow this utterance with the authority of the Poems.
In case Duke Ling has missed the import of these lines (as seems
likely), Shi Ji provides an explicit interpretation—“there are truly
few who are able to amend their faults”—in which he forms an ex-
plicit linguistic link between the duke’s own statement regarding
“faults” ( guo 過) and the citation’s assertion that “few” ( xian 鮮) people can see themselves through to a proper ending. Shi Ji began
by applauding the duke’s promise to reform his ways, but his cita-
tion from and ensuing interpretation of the Poems immediately
juxtapose the duke’s declaration with the Tradition, which casts
serious doubt upon the ability of the duke to live up to his own
This content downloaded from 130.111.46.54 on Sat, 03 Aug 2019 08:33:49 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
Performing the Tradition
59
words. It is inconceivable for Shi Ji to simply say to the duke, “You
are lying,” or even, “You may believe you can change, but you will
not.” The Tradition can say this for him. It says this and even more.
When Shi Ji cites and interprets the lines from “Grand,” he forms
more than an explicit intertextual link between the citation and the
duke’s own words; he also evokes an implicit link between the ci-
tation and the rest of the poem from which it is drawn. The practice
of poetic citation as it is depicted in the Zuo Tradition is often characterized using the term “breaking off a stanza to seize upon a
meaning” 斷章取義, with the connotation that lines from the Poems
are quoted out of context in order to articulate sentiments that are
not necessarily compatible with the poem as a whole. While this
exact phrase is not found in the Zuo Tradition itself, 50 an early variation of it is found in Duke Xiang 28th Year (545 b.c.e.), which
tells of Lupu Gui 廬蒲癸, who married a woman with whom he
shared a common surname, thus violating the incest taboo. He de-
fended his action by saying, “It is just like breaking off a stanza
when offering a poem: I take from it whatever I am seeking” 辟之賦
詩斷章。余取所求焉 (Xiang 28.9). It is important to note that Lupu
uses the term “offering” here rather than “citing.” He explicitly
acknowledges a degree of manipulation in poetic offering, in the
selection of which stanza is actually performed. Only those stanzas
that serve the interests of the performer are uttered. When the
Poems shifts from words for performance through ritual offering to words for citation in a speech, this manipulation becomes overt and
—————
50. It is found in the Six Dynasties work of literary criticism called Wenxin diaolong 文心雕龍 by Liu Xie 劉勰 (ca. 465–522), in the chapter entitled “Stanza and Line” 章句: “If we consider the way in which the poets of the Book of Songs made metaphorical references, even though they may sometimes have made their point in detached stanzas [斷章取義], still the stanzas ( zhang) and lines ( ju) in a piece are like silk drawn from a cocoon, starting from the beginning and carrying it through to the end, the form always in layered succession [as with fish scales]. The periods that begin the journey anti
cipate the concepts ( yi) in the middle of the composition; the words used at the close go back to carry through the significance of the previous lines” (Owen, Readings, p. 254). Liu is using an organic metaphor to illustrate the unity of a literary composition. This has a bearing on intertextuality for it suggests that even a partial citation will always carry implicit within it the connotation of the whole piece from which it is drawn.
This content downloaded from 130.111.46.54 on Sat, 03 Aug 2019 08:33:49 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
60
Performing the Tradition
is often reduced to the level of couplet rather than stanza. It is also
important to note, however, that although Lupu may be willfully
ignoring the context of his bride (that is, that she and he are of the
same clan) in his actions, he is still acutely aware of it in his per-
ceptions. He asks, “How can I recognize her ancestry?” 惡識宗,
suggesting that he has already done so in his mind, but has simply
refused to let his behavior be guided by that knowledge. Similarly,
an advisor such as Shi Ji may cite particular lines from the Poems out of context, bending them to the situation at hand, but this does not
remove the weight of their context. This weight may be provision-
ally ignored, but it is present nonetheless. In this case, Shi Ji seems to be counting on it to make a point that he would dare not articulate
explicitly.
The entire text of “Grand,” from which Shi Ji draws his citation,
is a diatribe by the founder of the Zhou dynasty against the last ruler
of the preceding Shang-Yin dynasty:
Grand is God on High.
he is the ruler of the people below;
terrible is God on High,
his charge has many rules;
Heaven gives birth to the multitudinous people,
but its charge is not to be relied on;
there is nobody who has not a beginning,
but few can have a normal end.
King Wen said: Alas!
Alas, you Yin-Shang!
Those men are refractory,
they are crushing and subduing,
but they are in official positions,
they are in the services;
Heaven sent down in them a reckless disposition,
but you raised them and give them power.
King Wen said: Alas!
Alas, you Yin-Shang!
You should hold on to what is right and good;
the refractory have much ill-will,
with false words they answer you;
robbers and thieves are used within,
This content downloaded from 130.111.46.54 on Sat, 03 Aug 2019 08:33:49 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
Performing the Tradition
61
they stand up and imprecate evil,
without limit, without end.
King Wen said: Alas!
Alas, you Yin-Shang!
You shout and brawl in this central kingdom;
you make it a virtue to heap ill-will upon yourself;
you do not make bright your virtue,
and so you do not distinguish the disloyal and perverse;
your virtue is not bright,
and so you do not distinguish the supporters, the
true ministers.
King Wen said, Alas!
Alas, you Yin-Shang!
It is not Heaven that steeps you in wine;
it is not right that you are bent on it and use it;
you have erred in your demeanor;
you make no distinction between light and darkness,
you shout and clamor,
you turn day into night.
King Wen said, Alas!
Alas, you Yin-Shang!
You are noisy like cicadas, like grasshoppers
you chatter,
like bubbling water, like boiling soup;
small and great are approaching to ruin,
but people still pursue this course;
here you are overbearing in the central kingdom,
and it extends even to Guifang.
King Wen said, Alas!
Alas, you Yin-Shang!
It is not that God on High is not good;
Yin does not use the old ways;
but though there are no old and perfected men,
there still are the statutes and the laws;
you have not listened to them;
the great appointment is therefore tumbling down.
King Wen said, Alas!
Alas, you Yin-Shang!
This content downloaded from 130.111.46.54 on Sat, 03 Aug 2019 08:33:49 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
62
Performing the Tradition
The people have a saying:
When a tree fallen down and uprooted is lifted,
the branches and leaves are yet uninjured;
the root is then first disposed of; 51
the mirror for Yin is not far off,
it is in the age of the lords of Xia. 52
With cognizance of the entire poem from which Shi Ji has cited one
couplet—cognizance that Shi Ji certainly had and that even Duke
Ling might have had in some debased form—it is impossible to es-
cape the conclusion that Shi Ji’s citation is meant to communicate
more than the difficulty of amending one’s faults. As a wholesale
condemnation of the dissolute last rulers of the Shang dynasty by
the founding father of the Zhou, this poem is an early articulation of
the principle that a dynastic house engaged in immoral behavior
forfeits the charge to rule granted to it by Heaven. Through his ci-
tation from the Tradition, Shi Ji attaches significance to the random
violent acts and irrational brutality of the “refractory” Duke Ling:
they lead to the demise of his own person and the ruling house; they
imperil the very existence of the Jin state. The Tradition has a place
for the likes of Duke Ling, and there is little he can do to escape it.
In the end, Shi Ji’s citation is less for the edification of an incorri-
gible ruler in a particular historical moment than it is for the ex-
tended audience of his speech, who will see for themselves the
continuing power of traditional knowledge to bring order to a
chaotic world.
There are really three intermingled voices in Shi Ji’s speech: one
speaking his own words, one speaking his citation from the Poems, and one murmuring darkly of the fate of those who refuse to listen.
The first voice belongs to Shi Ji, the third to Tradition, and the
second, the intermediary, is shared between these two entities. Shi
Ji’s poetic competence is manifested in how he manages the inter-
section of his own voice and that of the Tradition in his citation
—————
51. Karlgren notes: “So ‘the root’ of the state, the royal house, is disposed of, without the branches and leaves, i.e. the people, coming to any harm” ( Book of Odes, p. 261 note d).
52. After Karlgren, Book of Odes, pp. 214–16. Xia was the dynastic house preceding Shang-Yin.
This content downloaded from 130.111.46.54 on Sat, 03 Aug 2019 08:33:49 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
Performing the Tradition
63
from the Poems. In this case, he can hold out the possibility that the duke may change, while qualifying that possibility with a citation
from the Poems, which in turn smuggles in a latent threat that will be realized in the likely event that the duke fails to change.
<
br /> Perhaps feeling that he has tilted too much toward the negative in
his citation, Shi Ji resumes his speech by imagining the positive
outcome of a successful change in the duke’s behavior. His condi-
tional premise, “If your lordship is able to bring things to ‘a normal
end’” 君能有終則, which commingles the language of the citation
with his own, places the responsibility for a happy conclusion
squarely on the shoulders of the duke. How will Duke Ling be able
to live up to this responsibility? The answer to that question is to be
found in the Tradition; Shi Ji cites the following lines from “Mul-
titudes” 烝民: “When the embroidered fabric of the royal robe has a
hole / Zhong Shanfu alone can mend it.” 53 Every ruler needs a loyal and competent official to help him in his administration of the land
and to remind him of proper behavior. Zhong Shanfu is the para-
digm of such a coadjutant, and the explicit mention of his name here
evokes the entire poem about him, which reads as follows:
Heaven gave birth to the multitude of people,
they have bodies, they have rules;
that the people hold onto norms
is because they love beautiful virtue;
Heaven looked down upon the domain of Zhou,
and brightly approached the world below;
it protected this Son of Heaven,
and gave birth to Zhong Shanfu.
The virtue of Zhong Shanfu
is mild and kind and just;
he has a good deportment, a good appearance,
he is careful and reverent,
he has the ancient precepts as his norm;
he is strenuous about his fine deportment,
and obedient to the Son of Heaven;
he causes the bright decrees to be promulgated.
—————
53. Mao #260. After Karlgren, Book of Odes, p. 229.
This content downloaded from 130.111.46.54 on Sat, 03 Aug 2019 08:33:49 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
64
Performing the Tradition
The king charged Zhong Shanfu:
“Be a model to those many rulers,
continue the service of your ancestors,
protect the king’s person,
give out and bring in reports about the king’s decrees;
Words Well Put Page 10
