The Most Venerable Book (Shang Shu)

by Confucius

  These early chapters also introduce us to another aspect of the religious or spiritual life of ancient China: divination. Two main forms of divination are mentioned a number of times, starting with chapter three, where we hear:

  Yu said, ‘Let me seek advice through divination regarding which are the worthy ministers, and follow its advice.’

  The Emperor replied, ‘Yu. The Diviner makes his decision first, then he consults the Great Tortoise Shell in order to determine if this is the Will of Heaven. Likewise I make up my mind and only then do I consult with everyone. They then agree that this is what fate decrees and even the deities concur – indeed all the forms of divination agree. When divination gives such a full answer, you don’t do it again.’

  The tortoise shell was one of the two methods, the other being the use of yarrow sticks.

  The tortoise shell or turtle shell was used for divination by having a series of indentations cut or chiselled into the base of the shell. After prayers were said, a heated stick was applied to the indentations on the bottom of the shell, which caused cracks to appear on the top of the shell. The cracks were then read or interpreted as pictures or indications of an answer to the question posed. For example, if the question posed was ‘When should we attack?’ and a picture of what looked like the moon was discerned in the cracks, this would mean attack at night. At various points in the book we hear what those questions were. In chapter thirty-four, ‘The Golden Chest’, we hear that the Duke of Zhou sought advice through divination as to whether the king would survive his terrible illness.

  It was from these cracks which were interpreted as pictures that Chinese characters and calligraphy arose around 1700 BC. The use of a turtle or tortoise shell was considered the most powerful divination tool as the answer seemed to appear, as it were, from Beyond. In Chinese legend, it was on the shell of a cosmic turtle which was seen by the Original Ancestor, Fu Xi, that the divine pattern of the universe was revealed to humanity. This is referred to in chapter fifty, where amongst the ritual objects set out at the funeral of the king is the River Chart – so called because the turtle crawled out of a river in front of Fu Xi. On the back of the turtle were the trigrams – sets of three lines which were either yin or yang in meaning and from which, according to Chinese mythology, one of the Five Classics the Yi Jing and all associated divination insights and cosmologies developed.

  The second method was the use of yarrow sticks, which are also known as ‘milfoil’. By casting a set number of sticks, an answer is given. This method has survived because it is used for Yi Jing readings to this day. As we shall see later, the Yi Jing is intricately involved with the later sections of the Shang Shu.

  Ancestors have been mentioned above in connection with the shamanic tradition, but they are in and of themselves a major theme throughout the book. Deified ancestors walk through the book from the first mention in chapter two of the First King. We hear of how the Emperor Shun conducted a ‘sacrifice to the Noble Ancestor’ at the ‘Temple of the Ancestors’ on his safe return from his tour of inspection. Twice we hear of a victorious new dynasty providing funds and support for the continuation of rituals and sacrifices to the ancestors of the fallen dynasty. For example, as set out in chapter thirty-six, when the most senior survivor of the fallen House of Yin is given this commission:

  The king spoke to the eldest son of the King of Yin and appointed him to oversee the rites and rituals due to his ancestors. He said:

  ‘Follow the example of your ancient ones,

  the virtuous ones,

  for I can see you are a worthy man

  like your revered ancestors.

  Therefore

  I appoint you to conduct the correct rituals and protect the relics.

  You will be a guest in my Household,

  a friend to the State

  and this will last for generation after generation.’

  Failure to properly honour the ancestors is second only to the failure to honour Heaven in the crime sheet compiled against corrupt rulers. The divine status of the ancestor is spelled out very clearly in chapter thirty-four, when the Duke of Zhou creates a special set of three altars in order to speak directly to the Three Ancestor Kings so that he can plead for the life of the ill king.

  In these early chapter we also meet a core Confucian ideal: that of the ruler who moderates punishments in order to inspire moral reformation. While the book contains very detailed instructions about punishments – chapter fifty-five is essentially a legal handbook on the scale of punishments from nose-slitting to execution – the mark of a truly great ruler is his ability to show compassion and restraint. This is set out in chapter two, where Shun is praised because:

  He took special interest and care in defining punishments. He ordered that mutilation or execution should be replaced by banishment, that offending officials should be whipped, that scholars who were unworthy should be caned and that fines should be brought in as compensation for crimes. If someone did something wrong by mistake or ignorance, they were to be pardoned, but anyone who abused their power, and did so constantly, was to suffer the most extreme punishment – execution. His watchwords were ‘Beware! Beware!’ and he attempted to moderate punishment with compassion.

  In chapter three the role of the ruler in establishing order through law in order to teach the people how to behave is clearly stated:

  Then, turning to Gaoyao, the Emperor said:

  ‘Because you are the High Judge, I know that no one, neither my ministers nor my people, will break the law. Using the power of punishment, you have taught the people of all ages to honour and respect the True Law and so everyone is governed well. Because you used restraints, the people no longer need to be made to follow the Middle Path: they just will do so naturally. Just keep on like this.’

  The mention of the Middle Path here also brings us to another recurring theme: that of following the Path or Way of Heaven. Confucius was a follower of the Way – the Dao, as it is pronounced in Chinese. We are used to the tradition of Daoism based upon the writings of Lao Zi and Zhuang Zi, but it is often forgotten that Confucius was also in a sense a ‘Daoist’, a follower of the Way. The difference between the Shang Shu/Confucian notion of the Dao and that of the Daoist religion itself is that the Shang Shu Dao is the Dao of Heaven – a moral code which must be followed or severe penalties will result. The Daoist notion of the Dao is the Way of Nature, a much more cosmic notion which is about flowing with the streams of consciousness of the universe rather than following a moral code.

  When the Dao – Path or Way – is mentioned, as in the quote from chapter three above, it is a moral code that is meant. The context of the quote above from chapter three shows clearly this aspect of the Shang Shu understanding of Dao.

  Chapter three also introduces us to the Five Elements of Classical Chinese thought. There is much debate about when the notions of the twin opposites, yin and yang, and then of the Five Elements – water, fire, metal, wood and earth – were first developed, and it is on the basis of the inclusion of the Five Elements in chapter three that it is thought to be a third to fourth century AD edited text or possibly, according to some, creation. As Needham points out, the earliest thorough outline of the Five Elements theory comes in the writings of Zou Yan in the fourth century BC.* This is not to say that such ideas were not in circulation prior to this, which would potentially take us back into the last stages of the Zhou dynasty’s actual rule.

  At various points throughout the book, the regulation of the kingdom is seen as part of an accord with the regulatory forces of nature and of the universe. This is made explicit in this quote from chapter three:

  And bear in mind that true virtue is the basis of good governance, and governance is deemed to be good if it contributes to the well-being of the people. See how the cosmos regulates the Five Elements of water, fire, metal, wood and earth in order that it functions properly. Therefore, uphold virtue and this will increase well-being; support creativity and this will help
balance all life …

  The clear links between the order of the cosmos and the order of human behaviour are once again strongly emphasized here.

  The greatest exposition of Classical Chinese philosophy comes in chapter thirty-two – The Great Plan – and probably does date from around the time of Zou Yan. See page 91, below.

  Finally, we find within the first few chapters most of the styles of literature which will shape the whole book. These range from chronicles, such as chapters one and two; through counsels, such as chapters three and four; to speeches, such as chapter seven. Later we also meet announcements, such as chapter eleven; instructions, as in chapter thirteen; and charges, as in chapters twenty-one to twenty-three. In terms of actual style, we range from poetry, as in chapter five; to speeches – found pretty much throughout the book; to reporting, as in chapter six; and prose, in many different places. We also have wisdom sayings, such as this one from chapter three:

  A leader should be loved. Who should be feared? The people.

  The book contains a vivid picture of the diversity of literary styles and of the standard ways of recording ‘history’ in ancient China. As such, it shares many of these features with other ancient books such as the Old Testament or the Iliad.

  The Book of Xia

  The Book of Xia section of the Shang Shu comprises chapters six to nine. This very patchily covers the period of the Xia Dynasty, which traditionally is ascribed to the years 2205 to 1766 BC. Yu the Great reigned from 2205 to 2197 and it is to his reign that chapter six – Yu’s Report to Heaven – is dated.

  Chapter six is one of the most complex chapters in terms of translation because it is in effect a compendium of place names and geographical, agricultural data from across ancient China. As such, it is a unique account of the China of perhaps three thousand years ago and from it scholars have been able to glean more about the nature of the landscape of ancient China than from any other document. I have translated it here as a bureaucratic report, following the pattern of each section, moving from the name of the region, through its physical description, type of soil and tax return, to the tributes it sends to the capital and the river system which it uses to send the tributes.

  This model of a central ruler to whom tribute is sent establishes the pattern for all succeeding imperial systems throughout China’s dynastic history. It also, in the extraordinary mapping out of the zones of China at the end of the chapter, establishes the name of China. The Chinese name means the Middle Kingdom – the centre of the universe, in effect – and this sense of the central role of the Chinese Emperor and empire derives its strength in part from this chapter. Unlike ancient Muslim maps, where Makkah is the centre of the world even if the mapmaker lives in Indonesia, or medieval Christian maps, where Jerusalem is the centre even if, as with the Mappa Mundi, the mapmaker lives in Hereford, England, in China, the Emperor and his city are the centre – a point which is made later on in the book, in chapter forty, when the new Zhou dynasty decides to build a new capital.

  By building this great city, he will be seen as a worthy counterpart of the Emperor of Heaven. He will make sacrifices to the spirits in Heaven and on Earth and then he will rule benevolently from this middle place. By the king ruling well and truly honouring and respecting the Mandate, the people will stay happy.

  The quite astonishing map of the zones reflects the idea that the further you go away from the Emperor and the Han Chinese, the more barbaric and wild the people become. A notion which still finds a resonance in China today.

  The Covenant at Gan – chapter seven – is believed to be one of the oldest documents, and describes a revolt against the next ruler of the Xia dynasty, Yu’s son Qi. Qi dies, having suppressed the revolt, in the year 2189.

  Chapter eight – the Lament of the Five Sons – is very similar in style to the contemporary book in the Five Classics, the Book of Songs. Through poetry it tells of the overthrow of one of the later Xia rulers, Dai Gong, around the year 2159. He is the first example of a ‘bad ruler’ and the lament highlights how through his ‘outrageous’ style of living, ‘boozing, dancing and carousing the night away’, he has lost the right to rule not least because his ancestors are appalled by his behaviour.

  These verses, considered to be part of the later edition or version from the third to fourth century AD, are powerful in the evocation of a dynasty falling apart and the personal tragedy that comes through corruption at the highest level.

  The diagram of the Five Tenures

  The final document of the Xia is chapter nine – the Punishment of Yin – describing events in the reign of Zhong Kang, who ruled between 2159 and 2147 BC. It is thought to be a later chapter from the third to fourth century AD, but it does seem to contain material and information from a much earlier time. The Astrologers Royal, Xi and He – names we met in chapter one and which now seem to have become hereditary titles – have failed in their duties. They failed to predict an eclipse and this caused chaos and distress. But worse than this, it made the ruler look as if he was not privy to the ways of Heaven. It made him look as if Heaven had withdrawn the special relationship by which he had the right to rule. This could have fatally undermined his authority and led to him and his dynasty being overthrown.

  The failure to predict eclipses or the occurrence of earthquakes, huge floods or any other natural disaster was seen – indeed is still seen in China – as a sign that Heaven has withdrawn the mandate to rule. Hence the fury of the king and the command to the Prince of Yin to punish Xi and He. It is also clear from the text that Xi and He are in effect challenging the dynasty and this is why an army is sent to enact punishment.

  And that is it! We know no more.

  Having taken us from 2205 to around 2150 BC, the record of the Xia dynasty misses out the next four centuries and we find ourselves suddenly transported in the next book to the very last Xia ruler and the start of the Shang dynasty.

  It is recorded that there were, prior to the First Emperor’s ban and the consequential loss of the original full Shang Shu, around one hundred chapters of the book. We now have fifty-eight, of which twenty-eight are thought to be from the earliest surviving example – see pages liii–lvii, below. The huge gaps in the Xia chronicle are perhaps indicative of how much was lost.

  The Book of Shang

  The Shang dynasty – also know as Yin, after their new capital, see chapters eighteen to twenty – traditionally ruled from 1766 to 1122 BC. The Shang chapters are ten to twenty-six. The Shang dynasty was founded by Tang the Conqueror, who becomes, in later Confucian writings, a model ruler.

  It is here that for the first time the right of the people to rebel against a corrupt ruler and overthrow not just him but his dynasty is spelled out. In chapter ten, considered to be an early chapter, Tang sets out why he, a ruler of a small region of the kingdom, must overthrow the Xia king:

  But I hear you asking, ‘Of what significance is Xia to us?’ Well, the king of Xia has brutally oppressed his people and drained their energy. And the people, why, they have lost all hope and they are crying out, begging, ‘Is it not time for the sun to die so that we can die also?’ So you can see that the ruler of Xia’s lack of virtue leaves me with no option but to go ahead and do this.

  In chapter eleven, his advisor Zhonghui justifies this act of rebellion by citing the Mandate of Heaven theory, and also by being guided by one of the great Ancestors:

  Let’s be frank, the ruler of Xia lost sight of what is virtuous. As a result, the people were living in a state of great fear. This is why Heaven gave our king the courage and the wisdom so he can show the many states of our land how to behave well. He can be guided by the ancient ways of Yu the Great, and therefore he can be worthy of the Mandate of Heaven.

  This is made even more explicit in chapter seventeen, when minister Yi Yin says the following when he addresses the king to remind him that he too must be careful not to lose the mandate:

  Heaven is really hard to understand. Its Mandate with a ruler is not a
constant one. If the ruler is virtuous and constant, then he will retain his throne. If he is not constant and virtuous, then he will lose everything. The King of Xia was not constant in his virtue. He ignored the spirits and oppressed the people and as a consequence the Heavenly Emperor no longer cared for him. Instead a search was made throughout the land for one upon whom Heaven’s Mandate could be bestowed. Someone who was straightforward and virtuous, and who could rule over all the spirits. Both Tang the Conqueror and I, Prince Yin, are straightforward in our virtue and so, when we touched the heart and mind of Heaven, the love of Heaven rewarded us with a clear mandate and we took charge of everything. As a consequence, we had the power to remove the Xia from their control of the world.

  In these chapters we also come across a growing sense that Heaven has a ruler, a supreme deity who commands that his representative on Earth, the Emperor – known as the Son of Heaven – act justly. In chapter two we had what I believe is an ancestor who is now worshipped as the Heavenly Emperor, but from now on we begin to hear about a Heavenly Ruler or Ruler on High. This becomes even more prevalent when we come to the Book of Zhou, where we find such terms appearing regularly. Does this mark a developing notion of a heavenly personality?

  In chapter eleven we hear about the Supreme Heavenly Sovereign Spirit and in chapter fifteen we hear of the Emperor of Heaven, while in chapter nineteen we read of the Ruler on High. It is clear that in these chapters, Heaven has become a mirror of the imperial system on earth – or as the Confucians would argue, the imperial system mirrors the Heavenly Order – the Heavenly Way.