Final 1


 

 

1. What caused the feudal lords to believe that the Lord of the West received the mandate? (58mb)

After the Lord of the West was released by Chow, he continued secretly carrying out good deeds (58mt). Since he was imprisoned by Chow, in the first place, because the latter believed his accumulating virtue to be a threat (57b-58t), his discretion made sense. But regardless, the feudal lords took notice and came to him for unbiased insights (58mt). When the Yu and Jui journeyed to Chou for help, they gained insight regarding their legal dispute without even needing to see the Lord of the West (58m). As they witnessed the farmers yielding on the boundary path, the people yielding to their elders, they felt something: ashamed (58m). The issue they were coming forth with was itself considered shameful by the Chou people, and as they had no interest in humiliating themselves, they turned back (58mb). This shame they felt led them to their solution: they followed the example of the yielding Chou peoples, and they solved their issue by yielding to one another (58mb). And it was this story that caused the feudal lords to believe that the Lord of the West had likely received the mandate (58mb). Why? His virtue had a sort of gravitational pull to it: his power lay in the sincerity of his deeds, and perhaps in the very fact that he did them quietly. He didn’t have to convince others to turn to him, they did so naturally by hearing of his acts. The patricians turned to him because he made himself available to them (57bm); the Po Yi, Shu-ch’i, and Ku-chu allied with him because he was good at supporting the old (57bm); and the Yu and Jui just needed to brush against the effects of his virtue (Chou’s yielding peoples) to find their problem’s resolution (58m). His goodness was convincing in and of itself, radiating outwards. In this regard, for the feudal lords, the mandate represented a subtler kind of magic than the supernatural portents others asked for—it was a different breed of undeniable force, one which didn’t need to be loud in order to be heard, to visible in order to be seen, to be expounded in order to be persuasive: Heavenly indeed.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Week 7

Tuesday, 10/10  In re-reading The Five Emperors this week, I was struck by the closing remarks, where Sima Qian describes the uncertainty surrounding the history of The Huang-Ti, stating that other scholars’ “words are not appropriate” and that “even civil officials or old masters would have trouble explaining” the history of The Huang-Ti (N17 2nd p.). His resulting account includes the “words which are the most appropriate” (N17 2nd p,b). What might Sima Qian mean by “appropriate”?  Perhaps an “appropriate” account is one that emphasizes virtue. Sima Qian’s account of The Five Emperors provides clear examples of the actions and characteristics of virtuous rulers. Sima Qian also remarks that his intent is that The Five Emperors be the first chapter of his “basic annals” (N17b). By making virtue the starting point, Sima Qian is showing us that virtuous government is in our nature, we only need to retrieve the virtuous nature shown in The Five Emperors. Sima Qian’s virtuous begi...
Read more

Conclusion

Nienhauser: Why can’t King Wu sleep? King Wu can’t sleep (63m) because he hasn’t “secured Heaven’s protection.” (63mb) At least according to Sima, it seems that he has done nothing but good works to the benefit of many. There is a hint on 62m that the area had been “pacified and the situation was not yet settled,” and so he sets to settling. He “cleared the roads and repaired…altars”, (62t) had his RectifierScribe read Chow’s crimes to Heaven (62mt), and claims he has been charged to, among other things, “receive the great mandate of heaven”. (62m) There are many more things he does on 62b-63t: He feeds the poor, honors the dead, makes records on behalf of the government, and rewarded the meritorious. These deeds are not enough, as nearing his own death, Sima relates that “the world was not yet settled.” (64m) Yin had failed as “heaven didn’t enjoy the Yin offerings” (63m): this left them vulnerable and led to King Wu’s “success.” (ibid.) Is Heaven hard to please, or is Wu missing so...
Read more