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Religious Origin of the Terms Dao and De and Their Signification in the Laozi

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 September 2009

JINHUA JIA
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Abstract

This article applies a synthetic approach of philological, religious, philosophical, and cultural studies to explore the original meaning of the terms dao 道 and de 德, two primary concepts in traditional Chinese intellectual history. Through an etymological analysis of the characters dao and de, and supported by both received and discovered texts and materials, this article demonstrates that dao originally represented the spirit of the Pole Star/High God and the movement of Heaven, and de, in relation to dao, originally represented the impartial virtue and power of Heaven. In terms of this new interpretation, the article further discusses the signification of dao and de in the Laozi to uncover the mystic aspects of the text.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society , Volume 19 , Issue 4 , October 2009 , pp. 459 - 488
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 2009

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References

This article has been presented at several conferences and lectures since 2005. I would like to thank Professor Li Zehou, Professor Harold D. Roth, and the anonymous reader for their suggestions and the editors of JRAS for polishing it. I should also acknowledge the Women's Studies in Religion Program of Harvard Divinity School for a grant that supported this research.

1 Taiyi is also written as Taiyi 泰 and Dayi 大 , as the three characters Tai 太, Tai 泰, and Da 大 are used interchangeably in early writings. Major studies on this topic include: Jiang Xiangnan 蔣 湘 南, “Taiyi shiyi” 太 釋 義, Qijinglou wenchao 七 經 樓 文 抄, in v. 1541 of Xuxiu Siku quanshu (Shanghai, Shanghai guji, 1995), 3.11a–13a; Qian Baocong 錢 寶 琮, “Taiyi kao” 太 考, Yanjing xuebao 燕 京 學 報 12 (1932): pp. 2449–2478; Ge Zhaoguang 葛 兆 光, “Zhongmiao zhimen: Beiji yu Taiyi, Dao, Taiji” 眾 妙 之 門: 北 極 與 太 , 道, 太 極, Zhongguo wenhua 中 國 文 化 3 (1990), pp. 46–65; Li Ling, “An Archaeological Study of Taiyi 太 (Grand One) Worship,” trans. Donald Harper, Early Medieval China 2 (1995–96), pp. 1–39; Donald Harper, “The Nature of Taiyi in the Guodian Manuscript Taiyi sheng shui – Abstract Cosmic Principle or Supreme Cosmic Deity?” Chūgoku shutsudo shiryō kenkyū 中 國 出 土 資 料 研 究 5 (2001), pp. 1–23; Sarah Allan, “The Great One, Water, and the Laozi: New Light from Guodian,” T'oung Pao 89 (2003): pp. 237–285; and David W. Pankenier, “A Brief History of Beiji 北 極 (Northern Culmen), With an Excursus on the Origin of the Character di 帝,”Journal of the American Oriental Society 124.2 (2004) pp. 211–236.

2 Chen Qiyou 陳 奇 猷, Lüshi chunqiu jiaoshi 呂 氏 春 秋 校 釋 (Shanghai: Xuelin, 1984), “Dayue” 大 樂, 5.255–256. See Qian Baocong, “Taiyi kao,” p. 2452; Ge Zhaoguang, “Zhongmiao zhimen: Beiji yu Taiyi, Dao, Taiji,” p. 46; Jingmenshi Bowuguan 荊 門 市 博 物 館, Guodian Chumu zhujian 郭 店 楚 墓 竹 簡 (Beijing, Wenwu chubanshe, 1998), p. 125; Pankenier, “A Brief History of Beiji”, p. 218.

3 Guodian Chumu zhujian, p. 125.

4 Laozi, Chap. 25. See Li Ling, “An Archaeological Study of Taiyi Worship,” p. 21.

5 Some scholars have suspected that the Heguanzi were forged after the Han dynasty. However, recent studies and unearthed texts have testified that at least some parts of the Heguanzi material existed in pre-Qin to Han period. See Wu Guang 吳 光, Huang Lao zhi xue tonglun 黃 老 之 學 通 論 (Hangzhou, Zhejiang renmin, 1985), pp. 151–158; Li Xueqin 李 學 勤, “Mawangdui Hanmu boshu yu Heguanzi 馬 王 堆 帛 書 與 鶡 冠 子, Jiang Han kaogu 江 漢 考 古 7 (1987), pp. 51–56; David Knechtges, “Ho kuan tzzu,” in Early Chinese Texts: A Bibliographical Guide, ed. Michael Loewe (Berkeley, 1993), pp. 136–137.

6 See Qian Baocong, “Taiyi kao,” pp. 2450–2454; Joseph Needham, Science and Civilization in China, Vol. 2, History of Scientific Thought (Cambridge, 1959), pp. 46–48; A. C. Graham, “The Way and the One in Ho-kuan-tzu,” in Hans Lenk and Gregor Paul, eds., Epistemological Issues in Classical Chinese Philosophy (Albany of New York Press, 1997), pp. 31–43; and Harold D. Roth, Original Tao: Inward Training and the Foundation of Taoist Mysticism (New York, 1999), pp. 115–118.

7 Guojia wenwuju guwenxian yanjiusuo 國 家 文 物 局 古 文 獻 研 究 所, Mawangdui Hanmu boshu 馬 王 堆 漢 墓 帛 書 (Beijing, 1980), p. 24. According to Robin D. S. Yates's study, this text, along with other three texts copied in front of the Laozi (A), was written in the late Warring States period. See his Five Lost Classics: Tao, Huang-Lao, and Yin-Yang in Han China (New York, 1997), pp. 195–202.

8 Jiang Renjie 蔣 人 傑, ed., Shuowen jiezi jizhu 說 文 解 字 集 注 (Shanghai, Shanghai guji, 1996), p. 1.

9 Wang Bi 王 弼 and Kong Yingda 孔 穎 達, Zhouyi zhengyi 周 易 正 義 (Beijing, Beijing daxue, 2000), 7.340a. It is generally agreed that the Zhouyi is a genuine Western Zhou text. The “Xici” commentary is seen in the Mawangdui Zhouyi, so this portion, as well as most of the other canonical commentaries of Zhouyi, may have attained its present form in the mid-third to early second century. See Edward L. Shaughnessy, “I Ching,” in Early Chinese Texts, p. 221.

10 Lüshi chunqiu jiaoshi, “Dayue,” 5.255.

11 Zhouyi zhengyi, 7.340a. For a detailed discussion of the identification, see Pankenier, “A Brief History of Beiji,” pp. 212–218.

12 Sima Qian 司 馬 遷 (145 or 135 B.C.-ca. 86 B.C.), Shiji (Beijing, Zhonghua, 1959), “Tianguan shu” 天 官 書, 27.1289.

13 Zhang Shuangdi 張 雙 棣, ed., Huainanzi jiaoshi 淮 南 子 校 釋 (Beijing, Beijing daxue, 1997), “Tianwen xun” 天 文 訓, 3.264.

14 Yiwei qianzuodu 易 緯 乾 鑿 度, in Weishu jicheng 緯 書 集 成, ed. Yasui Kozan 安 居 香 山 and Nakamura Shohachi 中 村 璋 八 (Shijiazhuang, Hebei renmin, 1994), Vol. 1, p. 32.

15 Ban Gu 班 固 (32–92), Hanshu 漢 書, Siku quanshu, 25.25a.

16 Chunqiu yuanmingbao, Weishu jicheng, Vol. 2, p. 649.

17 Chunqiu hechengtu, Weishu jicheng, Vol. 2, p. 767.

18 Jiang Xiangnan, “Taiyi shiyi”, 3.11a–13a.

19 Qian Baocong, “Taiyi kao”, pp. 2449–2478. See also Gu Jiegang 顧 頡 剛 and Yang Xiangkui 楊 向 奎, “Sanhuang kao” 三 皇 考, in Vol. 3 of Gu Jiegang gushi lunwen ji 顧 頡 剛 古 史 論 文 集 (Beijing, Zhonghua shuju, 1996), pp. 1–253.

20 Li Ling, “An Archaeological Study of Taiyi Worship”, pp. 1–39.

21 Donald Harper, “The Nature of Taiyi in the Guodian Manuscript Taiyi sheng shui”, pp. 1–2; “The Taiyi Cult as an Example of Early Chinese Common Religion”, cited by Allan, Sarah, “The Great One, Water, and the Laozi: New Light from Guodian”, T'oung Pao 89 (2003), p. 272CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

22 Guodian Chumu zhujian, p. 125.

23 For example, see Qiang Yu 強 昱, “Taiyi shengshui yu gudai de Taiyi guan” 太 生 水 與 古 代 的 太 觀, Daojia wenhua yanjiu 道 家 文 化 研 究 17 (1999), pp. 353–379.

24 See, for example, Li Xueqin 李 學 勤, “Taiyi sheng shui de shushu jieshi” 太 生 水 的 術 數 解 釋, in Daojia wenhua yanjiu 17 (1999), pp. 297–305; Donald Harper, “The Nature of Taiyi”, p. 2.

25 See Sarah Allan, “The Great One, Water, and the Laozi”, pp. 246–253, 283.

26 Zheng Xuan 鄭 玄 (127–200) and Jia Gongyan 賈 公 彥 (fl. 650–655), Zhouli zhushu 周 禮 注 疏, in Vol. 8 of Shisanjing zhushu zhengliben 十 三 經 注 疏 整 理 本, ed. Shisanjing zhushu zhengli weiyuanhui 十 三 經 注 疏 整 理 委 員 會 (Beijing, Beijing daxue chubanshe, 2001), “Kaogong ji” 考 工 記, 41.1345. See Léopold de Saussure, “Prolégomènes d'Astronomie Primitive Comparée,” Archives des Sciences physiques et naturelles 4.23 (1907), pp. 112–537; Joseph Needham, Science and Civilization in China, Vol. 3, Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the Earth (Cambridge, 1954), pp. 229–259. About the dating and authenticity of Zhouli, earlier studies had in general agreed that the Zhouli was a product of the Warring States period. Recently, however, based on comparative studies of bronze inscriptions and archeological materials, Zhang Yachu 張 亞 初, Liu Yu 劉 雨, and Liu Qiyu 劉 起 釪 have showed that the main body of the Zhouli is consistent with or close to the Western Zhou governmental organisation, though materials of the Warring States and even Han were added to it later. See Zhang and Liu, Xi Zhou jinwen guanzhi yanjiu 西 周 金 文 官 制 研 究 (Beijing, 1986), 3; Liu Qiyu, “Zhouli zhenwei zhi zhen ji qishu xiecheng de zhenshi yiju” 周 禮 真 偽 之 爭 及 其 書 寫 成 的 真 實 依 據, in Gushi xubian 古 史 續 辨 (Beijing, Zhongguo shehui kexue chubanshe, 1991), pp. 619–653. However, when the Zhouli first became known in Western Han, the original sixth section had already been lost, and the “Kaogong ji” was substituted in its place. According to the Qing scholar Jiang Yong 江 永, “Kaogong ji” was a work of the late Warring States period. See William G. Boltz, “Chou li,” in Early Chinese Texts: A Bibliographical Guide, p. 25.

27 This text is included in the Da Da Liji 大 戴 禮 記, which is a compilation of pre-Qin to Han materials. See Jeffrey K. Riegel, “Ta Tai Li chi,” Early Chinese Texts, pp. 456–459.

28 Zhongguo tianwenxue shi zhengli yanjiu xiaozu 中 國 天 文 學 史 整 理 研 究 小 組, Zhongguo tianwenxue shi 中 國 天 文 學 史 (Beijing, Kexue chubanshe, 1981), 8; Feng Shi 馮 時, Zhongguo tianwen kaoguxue 中 國 天 文 考 古 學 (Beijing, Shehui kexue wenxian, 2001) pp. 89–98.

29 Feng Shi, Zhongguo tianwen kaogu xue, pp. 98–128. He further surmises that the cult emerged in about 6000 bce and interprets some decors and images of archaeological objects as evidence for the cult, including the image of seven stars over the head of a shaman from the cliff painting discovered in Shizitan 柿 子 灘, the seven-hole stone knives unearthed in Xuejiagang 薛 家 崗, Bei yinyang ying 北 陰 陽 營, and Lushanmao 蘆 山 峁, and a pig image with a star symbol on its central body found in various archaeological cites. This assertion may need further verification; for example, some scholars define the symbol on the pig as the sun; see Yang, Xiaoneng, Reflections of Early China: Decor, Pictographs, and Pictorial Inscriptions (Seattle: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art and University of Washington Press, 1999), p. 98Google Scholar.

30 See de Saussure, L., Les Origines de l'Astronomie Chinoise (1930; Repint, Taipei: Chengwen shuju, 1967), pp. 495–526Google Scholar; Maspero, Henry, “L'Astronomie Chinoise avant les Han,” T'oung Pao 26 (1929), p. 323CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Kezhen, Zhu, “The Origin of the Twenty-Eight Mansions in Astronomy,” Popular Astronomy 55 (1949)Google Scholar; Joseph Needham, Science and Civilization in China, pp. 259–262; Maeyama, Yasukatsu, “The Two Supreme Stars, Thien-i and Thai-i, and the Foundation of the Purple Palace”, in History of Oriental Astronomy, ed. Ansari, S. M. Razaullah (Dordrecht, Kluwer Academic Publisher, 2002) pp. 3–18CrossRefGoogle Scholar; David Pankenier, “A Brief History of Beiji,” pp. 211–236. The star Di has different names in the writings of the Warring States to Han dynasty, such as Taidi 太 帝 (Great God) and Tiandi 天 帝 (Celestial God); see Qian Baocong, “Taiyi kao,” pp. 2460–2461.

31 Guo Moruo 郭 沫 若, ed., Jiaguwen heji 甲 骨 文 合 集 (Beijing, Zhonghua shuju, 1978–1983), nos. 21338–21350, 21356–21357. See Wen Shaofeng 溫 少 峰 and Yuan Tingdong 袁 庭 棟, Yinxu buci yanjiu: kexue jishu pian 殷 墟 卜 辭 研 究: 科 學 技 術 篇 (Chengdu, Sichuan shehui kexueyuan, 1983), pp. 55–57; Xu, Zhentao, Pankenier, David W., and Jiang, Yaotiao, East Asian Archaeoastronomey: Historical Records of Astronomical Observations of China, Japan and Korea (Amsterdam, Gordon and Breach Science Publishers, 2000) p. 23Google Scholar.

32 This was true even down to the Warring States-Qin-Han period. For example, in the diagram of the twenty-eight stellar lodges in the lid of the lacquer clothes case from the Zeng Hou Yi tomb of Warring States, the Big Dipper functions as the pointer for the Pole Star; all the seven unearthed shi cosmic-board from Han dynasty are centred on the Big Dipper which represents the Pole. See Harper, Donald, “The Han Cosmic Board”, Early China 4 (1978–79), pp. 1–10CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Kalinowski, Marc, Cosmologie et divination dans la Chine ancienne (Paris, Ēcole française d'Extrême-orient, 1991), pp. 68–74Google Scholar; Ling, Li, Zhongguo fangshu zhengkao 中 國 方 術 正 考 (Beijing, Zhonghua, 2006), pp. 69–140Google Scholar.

33 Needham, Science and Civilization in China, v. 3, p. 230.

34 For early Chinese cosmo-political culture of polar-equatorial astronomy and astral-terrestrial correspondence, see also Mircea Eliade, Le mythe de l’ éternel retour: archétypes et répétition (Paris, Librairie Gallimard, 1949), Chapter 1; Paul Wheatley, The Pivot of the Four Quarters: A Preliminary Enquiry into the Origin and Character of the Ancient Chinese City (Edinburgh, 1971), pp. 468–451; Jiang Xiaoyuan 江 曉 原, Tianxue zhenyuan 天 學 真 源 (Shenyang: Liaoning jiaoyu, 1991); Pankenier, David, “The Cosmo-political Background of Heaven's Mandate,” Early China 20 (1995): pp. 121–176CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

35 Shiji, “Tianguan shu,” 27.1342; David Pankenier, “The Cosmo-political Background of Heaven's Mandate”, p. 121.

36 See Feng Shi, Zhongguo tianwen kaoguxue, pp. 278–288; Li Xueqin 李 學 勤, “Xishuipo longhumu yu sixiang de qiyuan” 西 水 坡 龍 虎 墓 與 四 象 的 起 源, in Dangdai xuezhe zixuan wenku: Li Xueqin ji 當 代 學 者 自 選 文 庫 ： 李 學 勤 集 (Hefei, Anhui jiaoyu, 1997), pp. 101–109. Some scholars do not agree with this interpretation by indicating that the burial contains different layers; see Yan Ming 言 明, “Guanyu Puyang Xishuipo yizhi fajue jianbao ji qi youguan de liangpian wenzhang zhong ruogan wenti de shangque 關 於 濮 陽 西 水 坡 遺 址 發 掘 簡 報 及 其 有 關 的 兩 篇 文 章 中 若 干 問 題 的 商 榷, Huaxia kaogu 華 夏 考 古 1988.4, pp. 50–71.

37 Paul Wheatley, The Pivot of the Four Quarters, pp. 423–462.

38 See Chen Jiujin 陳 久 金 and Zhang Jingguo 張 敬 國, “Hanshan chutu yupian tuxing shikao” 含 山 出 土 玉 片 圖 形 試 考, Wenwu 1989.4: pp. 14–17; Li Xueqin, “A Neolithic Jade Plaque and Ancient Chinese Cosmology,” National Palace Museum Bulletin 27.5–6, pp. 1–8.

39 Keightley, David N., The Ancestral Lanscape: Time, Space, and Community in Late Shang China (Berkeley, 2000), pp. 84–85Google Scholar.

40 Granet, Marcel, La pensée chinoise (Paris, 1934), p. 324Google Scholar; Wheatley, Paul, The Pivot of the Four Quarters, p. 461Google Scholar.

41 See Needham, Science and Civilization in China, v. 3, 241, Fig. 90; John S. Major, Heaven and Earth in Early Han Thought: Chapters Three, Four, and Five of the Huainanzi (Albany, 1993), pp. 107–108; Pankenier, “A Brief History of Beiji,” pp. 220–224.

42 See Hu Houxuan 胡 厚 宣, “Yin buci zhong de shangdi he wangdi” 殷 卜 辭 中 的 上 帝 和 王 帝, Lishi yanjiu 歷 史 研 究 9 (1959), pp. 23–50; 10 (1959), pp. 89–110.

43 Y. Maeyama has already assumed that the Pole Star was worshipped as the High God and Heaven during the Yin-Zhou period; see his “The Two Supreme Stars, Thien-i and Thai-i, and the Foundation of the Purple Palace,” pp. 4–8. Recently, David Pankenier puts forward an interesting conjecture that the character di 帝, High God, originally symbolised the intersection of the three lines connecting the principle stars in the handles of UMa and UMi marks the location of the north celestial pole in about 2000 bce and was a kind of device used to locate true north; see his “A Brief History of Beiji”, pp. 229–235, 236, Fig. 16. For the transition from Di to Tian, see Guo Moruo, Xianqin Tiandaoguan zhi jinzhan 先 秦 天 道 觀 之 進 展 (Shanghai, Shangwu yinshuguan, 1936), pp. 1–37; Creel, Herrlee G., “The Origin of the Deity T'ien,” The Origins of Statecraft in China (Chicago, 1970), pp. 493–506Google Scholar; Schwartz, Benjamin, The World of the Thought in Ancient China (Cambridge, 1985), pp. 46–48Google Scholar. On the other hand, some scholars do not agree that Di or Shangdi represents the supreme god. For example, Robert Eno argues that it may just refer to deceased leaders of a lineage; see his “Was there a high god Ti in Shang religion?” Early China 15 (1990), pp. 1–26.

44 Allan, “The Great One, Water, and the Laozi,” pp. 283–284.

45 Shuowen jiezi jizhu, 2: p. 367. (Figs. 1a–b and g), after Rong Geng, Jinwen bian 金 文 編 (Beijing: Zhonghua, 1985) p. 105, no. 0244; (Figs. c–e), after Gao Ming 高 明, Guwenzi leibian (Beijing: Zhonghua, 1980), p. 107; (Figs. f and h), after Xu Zhongshu 徐 中 舒, Hanyu guwenzi zixingbiao 漢 語 古 文 字 字 形 表 (Chengdu, Sichuan Cishu, 1981), p. 68; (Fig. g), after Shuowen jiezi jizhu, p. 367, no. 114. See Peter A. Boodberg, “Philological Notes on Chapter One of the Lao Tzu,” Selected Works of Peter A. Boodberg, comp. Alvin P. Cohen (Berkeley, 1979), pp. 460–467; Liu Xiang 劉 翔, Zhongguo chuantong jiazhiguan quanshixue 中 國 傳 統 價 值 觀 詮 釋 學 (Taipei, Guiguan tushu gongsi, 1993), p. 242; Allan, Sarah, The Way of Water and Sprouts of Virtue (Albany, 1997), pp. 68–69Google Scholar; Richter, Matthias, “Handschriftenkundliche Probleme beim Lesen altchinesischer Manuskripte”, in Führer, B., ed., Aspekte des Lesens in China in Vergangenheit und Gegenwart (Bochum, Projekt Verlag, 2005), pp. 103–110Google Scholar.

46 Boodberg, “Philological Notes on Chapter One of the Lao Tzu”, p. 467.

47 Liu, Zhongguo chuantong jiazhiguan quanshixue, p. 242.

48 Shuowen jieji jizhu, p. 167.

49 Li Fanggui, Shangguyin yanjiu 上 古 音 研 究 (Beijing, Shangwu chubanshe, 1980), p. 41.

50 Boodberg, “Philological Notes on Chapter One of the Lao Tzu”, p. 461.

51 After Jiaguwen heji, no. 6037，13614. See Yu Xingwu 于 省 吾 and Yao Xiaosui 姚 孝 遂, eds., Jiagu wenzi gulin 甲 骨 文 字 詁 林 (Beijing, Zhonghua, 1996), no. 1086.

52 Jiaguwen heji, no. 20322, 916; Jiagu wenzi gulin, no. 3501; Hu Houxuan 胡 厚 宣, ed., Jiaguwen henji shiwen 甲 骨 文 合 集 釋 文 (Beijing, Zhongguo shehui kexue, 1999), no. 20322; Zhang Bingquan 張 秉 權, Yinxu wenzi bingbian 殷 虛 文 字 丙 編 (Taipei, Zhongyang yanjiuyuan lishi yuyan yanjiusuo, 1957–1972), no. 555.

53 Jiaguwen heji, no. 00916, 06033. Yu Xingwu defines the graph as tu 途, road, and indicates it may be used as phonetic loan character for tu 屠, to slaughter; see his “Shi tu,” in Shuangjianyi Yinqi pianzhi sanbian 雙 劍 誃 殷 栔 駢 枝 三 編 (Taipei, Yiwen, 1960), 22. However, since the character tu contains the constituent zhi 止, foot or to walk, it should originally imply verbal meaning. The Liji records, “When a lord departed to visit the son of Heaven, . . . he would make the Dao sacrifice and then set out” 諸 侯 適 天 子, . . . 道 而 出; “When lords visit each other, . . . they make the Dao sacrifice and then set out” 諸 侯 相 見, . . . 道 而 出 (Zheng Xuan and Kong Yingda, Liji zhengyi 禮 記 正 義, in Vol. 13 of Shisanjing zhushu zhengliben, “Zengzi wen” 曾 子 問, 18.668a/b). Dao and shou are used interchangeably in early writings (see below). For other interpretations of the character tu, see Jiagu wenzi gulin, no. 866. The Liji was compiled in the Han dynasty, but it contains pre-Qin materials. This has been verified by the excavation of the texts Ziyi 緇 衣 (correspondent to the “Ziyi” in the Liji), Min zhi fumu 民 之 父 母 (correspondent to the “Kongzi xianju” 孔 子 閒 居 in the Liji), and so forth. See Guodian Chumu zhujian, 127; Ma Chengyuan 馬 承 源, ed., Shanghai bowuguan cang Zhanguo Chu zhushu 上 海 博 物 館 藏 戰 國 楚 竹 書 (Shanghai, Shanghai guji, 2003), Vol. 1, pp. 169–241; Vol. 2, pp. 149–80. For a detailed comparison of the textual variations between the manuscript versions and the received Liji, see Edward Shaughnessy, Rewriting Early Chinese Texts (Albany, 2006), pp. 63–93.

54 Zhejiangsheng wenwu kaogu yanjiusuo 浙 江 省 文 物 考 古 研 究 所 et al, Liangzhu wenhua yuqi 良 渚 文 化 玉 器 (Beijing, Wenwu, 1990).

55 After Zhejiangsheng wenwu kaogu yanjiusuo Fanshan kaogudui 浙 江 省 文 物 考 古 研 究 所 反 山 考 古 隊, “Zhejiang Yuhang Fanshan Liangzhu mudi fajue jianbao” 浙 江 余 杭 反 山 良 渚 墓 地 發 掘 簡 報, Wenwu文 物 1 (1988): 12, (Fig. 20).

56 Bagley, Shang Ritual Bronzes in the Arthur M. Sackler Collections (Washington, 1987), p. 19.

57 Deng Shuping, “Gudai yuqi shang qiyi wenshi de yanjiu” 古 代 玉 器 上 奇 異 紋 飾 的 研 究, Gugong xueshu jikan 故 宮 學 術 季 刊 4.1 (1986), pp. 1–58; Dohrenwend, “Jade Demonic Images from Early China,” Ars Orientalis 10 (1975), pp. 55–78; Rawson, Chinese Jade: from the Neolithic to the Qing (London, 1995), pp. 32–39, 122–29.

58 For instance, Fanshan report, 12; Mou Yongkang 牟 永 抗, “Liangzhu yuqi shang shen chongbai de tansuo” 良 渚 玉 器 上 神 崇 拜 的 探 索, in Qingzhu Su Bingqi kaogu wushiwu nian lunwenji 慶 祝 蘇 秉 琦 考 古 五 十 五 年 論 文 集 (Beijing, Wenwu chubanshe, 1989), p. 187.

59 Shuowen jiezi jizhu, 11.2435.

60 Hu Daojing 胡 道 靜, ed., Mengxi bitan jiaozheng 夢 溪 筆 談 校 證 (Shanghai, Shanghai guji, 1987), 19.626–627.

61 Rong Geng 容 庚, Shang Zhou yiqi tongkao 商 周 彝 器 通 考 (Taipei, Wenshizhe, 1985), pp. 117–120.

62 After Xu Zhongshu, Hanyu guwenzi zixingbiao, p. 440.

63 After Zhejiangsheng wenwu kaogu yanjiusuo 浙 江 省 文 物 考 古 研 究 所, “Yuhang Yaoshan Liangzhu wenhua jitan yizhi fajue jianbao” 余 杭 瑤 山 良 渚 文 化 祭 壇 遺 址 發 掘 簡 報, Wenwu 1 (1988): 36, (Fig. 5.1–2); p. 39, (Fig. 14.7); Mou Yongkang, “Liangzhu yuqi shang shen chongbai de tansuo,” p. 191, (Fig. 4–6).

64 See Fanshan report, pp. 30–31; Yaoshan report, pp. 50–51; Wang Wei 王 巍, “Liangzhu wenhua yucong chuyi” 良 渚 文 化 玉 琮 芻 議, Kaogu 1986.11: 1009–16; Mou Yongkang, “Liangzhu yuqi shang shen chongbai de tansuo,” p. 193.

65 After the Fanshan report, 42, (Fig. 24); Yaoshan report, 20–22, (Fig. 39, 43, 41).

66 See Du Jinpeng 杜 金 鵬, “Lun Linqu Zhufeng Longshan wenhua yuguanshi ji qi xiangguan wenti” 論 臨 朐 朱 封 龍 山 文 化 玉 冠 飾 及 其 相 關 問 題, Kaogu 1994.1: 57. Plumed or horned crowns were symbols of power and divinity themselves. For example, the original graph for huang 皇 (august, heaven, god, sovereign) is a pictograph of plumed crown. See Du Jinpeng, “Shuo huang” 說 皇, Wenwu 1994.7: pp. 55–63.

67 See Liu Bing 劉 兵, “Liangzhu wenhua yucong chutan” 良 渚 文 化 玉 琮 初 探, Wenwu 1990.2: pp. 30–37. Hayashi Minao 林 巳 奈 夫 interprets these motifs as depicting sun and moon gods; see his “Chūgoku kodai no ibutsu ni arawasareta ‘ki’ no zuzōteki hyōgen” 中 國 古 代 の 遺 物 に 表 さ れ た ‘氣’ の 圖 像 的 表 現, Tōhō gakuhō 61 (1989): pp. 1–93. Wang Wei and Kwang-chih Chang suggest these motifs should be understood as magical or shamanistic; see Wang, “Liangzhu wenhua yucong chuyi,” p. 1015; Chang, “Tan ‘cong’ ji qi zai Zhongguo gushi shang de yiyi” 談 ‘琮’ 及 其 在 中 國 古 史 上 的 意 義, in Wenwu yu kaogu lunji 文 物 與 考 古 論 集 (Beijing, Wenwu, 1986), pp. 252–260.

68 After Wang Shuming 王 樹 明, “Tan Lingyanghe yu Dazhucun chutu de taozun ‘wenzi’” 談 陵 陽 河 與 大 朱 村 出 土 的 陶 尊 “文 字”, in Shangdong shiqian wenhua lunwenji 山 東 史 前 文 化 論 文 集 (Jinan, Qi Lu shushe, 1986), (Fig. 18.) See Du Jinpeng 杜 金 鵬, “Lun Linqu Zhufeng Longshan wenhua yuguanshi jiqi xiangguan wenti,” pp. 56–57.

69 After Sun Shoudao 孫 守 道 and Guo Dashun 郭 大 順, “Lun Liaohe liuyu de yuanshi wenming yu long de qiyuan” 論 遼 河 流 域 的 原 始 文 明 與 龍 的 起 源, Wenwu 1984.6: 13, (Fig. 3.4.) See James Watt, “Neolithic Jade Carving in China,” Transactions of the Oriental Ceramic Society 53 (1988–89): pp. 11–26; Ma Chengyuan, ed., Zhongguo qingtongqi 中 國 青 銅 器 (Shanghai, Shanghai guji, 2003), pp. 314–316; Li Xueqin 李 學 勤, “Liangzhu wenhua yuqi yu taotiewen de yanbian” 良 渚 文 化 玉 器 與 饕 餮 紋 的 演 變, Dongnan wenhua 東 南 文 化 1991.5, p. 43.

70 After Liu Dunyuan 劉 敦 願, “Ji Liangchengzhen yizhi faxian de liangjian shiqi” 記 兩 城 鎮 遺 址 發 現 的 兩 件 石 器, Kaogu 1972.4, p. 57, (Fig. 2); Jingzhou diqu bowuguan 荊 州 地 區 博 物 館, “Zhongxiang Liuhe yizhi” 鍾 祥 六 合 遺 址, Jiang Han kaogu 江 漢 考 古 1987.2: (Fig. 19.8); Peng Shifan 彭 適 凡 and Liu Lin 劉 林, “Tan Xingan Shangmu chutu de shenren shoumianxing yushi” 談 新 幹 商 墓 出 土 的 神 人 獸 面 形 玉 飾, Jiangxi wenwu 江 西 文 物 1991.3, p. 22, (Fig. 1.1); Zhang Changshou 張 長 壽, “Ji Fengxi xin faxian de shoumian yushi” 記 灃 西 新 發 現 的 獸 面 玉 飾, Kaogu 1987.5, p. 470, (Fig 1); Wu Hong 巫 鴻, “Yizu zaoqi de yushi diaoke” 組 早 期 的 玉 石 雕 刻, Meishu yanjiu 美 術 研 究 1979.1, p. 70. In addition to the above excavated artifacts, a considerable number of jade artifacts engraved with similar face motifs are scattered throughout the world in different Museums; see Umehara Sueji 梅 原 末 治, Shina kogyoku zuroku 支 那 古 玉 圖 錄 (Kyoto, Kuwana bunseido, 1955); Na Zhiliang 那 志 良, Yuqi tongshi 玉 器 通 釋 (Hong Kong, Kaifa Company, 1964); Salmony, Alfred, Carved Jade of Ancient China (Berkeley, Gillick Press, 1938)Google Scholar; Archaic Chinese Jades from the Edward and Louis B Sonnenchein Collection (Chicago, 1952); Chinese Jade through the Wei Dynasty (New York, 1963); d'Argence, Rene-Yuon Lefebure, Chinese Jades in the Avery Brundage Collection (San Francisco: The de Young Museum Society, 1972)Google Scholar; Loehr, Max, Ancient Chinese jades from the Grenville L. Winthrop Collection in the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University (Cambridge, 1975)Google Scholar; Dohrenwend, “Jade Demonic Images from Early China” ； Harold Peterson, Chinese Jades: Archaic and Modern, from the Minneapolis Institute of Arts (Minneapolis, 1977); Wu Hong, “Yizu zaoqi de yushi diaoke,” pp. 64–70; Rawson, Jessica, Ancient China, Art and Archaeology (London, 1980)Google Scholar; Deng Shuping, “Gudai yuqi shang qiyi wenshi de yanjiu”; Du Jinpeng, “Lun Linqu Zhufeng Longshan wenhua yuguanshi jiqi xiangguan wenti,” etc.

71 For discussions on the continuity and reworking of face motif in jade artifacts of late-Neolithic to Shang-Zhou period, see Du Jinpeng, “Lun Linqu Zhufeng Longshan wenhua yuguanshi jiqi xiangguan wenti,” pp, 55–226; Rawson, Jessica, Chinese Jade: From the Neolithic to the Qing (London, 1995), pp. 28–53Google Scholar.

72 After National Palace Museum, Gugong guyu tulu 故 宮 古 玉 圖 錄 (Taipei: National Palace Museum, 1982), (Fig. 2).

73 After Alfred Salmony, Carved Jade of Ancient China, (Figs. 31:2, 3).

74 See Du Jinpeng, “Lun Linqu Zhufeng Longshan wenhua yuguanshi jiqi xiangguan wenti,” pp. 59–62.

75 See Dohrenwend, “Jade Demonic Images from Early China,” p. 75.

76 After Henansheng wenwu yanjiusuo 河 南 省 文 物 研 究 所, “Henan xin faxian Shangdai yaocang qingtongqi” 河 南 新 發 現 商 代 窯 藏 青 銅 器, Wenwu 1983.3: (Fig. H1: 11; Hubeisheng bowuguan 湖 北 省 博 物 館, “Panlongcheng Shangdai Erligang qi de qingtongqi” 盤 龍 城 商 代 二 裏 崗 期 的 青 銅 器, Wenwu 1976.2: (Fig. 31: 12); Li Ji 李 濟 et al, Guqiwu yanjiu zhuankan 古 器 物 研 究 專 刊 (Taipei: Zhongyang yanjiuyuan lishi yuyan yanjiusuo, 1972), 5. (Fig. 29). Concerning the connections between the taotie motif and the Neolithic face motif, see Childs-Johnson, “Dragons, Masks, Axes, and Blades from Four Newly-Documented Jade-Producing Cultures of Ancient China,” Orientations 1988.4: pp. 30–41; Ma Chengyuan, ed., Zhongguo qingtongqi, pp. 314–316; Zheng Zhenxiang 鄭 振 香, “Yinxu yuqi tanyuan” 殷 墟 玉 器 探 源, Qingzhu Su Bingqi kaogu wushiwu nian lunwenji 慶 祝 蘇 秉 琦 考 古 五 十 五 年 論 文 集 (Beijing, Wenwu chubanshe, 1989), pp. 315–325; and Li Xueqin, “Liangzhu wenhua yuqi yu taotie wen de yanbian” 良 渚 文 化 玉 器 與 饕 餮 紋 的 演 變, Dongnan wenhua 東 南 文 化 5 (1991), pp. 42–48.

77 See Xiaoneng Yang, Reflections of Early China, p. 80.

78 See Xiaoneng Yang, Reflections of Early China, p. 200.

79 Feng Shi, Zhongguo tianwen kaoguxue, pp. 98–128.

80 See Hu Houxuan, “Yin buci zhong de Shangdi he Wangdi,” pp. 24–50.

81 See Chen Mengjia 陳 夢 家, “Shangdai de shenhua yu wushu” 商 代 的 神 話 與 巫 術, Yanjing xuebao 20 (1936), pp. 526–527; Liu Bing, “Liangzhu wenhua yucong chutan,” p. 35.

82 See Hu Houxuan, “Yin buci zhong de Shangdi he Wangdi,” pp. 24–50.

83 For example, the “Huang yi” 皇 矣 (August) poem in the Shijing reads,

Oh! August High God

Looks down majestically,

Watching and observing the four quarters

To examine the ills of the people.

In Mao Heng 毛 亨 and Zheng Xuan, Maoshi zhengyi 毛 詩 正 義, Shisanjing zhushu zhengliben, no. 243, 16, p. 1195.

84 Hayashi Minao has already suggested that the taotie motif represented the High God of the Shang and Zhou. He tries to support this argument with a comparison of the taotie motif and the graph of di 帝 in oracle bone and bronze inscriptions, which he believes to be similar, but other scholars do not agree. See Hayashi, Chūgoku kodai no kamigami 中 國 古 代 の 神 が み (Tokyo, 2002), pp. 123–150; Yang, Reflections of Early China, 200. Like his interpretation of the Liangzhu face motif, Kwang-chih Chang defines the taotie motif and other animal designs on Shang and Zhou bronzes as images of the various animals that served as the helpers of shamans in the task of communication between heaven and earth, the spirits and the living (Art, Myth, and Ritual: The Path to Political Authority in Ancient China; Cambridge, 1983, pp. 56–80). Sarah Allan interprets the taotie motif as referring to power, eating, and the passage to the other world (“Art and Meaning”, in The Problem of Meaning in Early Chinese Ritual Bronzes (London, 1993, pp. 9–33). On the other hand, some scholars have held the opinion that this iconography does not present any religious symbolism. Max Loehr asserts that the motif cannot have had any religious, cosmological, or mythological meaning (Ritual Vessels of Bronze Age China, New York: The Asia Society, 1968, p. 13). Robert Bagley further argues that the motif was the product of bronze casting technology (Shang Ritual bronzes, pp. 19–21, n. 47). Both Itō Michiharu and Ladislav Kesner believe that the motif emerged in conjunction with and therefore symbolised the increasing systemisation and centralisation of dynastic institutions in the Shang; see Itō, “Yin Religion and Society: Looking beyond the T'ao t'ieh Patterns,” The Journal of Intercultural Studies 15–16 (1988–89) pp. 55–73; Kesner, “The Taotie Reconsidered: Meaning and Functions of Shang Theriomorphic Imagery,” Artibus Asiae 51.1–2 (1991), pp. 29–53.

85 In his discussions with me, Professor Li Zehou always emphasises that the character dao implies the meaning of movement and process.

86 Jiang Xiaoyuan 江 曉 原 and Xie Yun 謝 筠, eds., Zhoubi xuanjing 周 髀 算 經 (Shenyang: Liaoning jiaoyu, 1996) p. 91. This text was compiled during the Han dynasty, but it contains pre-Qin materials of astronomy; see Cullen, Christopher, Astronomy and Mathematics in Ancient China: the Zhou bi suan jing (Cambridge, 1996), pp. 138–145CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

87 Laozi, Chaps. pp. 25, 40.

88 Guodian Chumu zhujian, p. 125.

89 Chen Qiyou 陳 奇 猷, ed., Hanfeizi xin jiaozhu 韓 非 子 新 校 注 (Shanghai, 2000), “Jie Lao” 解 老, 6.415.

90 Lüshi chunqiu jiaoshi, “Youshi” 有 始, 13.659.

91 Shiming, Siku quanshu, 4.1a.

92 Needham, Science and Civilization in China, Vol. 2, pp. 36–37.

93 Guodian Chumu zhujian, pp. 149–150; Mawangdui Hanmu boshu, Vol. 1, pp. 19, 24.

94 Zhuangzi jishi, “Tiandao” 天 道, 5.471.

95 Laozi, Chap. 40.

96 Guodian Chumu zhujian, p. 125.

97 Graham, A. C., Disputers of the Dao: Philosophical Argument in Ancient China (La Salle: Open Court, 1989), p. 18Google Scholar.

98 Zhouyi zhengyi, 3.115a.

99 Jiagu wenzi heji, no. 4910; Zhongguo shehui kexueyuan kaogu yanjiushuo 中 國 社 會 科 學 院 考 古 研 究 所, ed., Xiaotun nandi jiagu 小 屯 南 地 甲 骨 (Beijing,Zhonghua, 1980–83), no. 1098, p. 667.

100 SeeYan Yiping 嚴 萍, “Shi dao” 釋 , Zhongguo wenzi 中 國 文 字, Vol. 7 (1962); “Zai shi dao” 再 釋 道, Zhongguo wenzi 中 國 文 字, Vol. 15 (1965); Cao Dingyun 曹 定 雲, “Shi dao, yong jian lun xiangguan wenti” 釋 道 永 兼 論 相 關 問 題, Kaogu 考 古 11 (1995): pp. 1028–1035.

101 Guodian Chumu zhujian, 111–12, 179–81, 187–88, 197. See Qiu Xigui 裘 錫 圭, “On the Analysis and Transcription of Early Chinese Characters: Examples from the Guodian Laozi,” in The Guodian Laozi: Proceedings of the International Conference, Dartmouth College, May 1998, ed. Sarah Allan and Crispin Williams (Berkeley, 2000) p. 54.

102 Cao Dingyun makes a detailed and convincing discussion of this conclusion; see his “Shi dao, yong jian lun xiangguan wenti,” pp. 1028–1035.

103 Du Naisong 杜 迺 松, “Xizhou tongqi mingwen zhong de ‘de’ zi” 西 周 銅 器 銘 文 中 的” 德” 字, Jijin wenzi yu qingtongqi wenhua lunji 吉 金 文 字 與 青 銅 文 化 論 集 (Beijing, Zijincheng, 2003), p. 73.

104 See Wang Niansun 王 念 孫, Dushu zazhi 讀 書 雜 誌, in v. 1152 of Xuxiu siku quanshu (Shanghai, Shanghai guji, 1995), 4.5a/b.

105 Laozi, Chaps. 4, 21.

106 Harper, “The Nature of Taiyi in the Guodian Manuscript Taiyi sheng shui,” 13.

107 Zhuangzi jishi, “Dazongshi” 大 宗 師, 3.247. This chapter belongs to the “Neipian” 內 篇 (Inner Chapters) section which is generally considered as the actual work of Zhuang Zhou or Zhuang zi.

108 Heguanzi, “Tailu,” Siku quanshu, 2.26a.

109 Liji zhengyi, “Wangzhi” 王 制, 12.431a/b; “Zengzi wen” 曾 子 問, 18.668a/b.

110 See Yan Changgui 晏 昌 貴, “Tianxingguan ‘Bushi jidao’ jian shiwen jijiao” 天 星 觀 “卜 筮 祭 禱” 簡 釋 文 輯 校, in Ding Sixin 丁 四 新, ed., Chudi jiaobo wenxian sixiang yanjiu 楚 地 簡 帛 文 獻 思 想 研 究 (Wuhan, Hubei jiaoyu, 2004), p. 293; He Linyi 何 琳 儀, ed., Zhanguo guwen zidian: Zhanguo wenzi shengxi 戰 國 古 文 字 典:戰 國 文 字 聲 系 (Beijing, Zhonghua, 1998), pp. 194–195.

111 Yan Changgui, “Tianxingguan ‘Bushi jidao’ jian shiwen jijiao”, pp. 182, 293.

112 Rawson, Jessica, “Statesmen or Barbarians? The Western Zhou as Seen through Their Bronzes”, Proceedings of the British Academy 75 (1989): 71–95Google Scholar; Loewe, Michael and Shaughnessy, Edward L., eds., The Cambridge History of Ancient China: From the Origins of Civilization to 221 B.C. (Cambridge, 1999), p. 465CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Xiaoneng Yang, Reflections of Early China, p. 195.

113 Lüshi chunqiu jiaoshi, 16.947.

114 See Chen Zungui 陳 遵 媯, Zhongguo tianwenxue shi 中 國 天 文 學 史 (Shanghai, Shanghai renmin, 1980), Vol. 1, pp. 212–214; and Zhongguo tianwenxue shi zhengli yanjiu xiaozu, Zhongguo tianwenxue shi, pp. 23–24.

115 Wang Xianqian 王 先 謙, ed., Xunzi jijie 荀 子 集 解 (Beijing, Zhonghua, 1988), “Tianlun” 天 論, 11.307.

116 Zhuangzi jishi, 10.1069.

117 All translated citations of Laozi in this article are from or aided by D. C. Lau, trans., Tao Te Ching (Baltimore, 1985).

118 Graham, Disputers of the Dao, p. 219.

119 Graham, Disputers of the Dao, pp. 215–235.

120 Chengyuan, Ma, ed., Shanghai bowuguan cang Zhanguo Chu zhushu (Shanghai: Shanghai guji, 2003), Vol. 3, p. 288Google Scholar; Mawangdui Hanmu boshu, 87; Robin Yates, Five Lost Classics, p. 173. The Mawangdui Hanmu boshu reads “hengxian” as hengwu” 恒 無 (constant nonexistence); Li Xueqin 李 學 勤 believes that it should be read as “hengxian”; see his “Boshu Daoyuan yanjiu” 帛 書 道 原 研 究, Guwenxian luncong 古 文 獻 叢 論 (Shanghai, Shanghai yuandong, 1996), p. 163. Sarah Allan indicates that in the “Xici” commentary to the Zhouyi excavated at Mawangdui, “Taiheng” 太 恒 (Great Constant) replaces “Taiji” 太 極 (Great Pole/Ultimate) in the received text; see her “The Great One, Water, and the Laozi,” pp. 276–279. In addition, the Guodian Laozi (A) reads, “Outermost void is constant” 至 虛, 恒 也 (Guodian Chumu zhujian, 112). This line is written as “Outermost void is the Pole/Ultimate” 至 虛, 極 也 in the Mawangdui silk manuscript Laozi (Mawangdui Hanmu boshu, 11), and as “attaining the void ultimate” 致 虛 極 in the received text (Laozi, Chap. 16). However, some scholars argue that, because ji 亟, the original character for ji 極, is similar to heng 亙, the original character for heng 恒, in Warring States to Han manuscripts ji is often written as heng, or the two are used interchangeably; see Li Ling, “Guodian Chujian jiaoduji” 郭 店 楚 簡 校 讀 記, Daojia wenhua yanjiu 道 家 文 化 研 究 17 (1999), p. 466; Chen Wei 陳 偉, Guodian Chu zhushu bieshi 郭 店 楚 竹 書 別 釋 (Wuhan, Hubei jiaoyu, 2003) pp. 42, 45–46.

121 Huainanzi jiaoshi, “Quanyan” 詮 言, 14.1469–1470.

122 Laozi, Chap. 40.

123 Laozi, Chap. 11.

124 Lunyu, 2.1. E. Bruce Brooks and A. Taeko Brooks explain: “The thrust of the saying is the magical power of inactivity”; see their The Original Analects: Sayings of Confucius and His Successors (New York, 1998), p. 109.

125 Laozi, Chap. 37.

126 Mair, Victot, tr., Tao Te Ching: The Classic Book of Integrity and the Way, Lao Tzu (New York, 1990), p. 138Google Scholar.

127 Laozi, Chaps. 1, 20, 25, 52, 59.

128 Judith Chuan Xu, “Poststructuralist Feminism and the Problem of Femininity in the Daodejing,” Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion 19.1 (2003): pp. 54–55.

129 Laozi, Chap. 42.

130 Both Cui Renyi 崔 仁 義 and Li Xueqin believe that the Laozi cosmology is related to the Taiyi sheng shui cosmology. See Cui, “Jingmen Chumu chutu de zhujian Laozi chutan” 荊 門 楚 墓 出 土 的 竹 簡 老 子 初 探, Jingmen shehui kexue 荊 門 社 會 科 學 5 (1997): pp. 31–35; Li, “Jingmen Guodian Chujian suojian Guanyin yishuo” 荊 門 郭 店 竹 簡 所 見 關 尹 遺 說, Zhongguo wenwubao 中 國 文 物 報 April 8, 1998. Some scholars even assume that the Taiyi sheng shui text is a part of the Laozi (C). See William G. Boltz, “The Fourth-Century B. C. Guodian Manuscripts from Chuu and the Composition of the Laotzyy,” Journal of the American Oriental Society 119.4 (1999), pp. 595–596.

131 Laozi, Chaps. 1, 52.

132 Laozi, Chaps. 20, 67.

133 Zhoubi suanjing, 92.

134 Jiang Xiaoyuan 江 曉 原, “Zhoubi suanjing gaitian yuzhou jiegou” 周 髀 算 經 蓋 天 宇 宙 結 構, Jiang Xiaoyuan zixuanji 江 曉 原 自 選 集 (Guilin, Guangxi shifan daxue, 2001), pp. 203–211; and Feng Shi, Zhongguo tianwen kaoguxue, pp. 92–95.

135 Laozi, Chap. 6.

136 Laozi, Chaps. 2, 34, 43.

137 Lunyu, 17.19.

138 Mengzi, 9.5.

139 Laozi, Chaps. 16, p. 28.

140 Laozi, Chap. 76.

141 Laozi, Chaps. 10, 28, 38, 41, 68.

142 Laozi, Chaps. 28, 38.

143 Yinxu wenzi jiabian, no. 2304; Jiaguwen heji, no. 7271; Jinwen gulin, pp. 984–985; Zhanguo guwen zidian, pp. 67–68.

144 Li Fanggui, Shangguyin yanjiu, p. 37.

145 Guodian Chumu zhujian, pp. 150, 157–158.

146 Peter Boodberg, “Semasiology of Some Primary Confucian Concepts,” Selected Works of Peter A. Boodberg, p. 33.

147 Jiaguwen heji, no. 22048.

148 After Zhanguo guwen zidian, p. 67.

149 Shuowen jiezi jizhu, 2698.

150 Xunzi jijie, “Jundao” 君 道, 8.240.

151 Huainanzi jishi, “Chuzhenxun” 俶 真 訓, 2.134.

152 Zhoubi suanjing, pp. 77–78.

153 The Zhouli records, “Erect a pole with cords to observe solar shadow” 置 槷 以 縣, 眡 以 景. Zheng Xuan glossed, “Nie 槷 was also written as yi 弋. Du Zichun 杜 子 春 said, ‘Nie must be written as yi 弋, meaning yi 杙.’ I think that nie is the phonetic loan character for nie 臬 in ancient script”. Jia Gongyan annotated, “Nie 槷 also means pole” (Zhouli zhushu, “考 工 記”, 41:1344). Yi 弋 and yi 杙 are used interchangeably, meaning wood pile, wood pole or to erect pile on the floor. Therefore, Du Zichun was actually not incorrect when saying yi 杙 was the right word. Yi 埶 is used interchangeably with yi 蓺 and yi 藝, meaning to plant; therefore, yi 槷 may originally bear the meaning of planting a tree or erecting a pole. Xu Shen defined nie 臬 as target (Shuowen jiezi jizhu, 6.1185). Thus, nie 臬 seems originally unrelated to gnomon, and it is more likely to be used as the phonetic loan character for nie 槷, or a wrong form for zhi .

154 Needham, Science and Civilization in China, vol. 3, p. 284.

155 After Feng Shi, Zhongguo tianwen kaoguxue, pp. 199–200.

156 Maoshi zhengyi, no. 207, 13.935–940.

157 Guodian Chumu zhujian, p. 129; Shanghai bowuguan cang Zhanguo Chu zhushu, vol. 1, p. 169. See Edward Shaughnessy, Rewriting Early Chinese Texts (Albany, 2006), p. 95.

158 Guodian Chumu zhujian, p. 150.

159 Shuowen jiezi jizhu, 6.1199.

160 Yirang, Sun, Mozi jiangu 墨 子 閑 詁 (Beijing, Zhonghua, 1986), 14.470Google Scholar.

161 Mozi jiangu, 14.463.

162 Lushi chunqiu jiaoshi, 17.1092.

163 For example, Mawangdui Hanmu boshu, Vol. 4, pp. 29, 123, 159, see Donald Harper, trans., Early Chinese Medical Literature (London and New York, 1998), pp. 227, 363, 423–24; Mozi jiangu, 14.501; Xu Weiyu 許 維 遹, ed., Hanshi waizhuan jishi 韓 詩 外 傳 集 釋 (Beijing, Zhonghua, 1980), 7.246. Xu Zhongshu defines zhi as “to observe the xuan 懸 cords with eyes to measure vertical lines” (Jiaguwen zidian 甲 骨 文 字 典; Chengdu, Sichuan cishu, 1998; 1385). Another possible definition is to observe a carpenter's ink line to measure vertical line. For example, the ‘Mian’ 緜 poem in the Shijing reads, “With the line they made everything straight” 其 繩 則 (Maoshi zhengyi, no. 237, 16.1157). However, from the facts that zhi is the etymon of zhi , zhi , and zhi 置 and used interchangeably with them, its original meaning must be erecting a wooden pole to observe and measure solar shadow.

164 Joseph Needham, Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the Earth, pp. 19–24, 210–215.

165 Zhongguo tianwen kaoguxue, pp. 197–202.

166 Christopher Cullen, Astronomy and Mathematics in Ancient China: the Zhou bi suan jing, p. 191.

167 See Chen Zungui 陳 遵 媯, Zhongguo tianwenxue shi 中 國 天 文 學 史 (Shanghai, Shanghai renmin, 1980), p. 175; Jiang Xiaoyuan and Xie Yun, ed., Zhoubi suanjing, pp. 100–101.

168 After Chen Zungui, Zhongguo tianwenxue shi, p. 131.

169 Zhouli zhushu, “Kaogongji,” 41.1344.

170 Zhoubi suanjing, p. 93.

171 Maoshi zhengyi, no. 113, 5.437.

172 Guodian Chumu zhujian, p. 150.

173 Hanfeizi xin jiaozhu, “Jie Lao,” 6.390.

174 Shangshu zhushu, “Hongfan” 洪 範, 12.368. C. f. the translation of James Legg, The Chinese Classics: The Shoo King (Taipei, 1994), pp. 331–332. A. C. Graham dates the “Hongfan” to ca. 400 bce and judges its correlation of the five processes with the “five tastes” as a later interpolation; see his Yin-yang and the Nature of Correlation Thinking (Singapore, 1986), p. 77.

175 Mawangdui Hanmu boshu, p. 4.

176 Creel, Herrlee G., Shen Pu-hai: a Chinese Political Philosopher of the Fourth Century B. C. (Chicago, 1974), p. 358Google Scholar. This text is attributed to Shen Buhai 申 不 害, who was born in the state of Zheng 鄭 around 400 bce. Despite the late appearance of the text in the Han dynasty, it was based in large part on the ideas of Shen Buhai. See Creel, “Shen tzu”, in Early Chinese texts, pp. 394–398.

177 Zhouyi zhengyi, 3.114b–115a.

178 Maoshi zhengyi, no. 207, 13.935–340.

179 Chunqiu Zuozhuan zhushu, the 32th year of Duke Zhuang, 10.342.

180 Lau, D. C., trans., The Analects (Harmondsworth, 1986), 15.25Google Scholar.

181 Hanfeizi xin jiaozhu, 4.283.

182 Zhu Fenghan 朱 鳳 瀚 argues that the Shang High God was more casual in his will of rewarding and punishing human, while the Zhou High God/Heaven was endowed with impartial, just quality; see his “Shang-Zhou shiqi de tianshen chongbai” 商 周 時 期 的 天 神 崇 拜, Zhongguo shehui kexue 中 國 社 會 科 學 82 (1993.4): pp. 191–211. This may explain why the concept of de became very popular during the Zhou period.

183 Mawangdui Hanmu boshu, p. 19; Guodian Chumu zhujian, p. 149.

184 The Analects, 7.23. See Vassili Kryukov, “Symbols of Power and Communication in Pre-Confucian China (On the Anthropology of “de”): Preliminary Assumptions,” Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 58.2 (1995): p. 315.

185 Scholars in general define de as ‘xun’ 循 or ‘xing’ 省, meaning “to make an inspection tour”, “to inspect”, “to examine”, etc. For detailed discussions, see Jiagu wenzi gulin, no. 2306.

186 Zuozhuan, the 13th year of Duke Cheng, 27.867.

187 Li Xiangfeng 黎 翔 鳳, Guanzi jiaozhu 管 子 校 注 (Beijing, Zhonghua, 2004), “Bayan” 霸 言, 9.473. The citation from Guanzi emends “” to “二 (貳)” according to Wang Niansun 王 念 孫. C.f. the collation and translation of W. Allyn Rickett, Guanzi: Political, Economic, and Philosophical Essays from Early, A Study and Translation (Boston, 2001), p. 364.

188 See, for example, Maogong ding 毛 公 鼎.

189 Shangshu zhushu, “Hongfan,” 12.369.

190 Jiaguwen heji, nos. 559, 6399.

191 Jiaguwen heji, no. 6736.

192 Liji zhengyi, “Tangong” 檀 弓, 9.333.

193 Chunqiu zuozhuan zhengyi, the 28th year of Duke Xi, 16.511–12; the 7th year of Duke Xiang, 30.978.

194 David Keightley reads the OBI de 德 as zhi , and interprets “de fa” 德 伐 as “straighten out and attack” (The Ancestral Landscape, p. 68); Paul Serruys indicates that de is ancestral to zhi, “with the semantic element indicating a concrete movement in space (“Towards a Grammar of the Language of the Shang Bone Inscriptions,” in Zhongyang yanjiuyuan guoji hanxue huiyi lunwenji: yuyan wenzizu 中 央 研 究 院 國 際 漢 學 會 議 論 文 集: 語 言 文 字 組; Taipei: Zhongyang yanjiuyuan, 1981; pp. 359–360). Both are insightful. In addition, because zhi and zheng 正 are synonyms and used interchangeably, “de/zhi fa” may also be glossed as “zheng 征/zheng 正 fa”; see Guo Moruo Buci tongzuan 卜 辭 通 纂 (Beijing, Kexue, 1983), p. 110.

195 Zhuangzi jishi, “Tianxia” 天 下, 10.1093.