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Chapter 5. Asking about Divine Insight
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Chapter 5 Asking about Divine Insight Verse Summary The heart so divine may seem as vague and unknowable as the gods, yet it is the alpha and omega when it comes to governing the myriad regions.1 Its workings are tied to the Way, to charismatic virtue, to humanity, to a sense of duty and propriety, and to ritual decorum. Thus, I have composed chapter 5, “Asking about Divine Insight.”2 5.1 Someone asked me about the divine. “It is the heart.”3 “May I ask what you mean?” “It immerses itself in heaven and so becomes heaven; it immerses itself into earthly things and so becomes earth. Heaven and earth are divinely illumined,4 even if they cannot be completely fathomed.5 Through these processes of immersion, the heart comes to seem almost on the point of 1 Both L’Haridon (2006) and Knechtges (1982a) translate this line quite differently. 2 Pfister (2006) discusses the history of the term shenming 神明, which in pre-Han and Han texts signifies not only the gods of heaven and earth but also the “divine spark,” “daimonic illumination,” or “god-like perspicacity” that comes to the adept, including the adept of sexual techniques, as well as to the expert in the Way. This use refers to “a controlled altered state of consciousness” where “the perceptual capacities are strengthened . . . and the concentration is strong but flowing” and is not focused on only a single object (187). The earliest occurrence of the term seems to be in the “Neiye” chapter of the Guanzi. Of course, the term in Han also refers to the “gods of heaven and earth.” Since Yang Xiong constructs good government as the opposite of Wudi’s policies, it may moreover be relevant that Wudi built a terrace called Shenming , which was supposedly some 50 zhang high, to use when worshiping the gods. 3 Andrew Plaks (pers. comm.) prefers “faculties,” intellectual and emotional, as he points out that the word “heart” implies both sorts of faculties in the pre-Cartesian world. 4 See n. 2 for shenming 神明, literally, “divine light,” but here “divine insight.” 5 For the phrase bu ce 不測 (unfathomable), see “Xici” A.5, which describes the cosmos and the gods; see also the “Zhongyong” (32.23/146/9, 32.24/146/13) dictum “Since events are never duplicated, their proliferation is unfathomable [bu ce].” 70 | 71 Exemplary Figures 5. Asking about Divine Insight 潛心于聖。曰昔乎仲尼潛心於文王矣。達之。顏淵亦潛心於仲尼 矣。未達1 一間耳。神在所潛而已矣。 5.2 天神天明。 2 照知四方。天精天粹。萬物作類。 5.3 人心其神矣乎。操則存。舍則亡。能常操而存者。其惟聖人乎。 5.4 聖人存神索至。成天下之大順。致天下之大利。和同天人之際。 使之無間也。 3 5.5 龍蟠于泥。蚖4 其肆矣。蚖哉。蚖哉。惡覩龍之志也與。或曰龍必 欲飛天乎。曰時飛則飛。時潛則潛。既飛且潛。食其不妄。形其 不可得而制也與。曰聖人不制。則何為乎羑里。曰龍以不制為 1 Da conveys the sense of having access to a person or principles. Cf. Analects 13.35. 2 See Han Jing (1992, 99n1). 3 Jian 間 can, of course, refer to the boundary between heaven and earth, but here I believe it refers to the human realm. This is perhaps a reference to Huainan zi, which talks about there being “no gap” between “heaven and man” for the one who has “selfpossession ” (zide 自得). 4 Han Jing (1992, 101n1) says this is an amphibious water lizard commonly called “Stone Dragon” (shi long zi 石龍子), a name that implies a contrast between higher and inferior creatures. Some commentators identify it as a venomous snake (hui 虺). [3.237.51.235] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 18:06 GMT) fathoming them.6 How much more, then, can the heart fathom people, not to mention social affairs and relations!” “I make bold to ask about immersing one’s heart in the sages.” “Long ago, Kongzi certainly immersed himself, heart and soul, in King Wen, and he fully apprehended him.7 Certainly Yan Hui, for his part, also immersed himself, heart and soul, in Kongzi, and he nearly apprehended all of him. Clearly, divine insight depends solely upon immersion!” 5.2–4 Heaven, being divine and bright,8 shines forth upon and allows us to perceive the four quarters of the land. Heaven, being extraordinarily refined and subtle, engenders the myriad phenomena in their categories. The human heart—how divine it is! As the saying goes, “Grasp hold of it, and it is preserved. Let it go, and it is lost.”9 Yet it is only the sages who continually grasp hold of it so as to preserve it! The sages preserve their godlike insight and they seek perfection. They complete the great concord in All-under-heaven, confer great benefit upon All-under-heaven, and bring harmony and unity10 to the space between heaven and human, so that no gap exists. 5.5 “The dragon coiled in the mud, awaiting the proper...