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Chapter 24 of 25
皇极经世
The image and degrees of Heaven can be calculated, but the miraculous functioning of Heaven cannot be fathomed.
What is spontaneous is Heaven 🌌; only the sage can explore its profound principles. What emulates the Way is humanity; if one acts when action is fitting and ceases when ceasing is fitting, though it be human action, it accords with the Way of Heaven.
"Birth" belongs to nature, which is Heaven; "completion" belongs to form, which is Earth. The sun entering into the earth is the image of intermingling essences.
The substance is four and transforms into six, encompassing both spirit and vital force. The transformations of vital force must be six, hence there are three hundred and sixty in number.
When a matter is done to the utmost, one may stop at seven-tenths. At the summer solstice, the daylight ceases at sixty quarter-hours; adding the distinction of dawn and dusk by which the sky's color may be discerned, it is approximately seven-tenths.
Though the Diagram has no text, my whole day's discourse never departs from it; the principles of all things under Heaven and Earth are fully contained within it.
Vital force is one; its sovereign is Qian ☰. Spirit is also one; it rides the vital force and transforms, entering and emerging between being and non-being, life and death, without fixed location and unfathomable.
Without understanding Qian, one cannot comprehend the principle of nature and destiny.
Speaking only when the occasion is fitting is speaking in response to circumstances; speech does not originate from the self.
One is called human only when benevolence matches Heaven and Earth; only the humane one may truly be called human.
To be born and then completed, to be completed and then born—this is the Way of Change 🔄.
Vital force is the dwelling of spirit; substance is the dwelling of vital force.
Heaven is six, Earth is four. Heaven takes vital force as its substance and spirit as its spirit; Earth takes matter as its substance and vital force as its spirit. Only humans possess the natures of all things and are the most intelligent of all things. The sounds of birds and beasts—each kind can manage only one of its own. What can manage everything without exception is only humans. Extending this to other matters, it is likewise so. Only humans obtain the function of the intermingling of Heaven, Earth, sun, and moon; other creatures cannot. How precious is human life! Heaven and Earth endow humans with nobility, yet humans do not cherish themselves—this is to violate the principle of Heaven and Earth, and there is nothing more inauspicious than this.
The realm of brightness and darkness in a lamp is the symbol of the sun and moon.
The moon is the shadow of the sun; feeling is the shadow of nature. The heart pertains to nature and the gall to feeling; nature is spirit and feeling is ghost.
The heart is the Supreme Ultimate; it is also said that the Way is the Supreme Ultimate. Form may be divided; spirit cannot be divided.
Matters of yin occupy the greater half, for yang is one and yin is two.
After the winter solstice is exhalation; after the summer solstice is inhalation—this is Heaven and Earth's breathing over the course of a year 🌬.
To rejoice at the joy of things and to mourn at the sorrow of things—this is issuing forth and hitting the mean. If one does not cling to "self and things," one can then master things (command the myriad things).
Indulging the self becomes feeling; feeling then obscures; obscurity then benights. Following along with things becomes nature; nature then penetrates spirit; spirit then illuminates. What submerges in Heaven and Earth, arrives without traveling, and is not constrained by yin and yang—this is spirit.
Of calamities sent down from Heaven, one-tenth may still be avoided. Of transgressions created by humans themselves, nine-tenths cannot be escaped.
The learning of the Former Heaven is the learning of the heart-mind; the learning of the Latter Heaven is the learning of traces. What moves in and out of being and non-being, life and death, is the Way.
Spirit has no where it is, yet is nowhere absent. The perfected one can commune with other hearts because all originate from the One.
The Way and the One are forced names for spirit. Taking spirit as spirit—this is the highest discourse.
The body belongs to Earth; its nature is stillness; what makes it move is blood and vital force making it so.
Endless generation nourishing all kinds into being—this is the achievement of Heaven and Earth. Distinguishing kinds and classifying categories—this is the capacity of the sage.
Observing things through things is nature; observing things through the self is feeling. Nature is impartial and lucid; feeling is partial and dim.
Yang governs opening and issuing forth; yin governs closing and drawing in.
When the sun is in water, it lives; when it leaves water, it dies—this is the matter of intermingling or not intermingling.
Yin is two in relation to yang. Yet when yang comes, there is life; when yang departs, there is death. That the life and death of Heaven, Earth, and all things are governed by yang returns it to the One.
Spirit has no fixed location, whereas nature has substance.
What issues from nature is seen in feeling; what issues from feeling is seen in countenance, each responding according to kind.
If Heaven and Earth give birth to the myriad things, then the myriad things are the myriad things. If the Way gives birth to Heaven and Earth, then Heaven and Earth too are among the myriad things.
Human nobility lies in possessing the natures of all things in fullness; valuing oneself and thereby attaining one's nobility, one can thus command all kinds.
The good and evil of ordinary people are manifested in speech and revealed in action—only then do others know of them. But whatever stirs within the mind and arises in thought—ghosts and spirits already know of it. This is why the noble person is vigilant in solitude. When vital force transforms, the body transforms with it.
Humans possess in fullness the natures of all things. The spirit of humans is the spirit of Heaven and Earth. To deceive oneself is to deceive Heaven and Earth—can one be unwary? Humans fear ghosts just as ghosts fear humans. If a person accumulates good, yang abounds ☀️, and ghosts also fear them; if one accumulates evil, yin abounds 🌑, and ghosts do not fear them. The great one joins with ghosts and spirits in good and ill fortune—what then is there to fear?
The learning of ultimate principle cannot be attained without utmost sincerity. Where the learning of physical things has something uncomprehended, one must not force comprehension. Forcing comprehension introduces the "self"; with the self present, principle is lost and one falls into arts and numerology.
When the heart is single and undivided, it can respond to all things. This is why the noble person makes the heart empty and unmoving. The sage benefits things without self.
In the realm of light are sun and moon; in the realm of darkness are ghosts and spirits. The Six Classics of the sage are wholly without traces, like the Way of Heaven. The Spring and Autumn Annals records actual events, and good and evil naturally appear within them.
The method of the Mean: what issues from within is Heaven; what enters from without is humanity. In the system of rhymes, opening and closing imitate Heaven; clear and turbid imitate Earth. First closed and then opened is spring 🌱; purely open is summer ☀️; first opened and then closed is autumn 🍂; in winter, closed and soundless ❄️. East is the sound of spring, yang is the sound of summer—one can see that the composer of rhymes attained a very high level. (All winter sounds likewise.)
Still and unmoving, returning to the root and reverting to stillness—this is the time of Kun. Induced and then penetrating all under Heaven, yang stirring within, leaving no gap even for a hair—this is the meaning of Fu (Return). Moving when no movement is seen is reckless movement—this is movement in the time of Pi (Stagnation). Seeing movement and then moving constitutes Wu Wang (Without Falsehood); yet there is calamity because yang is faint and without response. When there is response and then moving, it constitutes Yi (Increase).
Essence and vital force becoming things is form; the wandering soul undergoing transformation is spirit. It is also said: essence and vital force becoming things is substance; the wandering soul undergoing transformation is function. The learning of the noble person takes nourishing the body as fundamental; governing others and responding to things are residual affairs.
Decisiveness is force of talent; clear discrimination is knowledge and discernment; broad magnanimity is capacity of virtue. Of these three, not one may be lacking. One without virtue blames others, resents others, and is easily self-satisfied; being self-satisfied, one stops.
One who can move according to the principle of Heaven holds creation and transformation in one's own hands. Learning that does not penetrate Heaven and humanity is unworthy of being called learning. A person must have capacity of virtue, and only then are joy and anger never reckless. Whether a minister of state or a commoner, even when one's learning towers above all under Heaven, it is as though one had nothing.
One who attains the principle of Heaven not only nourishes the body but also nourishes the heart; not only nourishes the heart, but even one's nature and destiny are nourished.
The calendar cannot be without discrepancy. Those who study the calendar today know only the calendar's method, not the calendar's principle. What could perform computations was Luo Xiahong; what could calculate the movements was Master Gan and Master Shi. Luo Xiahong knew only the calendar's method; Yang Xiong knew both the calendar's method and its principle.
Yanzi did not transfer his anger and did not repeat his errors—these pertain to the level of feeling, not nature. Without reaching nature and destiny, one is not worthy of being called fond of learning.
Yang Xiong's composition of the Tai Xuan (Supreme Mystery) may be said to have seen the heart of Heaven and Earth.
The Change fundamentally has no substance. It is also said: already possessing its constant rules, then it has substance. Fearing that people might thereby think it has fixed substance, it is said that it cannot be treated as a fixed norm. Possessing constant rules is the constant; not to be treated as a fixed norm is the changing. Zhuang Zhou's eloquence—one person in several thousand years. As when the cook carving an ox "paused and looked around in every direction," or when Confucius observed the waters of River Lü and spoke of "the Way of treading water as being without selfishness"—these are all words of ultimate principle.
The Change is the sage's instrument for nurturing the noble and diminishing the petty. When it comes to their growth, one opens the door while it has not yet occurred; when it comes to their decline, one closes the gate while it has not yet occurred. One growth and one decline, one opening and one closing—wholly without traces. Were it not for the utmost spirit under Heaven, who could accomplish this?
The hexagram Da Guo (Great Excess) has weakness at both root and tip; there must be great virtue and great position, and only then can it be rescued. Within the constant order there are things that may be exceeded and things that may not be exceeded. Great virtue with great position—these are exceedable; Yi Yin and the Duke of Zhou were such persons—no need for fear. Great virtue without great position—these are not exceedable; Confucius and Mencius were such persons—no need for frustration. Does their position fail to match their virtue? Position is indeed great! It is the dwelling where one awaits the time to act.
If Fu (Return) follows upon Bo (Peeling), does this show that order is born from disorder? If Gou (Encountering) follows upon Guai (Resolution), does this show that disorder is born from order? O time, O time! There is no peeling that does not return, and no encountering that does not resolve. Guarding against calamity before it arises, the state endures long, and descendants flourish. Hence the sage prizes the prevention of what has not yet occurred—this is the great outline of the Change.
The learning of the Former Heaven is the method of the heart-mind; hence the Diagrams all arise from the center, and the myriad transformations and myriad affairs are born from the heart.
The road one walks must not be narrow; if broad, then few obstructions. To know the Change one need not cite explanations—only then does one know the Change. Mencius wrote books without ever citing the Change, yet the Way of the Change resides within them; people merely see little of it. One who can use the Change—only such a one knows the Change. Mencius may be called one who was skilled in using the Change.
What is called Emperor, King, Hegemon refers not only to the Three Sovereigns, Five Emperors, Three Kings, and Five Hegemons. To use non-action is to be the Emperor-Sovereign; to use grace and trust is to be the Emperor-king; to use impartiality and correctness is to be the King; to use cleverness and force is to be the Hegemon.
Ghosts and spirits have no form yet have function; their conditions may become known, for they are seen in function. The ears, eyes, mouth, hands, and feet of humans; the branches, leaves, flowers, and colors of plants—all are the doings of ghosts and spirits. Blessing the good and afflicting the wanton—who is the master? The intelligent and upright—who possesses this? Speeding without haste and arriving without traveling—who is the agent? All these are the conditions of ghosts and spirits.
The Change has image-intent: the intent is always to make clear the image, governing the three that follow. It has speech-images: not imitating a thing, but speaking directly to make plain a matter. It has likeness-images: imitating one thing to make plain an intent. It has number-images: seven days, eight months, three years, ten years, and the like.
The numbers of the Change exhaust the beginning and end of Heaven and Earth. Someone asked: "Do Heaven and Earth also have beginning and end?" Reply: "Since they have growth and decline, how could they lack beginning and end? Though Heaven and Earth are great, they are still formed things—two entities."
The Change has inner images, which are where principle and intrinsic order reside. It has outer images: fixing a single thing and not changing.
Among humans, the Way of Qian completes the male and the Way of Kun completes the female; among things, the Way of Qian completes the yang and the Way of Kun completes the yin.
If spirit has no fixed place, then the Change has no substance. Stuck in one quarter, one cannot transform—this is not spirit. Having fixed substance, one cannot change and penetrate—this is not the Change. Though the Change has substance, substance is image; it borrows the image to reveal the substance, yet fundamentally has no substance.
In matters great or small, the Way resides within each. Being able to rest in one's proper place is called the Way; not being able to rest in one's proper place is called not-the-Way.
The correct pitch-number progression stops at seven because at the summer solstice the sun enters at yin (3–5 a.m.) and sets at xu (7–9 p.m.). During the three periods of hai, zi, and chou the sun enters the earth where the eye sees nothing. These three numbers do not function, just as these three periods do not function. Hence the numbers of living things likewise—not that the numbers do not function, but that there are numbers unseen.
The six voids are the six positions, voids waiting for the affairs of change and movement. The six lines of the six hexagrams: where there is form there is substance, where there is nature there is feeling. Heaven governs function; Earth governs substance. The sage governs function; the common people govern substance—hence they use it daily without knowing.
Institutions began with Fu Xi, were completed under Yao, reformed by the Three Kings, brought to extremity by the Five Hegemons, and severed under Qin. All traces of order and disorder in the myriad affairs never escape this.
Spirit is the master of the Change, hence it has no fixed place. The Change is the function of spirit, hence it has no substance.
Following principle is the constant; what is outside principle is the anomalous.
Fire takes nature as master, with substance secondary. Water takes substance as master, with nature secondary.
Yang is nature and yin is feeling; nature is spirit and feeling is ghost.
The Change begins with Qian and Kun, centers on Kan and Li, and ends in the intermingling or non-intermingling of water and fire—all are ultimate principles.
The Supreme Ultimate is One; unmoved, it generates two; the two is then spirit. Spirit generates number; number generates image; image generates vessel.
The Supreme Ultimate, unmoving, is nature; when it stirs, it is spirit; spirit then number; number then image; image then vessel; the transformation of vessel returns again to spirit.
This chapter concentrically expounds the central framework of Shao Yong's Former Heaven learning, centering on the following propositions:
Nature and Feeling, Spirit and Form: Nature is Heaven's endowment and is spirit; feeling is the shadow of nature and is ghost. The heart pertains to nature, the gall to feeling; nature is impartial and lucid, feeling partial and obscure. This is the pivot for understanding the whole chapter.
The Oneness of Spirit and Vital Force: Vital force is the dwelling of spirit; substance is the dwelling of vital force. Spirit rides vital force and transforms, passing between being and non-being, life and death. Spirit has no fixed place, yet nature has substance; spirit is nowhere and everywhere.
Humans as the Most Intelligent of All Things: Humans combine the dual attributes of Heaven (vital force, spirit) and Earth (matter, form), thus able to possess the natures of all things in fullness. Human nobility lies in self-regard; failing to cherish oneself is to violate the principle of Heaven and Earth.
The Principle of Waxing and Waning in the Way of Change: The cyclical alternation of Fu/Po and Gou/Guai reveals the dialectical relation that "order is born from disorder, disorder from order." The sage's greatness lies in the prevention of what has not yet occurred.
The Cosmogonic Sequence of Supreme Ultimate—Spirit—Number—Image—Vessel: The Supreme Ultimate, unmoving, is nature; when it stirs, it is spirit; spirit generates number; number generates image; image generates vessel; the vessel's transformation returns to spirit. This is Shao Yong's essential cosmological summary.
"Nature impartial and lucid, feeling partial and obscure": This closely aligns with the modern psychological concept of cognitive bias. A self-centered perspective (observing things through the self) necessarily produces distortions in cognition, while an objective viewpoint (observing things through things) approaches actual truth. Shao Yong pointed out the epistemological pitfall of "egocentrism" more than nine hundred years ago.
The transformativeness of "the noble man is vigilant in solitude": The original text says that when good and evil stir in the mind, "ghosts and spirits already know of them." In a modern context, this can be understood as: although a person's stirring thoughts have not been revealed outwardly, they have already sown seeds within one's cognitive framework and behavioral tendencies, which will inevitably manifest through some channel. This is a law of internal causality, not a mystical punishment.
"Making the heart empty and unmoving" in the information age: "When the heart is single and undivided, it can respond to all things" resembles the modern pursuit of focused attention and mindfulness. In an environment of information overload, only by keeping the mind empty, still, and focused can one respond effectively.
"Forcing comprehension introduces the self": This is a brilliant response to modern anxiety over knowledge. Where the learning of physical things is not yet comprehended, one must not force comprehension, for forcing falls into self-centeredness. The humble attitude of acknowledging cognitive boundaries is precisely the precondition for remaining rational.
The governing tiers of Emperor, King, Hegemon: Non-action → grace and trust → impartiality and correctness → cleverness and force. This sequence corresponds to a spectrum of governance from spontaneous order to coercive control, which can be mapped onto modern organizational management philosophy: corporate culture (non-action), trust systems (grace and trust), institutional fairness (impartiality and correctness), and performance appraisal (cleverness and force)—four levels progressing and complementing one another.
"Vigilance in solitude" and "self-deception is deceiving Heaven and Earth": In the contemporary era of information transparency, the verifiability of personal integrity has greatly increased. What one chooses in solitude is being recorded in digital footprints. Shao Yong's warning—"self-deception is deceiving Heaven and Earth"—has acquired new practical significance in the data age.
| Key Point from the Text | Modern Application |
|---|---|
| Speak only when the occasion is fitting; speech does not come from the self | Workplace communication: speak only when appropriate, not driven by the urge of self-expression |
| When the heart is single and undivided, it responds to all things | Time management: single-task focus outperforms multi-tasking |
| When a matter is done to the utmost, seven-tenths suffices to stop | Project management: avoid chasing perfection into diminishing returns |
| The road one walks must not be narrow | Life planning: maintain openness and fault tolerance |
| Having response and then moving constitutes benefit | Decision methodology: wait for conditions to mature before acting, not blind initiation |
| Prevention of what has not yet occurred | Risk management: build firewalls before problems arise |
| Do not force comprehension | Learning strategy: acknowledge cognitive boundaries, avoid self-centered forced interpretation |
| Attaining Heaven's principle nourishes body and heart | Mind-body health: nourishing rhythms and life-pacing aligned with natural laws |
The generative loop of Supreme Ultimate—Spirit—Number—Image—Vessel: Does it find resonance with circular models of contemporary systemic thought? From organic growth to cybernetic feedback, the cycle of returning to spirit after vessel (and vice versa: spirit → number → image → vessel) suggests that all emergence—whether in complex systems or cognitive processes—returns to a generative source. In Shao Yong's philosophy, this maintains both strong monism and radical dynamism: once the loop is grasped, every one of the myriad changes resolves within a spiritual root that is never counted away. The recursive question that naturally arises: is the One in Shao Yong's thought a "force," a "field," or an irreducible silence? This ambiguity shares an affinity with unresolved systematic aporias in Western metaphysics, preserving future openings for thought even as it claims closure over all determinable beings.
Here, Shao Yong puts forward a profoundly meaningful cosmological model: the Supreme Ultimate (Taiji) is motionless and constitutes innate nature (xing); when it emanates, it becomes spirit (shen); spirit generates number (shu); number generates image (xiang); image generates physical actuality (qi); and the transformation of physical actuality ultimately returns to spirit. What makes this model unique is that it forms a closed loop: starting from the unified Supreme Ultimate, it unfolds through spirit, number, image, and physical actuality, and finally returns to spirit through the "transformation of physical actuality."
This implies a profound philosophical position: the unfolding of the phenomenal world (physical actuality) is not a departure from ultimate reality, but rather a stage in which ultimate reality reveals itself. The endpoint of the transformation of physical actuality is not annihilation, but a return to spirit. This stands in sharp contrast to certain forms of nihilism or ontological pessimism.
The Epistemological Revolution of "Observing Things with Things"
Shao Yong distinguishes between "observing things with the self" and "observing things with things," thereby essentially proposing a decentered cognitive paradigm. In "observing things with the self," the knowing subject projects its own emotions, desires, and biases onto the object, making the cognitive result a mere byproduct of the subject's state. "Observing things with things," by contrast, requires the observer to dissolve self-centered standpoints and allow the object to manifest itself in its own way.
Philosophically, this approaches the phenomenological call to "return to the things themselves," and also resonates with the direction of ecological philosophy in transcending anthropocentrism. With the eight characters "性公而明，情偏而暗" (innate nature is impartial and clear; emotion is biased and obscure), Shao Yong concisely articulates the intrinsic connection between cognitive impartiality and cognitive clarity.
"Human Nobility" and Self-Awakening
Shao Yong states, "Heaven and Earth bestow nobility upon [humanity], yet if one does not value this nobility oneself, one violates the principles of Heaven and Earth." Here, "nobility" does not mean social status, but rather ontological significance: as the only being in the cosmos capable of simultaneously embodying the nature of Heaven and Earth and engaging the functions of the sun and moon, humans bear a unique cosmological role. To fail to cherish this role is to violate the most fundamental principle of Heaven.
In contemporary thought, this view can be brought into dialogue with humanist conceptions of the dignity of life, but Shao Yong's argumentative path carries greater cosmological depth—human dignity derives not from human self-assertion, but from humanity's unique position within the generative structure of the cosmos.
A priori Learning (Xiantianxue) and a posteriori Learning (Houtianxue): A priori learning is the "method of the mind," proceeding directly from the principle of the Supreme Ultimate; a posteriori learning is the "study of traces," inferring backward from established manifestations. All of Shao Yong's scholarship is grounded in a priori learning, and this chapter's repeated emphasis on "the mind is the Supreme Ultimate" and "the Way is the Supreme Ultimate" embodies precisely this stance.
Substance-Function (Ti-Yong) Relations: Heaven takes qi as its substance (ti) and spirit as its function (yong); Earth takes physical matter as its substance and qi as its function. Substance and function are not fixed but transform into each other at different levels. This hierarchical view of substance-function runs throughout the entire chapter.
Six Empty Positions (Liu Xu): In the Yijing (Book of Changes), the six yao positions are empty positions, "emptiness awaiting changing events." The concept of empty positions, combined with "spirit has no fixed locus and Change has no fixed substance," constitutes Shao Yong's unique understanding of the structure of the Yijing: the structure itself (the six positions) is an empty framework designed to accommodate transformation.
The Four-Level Progression of "Sovereign (Huang), Emperor (Di), King (Wang), Hegemon (Ba)": Originating from Shao Yong's Observations of Things: Inner Chapters, this historical philosophy classifies historical-political forms into four levels: the sovereign transforms the people through the Way, the emperor educates the people through virtue, the king encourages the people through achievement, and the hegemon leads the people through force. This chapter summarizes them with four key terms: "effortless action, gracious trust, impartiality, and intellect."
Classification of Images in the Yijing: Verbal images (direct explanation), symbolic images (conveying meaning through objects), numeric images (using numbers to represent images), as well as inner images (principle-based) and outer images (concrete things), together constitute Shao Yong's multi-dimensional analysis of the images of the Yijing. All images are unified under the formulation of meaning, which governs the classification.
Discourse on Yin and Yang, Life and Death: "When yang comes, there is life; when yang departs, there is death." All things in life and death are governed by yang and return to the One. This is Shao Yong's elaboration of the Xici Zhuan's statement, "One yin and one yang constitute the Way": yang is the One, yin is the expansion of the Two; life is returning to the One, death is entering the multiplicity of the Two.
Cognitive Science Readings of the Mind-Nature Theory: Shao Yong's distinction between "observing things with things" and "observing things with the self" has in recent years been reinterpreted as an early critique of cognitive bias. Some scholars have compared it with Daniel Kahneman's "fast thinking/slow thinking" model: emotion corresponds to the fast system (intuitive, biased), and innate nature corresponds to the slow system (rational, impartial).
The Perspective of Complexity Science on A Priori Learning: Shao Yong's cyclical model of "Supreme Ultimate—spirit—number—image—physical actuality—return to spirit" has fruitful dialogue potential with concepts of self-organization and emergence in contemporary complexity theory. The unpredictability of "spirit" is interpreted as an irreducible emergent property of complex systems.
"Sovereign, Emperor, King, Hegemon" and Governance Modernization: Some political philosophy researchers compare Shao Yong's four-level governance model with contemporary governance paradigms (such as meta-governance, network governance, and bureaucratic governance), arguing that Shao Yong offers a spectrum of governance distinct from linear progressivism.
"Numeric Images" and Semiotics: Shao Yong's classification of Yijing images (verbal, symbolic, and numeric) is regarded as an important resource for Chinese semiotics. Using numbers to represent entities parallels the modern semiotic distinction between abstract symbols and indexical symbols.