dankodes | Shi Jing, The Book of Odes: Odes of the Temple and the Altar, Sacrificial Odes of Zhou, Qing Miao

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* I found the best option for the weekly reminder emails, via Gmail. The external service options are more involved than our purposes require. Does anyone know anything about how to arrange an Apps Script? Basically all it has to do is tell ten people, on Saturdays, to come and get their juice/poems.

Until someone knows what to do there, I'll send out manual messages weekly. If you'd like to receive these and are not getting them, please let me know.

* If you haven't read it yet, chapter one, on tetrasyllabic shi poetry, in How to Read Chinese Poetry is hugely useful for the Book of Odes, imo.

* Remember you can also look at How to Read Chinese Poetry in Context.

* IF YOU HAVE FRIENDS WHO MIGHT LIKE TO JOIN or have other ideas, please let me know on this post.

* Every week I search the poems' English results to see if I can find any scholarship or neat bits and pop the results in Resources. Here is this week's collection.

**NEXT BATCH JUNE 14.**

ONLY 4 SHI JING WEEKS LEFT, THIS INCLUDED!

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From:

x_los

於穆清廟、肅雝顯相。
濟濟多士、秉文之德。
對越在天、駿奔走在廟。
不顯不承、無射於人斯。

Ah! solemn is the ancestral temple in its pure stillness.
Reverent and harmonious were the distinguished assistants;
Great was the number of the officers:
[All] assiduous followers of the virtue of [king] Wen.
In response to him in heaven,
Grandly they hurried about in the temple.
Distinguished is he and honoured,
And will never be wearied of among men.

From:

x_los

Is Wen deceased and in heaven and the person they venerate now, or is/was he just a devotee they model their practice on?

From:

douqi

That's King Wen of Zhou it seems: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Wen_of_Zhou

The 駿 threw me a bit because I legit thought for a moment they had horses running about the temple, but it's being used here to indicate running/walking speedily.

From:

Baike says it's controversial when it was written, but it looks like all the suggestions post date the reign of Zhou Wen wang. The preface blurb says it was Zhou gong (son of Zhou Wen wang) who led the effort, to commemorate the completion of a city.

It also says it's controversial if it's actually a sacrifice to Wen wang, or if he's just symbolically an ancestor, but Baike comes down on the side of specifically for Wen wang.

From:

x_los

維天之命、於穆不已。
於乎不顯、文王之德之純。
假以溢我、我其收之。
駿惠我文王、曾孫篤之。

The ordinances of Heaven, -
How deep are they and unintermitting!
And oh! how illustrious,
Was the singleness of the virtue of king Wen!
How does he [now] show his kindness?
We will receive [his favour],
Striving to be in accord with him, our king Wen;
And may his remotest descendant be abundantly the same!

From:

x_los

"The ordinances of Heaven, -
How deep are they and unintermitting!" So is this deep as in mysterious, thoughtful or arduous? How 'unintermitting'?

'singleness' odd phrasing

"And may his remotest descendant be abundantly the same!" weird way of putting 'I hope his descendants are always as cool as King Wen himself is'

From:

douqi

Second line is meant to be complimentary, according to Baike.

Looking at the word, 'singleness' seems to translate better as 'purity'.

According to Baike, this poem was composed by King Wen's grandson, King Cheng of Zhou, so. Btw King Wen was not actually King of Zhou at any point; his son King Wu was the one who did the conquering, and Wen was honoured posthumously as the founder of the Zhou Dynasty.

From:

Baike glosses the deep as solemnly/dignified beauty and the unintermitting as without end, indicating natural law will continue without end

Agree with

douqi that singleness is better as purity/virtue

Baike glosses the last line as more like, "may his posterity be forever diligent/sincere"

From:

x_los

Writing and Rewriting the Poetry
http://cccp.uchicago.edu/archive/2009BookOfOdesSymposium/2009_BookOfOdesSymposium_EdShaughnessy.pdf

"The penultimate line of the poem “Wei tian zhi ming” 維天之命 (Mao 267) of
the Zhou Song section of the Poetry reads: “Jun hui wo Wen wang” 駿惠我文王
“Greatly kind our King Wen.” Neither the Mao zhuan nor Zheng Xuan’s commentary
comments directly on the first two words here, jun hui 駿惠, which are hard to construe
in the context. In a one-sentence aside in the introductory remarks to his article on zhi 止
and zhi 之 in the Poetry, Yu noted that the compound jun zhi 畯疐 “to rule securely”
occurs in the final prayers of the Qin Gong zhong 秦公鐘 and Qin Gong gui 秦公簋
inscriptions: yi shou chun lu duo li, mei shou wu jiang, jun zhi zai wei 以受純魯多釐,眉
壽無疆,畯疐在位 “to receive pure aid and many blessings, long life without bound, and
to rule securely in position34” Another example of this usage was discovered well after
Yu was writing his study; the late Western Zhou Hu gui 簋, ostensibly composed by
Zhou Li Wang (r. 857/53-842/28), the reigning Zhou king, contains the following pair of
phrases: jun zai wei, zuo zhi zai xia 畯在位,作疐在下 “I rule in position, making secure
those below.”35 It seems clear, as Yu suggested, that “jun zhi” 畯疐”to rule securely”
was in the Western Zhou and early Spring and Autumn periods an idiomatic way of
describing a good ruler, certainly fitting for the Wen Wang of the poem “Wei tian zhi
ming.” However, it is not found in later literature, suggesting that it may have passed out
of use (and perhaps even out of understanding). If we can agree that it fits the context of
the poem “Wei tian zhi ming” better than does the easily intelligible but inappropriate jun
hui 駿惠 “greatly kind,” then we need to ask how the variation came about. Of course,
the variation between zhun 駿 “swift; great” and jun 畯 “overseer; to rule” involves only
a change of signific, and so is textually insignificant. However, the variation between hui
惠 (*wis R!) and zhi 疐 (*tits) would seem certainly to be a classic case of lectio facilior,
the substitution of a simpler and well known character for one more difficult (and perhaps,
at the time, unintelligible). This could only have happened within a written transmission
of the text of the poem."

From:

x_los

維清緝熙、文王之典。
肇禋、迄用有成、維周之禎。

Clear, and to be preserved bright,
Are the statutes of king Wen.
From the first sacrifice [to him],
Till now when they have issued in our complete State,
They have been the happy omen of [the fortunes of] Zhou.

From:

x_los

How are the statues 'clear'?

"Till now when they have issued in our complete State," awkward, I don't quite get this--does it mean, new states of him are being made, now that we have claimed all 'our' territory and our state is in its Final Form?

From:

I think maybe it's taking the pure connotation of clear?

Wen wang is the one who is honored as the founder of the dynasty, so the complete State was created by him -- so I read it as from beginning to end in this nice complete State?

From:

Baike says this is describing the change away from the 'fatalism' of the earlier Yin Shang dynasty, and how the authority to conduct sacrifices went from just the king to also the feudal princes, allowing the people to conduct sacrifices when they wanted.

From:

x_los

烈文辟公、錫茲祉福。
惠我無疆、子孫保之。
無封靡于爾邦、維王其崇之。
念茲戎功、繼序其皇之。
無競維人、四方其訓之。
不顯維德、百辟其刑之。
於乎前王不忘。

Ye, brilliant and accomplished princess,
Have conferred on me this happiness.
Your favours to me are without limit,
And my descendants will preserve [the fruits of] them.
Be not mercenary nor extravagant in your States,
And the king will honour you.
Thinking of this great service,
He will enlarge the dignity of your successors.
What is most powerful is the being the man; -
Its influence will be felt throughout your States.
What is most distinguished is being virtuous; -
It will secure the imitation of all the princes.
Ah! the former kings are not forgotten!

From:

x_los

is the happiness a marriage, or an appointment the princess has secured for him?

"Be not mercenary nor extravagant in your States," is this advice he's giving to his benefactor, the princess, or she to him?

"What is most powerful is the being the man; -
Its influence will be felt throughout your States." ?

From:

douqi

Is it princess or princeS/vassals, because I'm not sure I can see a princess in the original.

From:

Agree, it should be referring to feudal princes/vassals

From:

Baike says this is written during Zhou Cheng wang's reign -- he is praising his feudal princes and also reminding them to obey and of how powerful the Zhou family is.

From:

x_los

天作高山、大王荒之。
彼作矣、文王康之。
彼徂矣岐、有夷之行、子孫保之。

Heaven made the lofty hill,
And king Da brought [the country about] it under cultivation.
He made the commencement with it,
And king Wen tranquilly [carried on the work],
[Till] that rugged [mount] Qi,
Had level roads leading to it.
May their descendants ever preserve it!

From:

x_los

'Had level roads leading to it.'I guess this is just one example of the 'civilising the land' rather than particularly important in and of itself. Built environment/the cultivation of pastoral landscape is so BIG in the Shi Jing!

From:

Baike notes that this is one of the few poems in the Shijing that mentions a specific location, Qishan. (For MDZS nonsense, this is the same Qishan for the Wen clan.) Also, Baike notes that several individual words in this poem have multiple interpretations-- e.g. if 彼 in line 3 is interpreted as the common people, then they are the ones doing the building, vs if it's interpreted as the ancestor king. The other word is 康 in line four, which could be interpreted as stability and security or as inheritance.

From:

x_los

昊天有成命、二后受之。
成王不敢康、夙夜基命宥密。
於緝熙、單厥心。
肆其靖之。

Heaven made its determinate appointment,
Which [our] two sovereigns received.
King Cheng did not dare to rest idly in it.
But night and day enlarged its foundations by his deep and silent virtue.
How did he continue and glorify [his heritage],
Exerting all his heart,
And so securing its tranquillity!

From:

x_los

"determinate appointment" is this just--gave the mandate to X (Cheng, one of the two? or their successor?)?

"enlarged its foundations" the kingdom, or his mandate/role as king?

From:

douqi

Hazarding a guess from the formulation (天命) that it is indeed the mandate of heaven. The two sovereigns referred to in the second line may be King Cheng's two predecessors, King Wen and King Wu.

From:

Baike agrees with you on this.

Baike glosses the word that Legge translates to foundations as 'to plan'

From:

x_los

我將我享、維羊維牛、維天其右之。
儀式刑文王之典、日靖四方。
伊嘏文王、既右享之。
我其夙夜、畏天之威、于時保之。

I have brought my offerings,
A ram and a bull.
May Heaven accept them!
I imitate and follow and observe the statutes of king Wen,
Seeking daily to secure the tranquillity of hte kingdom.
King Wen, the Blesser,
Has descended on the right and accepted [the offerings].
Do not I, night and day,
Revere the majesty of Heaven.
Thus to preserve [their favour]?

From:

x_los

The other day Vorvayne was telling me that these are the accompaniments to Zhou dynastic shamanic rites (if I have that right), so they probably tell musicologists and anthropologists some stuff of interest about the ritual framework of governance in that respect.

From:

Baike starts off each of the prelude descriptors to these poems by describing them as poems for sacrifices/offerings. Baike adds for this one that it is supposed to be accompanied by song and dance, as it is part of a longer performance, the Da Wu. The music has been lost, but there are records of the dance -- the description is quite long, but shows Zhou Wu wang leading his troops, fighting, and then returning. This poem should be the first song of the Da Wu.

From:

x_los

時邁其邦、昊天其子之。
實右序有周。
薄言震之、莫不震疊。
懷柔百神、及河喬嶽。
允王維后。
明昭有周、式序在位。
載戢干戈、載櫜弓矢。
我求懿德、肆于時夏。
允王保之。

Now is he making a progress through the States,
May Heaven accept him as its Son!
Truly are the honour and succession come from it to the House of Zhou.
To his movements,
All respond with tremulous awe.
He has attracted and given rest to all spiritual Beings,
Even to [the Spirits of] the He, and the highest hills.
Truly is the king the sovereign Lord.
Brilliant and illustrious is the House of Zhou.
He has regulated the positions of the princes;
He has called in shields and spears;
He has returned to their cases bows and arrows.
I will cultivate admirable virtue,
And display it throughout these great regions:
Truly will the king preserve the appointment.

From:

x_los

"He has attracted and given rest to all spiritual Beings," and given rest, huh?

"He has regulated the positions of the princes;
He has called in shields and spears;
He has returned to their cases bows and arrows." is this about curtailing warlordism?

From:

All spiritual beings are welcome in the House of Zhou and they love his bed and breakfast!

From:

Yeah, this is another song in the Da Wu, and describes Zhou Wu wang after he's destroyed the Shang dynasty (per Baike)

Edited Date: 2021-06-14 01:27 am (UTC)

From:

x_los

執競武王、無競維烈。
不顯成康、上帝是皇。
自彼成康、奄有四方、斤斤其明。
鐘鼓喤喤、磬筦將將、降福穰穰。
降福簡簡、威儀反反。
既醉既飽、福祿來反。

The arm of king Wu was full of strength;
Irresistable was his ardour.
Greatly illustrious were Cheng and Kang,
Kinged by God.
When we consider how Cheng and Kang,
Grandly held all within the four quarters [of the kingdom],
How penetrating was their intelligence!
The bells and drums sound in harmony;
The sounding stones and flutes blend their notes;
Abundant blessing is sent down.
Blessing is sent down in large measure;
Careful and exact is all our deportment;
We have drunk, and we have eaten, to the full;
Our happiness and dignity will be prolonged.

From:

x_los

'ardour' this is not the sense I think of 'ardour' as

'sounding stones' this must be some kind of stone based instrument?

From:

I see our political, social, economic history as a mark of how how much or how little we have progressed. These poems see it as the blue print for a happy today. Suggests little social change was happening.

From:

douqi

Quick Google search suggests this is the instrument: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bianqing

From:

x_los

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKWqZLQDuKo

Here's a video about this, for the curious

Edited Date: 2021-06-15 06:59 pm (UTC)

From:

Baike's vernacular TL of the second line is "no one could compare to his martial arts"

From:

x_los

思文后稷、克配彼天、立我烝民、莫匪爾極。
貽我來牟、帝命率育。
無此疆爾界、陳常于時夏。

O accomplished Hou-ji,
Thou didst prove thyself the correlate of Heaven;
Thou didst give grain-food to our multitudes; -
The immense gift of thy goodness.
Thou didst confer on us the wheat and the barley,
Which God appointed for the nourishment of all;
And without distinction of territory or boundary,
The rules of social duty were diffused throughout these great regions.

From:

x_los

Again with the fancy pronouns.

"correlate of Heaven;" oddly put

"And without distinction of territory or boundary," what is this doing?

From:

Baike spends a lot of time discussing if Zhou Gong did or did not write this poem-- and concludes that the original intention was that the person who first proposed that only meant that it reflected the thinking of Zhou Gong, not that he wrote it. (Zhou Gong helped the first three Zhou kings that we've seen a bunch in this series.)

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