Miseria militar

set of rituals whereby the spirits implanted in the body are summoned forth to help man .through the difficult stages of life. The basis for this third stage, the Tu Jen Ching, the canon for helping-men through/the uncertainties--of life, is explained in chapter five. The Taoist considers himself to be a man dedicated to helping his fellow man, precisely by restoring the power and blessing of Yang and life.

In the final chapter, t he:ritual, of orthodox Taoism as

practised by Chuang-ch-’ en will be-described* In the liturgy,

all three of the above stages are verified. On the lowest level, the Taoist summons forth a number of heavenly spirits, each of whom carries the petitions of the men and women of the community

to heaven, before the throne of the Jade Emperor.. In the-second and higher stage, the spirits of the-highest heavens are called into the Taoist* s body, and then implanted In -.the community-, causing the blessings of the five primordial elements, and the

life-bearing power of -^ang, which they represent-. On the highest5

philosophical plane, the process described b y ’t h e ■Tao Chiao Yuan Liu, the proto-genesis of the cosmos, is being re-enacted. The process in which nature changes from life to death, summer to winter, ( that is, -the Lo-shu ) is arrested. In Its stead, the

process of generation which took place In the prior heavens, before change, ( that is, the Ho-t*u ) is made to be present among the community of men. It is this process' which will be described in the next chapter.

i, ' '" . ; in' ' ' \i - *' ' . .

*. 1 . H O » T ’U AILD LO-SHU:

y - THE PRINCIBIES'' OF TAOIST LITURGY.’

..Before giving, a n y . further instructions in religious

Taoism,IChuang.insisted that the author read a number of commentaries on the I-ching, the Booh of .Changes. The comm­ entary' Which Chuang himself- preferred,-, and which he picked out from'the shelves of a Taipei book shop for the author to purchase wasj the lACao' HslpiEaf Chen /Chuan,- a commentary' on the" I-ch-ingrwritten by. a. C h1 ing dynasty Taoist named

Liu I-in ing. ?*' / * 1 ~1' p.y /I -V.‘A . '

To Chuang-, ’Taoism-thayUmanyf levels of, knowledge., and •• the simple .Red-head Taoists-, ’ w h o ; merely summoned spirits hardly had the right to call themselves Taoist. Liturgy, in the estimation of Chuang, was a profession, 'Which could be put;to use to support one’s family. A. Taoist who performed the rituals for pecuniary considerations alone was heterodox.

The more orthodox the Taoist, the'closer did he approach his monastic brethren on the mainland of China,.'who spent their

lives in meditation. - Meditation was both a necessary pre-

■condition for performing the liturgy?, ..and; an essential part ,of. the Taoist* s life. . But. i n o r d e r ;to::'pei?f o.rm T,ao;ist-medi^

tatioh',;' one ..must',first understand .fherprinciples of>■ the '1-ching,

'56. The prefaces of- the Inching pointed out hy Chuang as

2

applicable all spoke of the Ho-t *u and the Lo-shu. The Ho-*

t'u ■ was an esoteric term for the Pa-lma ( Eight Trigrams )

as drawn by -the mythical emperor Eu H s i , and the Lo-shu was ahother name for the Eight Trigrams as drawn by King Wen,

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ancestor of the founder o f ■the Chou dynasty. The commen­

tary of Chuang, following the I -Tao Hsin E a ^ was highly .com­ plicated.

1. The Ho-t'u.

'The Ho-t'u is the chart of the Prior Heavens [ Hsien- t ’ien ]. It is the Tao of the Wu-we i , the transeendant invi- sible act, Wu-chi, ( Transeendant Ultimate ). It is also a depiction of the cosmos in its life-bearing order, the order

6

of the five elements when they give birth to-each other.

This is called the Shun ( Prosperous ) series of the elements; it represents the progress of Yang from, its birth in the north ( the Winter Solstice ) advancing through spring in the east, to the heat of smmaer in the south when Yang is at maturity. The Ho-t *u is thus a chart of Tzu-jan ( nature ) when life is flourishing.

The legend of the Ho-t *u says that it originated in the time of the mythical emperor Eu Hsi, who saw a dragon-like horse

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emerge from the Meng river. :0n its back was a marvelous chart, consisting of a series of:7.do,ts. 2 and ,7 were by,the head, 1 and 6 behind;- 3 and 8 were; on the lefty ; a n d '4- and 9. on the right. 5 and 10 were in the center.; . I t .resem^ledv'the,following

illustration: 0

Fig. 1.— The Ho-tTu as seen by Fu Hsi, emerging from the Meng River.

The dots represent the Prior Heavens, before the differentiation of Yin and Yang, or the process of transfor­ mational change. In the prior heavens, there is always life, that is, there is no process from life to death, as in the

visible world. It is therefore a very desirable state to be

in, freed from sickness, death, and the evils of Yin. An abstract of the chart resembles the following diagram, which has arranged the dots in a circle, the shape of the heavens. The dots represent the primordial aspects of the five elements

q in the order in which they give birth to each other:

58..

A h .,,abstract;of .the; Nowiy’.u

There are five sets ozfr .white'do-ts » hi , • 3 v-?VYan-Syf-9 there are-..also -five- s ,black’dot'sv. 2 , 4- 9 .6., 'Byhand 1 0. Each set of dots represents .one of the,ten heavenly stems, in tyro series,;;; the even.fhhiaheirohseries;irepresents Yinjand the-..odd

number represents Yang. The' figure is.symbolic of the seasons

and theielements.ji-in: as/much’ as they give "Life and- blessing.^ / • v.ny

The relationship can- be: seen more -readily in the., following ‘ .

graphic--formr L-' :."h hyy ’' ../h ' Yfhh'yi

-' ■ . i. - . ' TABLE .1 h ‘ ; -

Ohart'..showing'the relation of t h e . Ho-t Tu • to the cosmos- - Ifphi

Yang series Element Yin series. 1 Direction ' -Season % ’

'“Ghia— o ^ ’ Piftg-*-7 iS- Wu— ■ - h Keng--9t 0 -' jen— 1 i ..j.VA)0.1);j^ .. -, EARTfi"hfc - METAL hir ' WATER ~ Y i ~ » ■; Tihgr— .2 T Ohi— 10 B" Hsin-r-4 ^ ; Kuei— 6 -f£ ' • East >w • Ik A- South Center " West North xlti L;. Spri3Yg""^ i| ! S.uimner '|g' :■ Autumn, • -Winter

59.

Fu Hsi was inspired by the chart on the horses back, which he had seen emerging from the Meng river, to construct the eight

trigrams of the prior heavens. The eight trigrams of Fu Hsi

do not demonstrate the changes from Yang to Yin that govern the visible world, but rather the eternal transeendant state of

the Invisible heavens, which produce continual life. The eight

trigrams of Fu Hsi can thus be superimposed on the Ho-t’u:

Fig. 3— The Eight Trigrams of Fu Hsi represent the H o - t ’u .

The Ho-t'u, or the chart which came out of the Meng river therefore represents the five elements, the four seasons, and inspired Fu Hsi to construct the Eight Trigrams of the Prior

Heavens [ Hsien T ’ien Pa Kua ]. ihere is a two-fold meaning

to the trigrams; they represent firstly the life-producing force of the prior heavens, and secondly the marriage between heaven and earth, Yang and Yin, which brings forth life and blessing.

■ . : * ■ ■ - ' • ■ : • ■ ‘ , .. 60, In the first sense , the'H o - t fu represents the primordial elements in as much as they, give''birth to each other, Thus

wood in the. east gives .birth to fire in the south, lire gives hirth to' the earth of center, from earth is- produced metal in

the west, from metal in the west comes water in the- north,

finally, water begins anew the cycle of life by begetting

wood in .the east. '

Again referring to the Ho-t*u each of the .elements’ has

two numbers assigned to it, and two sets of dots. The even sets

are black, - and represent Tin, while the odd numbered dots are

white and represent Yang, The meaning is symbolic, that is,

the G-reat Ultimate first moyed and 'produced Yang ( 1 ), then

rested and produced Yin ( 2 ). In the Ho-tTu , then, the num­

bers 1 , 39 d, 79 9 represent the Yang series of the five ele­

ments, whereas the-even numbers 2 , 4 , 6,;8, 1 0 represent the Yin series of the five elements.

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Counting is done by means of the ten heavenly stems. At the, bottom, representing the north, .the one dot and the

character'Jen signify yangified water; the six dots and the

character Kuei symbolize yinified water. In the south, the top of the chart, the number seven and- the character Ping represent yangified fire; the two dots and the character Ting represent yinified .fire. On the east side ( the left side of the figure on page 58.) the three dots and the character Chia represent yangified wood.; the eight dots and the character Yi symbolize

the nine dots and the character Keng represent-.yangified metal the four dots and-the character Hsin represent yinified metal*. finally, in.,-the center,, the five white dots and the character Wu represent yangified earth; the ten black dots and the char-

11

anter Chi stand for yinified earth.

The overall shape of the chart is round, thus symbolizing the heavens* As such it represents the forces of. yang, life, and blessing* It describes the action of the cosmos from win- ' ter through spring and summer when Yang is in ascendancy and

Yin.is in abeyance. The five elements are forces' which bring,

forth life,, and .produce each other-. . •

The total - number of dots im-the Ho-t Tu is; 55 * Of these, 2 5 are white dots, the sum of 1, 3 ,- 5 , 7 , and nine. 3Q are black dots, the sum of 2,' 4, 6 , 8 , a n d '10. Since the Ho-t * u , represents the. state of the prior heavens before change, a

; second'and a third chart can be constructed from it, showing-

the state :of the pur© heavens, and the state of the pure earth ( that is, the state ■ of pure Yang ..and- piire Yin ) before they

were joined in the fruitful union;which begot all things. ’

The Ho-t * u therefore has’ a; second meaning. Besides

depicting the life-bearing order- o f , the five elements, in.

the prior heavens, it also represents the marriage of heaven and,-earth which .gave, birth to the myriad things. The-.symboli­ zation can only be seen by taking the Ho-tfu apart, and re-'

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