PART II: CONTEXT RECOVERY
1. Narrative & Poetry: “The Bow as Heavenly Weapon”
The Bow as “Heavenly Weapon from Heavenly Authority”8
Spoiled as we are today by the certainty and sophistication of our sciences, the question may arise about the worthiness of recalling myths and legends. In answer, we saw in the previous chapter that it is not only empirical facts and historical truths that are relevant to metaphor interpretation: beliefs and poetic memory also figure in the comprehension and efficacy of a metaphor.9
Let us turn then to Chinese stories about the origin of archery. Ancient accounts vary.10 The Da Zhuan (大傳), or “Appended Phrases” to the Book of Changes, lists archery among instruments needed for successful government, and says that the bow was crafted by the Yellow Emperor (黃帝) and revered sage kings Yao(堯) and Shun (舜): “they strung pieces of wood to make bows and whittled others to make arrows. The benefit of bows and arrows was such that they dominated the world.
They probably got the idea for this from the hexagram kui” (弦木為弧，剡木為矢，
弧矢之利，以威天下，蓋取諸睽。《易繫辭下》).11 The same manuscript, however, names another persona as its inventor, that is, Fu Xi (伏羲). This semi-divine figure, unhistorical yet significant, was postulated by Han tradition as originator of the eight Trigrams (八卦), that is, the basis for the 64 hexagrams which outline inherent tendencies and patterns of cosmic activity and are connected with the milfoil divination practice of Zhou rulers. Among the cryptic tags on Zhou Yi (周易) hexagrams, archery-related images turn up: the tenacious warrior who retrieves a
8 Phrase borrowed from Selby 2000, 29.
9 What Selby notes about archery tales circulating in Pre-Qin era is worth transcribing. He compares these hero stories to those of Homer in the Western world, writing that these “records of folk memories originating perhaps as many as 1500 years before the time they were recorded in the form (more or less) that I have quoted (…) represented to the Han Dynasty authors what the Greek legends represent to Western culture. (They were) as potent a cultural force among the Chinese of the first century BC as the Greek legends are to authors of our own time”, Selby 2000, 23.
10 I opt to mention sources associated with early Confucians. There are, however, other interesting stories of origin found in transmitted literature, for instance, Shan Hai Jing (山海經), Huai Nanzi (淮南 子), and Mozi (墨子). According to a later, widespread belief, archery originated from the stone-bow (彈), which the “Pious Son” (孝子) invented to ward off predatory birds from the mortal remains of his parents, cf. Annals of Wu and Yue, 9 (吳越春秋‧卷九‧句踐陰謀外傳). Note that bows in Shang times could be used with both pellets and arrows. Bags for carrying ammunition would have been attached to bows for firing pellets, Rausing 1997, 112. Han pictographs also depict stone-bowers on horseback, cf. Selby 2000, 179.
11 English rendition from Richard John Lynn’s translation of the Book of Changes in Lynn 1994, 369.
Lynn’s translation of the classic follows the Zhouyi Zhengyi (周易正義) of Han exegete Wang Bi. Note the association of the weapon with the kui hexagram, to be brought up again shortly. The character kui – as its radical suggests – has to do with movement of eyes, exemplified in archery in the act of sighting and fixing aim on a target. Wang Bi takes the hexagram to mean “contrariety”, or a situation of opposition. This type of situation too is exemplified in archery where a shooter takes a stand directly opposed to his enemy or target. The judgment on the same hexagram reads that “in small matters there is good fortune” (小事吉), indicating that it is possible even in a situation of contrariety to enjoy fortune in small matters, but not in great ones like warfare or marriage.
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
52
metal arrow (21st hexagram Shihe 噬嗑), a bow-armed hero going forth to meet rain (38th hexagram Kui 睽), princely hunters capturing prey (40th and 62nd hexagrams, Xie 解 and Xiaoguo 小過), and a wandering stranger who wins royal favor for bow skill (56th hexagram, Lü 旅). Two of these hexagrams associate archery with qualities needed to rule, that is, constancy despite obstacles and keeping integrity at court.
Below, I quote from Richard Wilhelm’s popular rendition of the Book of Changes.
Although his reading is highly interpretative, the verses below conserve fundamental ideas from traditional commentaries on line statements of said hexagrams, which I highlight:
<Hexagram 21, line 4, “Biting ham in the rind, a bronze arrow to find” (噬乾胏，得 金矢利，艱貞，吉): > There are obstacles to be overcome, powerful opponents to be punished. Though this is arduous, the effort succeeds. But it is necessary to be hard as metal and straight as an arrow to surmount the difficulties. If one knows these difficulties and remains persevering, he attains good fortune. The difficult task is achieved in the end.12
<Hexagram 40, line 2, “In the hunting field, getting three foxes. Bronze arrows”
(田獲三狐，得黃矢，貞吉): > Foxes (are) those who try to influence ruler through flattery. They must be removed if there is to be deliverance. Yellow (is) the measure and mean in proceeding against enemy. The arrow signifies the straight course. If one devotes oneself wholeheartedly to the task of deliverance, he develops much inner strength from his rectitude that it acts as a weapon against all that is false and low. (I Ching trans. R. Wilhelm & C. Baynes, New York:
Princeton University Press, 1950)
Notice that both explanations draw on the “straightness” of an arrow to construct an analogy with the rightful actuation of one in power. The 21st hexagram focuses on the straight profile of an arrow – that is, erect with a metallic endpoint as head –, while the 40th hexagram emphasizes the straight trajectory of an arrow once released towards a target. These explanations will be useful when we study the Analectic metaphor calling a good minister “straight as an arrow” (如矢).
Meanwhile, hexagrams 38 and 62 both attend to the absence of rain and are possible allusions to the archer hero Yi (羿), that is, the legendary prince whom ancient tales say ended a great drought by his bow. A line inscription on the 38th hexagram reads : “first drawing the bow with eager eye, he lets it slacken and lays it by (…) Going meet a rainy sky” (先張之弧，後說之弧 … 往遇雨則吉。《周易下經‧
12 Richard Rutt’s translation of Zhouyi does not include early commentaries on line statements, but his translation of the statements stay close to the literal, and I make use of them in this chapter. Rutt also gives helpful translation notes, e.g., that arrowhead in the ham “suggests that the meat came from a beast killed during a hunt”, cf. Rutt 2002. Wilhelm’s reading of the two passages above is close to that of Richard John Lynn.
‧
entries of the Spring and Autumn Annals (春秋), closely monitored rain: sometimes they feared floods, but more often dreaded droughts (cf. entries such as 「不雨」 or「大旱」). For such seasonal concern, a type of ceremony was regularly observed to call down rain.14 According to ancient folklore, Yi was given a bow by the Yellow Emperor to shoot menacing beasts as well as multiple, sweltering suns that parched the earth.15 We can at this point sift through myths of origin and legends to make out the kind of impressions surrounding the bow in bygone eras. That it has divine source is one idea, another that it is a powerful weapon through which superhuman feats could be accomplished. There are, however, more stories that went around about bow-wielding personae, some of these curiously sharing the appellation Yi. In these stories, the talented archer is not always cast in positive light. Hero or villain, however, the archer’s vicissitudes serve to illustrate some moral points.
The Zuo Zhuan, for instance, speaks of an ignoble character, Duke Yi of You Qiong (有窮后羿), who usurped the throne of Xia and ruled indulgently. Much given to hunting, he neglected the kingdom. In time, an evil minister of his own choosing orchestrated a gruesome end to Yi and his lineage (cf. Zuo Zhuan, Xiang, 4). Another
13 There is allusion to archer prince Yi in a line statement of Kui hexagram. Selby is positive about the significance of this hexagram for archery and its magical capacity to induce rain: “(the upper and lower segments of this hexagram) are li 離 above and dui 兑 below. Li and dui in turn symbolize fire and water, or drought and rainfall. The implication is that the firing of the bow is the ‘small adjustment’
which can make the difference between drought and rainfall.” Selby further sees the story of Yi shooting ten suns as the origin of the rain dance and the feather adornments used, piecing together evidences from the Shuowen jiezi’s (說文解字) explanation of the character for the rain dance (雩) and a feather dance to prevent dry spells in the Zhouli, Official of Spring Rites, section on the “Female Shaman" (周禮‧春官‧女巫), see Selby 2000, 35, 42. The connections Selby draws are interesting but quite off the mark. In concrete, rendering kui as “out of proper adjustment” and taking its judgment to mean “that success will be borne from a slight matter” may make sense but do not pay heed to strict lexical meaning. Selby is right to ascertain, on the other hand, that the phrases about the hexagram allude to the legend of Hou Yi as told in the Tian Wen, also as referred to in the Shijing, No. 232. Turn of the century poet Wen Yiduo was among the first to relate kui hexagram with mythology, see Wen 1948, 48-50. There are a couple of German sources too which probe more deeply into the matter, see Schmitt 1970, 35-63; Schilling 2009, 625-634.
14 Probably still observed in Confucius’s time. The master seems to have enjoyed what transpired at Rain Dance altars, cf. Analects (An) 11.24.
15 Different versions of the story circulated in antiquity. He is a hero to mankind in the Shan Hai Jing as well as in the Huainan Zi, where it says that Yi rid the world of evils, when he died he became a deity (羿除天下之害，死而為宗布。《淮南子‧氾論訓》). The latter work also claims that Yi was a contemporary of Emperor Yao who commissioned him to put down monstrous birds and beasts. The Tian Wen (天問), however, does not paint a rosy picture of Yi. According to this Western Han classic, Yi descended from the Yi (夷) tribe. Strong and skillful as he was, he was a usurper and met a disgraceful end. See Anne Birrell’s syntheticized explanation of the complicated mythical figure Yi – at once “a hero and savior, an antihero and usurper” – in her book Chinese Mythology, Birrell 1993, 138-145.
Likewise, Mori Masako has written an article, “Restoring the Epic of Hou Yi”, about the same legendary figure in Asian Folklore Studies 54.2 (1995), 625-634.
‧
story is mentioned in the Mencius (孟子), this time about master Yi who taught his shooting skill to Feng Meng (蠭蒙). The latter, however, wished to be unsurpassed in archery and decided to turn his bow against Yi. To Mencius, teacher and student both erred: one for teaching skill without attending to moral character, the other for turning against authority.16
Casting aside the different periods of Zhou dynasty and the disparity of systems among feudal states, the training of aristocrats – said to comprise of six areas – involved military skills training in combination with intellectual disciplines.17 Whether attending to knowledge or skills cultivation, moral learning seemed to encompass the different areas, inculcating in young men both the sense of duty and behavior corresponding to their social and family roles. Battle narratives of the Zuo Zhuan often dwell on the moral character of aristocrats fighting as chariot mounted archers. From such highly visible position, they are portrayed wielding their weapons in gentlemanly fashion, that is, obeying commands, observing chivalric codes, or acting loyally and courageously.18
It seems to me that moral responsibility attached to the bow and the power it symbolized takes early inspiration from the fabled rise of the Zhou dynasty itself.
Again, countless poetry and vessel inscriptions proclaim the virtues of Zhou founders who received the mandate to rule and won the confidence of the people after Shang rulers lost these through profligacy and ruthlessness.19 The Shangshu (尚 書 )
16 Check Mencius 4B, 24, where it reads:「蠭蒙學射於羿，盡羿之道，思天下惟羿為愈己，於是殺
羿。孟子曰：是亦羿有罪焉。」《孟子‧離婁下》. Notwithstanding, Mencius in passages 6A, 20 and 7A, 41seems charmed with Yi’s superior skill with the bow and constructs moral analogies around it:
「羿之教人射，必志於彀；學者亦必志於彀」, and「羿不為拙射變其彀率」《孟子‧告子上、 盡
心上》.
17 That is, the Six Arts (六藝) of ritual (禮), music (樂), archery (射), charioteering (御), reading and writing (書), and mathematics (數). The moral streak of learning in remote times may be overly glorified in Han texts, but remnants of Zhou literature and vessels lead us to think along the same line, typically directing our attention to rulers’ and noblemen’s excellent qualities and deeds. Whether recorded in manuscripts or etched on objects, there is certainly need to read critically owing to early Chinese writers’ “aesthetic priorities” and “overriding interest to convey moral truth” over actual facts, cf. Goldin 2008.
18 It is worth mentioning some anecdotes. Yu Gong Chai (庾公差), well unlike Feng Meng, desists shooting his archery master who is fighting in the opposite camp, Zuo Zhuan, Xiang, 14. The same story is told in Mencius, 4B, 24. In the VI BC Battle of Yanling (鄢陵之戰), Xizhi (卻至) shows respect to a wounded prince from the enemy side through slow steps and a ceremonial bow; Hanjue (韓厥) turns back from shooting a person of higher rank than himself; and Tanggou (唐苟) stays behind fighting and is killed, having preferred that his lord should escape, cf. Zuo Zhuan, Cheng, 16. Besides interest in moral character, from a broader point of view it is the reason for the course of events in time – e.g., the success of some states and the fall of others – that is underlying theme of Zuo Zhuan narratives. Basically, good characters meet good fortune. Archery episodes illustrate critical decisions by nobles: vested with the power of the bow, they have the choice to injure or spare, yet their decision is conditioned by rules of behavior and duty.
19 Scholars and historians are wont to point out that the violence of Zhou conquerors may have matched that of their enemy. Then again, there may be some grain of truth in the Zhou campaign and
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
55
transcribes the speech of King Wu of Zhou to allied princes prior to the Battle of Muye (牧野之戰) in the following words:
The king of Shang is without principle, cruel and destructive to the creatures of Heaven, injurious and tyrannical to the multitudes of the people (…) I having obtained the help of virtuous men, presume reverently to comply with the will of God, to make an end of his disorderly ways. The great and flowery region, and the wild tribes of the south and north, equally follow and consent with me. Reverently obeying the determinate counsel of Heaven, I pursue my punitive work to the east, to give tranquility to its men and women. (Shangshu, Wu Cheng《尚書‧武成》in Legge, Chinese Classics, vol. 3, 312-314).
In these and like-themed verses and inscriptions, the message comes across of power originating from a higher source, and of the need to exercise it morally lest it be taken away.20
Apart from impressions generated about the bow by archer tales and texts from quasi-historical documents and vessels, the poetic verses of the Shijing likewise create powerful associations. Rich in symbolism, the classic makes figurative use of archery in ways that are distinct but not unrelated to the metaphors that we find in the Analects. It is worthwhile to go through these. From them we can see that archery was already a culturally powerful metaphor in literature long before the Analects. Whereas in the latter archery metaphor bespeaks of how one should act with other people, in the earlier poetic classic, archery appears in both figurative and direct speech mostly in relation to authority.
As mentioned earlier, there are many verses that extol the shooting prowess of rulers and princes, actually a familiar theme in ancient inscriptions across the globe.21 Through success with the bow, they legitimize themselves and assert their
a reason for its success. Richard Rutt does a historical survey of the cultural panorama of Chinese Bronze Age society and concludes that “the development of Bronze Age culture can be traced in some detail. Its barbarity gradually diminished, practical arts improved and the great philosophical systems developed”, Rutt 2002, 25. Mencius of course echoes Confucius’s sentiment in disclaiming the Shangshu’s depiction of Zhou rulers as ferocious warriors. Other scholars, who are not few, hold different views from Rutt, for instance, Edward Shaughnessy who describes the Zhou campaign as
“extremely violent” based on evidence from the Yi Zhoushu (逸周書), Shaugnessy 1997, 7; and Lewis 1990, chapter 4. Making sense out of disparate evidences and views, I suppose that the new Zhou rulers were cruel by modern standards but mild relative to their times? At any case, it is clear that archery was connected with the ideology of “not being brutal” which appealed to non-military circles.
At any case, we are particularly concerned with prevalent beliefs in Confucius’s era.
20 The idea of a moral mandate also lingers in stories of sinister, bow-loving rulers, for example, King Wu Yi (武乙), Duke Song Wei Zi (宋微子), and King Kang of Song (宋康王). The first supposedly lived during Shang times, while the last two belong to Zhou era. All three are said to have lived licentiously and dared to shoot Heaven (射天), scornfully directing their arrows against it, cf. Selby 2000, 38. They consequently met dismal ends. Their stories are told in the Shiji and Warring States Intrigues, cf.《史 記‧殷本記‧帝武乙；宋微子世家》,《戰國策‧宋康王》.
21 For example, in Mesopotamia where a IX BC engraving records a claim by the monarch,
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
56
power: “He discharges one arrow at five wild boars. Ah! He is the Zhou Yu!”, Shijing, No.25, Zhou Yu (壹發五豵，于嗟乎，驟虞! 《召南‧驟虞》); or “The male animals of the season are made to present themselves, The males in season, of very large size.
The ruler says, ‘To the left of them’, then he lets go his arrows and hits”, Shijing,
No.127, Si Zhou (奉時辰牡，辰牡孔碩。公曰左之。舍拔則獲。《秦風‧駟驖》).22
Poems from which these passages derive give precious insight into the hunting practices of the nobility by providing details about the tools and organization of these events. We learn, for example, that horses, chariots, and hounds with jingling leashes were employed, that there were parks or enclosures that facilitated cornering game, that hunting was not an individual sport but entailed a large
Poems from which these passages derive give precious insight into the hunting practices of the nobility by providing details about the tools and organization of these events. We learn, for example, that horses, chariots, and hounds with jingling leashes were employed, that there were parks or enclosures that facilitated cornering game, that hunting was not an individual sport but entailed a large