A Closer Look: Tian during the Zhou Dynasty

A Closer Look are a set of blogs for those who want to dig a little deeper into the concepts and ideas referred to in my other posts.

Usually when I blog, I try to avoid any sort of technical jargon or citations of work in order to convey the major points in the simplest language possible.  This is after all, supposed to be a "light and friendly" conversation.

But maybe my dear reader, your the type of person who would like to see some substantiated evidence for the things I blog about.   Maybe you'd like to see what the original sources had to say - if so, then A Closer Look is the right place for you.

Our topic today is "Tian" or Heaven and its role in the Zhou Society.  My last blog spoke of how Tian become a kind of organizing religious and political principle for the Zhou state and for successive dynasties in China.

The major shake-up from the previous world order: An objective type of morality is inserted into the workings of the Cosmos and the State.

Now this is not to say that prior to the Zhou kingdom, there was no moral code in ancient Chinese society.  Rather, the critical change was its objective and universal character which was upheld by a cosmic force - Tian. 

So how does Tian work?   Well let's take a look shall we.   I'd like to acknowledge the Chinese philosopher and translator Wing Tsit-Chan, whose passages from A Sourcebook on Chinese Philosophy I quote below.

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[Thus the Duke of Zhou said, "Prince Shih, Tian without pity, sent down ruin on the Yin (alternative name for the Shang) dynasty.  Yin having lost the Mandate of Heaven, we, the Zhou, have received it.  But I dare not say with certainty that our heritage will forever truly remain on the side of fortune.  If Tian renders sincere help, I do not dare say with certainty that the final end will result in misfortune.  Oh!  you have said, Prince, 'It depends on ourselves.'  I also dare not rest in the Mandate of the Lord on High, forever refraining from thinking of the awe-inspiring power of Tian.  At the same time, when the people do not complain, so long are there men [like you]!   If our successors should prove utterly unable to reverence Tian above and the people below, and so bring to an end the glory of their forefathers, could you, by remaining at home, be unaware of it?

The Mandate of Heaven is not easily [preserved].   Tian is hard to depend on.   Those who have lost the mandate did so because they could not practice and carry on the reverence and the brilliant virtue of their forefathers.   As for the present, it is not that I, a little one, have a way of correcting our king.  My way of leading him would be merely to make it possible to apply the glory of the forefathers to our young king.

The Duke of Zhou also said, "Tian is not to be trusted.  My way is simply to continue and extend the virtue of our peace-established king, and Heaven will not have occasion to remove the mandate received by King Wen...."]

- from the Book of Documents, "Prince Shih"

The Duke of Zhou, considered to be the model moral exemplar of the sage-adviser to a king, was the brother of King Wu, the man who brought down the Shang.  After King Wu had shuffled off his mortal coil, the Duke of Zhou became regent on behalf of the young Prince and successfully put down a revolt from members of the House of Shang.  The Duke is often praised for his righteous character by Chinese historians, especially because he could have easily made himself King of the Zhou while his nephew was still in his infancy.

While we as moderns can easily be cynical about the Mandate as a rationalization for rulership, it might help us to remember that this belief was not a mere political ploy.   There was an intrinsic faith in this idea that was  bound to the preceding religious culture of the Zhou.

Tian had granted them the Mandate.    And Tian could easily take it away.

This is what the Duke of Zhou means by saying, "Tian is not to be trusted."   The phrase isn't implying that Tian is false or unpredictable, rather that Prince Shih cannot just rely on Tian to rubber-stamp the actions of the dynasty.   It isn't some ancestral spirit that is going to bend the rules for the sake of its descendants.

[They (the Shang) became subject to the Zhou.

Heaven's Mandate is not constant.

The officers of the Shang were fine and alert.

They assist at the libation in our capital.

In their assisting in the libation,

They always wear skirted robes and close caps (peculiar to the Shang).

Oh, you promoted servants of the king,

Don't mind your ancestors!

Don't mind your ancestors!

Cultivate your virtue.

Always strive to be in harmony with Heaven's Mandate.

Seek for yourselves the many blessings,

Before Shang lost its army,

Its king were able to be the counterparts to the Lord on High.

In Shang you should see as in a mirror.

That the Great Mandate is not easy [to keep]

-from The Book of Odes, no. 235 "King Wen"

As this particular Ode shows us, there is a kind of exhortation made to the subjects of the king to shift one's mentality.  The practice and cultivation of moral virtue is now to be regarded as superior to appeals for aid made to one's ancestors.

If a person is a moral man, he need not fear for Tian is watching.

The Lord on High said to King Wen:

"I cherish your brilliant virtue,

Which makes no great display in sound or appearance,

Nor is changed with age.

Without any manipulation or deliberation,

You follow the principles of the Lord."

-from The Book of Odes, no. 241 "August"
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Final Thoughts on Tian in the Zhou Dynasty

Historically, credit for the compilation of the documents above is often awarded to the Duke of Zhou.  It should also be noted that the Duke of Zhou put down a rebellion early on as regent for his nephew.   The rebels were members of the House of Shang who put forward the notion that their kingship should be restored due to the special ancestral connection their line had to Shang-di.

The Duke of Zhou and the supporters of the House of Zhou delivered the counter-arguments which you have read.

In another passage from the Book of Documents, the Announcement of Duke Shao, it is explicitly said that "When Tian put an end to the mandate of the great state of Yin/Shang, the many wise former kings of Yin were residing in/with Tian."

The implication behind the phrase is thus:  Even one's departed ancestors, who would obviously have access to Tian in their afterlives, cannot save the dynasty from the literal wrath of Heaven.

Now I know what your thinking - "Aren't you belaboring a point about this Tian/Heaven thing?"    Well, aside from the fact that the ancient Zhou also brought up that point again and again (purposefully, think about it for a second - why would they have to do that?), a number of other segments of thought and culture will be altered by the acceptance of the idea. 

Mentally chew on the following:

1.) Religious Culture - The Zhou maintain that the "god" they worship is the same exact "Lord on High" that the Shang worship.   But whereas Shang-di was originally conceived as a kind of "first amongst spirits," Tian completely transcends all the other nature spirits, gods, and ancestors.

Its judgment is Supreme and Impartial.   Its relationship to mankind is felt through Tian's connection to kingship, as an institution.

2.) Ethics - So this super-power is concerned about the welfare for all mankind and is genuinely interested in the performance of virtue by man's rulers. 

A question can be immediately ask - How might we "measure" a ruler's virtue?

One method is the performance of ritual.   Not to Heaven, but to all the other ancestral and nature spirits that exist.   Many of these rituals involved sacrifices, feasts, and performances where the ruler was present acting in a manner that reaffirms his relationship to the realm of spirits.

 But ritual isn't just meant for spirits.   We as human beings enact rituals all the time with each other. 

I'll give you an example that is near-universal -  the handshake.   We shake hands as a greeting, to seal bargains, and to express thanks.   It is in effect, a social ritual.

Remember, Tian is very concerned with the moral ritual conditions of mankind - for ritual is a structure for relationships with other persons be they living or dead.

3,) Politics and the Big Question

So Tian seeks to uphold moral order where man should act properly toward each other, pay reverence to one's ancestors, and respect the forces of the natural world.

Yet we don't do that.


Two questions can be asked:   Why?  - As in Why does this Occur?
                                               How? - As in How do we get things back on track?

Bearing in mind what I said before, that the manner in which a person asks a question also shapes the answer, we should not that for the time being it is the "How?" aspect that becomes important to the ancient Chinese.

The answer that is quite critical for the rest of Chinese history:   Through an all-encompassing normative sociopolitical order.

 ie:  The State

This answer is already found implicitly within the doctrine of the Mandate of Heaven.  The chain of logic being:

1.) Heaven (whether an active intelligence or an impersonal organizing principle) wants mankind to follow the rules which it emanates in an organic manner (unlike the Judaeo-Christian God who is essentially a legislator).

2.) Heaven looks upon mankind and sees starvation, famine, murder, etc.   Someone ain't doing their job correctly right?

3.) Heaven awards its Mandate to another person or household, allowing that group to come to power.

And now the most important part:

4.) Good men are made rulers, who can now go about achieving the normative or moral order.

Humanity, the State, and the Natural World are now in total accordance with one another.

Until the next playboy becomes king.  ;-)


The takeaway from all of this:  The most crucial task of the political order in Chinese history is the realization/actualization of man's ethical destiny.  







    

Ancient China: The House of Zhou and the Mandate of Heaven

If you were a Chinese peasant living in the Spring and Autumn era (771-446 BC), chances are you may have thought the world was ending.

For over 300 years, the House of Zhou had ruled the known world in a time of relative peace.  This period of relative harmony could not last forever, as the whispers of a court consort would percipitate an unparalleled event - the act of king-slaying by the Marquess of Shen, who allied with barbarians from beyond the borders to avenge his daughter's banishment by the Son of Heaven.  

Perhaps the Marquess simply sought to honor his household's name, however this act of fatherly vengeance would forever change the world.   The Son of Heaven and his family would be forced to move to a much smaller territory - one that could no longer support the the vast army units of the past that made the Zhou a ruling house. 

This was the beginning of the end, although it may have not looked that way to the Marquess of Shen at the time.  For although the Zhou King still maintained legal control over his empire, in practice the Zhou court often had to request help from the Great Families - the powerful rulers of the various vassal states that comprised the empire.

And so began the decay of the dynasty, for as the House of Zhou declined into further irrelevancy the empire began to split apart.   The area comprising the Yellow river basin fractured into hundreds of small autonomous regions  that found themselves at war with each other.

This slow rot of the dynasty would eventually lead to the much more violent period of Chinese history aptly named, the Warring States.  

But for our purposes, let's just take a step back and ponder - just what kind of society was the Zhou kingdom?   Why did its ancient past serve to inspire Confucius in his quest to restore the world?   And what ideas were held by its people about the natural world they inhabitated and the world beyond their senses?
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Political Legitimacy and Religious Thought: On the Mandate of Heaven

Having come from the outlying regions of the Western lands lorded over by the previous Shang Dynasty, the
Zhou were responsible for the fall of the last degenerate scion of a household that ruled over much of the Yellow River basin.

And that's where the problems begin.  

As I stated before in a previous blog, the major challenges faced by a society will have an effect of shaping the types of responses to different questions and problems that may arise in the future.
In the case of Chinese civilization, there has always been a massive preoccupation with the issues of political legitimacy and social order.

Although victorious on the battlefield, the Zhou ruling house faced a grave question of legitimacy.  After all, even with the backing of the commoners, the Zhou king had just committed regicide.   How could this act of "betrayal" be sanctioned?

The Answer was simple:  The righteousness of their actions was sanctioned by Heaven.

"Heaven" is the word often used to translate the Chinese word "Tian."    It is a very good approximation for the concept in certain respects, but using the word "Heaven" carries cultural baggage.   For our Western readers, you might happen to associate the word with a Place or with the Judaeo-Christian-Islamic afterlife.  

My suggestion?  If possible, drop all those associations.  And if you find that difficult, just use the Chinese word, "Tian."

So..what the heck is "Heaven/Tian?"  The Sky?  A Natural Force?   God?

In truth, throughout Chinese history, its all of the above. 

What is important for us to recognize though, is how the Zhou utilized Tian as a religious and political concept.  This might best be done by contrasting the Shang and Zhou's religious inclinations.

The Shang worshipped "Shang-di," The Lord on High.  Often speculated by modern histories to having been some sort of deified ancestor, Shangdi is the supreme anthropomorphic deity of the Shang culture's religion.   Anthropomorphic is just a big fancy technical term that basically means "invested with human characteristics."

In other words, Shang-di can be interacted with in the manner that a person might speak to another person.  Granted of course, Shang-di is a god, or rather The God but the sentiment expressed is that Shang-di is approachable.  He sends blessings and calamities, granted victory in battle, gave blessings to specific undertakings, and looked after the welfare of his chosen community and in his earthly relatives in particular.

Contrast this with the way that the Zhou understand the Supreme Power.   According to the Zhou, Tian = Shang-di.  They made an explicit appeal to those tribes and peoples subjugated by the Shang that they, the Zhou, worshipped the same exact deity.

Except that the Shang had misunderstood the true nature of things.

Tian is not just the God of the Zhou or Shang.  Tian cannot be bound to any particular royal lineage, tribe, or nation.  Most importantly, Heaven's will does not coincide with the fortunes of a family or dynasty.  If a ruling household cannot live up to a universal standard of morality, ethics, and proper ritual behavior - Heaven will abandon that family and pass its Mandate to some other worthy one.

It is that concept, the Mandate of Heaven, that becomes a critical religious and political concept right to the end of the last Chinese dynasty in the early twentieth century.   You lose the Mandate, you Lose China.  You gain the Mandate, you Gain China. 

Sit back and think for a second just how revolutionary the Zhou's concept of the world is during the time they live in.  

That a dead ancestor should look after his or her descendants would seem quite obvious to the ancient Chinese.   These ancestral spirits may even look the other way when it comes to certain actions that the prevading culture might deem inappropriate. 

But an impartial force that reacts to a ruler based on his actions which are compared against an objective standard of morality?  That is quite different.

That development places Morality above the obvious particularistic interests of a group or tribe or clan.   It also places Morality within the context of Nature.  

In other words, Man must strive to act Moral because the Universe is Moral.

Waking Mars or Biology in Sppppaaaccceee!!!

Speculations about the possibility of life on the Red Planet has persisted for centuries, attracting minds as diverse as noted 19th century British scientist and philosopher William Whewell (who theorized about lands, seas, and lifeforms on the planet) to celebrated American pulp fiction writer Edgar Rice Burroughs (whose series "John Carter of Mars" remains a classic of science fiction.  Oh and incidentally - he invented Tarzan as well.)

And of course, who can forget War of the Worlds?

Whether its little green men in circular ships, heroic human-like warriors living in a pre-industrial world, or micro-organisms buried beneath that distinctive red soil - man has often dreamt of finding life on Mars.

And now we have, on this little app game that is.

Waking Mars offers a rather distinct experience to its player.  In an industry often dominated by action/adventure first person shooters, this little app game stands out for one simple reason: Discovery.

The whole premise of Waking Mars rests on a chance discovery by 2 members of a scientific expedition to the Red Planet.   Dr. Liang Qi (pictured above) a biologist from Earth along with his colleague Amani (depicted above on the left) have encountered a new lifeform extraterrestrial in origin.

Trapped beneath the caverns of Mars armed with nothing but a jetpack and his sharp mind, Liang finds himself re-cultivating a dormant eco-system in order to uncover the secrets buried beneath.

I know what your thinking, how can "cosmic gardening" amount to any kind of fun?

The challenge lays in the fact that the player, like Liang Qi, has absolutely no knowledge whatsoever about the lifeforms prior to encountering them.  Researching the creatures and plant life discovered is a large aspect of the game as is understanding how they interact with each other.

The designers over at TigerStyle Games put a lot of effort into simulating an actual eco-system.  Some lifeforms, collectively called Zoa, have a symbiotic relationship.  Others can be quite predatory and may even attack Liang Qi.  It is by experimenting with these combinations and observing the Zoa's interactions amongst themselves that a player begins to slip into the mindset of both scientist and explorer.

Oh yes, and of course there are those rather compelling "ancient secrets beneath the sands" bits....

 
So if you prefer a bit of the "old school" science fiction, where speculative thoughts about the universe bump up against real science and outright fantasy, gave this game a whirl.  It won't disappoint.

Krebiozen, Cancer, and the Power of Thought

In 1957 a cancer patient, hereafter known as "Mr. Wright," was hospitalized in Long Beach, California.  The man was riddled with tumors the "size of oranges" and on his death bed.  

Mr. Wright was made aware of a new wonder drug, Krebiozen (a serum derived from horses, pictured above in tablet form.  Formal name: 1-methyl-2-amino-imidazol-4-one.  Chemical structured provided below), which was marketed as being a possible cure for all types of cancer.

His physician, Dr. Phillip West, eventually relented to his continued requests to receive the drug as the patient literally had "nothing to lose."   Having been injected on a Friday morning, Dr. West would return to check up on his patient the following Monday only to be astonished by what he saw.

His patient, the one on his "death bed," was up and about joking with hospital staff as if there was nothing wrong.  His orange-sized tumors apparently had melted away.

A few months later, Mr. Wright would go onto to read a report in his local newspaper that Krebiozen was in fact an ineffective remedy.  The patient would go onto to suffer an almost immediate relapse of previous symptoms.  

Upon seeing his patient again, Dr. West convinced Mr. Wright he had access to a "super-refined double strength" version of Krebiozen.  Within a few days, Dr. West's patient made a full recovery and would go on to be the picture of good health until a fateful morning when Mr. Wright read a definitive report showing that Krebiozen had no effect on cancer whatsoever.

He died two days later.

As for the "super-refined double strength" version of the drug?   Dr. West would later go onto reveal that it had been nothing of the sort - only sterile water.