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...."]
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.
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