Shu

“ The speaker was one of Yüan Shu’s advisers named Lü Fan. They three then sat and discussed schemes.
“The one fear is that the soldiers will be refused,” said the newcomer.
“I still have the Imperial Seal that my father left me; that should be good security.”
“Yüan Shu earnestly desires that jewel,” said Chu Chih. “He will certainly lend you men on that pledge.”
The three talked over their plans, gradually settling the details, and not many days after Sun Ts‘ê obtained an interview with his patron. Assuming the appearance of deep grief he said, “I have been unable to avenge my father. ”

“ Again arose the voice of the peevish Yüan Shu, “We high officials are too meek and yielding. Here is the petty follower of a small magistrate daring to flaunt his prowess before us! Expel him from the tent, I say.”
But again Tsʻao Tsʻao interposed, “Shall we consider the station of him who has done a great service?”
“If you hold a mere magistrate in such honour then I simply withdraw,” said Yüan Shu.
“Is a word enough to defeat a grand enterprise?” said Tsʻao Tsʻao.
He told Kungsun Tsan to lead his three companions back to their own camp and the other chiefs then dispersed. ”

“ It seems, from their positions, that very possibly Seb and Nut were the primaeval gods of the aborigines of Hottentot type, before the Osiris worshippers of European type ever entered the Nile valley.
Shu was the god of space, who lifted up Nut from off the body of Seb. He was often represented, especially in late amulets; possibly it was believed that he would likewise raise up the body of the deceased from earth to heaven. His figure is entirely human, and he kneels on one knee with both hands lifted above his head. ”

“ The second was the Ts’ien Shu Dynasty, founded in 907 by Wang Kien, governor of Sze Chw’an since 891; it lasted till 925, when it submitted to the 80Hau T’ang; in 933 the Hau T’ang were compelled to grant the title of King of Shu (Hau Shu) to Mong Chi-siang, governor of Sze Chw’an, who was succeeded by Mong Ch’ang, dethroned in 965; the capital was also Ch’eng Tu under these two dynasties.
TIBET. XLV., p. 44. No man of that country would on any consideration take to wife a girl who was a maid; for they say a wife is nothing worth unless she has been used to consort with men. ”

“ O Rā, in thine egg, radiant in thy disk shining forth from the horizon, swimming over the steel firmament, sailing over the pillars of Shu, thou who hast no second among the gods, who producest the winds by the flames of thy mouth, and who enlightenest the worlds with thy splendours, save the departed from that god whose nature is a mystery and whose eyebrows are as the arms of the balance on the night when Aauit was weighed. ”

“ As a matter of fact, it is found that in both these culture centres this fusion was maintained all through their histories. Ptah might be the “Word” to the priests, but to the common people he remained the artisan-god for thousands of years—the god who hammered out the heavens and set the world in order—a form of Shu who separated the heavens from the earth, as did Pʼan Ku in China. ”

“ The Shu-king, sometimes described as the “Canon of History,” our oldest source of pre-Confucian history, supposed to have been edited by Confucius himself, knows nothing of Fu-hi, Shön-nung and Huang-ti; but it begins by extolling the virtues of the emperor Yau and his successor Shun. Yau and Shun are probably the most popular names in Chinese history as taught in China. Whatever good qualities may be imagined of the rulers of a great nation have been heaped upon their heads ”

“ Entering into rest, he assigns to different gods the government of different parts of the world. Shu, who is to succeed him as king, is to administer celestial matters with Nut; Seb and Nun receive the charge of the things of earth and water. Finally, Râ, a sovereign who has voluntarily abdicated, goes to dwell with Thoth, his favourite son, on whom he has bestowed the superintendence of the under-world. ”

“ Of an impetuous nature and of undaunted courage, he performed many heroic exploits; and on one occasion, when Liu Pei had suffered a severe defeat at 當陽 Tang-yang, he took his stand upon a bridge and defied the whole of Ts'ao Ts'ao's army. As soon as Liu Pei became the ruler of Shu, and the new government was installed at Ch'êng-tu, he was raised to high rank in reward for his services. ”

“ Whatever they ask in future, grain or men or anything else, and you yield, will bring your own end nearer, and make you hated all round. If you refuse, then you are false to the duties of a relative and that will be an excuse to attack you openly. Beside this Yüan Shu intends to call himself Emperor, which would be rebellion, and you would be of the rebel’s family; something abominable, which the Empire would not suffer.”
Lü Pu was much disturbed to hear this. ”

“ Yang Fêng succeeded in escaping, while Ts‘ao Ts‘ao kept up the attack on the disordered army. A great number of the rebels gave in and the leaders found they had too few men left to maintain their independence so they betook themselves to Yüan Shu. ”

“ Shu is also the Dawn, or sunlight, Tefnut represents the coloured rays at dawn. Shu and Tefnut are the eyes of Horus. Shu was also called "Neshem," which means green felspar, in consequence of the green colour observed at dawn. The green tint at dawn and sunset are represented further by the "sycamore of emerald." ”

“ The Door-gods An old legend relates that in the earliest times there grew on Mount Tu Shuo, in the Eastern Sea, a peach-tree of fabulous size whose branches covered an area of several thousand square li. The lowest branches, which inclined Page 173toward the north-east, formed the Door of the Devils (kuei) , through which millions of them passed in and out. Two spirits, named Shên Shu (or Shu Yü) and Yü Lü, had been instructed to guard this passage. Those who had done wrong to mankind were immediately bound by them and given over to be devoured by tigers. ”

“ Kuan Chung and Pao Shu were bosom friends, living together in the State of Ts'i. The former was in the service of the young Prince Chiu; the latter served his brother, the young Prince Hsiao Pŏ. Now, the reigning Duke, their father, had a large family, on whom he doted fondly, the Duchess and the ladies of his harem being all considered of equal rank. The people of Ts'i feared lest grave disorders might arise from this weakness of the Duke's; so Kuan Chung, accompanied by one Shao Wu, attended Prince Chiu to the State of Lu, while Pao Shu escorted Prince Hsiao Pŏ to Chii. ”

“ As a dragon on high could soar.
As soon as Ma T‘êng heard that Liu Pei had set forth he reported that pressing business called him and marched back to his own district.
When Yüan-tê reached Hsüchou the governor, Ch‘ê Chou, came to meet him, and when the official banquet was over, Sun Ch‘ien and Mi Chu came to visit him. Then he proceeded to his residence to greet his family.
Scouts were sent out to see what Yüan Shu was doing. They came back with the intelligence that his arrogance had driven away his banditti allies, who had returned to their mountain fastnesses. ”

“ And there was another writer, famed greatly for his skill, named Onomo Toku, who laughed at some characters on the tablet of the Gate Shukaku-mon, written by Kobodaishi; and he said, pointing to the character Shu: 'Verily shu looks like the character "rice".' And that night he dreamed that the character he had mocked at became a man; and that the man fell upon him and beat him, and jumped up and down upon his face many times—even as a kometsuki, a rice-cleaner, leaps up and down to move the hammers that beat the rice—saying the while: 'Lo! ”

“ THE RELIGIOUS PORTIONS OF THE SHIH KING
THE HSIÂO KING
Oxford
AT THE CLARENDON PRESS
1879
[ All rights reserved ]
CONTENTS.
PAGE
Preface xiii
THE SHÛ.
Introduction.
CHAP.
I. The Nature and History of the Shû 1 Meaning of the name Shû King. The Shû existed as a collection of documents before Confucius. Number of documents in it in his time. The Preface ascribed to him. The sources of the Shû. Destruction of the classical literature by the emperor of Khin. Recovery of the Shû.
II. The Credibility of the Records of the Shû 12 Are the records reliable or not? The Books of Kâu ”

“ The words of the King of Chow to the newly appointed Chief Hu on this subject are very similar to those of Lao-tzŭ—“Great Heaven has no affections—it helps only the virtuous.”32 So also, as Lao-tzŭ says it is Heaven’s way to take from that which has too much and give to that which wants, the Shu-ching says in like terms “It is virtue which moves Heaven; there is no distance to which it does not reach. ”

“ To return to the elder Sun Tzŭ. He is mentioned in two other passages of the Shih Chi:—
In the third year of his reign [512 B.C.] Ho Lu, King of Wu, took the field with 子胥 Tzŭ-hsü [i.e. 伍員 Wu Yüan] and 伯嚭 Po P‘ei, and attacked Ch‘u. He captured the town of 舒 Shu and slew the two prince’s sons who had formerly been generals of Wu. He was then meditating a descent on 郢 Ying [the capital] ; but the general Sun Wu said: “The army is exhausted. [7] It is not yet possible. We must wait”.... ”

“ Born about A.D. 1200. A native of Tê-an in Hupeh. Graduated as chin shih in 1234; and having no desire to take office, he opened a school in his native District. In 1235 he was taken prisoner by the Mongol invaders, and sent to the Court of the Khan. His captor, named 姚樞 Yao Shu, treated him kindly, and took charge of all his manuscripts; and when he reached Peking, the Khan made him offers of employment. ”

“ Of this latter form few, if any, genuine examples exist, though tradition has it that a copy of a portion of the Chinese Classics written in the "tadpole" script was discovered about the year 150 B.C. hidden away in the walls of the house originally occupied by Confucius, where it had been placed by some of his descendants to escape the burning of all written records by the Emperor Shih Huang Ti in B.C. 213. The first of the above mentioned six styles is known as the Chuan Shu, commonly called the "Seal character" by Europeans. ”

“ See the legend about him in the Shih, Part III, ii, Ode 1. ↑ Hsieh was honoured by the kings of the Shang dynasty as their progenitor. See the Shih, Part IV, iii, Odes 3 and 4. ↑ See the preliminary note to Book iii. ↑ Zui was not claimed by any great family as its progenitor, but he was handed down by tradition as a great artificer. See a reference to him in Part V, xxii, 2. Shû and Khiang must have been named from their skill in making halberds and axes. ”

“ Nowhere can be found so many and such great cities as we have, and not only the land but the waters are covered with our towns. I wish we could shut ourselves off, as once we were, and never see another barbarian. But alas, we cannot, for they cannot get along without us."
Thus Szu, puffed up with pride, instructed Tuen in the facts of Chinese history, and she drank in every word he said eagerly. ”

“ I have done my will in everything in this earth. I have spread myself abroad therein, and I have made strong my hand. I was One by myself, for they (i.e., the gods) had not been brought forth, and I had emitted from myself neither Shu nor Tefnut. I brought my own name [1] into my mouth as a word of power, and I forthwith came into being under the form of things which are and under the form of Kheperȧ. I came into being from out of primeval matter, and from the beginning I appeared under the form of the multitudinous things which exist ”

“ Arriving at his destination, he felt a pain in his heart, which he at once attributed to the tea, telling his friend what had occurred. “Alas! you are undone,” cried the other; “they were shui-mang devils. My father died in the same way, and we were unable to save him. There is no help for you.” Chu was terribly frightened, and produced the handful of tea, which his friend at once pronounced to be leaves of the shui-mang plant. He then shewed him the ring, and told him what the girl had said; whereupon his friend, after some reflection, said, “She must be San-niang, of the K‘ou family.” ”

“ Shun also used the same language in handing down the appointment to Yu.
The Emperor T‘ang in his prayer, said, "I, the child Li, presume to avail me of an ox of dusky hue, and presume to manifestly announce to Thee, O God, the most high and Sovereign Potentate, that to the transgressor I dare not grant forgiveness, nor yet keep in abeyance Thy ministers. Judgment rests in Thine heart, O God. Should we ourself transgress, may the guilt not be visited everywhere upon all. Should the people all transgress, be the guilt upon ourself!" ”

“ The Chou Dynasty was founded, according to Chinese dating, in 1122 B.C., and lasted until 249 B.C. It has been suggested that although the Chous claimed to be descended from one of Shun’s ministers, they were really foreigners partly or wholly of Tartar origin. King Wu introduced the sacrifice of human beings to the spirits of ancestors, and favoured the magicians, whom he appointed to high positions in his court. His empire consisted of a confederacy [291] of feudal states, and its strength endured so long as the central state remained sufficiently powerful to exact tribute. ”

“ I read that the days of Han are numbered and that the great Minister’s merits command the regard of all the world as when Shun succeeded Yao and Yü continued the work of Shun, conforming to the mind of heaven and the desire of man.”
“How dare I expect this?” said Cho.
“From the days of old those who walk in the way have replaced those who deviate therefrom; those who lack virtue have fallen before those who possess it. ”