Han Yu's "Za shuo" [phrase omitted] (Miscellaneous Discourses): A Three-Tier System of Government.

• Author: Tan, Mei Ah
• Position: Critical essay

INTRODUCTION

Han Yu's [phrase omitted] (768-824) "Za shuo" [phrase omitted] (Miscellaneous discourses) is a series of essays that have been traditionally treated as independent creations. Two of them, "Long shuo" f| [phrase omitted] (Discourse on the dragon) and "Ma shuo" [phrase omitted]. (Discourse on horses) are popular anthology pieces. ' This article provides new findings on multiple aspects of the series, including the number of essays included, their respective themes and relations, and date of composition. It also throws new light on Han Yu's political thought.

In most editions of Han Yu's works, the "Za shuo" series consists of four essays, simply titled as first, second, third, and fourth. (2) The first, second, and fourth essays are also often referred to as "Long shuo," "Yi shuo" [phrase omitted] (Discourse on physicians), and "Ma shuo." Zhu Xi [phrase omitted] (1130-1200) remarked that the third essay has an alternative title, "Ti Cui Shanjun zhuan" [phrase omitted] (Foreword to the biography of Cui Shanjun), and that in some editions it is not included in the series. (3) This study argues that "Yi shuo" was written to support the guiding principles of the enfeoffment system, and that "Long shuo," "Yi shuo," and "Ma shuo" form one organic whole. It also presents an in-depth study of "Yi shuo," modifies the current understanding of "Long shuo" and "Ma shuo," and proposes that Han Yu advocated a three-tier system of government, made up of the emperor, the feudal lords, and the bureaucrats. The emperor is the apogee; he collaborates with his ministers to devise state policies in the inner palace. The feudal lords protect the emperor in the regional areas. The bureaucrats form the engine of the government: they implement policies. This study further narrows down the year of the series's composition to the period between 794 and 807. (4)

This article begins by examining the themes of the essays and their relation to one another. Most of this investigation will be devoted to analyzing "Yi shuo" because it has not been studied before. I then discuss "Ti Cui Shanjun zhuan," which is out of place in the series, and suggest a new range of years for the composition of the series.

"LONG SHUO": THE BEGINNING OF A NEW ERA

The first essay, "Long shuo," sets the central theme: worthy ministers magnify the splendor of the ruler and validate his position. Previous scholarship has focused on what the dragon and the clouds in the text stand for, observing the interdependence between them. (5) While most would agree that the dragon stands for the ruler and the clouds for his ministers, nothing much has been said about the essay's key message, that the ruler's identity also depends on his ministers, and that the reference to The Book of Changes {Zhou yi [phrase omitted]) is crucial in determining the leading role of this text. (6) The image of the dragon as an aweinspiring rather than a moralizing power has also been overlooked.

"Long shuo" reads:

The dragon breathes out, and its breath turns into clouds. The clouds indeed cannot be more numinous than the dragon; but the dragon rides on this breath, travels far and wide in mysterious space, approaches the sun and the moon, crouches in their light and glow, induces thunder and lightning, makes its [own] transformations divine, spreads rain on the land, and drenches mountains and valleys: how numinous and marvelous are the clouds!

The clouds are what the dragon can make numinous; the numen of this dragon, however, is not something the clouds can make numinous; but [if] the dragon does not have the clouds, it has nothing to rely upon to divinize its numen. Losing what it relies upon--isn't this indeed unfeasible?

How unusual! What it relies upon is what it creates. The Book of Changes says, "The clouds follow the dragon." As it is called "dragon," the clouds should follow. (7)

[phrase omitted] [phrase omitted] [phrase omitted] [phrase omitted]. (8) This essay explores the relationship between the dragon and the clouds it creates. The dragon is clearly a metaphor for the sage ruler; (9) the clouds, in the traditional understanding of the essay, are metaphors for wise ministers. (10) The monarch gives worthy men honorable positions as chief ministers; in return, he receives their support to rule the state. When they work seamlessly together, like the dragon accompanied by the clouds, this will create a time of great peace, signified by a wise and vigorous ruler.

The source of Han's quotation "the clouds follow the dragon" is the commentary on the words of the text for the fifth yang line [phrase omitted] of the Qian [phrase omitted] (pure yang) hexagram in The Book of Changes. It reads:

Things with the same tonality resonate together; things with the same material force seek out one another. Water flows to where it is wet; fire goes toward where it is dry. Clouds follow the dragon; wind follows the tiger. The sage bestirs himself, and all creatures look to him. What is rooted in Heaven draws close to what is above; what is rooted in Earth draws close to what is below. Thus, each thing follows its own kind. [phrase omitted] [phrase omitted] The line statement reads: "When a flying dragon is in the sky, it is fitting to see the great man" [phrase omitted]. According to Wang Bi's [phrase omitted] (226-249) commentary, the path of the great man prevails when the dragon exercises its virtue in Heaven, that is, when the ruler acts virtuously. (12) Hellmut Wilhelm has pointed out that the flying dragon refers to the ruler, who can benefit by seeking advice from the great man. (13)

The reference to the Qian hexagram, the first hexagram in The Book of Changes, is highly symbolic. The judgment for qian says that it consists of "fundamentality, prevalence, fitness, and constancy" [phrase omitted]; the commentary on the judgment notes that myriad things are provided their beginnings by it, and, as such, it controls Heaven. It allows clouds to scud and rain to fall and things in all their different categories to flow into forms. (14) Qian is, as Hellmut Wilhelm stated, "the unlimited embodiment of the strong, light, active, creative power, whose symbol is Heaven. In relation to the human world, it stands for a creative personality in a leading position, the holy ruler." (15) Unmistakably, "Long shuo" points to the leading role of the ruler and his reliance on ministers personally appointed by him to create a time of great peace, which is in accordance with mainstream political thought during the mid-Tang. As Anthony DeBlasi has noted, the moral qualities of the ruler and ministers reinforce each other, determining the state of society. (16)

The image of the dragon inducing thunder and lightning, and drenching mountains and valleys, shows that this dragon can engender awe and respect. This awe and respect are not the result of mere moral power. In this sense, Han is advocating a vigorous emperor, as Charles Hartman suggested, when he proposed that Han Yu favored a "bipartite system of power," consisting of rule by a rigorous monarchy and administration by a career bureaucracy. (17) This emphasis on the emperor's strength is probably a response to the political situation of the mid-Tang, when the central government was losing control over its provinces after the An Lushan Rebellion (755-763). While the emphasis on the role of great ministers in governance can be associated with Confucian ideas, the celebration of a vigorous emperor who induces awe is associated with the Legalists.

"YI SHUO": FEUDAL LORDS AS BUTTRESSES AND BULWARKS

The second essay, "Yi shuo," has not yet received much scholarly attention. (18) I propose that it was written to support the enfeoffment system. Fully fledged by the Western Zhou period, the enfeoffment system was designed to prolong the imperial lineage and believed to be capable of extending the rule. My interpretation overturns the assumption that Han Yu did not write on that topic, again drawing attention to Han's reference to The Book of Changes. (19) The essay reads:

Those skilled in medicine do not look at whether someone is stout or gaunt; they only examine the pulse to see if it is failing or not. Those skilled in planning for the empire do not look at whether the empire is safe or in peril; they only examine the "strands and ropes" to see if they are in order or disarray. The empire is [like] a person; its safety or peril is [like] being stout or gaunt; "the strands and ropes" are [like] the pulse. One whose pulse is not failing, although gaunt, is not in danger; one whose pulse is failing, although stout, will die. One who is well versed in this doctrine--surely he is aware of what to rely upon to rule the empire!

As for the decline of the Xia, Yin, and Zhou dynasties, feudal lords rose and wars and expeditions happened daily; the reason that [the throne] was passed down through dozens of kings and the empire did not topple was that the "strands and ropes" were preserved. As for the unification of the empire by the Qin emperor, he did not disseminate his power through feudal lords and had [their] weapons gathered and melted. The reason that [his throne] was passed down for [only] two generations and the empire toppled was that the "strands and ropes" were no longer preserved. For this reason, even if there is nothing wrong with the four limbs, this is not sufficient [for the physician] to be reassured: it is only the pulse [that matters]; even if there are no incidents within the four seas, this is not sufficient [for the ruler] to be proud: it is only the "strands and ropes" [that matter].

Being concerned about what one can be reassured by, and being anxious about what one can be proud of: those who are skilled in medicine and those who are skilled in planning refer to these as the Heaven upholding them. (20) The Changes says, "One should look where he has trodden and examine the omens involved." (21) Those who are skilled in...