Images 46–60

Dark, dark the gathering murk. Killing, and no blade used. Ten thousand men do not die. One man cannot escape.

There is a soldier with a bow at his side. He says only: I am the white-headed old man. Inside the eastern gate a golden sword lies hidden. A brave man enters the imperial palace by the back door.

Shengtan says: this image suspects the sovereign is benighted and □; a brave man, standing on righteousness, raises troops and pleads for the people's lives — hence 'ten thousand men do not die, one man cannot escape'.

Lay down arms and cultivate letters. The Ziwei star is bright. The common man bears responsibility. One word serves as the judgement.

Without king or emperor, heaven and earth are settled. The foremost man comes up from among the fields. Let him read the old books well and widely, and when one righteous word comes out, his brilliance is seen.

Shengtan says: in this image there is the sign of a worthy ruler humbling himself before scholars, and men of ability coming to submit. Because he has the right men to assist him, the emperor does not claim the virtue and the king does not claim the merit; everything rises steadily, and there is the abundance of ruling by

non-action. This is one period of order.

Between mao and wu. Its image is Li. Eight oxen pull and stir. Harmonious, and bright.

Water and fire in Jiji — the people are fortunate. Hand on a metal spear, he does not kill the rebel. Within fifty years, one general-minister. Green, green the grass comes up out of the fields.

Shengtan says: this image suspects one surnamed Zhu contending with one surnamed □ for control of the court, and the Zhu having the power to win men over by virtue. Dragon and snake fighting — probably in a chen or si

year; and its capital, perhaps, in the south.

In the mountain valley, few mouths. Wishing to root them out, he loses their nest. Emperors and kings address each other as brothers. Thick and fast, the men of daring.

A single 或 with a 口 inside it cries out. Dividing south, dividing north, dividing east and west. When the six lines are fully divined, culture appears: spread like chess-pieces and strung like stars, sun and moon together.

Shengtan says: long divided, they must unite; long united, they must divide — such is the way of number and principle. Yet there is here an image of culture, so it ought not to be like the turmoil of those who carve territory up between them.

Water and fire fight each other. When the time is exhausted, it changes. Beneath zhen, yuan arises. Beasts are prized and men are cheap.

A tiger-headed man meets a tiger-headed year. White rice fills the granary and is not worth money. Jackals and wolves band together and walk in the streets. Only when wind and cloud are swept clear is the sky seen.

Shengtan says: this image, meeting a yin year, must suffer great disorder: the sovereign benighted, the ministers violent, and the people below without a day's respite. This is another period of disorder.

Yin and yang in accord. Transformed by rectitude. Kun is compliant, and responds. Afterwards Yao and Shun are seen.

Who says a woman still favours hardness and force? Kun's virtue does in fact move the four quarters. A new aspect at heaven's centre is seen once more. The divined years, one and six: long-lived and at ease.

Shengtan says: this image is a bright sovereign receiving the help of a worthy consort, the transformation spreading through the country, and peace seen again. This is another period of order.

A comet suddenly appears. Unfavourable to the northeast. Trudging alone — where is he going? He gazes toward that happy land.

One point of comet shows in the east. Wu and Chu still have their sovereign. The guest who comes from outside the gate will not last long. Heaven and earth are remade at Jiao and Kang.

Shengtan says: this image concerns the northeast being harassed by foreign peoples, with a sign of the capital moving south. Jiao and Kang are the southern extremity. Afterwards a bright sovereign appears, drives out the outsiders, and once more

celebrates a rising peace.

A Son of Heaven in Guanzhong. He treats the worthy with ceremony and humbles himself to scholars. He follows Heaven and rests in the mandate. Half-old, he has a son.

A filial son comes from the west. His hand grasps the ruling cord, and the world is at peace. Twice within the realm are fine banners seen. The earlier man does not match the later man's gifts.

Shengtan says: this image is one surnamed Qin, named Xiao, ascending the throne in Guanzhong and controlling north and south. Perhaps he takes Qin as the dynastic name. This is one period of order.

Open and unencumbered. One game of chess left unfinished. Pecking for breath, snatching a moment's ease. Though he laughs, he weeps as well.

Not telling ox and rat from ox and sheep. Strip away the hair, keep the Han, and it is still called strong. Within the realm a true dragon comes forth. The nine bends of the Yellow River, and the water is not yellow.

Shengtan says: this image has the sign of the substance departing while the name remains — perhaps like the end of the Zhou, when commands went unobeyed and yet the calendar was still promulgated. It is likewise a sign that what has long been united must divide.

Fear breeds vigilance. Nothing so distant it is not reached. By the water there is a woman. Facing the sun, she bows to herself.

Coveting the sacred vessel comes to nothing in the end. Careful and cautious, there are ministers in numbers. Turning peril into safety, integrity is seen. It is not certain that the rivers and hills are mine to give away.

Shengtan says: in this image there is one surnamed Shi, or perhaps Liu, unifying the Central Plain; and there is one surnamed Ru who plots to usurp it. Fortunately there are great ministers wholly loyal to the royal house, watchful and

diligent, so that every outside insult perishes of itself without being destroyed. Though it is disorder, it is also order.

What flies is not a bird. What dives is not a fish. The fighting is not in the soldiers. The creative powers at their play.

Ten thousand li of sea frontier, all cloud and smoke, reaching up to the empyrean and down to the springs. The Metal Mother and the Wood Duke are skilled at conjuring. Before spear and shield have met, the disaster fills the sky.

Shengtan says: this image is the use of fire in campaigning, which is the sense of 'the fighting is not in the soldiers'. The ode says 'ten thousand li of sea frontier', so the fierceness of the war is not confined to China.

When a thing reaches its extreme it turns back. Use poison to control poison. A child three feet tall, and the four peoples are cowed into submission.

Kan and Li in mutual conquest: the boundary of heaven is seen. Heaven causes this man to still the trigger of killing. Who would believe a rare talent is born in Wu and Yue, and that from this the armies across the oceans lay down their arms?

Shengtan says: this image says that between Wu and Yue there is a child able to win by an extraordinary stroke, who beats out the prairie fire entirely, and that the evil fortune ends from that point. It is another

period of order.

The great disorder is settled. The four peoples submit. They call one another brothers: six or seven states.

The beacon-smoke wholly cleared, the sea without a wave. Calling themselves emperors and kings, and in concord again. Yet a baleful star still lies hidden in the northwest, and the song of great peace cannot be sung everywhere.

Shengtan says: this image has the sign of the four peoples coming to acknowledge the king, and the sea raising no waves. It is a pity that one corner of the northwest is not yet quiet — there is still a regret. It is another period of order.

No walls, no offices. No you, no me. All under heaven one household. Order reaching the great transformation.

One man makes the whole world's blessing. His hand holds the lot-tube, and the bamboo is drawn away. Red, yellow, black and white are not told apart. East, south, west and north are all at peace together.

Shengtan says: this is the image of the Great Unity. People born into that time, drinking harmony and eating virtue, cannot know how happy they are. It is a pity that its count is already ended — or perhaps it turns back to the root and returns

to the origin, back into the undifferentiated?

One yin, one yang. No end, no beginning. What ends, ends of itself. What begins, begins of itself.

The vast count of heaven is sought within this. The rise and fall of the world's way is not ours to choose. Ten thousand thousands of things cannot be told to the end. Better to push the back, and go and take your rest.

Shengtan says: one man in front, one man behind; there is going and no coming; not alone, but paired. To close the images with this — the meaning implied is deep and far-reaching indeed. For the image that is no image surpasses

the image that is an image. I too explain it by not explaining. If the author has awareness, he too would surely approve.