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174

THE SHÛ KING.

PART V.

you clearly make known my great commands in the country of Mei^[1].

'When your reverent father, the king Wăn, laid the foundations of our kingdom in the western region, he delivered announcements and cautions to (the princes of) the various regions, and to all his (high) officers, with their assistants, and the managers of affairs, saying, morning and evening, "At sacrifices spirits should be employed."* When Heaven was sending down its favouring decree, and laying the foundations of (the eminence of) our people, (spirits) were used only at the great sacrifices. When Heaven sends down its terrors, and our people are thereby greatly disorganized and lose their virtue, this may be traced invariably to their indulgence in spirits; yea, the ruin of states, small and great, (by these terrors), has been caused invariably by their guilt in the use of spirits^[2].

↑ There is a place called 'the village of Mei,' in the north of the present district of Khî, department Wei-hui, Ho-nan;—a relic of the ancient name of the whole territory. The royal domain of Shang, north from the capital, was all called Mei. Făng's principality of Wei must have embraced most of it.
↑ Kû Hsî says upon the meaning of the expressions 'Heaven was sending down its favouring decree' (its order to make Kiû, as he understood the language), and 'when Heaven sends down its terrors,' in this paragraph:—'Kang Nan-hsien has brought out the meaning of these two statements much better than any of the critics who went before him, to the following effect:—Kiû is a thing intended to be used in offering sacrifices and in entertaining guests; such employment of it is what Heaven has prescribed. But men by their abuse of Kiû come to lose their virtue, and destroy their persons;—such employment of it is what Heaven has annexed its terrors to. The Buddhists, hating the use of things where Heaven sends down its terrors, put away as well the use of them which Heaven has prescribed. It is not so with us of the learned (i.e. the Confucian or orthodox) school;—we only put

[1] There is a place called 'the village of Mei,' in the north of the present district of Khî, department Wei-hui, Ho-nan;—a relic of the ancient name of the whole territory. The royal domain of Shang, north from the capital, was all called Mei. Făng's principality of Wei must have embraced most of it.

[p174_2-2] Kû Hsî says upon the meaning of the expressions 'Heaven was sending down its favouring decree' (its order to make Kiû, as he understood the language), and 'when Heaven sends down its terrors,' in this paragraph:—'Kang Nan-hsien has brought out the meaning of these two statements much better than any of the critics who went before him, to the following effect:—Kiû is a thing intended to be used in offering sacrifices and in entertaining guests; such employment of it is what Heaven has prescribed. But men by their abuse of Kiû come to lose their virtue, and destroy their persons;—such employment of it is what Heaven has annexed its terrors to. The Buddhists, hating the use of things where Heaven sends down its terrors, put away as well the use of them which Heaven has prescribed. It is not so with us of the learned (i.e. the Confucian or orthodox) school;—we only put

[1]

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