Chéngwáng Jì Bāng 成王既邦
After King Cheng Had Enfeoffed [the Duke of Zhou] (modern editorial title, from the opening phrase)
(anonymous; excavated bamboo manuscript, no attributable author)
About the work
Chéngwáng Jì Bāng 成王既邦 is one of the texts in 馬承源 Mǎ Chéngyuán ed., 《上海博物館藏戰國楚竹書》 vol. 8, Shànghǎi gǔjí chūbǎnshè 上海古籍出版社, 2011, comprising approximately 14 bamboo strips. The text is a Zhou royal court dialogue between King Chéng of Zhōu 周成王 (traditionally r. 1042–1006 BCE) and the Duke of Zhōu 周公 (Dàn 旦), set two years after the Duke of Zhou’s formal enfeoffment. The text engages with fundamental questions about the “Way of the Son of Heaven” (tiānzǐ zhī zhèng dào 天子之正道) as distinct from lesser governance arts, and with the “six intimacies” (liù qīn zhī yuē 六親之約) as the practical means of attaining it.
Abstract
Opening consultation (§§1–2). The text begins: “King Chéng, two years after enfeoffing the Duke of Zhou, entrusted him with heavy responsibilities and came to consult him.” The consultation occurs in the east of Zhou [territory]. King Chéng says: “Formerly there was a numinous (shén 神) Way — how great, how turbid! Wanting to elevate it, unable to bring it about; if you advance [too] it harms [you]; reaching [for it, still unable?]; it cannot be destroyed; its form is high and dangerous; its content (zé 澤) is deep…” The king desires to understand it clearly.
The Duke of Zhou responds (§3): “What Dàn has heard is that these [qualities] reside each in one’s own body, but all become manifest and clear in Heaven.”
The Way of the Xia Zeng clan (§4–5). King Chéng asks: “The Way of the Xià Zēng clan (Xià Zēng Shì zhī dào 夏繒氏之道) — can it discern good from bad, know what exists and what does not exist? Can it be called having the Way?” The Duke of Zhou answers: “This [art] is the cultivation of two prior things — an external illumination of the Way; it is slightly remote from one’s person (shēn 身); it is not the correct Way of the Son of Heaven.”
The correct Way of the Son of Heaven (§§6–7). King Chéng then asks: “May I ask about the correct Way of the Son of Heaven?” The Duke of Zhou answers: “[When] the people all want to abandon their [own] kin and become intimate with him (qīn zhī 親之); when they all want to bring their states and offer them to him — this is called the correct Way of the Son of Heaven: without summoning them they come by themselves; without examining them they encircle [him] by themselves; without convening them they resolve [matters] by themselves.”
“The things that are worthy — those who are capable, through guarding the six treasuries (liù cáng zhī shǒu 六藏之守), gain intimacy [with the ruler] — this is called the compact of the six intimacies (liù qīn zhī yuē 六親之約).” King Chéng asks about the method; the Duke begins to answer (text damaged).
Further dialogue (§§9–12). Some damaged sections. A question about whether [something] does not say “day shines and ice melts?” — King Cheng exclaims “Oh! The Way…” A passage warning about “double calamity” (zhòng yāng 重殃): six things that cause all the people to have estranged hearts, and the state to have thoughts of mutual harm — these constitute “double calamity.” A final mention of “maintaining the bright virtue of the [former] kings.” The text closes with a scene of King Chéng at Hào (the Zhou western capital), calling the Duke of Zhou and saying “Oh, be reverent! Hear this [teaching]…”
Genre and significance. Chéngwáng Jì Bāng belongs to the genre of Zhou royal teaching dialogues, of which the closest received parallels are chapters of the Shàngshū 尚書 such as the Kāngāo 康誥 and Jiǔgào 酒誥 (King Chéng admonitions to the Duke of Zhou’s brother in Kāng) and the Lǜzhèng 呂政 (instructions to a minister). The concept of the correct Way of the Son of Heaven — attracting the people’s spontaneous adhesion without coercion (fú zhāo ér zì zhì 弗朝而自至, etc.) — is closely related to the Dàodéjīng 道德經 concept of non-coercive rulership (wú wéi 無為) and the Mencius concept of royal virtue (wáng dào 王道). The “six treasuries” (liù cáng 六藏) as the practical means of gaining popular adhesion may refer to the six traditional arts or six governance faculties.
Translations and research
- 馬承源 ed., 《上海博物館藏戰國楚竹書》 vol. 8, Shànghǎi gǔjí chūbǎnshè, 2011 — editio princeps.
- Kern, Martin, and Dirk Meyer, eds. Origins of Chinese Political Philosophy: Studies in the Composition and Thought of the Shangshu (Classic of Documents). Brill, 2017 — contextual study for Zhou royal dialogue texts of this type.
- Pines, Yuri. Envisioning Eternal Empire. University of Hawai’i Press, 2009 — background for the “king as magnetic center” political ideology visible in this text.
Links
- Wikipedia (Shanghai Museum bamboo texts): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_Museum_bamboo_texts