曆書

Since deep antiquity, the calendar has been established with its starting point at the first month of spring. At that time the ice thaws, hibernating creatures stir, the hundred grasses burst into growth, and the cuckoo calls first. All living things complete their yearly cycle: born in the east, they follow the four seasons in order and conclude at the winter division. The rooster crows three times, and dawn arrives. The twelve seasonal nodes are traversed, concluding at the chou hour. Sun and moon complete their cycles, and thus there is light. What is bright is the 'elder'; what is dark is the 'younger.' Dark and bright are female and male. Female and male rise in alternation, following the correct sequence of the supreme orthodoxy. The sun sets in the west and rises bright in the east; the moon sets in the east and rises bright in the west. If the calendar does not accord with Heaven and also does not follow human need, then all affairs are easily ruined and hard to accomplish.

When a king of a new surname receives the Mandate, he must be careful at the very beginning: reforming the calendar's starting point, changing the official colors, tracing back to the original celestial epoch, and reverently carrying forward its intent.

The Grand Historian says: Before Shennong, the record is too remote. The Yellow Emperor is said to have determined the stellar calendar, established the Five Phases, initiated the system of waxing and waning, and corrected the intercalary remainder. Then there were officials for Heaven, Earth, spirits, and the categories of things — these were called the Five Officials. Each administered its own domain without encroaching on the others. The people thereby maintained trust; the spirits thereby maintained luminous virtue. People and spirits had separate functions, treated each other with reverence and not familiarity. Therefore the spirits sent down bountiful harvests, the people made offerings of goods, disasters and calamities did not arise, and nothing they sought was lacking.

When the house of Shao Hao declined, the Nine Li threw virtue into confusion. People and spirits were jumbled together, the categories of things could not be maintained, and calamities came one after another with no end to the disruption. Zhuan Xu inherited the situation and commanded Chong, the Director of the South, to administer Heaven and attend to the spirits, and commanded Li, the Director of Fire, to administer Earth and attend to the people — restoring the old order so that neither encroached upon or profaned the other. Later the San Miao adopted the ways of the Nine Li, and both offices abandoned their duties. The intercalary calculations went wrong, the first month of the year was obliterated, the Jupiter-station markers lost their sequence, and the calendar fell into disorder. Yao then restored the descendants of Chong and Li, not forgetting the old traditions, and had them resume their duties, establishing the office of Xi and He. When the seasons are made clear and the standards correct, then yin and yang are in balance, wind and rain arrive on schedule, vigorous energy comes in due course, and the people are free from untimely death and plague. When Yao grew old and abdicated to Shun, he solemnly charged him at the Ancestral Temple, saying: 'The calendar's sequence of Heaven rests upon your person.' Shun likewise charged Yu. From this we can see how much weight kings placed upon the calendar.

The Xia calendar starts the year in the first month; the Yin calendar in the twelfth month; the Zhou calendar in the eleventh month. The calendrical starting points of the Three Kings cycle like a wheel: when the cycle is exhausted, it returns to the beginning. When there is the Way in the world, the calendar maintains its proper sequence. When the Way is absent, the official calendar no longer holds authority over the feudal lords.

After Kings You and Li, the Zhou royal house grew feeble. Subordinate ministers seized power; the scribes stopped recording the time; the rulers stopped announcing the new moon. The calendar specialists and their descendants scattered — some among the various Chinese states, some among the barbarian peoples. Thus the system of omens and portents was abandoned and lost its coherence. In the twenty-sixth year of King Xiang of Zhou, an intercalary third month was inserted, and the Spring and Autumn Annals criticized it. The former kings' method of regulating time was: step onto the beginning point at the start, raise the correction at the midpoint, and return the deviation at the end. Stepping onto the beginning keeps the sequence from going astray; raising the correction at the midpoint keeps the people from confusion; returning the deviation at the end keeps affairs from going wrong.

Afterward, the Warring States competed for power. Strong states were bent on capturing their enemies and rescuing emergencies — who had time to think about such matters? At that time only Zou Yan understood the transmission of the Five Powers and distributed the system of waxing and waning to make the feudal lords illustrious. When Qin destroyed the Six States, the turmoil of warfare was at its extreme, and it had occupied the supreme position for too short a time to attend to these things. Yet Qin did apply the theory of the five conquests to some degree, claiming to have received the auspicious sign of the Water Power. It renamed the Yellow River 'Virtue Water,' set the year's beginning at the tenth month, and made black the supreme color. But as for the calendar's calculations and intercalary remainders, it never achieved accuracy.

When Han arose, Gaozu said 'The Northern Altar awaited me and rose,' and he too believed he had received the auspicious sign of the Water Power. Even scholars well versed in calendar-making, such as Zhang Cang, all concurred. At that time the realm had just been pacified and the grand framework was only being established. Under the Empress Dowager and the female regency, there was no time for such matters, so the Qin calendar starting-point and official colors were retained.

Under Emperor Wen, the man of Lu Gongsun Chen submitted a memorial on the cycle of the Five Powers, arguing: 'Han has obtained the Earth Power. The calendar starting-point should be changed, the era name reformed, and the official colors altered. An auspicious sign should appear — a yellow dragon.' The matter was referred to Chancellor Zhang Cang, who had also studied pitch-pipe calculations, and he rejected it as incorrect. Later a yellow dragon did appear at Chengji, and Zhang Cang stepped down in disgrace, his intended work left unfinished. Then Xinyuan Ping, who claimed skill in observing atmospheric portents, spoke at length about reforming the calendar and colors and won favor. But he later attempted a coup, and Emperor Wen dropped the matter and never raised it again.

When the current emperor ascended the throne, he summoned the methods-master Tang Du to map the celestial sectors, and the man of Ba, Luoxia Hong, calculated and converted the calendar. The solar and sidereal measurements then aligned with the Xia calendar system. The emperor reformed the era, changed the official titles, and performed the Feng sacrifice on Mount Tai. He then issued an edict to the Imperial Secretary: 'Recently, the responsible officials stated that the stellar measurements were not yet settled. We have widely solicited and inquired in order to regulate the stellar degrees, but accuracy has not been achieved. I have heard that in ancient times the Yellow Emperor unified them and achieved mastery, examining and verifying the measurements, determining the pure and the turbid, establishing the five divisions, and setting the proportions for the seasonal energies and material categories. But that was long ago. The texts are fragmentary and the musical traditions have slackened. I am deeply concerned. I have not yet been able to follow and illuminate the old ways. Counting the solar fractions, the calculation generally accords with the conquest of the Water Power. Now the sun follows the summer solstice: Huangzhong serves as gong, Linzhong as zhi, Taicu as shang, Nanlv as yu, and Guxian as jue. From this point forward, the energies return to their correct sequence, the yu tone regains its clarity, the names return to their proper alternation, and the zi day falls at the winter solstice — the Way of yin and yang's separation and conjunction is thereby carried out. The winter solstice at dawn of the new moon on a jiazi day in the eleventh month has been verified. Let the seventh year be redesignated as the first year of Taichu. The year-name shall be Yanfeng Shetige; the month-name shall be Biju; the day shall be jiazi; and at midnight on the first day of the new moon shall fall the winter solstice.'

The rise of the calendar stretches back into deep antiquity. Chong and Li were its administrators; Rong Cheng was its recorder. They traced the celestial movements, tracked the cycles of growth and decline. The five conquests rotate in a ring; the three calendar-starting points rise in alternation. The first month of spring sets the year in its course; the calendar specialists follow the track. The method of 'reverently bestowing the seasons' — stepping onto the beginning point is what makes it beautiful.