Silk Manuscripts Research Articles

Virtue before Punishment and Punishment before Reward: a Comparative Study of Two Early Chinese Penal Virtue Theories

Abstract The silk manuscripts of Huang-Lao, unearthed at the Mawangdui Han Tombs, articulate a theory that advocates nurturing penal virtue through the prioritization of virtue before punishment. Many scholars have used Han Fei’s concept of xingde-erbing 刑德二柄 to explain the theory and give it context. Contrasted with Legalism, represented by Shang Yang and Han Fei, which emphasizes rewards and punishments – with Shang Yang advocating punishment before reward – the Huang-Lao doctrine extends beyond this dichotomy. It notably diverges in its exploration of the relationship between the heavens and humanity, as well as theories on motivations underlying human nature. Han Fei’s concept of the xingde-erbing fundamentally aligns with Shang Yang’s approach to governance through the mechanisms of punishment and reward. Moreover, Han Fei’s notion of yindao quanfa 因道全法 posits that sovereigns, by governing according to universal principles and fully understanding the law, can ensure state peace and deter major crimes. However, this concept is distinct from Huang-Lao thought, which does not share the same ideological framework as the reward-punishment methods of Shang Yang and Han Fei. The analogous approach of the prioritization of virtue before punishment found in Guanzi, which stresses that wise and virtuous monarchs govern by aligning their decrees with the natural progression of the seasons, is closely aligned with Huang-Lao philosophy. The present analysis clarifies the longstanding intellectual debates between Huang-Lao and Legalism, affirming the distinctiveness of Huang-Lao’s penal virtue theory and illuminating the conceptualization of the heaven-human relationship during the Warring States period.

A Discussion on the Calligraphy and some Word-usage Differences in Zhouyi of Mawangdui Silk Manuscripts

A Discussion on the Calligraphy and some Word-usage Differences in Zhouyi of Mawangdui Silk Manuscripts

The Chu Silk Manuscripts from Zidanku, Changsha (Hunan Province). Volume 1: Discovery and Transmission

The Chu Silk Manuscripts from Zidanku, Changsha (Hunan Province). Volume 1: Discovery and Transmission

Comparison of the four pairs of "phleps" in ancient Greek medicine and the eleven "mai" in Mawangdui silk manuscripts

Using the philological method, the comparison was conducted between the internal canals of human body, meaning the four pairs of "phleps" in the ancient Greek medicine, and the eleven "mai" (meridians, vessels, channels) of Mawangdui silk manuscripts. It is believed that they refer to the initial understanding on the connecting passages of the human body in Western medicine and Chinese medicine respectively. Although they have their own unique characteristics, there are many similarities in running courses, related indications, diagnosis and treatment, as well as theoretic foundation. Both of them represent the duality of tangible blood vessels and intangible pathways, reflecting the common cognitive mode of human body and diseases in early human medicine, with the similar characteristics, e.g.analogy, examining the exterior to deduce the conditions in the interior, holistic connection and natural balance. The four pairs of "phleps" of ancient Greek medicine, with the preliminary features of meridians, were substituted by the blood circulation theory afterwards; whereas, the eleven "mai" of Mawangdui silk manuscripts were developed into a twelve-meridian system. These different evolution paths and outcomes may be associated with the distinct medical philosophies and cultural backgrounds between ancient Greek medicine and Chinese medicine. This summary provides a new approach and new perspectives for the study on the regularity of the early human medical origin, especially the origin of meridians.

MOLECULAR INCOHERENCE, CONTINUITY, AND THE PERFECTION OF THE LAOZI

AbstractThe Laozi is a well-loved and oft-translated ancient text, whose popularity with interpreters and translators seems to have hardly ebbed in over two thousand years. This is attested in part by the number of bamboo and silk manuscript versions of the text unearthed in recent years from the Warring States (475–221 b.c.e.) and Western Han (221–206 b.c.e.), such that few transmitted Chinese texts have so many corresponding manuscript versions. The Laozi's popularity and relative abundance have also made the text instrumental in shaping theoretical approaches to book formation in early Chinese manuscript culture. In particular, the Laozi has been central to the study of how books were assembled out of pre-existent, stable, coherent molecules of text, or zhang 章 (chapters). Emerging from a case study of Laozi chapter 13, in which interpretive problems of the written commentarial tradition are shown to be continuous with those in manuscript culture, this article re-examines the theory of molecular coherence in the Laozi's formation, showing ultimately that the textual and rhetorical patterns by which zhang cohere internally are created by the same forces that deposit zhang in proximity to one another. Moving from the molecular to organismic level, the article also examines the use of conjoining phrases in Peking University's Laozi manuscript to demonstrate how editors, compilers, and interpreters may sacrifice coherence at one level of organization to achieve perfection at another.

Traditional Conservation and Storage Methods for Ancient Chinese Painting and Calligraphy on Silk Manuscripts

This study investigated traditional conservation and storage methods for Chinese silk manuscripts containing painting and calligraphy from the Warring States period (475–221 BC), the Qin dynasty (221–207 BC), the Han dynasty (202–8 BC; AD 25–220), and from the end of the Han to the present. At present, there is gap in the literature regarding the application of such methods to these works. The study methods include a literature review (classical and contemporary sources), expert interviews, and observation of traditional masters. The findings provide an improved understanding of the development of traditional technologies used for painting and calligraphy conservation since 475 BC. In this way, this work contributes to the body of knowledge regarding traditional conservation and storage methods, including mounting practices, scroll unfolding, and box storage.

Some Minor Insights from Reading the Anhui University Warring States Bamboo Slips of the Classic of Poetry

Abstract This article discusses three topics. First, it discusses the line “I could not fill my slanting basket” 不盈頃筐 in the poem “Juan er” 卷耳. The Anhui University Bamboo Slip version’s qing 頃 (slanting) is written . This, as with the Chu Silk Manuscript character, should be explained as qi 攲 (lopsided). Second, regarding the line “Do you not understand me?” 不諒人只 in the poem “Bai zhou” 柏舟 of the Yong Airs 鄘風 section, the Anhui University Bamboo Slip version of liang 諒 (understanding) is written jing 京. This character should be understood as qiang 強 in the sense of “coerce/force” 強迫. In the line “Supporting King Wu” 涼彼武王 in the poem “Da ming” 大明 of the Major Elegantiae 大雅, liang 涼 is similarly explained as 強 in the sense of “coerce” 威強. These two characters have always been traditionally glossed as either “trust” 信 or “assist” 佐. Third, regarding the line “… it cannot be recited” 不可讀也 of the poem “Qiang you ci” 牆有茨, du 讀 (reciting) in the Han Poetry 韓詩 is glossed in the sense of “record and narrate” 記述, which is superior to the traditional gloss.

Potential identification of an entheogenic plant species on the Chu Silk Manuscript

ABSTRACT The ‘Chu Silk Manuscript’, or ‘Zidanku Silk Manuscript 1ʹ, estimated to date back to 300 BCE, and considered to be the earliest known Chinese manuscript containing illustrations, features the depiction of plants on its four corners. Although there is an academic consensus in considering these plants as ‘mythical trees’, my study suggests that some of the plants depicted present puzzling similarities with Caesalpinia decapetala, or Yun-Shih, an hallucinogenic plant known for its recorded ‘shamanic power’ in the first known Chinese herbal 神農本草經 Pen-ts’ao Ching, which is estimated to have been compiled from oral sources around the beginning of our common era. Here I show that the geographic distribution of the plant, its shape and the recorded relation of its use to shamanism tend to reinforce the possibility of its presence on the Chu Silk Manuscript; therefore potentially helping to identify substances used as trance–facilitating drugs during shamanic rituals dating back to the Chu state era and before.

The study on relationship of Shennong and Jingchu culture from unearthed literature

Shennong is the founder of cultivation, inventor of medicine. There are various recordation and legends about Shennong regional culture around the whole Chinese nation. The author studied the source of Shennong and Jingchu culture by comprehensively sorting relative literature recordation, citing unearthed materials in recent years as evidence, and found that the legends of Shennong is wide-spread in both western and southern China which corresponding to the origin of farming. What is more, a lot of delicate cultural relics and bambooslip and silk manuscripts have been found in Hubei and Hunan in recent years, which proved that Chu was not a land of barbarians in traditional view but an area with developed culture, and Shennong had a deep historic relation with Jingchu culture.

INTRODUCING THE *WU ZE YOU XING TU MANUSCRIPT FROM MAWANGDUI

AbstractThe *Wu ze you xing tu 物則有形圖 silk manuscript was discovered inside a lacquer case in Mawangdui Tomb 3. This little-known manuscript of unusual design contains a philosophical text on the relationships between things (wu 物), forms (xing 形), names (ming 名), and speech (yan 言), and the text is arranged on the surface of the silk in the form of a densely clustered spiral within a ring inside a square. The writing on the manuscript is also accompanied by colors and shapes that represent a domed Heaven (tian 天) above a square Earth (di 地). Since it was first catalogued in 2004, just a few studies of the *Wu ze you xing tu have been published in Chinese, and the manuscript is almost entirely absent from Western scholarship. This article aims to remedy this situation by providing a detailed description of the manuscript, transcriptions and translations of its contents, a consideration of its philosophical context, and an analysis of its design. In the process, I show that this silk document functioned not just as a convenient surface or carrier for an important philosophical text, but as a material artifact in its own right, one that was designed to have a powerful impact on its viewers, readers, and users, forcing them to move their eyes and bodies in ways that reinforced its central philosophical message.

Reading Through Recovered Ancient Chinese Manuscripts ed. by Shirley Chan

Reviewed by: Reading Through Recovered Ancient Chinese Manuscripts ed. by Shirley Chan James Sellmann (bio) Reading Through Recovered Ancient Chinese Manuscripts. Edited by Shirley Chan. Sydney: The Oriental Society of Australia, Inc., 2020. Pp. xvii + 362. Shirley Chan and twelve other established scholars prepared fourteen insightful, detailed textual analyses of several of the recovered ancient Chinese manuscripts. The book consists of a Preface, Acknowledgements, fourteen chapters, and a list of contributors. The five chapter titles that begin with Chinese are written in Chinese, with English abstracts. In the Preface Shirley Chan notes the diversity in unity of the essays. The authors use their respective areas of specialization and different disciplinary methods to explicate the philosophical, philological, historical, and literary contents and contexts of the recovered texts. Their unifying focus is "how do these recovered texts shed new light on important aspects of ancient China, from text-thought interactions, mythology and philosophy to theoretical construction and philological analysis, scholastic lineages and their evolution pertaining to a particular genre of literature?" (pp. vii-viii). Most of the chapters are based on papers the authors had presented at a conference held at Macquarie University on "Reading the Old in the Light of the Newly Discovered: An International Symposium on Chinese Philosophy and Ancient Chinese Texts" in December 2014. The authors analyze several of the texts discovered over the past century that date to the pre-Qin, Han, and Tang dynasties, respectively. Cai Xianjin authored chapter 1, "上古宇宙生成論的創世文化思維Ancient Chinese Creation Myths and Cosmogony." It is often noted that early Greek mythology influenced the development of Greek philosophy. Sinologists who only focus on the Confucian classics tend to play down the role of mythology in the development of Pre-Qin (Chinese) philosophy. Cai compares two received texts, the Book of Changes and the Laozi, with four excavated texts, namely the Warring States Chu Silk Manuscript: Section 1 from Zidanku in Changsha, The "Great One Generates Water" (Taiyi sheng shui 太一生水) in the Guodian Bamboo Slips, the "Constancy, at the Outset" (Hengxian 恆 先) in the Shanghai Museum, and The Yellow Emperor's Four Classics: "Fundamentals of Dao" (Huangdi sijing: Daoyuan 黄帝四经：道原) in the Mawangdui Silk Manuscripts, and proceeds to argue that mythological genesis stories influenced the development of cosmogony and ontology in early Chinese philosophy. [End Page 1] Chapter 2 is by Shirley Chan, "From Nothing to Something: Reading the Shanghai Museum's Hengxian 恆 先 (Constancy, at the Outset)." After a concise review of how "constancy" (heng) is used in other pre-Qin works, Chan makes a strong case for her interpretation of the work's title, which underlies the interpretation she presents in the rest of the essay. She argues that the Hengxian develops a political philosophy and offers advice for the ruler and ministers to model the constancy of nature's cosmic patterns so as to maintain an orderly society and state. Chapter 3 is an English translation of a previously published article in Chinese by Li Rui. "The Early Chinese Concept of de 德 "explicates early uses of the character de to establish its fundamental meaning and how this meaning changed over time. Analyzing received and excavated texts to explore the meaning of de, qi, and dao, he builds a case that the Laozi further developed various connotations of these key concepts. Li argues that the development of an anthropocentric focus on efficacious praxis led to the promotion of de over the cosmic dao in Daoism. Hence, the HuangLao philosophers were moved to set the de chapters before the dao chapters of the Laozi as is seen in the arrangement of the Mawangdui Laozi. As dao studies continued to develop in the Han, scholars, likely Liu Xiang, rearranged the Laozi into its received order with the dao chapters preceding the de chapters. Ding Sixin authored "馬王堆帛書《易傳》的哲學思想 Philosophical Thinking in the Mawangdui Silk Manuscripts Yizhuan 易傳." Chapter 4 makes the case that the silk manuscript Yizhuan influenced the received edition. Chapter 5, entitled "Reading Laozi 老 子 Section 54," by Barbara Hendrischke, offers a comparative analysis of poem 54 by examining the various versions of the Laozi from Mawangdui and Guodian with the received Laozi, and comparing the text of poem 54 with the Great Learning, and especially the Hanfeizi's commentarial chapters...

A Research on the Shamanistic Medical Activities as Seen in the Recipes for Fifty-two Ailments Written in the Mawangdui Silk Manuscript.

The main thesis of this research is to discuss the shamanistic medical activities as seen in the Recipes for Fifty-two Ailments written in the Mawangdui Silk Manuscript, to corroborate them with handed-down literature and other underground written attestations in early China, and to inquire its characteristics. In the Eastern Zhou dynasty, medicine already emerged with specialized and professional properties, but did not disengage from the ideology of shamanism in Eastern Zhou society. In other words, the shamanistic treatment of diseases was one of the most important works of shamans because the specialized knowledge of medical treatment always interlaced with superstitious and mediumistic treatment methods. This article examines the details of shamanistic medical activities, for example, the 'zhuyou', the 'zhuyichuxiong', curing maggots activities, and so on, by analyzing the Recipes for Fifty-two Ailments written in the Mawangdui Silk Manuscript. The origin and development of this early Chinese medical treatment had an influence on ancient Korea, Japan, and other places. Through this research, we can learn more about the initial development stage of the early traditional medicine in ancient societies of East Asia.

Three Research Notes on the Silk Manuscript *Tianwen qixiang zazhan 天文氣象雜占

This paper specifically discusses three issues regarding the silk manuscript *Tianwen qixiang zazhan (Miscellaneous Prognostications Concerning Astronomy and Meteorology); they are its production and format, the scribes involved, and the date it was copied. Through comparison and analysis, I argue that the manuscript’s production was done by first drawing images and then by copying the text. The images and text were done by different scribes, and more than one scribe was involved in copying the text. Its date of copying was probably about the same time as the copying of the silk manuscript Xingde (Punishment and Virtue) A, that is, around the eleventh year of Emperor Gaozu of Han (195 b.c.e.).

A Survey of Taiwanese Research on Bamboo and Silk Manuscripts Accomplished in 2015

A Survey of Taiwanese Research on Bamboo and Silk Manuscripts Accomplished in 2015

Political Ideas of Confucian Demonstrated through the Yi Zhuan of Silk Manuscript - Based on comparison with Huangdisijing -

Political Ideas of Confucian Demonstrated through the Yi Zhuan of Silk Manuscript - Based on comparison with Huangdisijing -

Analysis on Correlation Between Meridians and Viscera in Book The Yellow Emperor's Internal Classic

The meridians and Zangfu-organs (viscera) are two major systems in the basic theory of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). They were primarily emerged together in simple form possibly in the Han Dynasty shown by the unearthed silk manuscripts of Changsha Mawangdui Han Tomb, and became a systematic theory in classical book "Neijing" (The Yellow Emperor's Internal Classic). After classification of the meridians' disease manifestations described in book "Ling Shu-Jing Mai" (Miraculous Pivot: Meridians) we found that more than half of the manifestations appear along the running course of meridians. The symptoms and signs of disorders of the meridians correlated with viscera which have the same name in western medicine account for approximately 10%, and the rest pathologic manifestations correlated with the viscera in terms of TCM are approximately 30%. Current researches about meridian and viscera mainly focus on viscera, particularly on the stomach and heart. The researches on meridians and viscera that use real-time effects of acupuncture as indicators have a complicated relationship with the nerve segments, which presented as that "multiple meridians control one viscus" and the specificity of meridian. Our chronic experiment about blocking the meridians suggested an association between meridian and pathologic manifestations of viscera. Physical index measurement and mathematical analysis can verify certain patterns of meridian-physical appearances, which would be a direction for future meridian research. The stabilities of visceral functions rely on negative feedback regulation, which are probably realized by way of somatic and visceral afferent and efferent nerves and volume transmission of the tissue fluid channels of meridians. Therefore, signals of acupuncture stimulation of the distant acupoints might be transmitted to the central nervous system through neurohumor relay, open of the "negative feedback channels of meridians", achieving a bidirectional regulation, and at the same time, producing a phenomenon of "sensation propagated along the meridian" during signal transmission.

A discussion on “zhenren” in Chu bamboo and silk manuscripts

Di Qi is called Di Zhen in “ Tang zai Chimen” from the fifth volume of Tsinghua bamboo slip manuscripts. Di Zhen reminds us of Nü Tian in Chu silk manuscripts, which can be read as Nü Zhen, another name of Nü Wa. The world-creating god Nü Wa is called Nü Zhen because zhen ren seems to have enlarged its scope, from those who preserve their essence, or those who hold the Dao, to the Sage, the Perfect Man, and emperors. Di qi are also referred to as di zhen because they are the gods of earth. Moreover, Nü Zhen in the Chu Silk Manuscript also suggests its tendency to Daoism.

A new interpretation of the Zhouyi － Three principles in interpretation of the Zhouyi

본 논문은 약 3,000년의 유구한 역사를 가지고 있는 주역 해석사에서 각 시대와 각 인물에 따라 주역 해석의 편차가 적지 않은 결과물이 끊임없이 생성되어 나오는 원인이 무엇인지에 대한 물음에서 출발하였다. 필자가 판단하기에 이러한 역학의 다양한 스펙트럼이 존재하는 이유는 무엇보다 각 역학 저작의 해석이 의거하고 있는 이론이 천차만별이라는 점에서 찾았다. 즉 각 주역 해석이 근거하고 있는 이론이 다르기 때문에 그 해석의 결과도 다를 수밖에 없는 것이다. 따라서 주역 해석에 있어서 중요한 점은 의심할 수 없는 주역 해석의 확실한 근거를 찾는 것이라 할 수 있다. 필자는 이러한 문제의식에 따라 의심할 수 없는 주역 해석의 근거가 무엇인지에 대해 검토하였으며 그 결과 1973년 중국 장사 마왕퇴에서 출토된 백서 주역과 한대 영제 4년에 형성된 ‘희평석경’은 약 2,000여년의 역사를 가진 출토 문헌이고 석경(石 經)이라는 점에서 부정할 수 없는 역사적 진실을 담고 있는 문헌으로 보았다. 따라서 이 두 문헌에 근거한 해석은 주역의 원래 모습을 밝혀줄 수 있는 확실한 토대로 볼 수 있는 것이다. 필자는 특히 백서본 주역과 ‘희평석경’이 공유하고 있는 내용에 주목하였으며, 그 결과 《계사전》과 《설괘전》의 일부분이 백서본 주역과 ‘희평석경’에 모두 들어있음을 확인하였다. 이에 기반하여 첫째, 직관의 원칙, 둘째, 호체의 원칙, 셋째 효변의 원칙이 백서본 주역과 ‘희평석경’이 모두 가지고 있는 주역 해석의 중요한 원칙임을 제시하였다. 물론 이 세 가지 주역 해석 방법은 각각 역학사에서 많은 역학가들이 주역 해석의 방법으로 활용하고 있다. 그러나 이 세 가지 방법만으로 주역을 해석하고 있는 역학 저작은 아직 없는 것 같다. 이러한 점에서 본 논문은 주역 해석에 있어서 새로운 가능성을 제시하고 있다는 점에서 그 의의를 찾을 수 있겠다.This paper starts from the question of what causes the different output of interpretation according to each scholar in the long history of Yi-ology. The reason for the existence of various spectra of interpretation is that the interpretation theory of each work is different from each other. Therefore, what is important in the interpretation of the Zhouyi is to find the unquestionable principle of interpretation. Based on this perspective, I examined the unquestionable principle of interpretation. As a result, I saw the silk manuscript of Mawangdui in 1973 and the Xiping Stone Classics as unearthed literatures containing historical facts that can not be denied. Therefore, interpretation based on these two documents can be seen as a clear foundation to reveal the original meaning of the Zhouyi. In particular, I have paid attention to the contents shared by the silk manuscript of Mawangdui and the Xiping Stone Classics. On the basis of this, the first, the principle of Intuition, the second, the principle of Huti, the third, the principle of Yaobian are the main principles of interpretation shared by both the silk manuscript of Mawangdui and the Xiping Stone Classics. Of course, these three principles of interpretation are utilized by many scholars in the history of Yi-ology. However, there seems to be no writing of Yi-ology which interprets the Zhouyi by only these three methods. In this respect, this paper presents new possibilities in the interpretation of the Zhouyi.

郭店《老子》甲組21號簡有關異文的解釋

LANGUAGE NOTE | Document text in Chinese; abstract also in English. 郭店楚墓所出《老子》甲組21號簡之文，既見於今本《道經》第二十五章，又見於西漢早期的馬王堆帛書本、北京大學藏西漢中期竹簡本《老子》。各本之間存在不少異文，學者們對此已有許多論述。爲了弄清楚《老子》此章的原意，有必要在吸收各家合理說法的基礎上，對郭店《老子》這支簡的有關異文重新進行解釋。我們的討論主要涉及：“■有蟲成”的“■”和“蟲”、“■敓”的釋讀；“周行而不殆”一句的有無及其含義；是“可以爲天下母”還是“可以爲天地母”。 備註：由於系統所限，部分特殊文字未能顯示，在此僅以■代替，相關原整文字煩請查看PDF檔案。不便之處，敬請見諒。 A sentence in slip number 21, group A of the Guodian Laozi manuscript is found not only in chapter 25 of the received editions of the Daojing but also in two manuscripts: the Mawangdui silk manuscripts dated from the early Western Han Dynasty and the bamboo slips dated from the middle of the Western Han preserved at Peking University. However, in these editions there are a number of textual variants, which have been discussed by scholars on numerous occasions. In order to discover the original intended meaning of this chapter in the Laozi, it is necessary to revisit the issue based on existing scholarship and provide new explanations. Remark:Limited by the system, we cannot display certain special Chinese characters here. Please refer to the PDF file to view those characters. Thank you for your understanding.

The Section Division of the Laozi and its Examination

EDITOR’S ABSTRACTThis article argues that the early Laozi text underwent three stages: The first (in the middle Warring States period) had section divisions on the basis of the meaning. The second stage (from late Warring States period to early Han) was the formative period of the Laozi text influenced by cosmological numerology; the Silk Manuscript version A is its testimony. The third stage (in the mid-Western Han) finalized the text through the canonization of the Classic by Emperor Jing; it is represented by the Peking University Han Bamboo Slips, Yan Zun, and Liu Xiang versions and became the received edition. From the Han Bamboo Slips to the Liu Xiang version, the Laozi’s two parts and section numbering became increasingly balanced and symmetric. Ding urges scholars to pay attention to all these developments when studying the Laozi text.