10 The Heaven’s Will

A1.14

At this time, Yao was getting old, so he asked Shun to act as the emperor's political agent, so as to observe whether Shun was in line with Heaven's will as the Emperor. The first thing Shun did was to observe the Big Dipper to check if any abnormalities in the movements of the seven celestial bodies in the solar system, the sun, the moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. He then held a temporary ceremony to offer sacrifices to the Supreme Being. And he used the ritual of burning to worship the six divine beings. And also the rituals were practiced to remotely worship mountains and rivers. And various deities were generally worshiped. He respectfully collected five different kinds of jade pendants each specifically designated for the different nobles, and he carefully chose a good month and an auspicious day, then he summoned the Siyue and the governors of each state, and issued the auspicious jade pendants to each of them accordingly. In the second month of the year, Shun went to the East for inspection. After arriving at the Mountain Daizong, he used the ceremony of burning to worship the East Mountain Daizong, and the rituals were also practiced for the remote worshiping of other mountains and rivers. Then, he summoned all the princes in the East to coordinate and correct the four seasons to make sure each month and each day fit into the calendar accurately. He also made sure that the following standards are unified, the tuning of the music, the measurements of the length, of the capacity, and of the weight. And he worked on the mending of the five rituals, the auspicious ritual to serve the ghosts and gods of the country, the ominous ritual to mourn the worries of the state, the greeting ritual to be friendly with the union states, and the military ritual to be together with the union states, and the good gifts ritual to be close to all people. And he had preparations to make. The five different kinds of auspicious jade pendants, each were to be issued to five different ranks of nobles and those were Duke, Marquess, Earl, Viscount, and Baron. And three different types of brocade, the reds were for Gaoyang’s, the offspring of the Emperor Zhuanxu, the blacks were for Gaoxin's, the offspring of the Emporer Ku, and the whites for the others. Two live sacrifices, one was a lamb, the other a wild goose. And one dead, a pheasant. All of the above were used as sincerity in the ritual. And after the ritual, all the jade pendants would be returned to the nobles. In May, the hunting tour was in the south. In August, the hunting tour was in the west. In November, the hunting tour was in the north. All were the same as before. After his return, Shun went to the temple of his ancestors, and offered an ox as a sacrifice. From now on, inspections would be held every five years. During the four years in between, all princes and lords came to the capital on time to pay their homage. Shun generally explained the principles of governing the country to the princes, clearly inspected them according to their achievements, and rewarded chariots, horses, and clothes according to their merits. Shun began to divide the world into twelve states and had the flooding rivers dredged. He stipulated that law enforcement should be based on normal punishments, and exiles should be used to reduce the following five punishments: the face tattooing, the nose cutting, the foot mutilation, the castration, and the beheading. And the whips were for the officials to use for punishment, and the rulers were for teachers for education, and gold could be used as fines. Those at fault due to natural disasters should be pardoned, those persistent in causing harm should be punished. Be cautious, be cautious, and use punishments prudently!

于是帝尧老，命舜摄行天子之政，以观天命。舜乃在璿玑玉衡，以齐七政。遂类于上帝，禋于六宗，望于山川，辩于群神。揖五瑞，择吉月日，见四岳诸牧，班瑞。岁二月，东巡狩，至于岱宗，祡，望秩于山川。遂见东方君长，合时月正日，同律度量衡，脩五礼五玉三帛二生一死为挚，如五器，卒乃复。五月，南巡狩；八月，西巡狩；十一月，北巡狩：皆如初。归，至于祖祢庙，用特牛礼。五岁一巡狩，群后四朝。遍告以言，明试以功，车服以庸。肇十有二州，决川。象以典刑，流宥五刑，鞭作官刑，扑作教刑，金作赎刑。眚灾过，赦；怙终贼，刑。钦哉，钦哉，惟刑之静哉！