80 Rivers Dry and Mountains Collapse

A4.36

In the 46th year (782 BC), King Xuan died and his son Gongsheng succeeded to the throne as King You. In the second year of King You (780 BC), an earthquake occurred in the Sanchuan area near the Zhou capital. Bo Yangfu said: "The Zhou Dynasty will perish. The two energies of heaven and earth cannot lose their order; if they lose their proper order, the people will be disturbed. The yang energy is latent and cannot come out, and is suppressed by the yin energy and cannot evaporate, so an earthquake occurs. Now the earthquake in the Sanchuan area is because the yang energy has lost its position and is suppressed by the yin energy. If the yang energy loses its position and is suppressed by the yin energy, the water source will definitely be blocked; if the water source is blocked, the country will definitely perish. Only when the water and soil are unobstructed then the people can get money. If the underground water can’t flow unobstructed, the people will lack money, and the country will perish in no time. In the past, the Xia Dynasty perished when the Yi River and the Luo River dried up, and the Shang Dynasty perished when the Yellow River dried up. Now the virtue and the fortune of Zhou Dynasty are just like the end of the previous two dynasties. The water sources of the rivers have been blocked, and if they are blocked, they will definitely dry up. The establishment of a capital must rely on high mountains and large rivers. The collapse of high mountains and the drying up of large rivers are signs of the destruction of the country. The drying up of large rivers will definitely cause the collapse of high mountains. If a country is destroyed, it will not exceed ten years, because the numbers are based on decimals. What the heaven abandons will not exceed this number. " This year, the three rivers dried up and Mount Qi collapsed.

四十六年，宣王崩，子幽王宫湦立。幽王二年，西周三川皆震。伯阳甫曰：“周将亡矣。夫天地之气，不失其序；若过其序，民乱之也。阳伏而不能出，阴迫而不能蒸，于是有地震。今三川实震，是阳失其所而填阴也。阳失而在阴，原必塞；原塞，国必亡。夫水土演而民用也。土无所演，民乏财用，不亡何待！昔伊、洛竭而夏亡，河竭而商亡。今周德若二代之季矣，其川原又塞，塞必竭。夫国必依山川，山崩川竭，亡国之徵也。川竭必山崩。若国亡不过十年，数之纪也。天之所弃，不过其纪。”是岁也，三川竭，岐山崩。