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Abstract
Li Bai’s 李白 (701–762) character and poetic style are two main factors behind his contemporaries’ sobriquet of “the Banished Transcendent from Heaven” ( Tianshang zhe xianren 天上謫仙人). The present essay discusses an aspect of the formation of his poetic style by probing into his cosmology. Making use of some findings of modern physics, we make an effort at reconstructing and examining the idea of “space-time” in pre-modern China. This theoretical framework offers new insights in the exegesis of our central text, Li’s “Ballad on the Sun Rising and Setting” (“Ri churu xing” 日出入行), with a focus on the poet’s unique treatment of the recurrent issue of how to deal with the passing of time and how one may transcend the unavoidable ageing process. Assimilating the tradition of “chasing after the sun” from before his time, Li poetically consolidates the proto-four-dimensional structure of time, a view that had long existed in traditional Chinese cosmology. Li’s references to the Zhuangzi in his poem construct a cosmos in which the earth itself can become elided, eliminating the distinction between time and space. Li’s pursuit of immortality can be achieved in this poetic discourse of space-time.
Notes on Contributor
Timothy Wai Keung Chan is Professor of Chinese at Hong Kong Baptist University.
Notes
* This paper is dedicated to Professor Paul W. Kroll for his seventieth birthday.
1 Winthrop Sargeant, trans., The Bhagavad Gita (Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, 1984), 484.
2 See e.g., Wang Xigui 王錫圭, Li Taibai nianpu 李太白年譜 (Beijing: Zuojia chubanshe, 1958), 12–15.
3 Qian Zhongshu 錢鍾書 also points out that the poem “was written based on the mandate of heaven and had nothing to do with politics and the ups and downs of the human world.” See Qian, Tanyi lu 談藝錄 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1986), 59.
4 Chai Jen-nien 蔡振念 made an early attempt to discuss time and pre-Tang poetry in light of physics. See Chai, “Time in Pre-T’ang Poetry” (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1992). The most relevant study of Li Bai’s poetry in terms of space-time theory is Huang Li Jung 黃麗容, Li Bai jiyoushi shikong meixue 李白紀遊詩時空美學 (Taipei: Wanjuanlou tushu gufen youxian gongsi, 2013), esp., 32–34, 43–64. I thank my student, Ho Yuk Lam for calling my attention to this book.
5 The term “romanticism” (“langman zhuyi” 浪漫主義) has long become a label of Li Bai’s poetic style. The term has undergone a complicated evolution in Western culture, needless to say. See René Wellek and Austin Warren, Theory of Literature, new revised edition (New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc., 1970), 264–65; Aiden Day, Romanticism (London and New York: Routledge, 1996), 7–105. The main characteristic of Romantic poetry is “so called ‘creative’ or ‘imaginative’ work.” See Terry Eagleton, Literary Theory: An Introduction (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1983), 18. For the Chinese use of the term defining the poetic style of Li Bai, see, e.g., Qian Zhonglian 錢仲聯, et al., eds., Zhongguo wenxue da cidian 中國文學大辭典 (Shanghai: Shanghai cishu chubanshe, 2000), 1894–95.
6 Li’s sobriquet of “banished transcendent” first appeared in He Zhizhang’s 賀知章 (659–744) appraisal of Li at their first acquaintance. See Jiu Tangshu (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1987), 190B.5053. Kathlyn Liscomb focuses on the backgrounds and influences of this sobriquet but does not analyze how it is related to Li’s poems from a cosmological perspective. See Liscom, “Iconic Events Illuminating the Immortality of Li Bai,” Monumenta Serica 54 (2006): 75–118. For relevant discussion of this topic, see my paper, “The Transcendent of Poetry’s Quest for Transcendence: Li Bai on Mount Tiantai,” in Thomas Jülch, ed., Buddhism and Daoism on the Holy Mountains of China (under review).
7 The poem contains significant variants in different editions. The version here is based on a Song edition of Li Taibai wenji 李太白文集 (Rpt. Taipei: Taiwan xuesheng shuju, 1967), 3.10b.
8 In 510 BC, Chang Hong asked Liu Wengong 劉文公 to join him in building city-walls for the Zhou kingdom. Zhao Yang 趙鞅 of the Jin state condemned it. Out of fear for Zhao, the Zhou people killed Chang. See Zuozhuan, Ai 3; Yang Bojun 楊伯峻, Chunqiu Zuozhuan zhu 春秋左傳注 (rev. ed., Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2005), Ai 3.1622–23; Lüshi chunqiu 呂氏春秋 (Zhuzi jicheng ed.), 14.155, Gao You’s 高誘 (fl. early 3rd c.) commentary. Zuoqiu Ming’s condemnation of Chang Hong is not found in any of these sources.
9 The term bian Ya is always paired with bian Feng (“mutated Airs”). They refer to the Feng and Ya songs in the Shijing that were composed in a time when “the kingly way had declined, the rituals and righteousness had been abandoned, politics and education were lost, states’ governance differed, and customs of clans varied.” The content of these songs is mainly social criticism. See “Preface” to the Maoshi, in Kong Yingda 孔穎達 (574–648), comp & comm., Maoshi zhengyi 毛詩正義 (Shisan jing ed.), 1.1.3c. The “void of Heaven” refers to the Zhou and Tang monarchs who had lost their ruling power.
10 Chen Hang, Shi bixing jian 詩比興箋 (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1981), 3.157.
11 See Liu Wendian 劉文典, comm., Huainan honglie jijie 淮南鴻烈集解 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1989), 6.193.
12 The translations of the phrase ziran as “spontaneity” and, as seen below, “So-of-Itself” are borrowed from A. C. Graham, Disputer of the Tao (Chicago: Open Court, 1989), 302–3.
13 Xiao Shiyun and Yang Qixian, eds. & comms., Fenlei buzhu Li Taibai shi 分類補注李太白詩 (SBCK), 3.32a.
14 This notion is borrowed from Nathan Sivin’s discussion of Chinese alchemy. He believes that the ultimate goal of alchemy is to attain immortality, which means to manipulate the elapse of time. See Sivin, “Chinese Alchemy and the Manipulation of Time,” Isis 67.4 (1976): 512–26.
15 Shen Deqian, Tang shi biecai ji 唐詩別裁集 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1978), 6.7b. Lu Yang is recorded to have enjoyed the favor of the sun who delayed its setting time to allow him to continue his battle. This issue will be discussed below.
16 A variant title of this poem, “Ballad on Sun Setting” (“Ri chu xing” 日出行) is found in Emperor Gaozong of the Qing (r. 1735–1796), comp., Yuxuan Tang Song shi chun 御選唐宋詩醇 (SKQS), 2.20a–21b. Most scholars agree that Li Bai’s pursuit of transcendence was politically motivated. See, e.g., Chen Yixin 陳貽焮, “Tangdai mouxie zhishifenzi yinyi qiuxian de zhengzhi mudi: Jianlun Li Bai de zhengzhi sixiang he congzheng daolu” 唐代某些知識分子隱逸求仙的政治目的——兼論李白的政治思想和從政道路, in Chen, Tangshi luncong 唐詩論叢 (Changsha: Hu’nan renmin chubanshe, 1982), 155–80. Paul W. Kroll argues that Li Bai being summoned to the court by Xuanzong was due to his literary talent and, more importantly, his Daoist background. See Kroll, “Li Po’s Transcendent Diction,” Journal of the American Oriental Society 106.1 (1986): 99–100.
17 Hawking, The Illustrated A Brief History of Time (New York: Bantam Books, 1996), 34–35.
18 There have been diverse views on the authorship and composition date of the Shan hai jing. Liu Xiu 劉秀 (i.e., Liu Xin 歆 [50 BC–AD 53]) said in his memorial on the presentation of his collation of the book that it was dated to the time between the Tang 唐 and Yu 虞 eras, two periods when the mythological figures Yao and Shun respectively ruled. See Liu, “Shang Shan hai jing biao” 上⟪山海經⟫表, in Yuan Ke 袁珂, Shan hai jing jiaozhu 山海經校注 (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe), “fulu,” 477. Some argue that it was written by an Indian author or the disciples of Mozi 墨子 (ca. 479–403 BC). See Zhang Xincheng 張心瀓, Weishu tongkao 偽書通考 (Shanghai: Shangwu yinshuguan, 1954), 579–82. Quoting Hao Yixing 郝懿行 (1757–1825), Lee Fong-mao 李豐楙 points out that “the origin of the Shan hai jing should be the gazetteer archives preserved in the Zhou-dynasty government.” See Lee, Shan hai jing: Shenhua de guxiang 山海經ċ神話的故鄉, 5th ed. (Taipei: Shibao wenhua, 2012), 3–4.
19 Yuan Ke, Shan hai jing jiaozhu, 8.238. Another record about Kuafu is in ibid., 17.427. Cf. translation by Anne Birrell, The Classic of Mountains and Seas (New York: Penguin Books, 1999), 123.
20 See Wei Zhaohui 衛朝暉, “Kuafu zhuri de zhuti fuyuan yu shenhua luoji” 夸父逐日的主題復原與神話邏輯, Shanxi shida xuebao 42.5 (2015): 86–88; Zhao Zhangchao 趙章超, “Kuafu zhuri xinshuo” 夸父逐日新說, Tianfu xinlun 2009.2: 147–49. Joseph Campbell discusses the formation of heroic tales from the angle of mental analysis. He argues, “Dream is the personalized myth, myth the depersonalized dream.” See Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, 3rd ed. (Novaro, California: New World Library, 2008), 14.
21 Yang Bojun, comp. & comm., Liezi jishi 列子集釋 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1985), 5.162. The Liezi contains materials from early times, which were put together in the third and fourth centuries. It is generally regarded as a forged work produced by Zhang Zhan 張湛 (4th c.) in the Jin period. Basing his view on relevant scholarship listed in his work, Zhang Xincheng argues, “This book is not a forgery by any Wei-Jin individual, nor was it authored by any pre-Qin writer.” See Zhang, Weishu tongkao, 699–712. Tay Lian-soo 鄭良樹 gathers even more scholarship in his Xu Weishu tongkao 續偽書通考 (Taipei: Taiwan xuesheng shuju, 1984), 1326–71. A. C. Graham argues that this book was by a person from the third century, with the exception of the chapter on hedonism (i.e., the “Yangzhu” 楊朱 chapter). See Graham, The Book of Lieh-tzu: A Classic of the Tao (London: Mandala, 1991), 12; “The Date and Composition of Liehtzyy,” Asia Major n.s. 8 (1961): 139–98.
22 Yuan Ke, Shan hai jing jiaozhu, 8.239, quoting Guo Pu’s commentary.
23 Chen Shih-hsiang 陳世驤 was one of the earliest scholars to study the consciousness of time’s passage in Qu Yuan’s works. See Chen, “The Genesis of Poetic Time: The Greatness of Chü Yuan, Studied with a New Critical Approach,” Tsing-hua Journal of Chinese Studies n.s. 10.1 (1973): 1–44.
24 Wang Yi 王逸 (fl. 120), ed. & comm., Hong Xingzu 洪興祖 (1090–1155), subcomm., Chuci buzhu 楚辭補注 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1986; hereafter CCBZ), 1.6.
25 The “Yiwen zhi” 藝文志 of the Hanshu 漢書 relates, “As of the Spring and Autumn Period, the Way of the Zhou dynasty gradually deteriorated. Sending envoys to other states and the recitation of the Odes ceased to be in practice. Those scholars who studied the Odes were scattered among the common people. Thereafter, rhapsodies (fu) on the disillusioned worthy individuals emerged. The great Confucian scholar, Master Sun 孫 (i.e., Xunzi) and the Chu minister Qu Yuan suffered from slander and worried about their states; they both composed rhapsodies as satires.” See Hanshu (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1962), 30.1756.
26 CCBZ, 1.26–27. Cf. translation by David Hawkes, The Songs of the South: An Anthology of Ancient Chinese Poems by Qu Yuan and Other Poets (Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin Books, 1985), 73.
27 The term itineraria was created by David Hawkes as a description of the imaginary flight to the heavens by the protagonist in the “Lisao.” See Hawkes, “Quest of the Goddess,” in Cyril Birch, ed., Studies in Chinese Literary Genres (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1974), 59–63.
28 Xihe first appeared in the Shan hai jing as the mother of ten suns. This attribute must be the basis on which she became the driver of the sun chariot in mythological texts. Following this tradition, the present study treats Xihe as a female. See Yuan Ke, Shan hai jing jiaozhu, 15.381, quoting various commentaries. See also Liu Xiaodong 劉曉東, “Xihe yixiang de yuanqi yu liubian” 羲和意象的緣起與流變, Qiqihaer gongcheng xueyuan xuebao 15 (2011): 78–80. The tale of Yi shooting the suns is first seen in “Tianwen” of the Chuci and is later found in the Huainanzi 淮南子. See Yuan Ke, Shan hai jing jiaozhu, 9.262, n. 3.
29 The “Yuanyou” was a work in the Daoist tradition of Han times. Hawkes suggests that this is “a Taoist’s answer to Li sao.” See Hawkes, The Songs of the South, 191. In his annotated translation and discussion of the poem, Paul W. Kroll reads it from a Daoist perspective. See Kroll, “On ‘Far Roaming’,” Journal of the American Oriental Society 116.4 (1996): 653–69.
30 CCBZ, 5.163, 165, 167, trans. Kroll, “On ‘Far Roaming’,” 660–61.
31 CCBZ, 5.166, 168; trans. Kroll, “On ‘Far Roaming’,” 661–62.
32 CCBZ, 5.167, 170; trans. Kroll, “On ‘Far Roaming’,” 663, with modification.
33 CCBZ, 5.174–75; trans. Kroll, “On ‘Far Roaming’,” 663.
34 CCBZ, 5.175; Zhuangzi (A Concordance to Chuang Tzu, Harvard-Yenching Institute Sinological Index series: supplements no. 20 [Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1956]), 12/37–38, trans. Victor Mair, Wandering on the Way: Early Taoist Tales and Parables of Chuang Tzu (New York: Bantam Books, 1994), 108. For an English translation of the Zhuangzi, I use either Mair’s or A. C. Graham’s (details given below) because neither one is complete.
35 Paul W. Kroll argues that: Taichu “is not beginnings that are alluded to by this term but pre-beginnings, space and time just prior to phenomenal differentiation. In this sense taichu connotes, we might say, a brimming reservoir of potential. A technical term borrowed from embryology, ‘primordium,’ defined as ‘the first recognizable, histologically undifferentiated stage in the development of an organ,’ is a fit equivalent for the idea behind chu in this context. … This is the very invisibility, the very inaudibility, the ‘ultimate clarity’ that one finds in the grand primordium at the terminus of ‘Far roaming.’” See Kroll, “Daoist Verse and the Quest of the Divine,” in John Lagerwey and Lü Pengzhi, eds., Early Chinese Religion, Part Two: The Period of Division (220-589 AD) (Leiden and Boston: E. J. Brill, 2010), 960–61.
36 Zhuangzi, 7/33–35.
37 See Guo Qingfan 郭慶藩 (1844–1896), Zhuangzi jishi 莊子集釋 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1985; hereafter, ZZJS), 3B.310, n. 4, Guo Xiang’s 郭象 (252–312) and Cheng Xuanying’s 成玄英 (7th c.) commentaries.
38 The English translation is A. C. Graham’s. See Graham, Chuang-Tzŭ: The Inner Chapters (London: Unwin, 1989), 98. The understanding of the attributes of shu and hu, as well as the whole tale as such is seen in Jianwen’s 簡文 (i.e., Xiao Gang 蕭綱, Emperor Jianwen of the Liang [r. 549–551]) glossary: “Fast and Furious were named after their divine speed; Hundun was so addressed based on his harmonious appearance. The divine speed is a metaphor for ‘doing something’; the harmonious appearance stands for ‘doing nothing’” 儵忽取神速為名，渾沌以合和為貌。神速譬有為，合和譬無為. See ZZJS, 3B.310, n. 2.
39 Laozi, chapter 21; trans. D. C. Lau, Lao Tzu: Tao te ching (Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin, 1963), 78.
40 Zhuangzi, 6/29–30; trans. Graham, Chuang-Tzŭ, 86, with modification.
41 David Lewis defines time travel as: “the time elapsed from departure to arrival (positive, or perhaps zero) is the duration of the journey. But if he is a time traveler, the separation in time between departure and arrival does not equal the duration of his journey.” See Lewis, “The Paradox of Time Travel,” reprinted in his Philosophical Papers, vol. II (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1983), 68.
42 Guo Maoqian 郭茂倩 (1041–1099) entitles Li’s poem “Richu xing” 日出行 and includes it in this stemmatic line descended from the Han yuefu song “Moshang sang” 陌上桑 (“The mulberry trees on the path”), which gave rise to a series of imitations and adaptions. In a branch under the title of “Richu xing” Guo collects three poems, of which only Xiao Wei’s 蕭撝 (515–573) one is related to the content of “Moshang sang.” The other two, one by Li Bai and one by Li He 李賀 (790–816), are about the sun and have nothing to do with the Qin Luofu 秦羅敷 tale told in “Moshang sang.” See Guo, comp., Yuefu shiji 樂府詩集 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1979; hereafter, YFSJ), 28.422–23.
43 YFSJ, 1.5.
44 The “Monograph on rituals and music” (“Liyue zhi” 禮樂志) of the Hanshu says, “When Emperor Wu laid down the suburban sacrificial rites, … he appointed Sima Xiangru and dozens of others to compose shi-poems and rhapsodies. They discussed the essentials of the even- and odd-numbered musical pitches, adapted them to the melodies of the eight musical instruments, and composed nineteen hymns.” See Hanshu, 22.1045. The Yueji 樂記 relates: “Emperor Wu appointed Sima Xiangru and others to compose nineteen hymns for suburban sacrificial rituals, which were performed in turns in five suburbs.” See YFSJ, 1.1. However, according to Martin Kern, of the nineteen hymns no. 17 was dated the earliest, in 123 or 122 BC, while no. 18 was dated 94 or 93 BC. Therefore, the nineteen hymns were not composed at the same time, nor by a single hand. See Kern, “In Praise of Political Legitimacy: The miao and jiao Hymns of the Western Han,” Oriens Extremus 39.1 (1996): 48, n. 55.
45 Hanshu, 22.1059. Kern assumes that this work is probably a “sun hymn,” which “appears as a strange alien element, being composed of unrestrained rhymeless and rather colloquial prose.” Therefore, it seems so different from the rest of the “Jiaosi ge.” See Kern, “In Praise of Political Legitimacy,” 50. Zhu Qian 朱乾 (Qing dyn.) suggests that this song should be a sacrificial hymn to the sun and that “Emperor Wu was tricked by the words of methodists and wished to enter the sea in search of transcendence and become immortal. The men of letters of the time all strove to curry favor from the emperor by composing these verses for him.” See Zhu Qian, Yuefu zhengyi 樂府正義 (1789 edn.; rpt., Kyoto: Dōhōsha, 1980), 1.8a. See also Wang Yunxi 王運熙 and Wang Guo’an 王國安, Han Wei Liuchao yuefushi 漢魏六朝樂府詩 (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1986), 29.
46 The “Lisao” is the initial work in the subgenre of itineraria and had profound influence on later works in the lineage, such as “Far Roaming” and the Han fu on similar themes, including Sima Xiangru’s “Fu on the Great Man” (“Daren fu” 大人賦) and Ruan Ji’s 阮籍 (210–263) “Biography of Master Great Man” (“Daren xiansheng zhuan” 大人先生傳). See Takeji Sadao 竹治貞夫, “Soji Enyū bungaku no keifu” 楚辭遠遊文學の系譜, in Obi Hakushi Koki Kinen Jigyōkai 小尾博士古稀記念事業会, ed., Obi hakushi koki kinen Chūgokugaku ronshū 中國學論集 (Tokyo: Kyūko shoin, 1983), 23–38. Lu Kanru 陸侃如 and You Guoen 游國恩 respectively argue that the “Yuanyou” copied the “Daren fu” while Guo Moruo 郭沫若 argues that it was the other way around. See Lu, “‘Dazhao,’ ‘Zhaohun,’ ‘Yuanyou’ de zhuzhe wenti: Qu Yuan pingzhuan ‘yulun’ zhiyi” 大招，招魂，遠游的著者問題——⟪屈原評傳⟫「餘論」之一, Dushu zazhi 2 (1922): 2b/c; You, Chuci gailun 楚辭概論 (Beijing: Shuxue she, 1926), 255–61; Guo, Qu Yuan yanjiu 屈原研究 (Shanghai: Xinwenyi chubanshe, 1951), 42. A comprehensive summary of the polemics on the relationship between the two works is in Kroll, “On Far Roaming,” 654, in which Kroll casts doubt on such a relationship: “the author of ‘Yüan yu’ displays far better acquaintance with Han-dynasty Taoist concepts and techniques than is evident in the ‘Ta-jen fu’ or any other of Szu-ma Hsiang-ju’s extant writings.”
47 Konishi Noboru 小西昇 points out that the transcendent thought of the Han “Jiaosi ge” was closely related to Emperor Wu’s belief in transcendence. See Konishi, “Kandai gafushi to shinsen shisō” 漢代楽府詩と神仙思想, in Mekada Makoto Hakushi Kanreki Kinen Ronbunshū Kankōkai 目加田誠博士還曆記念論文集刊行會, ed., Mekada Makoto hakushi kanreki kinen Chūgokugaku ronshū 中國學論集 (Tokyo: Daian, 1964), 140–41.
48 A commonly accepted definition of poetry on roaming to transcendence (youxian shi) is: The shi poetry that depicts the transcendent realm as a means whereby the poet indirectly expresses his ambition. Guo Pu is commonly regarded as the first to write in this genre. See Fu Xuancong 傅璇琮, et al., eds., Zhongguo shixue da cidian 中國詩學大辭典 (Hangzhou: Zhejiang jiaoyu chubanshe, 1999), 1163, q.v. In recent Western scholarship, Zornica Kirkova published perhaps the most comprehensive work on the subject, namely Roaming into the Beyond: Representation of Xian Immortality in Early Medieval Chinese Verse (Leiden: Brill, 2016). In this book, she gives a broad definition of “Youxian shi” as youxian poetic, rhymed work, which includes shi poetry, fu, inscriptions in rhymed verse, etc., because the English word “poetry” is not an exact equivalent of the Chinese word shi 詩. Japanese scholarship on “Youxian shi” is, likewise, limited to the shi genre. It generally regards the “Xian zhenren shi” 仙真人詩 dated from the time of the First Emperor of Qin (r. 221–210 BC) as the earliest work in this tradition. See Kamatani Takeshi 釜谷武志, “Yūsen shi no seiritsu to tenkai” 遊仙詩の成立と展開, in Yoshikawa Tadao 吉川忠夫, ed., Chūgoku ko dōkyō shi kenkyū 中國古道教史研究 (Kyoto: Dōhōsha, 1992), 325.
49 Ying Shao reads the term zihuang 訾黃 as a variant name of Chenghuang 乘黃, literally meaning “carry the Yellow Emperor [to transcendence].” This mythological creature has a horse body with dragon wings. Yan Shigu 顏師古 (581–645) glosses zi as an exclamation word, huang as Chenghuang. See Hanshu, 22.1059.
50 Xiong Renwang 熊任望 holds a similar view and argues that “Tianma” 天馬 is placed immediately after “Richuru” with similar themes—both the Zihuang and Tianma horses are what Emperor Wu wished to ride on for his transcendence and roaming purposes. See Xiong, “‘Jiaosi ge Ri churu’ yu ‘Jiuge Dongjun’ fengmaniu” ⟪郊祀歌·日出入⟫與⟪九歌·東君⟫風馬牛, Zhongzhou xuekan 1990.5: 94–95.
51 Yin Fan, comp. & comm., Heyue yingling ji 河嶽英靈集, in Tangren xuan Tangshi (shizhong) 唐人選唐詩（十種） (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1959), 1.53.
52 CCBZ, 1.47; 5.171.
53 Quan Tangshi 全唐詩 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1962; hereafter, QTS), 161.1672.
54 Li Bai, “Gufeng,” no. 20, QTS, 161.1673.
55 Li Bai, “Zeng Lu Zhengjun kundi” 贈盧徵君昆弟, QTS, 165.1738–39.
56 The term daojing is often seen in Daoist scriptures. An early occurrence of the term is in Sima Xiangru’s “Daren fu” in which the Great Man “penetrates through the inverted rays amidst the lightning” 貫列缺之倒景, in his roaming to the ultimate height where nothing is heard and seen. See Shiji (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1982), 117.3062. A Tang example is Quan Deyu’s 權德輿 (759–818) preface to the collected works of Li Bai’s friend Wu Yun 吳筠 (d. 778), “Zongxuan xiansheng wenji xu” 宗玄先生文集序,” in Wu Yun, Zongxuan xiansheng wenji (HY 1045), 39.2a. The phrase daojing is Li Bai’s favorite in his description of the transcendent realm, for example, “Ling daojing” 淩 and “Nong daojing” 弄. See Li, “Chou Cuiwu langzhong” 酬崔五郎中, “You Taishan” 遊泰山, no. 4, “Tong youren deng Tai Yue zuo” 同友人登台越作, etc., in QTS, 178.1814, 179.1824, 1825.
57 Hawking has a comprehensive discussion about Heliocentrism and Geocentrism dated from ancient Greece to the time of Copernicus. See Hawking, The Illustrated A Brief History of Time, 2–8.
58 Genesis 1: 6–8.
59 Ovid, Metamorphoses, trans. A. D. Melville (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1986), Book 2, p. 30.
60 Taiping yulan 太平御覽 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1985), 2.6b, quoting Huan Tan’s 桓譚 (43 BC–AD 28) Xin lun 新論.
61 Yang Jiong, “Huntian fu” 渾天賦, in Zhu Shangshu 祝尚書, ed. & comm., Yang Jiong ji jianzhu 楊炯集箋注 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2016), 1.3, n. 5, 1.5, 1.11, 1.47. Edward H. Schafer adopts the term “firmament” in his discussion of tian 天 in ancient China, and translates a small portion of Yang’s “Huntian fu.” He points out that most of the discourse on heaven is related to the human affairs in pre-modern China; only the Daoists discussed the structure of heaven. See Schafer, Pacing the Void: T’ang Approach to the Stars (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1977), 34–41.
62 Quoted in Zhan Ying 詹鍈, et al., eds. & comms., Li Bai quanji jiaozhu huishi jiping 李白全集校注彙釋集評 (Tianjin: Baihua wenyi chubanshe, 1993), 469.
63 The “Monograph on Celestial Patterns” (“Tianwen” 天文) in the Suishu 隋書 sums up three theories on the sky, namely, the “Heavenly Cover” or “A Hemispherical Dome” (“gaitian” 蓋天), the “Celestial Sphere” (“huntian” 渾天), and the “Infinite Empty Space” (“xuanye” 宣夜). See Suishu (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1987), 19.505–15. For the discussion of these three theories, see Taiping yulan, 2.4a, quoting Cai Yong’s 蔡邕 (132–192) “Monograph on Celestial Patterns” (“Tianwen zhi” 志). For English translations, illustrations, and other information on these theories, see Joseph Needham and Wang Ling, Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 3: Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the Earth (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1959), 210–28. Schafer translates the three theories as “Canopy Sky,” “Integral Sky,” and “Unrestricted Night,” respectively. All three share a common basic concept that heaven is on top and earth is at the bottom, although, as Schafer points out, referencing the Bai Kong liutie 白孔六帖: “The cosmos of ‘Unrestricted Night’ was very similar to the one produced by modern European astronomy: ‘The School of Unrestricted Night avers that heaven is quite insubstantial, and that the sun, moon, and the host of stars float freely in the midst of empty space.’” See Schafer, Pacing the Void, 38.
64 Su Song, Xin yixiang fayao (Congshu jicheng chubian edn.), 2.48–49. For the English translations, illustrations, and other information, see Needham and Wang, Science and Civilisation in China, volume 3, 383–87, figure 175.
65 Lu Qinli 逯欽立, ed., Xian Qin Han Wei Jin Nanbeichao shi 先秦漢魏晉南北朝詩 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1983), 353.
66 Homer: The Odyssey, Book III, line 1; Book V, line 1; Book XII, lines 9–10, trans. Robert Fitzgerald (New York: Vintage Classics, 1989), 35, 81, 209.
67 Hawking points out that Aristotle stated in 340 BC that the earth was round, not flat, in his book On the Heaven. Based on Aristotle’s idea, Claudius Ptolemy (100–60) conceived of Geocentrism. See Hawking, The Illustrated A Brief History of Time, 2–4.
68 C. S. Lewis, The Discarded Image: An Introduction to Medieval and Renaissance Literature (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1964), 102. Thanks to Nicholas Morrow Williams for calling my attention to this book.
69 Wang Qi, Li Taibai quanji 李太白全集 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1985), 3.211, n. 1; ZZJS, 7B.707–8, n. 2.
70 Zhong Yuankai 鍾元凱, “Zheli yu shiqing de jiaorong: Shuo Li Bai shi ‘Ri churu xing’” 哲理與詩情的交融——說李白詩⟪日出入行⟫, Wenshi zhishi 1987.8: 31. For Guo Xiang’s commentary, see ZZJS, 3A.232, n. 2; 1B.56, n. 3, 50, n. 1.
71 CCBZ, 1.12.
72 Zhuangzi, 6/24; trans. Graham, Chuang-Tzŭ, 86.
73 CCBZ, 4.129.
74 Zhuangzi, 2/53–54.
75 The Shuowen jiezi 說文解字 defines: “Ming refers to the drizzling, light rain” 溟，小雨溟溟也. The Kangxi zidian 康熙字典 reads: “Yingxing describes the look of great deluge; or obscurity and indistinctness. It is also written as mingxing, referring to the pneuma of ziran” 瀴涬，大水貌。一曰混茫貌。又溟涬，自然氣也. See Xu Shen 許慎, ed., Shuowen jiezi (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1999), 11B.19b; Kangxi zidian (biaodian zhengli ben) 標點整理本 (Shanghai: Hanyu da cidian chubanshe, 2002), 575.
76 Zhuangzi, 11/42–44; trans. Mair, Wandering on the Way, 96–97.
77 ZZJS, 4B.385, n. 1, Cheng Xuanying’s commentary.
78 Zhuangzi, 11/53–54; trans. Mair, Wandering on the Way, 99.
79 CCBZ, 5.174; trans. Kroll, “On ‘Far Roaming,’” 663.
80 See, e.g., Guangchengzi’s description of the realm of no sight or sound in Zhuangzi, 11/35–37.
81 ZZJS, 4B.391, n. 4.
82 Ibid.
83 Hou Han shu (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1965), “zhi” 10, 3215, Li Xian’s 李賢 (653–684) commentary.
84 Shiji, 117.3062.
85 See Huang Hui 黃暉, ed. & comm., Lunheng jiaoshi 論衡校釋 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1995), 11.472, quoting words of “the Ru-ists” 儒者.
86 The reversibility of time is a major topic in Western literature and modern physics. See Peter Coveney and Roger Highfield, The Arrow of Time: A Voyage through Science to Solve Time’s Greatest Mystery (New York: Fawcett Columbine, 1990), 23–38.
87 Cf. Lau, Lao Tzu: Tao te ching, 82. An elaborate description of this “thing” is in the “Yuanyou” of the Chuci:
Now I ranged and roamed the Four Wastes—Sweeping in circuit to the Six Silences.I ascended even to the rifted fissures—Descended to view the great strath.In the sheer steepness below, earth was no more—In unending infinity above, heaven was no more.As I beheld the flickering instant, there was nothing to be seen—Giving ear to the humming hush, there was nothing to be heard.Gone beyond doing nothing, and into utmost clarity,Sharing in the Grand Primordium, I now became its neighbor.
88 The Six Dynasties Daoist scripture, Taishang laojun kaitian jing 太上老君開天經 (HY 1425) (1a–4a) records a “history of space and time.” In the first stage of the universe, “Tenuity and Nothingness” (“Xuwu” 虛無), there were no heaven and earth but only the illusory realm of Grand Clarity. When the universe was gradually separated it turned into Vast Prime (Hongyuan 洪元), which became distinguishable and there appeared Confusion Prime (Hunyuan 混元) and later, Grand Beginning (Taichu 太初). 810,000 years later was Grand Inception (Taishi 太始), following the decline of which were Grand Purity (Taisu 太素) and Chaos (Hundun 混沌), respectively. These seven stages formed the far antiquity (shanggu 上古) and marked the formation of the material world. See Jiang Sheng 姜生 and Tang Weixia 湯偉俠, eds., Zhongguo daojiao kexue jishu shi (Nanbeichao Sui Tang Wudai juan) 中國道教科學技術史．南北朝隋唐五代卷 (Beijing: Kexue chubanshe, 2010), 753–54. “Taiqing” 太清 first appeared in Zhuangzi (89/32/20–22; 59/22/57–60/22/65) as a description of the inner spiritual state of the human body. This notion is also found in Huainanzi, in which the term also refers to far antiquity. In the “Neiye” 內業 chapter of the Guanzi 管子, the term denotes a certain mental state. See Fabrizio Pregadio, Great Clarity: Daoism and Alchemy in Early Medieval China (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2006), 35–39.
89 Liu Wendian, Huainan honglie jijie, 3.79. The English translation is John S. Major’s, except the last line, which I translate based on my understanding of the spatiotemporal dimensions of qi. See Major, Heaven and Earth in Early Han Thought: Chapters Three, Four, and Five of the Huainanzi (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1993), 62.
90 Major, Heaven and Earth in Early Han Thought, 27.
91 Lewis, The Discarded Image, 96–97.
92 See Hawking, The Illustrated A Brief History of Time, 115–17.
93 The solar system was born after the Big Bang, which has been dated from 46,000,000,000 years ago. See, e.g., Joseph Silk, The Big Bang (New York: W. H. Freeman and Company, 2001), 67.
94 “Huangyin,” Chongbian guoyu cidian (xiuding ben) ⟪重編國語辭典⟫修訂本, accessed July 13, 2018, http://dict.revised.moe.edu.tw/; Luo Zhufeng 羅竹風, ed., Hanyu da cidian 漢語大詞典, vol. 9 (Shanghai: Shanghai cishu chubanshe, 1992), 391a.
95 This very example is quoted in the Hanyu da cidian entry. Yu Xianhao 郁賢皓 glosses the phrase in Li’s poem as “immense and broad” 浩瀚廣闊. See Yu, Li Taibai quanji jiaozhu 李太白全集校注 (Nanjing: Fenghuang chubanshe, 2015), 2.340, n. 9. An Qi 安旗 et al. render huangyin zhibo as “the sea.” See their Li Bai quanji biannian zhushi 李白全集編年注釋 (Chengdu: Bai Shu shushe, 1993), 847, n. 8.
96 Hanyu da cidian, 9: 391a. Most of the major lexica list only one meaning for huangyin: “Huang refers to abandonment and chaos; yin refers to intemperateness and excessiveness” 荒謂廢亂，淫謂放濫. See Fu Dingyi 符定一, ed., Lianmian zidian 聯綿字典 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1983), “shen ji” 申集, 47; Zhu Qifeng 朱起鳳, ed., Citong 辭通 (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1982), 11.68b/c (“qin” 侵 rhyme); Morohashi Tetsuji 諸橋轍次, ed., Dai Kan-Wa jiten 大漢和辞典 (Tokyo: Taishūkan shoten, 1984), 9:656.
97 See Liu Wendian, Huainan honglie jijie, 7.218. The reconstructed pronunciations are mainly adopted from the “Minimal Old Chinese” (OCM) in Alex Schuessler, Minimal Old Chinese and Later Han Chinese: A Companion to Grammata Serica Recensa (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2009), q.vv.
98 Xu Shen, Shuowen jiezi, 11A.19b.
99 The Shuowen gives this definition: “Huang means ‘overgrowing.’ … It also refers to the weeds inundating the ground.” 荒，蕪也 …… 一曰艸淹地也. “Yin means excessively permeating along the veins. … It also refers to incessant rain” [淫]侵淫隨理也， …… 一曰久雨為淫. Shuowen jiezi, 1B.17b; 11A.15a. In various contexts of Chinese classics, the graphs respectively refer to a large variety of meanings. Huang is glossed as: big, famine, far, empty, abandoned, chaotic, old, confused, fickle, void, immense, etc.; while yin as: infiltrating, soaking, excessive, inundating, disorderly, greedy, immense, long (timespan), plentiful, proceeding, heaving (water, waves, etc.), etc. See Ruan Yuan 阮元 (1764–1849), comp., Jingji zhuangu 經籍籑詁 (rpt., Chengdu: Chengdu guji shudian, 1982), 22.309c–310b, 27.404c–405b. For English definitions of the graphs, see Paul W. Kroll, A Student’s Dictionary of Classical and Medieval Chinese (Leiden: Brill, 2015), 171–72, 555, qvv.
100 Suishu, 19.509–10.
101 Ibid.
102 Victor Mair, “Li Po’s Letter in Pursuit of Political Patronage,” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 44.1 (1984): 127–28. Cf. note 16 above.
103 An Qi et al. date this poem to 747 when Li Bai was expelled from the Hanlin Academy. See An Qi et al., Li Bai quanji biannian zhushi, 846–47. For a discussion of Li’s taking office on this occasion, see Chan, “The Transcendent of Poetry’s Quest for Transcendence.”
104 See e.g., “Ji Wangwushanren Meng Darong” 寄王屋山人孟大融 (751), “Xieji deng Liangwang Qixiashan Mengshi taoyuan zhong” 攜妓登梁王棲霞山孟氏桃園中 (745), “Qiupu ge” 秋浦歌, no. 4 (754), respectively in QTS, 172.1769, 179.1824, 167.1724; the dating of these works are based on An Qi et al., Li Bai quanji biannian zhushi, 955, 710, 1169.
105 An Qi et al. probably base their argument on this thought when dating some of Li’s poems on transcendence seeking to 747, the same year to which they date the “Ri churu xing.” They include “Tiantai xiaowang” 天台曉望, “Gufeng” 古風 no. 17, and “Zaowang haixia bian” 早望海霞邊, etc. In the same period, however, Li Bai also composed some poems as “satire for Xuanzong’s pursuit of immortality,” such as “Deng gaoqiu er wang yuanhai” 登高丘而望遠海, “Gufeng” no. 3, etc. This contradiction reflects Li’s ambivalence after he was paid to leave the court. See An Qi et al., Li Bai quanji biannian zhushi, 789–856.
106 See, e.g., Ge Xiaoyin 葛曉音, “Lun Li Bai yuefu de fu yu bian” 論李白樂府的復與變, in her Shiguo gaochao yu sheng Tang wenhua 詩國高潮與盛唐文化 (Beijing: Beijing daxue chubanshe, 1998), 166–70.
107 There have long been objections to the view of Li’s “Heavenly Horses” being an imitation of hymn 10 of the jiaosi collection. Some commentators maintain that Li’s model should be some other poems on the heavenly horses. See e.g., Xiao Shiyun’s and Zhu Jian’s 朱諫 (jinshi 1496) respective commentaries in Zhan Ying, Li Bai quanji jiaozhu huishi jiping, 3.380. For the backgrounds of “Heavenly Horses” and other songs on the same subject, see YFSJ, 1.5–6, Guo Maoqian’s commentary.
108 Eide, “On Li Po,” in Arthur F. Wright and Denis Twitchett, eds., Perspectives on the T’ang (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1973), 391–99.
109 The self-reference reading of this poem is given by, e.g., Xiao Shiyun and Hu Zhenheng. Regarding Li’s poem as an imitation of the two stanzas of no. 10 of the jiaosi collection, Hu surmises that Li wrote his probably after he was made to leave the Hanlin Academy. See Zhan Ying, Li Bai quanji jiaozhu huishi jiping, 3.380.