A Glossary of Heaven and Earth

Vocabulary notes for The Philosophy of Heaven and Earth.

Every passage of Wenzi starts with a saying of Laozi, and though none of the introductory sayings I've looked at come directly from the Laozi, Wenzi often quotes or paraphrases it.

Dao and De are 道 and 德 of the Laozi. I've left 道 as Dao in all cases, but 德 is also character and morality.

Heaven, the sky and the universe are 天, and earth is 地.

Yin and yang are 陰 and 陽 when they appear alone, and energy is always 氣. Negative energy and positive energy are 陰氣 and 陽氣.

Interpretations of 上, 高 and 下 vary depending on context, but keep the general sense of high and low.

Life and everything are 萬物, literally the ten thousand things. Something and anything are 物 when it appears alone.

Society and civilization are 天下. It's literally something like beneath the heavens, but it means the kingdom, the world, the human realm.

The wise are 聖人, the good person is 君子, and the sovereign is 君 when it appears alone. The good leader is 公王, the powerful are 王公, and the people are 民. The great leader is 大人 and the tyrant and the troublemaker are 小人.

Muffle is 藏, and responsible and compensate are 內藏. As a verb, 內藏 is literally to conceal inside, but it's also something like take in, absorb, assimilate, internalize. It's what the wise do that drums don't do, and it's what Dao De does when yin and yang don't mix and the five grains don't grow.

Protecting and supporting life are 覆 and 載. While 覆 is normally translated as covering, both terms are paired with phrases that make heaven and earth seem parental, so I've taken the liberty.

The earth's embodiment of the heavens is 承, a verb to describe the earth receiving, submitting to or accepting the moral law granted by the heavens.

Cultivating and promoting morality in self and others is 脩. Chapter 54 of the Laozi has more to say on the subject.

Shine and enlightenment are 明, mature and complete are both 成, and the rhythm of life is 萬物節.

The gift of morality that shines down from the heavens and makes us moral is 施. It's also what we can do repeatedly when we limit (畜) yang energy. Progress and change are 化. It's the enlightened moral transformation that takes place when we collect potential (積) yin energy.

The lord of life and the mother of civilization are 萬物主 and 天下母. The motherly Dao of humane governance also makes an appearance in chapters 25 and 52 of the Laozi.

Giving and taking and helping and harming are both 與 and 取. The passage quotes chapter 38 of the Laozi and riffs on chapter 77 to explore them as an answer to the question of what makes us moral and immoral.

The waters are 澤, literally a swamp, but I've generalized it when it's compared to 天, the heavens, as something that the wise imitate (法).

Rice patties and canals are both 洿澤, and though the term refers more literally to wetlands, it's used in the context of the life and death of human societies, so I thought I'd use specific examples of wetlands tamed for human use, but also dependent on nature's rhythms.

Water also appears in the passage as the fresh water (水泉) that earth power (地勢) generates, as the rains (雨澤) that don't come to replenish the wetlands, and the gentle rain (雨) that accompanies thunder and helps life flourish. It also appears as the destructive river (河水深) that harvests extra yang energy and sends it to the sea, and as the downward flow of water (水下流) that either sustains society or sinks and drowns it.

Wind and fire are 風 and 火, the destructive forces generated by thunder (雷) and words (言) that great leaders manage to avoid.

The paragraph on thunder and wind also plays on 去 and 就. As verbs, they're literally leave and approach, but I think they describe the effect on something of the potential difference between yin and yang, so perhaps repel and attract work as well.

Behaving is 去就, and Kroll says this is accurate by the Tang. Many passages and phrases from the Tang-era Wenzi have echoes in Huainanzi (early Han), but I can't find the paragraph in Huainanzi, and it works so well in English as behave that I've used it here. I also like to think of people behaving as people repelled by this, attracted to that, but oscillating in balanced and predictable patterns of personal and social habits not unlike what we see play out in the heavens.

Letting go of anger and being good is 去惡就善.

Not liking conflict and welcoming relief is 去無甚就少愈. The same phrase also appears in Yan Tie Lue, but uses 尤甚 instead of 無甚 and clarifies grammar with particles.

Civilized is 不遠徙. Chapter 80 of the Laozi uses the term for what could be the proper response to tyranny.

Making promises and exaggerating is 欲不可盈樂不可極. The phrase is literally that desires shouldn't be fulfilled and pleasure shouldn't be extreme, but I thought I'd render it in the context of a great leader speaking.

Cooperating is 以類相求, literally sorting by kind.

The passage's punchline pairs yin and yang to a character (偯) that I can't find in Kroll and isn't well represented in ctext. Based on nothing more than context, I've interpreted these terms as the positive (偯陽) and negative influence (偯陰) of leaders.