Chapter on Changing Emptiness

Wang ChongBashu Publishing House · ChinaJun 2024

4.1

Word count: 3K words
Chapters: 2

Summary

This chapter refutes the false claim that Heaven responds to human good and evil and metes out reward and punishment. Wang Chong takes as his target the story in tradition that when Duke Jing of Song was reigning, Mars approached the Heart mansion as a warning of harm to the duke; after the duke spoke three good words, Heaven was moved and caused Mars to leave the Heart mansion, sparing him punishment and extending his life by twenty-one years.\nHe points out that Heaven is a material entity different from man: "If man does not know what Heaven does, how can Heaven know what man does?" If man "could move Heaven and Earth by his actions, it would be like a fish stirring the water"; yet a fish as large as a man "stirs the water no more than a hundred paces, while beyond a li all is calm and clear." Man, "with his slender seven-foot frame, the faint breath within him no more than the steam of a cauldron," how could he stir anything up to Heaven? Finally he concludes: man cannot move the stars; Mars's approach to or departure from the Heart mansion follows its own laws of motion and is a natural phenomenon, so "to say that Heaven hears human speech and brings good or ill fortune according to good and evil is a mistake."

Editor's review

A famous chapter of Wang Chong's Balanced Inquiries (Lunheng), "On the Transformation of Emptiness" (Bianxu pian) is a sustained critique of the doctrine of interactions between Heaven and mankind; this 2024 Bashu Press edition makes it easy to focus on the text. At its center is the refutation of the legend that, in the time of Duke Jing of Song, Mars approached the Heart mansion as a warning, and after the duke spoke three good words Heaven was moved, causing Mars to depart and granting him twenty-one more years of life; step by step, Wang Chong dismantles the logical foundation of the claim that Heaven rewards good and punishes evil. First he uses the fish stirring water as a simile: a man's stirring reaches no more than a hundred paces, and a seven-foot frame with its faint breath can hardly stir Heaven; then he argues that the motion of Mars follows its own laws and has nothing to do with the good or evil of human speech, concluding that "to say that Heaven hears human speech and brings good or ill fortune according to good and evil is a mistake." Its value lies in the edge of Han-dynasty naive materialism and logical argument, with vivid similes and close reasoning that keep the reading from being dull. A good introductory chapter for understanding Wang Chong's thought and the critical method of Balanced Inquiries, and rewarding close reading for anyone interested in ancient scientific thought and the atheist tradition.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Beginners who want to understand Wang Chong's Balanced Inquiries but don't know where to start
Students of literature and history working on Han-dynasty philosophy, Heaven-human interaction, and critical thought
Readers interested in the ancient tradition of atheism and naive materialism
Readers who want to train logical argumentation in classical Chinese through short texts

Not a good fit for

General readers expecting narrative storytelling or light entertainment
Readers lacking a foundation in classical Chinese who are unwilling to work through annotations
Scholars seeking a systematic study of all of Balanced Inquiries rather than a single chapter

Reading tips

Read the legendary background at the opening first, then work through Wang Chong's layers of rebuttal section by section and trace the chain of reasoning.
Copy out the fish-stirring-water simile on its own, consider its argumentative force and limits, and take notes.
Read alongside basic knowledge of the Han-dynasty doctrine of Heaven-human interaction to better appreciate the point of the critique.
After finishing, retell the conclusion in your own words to test whether you truly understand the argument.

About the publisher

Bashu Publishing House China · Founded in 1983

Bashu Publishing House is a publisher centered on collating and publishing classical Chinese cultural texts, with its main publishing areas covering classical literature, Eastern philosophy, ancient poetry, and educational classics. Its library currently holds 1,075 titles, including representative works such as Dream of the Red Chamber, the Preface to the Orchid Pavilion Gathering, Renjian Cihua, and Out to the Frontier, involving authors such as Cao Xueqin, Wang Xizhi, Wang Guowei, Wang Changling, Liu Xie, and Yan Yu. These reflect the publisher's focus on literary classics, poetry criticism, and philosophical readings. Its publishing character lies in working around ancient texts and canonical works, with attention to textual collation and presentation. Public information on its more detailed publishing background and series plans is limited; this introduction is based only on the library's book information.

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FAQ

What claim does this chapter mainly refute?

It mainly refutes the false claim that Heaven responds to human good and evil and rewards or punishes accordingly. Specifically, it targets the traditional story that Duke Jing of Song's three good words moved Heaven, causing Mars to leave the Heart mansion and extending his life by twenty-one years, arguing that Heaven is a material entity apart from man, cannot know what man does, and certainly does not decide fortune or misfortune according to human speech.

What simile does Wang Chong use to show that man cannot move Heaven?

He uses a fish stirring water: a fish's stirring in the water reaches no more than a hundred paces, and beyond a li all is calm and clear; man has only a slender seven-foot frame, and the faint breath within him is no more than the steam of a cauldron, so he cannot possibly stir up to Heaven. The simile turns the abstract distance between Heaven and man into a perceptible scale.

What does Mars's approach to the Heart mansion mean to Wang Chong?

Wang Chong holds that it follows the laws of Mars's own motion and is a natural phenomenon, not a warning sent by Heaven because of human good or evil. Man cannot move the stars, and their approach or departure has nothing to do with human speech; therefore the claim that Heaven hears human speech and determines fortune by good and evil is judged mistaken.

Is this edition suitable for reading straight through?

It is not long and suits concentrated reading, but since the original is a Han-dynasty argumentative text, it is advisable to first work through the wording with the annotations and translation, then return to examine the layers of argument, so as not to remember only the conclusion and miss the reasoning.

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About the author

Wang Chong Author · Chinese

Wang Chong (27–c. 97), courtesy name Zhongren, was a native of Shangyu in Kuaiji (present-day Shaoxing, Zhejiang). A thinker, literary critic, and atheist of the Eastern Han, he entered the Imperial Academy in Luoyang in his youth and studied under Ban Biao; later he left office, stayed at home, and devoted himself to writing. His representative work, the eighty-five-chapter Lunheng (Balanced Inquiries), criticizes Chenwei superstition and the theory of interactions between Heaven and humanity, advocates a naturalist theory of qi, and stands as an important representative of Han-dynasty materialist thought. Wang Chong valued evidence and analysis in his writing, often developing arguments through questions and debates in a plain but sharp style. The collection holds sixty-nine of his works, including such pieces as Shizhi pian, Wenkong pian, Ziran pian, Daoxu pian, Duizuo pian, and Hanwen pian, covering philosophy, social criticism, and literary appreciation. He championed independent thinking and opposed blind submission to authority, exerting a lasting influence on later thought and literary criticism.