Wake Forest University

Simplified, UTF-8:

天以气而依地之形，地以形而附天之气。天包乎地，地特 天中之一物尔。天以气而运乎外，故地榷在中间，□然不 动。使天之运有一息停，则地须陷下。

道夫 。

Traditional, UTF-8:

天以氣而依地之形，地以形而附天之氣。天包乎地，地特 天中之一物爾。天以氣而運乎外，故地搉在中間，隤然不 動。使天之運有一息停，則地須陷下。

道夫 。

GB:

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26 big5:

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By means of its qi, Heaven clings to the form of Earth. By means of its form, Earth attaches to the qi of Heaven. Heaven is wrapped in Earth, and Earth is a solitary entity in the center of Heaven. By means of its qi, Heaven moves on the outside, and for that reason Earth is buffeted in the center, and compliantly refrains from moving. Should the rotation of Heaven stop for long enough for one to take a breath, then Earth would necessarily plummet below.

-- Dao Fu

Commentary

Something appears to be wrong with this record. The first two sentences are consistent with other, similar passages, and refer to events on the largest scale. But the only way that one can make sense of the next sentence is to say that small volumes of the atmosphere are trapped within cavities in the earth. It would seem more likely that Zhu Xi originally said that Earth is wrapped in Heaven.

Zhu Xi seems not to have followed through on the implications of his own theory to ask why terrestrial objects fall to earth despite the absence of any wind or other such agent to drive terrestrial objects downward. Nor does he ask why the Earth would fall in the absence of Heaven's rotation. Nor does he ask where the Earth would fall to.

The master once having spoken, it seems that his students and later scholars may have felt that there must be an explanation for these matters and if only they were as intelligent as Zhu Xi they would be able to discover it. Zhu Xi, in this and other cases, seems to have been satisfied to have asserted a groundless theory of causation for something. Such explanations can have utility in the real world. "Why did your bread dough rise?" "Because I put yeast in it." "Oh, so that's what is wrong with my bread." But they can also serve as a foundation of sand for a two-story structure. Once Zhu Xi has given a persuasive account for Heaven being (at least partially) within Earth, he can go on to more persuasively argue that human beings have an analogous structure. They have a body of flesh, blood, and bone, which is like Earth because it grows from Earth. And, they have a spirit within the body that is derived from the light and clear portion of qi that forms Heaven.

-- PEM