Wake Forest University
Patrick Edwin Moran
Simplified:
天 包 乎 地 ， 天 之 气 又 行 乎 地 之 中 ， 故 横 渠 云 ： 『 地 对 天 不
过 。 』 振
traditional:
天 包 乎 地 ， 天 之 氣 又 行 乎 地 之 中 ， 故 橫 渠 云 ： 『 地 對 天 不
過 。 』 振
GB:
֮ ֮
big5:
] G a A S G a A G G y a
L C z
Heaven is wrapped in Earth, and the qi of Heaven also travels within the Earth. So Heng-qu said: "Earth is unable to resist Heaven."
Zhen
Commentary:
Zhu Xi is not asserting that the entirety of Heaven is contained within Earth somehow, but that some portions of Heaven (perhaps he means some portions of the atmosphere) are found in pockets under the surface of the earth, and that the incursions of Heaven can move from place to place within the Earth.
Once Zhu Xi has settled on the idea that Earth is an accumulation of "dregs" caught in the center of the vortex formed by the whirling Heaven, the question of the nature of the boundary between Heaven and Earth naturally suggests itself. Zhu Xi sees that if he counts the atmosphere as part of Heaven, then there cannot be a tidy boundary line between the two.
-- PEM