Revised as of 20030131: Segments from the Zhu Zi Yu-lei (Classified conversations of Master Zhu)



Juan 1, Passage 28
UTF-8

Simplified:
地却是有空阙处。天却四方上下都周匝无空阙,逼塞满皆 是天。地之四向底下却靠著那天。天包地,其气无不通。 恁地看来,浑只是天了。气却从地中迸出,又见地广处。

traditional:
地卻是有空闕處。天卻四方上下都周匝無空闕,逼塞滿皆 是天。地之四向底下卻靠著那天。天包地,其氣無不通。 恁地看來,渾只是天了。氣卻從地中迸出,又見地廣處。

gb:
ȴпڴȴķ¶޿ڣ 졣֮ȴ졣أ޲ͨ ؿֻˡȴӵбųּع㴦 Ԩ

big5:
aoOBCѫo|WUP`LAG뺡 OѡCa|VUoaۨѡCѥ]aALqC ѡaݨӡAuOѤFCoqanXASasBC W

Earth indeed has gaps, and Heaven indeed is perfectly continuous and reaches everywhere. It forces itself in everywhere, and everything is Heaven. The four directions of Earth and its underside all rest upon that Heaven. Heaven enwraps Earth, and there is nowhere to which its qi fails to penetrate. Looking at things in this way, everything is Heaven. Qi spurts out of Earth, which also makes it clear how great in expanse Earth is.

Yuan

Commentary:

This teaching leaves a great deal of room for interpretation. It appears that Zhu Xi may be struggling with language and with the implications of his theory of different fractions of qi. I suspect that what Zhu Xi is trying to get across is the idea that rock, earth, and the other components of Earth are all permeable to the least substantial, the most diffuse fractions of qi.

Zhu Xi did not have our ideas of vacuum and space, but it may help us to get the picture that Zhu Xi is trying to paint to consider that what we perceive as solid matter is in fact mostly empty space. Whether or not the electrons and nuclei of atoms are things that displace space the way golf balls displace water, or whether all entities that we call matter are standing waves in and of space, is an interesting question. It could be argued that space is everywhere, even in the incredibly dense nucleus of an atom, if there is no fundamental difference between matter and space. Whether Zhu Xi imagines that the densest fractions of qi are permeable to the finest fractions of qi is another, if similar, question.

--PEM