Wake Forest University

Traditional:

天一自是生水，地二自是生火。生水只是合下便具得濕底 意思。木便是生得一箇軟底，金便是生出得一箇硬底 。五行之說，正蒙中說得好。又曰：「木者，土之精華也 。」又記曰：「水火不出於土，正蒙一段說得最好，不胡 亂下一字。」

節。

Simplified:

天一自是生水，地二自是生火。生水只是合下便具得湿底 意思。木便是生得一个软底，金便是生出得一个硬底 。五行之说，正蒙中说得好。又曰：「木者，土之精华也 。」又记曰：「水火不出於土，正蒙一段说得最好，不胡 乱下一字。」

节。

big5:

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GB:

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Translation:

Heaven, the first, naturally produces water. Earth, the second, naturally produces fire. To produce water just meant that at that ancient time there was a real possession of a perceptible wetness. Wood meant the production of something pliant. Metal meant the production of something rigid or hard. The Five Components of Activity are well accounted for in the Zheng Meng. [Zhu Xi] also said: "Wood is the refined efflorescence of Earth." There is also a written record which reads: "Water and Fire do not come out from Earth. This is best explained in the Zheng Meng, where not one word is uttered carelessly."
Jie

Commentary:

These comments do not have anything to do with the arrangement of the Five Components of Activity found in Zhou Dun-yi's Tai-ji Diagram. It seems, rather, to have to do with natural terrestrial processes. Rain and other precipitation descends from the sky, fire appears in nature as volcanoes and wildfires. Trees grow from the soil. The creation of metal is not accounted for in this passage, and neither is the creation of soil. (It is confusing to discuss a theory that has an entity called Earth on one level and another entity called "earth" or "dirt" on the next lower level.)

-- PEM