Bearded Grain and Sown Seed: The Farming-Time Philosophy of Mangzhong and the First Stirring of Yin
Drawing on pre-Qin Confucian and Daoist thought, etymology, astronomy, and phenology, this article offers an in-depth reading of Mangzhong (Grain in Ear), the ninth of the twenty-four solar terms. It reveals the farming-time philosophy behind the folk saying "Mangzhong is busy sowing," examines the phenomena of the praying mantis emerging and the shrike beginning to cry at solar longitude seventy-five degrees, and unfolds how the Gou hexagram's "first stirring of yin" marks a cosmic turning point at the very height of yang—inviting readers into the ancient wisdom of racing against time and revering the seasons as one reveres the divine.
Chapter 16: Musical Pitch: The Note Ruibin and the Qi of Midsummer
I. The Union of Pitch and Calendar: Mangzhong and the Pitch-Pipe Ruibin
In pre-Qin cosmology, musical pitch and the calendar formed a single unity. The twelve pitch-pipes (十二律) correspond to the twelve months, each month having its own governing pitch. The fifth month (the wu month), in which Mangzhong falls, corresponds to the pitch "Ruibin" (蕤宾).
The Liji's "Monthly Ordinances" records, for the month of midsummer: "The pitch is centered on Ruibin" (律中蕤宾). The pitch that this month answers to is Ruibin. The twelve pitch-pipes (Huangzhong, Dalü, Taicu, Jiazhong, Guxi, Zhonglü, Ruibin, Linzhong, Yize, Nanlü, Wuyi, Yingzhong) correspond to the twelve months, and Ruibin corresponds precisely to the fifth month (the wu month). Mangzhong and Xiazhi both fall within the fifth month, and so the pitch of Mangzhong is likewise Ruibin.
What does "the pitch is centered on Ruibin" mean$1 The ancients had a method of "observing the qi" (候气, recorded in Han-dynasty texts, though the underlying concept can be traced back to the pre-Qin era): the twelve pitch-pipes were arranged in order of length, each filled with the ash of reed membrane, and buried within a sealed chamber. When a given month arrived, the ash within that month's corresponding pitch-pipe would, stirred by the rising qi of the earth, spontaneously fly out. When the earth's qi rose in the fifth month, the ash within the Ruibin pipe flew out, hence it is said "the pitch is centered on Ruibin." Although this theory of "observing the qi" carries a certain mystical coloring, the core idea it expresses is profound indeed—musical pitch is not a human invention, but the natural vibration of Heaven and Earth's qi across the different seasons; the earth's qi in each month has its own specific vibrational frequency, and this frequency crystallizes as that month's governing pitch. The earth's qi at Mangzhong vibrates as the pitch Ruibin.
II. The Name "Ruibin": Drooping Plants and Yang Qi About to Culminate
The very name of this pitch, "Ruibin," contains within it the profound meaning of the season of Mangzhong.
The "Treatise on the Pitch-Pipes" (律書) of the Shiji offers a brilliant explanation of "Ruibin": "Ruibin means that yin qi is still young and small, hence it is called 'rui'; yang, weakened, no longer governs affairs, hence it is called 'bin'" (蕤宾者，言阴气幼少，故曰蕤；痿阳不用事，故曰宾). "Rui" (蕤) refers to yin qi still young and delicate (rui carries the sense of a drooping, tender flower or plant); "bin" (宾, "guest") refers to yang qi beginning to become a "guest" (no longer the sole master). This explanation corresponds precisely to Mangzhong's philosophy of "Fire at its extremity, with the first yin being born."
"Rui"—the drooping, tender beauty of a flower or plant, extended to mean the young, newly sprouted state of yin qi. The fifth month (the wu month) is precisely the moment of the Gou hexagram's "first stirring of yin"; that newly born yin is young and delicate, precisely like a drooping flower cluster. The character "rui" is precisely a poetic naming of this newly born yin.
"Bin"—to be a guest, to serve as a visitor. Before the fifth month, yang qi was the absolute "host" (governing affairs); but by the fifth month, with the first stirring of yin, yang qi, though still at its fullest, is no longer the sole master—it has begun to become a "guest" (a visitor), because yin qi, this new force, has now taken the stage. The character "bin" precisely captures this subtle turn, as yang qi shifts from "host" to "guest."
The two characters "Ruibin" thus perfectly summarize the configuration of yin and yang at Mangzhong (the fifth month): yin qi newly born (rui), yang qi about to retreat into the role of guest (bin). A single pitch-name manages to crystallize the entire message of yin and yang for this season! This is precisely the exquisite subtlety of the pre-Qin cosmology of "the union of pitch and calendar"—musical pitch is not merely sound, but a vessel carrying the qi of Heaven and Earth, the principle of yin and yang. The pitch Ruibin is precisely the "hexagram-image in sound" of the season of Mangzhong.
III. The Note Zhi and the Pitch Ruibin: Two Expressions of the Sound of the Virtue of Fire
It must be clarified that Mangzhong involves two systems of musical pitch: the note "zhi" among the five notes (the Liji's "Monthly Ordinances": "its note is zhi"), and "Ruibin" among the twelve pitch-pipes ("the pitch is centered on Ruibin"). How are these two unified$2
The five notes (gong, shang, jue, zhi, yu) are matched according to the Five Phases: jue belongs to Wood (spring), zhi belongs to Fire (summer), gong belongs to Earth (the center), shang belongs to Metal (autumn), and yu belongs to Water (winter). Mangzhong belongs to summer, to Fire, and so its note is "zhi." The note zhi is high and stirring, corresponding to Fire's intense, blazing-upward nature—this is a summary of Mangzhong's sound from the dimension of the "Five Phases," expressing the grandeur and fervor of the virtue of Fire.
The twelve pitch-pipes (from Huangzhong to Yingzhong), by contrast, are matched according to the months, with Ruibin corresponding to the fifth month. This is a precise positioning of Mangzhong's sound from the dimension of the "twelve months," expressing the message of yin and yang specific to this fifth month (yin born, yang become guest).
The two are not contradictory, but together depict the sound of Mangzhong from different dimensions: viewed through the Five Phases, the sound of Mangzhong is the stirring note zhi (the fullness of the virtue of Fire); viewed through the monthly pitches, the sound of Mangzhong is the pitch Ruibin (the turning point of yin born, yang become guest). The stirring quality of the note zhi corresponds to the aspect of Mangzhong in which the virtue of Fire is at its fullest; the "rui" (yin born) and "bin" (yang retreating) of Ruibin correspond to the aspect of Mangzhong in which the first yin secretly sprouts. The two systems of pitch correspond precisely to Mangzhong's dual character of "the virtue of Fire at its fullest, with the first yin secretly sprouting"—on one side, the blazing, soaring fervor of the note zhi; on the other, the turning, subdued undertone of Ruibin. The sound of Mangzhong thus carries both the stirring fervor of fullness and the profound undertone of the turning point, the two interwoven to form the richest "music of Heaven and Earth" in all of midsummer.
IV. Music in Harmony with Heaven and Earth: The Cosmic Significance of Musical Pitch
Why did the ancients place such importance on the correspondence between musical pitch and the seasons$3 Behind this lies the profound conviction that "great music is in harmony with Heaven and Earth."
The "Record of Music" chapter of the Liji says: "Great music shares the same harmony as Heaven and Earth; great ritual shares the same order as Heaven and Earth" (大乐与天地同和，大礼与天地同节). The greatest music possesses the very same harmony as Heaven and Earth; the greatest ritual possesses the very same order as Heaven and Earth. To the ancients, true music was not an artificial entertainment, but an imitation of and response to the harmony of Heaven and Earth. Heaven and Earth possess their own harmony (yin and yang in balance, the four seasons in order), and music is precisely the transformation of this harmony of Heaven and Earth into sound that human beings can hear and feel.
The pitch Ruibin and the note zhi of Mangzhong are precisely an expression of "music in harmony with Heaven and Earth." The pitch Ruibin answers to the vibration of the earth's qi in the fifth month (yin born, yang become guest); the note zhi answers to the blazing-upward quality of midsummer's virtue of Fire (grand and stirring). When the ancients sounded the music of Ruibin and zhi during the Mangzhong season, they were, in fact, using music to answer the operation of Heaven and Earth's qi—matching the harmony of Heaven and Earth with the music of the human world. This practice of "matching Heaven through music" granted music a cosmic, sacred significance.
The "Record of Music" further says: "Music is the harmony of Heaven and Earth; ritual is the order of Heaven and Earth" (乐者，天地之和也；礼者，天地之序也). Music is the harmony of Heaven and Earth; ritual is the order of Heaven and Earth. The musical pitch (music) and folk ceremony (ritual) of Mangzhong together form a response to the "harmony" and "order" of Heaven and Earth: the music of Ruibin and zhi answers the "harmony" of Heaven and Earth (yin and yang in balance); the rituals of seeing off the flower spirits and blessing the seedlings answer the "order" of Heaven and Earth (the seasons in due sequence). With ritual and music completing one another, Mangzhong, the busiest of all agricultural solar terms, becomes at the same time a "solar term of ritual and music," profoundly connected to the harmony and order of Heaven and Earth. Amid their sweat-drenched labor, the ancients never forgot to remain in harmony with Heaven and Earth through ritual and music—this is precisely the deepest expression of the Chinese civilizational spirit of "passing down the family tradition through farming and study," of "ritual and music completing one another."