Chapter 4: The Confucian Perspective — Rain Giving Birth to the Hundred Grains and the Humaneness of Heaven and Earth

Section 1: Humaneness Like Timely Rain — The Confucian Interpretation of Heaven and Earth's Nurturing

The scene of Guyu's "rain giving birth to the hundred grains," in Confucian eyes, is precisely the most direct and most moving manifestation of "the humaneness (ren) of Heaven and Earth." What is humaneness$26 The Master spoke a thousand words on the subject of humaneness, but at its root it is a compassionate heart of "loving others" and "extending to all things," ceaselessly generative. And does not Heaven and Earth nourishing grain with rain, sustaining life with its grace, represent precisely the ultimate expression of this compassionate heart at the cosmic level$27

Master Meng (Mencius) offers a famous metaphor that directly links "humaneness" with "timely rain." The "Full Exercise of the Mind, Part I" chapter of the Mencius (Mengzi) records: "There are five ways by which the noble person teaches: there is that of transforming others like timely rain; there is that of helping them to perfect their virtue; there is that of helping them to develop their talents; there is that of answering their questions; there is that of those who privately cultivate themselves through his example." The noble person has five ways of transforming others, and the first is "transforming them like timely rain"—nourishing and transforming them the way timely rain does.

What does it mean to "transform like timely rain"$28 Timely rain is rain that arrives exactly at the right season—precisely rain of the kind Guyu brings. It does not clamor, it does not compel; it simply descends quietly at the moment all things most need it, seeping in silently, so that the seedlings, without even realizing it, receive nourishment, sprout, and grow.

That Master Meng compares the most consummate teaching to timely rain means this: true education, true humane virtue, is not indoctrination delivered by wagging a finger, nor stern reproof delivered with a harsh voice, but rather something like Guyu's rain—timely, gentle, silent, transforming a person without their even being aware of it. The one being taught may not even realize they are being "taught"; they simply feel that they have naturally grown and progressed, just as the seedling only feels that it has naturally grown taller, without knowing which rain it was that brought this about.

This raises the rain of Guyu to an exceedingly lofty realm: it is not only agriculture's grace, but also the supreme model of "teaching and transformation" and "humane virtue." Heaven nourishes the hundred grains with timely rain; the sage transforms the myriad people with humane virtue—the two are but the unfolding, on the levels of nature and of humanity respectively, of one and the same "generative humaneness."

Section 2: The Hardship of Farming and the Humaneness of Valuing Agriculture

Confucian humaneness has never been an abstract love, but something grounded in the most concrete matter of "nurturing the people." And the foundation of nurturing the people lies in agriculture, in grain. Guyu, as the crucial solar term that brings forth the hundred grains, naturally becomes the finest footnote to the Confucian thought of "valuing agriculture" and "nurturing the people."

The "Against Luxurious Ease" chapter of the Book of Documents records the Duke of Zhou's admonition to King Cheng, which contains a passage of great weight: "Alas! The noble person, in his position, should not indulge in ease. Let him first know the hardships of sowing and reaping, and only then take his ease; then he will understand what the common people depend upon and toil for." Alas! The noble person, in his position, must not covet ease and comfort. He must first understand the hardship of plowing and harvesting (sowing and reaping), and only then enjoy his ease—only in this way can he grasp what the common people depend upon, and what they toil for.

Why did the Duke of Zhou place "knowing the hardship of sowing and reaping" in such a fundamental position$29 Because, in Confucian thought, only by personally experiencing the hardship of growing grain and the difficulty of harvest can a ruler truly give rise to a heart of compassion for the people—and this is the very root of "humaneness."

And Guyu is precisely one of the most difficult and most crucial times in the whole cycle of sowing and reaping: one must race, after the frost has ceased, to seize the timely rain, sow the seed, and transplant the seedlings—not a moment can be delayed. "Who knows that the food upon the plate—every single grain is won through hardship" ("谁知盘中餐，粒粒皆辛苦," a well-known later couplet)—and this word "hardship" finds its truest expression in the mud, water, and sweat of Guyu's urgent sowing. When Confucianism calls upon the noble person to "first know the hardship of sowing and reaping," it is, in a sense, calling upon him to experience that hardship of racing against Heaven's time, out in the fields at the season of Guyu.

Though the Master once said "I am not as good as an old farmer" and "I am not as good as an old gardener" (Analects, "Zilu"), which on the surface seems to disparage farming, it in fact carries a deeper meaning—he does not disdain farm work, but rather emphasizes that the duty of the noble person lies in ritual propriety, righteousness, and trustworthiness—in creating a well-ordered society where, "if those above love ritual propriety, none among the people will dare be disrespectful," so that farmers may sow and reap with peace of mind. In other words, the noble person's humaneness rests upon safeguarding the farming seasons, not seizing farmers away during the busy season, and employing the people in accordance with the proper time. At the season of Guyu's urgent sowing, nothing is more to be avoided than conscripting labor; safeguarding the farmers' right to sow in peace at the season of Guyu is precisely one of the most concrete contents of Confucian "humane governance."

Section 3: The Governance of Guyu in the Book of Songs — Exhorting and Pitying the Farmer

Confucianism takes the Book of Songs (Shijing) as the foundation of moral instruction, and throughout the Book of Songs one finds, everywhere, a profound concern for farm work, for the grace of rain, and for the people's livelihood—all of which resonate with the teaching of Guyu.

We have already cited above, from "Da Tian" in the "Lesser Odes," "may it fall first upon our lord's fields, and then extend to our own"—this is the joy of a bountiful harvest in prospect, gratitude for the timely rain. And "Qiyue" ("The Seventh Month") in the "Odes of Bin" is an entire "epic of farm work," arranged from the beginning of the year to its end, recording in exhaustive detail the phenology and labor of all four seasons. Amid it, describing late spring: "The spring days grow warm; the oriole sings. The maidens take up their deep baskets, and follow the little paths, seeking the tender mulberry leaves." (春日载阳，有鸣仓庚。女执懿筐，遵彼微行，爰求柔桑。) In the warmth of spring days, the oriole sings sweetly; the girls carry their deep bamboo baskets and, following the small paths, go to gather the tender mulberry leaves.

These four characters, "seeking the tender mulberry leaves" (爰求柔桑), are precisely a true depiction of the work of sericulture at the season of Guyu, echoing from afar the Monthly Ordinances' account of the third month of spring's "gathering mulberry leaves with her own hands" and "encouraging the work of silk-rearing." Confucianism's inclusion of such poems within its canon carries a far-reaching intent: it allows the literate—the noble persons and officials of the future—through the chanting and recitation of poetry, to come to recognize the toil of the farmer (and especially of the mulberry-picking maiden), to understand how hard-won a strand of silk or a grain of rice truly is, and thereby to plant in their hearts the humane seed of "pitying the farmer" and "valuing agriculture." To read "The Seventh Month" and thereby know the hardship of sowing and reaping shares the very same intent as the Duke of Zhou's teaching to "first know the hardship of sowing and reaping."

Section 4: "Employing the People According to the Season" — Political Ethics in Guyu's Urgent Sowing

Within Confucian political ethics, there is one principle bearing an extremely close relation to Guyu—"employing the people according to the season" (使民以时).

The "Xue Er" chapter of the Analects records the Master's words: "In governing a state of a thousand chariots, one should attend reverently to affairs and be trustworthy; be economical in expenditure and cherish the people; and employ the people according to the season." In governing a great state possessing a thousand war chariots, one must handle affairs with caution and speak with trustworthiness, economize expenditure and cherish the people, and employ the common people in labor service only in accordance with the proper farming season.

The four characters "employing the people according to the season" (使民以时) carry immense weight. "Season" here means the farming season. Its core is this: when a ruler conscripts the people's labor (for corvée service or military service), he must avoid the busy farming season, and must never, at the crucial moments of sowing, tilling, and harvesting—upon which an entire year's livelihood depends—drag farmers away into service and cause the farming to be missed. And Guyu is precisely one of the farming seasons in the whole year that tolerates no delay whatsoever: to miss the rain of Guyu, to miss the moment of sowing, is to ruin an entire year's harvest, and even to sow the seeds of famine.

Thus "employing the people according to the season" carries its sharpest, most practical significance precisely at the season of Guyu: this is the moment that most tests whether a ruler truly possesses a "humane heart." A humane ruler restrains every improper desire of his own, and absolutely refrains from conscripting labor service at the very moment of Guyu's urgent sowing, instead leaving this precious farming time—wrested from Heaven itself—entirely and completely to the farmers.

Such restraint, though it may appear passive (doing nothing at all), is in fact the most active form of "humane governance"—it treats "not seizing the farming season" as the greatest respect one can show to the Way of Heaven and to the people's livelihood. Master Meng's saying, "if the farming seasons are not violated, there will be more grain than can be consumed" (Mencius, "King Hui of Liang, Part I"), finds its core spirit most thoroughly embodied precisely at a juncture such as Guyu.

Section 5: Master Xun's "Controlling the Mandate of Heaven" — Human Responsibility Within Guyu

If Master Meng speaks, through "not violating the farming season," of the aspect of "according with Heaven" within Guyu, then Master Xun (Xunzi) speaks, through "controlling the Mandate of Heaven and putting it to use," of the other aspect within Guyu—"exhausting human effort"—and the two form a perfect complement.

Master Xun, in the "Discourse on Heaven" chapter, offers a passage of startling boldness: "Rather than exalting Heaven and pondering it with longing, how much better to treat it as a thing to be raised and controlled$30 Rather than following Heaven and singing its praises, how much better to control the Mandate of Heaven and put it to use$31 Rather than gazing upon the seasons and passively awaiting them, how much better to accord with the seasons and actively employ them to bring about one's aims$32"

Please note in particular the middle line—"rather than gazing upon the seasons and passively awaiting them, how much better to accord with the seasons and actively employ them." "Gazing upon the seasons and awaiting them" is to passively look up and wait for the farming season to arrive; "according with the seasons and employing them" is to actively accord with the farming season, taking the initiative to employ the ten thousand things (plowing, sowing) so as to bring the harvest to fruition.

Master Xun clearly advocates the latter: humanity must not merely wait passively for Heaven's grace, gazing longingly for the timely rain, but must actively "accord with the season and employ it"—when the timely rain of Guyu descends and the farming season arrives, one must rise up vigorously, sow and tend the crops in time, and through human effort transform the "season" and "rain" that Heaven provides into the tangible, actual harvest of "the hundred grains."

This is precisely the human share of responsibility within Guyu's "cooperation between Heaven and humanity." Master Xun does not deny Heaven's role (the timely rain, the warming of the earth, must be bestowed by Heaven), but he emphasizes all the more that Heaven bestows its "season," and humanity must exhaust its "effort"—neither can be dispensed with. Heaven's sending down of Guyu's rain is Heaven's portion; humanity seizing the rain to sow with urgency is humanity's portion.

"Heaven has its seasons, Earth has its resources, and humanity has its governance—this is called being able to form a triad with Heaven and Earth" (Xunzi, "Discourse on Heaven")—Heaven has its seasons, Earth has its produce, and humanity has its work of governance; when the three each fulfill their own portion and join together in mutual participation, this is humanity's proper place between Heaven and Earth. The farming of Guyu is precisely the finest portrait of this "triad of Heaven, Earth, and Humanity participating together": Heaven bestows the timely rain, Earth offers up its fertile soil, humanity carries out the plowing and sowing; the three join together, and only then is "rain giving birth to the hundred grains" accomplished.

Master Xun's principles of "controlling the Mandate of Heaven" and "according with the season and employing it" raise up, for the farmer engaged in Guyu's urgent sowing, a vigorous and actively engaged sense of human responsibility—and together with Master Meng's admonition of "according with Heaven" through "not violating the farming season," one advancing and one withholding, one active and one restrained, the two together constitute the most complete Confucian attitude toward the timing of Heaven at Guyu.