Chapter 13 The Literary Yushui: Rain and Water in the Book of Songs and the Verses of Chu

1. Rain in the Book of Songs: From "Scattered Rain" to "Fine Drizzle"

The Book of Songs, as the fountainhead of Chinese poetry, preserves a wealth of beautiful images of rain and water. These images are not merely literary, but express the ancients' deeply felt apprehension of rain's grace and water's virtue.

"East Mountain," in the "Airs of Bin" section of the Book of Songs, contains the lines: "I come from the east, through scattered rain and mist." I return from the east, through a fine, misty drizzle. These four characters, "scattered rain and mist" (ling yu qi meng), paint a picture of fine rain drifting down, hazy and vast. As the returning soldier makes his way home through the misty drizzle, the scene is both a realistic depiction and an evocation of a lingering, wistful mood. "Scattered rain" (ling yu), a fine rain falling sparsely, is precisely a portrait of spring rain "moistening all things softly and silently."

"Faith in the Southern Hills," in the "Lesser Odes" section, contains the lines: "The sky above is uniformly clouded; snow falls thick and heavy, joined further by a fine drizzle." The sky is covered with dark clouds, snowflakes fall thickly, joined further by a misty fine rain (maimu). Here "snow" and "fine drizzle" are mentioned together, depicting precisely that transitional scene around the Yushui solar term in which "snow gradually turns to rain"—both the last remnants of winter's snow and the fine rain of spring are present together. The term "maimu" refers specifically to a fine, misty drizzle, and is the Book of Songs' exquisite depiction of the fineness and gentleness of spring rain. That the ancients coined a special term for this fine spring rain shows how closely they observed it, and how deeply they apprehended it.

Why is the rain in the Book of Songs so often a fine, light rain like "scattered rain" or "fine drizzle"$13 Because the very nature of spring rain is the gentleness of "moistening all things softly and silently." Unlike the violent, thunderous downpours of summer, it moistens all things finely, gently, and quietly. This gentle spring rain best embodies water's character of "excelling in benefiting the ten thousand things without contending"—giving silently and without ostentation, seeking no return, claiming no credit. This depiction of spring rain in the Book of Songs is itself a poetic tribute to the "gentle virtue" of water.

2. Water in the Book of Songs: Evocative Imagery and Moral Analogy

Water in the Book of Songs is not merely a realistic scene, but an image bearing emotion and serving as moral analogy—what is called "evocative imagery" (xingxiang) and "moral comparison" (bide).

The very first poem of the Book of Songs, "Ospreys Cry" in the "Zhounan" section, opens: "Guan-guan cry the ospreys, on the islet in the river. The gentle, virtuous maiden is a fine match for the noble lord." On a small islet in the water, the osprey cries guan-guan; that beautiful, virtuous maiden is a fitting match for the noble lord. Here, the poem begins with the evocative image of "an islet in the river," and water becomes the backdrop against which love germinates. Why should love arise beside the water$14 Because water symbolizes life, symbolizes nourishment, symbolizes the resonance of yin and yang. The waterside is where life is most active, where yin and yang resonate most frequently, and thus it naturally becomes the most fitting place for love (the union of yin and yang) to arise.

"Reeds and Rushes," in the "Airs of Qin" section, reads: "The reeds and rushes are lush and green; the white dew has turned to frost. The one I long for is on the other side of the water." The reeds are lush and green, the white dew has condensed into frost. The person I long for is on the far side of the water. This is one of the most beautiful passages in the Book of Songs. Here, water becomes a symbol of both "separation" and "longing"—the beloved is "on the other side of the water," visible yet unreachable. This image of water as "separation" resonates with water's very nature of "flowing" and "having no fixed form"—precisely because water flows ceaselessly and is difficult to cross, it becomes a symbol of a longing that can never quite be attained.

The tradition in the Book of Songs of using water for moral comparison and evocative imagery exerted a profound influence on later literature. The clarity of water, the depth of water, the flow of water, and the vastness of water were each used, respectively, as metaphors for the purity of character, the depth of thought, the passing of time, and the vastness of separation. This literary tradition of "using water for moral comparison" ultimately traces back to the ancients' profound apprehension of water's qualities—clarity, depth, flow, levelness, softness, trustworthiness. The Yushui solar term, as the solar term of water, is precisely the finest occasion for us to revisit this rich imagery of water in the Book of Songs.

3. Water Spirits and the Rain Master in the Verses of Chu

If the water of the Book of Songs leans toward realism and moral comparison, then the water of the Verses of Chu (Chuci) is suffused with mythological color and romantic imagination. The world of water depicted by Master Qu (Qu Yuan) is a magnificent, fantastical world haunted by spirits.

The "Nine Songs" section of the Verses of Chu contains poems dedicated specifically to sacrificing to water spirits. "The Lord of Xiang" and "The Lady of Xiang" sacrifice to the spirit of the Xiang River, while "The Earl of the River" sacrifices to the spirit of the Yellow River. "The Earl of the River," from the "Nine Songs," contains the lines: "With you I roam the nine tributaries; a fierce wind rises, waves surge crosswise." Roaming with you (the Earl of the River) upon the nine tributaries, a fierce wind suddenly rises, stirring up wave upon wave. This depicts the magnificent scene of the water spirit, the Earl of the River, commanding the surging waves, brimming with awe and tribute toward the immense power of water.

"The Lady of Xiang," from the "Nine Songs," contains the lines: "Softly, softly, blows the autumn wind; the waves of Lake Dongting stir, and leaves fall from the trees." The autumn wind blows softly, the waters of Lake Dongting ripple, and the leaves fall one by one. This is one of the most beautiful lines depicting a water scene in the entire Verses of Chu. The world of the Xiang River spirit is suffused with a lingering, poignant, and mysterious air, embodying the distinctive, deeply poetic apprehension of water found in the water-country of the south.

Why is the Verses of Chu so rich in belief in water spirits$15 Because the land of Chu (the south) abounds in rivers, lakes, and marshes—a world encircled by water, a world whose life depends upon water. In such an environment, water naturally became the core of the ancients' spiritual life, and belief in water spirits naturally flourished with particular intensity. The water spirits of the Verses of Chu (the Lord of Xiang, the Lady of Xiang, the Earl of the River, and others) are precisely the personified expression of the ancients' sense of water's sacredness and immense power. These water spirits share a common spiritual lineage with the "origin of water" venerated at the Yushui solar term—both are the ancients' worship and tribute toward that nourishing, great, and mysterious thing called "water."

4. The Rain Master and Rain-Praying Songs: The Literary Expression of Praying for Rain

The Verses of Chu also contains depictions of the "Rain Master." "Encountering Sorrow" (Li Sao), in the Verses of Chu, contains the lines: "I sent Fenglong riding upon the clouds, to seek out where the goddess Fufei dwelt." I sent Fenglong (the thunder spirit, or in some accounts the cloud spirit) riding upon the clouds, to seek out the dwelling place of Fufei (the spirit of the Luo River). Here, "Fenglong" is regarded, in some texts, as the spirit of thunder or the spirit of clouds, closely associated with the bringing of rain. Master Qu commands the spirits of thunder and cloud, ascending to Heaven and descending to earth, revealing a romantic world in which humans and spirits communicate, summoning wind and rain at will.

"The Lord Within the Clouds," from the "Nine Songs" of the Verses of Chu, sacrifices to the cloud spirit (in some accounts, identical with the Rain Master). "Riding a dragon chariot, robed as a sovereign, he roams and wanders at leisure, circling far and wide." Riding a dragon, clad in imperial robes, he soars and wanders freely, circling about. The image of the Lord Within the Clouds (the cloud spirit / Rain Master) is magnificent and sacred, embodying the ancients' worship of the spirit who summons clouds and brings rain.

These literary depictions of the Rain Master and the cloud spirit resonate, in spirit, with the Yu sacrifice (praying for rain) discussed earlier—both embody the ancients' yearning for and worship of "rain." The difference is that the Yu sacrifice was ritualistic and solemn, while the depictions of the Rain Master in the Verses of Chu are literary and romantic. Yet the core of both is the same: in a world whose lifeline was agriculture, rain was the highest symbol of Heaven's grace, and so the spirits who summoned clouds and brought rain became the spirits most worshipped, and most richly imagined in poetry, by the ancients. The Yushui solar term, as the season when the first spring rains fall, is precisely the real foundation of this literary tradition of yearning for rain and worshipping the Rain Master. When we read, during the Yushui season, those magnificent songs of the Rain Master and the water spirits in the Verses of Chu, we can apprehend that, behind these romantic imaginings, lies the ancients' deepest hope for one timely spring rain.