Heaven Is Exalted, Earth Is Lowly — The Positioning of All Transformation
A reading of the first chapter of the Xi Ci Shang (Commentary on the Appended Phrases, Part I). Addressing why 'Heaven exalted, Earth lowly' is not a hierarchy of rank: exalted and lowly denote spatial position, not judgments of worth. Lowliness is where abundant virtue resides. Through the hexagrams Qian (Modesty), Tai and Pi (Peace and Stagnation), and the pairing of Qian and Kun, we see how the pre-Qin Confucian and Daoist traditions envisioned the intercourse of Heaven and Earth — positioning that gives rise to ceaseless generation.
VIII. Qian and Kun: Side by Side as the Two Primal Forces
Having resolved the question of zun and bei, let us return to the two characters "Qian and Kun" and examine what kind of relationship they truly have. That Qian and Kun are mutually dependent, mutually completing, indispensable to each other, and equal in standing — this view can be embraced with confidence: the entire Zhouyi is the most ancient ally of precisely this understanding.
First, consider the wording of this chapter itself: "Qian knows the great beginning; Kun brings things to completion." Qian initiates the beginning of all things; Kun consummates their formation. One initiates; the other brings to fruition. One confers the inception; the other nurtures to completion. This is a division of labor, not a division of rank — like seed and soil, no one could say seed is superior to soil. Without seed there is nothing to grow; without soil there is nothing to nourish; the two depend upon each other, and if either is absent, nothing in the world comes to be. The Tuan Zhuan's praise of Qian and Kun is perfectly symmetrical in form: "Great indeed is the primal power of Qian! The myriad things draw their beginning from it; it governs Heaven." "Supreme indeed is the primal power of Kun! The myriad things draw their birth from it; it receives and accords with Heaven." One "great indeed" (da zai), one "supreme indeed" (zhi zai) — zhi (supreme, ultimate) is an exclamation of the same weight as da (great). The myriad things "draw their beginning" (zi shi) from Qian and "draw their birth" (zi sheng) from Kun: a beginning without birth is a spring without a channel; a birth without beginning is a blossom that bears no fruit. The Shuo Gua Zhuan (Commentary on the Trigrams) gives this pair of forces its warmest name: "Qian is Heaven, and so is called the father. Kun is Earth, and so is called the mother." Qian is the father, Kun is the mother; the six children — Zhen, Kan, Gen, Xun, Li, Dui — are all their offspring. Between father and mother in a household there is a distinction of role but no judgment of noble versus base. A filial child's love — when was it ever weighed between father and mother$25 The pre-Qin people viewed Heaven and Earth as parents: "The myriad things trace their origin to Heaven; humankind traces its origin to its ancestors." Heaven and Earth are the common parents of all things — the warmth within this metaphor must be preserved in translation into any language.
In later passages, the Xi Ci develops the parity of Qian and Kun even more profoundly. Chapter Eleven of the Xi Ci Shang says: "To close the door is called Kun; to open the door is called Qian. One closing and one opening is called transformation; coming and going without exhaustion is called unobstructed flow." Closing the door is Kun; opening the door is Qian. One closing and one opening — that is transformation; their ceaseless coming and going — that is unobstructed flow. Savor this image of the door: a door that can open serves its function, but a door that can close also serves its function. A door that only opens but never closes, and a door that only closes but never opens, are equally broken doors. Qian and Kun are this one opening and one closing — neither alone can constitute a door. Chapter Twelve of the Xi Ci Shang states with absolute finality: "Qian and Kun — are they not the repository of yi$26 When Qian and Kun are arrayed, yi stands in their midst. If Qian and Kun were destroyed, yi could no longer be seen; and if yi could no longer be seen, then Qian and Kun would perhaps cease altogether." The Xi Ci Xia adds: "Qian and Kun — are they not the gateway of yi$27 … Yin and yang unite their virtue, and the firm and the yielding take form." Qian and Kun are the gateway through which yi passes in and out; yin and yang unite their virtue, and only then do firm and yielding have substance. Unite their virtue — the two virtues must join to make a world. The Xi Ci Xia also has eight characters that describe the union of Qian and Kun with utmost tenderness: "Heaven and Earth yinyun — the myriad things transform and mature." Yinyun describes two qi merging, pervading, intertwining in intimate embrace — when the qi of Heaven and Earth so wholly clasp each other, the myriad things are brewed and brought to maturity within their embrace. Are these the brushstrokes of hierarchy$28 These are the brushstrokes of love. That Qian and Kun "deeply depend upon each other, together constituting transformation, constituting the Dao" — this is not a challenge to the Xi Ci but precisely the theme the Xi Ci itself articulates again and again. If later generations misread it as a declaration of hierarchy, the cure must be applied to the misreading, not to the original text.