Chapter Fifteen: Chushu in Literature — Autumn's Mood in the Shijing and the Chuci

I. Autumn Phenology and Human Affairs in the Shijing

The Shijing is the wellspring of Chinese literature, and its depictions of autumn — unadorned yet deeply felt — most vividly reveal the ancients' direct experience of autumn's phenology and human affairs.

"Qi Yue" from the Airs of Bin, already cited numerous times, is the most complete poem describing a year's agricultural cycle. "In the seventh month, the Fire star streams westward; in the ninth month, winter garments are given out." A single line, "In the seventh month, the Fire star streams westward," captures the entire celestial transition from heat to coolness around Chushu.

Autumn in the Shijing is also frequently linked with longing, lament, and parting. "Jian Jia" from the Airs of Qin: "The reeds are lush and grey; the white dew has turned to frost. The one I long for is beyond the water's far side." Though "white dew turning to frost" belongs to Bailu and Shuangjing, that vast, desolate autumnal mood — the wistful longing for what cannot be reached — is an emotion that begins to brew and spread from Chushu's "heaven and earth begin their solemnity."

II. Autumnal Sorrow in the Chuci: Master Song Yu's Lament Through the Ages

If the Shijing's autumn is relatively unadorned, by the time of the Chuci (Songs of Chu), autumn's sorrow and melancholy are expressed to their fullest, shaking all ages that followed.

The Chuci, "Jiu Bian" (Nine Arguments, traditionally attributed to Master Song Yu) opens with the founding statement of "autumnal sorrow": "How sorrowful is autumn's atmosphere! Bleak and desolate — the grasses and trees wither and decay. Forlorn and chill — as if on a distant journey; climbing mountains and gazing at waters, seeing off those who must depart."

These lines perfectly fuse the bleak, severe, withering atmosphere of Chushu's "heaven and earth begin their solemnity" with the desolation, wistfulness, and parting sorrow of the human heart.

III. Qu Yuan's "Autumn": The Anxiety of Temporal Sequence and Life

Master Qu (Qu Yuan), in the Chuci, "Li Sao" (Encountering Sorrow), writes: "The sun and moon are swift and do not linger; spring and autumn take turns in sequence. Seeing the withering and falling of the grasses and trees, I fear that the beautiful one will also grow old." From "the withering and falling of the grasses and trees" (autumn's severity), he turns to "the beautiful one growing old" (the aging of life) — another profound expression of the "autumnal sorrow" sensibility.

IV. The Philosophy Behind "Autumnal Sorrow": From Grief to Transcendence

Yet "autumnal sorrow" in literature is not simply passive melancholy. At a deeper level, it contains philosophical reflection upon life and time, pointing toward a possible transcendence.

In the Confucian view, precisely because life is finite and time fleeting, one should all the more "strive ceaselessly" and seize the limited time to accomplish moral undertakings. The Master said: "It passes on just like this — never ceasing day or night!" (Lunyu, "Zi Han"). In the Daoist view, autumn's severity and life's decline are natural links in the Way of Heaven's "transformation"; "being at peace with the times and dwelling in accord" in accepting them yields a freedom beyond grief and joy. Master Zhuang said: "Life and death are matters of destiny; that they have the regularity of day and night — this is Heaven" (Zhuangzi, "Da Zong Shi").

Thus the "autumnal sorrow" evoked by Chushu and autumn can ultimately lead to two paths of transcendence: the Confucian "strive ceaselessly" (because life is finite, strive all the harder) and the Daoist "be at peace with the times and dwell in accord" (because the Way cycles, find freedom). This is the deepest gift that Chushu and autumn bestow upon Chinese literature and the Chinese heart.