From End to Beginning: The Way of Culmination and Return in the Great Cold Solar Term
This article offers a deep reading of Great Cold (Dahan), the final of the Twenty-Four Solar Terms, drawing on pre-Qin Confucian and Daoist philosophy, etymological analysis, and astronomical and phenological traditions. It reveals the dialectic of extreme cold and returning spring, the cyclic principle that every ending harbors a new beginning, and illuminates the late-winter rites of the Grand Nuo exorcism and the clay ox ceremony—inviting the reader into the ancients' cosmic wisdom of 'tracing origins by returning to endings' and the eternal circle of ceaseless renewal.
Chapter Six: The Confucian Perspective--Being as Careful at the End as at the Beginning, and Self-Examination at Year's End
I. "Being as Careful at the End as at the Beginning": Reverence at the Terminus
Great Cold, as the year's terminal term, most naturally invites Confucian reflection on the meaning of "ending." Confucianism holds a special reverence toward "ending," concentrated in the phrase "careful at the end" (shen zhong).
The Most High (Laozi) says in Chapter 64 of the Daodejing: "Being as careful at the end as at the beginning, one will have no failure" (shen zhong ru shi, ze wu bai shi). Although these words come from a Daoist classic, the spirit of "being careful at the end" received equally deep--even more systematic--elaboration in Confucianism.
Why "be as careful at the end as at the beginning"$5 Because in doing things, people tend to be "none who cannot begin well, but few who can end well" (mi bu you chu, xian ke you zhong, from the Book of Odes, "Greater Odes," "Dang"). At the outset, one is full of enthusiasm, careful and earnest; as things progress, one grows slack and careless, and the whole effort fails at the last. True wisdom therefore is to regard "ending" as seriously as "beginning," maintaining at the moment of completion the same reverence and diligence one had at the start.
Great Cold is the "ending" of the year. The ancients treated this "ending" with solemn ritual (the Grand Nuo, sacrifices, year-end rites)--a manifestation of the spirit of "being careful at the end." The year about to conclude must not be dispatched carelessly but approached with gravity and devotion--reckoning the year's gains and losses, giving thanks to ancestors and spirits, expelling the old year's plagues, and welcoming the new year. This reverence toward "year's end" is the temporal practice of the Confucian principle of "being as careful at the end as at the beginning."
At a deeper level, "being as careful at the end as at the beginning" carries special resonance at Great Cold because Great Cold's "ending" directly adjoins Start of Spring's "beginning." Thus "being careful at the end" is also "making a good beginning"--handling the year-end transition well, rounding off this year's cycle, ensures that the new year can have a fine start. Carefulness at the end is precisely for the sake of excellence at the beginning; completing the end well is precisely for the sake of beginning the next well. This perfectly accords with the cyclical Way of "when things end, they begin again."
II. Master Zeng: "Being Careful at the End and Pursuing the Distant, the People's Virtue Returns to Depth"
The Analerta (Lunyu), "Xue Er" chapter, records the words of Master Zeng: "Being careful at the end and pursuing the distant, the people's virtue returns to depth" (shen zhong zhui yuan, min de gui hou yi).
Master Zeng's "being careful at the end" here originally refers to conducting parents' funerals with care (the "end" of life); "pursuing the distant" refers to reverently sacrificing to ancestors long past. But placed in the context of year's end (Great Cold), these words acquire especially rich resonance.
The "end" of a year (Great Cold) is, in a certain sense, like the "end" of a life--the conclusion of a cycle, a moment requiring solemn treatment, requiring "care." And the various sacrifices at year's end (especially the La sacrifice and the year-end grand sacrifice) are the practice of "pursuing the distant"--at the year's conclusion, remembering ancestors, repaying the spirits, expressing gratitude for heaven and earth's nurture throughout the year.
Why does "being careful at the end and pursuing the distant" cause "the people's virtue to return to depth"$6 Because reverence for "endings" and remembrance of "the distant" cultivate gratitude, the sentiment of returning to one's roots, the virtue of not forgetting one's origins. A person who knows to solemnly sacrifice to ancestors and thank heaven and earth at year's end is one whose heart holds gratitude, who knows whence they came; and one who knows whence they came can be substantial rather than frivolous, solid rather than flighty. Year-end Great Cold, with its attribute of "ending," most powerfully calls forth this profound virtue of "being careful at the end and pursuing the distant."
This is also why the Chinese so greatly value "year's end"--the year-end's ancestral sacrifices, family reunions, and farewell-to-old-and-welcome-of-new are all manifestations of this spirit of "being careful at the end and pursuing the distant." The year-end period inaugurated by Great Cold is the most important occasion in the year for "the people's virtue to return to depth."
III. Self-Examination at Year's End: Introspection at the Terminus
In our reading of Start of Summer, we discussed Master Zeng's practice of "examining myself three times daily." This practice of self-reflection, at the year-end of Great Cold, takes on a special, deeper form--year-end self-examination.
If daily reflection is the everyday examination, then at year's end comes the year's grand reflection, grand reckoning. The year draws to its close; looking back: Have I been "loyal in planning for others"$7 "Trustworthy in dealings with friends"$8 "Practiced what I have transmitted"$9 The aspirations I set for this year--have I fulfilled them$10 The faults I committed--have I corrected them$11 The debts I owe--have I repaid them$12 The achievements I pursued--have I completed them$13
This year-end grand reflection resonates deeply with Great Cold's astronomical significance of "year's end," "count's end," and "renewal." The Way of Heaven at Great Cold declares "the count is nearly done, the year is about to begin anew"--the tallying nears completion, the year renews. And so should people, at this "year about to begin anew," make a grand reckoning and reflection of their year, so they may enter the new year with a clean slate and an unburdened heart.
The Master said: "To err and not reform--this indeed is error" (Analects, "Wei Ling Gong"). Year-end self-examination exists precisely for "reforming errors"--before the old year concludes, recognizing this year's mistakes clearly and correcting them, so as not to carry them into the new year. This spirit of "year-end reckoning, farewell to old and welcome to new" perfectly unites Confucian self-cultivation with Great Cold's significance as year's terminal term. Year-end sweeping of dust (removing physical grime) is really the outward symbol of year-end self-examination (sweeping mental grime)--sweeping away the dust from the house, and sweeping away the dust from the heart, to meet the new year with clean body and mind.
IV. "The Noble Person Has a Good End": Starting from the Qian (Modesty) Hexagram of the Zhouyi
The Zhouyi, Qian (Modesty) hexagram, Commentary on the Judgment: "Modesty exalts yet shines; it is lowly yet cannot be surpassed--this is the noble person's good end." The Image Commentary adds: "The noble person who toils in modesty--all people submit to him." The Qian hexagram has auspicious readings on every line, making it the most fortunate hexagram in the Zhouyi; its essence lies in the single word "modesty," and its destination in "the noble person's good end."
Why does the Zhouyi connect "the noble person's good end"--a worthy ending, a beautiful conclusion--with "modesty"$14 Because only the modest can achieve good beginnings and good endings. The arrogant seldom end well (when fullness reaches its extreme, it must diminish), while only the humble can remain "lowly yet unsurpassable"--because of humility, paradoxically no one can surpass or unseat them, and so they are preserved to the end.
Great Cold as year's terminal term most naturally inspires reflection on "the noble person's good end." How does one conclude a year$15 How does one end a life well$16 The Confucian answer: with modesty. At year's end, do not boast of this year's achievements, do not flaunt this year's accomplishments, but modestly reflect on gains and losses, express gratitude to heaven and earth, remember ancestors--such a "year's end" is "the noble person's end."
And the true meaning of "the noble person's good end" lies precisely in "when things end, they begin again"--the noble person achieves a good end because they understand that "ending" is not conclusion but the commencement of a new "beginning." One who ends well will inevitably begin well; one who concludes the old year with humility will inevitably open the new year with humility. The Qian hexagram's "noble person's good end" thus again converges with Great Cold's "when things end, they begin again": a true good ending never merely places an isolated period at the end, but paves the road for a new beginning.
V. The Master's "What Passes Is Like This" and the Temporal Sigh at Year's End
The Analects, "Zi Han" chapter, records the Master's famous exclamation: "Standing by the river, the Master said: 'What passes is like this indeed! It does not cease day or night.'"
This exclamation is commonly understood as sorrow over time's passing, never to return. But read together with Great Cold's "when things end, they begin again," a deeper level of understanding emerges.
True, time flows like water, rushing on, never pausing--this is the most immediate feeling as the year ends and Great Cold arrives: "Another year gone." But the Master's exclamation may focus not on the sorrow of "passing" but on the "does not cease" in "does not cease day or night"--a profound recognition that the Way of Heaven never stops running, life never stops renewing. Water flows day and night ceaselessly, just as the four seasons cycle day and night ceaselessly; one year passes (Great Cold's ending), a new year arrives (Start of Spring's beginning), and the Way goes on in this "unceasing day and night" cycle, displaying its eternal "vigorous course."
The Zhouyi, Qian hexagram, Image Commentary states: "Heaven's course is vigorous; the noble person thereby ceaselessly strives for self-improvement" (tian xing jian, junzi yi ziqiang buxi). The Master's "what passes is like this" and the spirit of "Heaven's course is vigorous" are one: facing year's end (Great Cold), facing time's flow, the noble person's attitude is not sorrowful stagnation but emulation of Heaven's "unceasing day and night" vigor--though the old year passes, one should, like the Way of Heaven, without the slightest pause embark on the new year's striving. What passes is like this, therefore one must ceaselessly strive; the year ends thus, therefore one must bid farewell to the old and welcome the new. This is the fundamental Confucian attitude toward Great Cold and year's end.