Chapter 3 · The Fourth Month of Meng Xia in the Book of Rites, "Monthly Ordinances": A Cosmic Portrait of Fire Virtue Approaching Its Fullness

I. The Month to Which Xiaoman Belongs: The Fourth Month (the Si Month) and the Virtue of Fire

Xiaoman falls within the fourth lunar month (the solar term Lixia marks the beginning of the fourth month, and Xiaoman marks its midpoint), corresponding to the earthly branch si (巳). Among all pre-Qin texts, the most detailed and systematic description of this fourth-month period is found in the "Monthly Ordinances" (Yueling) chapter of the Book of Rites (Liji)—its content closely parallels the "Record of Meng Xia" (孟夏纪, "First Month of Summer") in the Lüshi Chunqiu (Spring and Autumn Annals of Lü Buwei), and scholars generally hold that the two share a common origin.

The "Monthly Ordinances" sketches a complete cosmological portrait of the Five Phases for the first month of summer (meng xia):

"In the first month of summer... its days are bing and ding; its sovereign is the Flame Emperor; its spirit is Zhurong; its creatures are the feathered; its note is zhi; its number is seven; its flavor is bitter; its smell is scorched; its sacrifice is to the stove, and the lungs are offered first" (孟夏之月……其日丙丁，其帝炎帝，其神祝融，其虫羽，其音徵，其数七，其味苦，其臭焦，其祀灶，祭先肺).

Since Xiaoman and Lixia both belong to the first month of summer and are both correlated with the virtue of Fire, the basic framework of this Five Phases correlation is shared between them. But in interpreting Xiaoman, we should not simply repeat what has already been said of Lixia. Rather, we should focus on those dimensions of this correlative system most closely bound up with "fullness" and with "abundance approaching its utmost"—above all, "its flavor is bitter" and "the flourishing of Fire virtue."

II. "Its Flavor Is Bitter": Why Does Bitterness Belong to Fire, and What Does This Have to Do with Xiaoman$26

In the Five Phases correlations of the Monthly Ordinances, the first month of summer is "bitter" in flavor. The five flavors (sour, bitter, sweet, pungent, salty) correlate with the Five Phases: sour with Wood (spring), bitter with Fire (summer), sweet with Earth (late summer), pungent with Metal (autumn), and salty with Water (winter).

Why does bitterness belong to Fire$27 This question is especially crucial to understanding Xiaoman, because the first of Xiaoman's three pentads is precisely "the bitter herbs flourish" (苦菜秀)—bitter wild greens flourish at this very time.

Our ancestors understood "bitterness belongs to Fire" on several levels. First, from the standpoint of physical sensation: Fire's nature is to blaze upward, its qi is dry and fierce, and at the extreme of dryness, bitterness arises. The scorched, astringent, brow-furrowing sensation of tasting something bitter corresponds naturally to Fire's dry, hot character. Second, from the standpoint of pharmacology: bitter substances are often able to clear heat and purge fire. Bitter herbs, bitter melon, coptis root, and the like are all bitter and capable of relieving summer heat—and this is precisely the exquisite arrangement of the Dao of Heaven: in the first month of summer, when Fire virtue is at its most flourishing and the heat of summer is approaching, Heaven and Earth produce the greatest abundance of bitter things, using the pharmacological nature of "bitterness" to balance the excess of "Fire." What a profound wisdom this is—"regulating qi through flavor"!

Looking deeper still, the association of bitterness with Fire and with summer reveals our ancestors' conception that "taste itself is the Dao of Heaven." In their view, taste was not merely a sensation of the tongue, but a manifestation, within the human body, of the qi of Heaven and Earth. Why is it fitting to eat bitter foods in summer$28 Because in summer the Fire qi is too abundant, and bitterness is needed to draw it inward, to clear and purge it. The traditional practice of "eating bitter in summer" for the cultivation of health is rooted precisely in this Five Phases philosophy of "bitterness belongs to Fire." And that the bitter herbs flourish at Xiaoman is precisely Heaven and Earth using a bitter substance to remind the human world: the virtue of Fire has grown abundant, and one ought to restrain oneself with bitterness.

III. The Flourishing of Fire Virtue and the Threshold of "Approaching but Not Yet at the Extreme"

That the first month of summer is correlated with the virtue of Fire is beyond doubt. But Xiaoman occupies a special position within this month—falling after Lixia and before Mangzhong, it is the transitional stage in which Fire virtue moves from "beginning to flourish" toward "utmost flourishing."

The Monthly Ordinances says of Lixia that "the flourishing virtue lies in Fire" (盛德在火)—the character "flourishing" (盛) here carries considerable weight. By Xiaoman, the flourishing virtue of Fire has advanced a further degree—yet it has still not reached the degree of "yang at its utmost" (阳极) found at the Summer Solstice. At Xiaoman, the virtue of Fire is "approaching flourishing but not yet at its extreme."

This, once again, resonates perfectly with the literal meaning of "Xiaoman." Fire virtue "approaching flourishing but not yet at its extreme" mirrors the wheat kernels "small in fullness but not yet brimming," mirrors the sun's shadow "approaching its shortest but not yet there," mirrors Antares "approaching culmination but not yet there." All these signs across Heaven and Earth point toward one and the same state—"approaching the extreme but not yet at the extreme." Our ancestors named this state "Xiaoman," and deliberately did not let it advance to "great fullness," precisely because they understood well: once Fire virtue reaches "utmost flourishing," this is the turning point at which "yang reaches its extreme and yin is born" (阳极阴生)—the very beginning of decline. To pause at "small fullness" is to pause at that golden moment when Fire virtue is at its most vigorous, yet has not yet triggered the reversal.

IV. The Son of Heaven's Governance in Accordance with the Season: "Continuing to Grow and Rise Higher" in the First Month of Summer, and the "Nurturing" of Xiaoman

The Monthly Ordinances stipulates that in the first month of summer, the Son of Heaven's governmental decrees should be to "continue the growth and let things rise higher, allowing nothing to collapse or fall into ruin, undertaking no earthworks, mobilizing no great multitudes, and felling no great trees" (继长增高，毋有坏堕，毋起土功，毋发大众，毋伐大树).

"To continue the growth and let things rise higher" (继长增高)—to accord with the growing momentum of all things, letting them continue to grow and rise. This is precisely the dominant theme of Heaven and Earth during the Xiaoman season—the wheat is growing, the grain is growing, all things are "continuing to grow and rise higher." And the series of prohibitions—"undertaking no earthworks, mobilizing no great multitudes, felling no great trees, allowing nothing to collapse or fall into ruin"—embodies the requirement of the Dao of Heaven that, at the moment when all things are flourishing and growing, one must not "go against life" or "harm life."

There is a detail here worth savoring: the Monthly Ordinances' governance for the first month of summer is dominated by the themes of "nurturing" (养), "protecting" (护), and "not harming" (不伤)—nurturing and protecting all things now growing, not disturbing them, not damaging them. This wisdom of "nurturing" resonates precisely with the spirit of Xiaoman. Xiaoman is the state in which things are filling but have not yet reached full completion, and precisely at this stage they need to be quietly "nurtured"—nurturing the grain-filling of the wheat kernels, nurturing the joint-forming of the seedlings, nurturing all things on the verge of completion. Should a person act rashly at this time—undertaking earthworks, mobilizing great multitudes, felling great trees—this would be to intrude, at the critical moment when all things are "approaching completion but not yet complete," and would inevitably harm Heaven and Earth's work of generation and transformation.

The Monthly Ordinances also warns of the consequences of governing out of season: "If, in the first month of summer, the ordinances of autumn are carried out, then bitter rains will come repeatedly, and the five grains will fail to flourish..." (孟夏行秋令，则苦雨数来，五谷不滋). To carry out the ordinances of autumn—which belong to "harvesting and killing"—during the first month of summer, when all things are flourishing and growing, would cause the five grains to fail to grow. This confirms, from the opposite direction, the principle of Xiaoman—"nurture, do not harm." At this time, when all things are filling toward fullness, the way of governance lies in cherishing and protecting this "approaching fullness" momentum, and never in applying any act of "harvesting and killing" that would strangle this hard-won abundance before it is complete.