Yin and Yang in Equal Measure: The Way of Central Harmony and the Equilibrium of Day and Night at the Spring Equinox
This article offers a multi-dimensional exploration of the Spring Equinox (Chunfen) among the Twenty-Four Solar Terms, drawing on pre-Qin Confucian and Daoist philosophy, the original meanings of Chinese characters, and astronomical phenomena. By analyzing the character 'fen' (divide/equalize), the sun's alignment with the equator, and seasonal signs such as the return of swallows and the onset of thunder, it reveals the profound wisdom of 'central harmony' and the unity of Heaven and humanity embedded in the equinox's equal days and nights.
Chapter Three: The Second Month of Spring in the Monthly Ordinances of the Book of Rites: A Complete Cosmic Portrait
I. The Astronomical Coordinates of Mid-Spring
Of all pre-Qin texts, the one that describes the Spring Equinox and its month of mid-spring in the most thorough and systematic manner is the "Monthly Ordinances" (Yueling) chapter of the Book of Rites (Liji) (its contents are highly consistent with the "Mid-Spring Records" of the Master Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals, and scholars generally consider the two to share a common source). The Monthly Ordinances are not a simple calendrical record, but a complete guide to action for the unity of Heaven and humanity -- they tell us, at specific temporal nodes, what the celestial phenomena are like, what the earthly creatures are like, and how human affairs should be conducted.
The cosmic portrait that the Monthly Ordinances sketches for mid-spring opens with astronomical coordinates:
"In the month of mid-spring, the sun is in the lodge Kui; at dusk the star Hu culminates; at dawn the star Jian culminates."
These three lines identify the lodge occupied by the sun, the constellation culminating at the southern meridian at dusk, and the constellation culminating at the southern meridian at dawn. "The sun is in Kui" -- the sun has moved to the position of the Kui lodge. "At dusk, Hu culminates" -- at dusk, the star Hu stands in the center of the southern sky. "At dawn, Jian culminates" -- at dawn, the star Jian stands in the center of the southern sky. The positions of these constellations are the astronomical basis for the ancients' determination of the season: when the sun reaches the Kui lodge, it is known that mid-spring has arrived and the Spring Equinox is at hand.
The Monthly Ordinances then go on to describe the Five Phase (wuxing) attributes of mid-spring. This is an exquisitely precise cosmic correspondence chart:
"Its days are jia and yi; its thearch is Taihao; its spirit is Goumang; its creatures are the scaly; its note is jue; its pitch-pipe is Jiazhong; its number is eight; its taste is sour; its smell is rank; its sacrifice is at the door; the leading sacrificial offering is the spleen."
This passage constructs an all-encompassing system of cosmic correspondences. Let us analyze each item in depth, for only through individual analysis can we appreciate how exquisitely meticulous the ancients' "threading everything on one string" cosmology truly is.
II. Five Phase Correlations, Part One: Wood Virtue, the East, Azure, and Jia-Yi
"Its days are jia and yi" -- Mid-spring corresponds to the Heavenly Stems jia and yi. Among the ten Heavenly Stems, jia and yi belong to Wood. Why$29 Because the correspondence between the ten Heavenly Stems and the Five Phases is: jia-yi belong to Wood (spring), bing-ding to Fire (summer), wu-ji to Earth (late summer), geng-xin to Metal (autumn), ren-gui to Water (winter). This system links time (the Heavenly Stems) with material properties (the Five Phases) and constitutes one of the basic frameworks of pre-Qin cosmology. The Spring Equinox falls in mid-spring, precisely the time when Wood virtue is in ascendancy -- Wood governs burgeoning and unimpeded growth, exactly corresponding to the momentum of spring when all things sprout and push upward.
"Its thearch is Taihao" -- The presiding thearch of mid-spring is Taihao (also written Taihu, identified with Fuxi). Why is the thearch of spring Taihao$30 This relates to the system correlating Five Phases with five thearchs: the thearch of spring is Taihao (Wood virtue), of summer Yandi (Fire virtue), of the center Huangdi (Earth virtue), of autumn Shaohao (Metal virtue), and of winter Zhuanxu (Water virtue). Taihao-Fuxi, legendary sage-king of high antiquity who "drew the eight trigrams" and "created writing," is the originator of Chinese civilization. He is assigned to the east and to spring precisely because the east is the place of sunrise and spring is the beginning of all things -- Fuxi as the symbol of "beginnings" aligns perfectly with spring's "burgeoning" and the east's "sunrise."
"Its creatures are the scaly" -- The representative animal category of mid-spring is the "scaly creatures" -- aquatic creatures with scales (fish, dragons, snakes, etc.). In the pre-Qin system of animal classification, all creatures were divided into five major categories: scaly (corresponding to spring), feathered (birds, to summer), naked (humans, to the center), furred (beasts, to autumn), and shelled (crustaceans, to winter). Scaly creatures correspond to spring partly because in spring yang energy rises and ice melts, so fish and dragons in the water become active; and partly because the dragon, king of the scaly creatures, was in ancient belief the divine creature of spring that raises clouds and distributes rain, governing generation -- the Qian hexagram of the Book of Changes uses "hidden dragon," "appearing dragon," and "flying dragon" to symbolize the ascent of yang energy, and dragon imagery is intimately bound to spring's burgeoning and wood's flourishing.
From "its days are jia-yi," "its thearch is Taihao," and "its creatures are the scaly," we can already discern the core logic by which the Monthly Ordinances construct their correspondence system: Heavenly Stems, thearchs, and animals -- seemingly unrelated -- are all threaded together by the single force of "Wood virtue," "East," "Spring generation." This is the ancients' "threading everything on one string" cosmology: though the myriad things of Heaven and Earth differ in a thousand ways, behind them all operates a unified principle.
III. Five Phase Correlations, Part Two: The Note Jue, the Number Eight, Sour Taste, and Rank Smell
"Its note is jue; its pitch-pipe is Jiazhong" -- The musical note of mid-spring is jue, and the corresponding pitch-pipe is Jiazhong. Among the five notes (gong, shang, jue, zhi, yu), jue is clear and flowing, its tonal quality corresponding to Wood's characteristics of generation and unimpeded growth. The ancients believed that each season had its specific "sound" -- not that only jue could be heard in spring, but that the vibrational frequency of Heaven and Earth's qi in spring resonated with the frequency of jue. "Its pitch-pipe is Jiazhong" is one link in the correspondence between the twelve pitch-pipes and twelve months -- mid-spring corresponds to the pipe Jiazhong. We shall explore this in greater depth in a later chapter devoted to musical pitch. Here let us simply note: connecting acoustics with cosmology and the temporal sequence -- what a bold and wondrous feat of imagination! It posits the existence of a "resonance" between Heaven and Earth that transcends matter -- season, pitch, and Five Phases vibrating in unison, forming an inseparable whole.
"Its number is eight" -- The symbolic number of mid-spring is eight. In pre-Qin numerological systems, one and six belong to Water, two and seven to Fire, three and eight to Wood, four and nine to Metal, five and ten to Earth. Eight belongs to Wood (three and eight are Wood), hence it is assigned to spring. This system of number-Phase correspondences is of extremely ancient origin, possibly related to the tradition of the Hetu and Luoshu diagrams. In the Hetu, three and eight occupy the eastern position, symbolizing Wood. Mid-spring's assignment of the number eight is a manifestation of this ancient numerological tradition.
"Its taste is sour" -- The taste of mid-spring is sour. The correspondence between the five tastes (sour, bitter, sweet, pungent, salty) and the Five Phases is: sour belongs to Wood (spring), bitter to Fire (summer), sweet to Earth (late summer), pungent to Metal (autumn), salty to Water (winter). Why does sourness belong to Wood$31 One explanation is that sour flavors are most commonly found in unripe fruit -- green, immature fruit is precisely a product of spring and summer growth, its sourness corresponding to the Wood quality of "growing but not yet mature." A deeper explanation is that Wood's nature governs "bending and straightening" and unfolding, while sour taste has an "astringent" quality that can restrain excessive growth of Wood energy, preventing it from becoming overabundant -- this precisely embodies the subtle relationships of mutual generation and mutual restraint among the Five Phases.
"Its smell is rank" -- The smell of mid-spring is rank (shan). Among the five odors (rank, scorched, fragrant, fishy, rotten), the rank smell corresponds to Wood. Shan is the smell of mutton, and sheep are livestock of spring generation. The correspondence of rank smell with spring and Wood, though not as intuitively obvious as those of color and number, nonetheless follows the same principle of "like follows like" -- the subtle differences in Heaven and Earth's qi at the levels of taste and smell are all incorporated into this all-encompassing system of correspondences.
IV. Five Phase Correlations, Part Three: The Door Sacrifice, the Spleen Offering, and the Completeness of the Five Phase System
"Its sacrifice is at the door" -- The object of sacrifice in mid-spring is the Door Spirit (hu shen). Hu means door. In the system of Five Sacrifices (wu si -- door, gate, central chamber, hearth, and well, or variants thereof), the door is assigned to spring. Why sacrifice to the Door Spirit in spring$32 Because spring is the season when all things emerge from dormancy and life extends outward -- the door is precisely the place of "going in and out," the passage from inside to outside. At the Spring Equinox, hibernating creatures emerge from their doors, swallows return, all things "come out." Sacrificing to the Door Spirit is an act of reverence toward this "opening the door, stepping out, life extending" quality of spring.
"The leading sacrificial offering is the spleen" -- The organ first offered in sacrifice is the spleen. Regarding the correspondence between the five viscera and the Five Phases, pre-Qin sources contain different accounts. The Monthly Ordinances here assign the spleen to spring, which differs from later medical theorists' assignment of the liver to Wood (spring). This reflects differences in Five Phase attribution systems among different periods and schools. But regardless of specific attributions, the underlying logic is consistent: every organ of the body corresponds to some dimension of the cosmos. Offering a specific organ in sacrifice expresses the resonance between the human body and Heaven and Earth. The human body is a small cosmos; Heaven and Earth are a great cosmos; the two are intimately interconnected through Five Phase correspondences.
At this point, we have fully presented the complete set of Five Phase attributions for mid-spring: the Heavenly Stems jia-yi, the Thearch Taihao, the Spirit Goumang (discussed in the next section), the scaly creatures, the note jue, the pitch-pipe Jiazhong, the number eight, sour taste, rank smell, the Door sacrifice, the spleen offering -- along with its Phase being Wood, its direction being East, its color being azure. What an exquisitely precise, magnificently complete cosmic portrait! It incorporates time, space, color, sound, number, taste, smell, divinity, animals, and human organs -- everything -- into the unified category of "Wood -- East -- Spring."
We cannot help but ask: why did the Monthly Ordinances construct such a precise system of correspondences$33 Is it not superfluous$34 Is it not enough simply to know "the Spring Equinox has arrived, day and night are equally divided"$35 The answer is: for the ancients, merely knowing that "the Spring Equinox has arrived" was far from sufficient. What they needed to know was: behind the Spring Equinox, in what manner is the entire cosmos operating$36 The constellations above, the myriad things below, the five viscera of the human body, the five tastes of food, the five notes of music -- how is everything threaded together and connected by the same force$37 This urge to seek a "single thread running through all" is one of the most distinctive features of pre-Qin thought. The Master said: "My Way is threaded on one string" (Analerta, "Li Ren"). This "one string running through all" is not merely a principle of ethics but a cosmological conviction. The cosmic correspondence system constructed by the Monthly Ordinances is the concrete expression of this conviction.
V. The Spirit Goumang: Executor of Eastern Wood Virtue
Among the spirits of mid-spring, "Goumang" deserves a section of its own.
"Its spirit is Goumang" -- The assistant spirit of mid-spring is Goumang. Goumang is the Wood Spirit and Spirit of Spring in ancient mythology. The Classic of Mountains and Seas (Shanhai jing), in its "Overseas East Classic," records: "In the east is Goumang, with the body of a bird and the face of a human, riding two dragons." The "bird body" hints at his connection with the migratory birds that return in spring (such as the dark swallow); the "human face" indicates his capacity to communicate with humans; and "riding two dragons" displays his divine might in commanding the forces of generation (the dragon, king of scaly creatures, presides over spring's growth).
The name "Goumang" itself is profoundly meaningful. Gou means "curved, hooked"; mang is the fine tip or sprout of newly emerging vegetation. Together, Goumang is the very image of vegetation in its first moment of sprouting -- when a seed germinates, the young shoot is typically curved, topped with a fine point, pushing with all its might through the soil. The name Goumang is the personification of this life force breaking through the earth. No spirit could be more fitting to preside over spring -- he is "generation" itself in personified form.
Why is both a "thearch" and a "spirit" needed$38 This reflects a core concept of pre-Qin political philosophy: governance requires hierarchical division of labor. The Thearch (Taihao) is the supreme sovereign, responsible for setting the grand direction; the Spirit (Goumang) is the concrete executor, responsible for carrying out the thearch's will -- causing vegetation to sprout and all things to grow. So it is in Heaven; so too should it be among humans. The Son of Heaven is the "thearch" of the human world, and the hundred officials are its "spirits." Through this correspondence between celestial and human realms, the Monthly Ordinances provide cosmological legitimacy for the political order of the human world. As the executor of spring's burgeoning, Goumang's "work" is to impel all life in Heaven and Earth to break through the soil, to return and reproduce, around the time of the Spring Equinox -- the arrival of swallows, the sound of thunder, the first flash of lightning are all manifestations of Goumang's power.