The Highest Good Is Like Water: The Nourishing Virtue of Yushui and How Heaven-One Begets Water
This article offers a deep reading of Yushui (Rain Water) among the Twenty-Four Solar Terms, drawing on pre-Qin Confucian and Daoist philosophy, etymology, and astronomical phenology. Through an examination of the original meanings of the characters "雨" (rain) and "水" (water), the astronomical positioning of the sun at 330° of celestial longitude, and the three phenological signs of the term, combined with Laozi's teaching that 'the highest good is like water,' Guanzi's view of water as the origin of all things, and the Book of Changes' vision of Heaven-One begetting water and clouds moving to bring forth rain, the essay reveals the virtue of water and the meaning—between Heaven and humanity—of spring rain nourishing all things.
Chapter 15 Musical Pitch and Yushui: The Jue Note, the Taicu Pitch-Pipe, and the Harmony of Heaven and Earth
1. The Five Notes Correspond to the Five Phases: The Jue Note Belongs to Wood, to Spring
In Chapter Three, when discussing the Five Phases correspondences in the "Monthly Ordinances" of the Book of Rites, we already mentioned that the first month of spring has "jue" as its note. Here let us explore, in greater depth, the relationship between musical pitch and Yushui.
In the correspondence between the Five Notes (gong, shang, jue, zhi, yu) and the Five Phases: gong belongs to Earth (the center), shang belongs to Metal (autumn), jue belongs to Wood (spring), zhi belongs to Fire (summer), and yu belongs to Water (winter). Yushui belongs to spring, and its note is jue.
Why does the jue note correspond to Wood, to spring$20 This must be understood through the tonal qualities of the jue note itself. Among the Five Notes, the jue note occupies a middle pitch (above gong and shang, below zhi and yu), and its tonal quality is clear and resonant, carrying a sense of "germination" and "rising." This clear, rising tonal quality corresponds to the atmosphere of spring, when all things germinate and vitality bursts forth. The ancients believed that the qi of Heaven and Earth in each season possessed its own particular "vibrational frequency," and that the frequency of spring's germinating Wood qi resonated precisely with the frequency of the jue note. Thus, performing the jue note in spring (including during the Yushui season) could harmonize with the qi of Heaven and Earth, achieving the effect of "Heaven and humanity resonating with one another."
At a deeper level, the character "jue" (角) itself is associated with "germination" and "sprouting." "Jue" refers to the horn newly grown on an animal's head, and also to the sharp new tip of a sprouting plant (related to the "mang" in "Goumang"). The very name of the "jue" note carries within it the image of "new growth," "germination"—this aligns remarkably closely with the core phenological sign of Yushui, "plants and trees beginning to sprout." When we hear the clear, resonant jue note during the Yushui season, that very sound seems like an auditory expression of plants and trees sprouting, their sharp tips just emerging. Sound (jue), thing (plants and trees sprouting), phase (Wood), and season (spring) achieve, here, a perfect unity.
2. The Twelve Pitch-Pipes and the First Month's Taicu
Beyond the correspondence between the Five Notes and the Five Phases, the pre-Qin period also had a more precise system correlating the "Twelve Pitch-Pipes" with the twelve months. The Twelve Pitch-Pipes (Huangzhong, Dalü, Taicu, Jiazhong, Guxi, Zhonglü, Ruibin, Linzhong, Yize, Nanlü, Wuyi, Yingzhong) each correspond to one of the twelve months.
The first month (yin month), in which Yushui falls, corresponds to the pitch-pipe "Taicu." The "Monthly Ordinances" chapter of the Book of Rites records, for the first month of spring: "Its note is jue; its pitch-pipe accords with Taicu"—in the first month of spring, the note is jue, and the pitch-pipe accords with Taicu.
Why does the first month correspond to Taicu$21 The character "cu" (簇) in "Taicu" carries the sense of "gathering together," "clustering," "massing." One interpretation holds that Taicu symbolizes the scene of the first month, when yang qi flourishes greatly and the ten thousand things cluster and mass forth into being. In winter, all things lie hidden; by the first month (the Yushui season), yang qi rouses them, and the ten thousand things burst forth in clusters—plants and trees sprout, fish revive, wild geese return north, and the whole of Heaven and Earth presents a bustling scene of "life clustering forth." The pitch-pipe "Taicu" is precisely the musical expression of this atmosphere of "the ten thousand things clustering forth into life."
The correspondence between the Twelve Pitch-Pipes and the twelve months embodies the ancients' subtle notion of "observing qi through pitch." The ancients believed that the qi of Heaven and Earth in each month possessed its own particular "pitch"—a particular vibration, a particular tone. By performing the pitch-pipe corresponding to the current month (such as performing Taicu in the first month), one could harmonize with the qi of Heaven and Earth, thereby "according with the timing of Heaven." There was even a theory of "observing qi": reed ashes were placed within the twelve pitch-pipe tubes, buried underground, and when the earthly qi of a given month rose, the reed ashes within the corresponding pitch-pipe tube would supposedly fly out. Though this account is difficult to verify, it reflects an exceedingly profound conviction of the ancients: that the qi of Heaven and Earth possessed "pitch," possessed "rhythm," possessed "musicality"—that the operation of the entire cosmos was itself one grand musical composition.
3. The Harmony of Heaven and Earth: Music and Cosmic Order
Why did the ancients attach such importance to the correspondence between musical pitch and the seasons, between pitch and the qi of Heaven and Earth$22 Because, in the ancients' conception, music was not merely entertainment, but the embodiment and preservation of cosmic order.
The "Record of Music" chapter of the Book of Rites says: "Music is the harmony of Heaven and Earth; ritual propriety is the order of Heaven and Earth." Music is the harmony of Heaven and Earth; ritual propriety is the order of Heaven and Earth. The essence of music is "harmony" (he)—an embodiment of the harmonious coexistence of Heaven, Earth, and the ten thousand things. And the greatest "harmony" between Heaven and Earth is none other than the orderly succession of the four seasons, the harmonious resonance of yin and yang. Thus the pitches corresponding to the four seasons (such as spring's jue note, the first month's Taicu) essentially use music to embody and preserve the "harmony" of Heaven and Earth.
The pitches of the Yushui season (the jue note, Taicu) thus carry a profound cosmological significance. They are not merely sounds corresponding to spring's Wood qi, but an auditory expression of the "harmony" of Heaven and Earth itself. When the ancients performed the jue note and Taicu during the Yushui season, they were not merely "according with the season," but were, through music, participating in, embodying, and preserving the "harmony" of Heaven and Earth—participating in that grand cosmic composition formed by the succession of the four seasons and the resonance of yin and yang.
The "Record of Music" also says: "The greatest music shares its harmony with Heaven and Earth; the greatest ritual propriety shares its measure with Heaven and Earth." The highest music is harmonious together with Heaven and Earth; the highest ritual system is measured together with Heaven and Earth. The fine patter of spring rain during the Yushui season, the sound of streams just beginning to thaw, the faint trembling of tender shoots, the calling of the wild geese—all these natural sounds, to the ancients' ears, were themselves the "great music" performed by Heaven and Earth, the highest music that "shares its harmony with Heaven and Earth." And the jue note and Taicu, performed by human beings, were a response to and participation in this grand music of Heaven and Earth. In this resonance between human music and Heaven's music, the ancients experienced the supreme state of "sharing harmony with Heaven and Earth"—this is the most profound meaning of the pitches of Yushui.
4. Rain Entering Music: The Aesthetic Sublimation of Natural Sound
Finally, let us appreciate, from an aesthetic perspective, how the "sound of rain" during the Yushui season is sublimated into something musical and poetic.
The sound of rain is the most distinctive sound of the Yushui season. The spring rain patters down, now like pearls falling on jade, now like fingers gently plucking a string, now like a soft whisper—that fine, gentle, rhythmic sound of rain possesses, in itself, a musical beauty. The ancients' aesthetic appreciation of the sound of rain sprang from their holistic love of the sounds of nature. As discussed earlier, in the ancients' view, all the sounds of Heaven, Earth, and the ten thousand things (the sound of wind, the sound of water, the sound of rain, the sound of insects, the sound of birds) were components of Heaven and Earth's "great music." The sound of rain, as the gentlest and most poetic voice within this grand composition of Heaven and Earth, was naturally treasured and aesthetically appreciated by the ancients as well.
This aesthetic appreciation of the sound of rain embodies the realization, on the aesthetic level, of the pre-Qin cosmology of "the unity of Heaven and humanity." When a person can quiet their mind and listen to the sound of spring rain, apprehending its rhythm, its cadence, its gentleness—this is, in itself, an aesthetic experience of "sharing harmony with Heaven and Earth." In this experience, a person is no longer a mere onlooker of nature, but merges into Heaven and Earth's great music, becoming a listener to, and participant in, that cosmic symphony. During the Yushui season, to listen to a spring rain is to listen to the gentlest movement in the composition of Heaven and Earth—this is the most direct, and most poetic, aesthetic revelation the pitches of Yushui offer us.