Origin: Huainan Zi (also known as Huainan and Liu) is a philosophical work written by Liu An, king of Huainan, and his disciples in the Western Han Dynasty.
Excerpt from the original text: Where the terrain is latitude in the east and west, longitude in the north and south, virtue in the mountains, punishment in Sichuan, life as the top, death as the bottom, stag as the hill. Those who bend the water circle have pearls, and those who bend the water circle have jade. Clear water has gold, and Long Yuan has jade.
The land is born of the same kind, so there are many men in the mountains, many women in the weather, many obstacles, many deaf people in the atmosphere, many forests, many Woods, many rocks, many obstacles, many summers, many cold days, many joint pains in the valleys, many madness in the mountains, and so on. Light soil is beneficial, heavy soil is late, clear water is quiet, turbid water is loud, those who rush in water are light, those who are late are heavy, and there are many saints in China.
All are like qi, and all should be the same. Therefore, there is immortal grass in the south, ruthless ice in the north, a country of gentlemen in the east and tangible corpses in the west. Sleep in a dream, people die like ghosts, magnets fly, mica comes to water, earth dragons cause rain, and geese fly instead. Clams, crabs, pearls, turtles, with the rise and fall of the moon, there are strong natives, weak natives and obese natives, rich natives, thin sand people, beautiful natives and ugly natives.
Water eaters are good at swimming but can be cold, soil eaters are thick and wise, wood eaters are strong and foolish, grass eaters are good at doing, leaves eaters are silk and moths, meat eaters are brave and fierce, gas eaters live long, and food eaters die of wisdom. He who doesn't eat is a fairy, and he is God.
Excerpt translation
All landforms are basically classified in this way, the east-west direction is called latitude, and the north-south direction is called longitude. The mountain is high and steady, so it is a symbol of kindness and generosity, and the water is a symbol of cunning and deceit because it flows without a certain residence. High and sunny places can promote the growth of all things, while low and dark places will accelerate the decline of living things.
Mountains and peaks reveal masculinity because of their grandeur, while valleys and valleys reveal femininity because of their profundity. The area where the water wave turns round contains pearls, and the area where the water wave turns round contains jade; Clear water produces gold, and muddy Longtan must have the essence of jade. Land has its own different categories, so it has a certain impact on the goods it produces.
Therefore, if there are many clouds in the mountains, people will easily have boys, and if there are many swamps and fogs, most of them will have girls; Damp heat and miasma can make people speechless, and evil spirits can make people deaf; If the forest gas is too heavy, it will make people lame, and if the forest gas is too heavy, people will easily hunch over.
If the air on the river bank is heavy, people are prone to swollen feet, people living in rocky areas have great strength, and people living in dangerous areas are prone to thick neck disease; The heat in summer makes people short-lived, while the cold helps people live longer; Blowing too much air in the valley is easy to paralyze limbs. If you blow too much air on the mountain, your bones will bend easily. The gas of the plain can make people kind, and the gas of the earth mountain can make people greedy.
Where the soil is soft, people walk fast, and where the soil is hard, people are forced to walk slowly; Clear water can make people's voice soft, while turbid water can make people's voice rich; People who live near fast water are gentle, while those who live near slow water become clumsy. There will be many saints in the center of Kyushu.
In a word, people's psychological, physiological characteristics and personality are influenced by the terrain and climate characteristics of their place of residence, and are consistent with these laws. Because of this, there are many evergreen grasses in the south and many enduring ice in the north; There are many long-lived gentlemen in the East, and slaughtered bodies often appear in the West.
Dreams in sleep can come true, and immortals will become ghosts after death; Magnets can attract metal objects, and mica can attract dew; Earth dragons can rain in dry days, swallows and geese travel to the north according to certain seasons, and clams, crabs, pearls and turtles can rise and fall with the moon.
Therefore, people who live on hard ground are often strong, while those who live on soft ground are weak; People who live on black hard ground are strong, while people who live on sand are short. People who grow up in fertile land live beautifully, while people who grow up in barren land have ugly faces.
Because of this, the fish that eats water is cold-resistant, the earthworm that eats soil is heartless but still smart, the bear that eats wood is strong and irritable, and the deer that eats grass is good at running but not smart.
Leaf-eating silkworms spin cocoons and finally emerge into moths. Carnivorous tigers, leopards and eagles are fierce and cruel by nature. Wang Qiao and Akamatsu, who ate the gas and got the spirit, lived a long life. People who eat grains are smart but short-lived, but they can cultivate into gods without eating anything.
Extended data:
Brief Introduction of Huainanzi
Huainanzi (also known as Huainan and Liu) is a philosophical work written by Liu An, the king of Huainan in the Western Han Dynasty, and his disciples, which belongs to essays.
According to legend, Huai Nan Zi was written by Liu An, the king of Huai Nan in the Western Han Dynasty, hence its name. On the basis of inheriting the pre-Qin Taoist thought, this book integrates the essence of a hundred schools of thought and plays an irreplaceable role in the study of Qin and Han cultures in later generations. Ban Gu listed it as a "miscellaneous family" in the Records of Han Shu Literature and Art, and the General Catalogue of Sikuquanshu was also listed as a "miscellaneous family", belonging to the Ministry.
Based on the pre-Qin Taoist thought, this book combines Yin and Yang, Mohism, Legalism and some Confucianism, but its theme belongs to Taoism. "Red" means broad, while "fierce" means bright (Biography of Huainan Lie Hong by Gaoyou in the Eastern Han Dynasty). The author believes that this book, like Tao, contains broad and bright truth.
Liu An's father, Chang Lu, was the illegitimate son of Emperor Gaozu, and was named King of Huainan. As the eldest son, Liu An inherited his father's title, so he was also called the King of Huainan. Liu An's Huai Nan Zi aims at Liu Che, the Emperor of the Han Dynasty, and opposes his political reform.
The original book "Huai Nan Zi" has twenty-one volumes in the inner chapter, eight volumes in the middle chapter and thirty-three volumes in the outer chapter. So far, only the internal chapters have survived. Most of the published versions are published after the internal chapters are deleted. "Talking about forests, mountains and people's leisure are all ancient things."
The ideological content of this book is mainly Taoism, and at the same time it is mixed with the theories of pre-Qin philosophers, so it is listed as a miscellaneous family in Hanshu Yiwenzhi. Liang Qichao said: "Lie Hong in Huainan is a master of Taoism in the Western Han Dynasty. His book is profound and clear, and it is first-class in Han Chinese writings. " Hu Shi said: "Taoism is a great achievement of ancient thought, and Huainan Book is a great achievement of Taoism."
Liu Wendian wrote an anthology about Huainan and Lie Hong.
brief Introduction of the content
The account of Huainanzi is divided into twenty-one, eight and thirty-three, with Taoism in the inner part, health preservation in the middle part and miscellaneous remarks in the outer part. Mainly based on Taoist thought, it combines Confucianism, law, yin and yang. , and generally listed Huai Nan Zi as a saint.
In fact, this book is the representative work of Huang Lao's research theory system, which is guided by Taoism and absorbed hundreds of theories from the Warring States to the early Han Dynasty.
In explaining philosophy, Huainanzi refers to strange things and ghosts and gods, and retains some mythological materials, such as ancient myths such as the goddess mending the sky, Houyi shooting at the sun, the mountains and rivers around the workers, the Goddess Chang'e flying to the moon, Dayu harnessing the water, and a blessing in disguise, which are mainly spread by this book.