16 The Ming T'ang
Towards the end of the third millennium b.c. China was divided into nine provinces, [1] and these provinces were arranged geometrically as in the following diagram (figure 16).
This division of the provinces-one at the centre, and the remaining eight at the four cardinal points and the four in-
Figure 16
termediate points-is ascribed by tradition to Yü the Great (Yü). [2] The story goes that he travelled across the world to 'measure the Earth'; and as he did his measuring in the form of a square, we see here the use to which the square was put as the instrument ascribed to the Emperor as 'Lord of the Earth'. [3]
Legend says that Yü the Great derived the inspiration for his division into nine from a diagram called Lo Chu, the 'Writing of the Lake'. This diagram was brought to him by a tortoise, [4] and it shows the nine primary
numbers arranged in the form of the so-called 'magic square'. [5] By applying this division to the Empire, Yü the Great turned it into an image of the universe.
In this 'magic square' [6] the central place is occupied by the number 5, which is itself the 'middle' of the nine primary numbers. [7] It is also, as we saw earlier, the 'central' number of Earth, as 6 is the 'central' number of Heaven. [8] The central province corresponding to this number was where the Emperor lived; its name was the 'Middle Kingdom' (Chung Kuo). [9] Later, as we are supposed to understand, this term was applied by transference to China as a whole.
However, there are grounds for calling into question this notion of subsequent transference of the designation 'Middle Kingdom' to the whole of China. In fact just as the 'Middle Kingdom' occupied a central position in the Empire, so from the very beginning the Empire itself in its entirety could be conceived of as occupying an analogous position in relation to the world as a whole. This is after all an immediate logical consequence of the fact that the Empire was constituted, as we just said, in such a way
as to form an image of the universe. The fundamental significance of this fact is that in reality everything is contained in the centre, for in an 'archetypal' sense everything that is to be found anywhere in the entire universe can be discovered in the centre. This allows for the possibility of an entire series of similar [10] images, arranged concentrically and on an ever-decreasing scale, and culminating at the very centre in the Emperor's place of residence. [11] As for the Emperor himself, we have already seen that he occupied the position of 'true man', and fulfilled the function of 'true man' as 'mediator' between Heaven and Earth. [12]
This 'central' position attributed to the Chinese Empire in relation to the world as a whole should cause no surprise. After all, we find the identical phenomenon in every single country where the spiritual centre of a particular tradition was established. In each case the centre was an emanation or reflection of the highest spiritual centre - that is, of the centre of the primordial Tradition itself, from which all legitimate formal traditions are derived through adaptation to circumstances of time and place. Thanks to this process of derivation and adaptation, each subsequent centre was created in the image of this supreme centre, with which in a virtual sense it was identified. [13] That is why each country containing such a spiritual centre became a 'Holy Land', and hence the symbolic names given to these countries such as 'Centre of the World' or 'Heart of the World'. For anyone belonging to the tradition that had its home in such a country these names were a living reality, because it was through the secondary centre corresponding to that tradition that communication with the supreme
spiritual centre was possible. [14] The place where this secondary centre was established was destined-in the language of the Hebrew Kabbalah-to be the place of manifestation of the Shekhinah or 'Divine Presence'. [15] In Far-Eastern terminology it is the point where the 'Action of Heaven' is directly reflected: that is, as we have seen, it is the 'Invariable Middle' at the meetingpoint between the 'World Axis' and the realm of human possibilities. [16] It is crucially important to observe here that the Shekhinah has always been depicted as 'Light', just as the 'World Axis'-as we have already pointed out-is symbolically described as a 'ray of light'.
We mentioned a short while ago that just as the Chinese Empire as a whole was an image of the universe owing to its method of arrangement and division, so also a similar image should be discoverable in the central location marked by the Emperor's residence. This was indeed the case. The name of this central image was Ming T'ang, which certain sinologists-unable to see beyond its most external aspect-have translated as 'House of the Calendar'. In fact, however, the name literally means 'Temple of Light'. The connection between this and what we said a moment ago about the Shekhinah and the World Axis should hardly need emphasising. [17] The Chinese character ming is in fact
made up of two different characters, one of which represents the Sun, the other the Moon. It therefore expresses the idea of light in both its modes of manifestation: direct on the one hand, reflected on the other. The reason for this is that although light in itself is essentially yang, in order to manifest itself it must-like everything else-assume two complementary aspects, one yang, the other yin. [18] In the sphere of manifestation, yang can never be found without yin or yin without yang, and while the Sun corresponds to yang, the Moon corresponds to yin. [19]
The Ming T'ang was designed on exactly the same lines as the division of the Empire explained above (figure 16). It contained nine different rooms arranged in exactly the same pattern as the nine provinces-with the one difference that the Ming T'ang and its rooms were not exact squares but rectangles of varying degrees of elongation. These degrees of elongation varied from dynasty to dynasty, just like the height of the chariot pole that we mentioned
earlier. Without going into details [20]-for it is the principle alone that concerns us here - it will be sufficient just to state that these variations were connected with the different cyclic periods to whichthese dynasties corresponded.
There were twelve entrances to the Ming T'ang, three on each of its sides; the rooms at the centre of each side had only one entrance, while the corner rooms had two. These twelve entrances corresponded to the twelve months of the year: the three on the east side to the three months of spring, the three on the south side to the months of summer, the three on the west to the months of autumn and the three on the north to the winter months. The twelve doors accordingly made up a zodiac. [21] In this respect they corresponded exactly to the twelve gates of the 'heavenly Jerusalem' as described in the Apocalypse, [22] which also is both the 'Centre of the World' and a symbolic image of the Universe in both a spatial and a temporal sense. [23]
During the course of the annual cycle, the Emperor completed a circumambulation of the Ming T'ang in what we earlier called the 'solar' direction (figure 14). He would proceed in turn from one station to the next, each station corresponding to one of the entrances; and at each of the twelve stations he would pronounce the edicts (yüeh ling) appropriate to that month. In this way he identified himself in turn with each of the 'twelve suns', which are the twelve adityas of Hindu tradition, and also the 'twelve fruits of the Tree of Life' according to the symbolism of the Apocalypse. [24] This circumambulation always included a return to the centre,
marking the midpoint of the year. [25] Exactly the same procedure was followed when the Emperor visited his Empire: he would go from province to province in the corresponding sequence, and then return to his residence at the centre. And according to Far-Eastern tradition it was the same again with the Sun itself, which after completing a cycle-whether the cycle of a day, a month or a year-always goes back to rest on its tree. This tree of course stands for the 'World Axis', just as does the 'Tree of Life' situated at the centre of the 'terrestrial Paradise' and the 'heavenly Jerusalem'.
From all this it will be apparent that the Emperor's role was that of 'regulator' of the cosmic order itself. This role naturally presupposes that the influences of Heaven and Earth will achieve union either in him or through him. As we mentioned earlier, there is a sense in which these influences correspond respectively to the temporal and spatial determinations which we find coordinated and directly related to each other in the Ming T'ang.