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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 intermediate points—is ascribed by tradition to Yü the Great (Ta 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,^[3] we see here the use to which the square was put as the instrument ascribed to the Emperor as 'Lord of the Earth'.

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

| 4 | 9 | 2 | | --- | --- | --- | | 3 | 5 | 7 | | 8 | 1 | 6 |

Figure 16 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 meeting-point 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 which these 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.

Footnotes

[1]The China of that time was apparently the territory between the Yellow River and the Blue River.

[2]The extraordinary similarity between the names and epithets of Yü the Great and Hu Gadarn in Celtic tradition is curious, to say the least. Are we to suppose subsequent 'localisations' of one and the same 'prototype' which itself goes back much further in time — perhaps even to the primordial Tradition itself? In fact, however, this parallel is no more striking than the parallelisms we noted elsewhere when discussing the 'island of the four Masters' visited by Emperor Yao—the very same Emperor whom Yü the Great originally served as minister. See The Lord of the World, chapter 9.

[3]This particular square (as we mentioned earlier) had arms of equal length, for the simple reason that both the Empire itself and its divisions were regarded as being perfect squares.

[4]The other traditional diagram is the Ho Tu or 'River Scene'; the numbers in it are arranged in an intersecting 'cross' shape. As the Lo Chu is associated with Yü the Great and the tortoise, so the Ho Tu is linked with Fu Hsi and the dragon.

[5]We have no choice but to use this expression for the simple reason that no better way of describing it exists. However, it has the disadvantage of highlighting only one—very specialised—use of numerical squares of this kind, i.e. their use in connection with the making of talismans. The basic property of these squares is that the numbers on every line—vertical, horizontal and also diagonal—always add up to the same number, which in this particular case is 15.

[6]If we replace the number at the centre by the yin-yang symbol (figure 9), and the other numbers by the eight kua or trigrams, we end up with a square or ‘terrestrial’ equivalent of the usual circular or ‘celestial’ diagram. This contains the kua arranged either in the ‘primary Heaven’ (shen T’ien) format associated with Fu Hsi, or in the ‘secondary Heaven’ (kou T’ien) format attributed to Wen Wang.

[7]5 multiplied by 9 is 45, and the sum total by addition of all nine numbers in the square—of which the number 5 is the ‘centre’—is also 45.

[8]It is worth recalling here our earlier comments on 5 + 6 = 11 as expressing the ‘central union of Heaven and Earth’ (above, chapter 8). In the square, every number added to its (symmetrically) opposite number produces 10 = 5 × 2. Also worth noting is the fact that the odd, or yang, numbers occupy the central position on each side of the square (the cardinal points) and form a cross (dynamic aspect). On the other hand, the even or yin numbers occupy the corners of the square (the intermediary points) and define or delimit the square itself (static aspect).

[9]Compare the Kingdom of Mide, or ‘Middle’ Kingdom, in ancient Ireland. However, in this case the kingdom was surrounded by only four other kingdoms, each one corresponding to one of the cardinal points. See The Lord of the World, chapter 9.

[10]This word should be understood in the same technical sense that we find in geometry in the expression ‘similar figures’.

[11]This central point was not exactly the same as what the formula used in Western initiations calls _centrum in trigono centri_; rather, it could be described as _centrum in quadrato centri_.

[12]Other traditions also have comparable cases of a ‘concentration’ in successive stages. In _The Lord of the World_ (chapter 6) we mentioned one from the Hebrew Kabbalah: ‘The Tabernacle of the Holiness of Jehovah in which the Shekhinah resides is the Holy of Holies, which is the heart of the Temple, which in turn is the centre of Zion (Jerusalem), just as holy Zion is the centre of the Land of Israel and the Land of Israel is the centre of the world’.

[13]See _The Lord of the World_, and also _Aperçus sur l’Initiation_, chapter 10.

[14]In the note before last we cited the Land of Israel as one example of a country being identified with the ‘Centre of the World’. To give just one other example, we will cite the case of ancient Egypt. According to Plutarch (Isis and Osiris, chapter 33), ‘the Egyptians call their country Chemia [Kemi, or ‘black earth’: hence the word ‘alchemy’] and compare it to a heart’. Whatever geographical or other justifications for this comparison may have been provided at an exoteric level, its true justification lies in Egypt’s being identified with the ‘Heart of the World’.

[15]See The Lord of the World, chapter 3; The Symbolism of the Cross, chapter 7. This is exactly the role ascribed to the Temple of Jerusalem in the Hebrew tradition. Hence the Tabernacle or Holy of Holies was called mishkan, the ‘divine abode’, and only the High Priest himself was allowed to enter it, with the specific purpose of fulfilling—just like the Emperor of China—his function as ‘mediator’.

[16]The determination of a location actually capable of representing this ‘Invariable Middle’ was essentially a task reserved for the traditional science which on other occasions we have referred to as ‘sacred geography’.

[17]It is not out of place here to compare this meaning of the term Ming T’ang with the identical sense implicit in the word ‘Lodge’, which we have already commented on elsewhere (Aperçus sur l’Initiation, chapter 46. Hence the Masonic expression ‘place of great illumination and decorum’: see The Lord of the World, chapter 3). Also, both Ming [^Continuation]: T'ang and Lodge are images or symbols of the Cosmos (or Loka, taking this Sanskrit term in its etymological sense), viewed as the realm or 'field' of manifestation of the Light: see The Reign of Quantity and the Signs of the Times, chapter 3. It is also worth noting the way that the Ming T'ang is reproduced in the initiation places which belonged to the T'ien Ti Huei (cf. B. Favre, Les Sociétés secrètes en Chine, pp. 138–9, 170). One of the principal mottoes of this organisation is 'To destroy the darkness (ching) and restore the light (ming)', just as the Master Masons must work to 'spread the light and gather in what is scattered'. The narrow interpretation of this motto in recent times as referring on the principle of 'homophony' to the Ming and Ch'ing dynasties only applies to one contingent and temporary goal assigned to certain exoteric 'emanations' of this organisation which worked purely in the social and even political domain.

[18]We have already discussed the initiatic meaning of 'Light' in sufficient detail elsewhere: see Aperçus sur l'Initiation, especially chapters 4, 46 and 47. As far as the 'central' position of Light in manifestation is concerned, it is also worth recalling our earlier remarks on the Blazing Star as a symbol of regenerated Man, whose place is at the 'Centre' between the square and the compasses which, like the base and the roof of the Ming T'ang, correspond to Earth and Heaven respectively.

[19]In the Hindu tradition Sun and Moon are the two eyes of Vaishvanara, associated with the two currents of subtle force. The Sun corresponds to the right-hand current (the yang aspect of the cosmic force that we spoke of earlier), the Moon to the left-hand current (the yin aspect of the same force): see Man and his Becoming according to the Vedanta, chapters 13 and 21. The Far-Eastern tradition calls the Sun the 'eye of day' and the Moon the 'eye of night'; it should hardly be necessary to repeat that day is yang and night yin.

[20]They are discussed by Granet in La Pensée chinoise, pages 250–75. The ritual of marking off the area for a building such as the Ming T'ang was equivalent to the determination of a templum in the original and etymological sense of the word. See Aperçus sur l'Initiation, chapter 17.

[21]This square format is strictly speaking a terrestrial projection of the circular form of the celestial zodiac.

[22]See The Lord of the World, chapter 11; The Reign of Quantity and the Signs of the Times, chapter 20. The ‘Heavenly Jerusalem’ is also laid out in the form of a square.

[23]At the end of each cycle time itself is also ‘changed into space’ so that all of its separate phases can then be viewed simultaneously. See The Reign of Quantity and the Signs of the Times, chapter 23.

[24]See The Lord of the World, chapters 4 and 11; The Symbolism of the Cross, chapter 9.

[25]If the year begins at the spring equinox, this annual mid-point falls at the autumn equinox. As a rule this was generally the case in the Far-Eastern tradition, although at certain periods alterations occurred in line with the changes in orientation which we mentioned earlier. That the year should begin at the spring equinox is after all only to be expected when we consider the geographical localisation of this particular tradition, given that East corresponds to spring. It is perhaps worth repeating here that the East-West axis is equinoctial, whereas the North-South axis is solsticial.

16 | The Ming T'ang

Footnotes