7 | Questions of Orientation

IN the primordial age man was perfectly balanced in himself in terms of yin and yang. What is more, he was yin or passive in relation to the Principle alone, and yang or active in relation to the Cosmos, or the totality of manifested things. Hence he naturally turned to the North, which is yin,^[1] as the complementary to himself.

By way of contrast, as a result of the spiritual degeneration occurring in the descending course of the cycle, the man of later ages became yin in relation to the Cosmos. He must therefore turn to the South, which is yang, to receive from it the influences of the principle complementary to the one which has become predominant inside him, and to restore as much as possible the equilibrium between yin and yang.

The first of these two orientations can be called ‘polar’, in contrast to the second which is ‘solar’. In the first, man faces towards the Pole Star, or ‘pinnacle of heaven’, with the East to his right and the West to his left. In the second case he faces towards the Sun at the meridian, with the East to his left and the West to his right. Here we have the explanation for an apparent anomaly in the Far-Eastern tradition which can be very disconcerting for those who are not aware of its cause.^[2]

It so happens that in China the side generally given preeminence is the left. We say ‘generally’ because this has not always been the case throughout the course of history. In the time of the historian Szu-ma Ch'ien (that is, in the second century B.C.) it would appear that the right had gained the upper hand over the left, at least where the hierarchy of official posts and functions was concerned.^[3] It seems that, in this domain at least, some kind of attempt was made at this particular time at a ‘return to the origins’. This attempt will doubtless have coincided with a change of dynasty, for changes of this kind in the human sphere are traditionally always brought into correspondence with certain modifications in the cosmic domain itself.^[4]

At an earlier period, however—although certainly at a period already far removed from primordial times—it was the left that predominated. We can see this for example from the following passage in Lao Tzu: ‘In matters that are favourable (or of good omen) the left is placed uppermost, but in affairs that are ill-omened, the right.’^[5] And at approximately the same period we also find it said that ‘Humanity is the right, the Way is the left’,^[6] which clearly shows the inferiority of right compared to left. So left was yang in relation to right, and right yin in relation to left.

Now the proof that all this is a direct consequence of the particular orientation adopted in turning towards the South can be found in a treatise ascribed to Chuang Tzu, who is thought to have lived in the seventh century B.C. In the treatise we are referring to, the following saying occurs: ‘Spring gives birth (to creatures) on the left, autumn destroys on the right, summer gives increase in front, winter puts into reserve behind’. According to the universally admitted correspondence between the seasons and the cardinal points, spring corresponds to the East and autumn to the West, summer to the South and winter to the North.^[7] This means that South here is in front and North behind, This passage is particularly interesting, because it links preeminence of the right with the ‘Way of Heaven’ and preeminence of the left with the ‘Way of Earth’; that the reasons it gives for this correlation are more in the nature of ‘illustrations’ drawn from sensory appearances is immaterial. Now the ‘Way of Heaven’ is by definition superior to the ‘Way of Earth’. One could say that it is because men have lost sight of the ‘Way of Heaven’ that they have ended up conforming to the ‘Way of Earth’: a clear indication of the difference between the primordial age and the succeeding ages of spiritual degeneration. Another reason why this passage is so interesting is that it allows us to infer an inverse relationship between the movement of Heaven and the movement of Earth^[11] which is in strict conformity with the general law of analogy. This inversion will always occur when it is a question of two terms opposed to each other in such a way that one of them is as it were a reflection of the other—a reflection that is reversed, just as the image of an object in a mirror is reversed in relation to the object itself, so that the right of the image corresponds to the left of the object and vice versa.^[12]

While on this subject we will add one observation which, however elementary it may seem in itself, is far from insignificant. This is that, particularly when it is a question of right and left, the greatest care must always be taken to specify the perspective from which the opposites are being viewed. When for example someone refers to the right and left of a symbolic figure, is he really referring to the right and left of the figure itself or to the right and left of a spectator observing it from a position directly in front of it? In fact either alternative could be the case. When one is dealing with the figure of a human or some other living being, there is hardly any room for doubt as to which side we should call its right and which side we should call its left; but the situation is no longer the same when we turn to some other object—to a geometrical figure for example, or a monument. In these cases right and left are normally determined by adopting the point of view of the observer,^[13] and yet this is by no means always the case. Sometimes right and left can be ascribed to an object or figure viewed in isolation and in its own right, and this will of course give a perspective exactly contrary to an observer’s point of view.^[14] In short, in the absence of precise indications in each particular case one can be drawn into committing quite serious errors.^[15]

Another question directly related to the subject of orientation has to do with the direction of the ritual ‘circumambulations’ in the various formal traditions. It is not hard to see that the direction will in fact be determined on the basis of whether the orientation is ‘polar’ or ‘solar’ (using these words in the sense in which we used them above). If we study the diagrams overleaf,^[16] we will see that the first of them shows the direction in which the stars appear to orbit the pole when we face towards the North (figure 13). By way of contrast, the second shows the direction of the apparent movement of the Sun for an observer facing towards the South (figure 14). In the first case the circumambulation is performed keeping the centre to one’s left; in the second (called pradakshinā in Sanskrit), keeping it to one’s right. This second modality is the one adopted chiefly in the Hindu and Tibetan traditions, while the former is encountered mainly in the Islamic tradition.^[17]

Also bound up with this difference in direction is the question of whether the right foot or the left foot is the first to be moved forward in the ritual walk. If we look back at the same diagrams it will become obvious that the foot which has to be put forward first will be the one opposite to the side facing in towards the centre of the circumambulation: that is, the right foot in the first case (figure 13), the left foot in the second (figure 14). This sequence is generally adhered to even when it is not strictly speaking a question of circumambulation as such, simply because it is an indication of the predominance of either the ‘polar’ or the ‘solar’ perspective. This predominance may be associated with a particular traditional form, or it can sometimes even vary at different periods in the span of existence of one and the same tradition.^[18]

So all these matters are far from being merely more or less insignificant details, as those who know nothing of either symbolism or rites might tend to believe. On the contrary, they are bound up with a whole body of ideas that play a fundamental role in all traditions, and it would be possible to give many other examples besides those already provided. As far as the question of orientation is concerned, there would also be good grounds for dealing as well with matters such as its relationship to the course of the annual cycle^[19] and to the symbolism of the ‘gates of the zodiac’: here once again we would find another case of the inversion which we already noted in the relationship between the ‘celestial’ and the ‘terrestrial’. But to go into these matters here would require too long a digression, and doubtless they will find a place in other studies.^[20]