presence) to the spirits (of their hills and streams), it is said, "Here is he, so-and-so, who is king by (the grace of) Heaven." 32. His death is announced in the words, "The king by (the grace of) Heaven has fallen[1]." In calling back (his spirit), they say, "Return, O son of Heaven[2]." When announcement is made (to all the states) of the mourning for him, it is said, "The king by (the grace of) Heaven has gone far on high[3]." When his place is given to him in the ancestral temple, and his spirit-tablet is set up, he is styled on it, "the god[4]." 33. The son of Heaven, while he has not left off his mourning, calls himself, "I, the little child." While alive, he is so styled; and if he die (during that
time), he continues to be so designated.
- ↑ A great landslip from a mountain is called pǎng, which I have rendered "has fallen." Like such a disaster was the death of the king.
- ↑ This ancient practice of calling the dead back is still preserved in China; and by the people generally. There are many references to it in subsequent Books.
- ↑ The body and animal soul went downward, and were in the grave; the intelligent soul (called "the soul and spirit," "the essential breath") went far on high. Such is the philosophical account of death; more natural is the simple style of the text.
- ↑ The spirit-tablet was a rectangular piece of wood, in the case of a king, a cubit and two inches long, supposed to be a resting-place for the spirit at the religious services in the temple. Kâng says that the deceased king was now treated as "a heavenly spirit,"—he was now deified. P. Zottoli translates the character here—Tî—by imperator; but there was in those times no "emperor" in China.
