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Illustrated Explanation of the Sacred Edicts (Shengyu tujie 聖諭圖解),
1587 (stone); late 19th to first half of 20th century (rubbing)
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1587 (stone); late 19th to first half of 20th century (rubbing)
Asia, China
Explanations in prose, verse, and picture to the Ming dynasty Emperor Taizu’s Sacred Edict in Six Maxims (Shengyu liuyu 聖諭六語):
Be filial to your parents.
Be respectful to your elders.
Live in harmony with your neighbors.
Instruct your sons and grandsons.
Be content with your calling
Do no evil.
(trans. in Maria Franca Sibau, Reading for the Moral: Exemplarity and the Confucian Moral Imagination in Seventeenth-Century Chinese Short Fiction [Albany: SUNY Press, 2018] p.1)
Each maxim receives four panels with an interpretation of the maxim’s theme or principle at upper right, verses (ge 歌) at upper left, a selected picture (tu 圖) illustrating the maxim at lower right, and an explanation (jie 解) of the picture at lower left. The four-panel block for “Be filial to your parents” (xiaoshun fumu 孝順父母) is in the top row at right, “Be respectful to your elders” (zunjing zhangshang 尊敬長上) at top left, “Live in harmony with your neighbors” (hemu xiangli 和睦鄉里) at middle right, “Instruct your sons and grandsons” (jiaoxun zisun 教訓子孫) at middle left, “Be content with your calling” (ge’an shengli 各安生理) at bottom right, and “Do no evil” (wu zuo fei wei 毋作非為) at bottom left. The illustrations were chosen by the official Zhong Huamin:
1. “Be filial to your parents” is illustrated by the story of “Wang Xiang (Jin dynasty) laying on the ice to catch carp” 王祥卧冰求鲤 from the Twenty-four Paragons of Filial Piety (二十四孝), a classic Confucian text written by Guo Jujing 郭居敬 during the Yuan dynasty. Wang Xiang's stepmother disliked him and soured his relationship with his father. Nevertheless, Wang remained filial and cared for them when they were ill. One winter, his stepmother desired to eat fresh carp. To satisfy her craving, the filial Wang laid on an icy lake or pond to thaw it. Suddenly the ice broke open and a pair of carp jumped out allowing Wang catch them to feed his stepmother.
2. “Be respectful to your elders” is reflected through a picture of the Song dynasty scholar-official “Sima Guang (1019-1086) taking care of his elder brother” 司馬光侍兄 as if he were his father, feeding him and making sure that he was warmly dressed. In front of a screen, Sima Guang stands beside his brother who is seated at a table set with food. Before the table are three attendants, two who carry clothes or blankets.
3. “Live in harmony with your neighbors” is represented by the story of “Huang Shangshu yielding land” 黄尚書讓地 to his neighbor. Huang’s brothers had signed a paper with the desire to file it with the court to contest a neighbor’s encroachment on their land, but upon reflection on the shortness of time in this life, he questioned the need to bicker.
4. “Instruct your sons and grandsons” is illustrated by “Mencius’s mother cutting her weaving shuttle” 孟母斷杼. Returned home after stopping his studies, Mencius’ mother looked up from her weaving, and asked him how had his day at school. He answered in an idle manner. Thereupon, she took a knife and severed the thread from her shuttle in order to make the point that it was just like idly neglecting or stopping his studies.
5. “Be content with your calling” (or here more aptly translated as “Be at peace with life”) has the picture of the Eastern Jin official “Tao Ran (259-233) moving bricks” 陶侃運甓. In order not to waste time, which is antithetical to living, every morning Tao Ran diligently moved bricks or tiles from inside the building to outside and in the in the evening moved them back inside. In the illustration, however, the bricks are replaced by urns.
6. “Do no evil” is illustrated by the anecdote of “Chen Shi giving a present to a robber” (Chen Shi wei dao 陳寔遺盗). Chen lived in the Han dynasty. One night a thief snuck into his house and hid in the beams. Chen had spotted him but summoned his sons and grandsons and admonished them, saying that people were not innately bad, but that circumstances and habit could make them so. He then ended by calling out the hidden robber as an example. The surprised thief fell to the ground and bowed. Instead of punishing him, Chen presented him with two bolts of silk. This changed the robber’s moral character and he never steal again, showing that people of bad character could be reformed. The scene depicts Chen Shi sitting in a hall with his sons and grandsons before him on either side. The robber kneels and bows to him on the front steps.
