In China, jade was never merely a beautiful stone: it was the liturgical instrument that honoured Heaven and Earth, the mirror of the gentleman's virtue, and an image woven into the very bloodstream of the language. This volume sets out the six implements after the Rites of Zhou, the five virtues after the Shuowen, and a garland of jade idioms.
The Rites of Zhou ordains: "With jade are made the six implements, to honour Heaven, Earth and the four quarters — the azure bi for Heaven, the yellow cong for Earth, the green gui for the East, the red zhang for the South, the white hu for the West, the black huang for the North."
Azure disc for Heaven's dome
Yellow tube for Earth — square without, round within
Green tablet for the East, edged like the spring shoot
Red half-tablet for the South
White tiger token for the West
Black half-disc arc for the North
Xu Shen's Shuowen Jiezi: "Jade is the fairest of stones, and possesses five virtues." Confucius, in the Book of Rites, unfolds them into eleven — for "the noble compare virtue to jade."
Soft sheen and warmth — the manner of benevolence
Its veins tell truly of what lies within
Its note carries clear and far when struck
It breaks before it bends — the manner of courage
Sharp-edged yet wounding none — the manner of purity
The noble compare virtue to jade: warm, smooth and lustrous — like benevolence itself.CONFUCIUS · BOOK OF RITES, PIN YI
Chinese counts jade idioms by the hundred — for virtue, character, marriage and integrity alike. Long ago the ritual stone passed into the bloodstream of the language itself.
From the Book of Northern Qi: better to perish in integrity than survive in disgrace — the martyr's creed, spoken in jade.
Lin Xiangru carried the Heshibi into Qin and brought it home unharmed; now said of anything returned whole to its rightful owner.
Of character immaculate and undefiled — ice and jade doubled, purity beyond purity.
The perfect match. In the Dream of the Red Chamber "gold and jade" answers "wood and stone", and the phrase became the emblem of destined marriage.
From the Book of Songs: the strengths of others grind one's own vessel fine — as jade is polished by foreign stone.
To offer one's rough brick that others may answer with jade — the scholar's modest opening, in daily use to this day.