The Duke of Zhou, Part 1
January 27, 2010
Zhougong or The Duke of Zhou
Yesterday, I wrote about the Metal Bound Coffer, so I thought it would be good to go back and review this. The Chinese have kept many of its earliest documents intact in the Book of History. One section of the Book of History contains the Books of Zhou and these records tell the story of the Metal Bound Coffer. The following is a summation:
In the second year after the Zhou conquered the Shang, King Wu (the son of King Wen, one of the major formulators of the I Ching) fell seriously ill. Taigong (the primary general), and the Duke of Zhou (the commentator on the Lines), discussed making a divination.
The Duke of Zhou then proposed that they pray to their former kings—in other words—their ancestors. He cleaned a place on the earth, raised three altars and built a high platform to the south of them. He stood on the platform, facing north, offered gems on the altars, held a jade tablet (used when facing emperors or deities) and prayed to the spirits of three previous kings of the dynasty (Kings Tai, Ji, and Wen).
The Duke of Zhou ordered the following to be written on tablets:
“Your eldest grandson, Jifa (King Wu), is suffering from a dangerous sickness. If you, the three former kings, have the charge of protecting him from heaven, do not let him die.
“If you intend that he should die, let me, Jidan (the Duke of Zhou) substitute for him. I have the ability to serve spirits. Your eldest grandson does not have the abilities and arts that I have and he is not able to serve the spirits. . . .”
The Duke of Zhou divined with three tortoise shells. All the omens were auspicious. He opened the tablet-coffer with a key. All the omens were again auspicious. The Duke therefore determined that the king would recover.
The Duke then put the record of his divination into the Metal Bound Coffer. The king recovered the next day.
