Questions to Heaven

曰：

I ask:

遂古之初，谁传道之？

Who handed down the account of the very beginning of remote antiquity?

上下未形，何由考之？

Before heaven above and earth below had taken shape, by what means could anyone examine and know them?

冥昭瞢暗，谁能极之？

Darkness and light were a dim, indistinct blur; who could fathom their origin?

冯翼惟象，何以识之？

The primal breath drifted formless and shapeless, a mere image; how could anyone recognise it?

明明暗暗，惟时何为？

Bright day and dark night alternate in endless cycle; who made it so?

阴阳三合，何本何化？

Yin and yang join with heaven, earth and man as three; what is the root, and from what did they transform and arise?

圜则九重，孰营度之？

The round heaven rises in nine tiers; who planned and measured it?

惟兹何功，孰初作之？

What a feat of labour this is; who first built it?

斡维焉系，天极焉加？

Where are the axle and the cords of heaven fastened? Where is the pole of heaven set?

八柱何当，东南何亏？

Where do the eight mountain pillars that prop up heaven stand? Why is the south-east deficient?

九天之际，安放安属？

Where do the borders of the nine heavens rest, and to what are they attached?

隅隈多有，谁知其数？

Heaven and earth have so many corners and bends; who knows their number?

天何所沓？

Where does heaven meet and join with earth?

十二焉分？

How were the twelve stations of the year divided?

日月安属？

Where are the sun and moon attached?

列星安陈？

How are the ranks of stars set out?

出自汤谷，次于蒙汜。

The sun rises from Tanggu, the Valley of Boiling Water in the east, and at dusk lodges on the banks of the Meng waters at the western limit.

自明及晦，所行几里？

From dawn until dark, how many li does the sun travel?

夜光何德，死则又育？

What virtue does the moon possess, that it dies away and is born again?

厥利维何，而顾菟在腹？

What advantage does it seek, keeping a gazing hare inside its belly?

女岐无合，夫焉取九子？

The goddess Nüqi had no mate; how did she come by nine sons?

伯强何处？

Where does Boqiang, the demon of plague, dwell?

惠气安在？

And where is the gentle, harmonious breath?

何阖而晦？

What is shut, that the sky grows dark?

何开而明？

What is opened, that the sky grows bright?

角宿未旦，曜灵安藏？

Before the Horn constellation in the east announces dawn, where does the sun hide its light?