Page 284 - A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols BIG Book

A-Z 277
Parts of the Body

zhiti

In old Chinese thought, the parallelism existing between macrocosm and microcosm
extended to the human body. The lower part of the body, the part which is nearer to
the earth, is ruled by yin: it was associated with the West, and hence with the
right side. Eyes and ears, however, are in the upper part of the body, associated with
heaven, with yang, and with the left hand facing east. For these reasons, the status of
‘left’ was superior to that of ‘right’. ‘It is for these reasons that the left ear of a defeated
enemy was cut off and his left eye put out. It was strictly logical then that one should use
the right hand to consume the things of the earth: the right hand is the hand one uses, and
the hand with which one kills, so it should be hidden’ (Marcel Granet). Only very rarely
does one see a person who uses the left hand to write with; and left-handed eaters are a
great rarity who suffer at mealtimes.
Later, a comparison was made between the parts of the body and the institutions of the
Chinese state. The diaphragm is the palace, the arms are the suburbs, the legs the
boundaries, etc., etc. Again, the body is the ruler and the arms are his ministers; they
must obey the body.
A modern fable tells how the different parts of the body strove together, each asserting
its role over those of the others, until the whole organism perished.

Pass

guan

Fortified customs posts were built at border passes in the mountains, and in Chinese
novels these posts are often the scene of violent combat. A children’s game in Taiwan is
called ‘passing through the five passes’. Also in Taiwan we find the belief that when a
child has reached the age of twelve, it has to pass through several passes, in each of
which a ‘god-general’ shoots arrows at it. So, from their seventh or eighth year onwards,
children have to be instructed in Buddhism so that they may stand some chance of getting
through all the passes. The way before them will then be marked by stones bearing
inscriptions, and when the demiurge fires his arrows they will be harmlessly deflected by
the stones.
A popular motif in painting shows Lao-zi at the Han-gu Pass, where he
expounded the Dao De Jing to the border guard. This story provides the central theme of
Bertolt Brecht’s book The Legend of Laozi’s Going into Exile, and the Making of the
Dao De Jing (1939).