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The Heaven-Earth Cosmic Faith 49

and nature, this gave rise to the Chinese construct of Heaven/Tian (天) and Earth/
Di (地) being the “father and mother” of humanity and all creatures and living
things; a synthesis that places human society and nature as cohorts of a cosmic
family.
The notion that “Heaven and Earth,” as “father and mother,” were the creators
of humanity and all cosmic existence, probably first appeared around the time of
the Western Zhou (1046 B.C.E.–771 B.C.E.). The belief in the omnipotence of
Heaven and Earth, which was religious in nature, became a prevalent cosmic view
of classical philosophy in the course of the development of Chinese society, and
served as the foundation of Confucian discourse on humanity, self-cultivation and
universal virtues.

1 Sacrifice to Heaven and Earth

The Book of Songs (《诗经》), the oldest extant collection of Chinese poetry (ca. 1100
B.C.E.–ca. 600 B.C.E.), referred to the notion of “Heaven” in one of its “Minor Odes
of the Kingdom”:

O vast and mighty Heaven,
Who art called our parent,
That without foul or offence,
I should suffer from disorders thus great! 1

“The vast and mighty Heaven” (昊天), Supreme Ruler or Ruler/Emperor of Heaven
(上帝) in classical texts from the Western Zhou. Correct Meaning of Mao’s Anno-
tations on The Book of Songs (《毛诗正义》), a classic of the Han Dynasty (202 B.C.E.–
220 C.E.), interpreted those four lines from The Book of Songs as a critique of King
You of Zhou (周幽王 reigning 781 B.C.E.–771 B.C.E.), believing “Odes of the
Kingdom” purported to offer the king advice. However, the renowned Confucian
scholar Zhu Xi (朱熹 1130–1200) in his Annotations on The Book of Songs (《诗经集
传》), simply read these lines as “why should vast and mighty Heaven, being the
parent of humanity, allow people on Earth who are free of sins, suffer such
tremendous chaos?” Of the two interpretations, that of Zhu has more merit. The
“vast and mighty Heaven,” even when implying premonition to King You, as in
Mao’s annotation, nonetheless implies a cosmic “parent.”

1 The Book of Songs, “the Book of Minor odes of the kingdom: Slander” (《诗经 · 小雅 · 巧言》), J.
Legge, Trans. https://ctext.org/book-of-poetry/qiao-yan/ens.