Chinese poem illustration: 大雅 常武/ Daya – Constant Wars by Anonymous
Full video also available at Bilibili: 大雅 常武
Ancient Chinese beleive the changes of universe are constant and predictable with nature’s law(常), for example the seasons, while sometimes the universe behaves beyond its Constant(常). When ever it happhens, it is either a wonder or a disaster to human beings. With the above understanding, the title Constant Wars(常武) is far from Zhou people’s philosophy, who values harmony and peace the most. In this video, I put up some reasoning upon this extraordinary title, a very rare title which was not from its context.
This poem is a typical war poem that praising the mighty king and his powerful army. Many names in this poem appear very familiar to us, which also appear in some other poems in Book of Songs. Those names identify the poem is about King Xuan(宣王), the second last King of West Zhou dynasty.
大雅 常武
佚名
赫赫明明，王命卿士，南仲大祖，大师皇父。
整我六师，以脩我戎。既敬既戒，惠此南国。
王谓尹氏，命程伯休父，左右陈行，戒我师旅。
率彼淮浦，省此徐土。不留不处，三事就绪。
赫赫业业，有严天子。
王舒保作，匪绍匪游。
徐方绎骚，震惊徐方。
如雷如霆，徐方震惊。
王奋厥武，如震如怒。
进厥虎臣，阚如虓虎。
铺敦淮濆，仍执丑虏。
截彼淮浦，王师之所。
王旅啴啴，如飞如翰。
如江如汉，如山之苞。
如川之流，绵绵翼翼。
不测不克，濯征徐国。
王犹允塞，徐方既来。
徐方既同，天子之功。
四方既平，徐方来庭。
徐方不回，王曰还归。
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.