Introduction
Historians of the Qing (1636–1912) have made plain the importance of archery to Manchu culture. Such understanding, however, is drawn largely from sources associated with the Manchu emperors and their conservative cultural campaigns that urged bannermen to recondition themselves in the “Manchu Way.”1 Archery was one of these social and marital values that purportedly not only had secured the dynasty’s founding, but also ensured its endurance; loss of this skill amongst the dynasty’s warrior elite presaged demise, or so the emperors’ narratives declared.2 What is less understood by historians of the Qing is how Manchus themselves viewed archery. In this regard, two fundamental questions beg address: What did Manchu bannermen of the eighteenth century Qing think or say about archery? And, simply, how did they do it?
Examination of the appropriate textual evidence would allow us to ask even more complex questions concerning Manchu archery, society, and culture: What were the philosophical underpinnings of Manchu archery, secular or otherwise, and what was their origin? Was there room on the battlefield for the bow during a period of increased global adoption of the gun? Did the bow remain a weapon of war, or did it morph into a tool for personal introspection, as in the Confucian tradition? Did Manchu women practice archery, or was it strictly a male preserve? Did the Manchu tradition of archery change or remain stagnant? Was such tradition influenced by those of its cultural neighbors, or did it influence those of its cultural neighbors? And, if the Manchu tradition of archery was influenced by its cultural neighbors, to what degree can we still call it a Manchu tradition?
I cannot address all the above questions in the space allotted for this short essay.3 Rather, my purpose is to provide an annotated translation of the only extant archery treatise written in Manchu by a Manchu bannerman during the Qing.4 Its author is Yehe-Nara Changgiyūn (Yehe bai Nara Changgiyūn, Ch. 葉赫那拉氏常鈞, 1702–1789), hereafter, referred to as Changgiyūn, and is titled the Aim of Archery (Gabtan i jorin).5 It was finalized in the spring of 1770. I know of, and have consulted, two published translations of Changgiyūn’s Aim of Archery. The first was completed by Guo Wei 郭崴 as part of his master’s thesis at Minzu University of China 中央民族大學 in 2017.6 The second was completed by Juul Eijk and Fresco Sam-Sin under the title Targets in Shooting and was published in the 2018 edition of Debtelin.7 I encourage all who read my work to also read the translations of those mentioned above. Although I offer a different reading and interpretation of Changgiyūn’s archery treatise, their works contain valuable insights. The following essay is divided into three portions. The first is an account of Changgiyūn that was written using information from his official biography found in the Collective Biographies of State History 國史列傳 and palace memorials held by the National Palace Museum 國立故宮博物院 in Taiwan. The second portion is a description of and commentary on Changgiyūn’s Aim of Archery and its addendum titled, Written Words on Paintings of Horses Seen in the Ioi Yang Archery Garden (Ioi yang ni gabtara yafan de morin be tuwaha nirugan de araha gisun). In the third portion, I provide an annotated translation of the Aim of Archery and Written Words on Paintings of Horses.
Changgiyūn's Life and Career
Changgiyūn came from a long lineage of male service to Qing government that predates the Qing’s invasion of the Ming (1368–1644).8 His mother was the daughter of Yi Tu 伊圖 (d. 1693), once the governor of Gansu.9 He was a bannerman under the Bordered Red Manchu Banner 滿洲鑲紅旗.10 In the fourth year of the Yongzheng reign (February 2, 1726–January 21, 1727), Changgiyūn entered government service as a Grand Secretariat Clerk 内閣中書 after passing the translation examination.11 Upon the special recommendation of the emperor, he served as a secretary in the Council of State 軍機章京 handling affairs of the Ministry of War.12 In the twenty-first year of the Qianlong reign (January 31, 1756–February 17, 1757), he accompanied the imperial army westward to defeat the Junghars.13
While on campaign against the Junghars, Changgiyūn wrote a Manchu language primer entitled Forty Conversations in Manchu (Ma. Manjurame fonjire jabure gisun dehi meyen, Ch. 清話問答四十條). Like other Manchu language primers, the text is composed of call-and-response dialogues. Such text was meant not only to teach Manchus how to speak Manchu, but also to instill within them a set of Manchu values extolled in the primer’s sample conversations.14 Dialogue Seven of Forty Conversations in Manchu concerns archery, for instance. A preface to this work was written by his comrade-in-arms Yunggui 永貴 (1706–1783), another prominent Manchu official and one who would eventually serve as the Ili General. That Changgiyūn wrote this language primer suggests he was concerned with the loss of the Manchu language and sociocultural values amongst the campaigning bannermen. It is possible that he was heavily influenced by the Yongzheng and Qianlong emperors’ decrees about the need for bannermen to speak Manchu and maintain martial mien, and, thus, wrote Forty Conversations in Manchu. I have provided a translation of dialogue 7 from this language primer below:
Age si gabtame bahanambio.
A:Brother, do you know how to do archery?
Tacime gabtambi.
B:I am learning how to do archery.
Tungken goirengge antaka.
A:How is your hitting of the target?
Toyon bahakū dade toktobume muterakū. uksalarangge geli bolgo akū ojoro jakade. talu de inu gocibe. jiduji jorin baharakū.
B:In addition to not being accurate, I cannot compose myself. Also, because my release is not clean—though I hit the target occasionally—I, ultimately, cannot aim.
Tuwaci sini hasutai gabtarangge. elemangga narhūn. da tolome goimbi. damu gunirere tabcilabure jadaha bi.
A:On the contrary, it looks to me that your left-handed shooting is quite precise. However, you do make the mistake of letting the bowstring slacken after pulling it taut and letting it graze your face and sleeve when you shoot.
Niyamniyame mutembio.
B:Can you do mounted archery?
Morin de kemuni gelerakū. arkan yoro tucibume mutecibe. morin sindara bargiyara kemun be baharkū. dosirakū milararahū seme gūnin gaisilabure jakade. urui momoršombi. mahala be tomortai goime muterakū.
A:I do not usually fear horses. Although I can just barely take out the whistling arrow [while riding], because I get engulfed in thoughts of not being able to properly lengthen or bring in the reigns of the horse, or that the horse will not stay on the path, I am always tense. I cannot get a bullseye.
Ere eshun haran. urehe manggi. eiten de jabdumbi. goire teile akū.
B:This is because you are out of practice. After you are more familiar with it, you will be successful in all these matters, not just in hitting the target.15
In the fourth month of the twenty-fifth year of the Qianlong reign (May 15–June 12, 1760), Changgiyūn was promoted to vice-commander-in-chief of the Plain White Han Martial Banner 正白旗漢軍副都統.16 The following year he became the governor of Henan.17 Within three months of Changgiyūn taking this position, the Gulu River 賈魯河 burst its embankment, causing floods along its southern tributaries in Xiang Fu County 祥符縣.18 The emperor ordered him to conduct dredging operations and make arrangements for relief aid distribution.19 Changgiyūn’s official biography records not only the actions he took to allay the people’s material suffering, but also his prompting of local farmers to adopt techniques more suited to wetland areas while the typically arid plains of Henan dried from the flood. His biography states:
Because of his service in the war against the Junghars and his handling of the humanitarian and agricultural crisis in Henan, the Qianlong emperor, while on his Southern Tour in 1762, gifted Changgiyūn a poem.21 That poem commends Changgiyūn’s military and civil service. It is quoted below:九月奏清查災黎戶口及被漫倉厫。請先行動撥煮賑。又言衛輝，彰德、懷慶、河南、開封等屬涸出地畝，尚未乾燥，難用牛力翻犁。訪有犁耬及撒裂種二法。犁耬法，兩人代牛牽耬，一人扶耬輕搖，種從底出，即己入地。撒裂種法，水退地涸，裂縫必多，握種播飏，撒入縫隙。二者專種湿地，不用牛犁，而生苗甚速。現令飭各屬俱仿照辦理。得旨嘉獎。
In the ninth month (September 28–October 27, 1761), Changgiyūn memorialized, verifying the number of disaster victims and that the granaries had overflooded. He requested first to begin distributing salt and relief aid. He also said that the farmlands suited for arid agriculture in Weihui, Zhangde, Huaiqing, Henan, and Kaifeng were not yet dry, making it difficult to use oxen to plough the fields. He found out about two planting methods: plough cart and “scattering into the cracks.” In the plough cart method, two people replaced an ox in pulling the cart, and one person supported the cart with his hands and lightly shook it so the seeds would fall out from the bottom and promptly enter the earth on their own. As for the “scattering into the cracks” method, where the water recedes and the ground dries, there are many fissures indeed. One was to take a handful of seeds and cast them, spreading them into the cracks and crevasses. These two methods were specialized for planting in wetlands where one cannot use oxen to plow the fields so that sprouts would generate quickly. For the time being, Changgiyūn managed the ordeal by ordering each of the disaster-affected areas to adopt these practices. He received the emperor’s praise.20
百戰得歸身， 九歌出牧臣。 無端泛河洛， 有術免沉淪。 熟路輕車易， 賢勞體恤頻。 西江魚米地， 休息且同民。
Returning from one hundred battles, The Nine Songs carol for the shepherd official. Endlessly drifting in the land between the Yellow and Luo Rivers, He has the expertise to avoid sinking. With the ease of a light cart traveling a familiar road, His diligence and solicitude are repeated. In the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, a land of fish and rice, He rests for the time being with the common people.22
Until this point in time, Changgiyūn had a successful tenure in government office supported by imperial favor. However, this began to change while performing his duty as the governor of Yunnan. According to his official biography:
三十一年，永昌順寧二府屬邊外土司經莽匪滋擾。常鈞令參將劉智明等於九龍江剿敗之。輒奏言賊匪聞風喪膽，勢可解散，己無須添兵會剿。上以其未能直搗巢穴切責之。二月，命湯聘往代，調常鈞湖南巡撫。
In the thirty-first year (February 9, 1766–January 1, 1767), the prefectures of Yongchang and Shunning, belonging to aboriginal administration beyond the frontier, experienced a disturbance by Mang rebels. Changgiyūn ordered Assistant Regional Commander Liu Zhiming and others to crush them at Nine Dragons River. Immediately afterwards, Changgiyūn memorialized, “The rebels have become terror-stricken at the news [of our dispatched forces]. The situation is resolvable; I am in no need of additional forces to suppress them.” The emperor severely rebuked Changgiyūn for not pressing straight on to the rebels’ hideout. In the following month, the emperor ordered Tang Ping to go replace him, transferring Changgiyūn to become the governor of Hunan.23
Changgiyūn’s biography submits that he handled this rebellion with incompetence. Yet, a review of the Qing sources related to this conflict suggests just how much of a quagmire Changgiyūn and other officials were dealing with. A joint memorial concerning this conflict from Changgiyūn and Liu Zao 劉藻 (1701–1766), the Governor-General of Yunnan and Guizhou, mentions that the counties beyond the aboriginal administration 土司 had until recently been under the control of Myanmar.24 However, “In recent years, because a Burmese leader usurped power, Myanmar is without a leader. This has led to the Mang peoples of these counties resisting him while others submit. Taking advantage of the conflict, they have all become rebels” 年來因緬目篡奪，該囯無主，以致所屬莽子抗順不一，乘釁為匪.25 Such rebels were now extorting the peoples living in neighboring counties under the Qing aboriginal administration for resources.26
The lands of Yunnan, Guizhou, northern Vietnam, and Myanmar correspond to a region known as “Zomia,” famously described in James C. Scott’s The Art of Not Being Governed: An Anarchist History of Upland Southeast Asia as a place along the margins of multiple empires, resisting the governance of all.27 Qing officials like Changgiyūn and Liu Zao had difficulty ascertaining who was who amongst the competing Burmese factions and coordinating with nominally loyal aboriginal leaders to destroy them. All of this occurred in territory unfamiliar to the Qing. Fighting against Burmese guerillas occurred in rivers as Qing forces lugged their large cannons through mountains and jungles to secure crossings and lay siege to rebel camps.28 An additional source indicating the complexity of this conflict is the iconographic key that the Qianlong emperor used to keep track of alien places and various leaders’ names in the memorials sent to him. With his vermillion ink, he inscribed circles, triangles, double triangles, dots, and other icons next to the names of foreign places and leaders to help him better follow and understand regional movement of forces while flipping back-and-forth through the document’s folds.29
Several months after Changgiyūn was transferred to Hunan in 1766, he again drew the emperor’s ire, this time over his subordinate’s mishandling of a homicide case. Changgiyūn’s biography recounts the emperor’s response after hearing about the affair:
事聞，諭曰常鈞身為巡撫。乃於審理倫紀攸關命案一任屬員扶同作弊，不能查究嚴參，豈復勝封疆之任。著來京階見，命侍郎期成額往鞫得實。坐宏燧罪。宏燧係常鈞曾經保奏人員。訊有奉常鈞面諭，與會審各員補具聯銜印票，倒提月日情事。上以常鈞欺詐，褫其職。三十二年三月，命常鈞自備資斧往咯什噶爾辦事。
When the emperor heard about the affair, he decreed, “Changgiyūn himself serves as the governor. Nevertheless, in the adjudication of a homicide case of great concern, he permitted his subordinate officials to collude in corruption. He is incapable of investigating and sternly reporting on the crimes of [his] officials. How can he again assume the duty of high provincial office? Have him come to the capital for an audience.”
The emperor ordered Vice-President Kicengge to go conduct questioning and obtain the truth of the matter. He found Hongsui guilty. Hongsui was an official that Changgiyūn had once vouched for to obtain office. The investigation found that he received personal instruction from Changgiyūn to falsify dates and supplement and furnish [the official documents] with the seals of officials jointly investigating the case. The emperor found Changgiyūn to be a fraudster and stripped him of office. In the third month of the thirty-second year (February 28–March 29, 1767), the emperor ordered Changgiyūn to go handle affairs in Kashgar, having him pay his travel costs at his own expense.30
It is possible that Changgiyūn was a fraudster. However, the fact that he was charged with misconduct soon after his previous alleged mishandling of military affairs in Yunnan leaves open the possibility that Changgiyūn was the target of a factional struggle at court. Such struggles persisted throughout the Qing. An official’s career and those of his close associates could be stymied by a powerful minister’s influence on the emperor. In Kent Guy’s examination of the cashiering and replacement of Qing governors, he describes 1766, the year Changgiyūn was dismissed from his governorship, as a year of “unusual personnel activity.”31 Wider events or the efforts of adversarial ministers may have been behind Changgiyūn’s exile to Kashgar, the westernmost oasis town in newly conquered Qing Altishahr.
Nonetheless, he seems to have fulfilled his duty in Kashgar devotedly, regaining the emperor’s favor. His official biography states that “In the thirty-sixth year (February 15, 1771–February 3, 1772), he received a replacement and returned to the capital. He was conferred the title of Imperial Guard of the Third Rank. In the fiftieth year (February 9, 1785–January 29, 1786), the emperor bestowed upon him an invitation to the ‘Thousand Old Man Feast’” 三十六年，受代回京，授三等侍衛。五十年，賜千叟宴與焉.32 Changgiyūn died in 1789.33
An Overview of the Aim of Archery
Canggiyūn completed the Aim of Archery in 1770, presumably while he was in Kashgar. The Aim of Archery has a preface, thirteen chapters, and an addendum titled, Written Words on Paintings of Horses Seen in the Ioi Yang Archery Garden. It is bilingual, written in the hebi 合璧 style with both Manchu script and Chinese characters. From his extensive examination of Ming- and Qing-era archery treatises, Selby notes that these texts are divided often into two sections based on internal 內功 and external techniques 外功.34 Changgiyūn’s treatise is similar in this regard. Chapters One through Four and Chapter Ten of the Aim of Archery describe internal techniques that were used by an archer to prepare himself mentally for shooting. It was thought that by synchronizing the psychosomatic connection between mind and body an archer attained single-minded focus. To utilize a contemporary sports adage, internal techniques help an archer “get into the zone.” In contrast, external techniques, which constitute Chapters Six through Nine and Chapter Eleven, describe the physical techniques utilized by the archer to shoot a bow. Examples of external techniques range from correct body posture to proper release of the bowstring. In archery, luck is helpful, but luck is also inconsistent. Standardizing one’s form through the rehearsal of external techniques leads to a consistency of shooting results. If an archer who maintains consistent form misses the target, they are better able to assess what possible error or errors in form led to their miss, which they can redress for their next shot. Chapters Thirteen and Fourteen address archery equipment and the need for one’s physical strength and equipment to accord with the bow’s draw-weight.
In the opening line to the Aim of Archery, Canggiyūn professes, “Only after prolonged and intense scrutinization of the phrase ‘to observe virtue in archery’ have I realized that the Way of Archery truly exists in virtue and not in [physical] strength” (bi kemuni gabtan de. erdemu be cincilambi sehe gisun be cibtui dabtafi. teni gabtara doro yala erdemu de bisire. hūsun de akū be sahabi).35 The phrase “to observe virtue in archery” originates from a statement made within the Meaning of the Ceremony of Archery 射義, also sometimes referred to as the Archery Classic 射經, a book within the larger Rites Classic 禮記.36 The Meaning of the Ceremony of Archery was a mainstay of the Confucian tradition of archery.37 That tradition did not approach the bow as an implement of war, but as a tool for self-introspection. If one did not hit the target, it was no one else’s fault but one’s own. In this tradition, archery also served as a metonym for social harmony and fulfilling the responsibilities of one’s position within the male social hierarchy. Hence, as stated in Passage Eight of the Meaning of the Ceremony of Archery, “Thus, it was said, ‘The father shoots at the father target; the son shoots at the son target; the ruler shoots at the ruler target; the official shoots at the official target.’ Thus, archers each shoot at their own target” 故曰：為人父者，以為父鵠。為人子者，以為子鵠。為人君者，以為君鵠。為人臣者，以為臣鵠。故射者各射己之鵠。
Further along in the preface to the Aim of Archery, Canggiyūn clarifies the significance to the title behind his text:
According to Canggiyūn, the ultimate target, or aim, of archery is not just hitting a physical target, but the establishment of virtue (Ma. erdemu, Ch. 德 de). Virtue in this regard did not just connote a sense of having moral rectitude. It also referred to an individual’s inner merit or effectiveness. These connotations echo throughout the Confucian tradition of archery whereby it was thought a candidate for office’s merit and potential effectiveness could be observed via their bearing and behavior in ritual archery competitions. Canggiyūn affirms this attitude, claiming that the development of virtue is the purpose for doing archery. He contrasts his attitude with those of his contemporaries whom he claims focus excessively on their physical strength and techniques beyond their advancement. Canggiyūn criticizes these people for “while fussing with a brawny and repugnant form, [they] flaunt their entire body’s straining and exerting” (etenggi hūsun eimecuke arbun i usucileme. beye gubci katunjame hacihiyara be tuwabure).39Gabtan i jorin seme gebulehe. jorin serengge. oyonggo be. jorin sere gisun. tungken be. damu tungken be tungken i tuwarkū. erdemu i tungken be tuwa. erdemu ilinaci goiburengge fulu ombi. tuttu ofi. erdemu be gabtan i oyonggo obuhabi. ememu hendume. gabtan de erdemu be cincilambi sehengge. erdemu yargiyan i gabtara urse i ujelerengge. erdemu be tungken obumbi sere gisun yala mujangga.
I have titled [this treatise] the Aim of Archery. That which I term “aim” is essential. Aim refers to the archery target. However, do not look at the archery target by means of the archery target. Look at the archery target by means of virtue. When you stand on virtue, your hitting [of the target] will be superior. Therefore, virtue has been made essential to archery. Some have said, “to observe virtue in archery.” Virtue, verily, is that which archers value greatly. The phrase “to make virtue the target” is indeed true.38
In Chapter Twelve of the Aim of Archery, Canggiyūn even admonishes his contemporaries for taking strength- and performance-enhancing drugs. He writes, “Today, people constantly train while under the influence of powerful medicines. And then, as they apply exertion to the heavy bow, there is without fail much deceiving of others’ eyes and ears and astonishing of what others see and hear” (ainaha seme te i niyalma urui etuhun okto omiha hūsun de urebufi. katunjame mangga beri be baitalame. niyalmai šan yasa be hūlimbume. niyalmai tuwara donjire be ferguweburengge labdu).40 During the Qing, the strongest class of war bows had draw-weights upwards of 132 pounds.41 An archer drawing such a bow would impress his friends, indeed. However, using a bow beyond one’s strength for prolonged periods of practice was at open variance to the ancient’s teachings on archery, as Canggiyūn argues.
In addition to quoting the Meaning of the Ceremony of Archery, Canggiyūn cites numerous texts from the broader Confucian Canon. From my examination, by using online concordance databases to source his references, I have found that Canggiyūn cites the Great Learning and the Doctrine of the Mean, both of which, like the Meaning of the Ceremony of Archery, are also from the larger Book of Rites; the Xian wen 憲問 and Ba yi 八佾 chapters of the Analects; the First Duke Sun Chou 公孫丑上, the First Jinxin 盡心上, and Second Wan Zhang 萬章下 chapters of the Mencius; and Song (960–1279) Neo-Confucian scholar Zhu Xi’s 朱熹 (1130–1200) commentary called the Interlinear Analysis and Collected Commentaries on the Four Books 四書章句集注. He also refers to the biography of the Wife of the Bow Maker of Jin 晋弓工妻 from Liu Xiang’s 劉向 (79–8 BCE) Biographies of Exemplary Women written during the Western Han (206 BCE–8 CE). In the addendum, Written Words on Paintings of Horses Seen, a discourse on horse physiognomy, Canggiyūn cites works associated with the Daoist Canon: the Works of Master Lie 列子 and the Zhuangzi.
Noting the numerous citations from Confucian and Daoist texts within the Aim of Archery allows us to ponder the extent to which the Manchu tradition of archery remained traditionally Manchu by the mid- to late eighteenth century. Taking the Aim of Archery as a case study, we can interrogate the purity of the Manchu archery tradition—often portrayed by the Manchu emperors as a cornerstone to a unique Manchu identity—and ascertain how Canggiyūn understood this tradition through Chinese textual sources. This is not to say that the Aim of Archery is evidence for the Manchus completely assimilating into Han Chinese culture. It comes as no surprise that Canggiyūn was familiar with the above texts considering he entered government service through the translation examinations. However, I am suggesting that the Aim of Archery provides evidence for Manchu acculturation into Han Chinese society.42 In writing his archery treatise, Canggiyūn relied on ideologies that circulated in his social environment and that formed his cultural repertoire and points of reference, including contemporary archery manuals. For example, Feng Hui 鋒暉 has indicated how the format and chapters to Canggiyūn’s Aim of Archery bear a strong resemblance to that of Gu Gao’s 顧鎬 (n.d.) 1720 archery manual called A Discussion on Archery 射說.43 Nonetheless, Canggiyūn’s text does retain some singular Manchu elements, particularly the use of Manchu onomatopoeia as verbs to describe the movement of qi 氣 in Chapter Four.
Written Words on Paintings of Horses Seen in the Ioi Yang Archery Garden, the addendum to Canggiyūn’s Aim of Archery, concerns mounted archery and horse physiognomy, the judgment of horses based on examining their physical characteristics and behavior. Canggiyūn indicates that the writing of this supplement was founded in his experiences as the County Magistrate of Ioi Lin Prefecture (Ioi lin bai fu i saraci, Ch. Yulin fu 榆林府), years before his exile to Kashgar.44 During this time, he built a garden in the yamen, practiced archery, and studied and trained horses. Canggiyūn mentions having painted pictures of those horses. However, such paintings were not included in his text.
A bannerman’s possession of a well-trained and healthy horse was essential to mounted archery. Such a horse needed to be respondent to the rider’s leg pressure used to steer it while his hands were occupied with bow and arrow and his were eyes fixed on the target. In his description of mounted archery, Canggiyūn characterizes speed and synchronicity with the horse as defining elements: The rider charges towards his target in a “now for wrath, now for ruin” fashion; the horse abides the rider’s intent while he bends his bow to release a salvo in passing. Canggiyūn states:
As the Aim of Archery speaks about the virtue of the man, its supplement speaks about the virtue of horses. Canggiyūn argues that a horse’s virtue can be ascertained by specific bodily characteristics, such as its eyes, that when taken together as a whole indicate its merit. He likens judging a horse to the evaluation of a person based on their complexion. He states:Te bici arbun be edun be amcara adali. hūdun be talkiyara gese. beri be yalu tatara. yoro be hahi uksalara. yasa habtašarkū. beyebe sijihūn oburakū. beri be anarangge. biya be tebeliyere adali. yoro be necin oburengge. darhūwan be lakiyara gese.
If it was being done here now, the spectacle is as if one rides in pursuit of the wind, fleet like lightning; bow drawn full, he releases whistling arrows with haste; his eyes do not bat, nor does he sit rigid; his extension of the bow is like an embrace of the moon; he makes level his whistling arrows like suspending the beam to a balance scale.45
Horse physiognomy is not an exact science, as Canggiyūn describes above. To explain the physiognomy of horses, Canggiyūn references anecdotes from the Daoist texts Zhuangzi and the Works of Master Lie that respectively illustrate the skills of famous horse judges Xu Wugui 徐無鬼 and Bo Le 伯樂. Such anecdotes explicate that the virtue of a horse is dependent on a judge’s discernment. If a judge is unable to recognize the virtue of a horse, not only can that virtue not exist—for it has not been recognized as such—but also the individual will not obtain a good horse because of using poor selection criteria. My translation of Canggiyūn’s Aim of Archery and Written Words on Paintings of Horses Seen in the Ioi Yang Archery are provided in the next section of this paper.Eiterecibe morin be takara de. niyalmai cira be tuwara adali. banin giru i ersun hocikon. beye muru i amba osokon be bodorakū. neneme terei beye gubci acabume banjiha babe tuwafi. geli terei sube giranggi antaka. oori simen antaka. banin buyenin antaka. aššara arbušara antaka babe kimciha manggi. amba muru toktobuci ombi dere.
In general, when judging a horse, it is the same as observing a person’s complexion. Do not take into consideration whether their appearance is repulsive or attractive, their body large or small. After first looking at how their body is entirely comported and how it has formed, how are their muscles and bones? How is their spirit? How is their temperament and emotions? How is their movement and behavior? After you have examined this, you can likely make an established outline.46
The Aim of Archery
Gabtan jorin i gisuren.
Preface: A Discussion on the Aim of Archery
Bi kemuni gabtan de. erdemu be cincilambi sehe gisun be cibtui dabtafi. teni gabtara doro yala erdemu de bisire. hūsun de akū be sahabi. aini seci. erdemu serengge. dursulen. hūsun serengge baitalan. hūsun isinaci faksi banjinambi. faksi ohongge. erdemu i mergen ba.hūsun be oci. hacihiyame nonggibuci ombi. erdemu be oci. jabšan de bahaci ojorakū. terei erdemu ojorongge narhūn kai. somishūn kai.
Only after prolonged and intense scrutinization of the phrase “to observe virtue in archery”47 have I realized that the Way of Archery truly exists in virtue and not in [physical] strength. How so? Virtue constitutes the substance; strength constitutes the function.48 Therein, when strength is attained, skill comes into being. Such skill is the honored aspect of virtue. Strength may be increased through forceful effort; virtue cannot be obtained by propitious fortune. That which is virtuous is subtle! Obscure!
tacire urse. embici terei muwa babe baha gojime. terei narhūn babe melebure. embici terei iletu babe sibikiha gojime. terei somishūn babe oihorilara jakade. gabtara be leolehengge. ele largin oho bime. gabtara doro ulhiyen i burubure de isinahangge ede kai. tuttu oci narhūn somishūn i šumin ulan be. uthai cingkai ufarabumbio.
It is a consequence of students having only understood the simple aspects, while overlooking the subtle, or having only pondered the obvious aspects, while neglecting the obscure, that discussions on shooting have become more vexed and is causing the Way of Archery to gradually disappear! In that case, will not the profound traditional teachings of the subtle and obscure perish in vain?
bi te mujin adali ursei emgi gabtan i muwa iletu babe taka sindafi. narhūn somishūn babe. cohotoi girkūre be leoleki. amba muru muwa iletu ba oci. yaya niyalma i sarangge. inu yaya niyalma i muterengge. terei narhūn somishūn ba oci. niyalma tome gisurere gojime. niyalma tome mutere aibi. tuttu ofi. sara de mangga akū. yabure de yala mangga. ineku sahangge tengkicuke manggi. teni hūsutuleme yabume mutembi dere.
For the moment, I want to temporarily set aside the simple and obvious aspects of archery and exclusively concentrate on the subtle and obscure with those who share the same ambition. In general, the simple and obvious aspects are those which anyone knows and which anyone can do. As for the subtle and obscure aspects, even though every person speaks of them, how can it be that every person can do them? Therefore, knowing [about them] is not difficult; [but] putting [them] into practice is truly difficult. Likewise, it is only after one’s knowledge is sufficient that he can likely strain to put things into effect.
Aikabade damu untuhun gisun i fiyanarame. beyede unenggileme dursuleme mutarkū oci. udu tacibure niyalma ereni tacibume. tacire urse ereni tacibe. muteburengge hūsun i teile dabala. erdemu de ai dalji.te damu niyalma i gisurehe bime. akūnahakūngge be jafafi. terei gisun be fuhašame sibkifi. terei jurgan be yarume. fisembume arafi. gabtan i jorin seme gebulehe.
Suppose, for instance, there is one who feigns knowhow merely with empty words, yet he himself cannot genuinely replicate it in his own actions. Although a teacher may instruct by this pretension, and students by this pretension learn, in the end those students who achieve do so merely by dint of their strength. Where is the connection to virtue? Presently, however, I have grappled with dialogues which have not been fully understood. I contemplated their words over and over, assembled their meanings, and wrote an explication that I have titled the Aim of Archery.
jorin serengge. oyonggo be. jorin sere gisun. tungken be. damu tungken be tungken i tuwarkū. erdemu i tungken be tuwa. erdemu ilinaci goiburengge fulu ombi. tuttu ofi. erdemu be gabtan i oyonggo obuhabi.ememu hendume. gabtan de erdemu be cincilambi sehengge. erdemu yargiyan i gabtara urse i ujelerengge. erdemu be tungken obumbi sere gisun yala mujangga.
That which I term “aim” is essential. Aim refers to the archery target. However, do not look at the archery target by means of the archery target. Look at the archery target by means of virtue. When you stand on virtue, your hitting [of the target] will be superior. Therefore, virtue has been made essential to archery. Some have said, “to observe virtue in archery.” Virtue, verily, is that which archers value greatly. The phrase “to make virtue the target” is indeed true.
tuttu seme. erdemu de narhūn muwa bi. somishūn iletu bi. muwa ci narhūn ojoro. iletu ci somishūn ojorongge. musei kicen hūsun i šumin micihiyan be. yargiyalaci ojoro be dahame. yargiyan i ishunde nikendume ishunde aljarakūngge. narhūn somishūn be jafafi gabtan be gisureci tetendere. aikabade muwa iletu ci kiceme ibeburakū oci. adarame terei ten de isiname mutembi ni.
Although this is so, within virtue exists the subtle and the simple, the obscure and the obvious. Because the process of the subtle coming from the simple and the process of the obscure coming from the obvious can truthfully measure the depth of our endeavoring, they are all supportive and inseparable from each other.49 Provided that we’ve grasped the subtle and obscure and then spoke in terms of archery, if it were the case that we did not endeavor to advance from the simple and obvious, how could we reach its apex?
te agu damu narhūn somishūn babe gisureme. muwa iletu babe waliyame gamame. muwa iletu be. yaya niyalma i sarangge. yaya niyalma i muterengge sembi. aika agu i gisurehe narhūn somishūn babe. niyalma inu same. niyalma inu muteme ohode. geli aibe jafafi sume gisurembini.
Currently, while you brothers only speak of the subtle and obscure aspects, and forsake and disregard the simple and obvious aspects, you say “the simple and obvious are that which any man knows and that which any man can do.” If people also became knowledgeable and capable of what you brothers declare as the subtle and obscure, then what would you again grasp, explain, and talk about?50
bithede henduhengge. goro yabure de. hanciki ci deribumbi. den be tafara de. fangkala ci deribumbi sehebi. geli heduhengge. fejergi de tacifi wesihun hafunambi sehebi. enduringgei amaga tacire urse de hing seme tacihiyahangge. ainahai muwa iletu be yooni waliyaha ni seme heduhe gisun be. bi donjire jakade. gaihari ulhifi. buksuri oho be aliyame. bi tašaraha. bi tašaraha sefi. tereci muwa iletu babe suwaliyame amargi de kamcime araha..
In has been stated in a text that “Going afar begins from nearby; climbing high begins from below.”51 It also states, “After studying the lowly, one forms a passage to the exalted.”52 These earnest instructions of the sages for future students are words that query how the simple and obvious can be abandoned altogether. Because I was listening, I suddenly understood, and then while regretting having become confused, I exclaimed, “I have errored, I have errored!” Thereupon, I retreated to integrate the simple and obvious aspects into my practice.
Gūnin be unenggi oburengge.53
Chapter 1: Making Thoughts Sincere
Gūnin serengge mujilen ci tucikengge. unenggi serengge juwederakū suwaliyaganjarkū sere gisun. gabtara nergin de. damu goibuki sere gūnin be tebume. ereci tulgiyen heni heturi suwaliyata akū ohode. mujilen hing seme emu ofi. unenggi yargiyan dolo fihefi. canjurara gocishūdara arbun tule tuyembumbi. tuttu seme gabtara onggolo. urunakū ginggulere dade ginggulere. olhošoro dade olhošoro kicen be baitalame. ainame ainame hūluri malari gūnin be. heni majige dekdeburakū.
“Thoughts” are that which springs forth from the mind.54 “Sincere” is a word expressing “nondual” and “unsullied.” When doing archery, only retain the thought of wanting to hit the target. And, in addition, when it has passed that there are absolutely no other secondary or scattered thoughts than this, because the mind earnestly becomes one, sincerity and truth fill inside, and causes one to outwardly reveal a cordial and modest form. However, before shooting, one must employ utmost respect and caution, and for the time being not at all allow careless thoughts to arise.
fuhali tacikūi yamun i juleri. faidaha urse be sonjoro. tuwancihiyara hafasa fejile bifi. arbušara be baicara adali obure ohode. gūnin i dolo arbun akū i gabtame. doigonde mujin be tob obure. beye be tondo obure kicen be baitalaha manggi. amala gabtara dari. ekisaka de hing seme. aššara de tob seme ofi. yooni doro de acanambi. gūnin be unenggi obuki seci. urunakū emhun de ginggulembi sehengge. ede bisire be kai..
When you have adopted the same inspection of behavior as officials who are standing below selecting and ranking [archery] candidates arrayed in front of the licentiate hall, imagine yourself doing archery. And, while doing this, after you have used the diligence to set your mind right and the carriage of your body straight, because you will be solicitous in tranquility and correct in behavior, every subsequent shot will completely correspond to the Way. It has been said that “If one wants to make his thoughts sincere, he must be heedful in solitude.”55 This is it!
Mujilen be toboburengge.
Chapter 2: Making the Mind Upright
Mujilen serengge beyei da. tob oci. urhu akū. haihashūn akū ombi. urhu akū be dulimba sembi. haihashūn akū be necin sembi. ere gabtan be henduhengge waka bicibe. gabtan de lak seme acanahabi. gabtara de. etere be kicere. anabure de gelere mujilen bici. mujilen uthai kicehe ici urhufi dulimba akū ojoro. gelehe ici haiharafi. necin akū ojoro be dahame. ufaracun ereci amba ningge akū.
“The mind” is the body’s sovereign.56 As for “upright,” it means being neither tilted nor slanted. “Not tilted” means being centered. “Not slanted” means being level. Although these statements do not concern archery specifically, they have been perfectly well-suited to archery. When shooting, if one’s mind is either zealous to succeed or afraid of failure, the mind will either tilt towards what it desires and not be centered or slant towards with what it fears and not be level.57 As a result, one will not be great at archery from these faults.
tuttu gabtara jurgan de. neneme mujin be tob obure be kicembi. mujin serengge mujilen be. mujilen tob sere be bahaci. urhu haihashūn ojoro cisu akū ofi. banin buyenin ini cisui hūwaliyasun necin. gūnin seolen ini cisui narhūn emu ojoro be dahame. goibuci ombi. erdemu be cincilaci ombi.
Therefore, in the principles of shooting, first strive to make your aspiration upright. “Aspiration” is the mind. If the mind obtains uprightness, there is no private interest to tilt or slant; disposition and temperament inherently become harmonious and tranquil; thoughts and reflections inherently become refined and wholesome. Because of this, one can hit the target; one can observe virtue.
julgei henduhe bade. ambasa saisan temšen akū sehengge. necin i arbun kai. gosingga be gabtara adali sehengge. goibure doro kai.erebe mujilen de forgošome baici. aibe baharakūni..
During antiquity, it was said, “The superior man is without contention.”58 This is the display of tranquility! It was said, “Benevolence is like doing archery.”59 This is the way of hitting the target! When one turns inward and seeks this in his mind, what is not attainable?60
Simen be teburengge.
Chapter 3: Conjuring Spirit61
Simen serengge. mujilen i ferguwecuke genggiyen be. tebumbi serengge. olhoba ginggun i tuwakiyara. narhūn getuken i tucibure. huwekiyeme yendere baitalan bisire.. tohorome toktoro tuwakiyan bisire be.
That which is called “spirit” is the marvelous brilliance of the mind. “To conjure” means observing with attentive reverence and bringing forth by means of meticulous clarity; it has a bestirring and rousing use, and a calming and resolute watchfulness.
ainci beri be jalu tatacibe sindarkū. goibure toyon be. baibi yasai juleri jolhocoro adali ome sererengge. yooni tacire ursei dolori ulhinjere de bi. uttu ohoi62 simen. gabtan de hafufi. gabtan simen ci ferguwecuke ombi. tuttu ofi henduhengge. beri darame jalumbutala. simen be toktobume dendeburakū oho manggi. teni jorime goici ombi sehebi. erebe simen be tebumbi sembi.
Presume, for instance, the bow has been drawn taut, but it has not yet been released. Shooting aim is merely like an onward rush before your eyes, and catching it, exists in the intuition of all students. Thus, one’s spirit imbues archery, and then from the one’s spirit archery will be marvelous.
Therefore, it has been said, “After the spirit has become settled and not made to part once the bow has been drawn taut fully, only then may one aim and hit the target.”63 This is what it means to conjure spirit.
uthai amba tacin bithei henduhe seolehe manggi teni bahame mutembi sere arbun muru. še i fiyelen de. meni meni beyei mujin be sibkimbi serengge kai. goibure be kicere be sibkimbi sembi. goibume mutere be bibumbi sembi.
Thus, the broader meaning of what the Great Learning states - “After contemplation, only then can one understand”64- is exactly expressed by the Meaning of the Ceremony of Archery that states, “Everyone contemplates their own ambition.”65 This means to contemplate your striving to hit the target! It means to retain the ability to hit the target!
sibkifi bahaci. musei gūnin be sidarambucibe. sibkifi baharakū oci. inu musei gūnin i tebuhe babe ufaraburakū. simen sere simen serengge. aljaci hokombi. bibuci taksimbi. kicerakūci ombio..
Although our minds are made to unfurl at length if we contemplate and obtain, we do not lose what our minds conjured if we contemplate and do not obtain. Oh, the spirit, the spirit! If you forsake, it departs; if you retain, it is preserved. May one not be diligent?
Sukdun be ujirengge.
Chapter 4 The Cultivation of Qi66
Sukdun serengge. beyede jalukiyarangge. ujihede simeme niyecetefi. ulhiyen i nonggibure tusa bahambi. an kemun be jafafi gisureci. ebšeci ojorakū. aisilaci ojorakū. kicen sithūn be jafafi gisureci. hahilarakū. elhešerakū.
Qi is that which fills our bodies.67 When cultivated, it seeps into and mends, and then we will gradually obtain its enhancing benefits. As for its regulation, you may neither adjust nor facilitate it; as for its cycle, you may neither hurry nor slow it.
ainci abka. sukdun de bolgo ohobi. na sukdun de bakjakabi. niyalmai beye sukdun de etuhun oho bime. ajige hefeli serengge. geli eiten sukdun i iktame tomoro ba. cibsen i dosimbume. elhei tucibume. goidaha manggi. hūwanggar sere be ilibuci ojorakū bime. beye gubci yooni forgošome aššara fakjin bahambi.
Presumably, the heavens have become clear in qi; the earth has congealed in qi. The human body has become vigorous in qi. And the lower abdomen68 is the collection vessel for all of it. While bringing it in with tranquility and expelling it with calm for a long time, the surge69 will be unstoppable, and the entire mechanism for the body’s movement is completely acquired.
aikabade ajige hefeli i sukdun. hūr seme wesihun sucunaci. dergi hontoho beye sukdun eteme ohode. uthai muke i bilteme debere adali. beye bahafi tomsome bargiyatame muterakū ombi. ede meifen meiren. mayan sabta. simhun halba. cejen dara. yooni sukdun de gocimbufi. forgošome aššara de lali akūngge giyan kai. aide ilimbahambini. tere anggala fejergi hontoho beye fer far seme. bethei guye de hūsun akū. emu beye faksa juwe meyen ojoro ohode. adarame gabtara doro de dosime mutembini.
In the case that if the lower abdomen’s qi soars upwards ablaze,70 when the qi of the top half of the body becomes overpowering, it will thus by like water overspilling and flooding that after the body obtains cannot be gathered and stored all in one place.71 In this regard, the nape, shoulder, elbow, wrist, finger, forearm, chest, or waist all become “qi cramped,” and it’s a principle that they will not be nimble in their movement! How can you be at peace with this? Moreover, the bottom half of the body will flitter weakly72 and there will be no strength in the heels. When the body is being split straight into two segments, how could one be able to advance in the Way of Archery?
tuttu ofi. sukdun be ujime bahanara urse. urgunjere sebjelere de sukdun be gasihiyaburakū. gasara jilidara de sukdun be kokiraburakū. dosimbure de an bisire. tucibure de kemun bisire jakade. gulhun beye de jalukiyafi. duin gargan de hafunafi. gabtara hancikan forgošome baitalara nergin de. beye gubci šurdeme fihefi eiten giranggi jalan yooni lali ofi. hūsun faksi uthai sukdun i dorgideri yendeme banjinambi. gabtara dari urunakū goire be dahame. geli bengsen i mangga akū de ai joboro babi. entekengge be teni sukdun be ujime bahanarangge seci ombidere.
For this reason, people who are able to foster qi, do not ravage their qi by cheering and rejoicing; They do not impair their qi by lamenting or brooding. Because there is order when they bring it in and measure when they expel it, their entire body becomes filled with qi, and it channels to their four limbs. Then, near the moment when they are about to transition to doing archery and use it, the qi amasses around the entire body, and all the bones and joints become completely nimble. Because of this, strength and skill thus arise from inside qi. Since every shot will surely hit the mark, would the archer worry about a lack of expertise? We may likely say that a person such as this is able to cultivate qi.
Urebure arga. ilhi aname ibeme dosire oyonggo kemun.
Chapter 5 Practice Methods: A Sequence of Important Directives for Improving
Kicen be baitalara de. kemun ci tucinerakū. beyei kemun. galai kemun. simhun i kemun. yasai kemun. yooni kicen be baitalara fakjin kai.
When training,73 do not deviate from the directives. Directives regarding the body, hands, fingers, and eyes all support one’s training!
tacime bahanara urse. inenggidari beri i niru jafašara be baiburakū. erde ede yamji ede. beye šurdeme emu jergi gūnifi. untuhun galai beri jafara. uli solbifi tatara durun arame. goidame toktobuha manggi. geli uksalame sindara arame. fuhali yargiyan i gabtara adali arbušame urebuci ombi.
Astute students do not need to hold fast to their bow and arrows every day. In the morning and in the evening, they turn their thoughts on themselves for a bit. With nothing in their hands, they go through the procedure of grasping the bow, nocking an arrow onto the string, and then drawing. And, after they have ingrained this for a long time, they also practice releasing. They can do and practice as if they were truly shooting.
dasara ujire doroi bithede. hashū ici galai halanjame. mangga beri be tatara. adali ohode. fume menerere nimeku be dulembuci ombi sere ba tuwaci. ere arga deribun bisirengge kai. tere anggala beri jafafi untuhun tatare de duibuleci. tusa ojorongge ubui fulu.
The origins of this method stem from a point I read in a book about curing and nourishing [the body]74 that says if one alternates between using the left and right hands like drawing a heavy bow the numbing and paralyzing sickness75 can be cured! Moreover, when compared to grasping the bow and dry-pulling76 it, the existing advantages are manifold.
ainci untuhun tataci. meiren i hūsun be nonggibure teile dabala. uksalame sindame banjinarakū de. uli be fergeleme bargiyame ofi. sube giranggi nememe cirgashūn bime. juwe nujan de. emu hacin i faksi ba tucibume muterakū be dahame. untuhun i tatame fulukan i toktobuha amala. uthai uksalame sindara arame. tacihai goidaha manggi. ini cisui urefi. gabtara nergin de. ureshūn i dorgici faksi ba banjinara de isirakū kai. erei dorgi banjinara giyan be gisurere de mangga. dolori ulhinjeme gaikini.
Presumably, if one dry-pulls the bow, he improves nothing but shoulder strength. In such a situation when you are not allowed to release the string, while your muscles and bones increasingly stiffen from hooking back the bowstring with your thumb, you are not able to give vent to the kind of coordinative skill between the fists. After a long period of learning this way, the habits of dry-pulling will become ever more ingrained into one’s actual practice of releasing the bowstring. As a result, doing archery after willful practice will inhibit the emergence of the “right moment of release skill.”77 It is difficult to explain the meaning of this “right moment of release.” I want you to begin to internally comprehend it.
Oksoro teisu ba.
Chapter 6: Appropriate Stance
Oksoro teisu ba. beyei kemun ishunde holbobuhabi. ere gabtara tacin i duka dosire ujui jurgan. tuktan tacire de. urunakū oksoro teisu babe. kobtoi teksileme obuha manggi. fulehe da ilime toktofi. beye gubci fakjin bahaci ombi. uttu akū oci. ulhiyen i eyehe demun de dubire be dahame. gabtara doro de šumilame dosinara be baiki seci. ainaha seme muterakū.
An appropriate stance is mutually influenced by one’s bodily dimensions. This is the foremost principle to the rudiments of archery. When first learning [archery,] after you have ensured your stance is dutifully arranged properly, the foundation that you have established will be able to support the entire body. If not, because you are gradually acclimating to slipping into improper habits,78 without question we cannot say that you want to advance profoundly in the Way of Archery.
gabtaki seme bethe oksome. teisu bade ibere de. ebsi akū casi akū. jing teisu obuha de sain. ainaha seme ume jortai sengguwendere arbun arara. bethe guye be urunakū akdun obume fehufi. hon bokirshūn oci ojorakū. julergi bethei fatan kūwaici seci dosimeliyan. amargi bethei fatan sijihūn seci ešemeliyan oso. gūnin bisire gūnin akūi dulga ohode teni lak ombi.
Say you want to shoot. When you take a step forward and are bringing it to an appropriate position, when it is made to feel just right, neither too close nor too far, that is good. Categorically, do not deliberately overstress the shape [that your feet] are making. While the feet and heels must be made firm, after they are planted, they may not be too stiff. If you say that the front foot’s sole is askew, turn it in somewhat; if you say that the back foot’s sole is straight, slant it somewhat. When the stance is composed of equilibrium between intention and non-intention, only then is it just right.79
aikabade juleri amala subcalu ojoro. usucileme demesileme arbušara oci. udu durun yangse bihe seme. tacihai dubifi ulhiyen i ini cisui ome banjinafi. kokiran ojorongge micihiyan akū bade. geli sain de isinara aibi..
Suppose one is inconsistent from beginning to end and behaves with fuss and swagger. Even if he had a form and style, when he gets accustomed to how he trains and gradually performs as he practices, is the depth this harm leads to also good?
Beri jafarangge.
Chapter 7: Holding a Bow
Beri jafara de. fi be jafara adali. jafakū be urunakū falanggū kobi de nikebu. hūsun be baitalarangge yooni simhun falanggū de bifi. heni majige sula akū ohode. teni unenggi mašan seci ombi.
When holding a bow, it is like holding a writing brush. You must support the bow handle in the depression of the palm. The strength that is used all lies in the palm and fingers. When there has become absolutely no laxity, only then may we call it genuine support.
beri tucibure de. dedumeliyan obufi. urunakū dergi igen be julesiken. fejergi igen be amasikan obu. aikabade sijihūn i jafafi aname tucibuci. beri be dedubume muterakū de. uli tunggen de nikerakū ofi. dere toktofi tob ome muterakū. uksalarangge toktofi faksi ome muterakū. ede urunakū goibuki seci. fakjin akū kai.
When taking up the bow, cant80 it slightly. You must make the upper bow-tip point a little bit forward and the lower bow-tip point a little bit rearward. Suppose that one takes up the bow and holds it out vertically. In your inability to cant the bow, the bowstring cannot rest against the breast. Because of this, surely you will be unable to position your face correctly; surely the release will not be skillful. If done in this way, one’s desire to hit the target would be unjustified!
Niru solbirengge.
Chapter 8 Nocking an Arrow
Niru solbire de. uli be tuwarakū. beri darame wen turibure be targaci acambi. terei nimeku. gala eshun. uli de nikebume niru gocire arga be bahakū haran.
When nocking an arrow, do not look at the bowstring. One should prevent the arrow notch detaching [from the string] while drawing the bow taut. This error is the cause of inexpert hands unable to do the “pulling back the arrow while it is supported by the string” method.
uli be wen de tebuhe manggi. nergin de uthai teleme cirakan obufi. dulimba simhun ferhe simhun de nikefi. ferhe simhun hūsutuleme tukiyeme moco simhun hūsutuleme gidame. tereci gūwa ilan simhun fita seferefi. julergi nujan tulesi dedubume. amargi nujan dosi kurbumbi. beyei kemun be bahaci tetendere. geli dedubume kurbume mutere ohode. ini cisui uli tunggen de nikembi. niru dere de nikembi kai.
After the bowstring is set into the arrow notch, immediately stretch the bowstring taut somewhat stern. Next, the middle finger abuts against the thumb [which goes around the bowstring]. And, while the thumb presses up and the index finger presses down [against each other], from that, clench the other three fingers tightly [into a fist].81 Then, while the front hand cants toward the outside, the backhand rolls toward the inside. Provided that one has the proper body posture, and also when he is able to cant and roll [his hands], the string will lean against the breast on its own; the arrow will lean against the face!
tere dade julerji nujan i ferhe simhun. moco simhun. urunakū niru i cikten i juwe ergi be. weihuken i oci. niru tuhenere ufaracun de isinarakū ombi. dekdeni gisun. butalin simhun de nikenjirakū oci. ainaha seme goibure kooli akū. simhun butalin de haminarakū oci. adarame tosome tulbime mutembi sehebi. ere yala halarakū leolen kai.
Moreover, if the front hand’s thumb and index finger certainly pinch the two sides of the arrow shaft lightly, it will prevent the error of the arrow falling off [the bow]. A common adage has stated, “If the arrowhead clasp does not draw near the finger, surely there is no decree for hitting the mark! If the finger does not approach near the arrowhead clasp, how can one be able to gauge and estimate [distance]?”82 This, indeed, cannot be disputed!
Beri tatarangge.
Chapter 9 Drawing a Bow
Beri tatame niru be uksalara de. hūsun be dendeme baitalambi. cejen i teisu juwe ergici neigen i dendeci. ere teni jingkini ulan. ememu niyalma hūsun juken. beye niyere ofi. juwe ergi gala be tukiyeme. julergi nujan be aname tucibutele. siranduhai tatarangge oci ere hūsun be teodeme baitalarangge kai.
When drawing a bow and releasing an arrow, one furcates the use of strength. When strength is evenly furcated across both sides of the upper chest, only then is this proper tradition.83 Some people are of inferior strength. Because their bodies are feeble, while raising their hands, once their front hand pushes out, they immediately pull back [with their draw hand]. This is the use of transferred strength!84
eiterecibe beri be julergi bethei emgi sasari tucibume. dara be šungkubume. du ergi be tebure arame. ebci julesi forome. yasa damu jorin be hadame. cejen be necin iletu obure be oyonggo obumbi. ura sonome. beye haidarame. hiyotohon i teksin akū be ambula targambi.
Overall, it is essential that one extends the bow out together with the front foot, drops his waist and squats his upper thighs, pivots the ribcage forward, fixes his eyes on the target alone, and makes his upper chest flat and open. Greatly abstain from arched unevenness while protruding the buttocks and leaning the body to the side.
beri be emgeri darame. urunakū beye gubci leksei emu ici. tulergi kicen yooni yongkiyafi. albatu akū hacin akū. arbun dursun elhe sulfa be wesihun obuhabi. dekdeni gisun. jilidara gese beri be tatambi. sukdun be necihiyefi niru be uksalambi sehebi. jilidara necihiyere juwe hergen de. dembei gūnin baitalara babi. terei giyan be ulhime gaime sibikici acambi..
Once the bow is drawn, the entire body must tend toward the direction of unison. After these external practices are altogether complete, one’s calm and leisurely bearing has been made superior – no coarseness of any kind. A common adage has stated, “Draw the bow like you are in angry. After you calm your qi, release the arrow.” There is great emphasis on the two words for “anger” and “calm” [in this statement]. One ought to ponder and grasp an understanding of their significances.
Kimcime toktoburengge.
Chapter 10 Establishing Resolve
Gabtara urse. urunakū dorgide beyei mujin be tob obume. tulergi de beyei giru be tob obume. umesi kimcime toktobuha manggi teni sirdan be sindarangge. ere julgei gisun kai.
Archers must make their inner ambition and outer comportment upright. And, after establishing their resolve to a high degree, only then do they release an arrow.85 These are the words of the ancients!
toktobumbi serengge. beri darame jalumbutala. gūnin tohorofi aššarakū. goidame tamalime teng seme toktobure be henduhebi. kimcimbi serengge. mujilen be narhūn emu obufi. heni majige gūwabsi gūninjara hacin suwaliyaganjame kūthūrakū be. tatambime sindarakū. ferguwecuke wembure de isinara faksi be. beyede forgošome baime. yooni ulhime gaiha manggi. ini cisui goibure toyon bahambi.
It has been said “to establish” means that once the bow is drawn fully taut, one’s thoughts are set at ease and do not move about; he endures in the struggle to bring them under control firmly. “To resolve” means that after keenly making your mind single-focused, do not in the least allow it to either wander elsewhere, mixing and mingling matters. While drawing the bow, do not remit [on your established resolution]. While seeking inward, after you have completely understood this skill leading to wonderous improvement, you will naturally obtain the accuracy to hit the target.86
niyalma embici kimcire be jorin be kimcire de obuhangge labdu. terei jorin be kimcirengge. damu kimcimbi sere hergen i dorgi emu hacin be sahakūbi. aikabade beri be jalu tataha nergin de. oori simen be yendebume fafuršaburakū oci. sube giranggi hūsun akū. gala bethe uhukedere dade. tatame jaka uthai sirdan be sindara ohode. sirdan i tob. tob akū. goibure goiburakūngge. fuhali beyede sarki saliburakū be dahame. kemuni gabtambi seci ombio..
There are perhaps many who consider “resolving on the target” as resolving. Those who do, however, have not understood an aspect of the word “to resolve” within their “resolving on the target.” If it is the case that, at the moment the bow is drawn full, he does not arouse and summon his spirit, his muscles and bones will have no strength and his hands and feet will likely act from a place of weakness. Moreover, when as soon as he pulls and the arrow has thus released, because whether that arrow flies correctly or hits the target is completely not of his own initiative, can we still call it doing archery?87
Ashūme uksalarangge.
Chapter 11: The Draw-and-Release88
Te i ashūme uksalambi serengge. uthai julgei niyalma i sindambi sehengge inu. julgei niyalma gabtara be gisurere de. julgeri nujan be beye obume. amargi nujan be baitalan obume. sindambi sere emu hergen de akūmbuhabi. terei sindara de. julergi nujan heni majige aššarakū. udu amargi ujan seme sindara de. inu hūsun baitalara be baiburakū. uli be uksalara de. uthai songgiha be faksalara gese. juwe simhun emgeri faksalame. terei faksi babe majige baitalara dabala. durun arame hūsutulere be baiburakū kai.
Today, what we call the “draw-and-release” is what the ancients called “sending forth.” When the ancients are speaking of archery, one’s front hand was considered the substance and one’s backhand was considered the function;89 one had engrossed himself fully in the word for “sending forth.”90 In sending forth [arrows], their front hand did not move in the slightest. Even when their backhand was sending forth [that arrow], it did not require the application of strength. When releasing the bowstring, they simply employed a subtle technique where as soon as an archer separated the two fingers [of his backhand] it was like releasing a catch to a mechanism. There is no need for putting on airs and straining!
erebe tuwahade. beri de beri i hūsun bi. damu beri i hūsun be. beri baitalame muterakū. niyalmai hūsun i amba ajige de akdafi. beri i mangga uhuken de acabufi baitalame ohode. beri hūsun be bahafi sidarabuci ombi. te bici mangga beri be jafame mutere niyalma. terei tucike niru i hūsungge dacun de. tasha be wame mutembi. aikabade uhuken beri be halaci. tucike niru de indahūn be tuhebume muterakū. ere ainci hūsungge dacun. mangga beri de isirakū oi kai.
Having noticed this, one sees that the bow’s strength lies within the bow. However, the bow cannot use its strength [by itself.] Depending on the amount of strength a man has, he is matched with the draw weight of a bow. Then, if he uses it, the bow may obtain its strength and display it. Suppose there is a man capable of taking-up a heavy bow. In its punch, the force of the fired arrow would be able to kill a tiger. Suppose now that this man changes to using a light bow. When he shot an arrow, it would not be able to bring down a dog. This presumably is because the force and punch does not equal to that of a heavy bow!
ede gabtarangge emu niyalma. beri i hūsun uhuken mangga adali akū ojoro jakade. tucike niru uthai dacun moyo i ilgabun bisire be dahame. umai uhuken beri be ashūme uksalara de hūsutulehengge. nenehe adali akūngge waka. giyan de toktofi uttu ojoro be saci ombi. uttu oci beri de daci hūsun bisire. niyalma i ashūme uksalara nergin de. hūsun baitalara de akū. julgei niyalma i sindara de. songgiha be faksalara adali faksi be baitalahangge. getuken sain umesi iletu babe. ele saci ombi kai.
In the above example, because the archer is the same man while the bows differ in draw weights, never will the application of extra strength to drawing-and-releasing the light bow equal to using a heavy bow since the arrows shot from the two have a difference in velocity. You may determine the rationale and know how it is so. As such, bows have innate strength within themselves. It does not exist in the using of strength at the instant that a person draws-and-releases. This will be very clear and obvious the more one understands the technique used when the ancients “sent forth,” which is similar to the release of a mechanical catch.91
tuttu ofi. fudzi i henduhengge. gabtara urse beyebe tob obuha manggi teni sindambi sehebi. geli henduhengge. gabtara de sukū be da ararakūngge. hūsun adali akū i jalin julgei doro kai sehebi. mengdze i henduhengge. mergen be duibuleci faksi. enduringge be duibuleci hūsun. tere isinarangge hūsun. tere goiburengge hūsun waka sehebi.
Hence, Confucius said, “After archers had made themselves upright, only then did they send forth [arrows].”92 He also said, “In archery, the pelt target is not made the principal objective on account that [people’s] strength differs. This is the way of the ancients!”93 Mencius said, “If you compare wisdom to skill and sagacity to strength, reaching [the target] is due to your strength; Hitting [the target] is not due to your strength.”94
enduringge mergese aifini getuken i aname gisurehebi. geli jin gurun i olon i niyalmai sargan. ping gung de alame henduhengge. fusihūn hehe i donjihangge. gabtara doro. hashū ergi gala sujara adali. ici ergi gala nikere gese. ici ergi gala sindara be. hashū ergi gala sereburakū sembi sehebi. ere gemu julgei gabtara tacin i sekiyen kai.
The sagacious and wise have lucidly avowed these words a long time ago. There was also the wife to an armorer from Jin95 who told Duke Ping, saying, “What I, this humble woman, have heard said of the Way of Archery is that the left-hand acts as if pushing away; the right-hand acts as if pulling near. The left-hand is unaware of the right-hand’s releasing.”96 These are all the origins of the ancient’s teachings on archery!
amgan urse ere giyan be dursuleme ulhime muterakū ofi. tuttu gabtara tacin. ulhiyen i da sekiyen be ufarabuhabi. uthai sindambi sere hergen be. ashūme uksalambi sere juwe hergen de acabume tuwaci. uthai julge te i gabtara tacin i ilgabure ba kai. terei tuttu ome banjinaha ba oci. damu hacihiyara katunjara. elehun sulfa sere duin hergen de wajihabi.
Later generations were unable to imitate and understand these principles, and, so, have caused archery teachings to gradually lose their origins. Thus, when you try to match the word for “sending forth” to the two words for “to draw-and-release,” there is a point of differentiation between the archery teachings of the past and present! As for how this came to be and where it began, just look no further than the four words [in the two expressions]: “straining and exerting” and “content and calm.”97
julgei niyalma. damu beri hūsun i uhuken mangga be tuwame beyei hūsun i etuhun niyere de acabume. faksi babe baitalambi. beri i da hūsun be heni funceburakū. ini cisui banjinara ufuhi be dahame urebume ofi. tuttu ferguwecuke mangga de isinahabi. seibeni fudzi kioi siyang ni yafan de gabtara de. tuwara urse torhome kaha bihe. ere ineku erdemu arbun tule serebufi. inu cisui banjinara icangga durun i arbušaha dabala. ainaha seme te i niyalma i ashūme uksalara de. tutala etenggi hūsun eimecuke arbun i usucileme. beye gubci katunjame hacihiyara be tuwabure gese akū.
The ancients simply discerned a bow’s draw weight, matched it with an archer’s physical strength, and employed skill. They did not at all draw the bow beyond its draw weight. Because they had trained in accordance with the bow’s intrinsic properties, they so reached magnificent expertise. In the past, when Confucius was doing archery in a garden in Kioi Siyang,98 onlookers had surrounded and encircled him. All the same, he exhibited a virtuous outward appearance, and then merely behaved with a pleasing grace.99 His practice of archery was categorically unlike that of today’s archers doing their “draw-and-release,” wherein so many while fussing with a brawny and repugnant form, flaunt their entire body’s straining and exerting.
uthai te i niyalma i ashūme uksalambi sere juwe hergen be jafafi gisurekini. akūname dursuleme ulhire unde ba inu labdu.beye baitalan i faksi be gisurerakū bime. damu amargi ergi gala i niru be tucibumbi seme. geli julgei niyalma i julergi nujan be teng obufi. heni majige aššaburakū ome muterakū ofi. tuttu julergi amargi galai hūsun be baitalarangge. ujen weihuken neigen akū de. tucike niru ten fangkala hashū ici adali akū miyasidara de isinahabi.
Thus, I want us to grasp and then discuss the two words used in what contemporary people term the “draw-and-release.” It is imitated everywhere and there are also many aspects to it that are not fully understood. While omitting any discussion on the theories of substance and function, they say that only the backhand is responsible for discharging an arrow. Moreover, because they are not at all able to do as the ancients did in not moving the front hand after it is made steady, their so use of strength in the front and back hands is unevenly distributed and has led to their fired arrows flying unsteadily up, down, left, and right, in variation.
erei doro be sibkire de. giyan i juwe hergen i faksi babe dendeme baitalame. amargi gala be ashūre. julergi gala be uksalara obuci acambi. ainci julgei niyalma hūsun baitalarakū ome mutembi. te i niyalma hūsun be baitalarakū ome muterakū. hūsun be baitalaci tetendere. urunakū julergi amargi galai hūsun be neigen obure ohode. hono julgei niyalma i julergi amargi gala yooni ūsun baitalarakū gūnin de majige acambi.
In pondering this method, on principle one should separate the techniques of these two words: while the backhand draws, the front hand pushes forward [at the same time]. Presumably, the ancients were able to not use strength. People of today cannot but use strength. In the case that one does use strength, if the strength in both the front and back hands are made assuredly equal, it still sort of matches the sense of the ancients in not using strength.
aikabade yargiyan i julergi amargi juwe nujan be. gūnin bisire. gūnin akūi dendeme darafi tucibume. geli majige ujen weihuken ba akū. toose darhūwan i gese obume muteci. inu ini cisui mujilen de bahafi. gala de acabure ferguwecun bimbi. tacire urse. unenggi ere doro be narhūšame dursuleme kimcime. teherebuku de duibuleme. tucike niru i den fangkala be sibkime. hude jafara de duibuleme. tucike niru i hashū ici be sibkime mutefi. hūsun beri de bisire. faksi. niyalma de bisire babe safi. kicehei umesi urebuhe manggi. fehure ba beyei giru. yaya demun i okini. ulhiyen i ibedeme ferguwecun sain de isinambi. hacihiyame katunjara ci ini cisui ome mutembi sehe balama. te i niyalma. julgei niyalma de isirakū aibi..
If one can intentionally or otherwise draw the bow in a consistently apportioned manner without one side ever being slightly heavier or lighter than the other, like a balance scale, then the marvel of “the hands corresponding to what is obtained in the mind” naturally exists. After students sincerely strive to meticulously imitate this method – being able to use the examples of a balance scale and grabbing a boat rudder to discern the elevation and windage of their shots – they will know that strength exists within the bow and skill exists within the man. Following a high degree of diligent practice and proficiency, one’s stance and posture, irrespective of fault, will gradually improve and reach fantastic good. Saying that one can become natural from forcing and exerting is absurd. How can it be that contemporary people don’t measure to those of antiquity?
Beri be hūsun de acaburengge.
Chapter 12: Pairing the Bow to One's Strength
Mangga beri be jafame. dacun sirdan be gabtame. goroki be horolome. geren be dahabure be. julgei niyalma saišambihe. tuttu seme. urunakū yargiyan i tenteke hūsun bici. teni ombi.
The ancients would have praised taking up heavy bows, shooting sharp arrows,100 menacing from afar, and subjugating enemy forces. However, doing such can only transpire if one truly has the [requisite] physical strength.
te bicibe emu hule i ujen i gingnere beri be baitalame muterengge. yargiyan i emu hule i ujen be etere hūsun bici. hūsun teni beri de mohoburakū. beri lak seme hūsun de teherembi. uttu akū oci. udu katunjame gabtacibe. goidarakū de hūsun mohombi. hūsun mohoci. sukdun cukumbi. sukdun cukuci. beye šadambi. beye šadaci. faksi be baitalame banjinarakū ofi. goibume muterakūngge. giyan ningge dabala.
Nowadays, as to those who are capable of using a bow with a heavy draw of one hule,101 only when they truly have the strength to overcome the heft of one hule will their strength not be depleted by the bow, and the bow will be a perfect match for them. Otherwise, despite their efforts to endure and shoot, their strength will deplete soon enough. If their strength is depleted, then their qi will become spent. If their qi is spent, then their body will become tired. If their body tires, they will not be able to employ technique. As a result, they will not be able to hit the target. This is merely a principle.
te i niyalma urui etuhun okto omiha hūsun de urebufi. katunjame mangga beri be baitalame. niyalmai šan yasa be hūlimbume. niyalmai tuwara donjire be ferguweburengge labdu. naranggi holo de unenggi be farfabuci ojorakū. tašan de yargiyan be dalici ojorakū ofi. elemangga sara urse de basubumbi kai. tuttu gabtara mangga urse. beri hūsun i ujen weihuken adali akūngge be safi. beri jafara de. gelhun akū hūsun be wacihiyaburakū. urunakū juwan ubu de. juwe ilan ubu funcebume sulabufi. siraburakū de isiburakū ofi. teni gabtaha dari ini hūsun faksi be baitalame. šuntuhuni šadarakū. daci dubede isitala. emu ta seme untuhuri sindarakū ombi. entekengge be teni bahanarangge seci ojoro dabala. tenteke mangga beri jafara untuhun gebu. gairengge.102 mentuhun serakū semeo..
Today, people constantly train while under the influence of powerful medicines. And then, as they apply exertion to the heavy bow, there is without fail much deceiving of other’s eyes and ears and astonishing of what others see and hear. In the end, because the authentic cannot be confounded in the spurious and the truth cannot be obscured in the fabricated, they will be ridiculed by people who know despite this. Hence, deft archers know that bows differ in draw weights. And they do not dare exhaust all their strength by taking up a bow. Because they certainly take-up bows that have draw weights equal to 70–80% of their maximum physical strength, such doesn’t cause lead to relinquish. Then, they can use strength and skill in each shot all day long without becoming fatigued. From start until finish, not one shot will be in vain. Merely only one like this may be called capable. Can we not call the kind of person who assumes the empty reputation of taking up a heavy bow foolish?
Kacilan be beri de acaburengge.
Chapter 13: Pairing the Arrow with the Bow
Beri kacilan be faksalaci juwe. acabuci yargiyan i emu. toose darhūwan i giyan. ede somibuhabi. te bicibe ajige darhūwan de. amba toose be baitalaci ojorakū. ajige toose be. amba darhūwan de tabuci ojorakū. beri kacilan inu ere adali. ede beri kacilan gala sere ilan hacin be. holbofi emu ojoro babe. narhūšame gūnime dursuleme baici acambi. aikabade emu hacin lak seme akū oci. uthai moco de isinara bade. adarame faksi be gisureci ombini. fulingga tacire urse. dolori ulhime gaire de bikai.
If one separates the bow and the arrow,103 they are two. If one pairs them together, they are truly one. The principle of the balance scale has been stored in this assertion. For example, one cannot use immense weights on a tiny balance scale; tiny weights cannot be attached to an immense balance scale. The bow and arrow are also the same in this regard. While scrupulously reflecting,
one ought to use this as a model for how the bow, arrow, and hand are connected, and are one. In the case that one of the three is out of kilter, how can one speak of skill regarding this condition that thus leads to folly? Blessed students persist in adopting internal understanding!
abkai wehiyehe i gūsin sunjaci aniya. šanyan tasha niyengniyeri dosire inenggi. yehe ba i nara hala changgiyūn ejeme araha..
Recorded and written by Yehe-Nara Changgiyūn on the advent of spring during the year of the White Tiger, the thirty-fifth year [1770] of the Abkai Wehiyehe104 reign.
Ioi yang ni gabtara yafan de morin be tuwaha nirugan de araha gisun.
Addendum: Written Words on Paintings of Horses Seen in the Ioi Yang105 Archery Garden
Gabtara be tacire doro be. gabtan i jorin de narhūšame fisembuhe be dahame. te dasame fulu gisurere ba akū. niyamniyara jurgan be muwašame gisureki. te bici arbun be edun be amcara adali. hūdun be talkiyara gese. beri be yalu tatara. yoro be hahi uksalara. yasa habtašarkū. beyebe sijihūn oburakū. beri be anarangge. biya be tebeliyere adali. yoro be necin oburengge. darhūwan be lakiyara gese.
Since the Aim of Archery relates in detail the way of learning how to shoot, there are no extra words of it here again. [Here,] I want to discuss roughly the gist of mounted archery. If it was being done here now, the spectacle is as if one rides in pursuit of the wind, fleet like lightening; bow drawn full, he releases whistling arrows with haste; his eyes do not bat, nor does he sit rigid; his extension of the bow is like an embrace of the moon; he makes level his whistling arrows like suspending the beam to a balance scale.
hacin hacin i arbun dursun bicibe. eiterecibe neneme gūnin mujilen be toktobure ci tucinerakū. gūnin mujilen toktorkū oci. sukdun jalukiyarkū. sukdun jalukiyarkū oci. beye dokdoršome aššara de. arbun dursun yooni ufarabufi. hahilara elhešere kemun be beye salime muterakū sere anggala. morin be seme inu muse de hebengge akū ombi.
Although there are various styles [to mounted archery,] in general, none extend beyond the scope of first composing one’s state-of-mind in advance. If our state-of-mind is not composed, our qi will be insufficient; if our qi is insufficient, when our bodies move erratically, it makes us lose form and appearance. And then, in addition to not being able to self-regulate our composure, while the horse runs, it will not be of the same mind as our own.
uthai ofi gabtame bahanara urse. gūnin be toktobure. sukdun be necihiyere fakjin bahaci tetendere. geli morin be gajire sindara doro be safi. tere dade sain morin be bahafi aisilabure oci. gūnin i cihai niolhumbure feksire de. beyei bengsen be heo seme tucibuci ojoro be dahame. niyamniyarangge mangga de isinarakū jalin joboro aibi.
Therefore, provided that people who are able to do dismounted archery have the skill to settle their thoughts and calm their qi, if they also know how to control a horse and acquire the assistance of a good horse moreover, then when they lengthen the reins and it gallops according to their wishes, they can adequately bring forth their talent. Because of this, on what account do they worry about not attaining expertise in mounted archery?
tuttu seme sain morin be bahara baharakūngge. geli morin be takara urse i ilgame faksalarangge narhūn. gaijara waliyarangge mergen de holbobuhabi. seibeni cin mu gung. gio fang g‘ao be. minggan ba yabure morin be baisu seme takūraha manggi. kara konggoro geo ajirgan be oihorilaha bihe. be lo hendume. gio fang g’ao i morin be tuwarangge. amban bi haminarakū. tere oci narhūn be gaime ofi. muwa be onggoho. dorgi be gaime ofi. tulergi be onggoho. gio fang g’ao i tuwarangge. banin i narhūn de kai sehe. ai. julgei morin be takara mangga niyalma. be lo de isirengge akū. tuttu gio fang g’ao i golmin babe same mutehebi. terei takame gairengge urunakū somishūn ba bidere.
However, both the obtaining of a good horse and the perceptive discernment of one who knows horses are secret. What to accept or reject has been implicated in wisdom. In the past, after Duke Mu of Qin sent Jiu Fang Gao on a mission to find a 1000-li106 horse, he had sneered at the grullo colored mare and stallion [that Jiu Fang Gao brought back]. Bo Le said, “I, your official, come nowhere near Jiu Fang Gao’s observing of horses. As for him, because he notices the imperceptive, he then forgot the obvious. Because he notices the internal, he then forgot about the external. Jiu Fang Gao’s observing [of horses] lays in the secrets of nature!”107 Alas, there was no horse expert of the past as good as Bo Le. Thus, we can know the stature of Jiu Fang Gao. His perceptive discernment must likely be in a hidden location.
erebe tuwahade. morin i arbun giru. daci narhūn muwa dorgi tulergi ilgabun bi. damu takara urse i ferguwecun i tuwara de bi. te bici bithe ulabun de arahangge. gūsin juwe hacin i sain arbun i nirugan bi. gūsin juwe hacin i ehe foron i nirugan bi. juwan hacin i giluk. jakūn hacin i muduri sere sain maktacun bi. ilan hacin i turgatu. sunja hacin i alašan i fusihūn giratu bi. jai beye giru i amba osokon. sukū funiyehe i bocihe hocikon. sube giranggi i muheliyen halfiyan. oksoro jordara hūdun lata be. julgei bithede gisurehebi.te i niyalma leolecehebi. bi inu acamjame bithe šanggabufi sirabuhabi.
From this one can see that the appearances of horses vary in terms of secret and obvious [characteristics] both internally and externally by nature. However, only by an expert’s remarkable inspection do these differences exist. At present, in the writings of books and biographical literature, there are pictures of thirty-two horses with good figure and thirty-two horses with mange; ten endurance horses and eight horses praised as dragons; three that are scrawny and five worn-out and stocky. And, their size, coat’s appearance, muscle and bone shape, pace and amble, have all been spoken of in ancient texts. Contemporary people have discussed them with each other. I have too assembled and completed [this] text to be passed it on to posterity.
tuttu seme terei tuttu oho ferguwecun. sioi u gui gese morin be takara de. tondo ba mishan i adali. mudangga ba gohon i gese. hošonggo ba durbejitu i adali. muheliyen ba erguwejitu i gese sehe babe. damu dolori ulhime bahanara de bisire jakade. tuttu tuwame mutere. takame muterengge. juwan niyalmai dolo emu juwe niyalma baharakū.
However, development [of the skill to recognize a good horse] is extraordinary. Because what Xu Wugui said when he judged horses—“one goes straight like a carpenter’s line, one goes in a curve like a hook, one goes in a square like a carpenter’s square, and one goes in a circle like a compass”108—is based on an internal understanding, fewer than one or two people out of ten would be able to see and recognize such.
ainci morin i beye giru adali akū. arbun giru acanacibe. sube giranggi acanarakūngge bi. sube giranggi acanacibe. aššara arbušarangge acanarakūngge bi. aikabade ilgarangge getuken akū. sarangge tengkicuke akū oci. terei arbun be bahara gojime. terei banin be baharakū. terei adališara be bahara gojime. terei yargiyan babe baharakū be dahame. aibe jafafi terei sain ehe be jorime toktobumbini.
Presumably, horses differ in form and carriage. There are those that although have appearances matching their forms, their muscles do not match their bones; there are those that although have muscles matching their bones, their movement does not match their behavior. In the case that the distinguishing is unclear and the knowing is not certain, even if you ascertain its appearance, you won’t ascertain its temperament; even if you ascertain its likeness, you won’t ascertain its true qualities. Because of this, what are you grasping [to use] as a pretext to make a decision?
te bici morin i yasa i emu hacin be jafafi gisureki. bithede araha bade. yasa lakiyaha honggon i gese. faha gilmarjara turi i adali. šanyan siren. muheliyen faha ningge. sunja tanggū ba yabumbi. nionio faha sunja hacin i boconggongge. se goidambi sehebi. aika yasa honggon i gese gojime bultahūn gerkušere. faha turi i adali gojime bohon dushun. faha muheliyen bime ūrakūšara boco suwaliyata bime farhūn ojoro oci. kemuni yabure mangga. se goidara morin seci ombio.
Presently, I want to grasp and discuss the topic of a horse’s eyes. In a book, there is a written point that has said: “The ones with eyes like small hung bells, eyes like shining beans, and eyes that have white threads and are round will travel 500 ba.109 The ones with 5 colors in their pupils will live a long time.”110 If it has eyes like small bells, but they bulge and are furtive, or if it has pupils like beans, but they are opaque and dull, or while its pupils are round, but they are skittish, or while they have a mix of color, but they are obscure, can we still call it a horse that is an expert runner and one that will live a long time?
eiterecibe morin be takara de. niyalmai cira be tuwara adali. banin giru i ersun hocikon. beye muru i amba osokon be bodorakū. neneme terei beye gubci acabume banjiha babe tuwafi. geli terei sube giranggi antaka. oori simen antaka. banin buyenin antaka. aššara arbušara antaka babe kimciha manggi. amba muru toktobuci ombi dere.
In general, when judging a horse, it is the same as observing a person’s complexion. Do not take into consideration whether their appearance is repulsive or attractive, their body large or small. After first looking at how their body is entirely comported and how it has formed, how are their muscles and bones? How is their spirit? How is their temperament and emotions? How is their movement and behavior? After you have examined this, you can likely make an established outline.
morin oci inu ere adali. sube giranggi muheliyen mangga bime. hūsun akūngge akū. oori simen akdun beki bime. jalgan akūngge akū. banin muru dahasu sain bime. nomhon akūngge akū. aššara arbušarangge ildamu hebengge bime. julungga akūngge akū.
As for horses, it is just the same. When having round and well-crafted muscles and bones, it is not one without strength. When having a resolute and firm spirit, it is not one without a long-life span. When having a docile and good temperament, it is not one that is not tame. When having an elegant and biddable behavior, it is not one that is not docile.
fudz i henduhengge giluk morin i hūsun be tukiyerakū. terei erdemu be tukiyembi sehebi. erdemu serengge umesi narhūn. abka ci salgabufi dorgide somibuhabi. beye de baktafi tulergi de serebuhabi. terei arbušara de tuyembume. jalukiyara de tucibume. tuttu ojoro be sarkū bime. tuttu oho ferguwecuke be. gūnin de ulhici ombi. gisun de ulame banjinarkū.ere ainci uthai be lo i henduhe banin i narhūn de kai sehengge inu dere.
Confucious had said, “Do not praise the strength of a long-distance horse. Praise its virtue.”111 What we term virtue is very subtle. It is preordained from heaven and has been held in store within. After it has been contained in the body, it is perceived from the outside; it is exposed by behavior; it manifests by providing for it. And, while we don’t know how it is so, in our thoughts we can understand the miracle of it having become so. It cannot be transmitted through words. This is likely what Bo Lo meant when he said, “Lays in the secrets of nature.”
seibeni bi ioi lin bai fu i saraci oho fonde. yamun i dolo emu farsi sula babe dasatafi. yafan arafi. šolo de tacime gabtambime. kemuni morin be tuwara de amuran bicibe. ai gelhun akū juwan ubu de. emu juwe ubu tuwame mutembi. takame mutembi seme gisurembini. damu erebe jafafi terei hacin duwali be faksalame. nomhon sain ningge be sonjome. doksin sofin ningge be uyeme. ineku irgen be dasara de aisilara emu hacin dere. nirugan obume nirure jakade. ere gisun be arafi uncehen de ejehe..
In the past, when I was the county magistrate of Ioi Lin prefecture, I arranged a strip of land inside the yamen and made a garden. In my spare time, while studying and practicing archery, I was also fond of observing horses, although how dare I say that I possess a modicum of the ability to observe and judge them? Nonetheless, I grasped this, and then analyzed their types, selected the docile and good ones, and broke in the ill-tempered and jittery ones in a manner that is likely helpful to ruling the common people. Since I was painting pictures of them, I wrote these words and recorded them at the tail end of this text.
Notes
- For an explanation of this “Manchu Way,” see Mark C. Elliot, The Manchu Way: The Eight Banners and Ethnic Identity in Late Imperial China (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2001), 8–13. ⮭
- For examples of statements made by Qing emperors regarding the need for their bannermen to retain the skill of archery, see: Elliot, The Manchu Way, 276–77; Wang Zilin 王子林, “Qingdai gongshi” 清代弓矢, Gugong bowuyuan yuankan 故宫博物院院刊, vol. 63 (1994): 86; Pamela K. Crossley, Orphan Warriors: Three Manchu Generations and the End of the Qing World (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1990), 23. ⮭
- Scholars have begun to address these and other similar questions related to archery. However, their works are few, and far from attaining an exhaustive study of the related extant materials. Notable works include Stephen Selby, Chinese Archery (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2000), which explains the philosophical approach to archery within the Confucian tradition. Kenneth Chase, Firearms: A Global History to 1700 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003), theorizes that the bow remained a battlefield weapon in armies that fought against steppe nomads owing to logistical and environmental factors. For a description of Qing archery, training, bow manufacture, and types of bows and arrows, see Wang, “Qingdai gongshi.” ⮭
- Arguments and elements of this paper were presented by the author at the 67th Midwest Conference on Asian Affairs, Metropolitan State University, St. Paul, MN, October 20, 2018. ⮭
- The academic community has identified seven extent copies of Gabtan i jorin. The original copy that I used for my research and translation was found on Fresco Sam-Sin and Léon Rodenburg’s Manchu resource webpage: https://manc.hu. Judging by the seal on page 1 of that document, it came from a library repository at Minzu University of China. However, that scan of Gabtan i jorin is missing page 8b of the text. In his dissertation, Guo Wei, who also used the copy of Gabtan i jorin held at Minzu University, provides a complete scan on pages 130–226, which I also consulted (Guo Wei, “Man-Han hebi Shedi—fu Guanma tushuo yanjiu” 滿漢合璧《射的——附觀馬圖說》研究, PhD dissertation, Minzu University of China, 2017). Another copy of Gabtan i jorin exists at Harvard, in the Harvard-Yenching Library’s rare book collection under the shelfmark TMA 6977 9482. According to Feng Hui 鋒暉, other extant copies of Gabtan i jorin are housed at the Beijing Library 北京圖書館, the Library of Inner Mongolia Normal University 内蒙古師範大學圖書館, Liaoning Provincial Library 遼寧省圖書館, the City Library of Dalian 大連市圖書館, and the Tōyō Bunko 東洋文庫 in Japan (Feng Hui, “Manzhou sheshu Shedi kaozheng yu yanjiu” 滿州射書《射的》考證與研究, Zhongguo bianzheng 中國邊政219 [September 2019]: 156). In Giovanni Stary’s survey of the Manchu language documents held in Ulaanbaatar’s Mongolian State Central Library, he lists a text titled, Gabtan-i jorin-i gisuren, or “Discussion on the Aim of Archery.” Stary does not provide the author’s name. I have not yet seen this text and I am thus unclear as to whether it is somehow connected to Changgiyūn or his Gabtan i jorin (Giovanni Stary, “An Alphabetical Index to a New Catalogue of Manchu Holdings in the Mongolian State Central Library in Ulaanbaatar,” Saksaha: A Journal of Manchu Studies 6 (2001): 17.) ⮭
- Guo Wei, “Man-Han hebi.” ⮭
- See Juul Eijk and Fresco Sam-Sin, “Targets in Shooting,” Debtelin 2 (2018): 72–100. ⮭
- Lu Chen 陸晨 and Liu Yun 劉雲, Qingyu wenda sishi tiao 清語問答四十條 (Beijing: Beijing daxue chubanshe, 2018), 1–2. ⮭
- Lu Chen and Liu Yun, Qingyu Wenda Sishi Tiao (Beijing: Peking University Press, 2018), 2. ⮭
- Guoshi liezhuan 國史列傳, juan 4, 11a, in Zhou Junfu 周駿富, comp., Qingdai zhuanqi congkan 清代傳記叢刊 (Taibei: Mingwen shuju, 1985), vol. 35, 153. ⮭
- Guoshi liezhuan, juan 4, 11a. ⮭
- Guoshi liezhuan, juan 4, 11a. ⮭
- Guoshi liezhuan, juan 4, 11a. ⮭
- Lu and Liu, Qingyu wenda, 6. ⮭
- The copy of Changgiyūn’s Forty Conversations in Manchu used for my research was found as a facsimile reproduction in Lu Chen and Liu Yun’s Qingyu wenda sishi tiao, 209–329. Dialogue Seven is found on pages 228–31. ⮭
- Guoshi Liezhuan, juan 4, 11a. ⮭
- Guoshi Liezhuan, juan 4, 12a, in Zhou Junfu, comp., Qingdai zhuanqi congkan, vol. 35, 155. ⮭
- Guoshi Liezhuan, juan 4, 12a, in Zhou Junfu, comp., Qingdai zhuanqi congkan, vol. 35, 155. ⮭
- Guoshi Liezhuan, juan 4, 12a, in Zhou Junfu, comp., Qingdai zhuanqi congkan, vol. 35, 155. ⮭
- Guoshi Liezhuan, juan 4, 12a-12b, in Zhou Junfu, comp., Qingdai zhuanqi congkan, vol. 35, 155–56. ⮭
- Guoshi Liezhuan, juan 4, 12b, in Zhou Junfu, comp., Qingdai zhuanqi congkan, vol. 35, 156. ⮭
- Guoshi Liezhuan, juan 4, 12b, in Zhou Junfu, comp., Qingdai zhuanqi congkan, vol. 35, 156. ⮭
- Guoshi liezhuan, juan 4, 14a, in Zhou Junfu, comp., Qingdai zhuanqi congkan, vol. 35, 159. ⮭
- Liu Zao and Changgiyūn, HWLFZZ, 403021421, QL 30.9.16 (October 30, 1765). ⮭
- Liu Zao and Changgiyūn, HWLFZZ, 403021421, QL 30.9.16 (October 30, 1765), lines 3–4. ⮭
- Liu Zao and Changgiyūn, HWLFZZ, 403021421, QL 30.9.16 (October 30, 1765). ⮭
- James C. Scott, The Art of Not Being Governed: An Anarchist History of Upland Southeast Asia (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009). ⮭
- Liu Zao, HWLFZZ, 403022235, QL 30.12.26 (February 5, 1766). ⮭
- For an example, see imperial rescripts to Liu Zao’s memorial, HWLFZZ, 403022235, QL 30.12.26 (February 5, 1766). ⮭
- Guoshi Liezhuan, juan 4, 14b. In Zhou Junfu comp., Qing Dai Zhuanqi Congkan, vol. 35, 160. ⮭
- Kent Guy, Qing Governors and their Provinces: The Evolution of Territorial Administration in China, 1644–1796 (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2010), 115. ⮭
- Guoshi liezhuan, juan 4, 14b–15a, in Zhou Junfu, comp., Qingdai zhuanqi congkan, vol. 35, 160–61. ⮭
- Guoshi liezhuan, juan 4, 15a, in Zhou Junfu, comp., Qingdai zhuanqi congkan, vol. 35, 161. ⮭
- Selby, Chinese Archery, 360. ⮭
- In the parallel Chinese script, Changgiyūn writes she yi guan de 射以觀德, which in Chinese can similarly be rendered as “shoot in order to examine virtue.” As mentioned in this article’s following paragraph, this statement originates from the Meaning of the Ceremony of Archery book within the Classic of Rites. Passage 2 of the Meaning of the Ceremony of Archery states, “Thus, the archers, in advancing, retiring, and in all their socialization with others, needed to conform to the rites, set upright their ambition, and set forthright their outer comportment. Afterwards, they grasped their bows and arrows and set upon a resolve; having grasped their bows and arrows and setting upon a resolve, it could then be said that they hit the target. In this way, their virtue could be examined in action” 故射者, 進退周還必中禮, 內志正, 外體直, 然後持弓矢審固; 持弓矢審固, 然後可以言中. 此可以觀德行矣. Unless otherwise specifically referenced, passages of Confucian and Daoist texts provided in the notes of this paper were obtained from the Chinese Text Project’s webpage: https://ctext.org. My translations of such passages were done in consultation with the translations provided by the Chinese Text Project. ⮭
- Selby, Chinese Archery, 71. ⮭
- For an excellent account of the Confucian tradition of archery, see Selby, Chinese Archery, 69–84. ⮭
- Yehe-Nara Changgiyūn, Gabtan i jorin (1770), 3b–4a. ⮭
- Yehe-Nara Changgiyūn, Gabtan i Jorin (1770), 31a–31b. ⮭
- Yehe-Nara Changgiyūn, Gabtan i Jorin (1770), 35b–36a. ⮭
- Wang, “Qingdai Gongshi,” 88. The force of a bow was measured in li 力. 1 li equaled 10 jin 斤. 1 jin equals 1.102 pounds. ⮭
- In this regard, my findings are not at general variance with those of Mark C. Elliot who states, “The Manchus, though highly acculturated, were never as a group assimilated into Chinese society in the Qing” (Elliot, The Manchu Way, xiv). ⮭
- Feng Hui, “Manzhou sheshu Shedi kaozheng yu yanjiu,” 157. ⮭
- Yehe-Nara Changgiyūn, Gabtan i Jorin (1770), 47b. ⮭
- Yehe-Nara Changgiyūn, Gabtan i Jorin (1770), 39a–39b. ⮭
- Yehe-Nara Changgiyūn, Gabtan i Jorin (1770), 45b–46a. ⮭
- See note 35 above on the origin of this statement. ⮭
- Changgiyūn proposes a dialectical relationship between virtue and strength based on one between ti 體 and yong 用 “substance and function.” The substance and function dyad is prevalent within multiple philosophical and religious traditions found in China: Buddhism, Neo-Confucianism, and the “Dark Learning” 玄學 branch of Daoism. It is used to conceptualize the metaphysical underpinnings of phenomena, processes, and patterns. Whereas substance refers to something’s inherent constitution, and function refers to something’s utility, such description glosses over the terms’ more nuanced meanings. As separate forces, neither can be thought of in isolation from one another. Rather, the two form a coupled relation assumed to underlie phenomenological structure and change. For a further explanation of this concept, see Isabelle Robinet, “Ti and Yong,” in The Encyclopedia of Taoism, edited by Fabrizio Pregadio (London: Routledge, 2008), 973–74. Robinet compares the relationship between these two counterparts to “that between being and becoming, potentiality and actuality, subject and predicate, or language and discourse” (973). For an analysis on the origins and development of the ti and yong concept, see Sun-hyang Kwon and Jeson Woo, “On the Origin and Conceptual Development of ‘Essence-Function’ (Ti-Yong),” Religions 10, no. 4 (2019): 272–81. ⮭
- My understanding of this passage and translation of it benefitted from consulting Guo Wei’s work. See his translation of this passage in “Man-Han hebi,” 28. ⮭
- Guo, “Man-Han hebi,” 28. ⮭
- This is a reference to Passage 15 from the Doctrine of the Mean. There, Confucius states, “The way of the superior man is akin to how in traveling afar, one must begin from nearby; it is akin to how in ascending great heights, one must begin from low-lying ground” 君子之道, 辟如行遠必自邇, 辟如登高必自卑). ⮭
- Although Changgiyūn says that this quote also comes from the same text as the previous one he mentions, it instead comes from the Xian wen chapter of the Analects. There, Confucius states, “I do not resent heaven, nor fault men. I study the mundane to commune with the exalted. That which knows me is heaven!” 子曰不怨天, 不尤人. 下學而上達. 知我者, 其天乎 (Analects, 14.35). ⮭
- I deem the first two chapters of Changgiyūn’s treatise to be heavily influenced by statements made within the Great Learning. The second opening passage to the Great Learning argues that making one’s thoughts sincere and mind upright were two of the prerequisites required of an ancient ruler who sought to illustrate his virtue and rule his kingdom. Changgiyūn’s archery treatise similarly begins with a chapter about making one’s thoughts sincere followed by a chapter about making one’s mind upright. In doing so, he makes a connection between proper governance and archery wherein a prerequisite to both begins with an inner examination of self. I have provided a translation of the above-mentioned passage from the Great Learning here: “The ancients who wished to brilliantly illustrate virtue to all under heaven first governed their kingdoms; those who wished to govern their kingdoms first regulated their families; those who wished to regulate their families first cultivated their selves; those who wished to cultivate their selves first made upright their minds; those who wished to make upright their minds first made sincere their thoughts; those who wished to make sincere their thoughts first extended their knowledge, extending it in the observation of all things” 古之欲明明德於天下者, 先治其國; 欲治其國者, 先齊其家; 欲齊其家者, 先修其身; 欲修其身者, 先正其心; 欲正其心者, 先誠其意; 欲誠其意者, 先致其知; 致知在格物. ⮭
- Changgiyūn here directly quotes a line from Zhu Xi’s Interlinear Analysis and Collected Commentaries on the Four Books. In Zhu Xi’s commentary on the second passage from the Great Learning provided in note 53 above, he states, “Intention is that which springs forth from the mind” 意者心之所發也 (Si shu zhangju jizhu si zhong 四書章句集注四 [Taibei: Taiwan shangwu yinshuguan, 1969], 2.) ⮭
- This is a reference to Passage 3 of the Great Learning. It states, “Making one’s thoughts sincere means no self-deception. Like when we detest detestable smells and are attracted to attractive appearances, this is called self-justified. Thus, the superior man must be heedful in solitude” 所謂誠其意者, 毋自欺也. 如惡惡臭, 如好好色, 此之謂自謙. 故君子必慎其獨也. ⮭
- This statement originates from one of Zhu Xi’s interlinear comments on the second passage from the Great Learning provided above in note 54: “The mind is the body’s sovereign” 心者, 身之所主 (Si shu zhangju jizhu si zhong, 2). ⮭
- Changgiyūn is expressing a phenomenon akin to what is known today as “target panic.” Target panic is a form of anticipatory anxiety that occurs in acts of marksmanship. It arises at the moment immediately preceding the release of an arrow or pulling of a trigger when the marksman is taking aim. Flinching is a form of target panic. There are numerous reasons for why a marksman may experience target panic. The target panic that Changgiyūn describes is caused by an archer being nervous over where his shot will land before releasing an arrow. Such causes the archer to lose his composure and affects the trajectory of his shots. ⮭
- This is part of a statement made by Confucius in the Ba yi chapter of the Analects: “The superior man is without contention, surely this applies to the archery ceremony! The archer yields with courtesy to his opponent and ascends (to his shooting position), descends and drinks his libation. In his contention, he is a superior man” 孔子曰君子無所爭, 必也射乎. 揖讓而升, 下而飲, 其爭也君子 (Analects, 3.7). ⮭
- This is part of a statement made by Mencius from the First Duke Sun Chou chapter of the Mencius: “Benevolence is like archery” 仁者如射 (Mencius, 3.7). ⮭
- This is an allusion to Passage 11 of the Meaning of the Ceremony of Archery, which states, “Archery is the way of benevolence. The archer seeks uprightness in himself. After making themselves upright, they sent forth [their arrows]. If they sent forth and did not hit the target, they did not resent those that bested them. Instead, they looked within themselves for the source of failure, and that is it” 射者, 仁之道也. 射求正諸己, 己正然後發, 發而不中, 則不怨勝己者, 反求諸己而已矣. ⮭
- I chose to translate the Manchu verb tebumbi as “to conjure.” Jerry Norman provides other definitions for tebumbi: to pour, to set out, to plant, to fill a vessel, to pack, to install, to distill (A Comprehensive Manchu-English Dictionary [Cambridge: Harvard University Asia Center, 2013], 362). However, my translation choice is influenced by the Chinese title that Changgiyūn uses for this chapter: cunshen 存神 “visualizing the spirit.” According to Livia Kohn, cun 存 is a meditative technique used in Daoism whereby “the meditator, by an act of conscious concentration and focused intention, causes certain energies to be present in certain parts of the body or makes specific deities or scriptures appear before his or her mental eye.” She describes cunshen as “concerted attention (cun) paid to the spirit . . . providing both physical and spiritual benefits for the practitioner” (Livia Kohn, “Cun” in The Encyclopedia of Taoism, edited by Fabrizio Pregadio [London: Routledge, 2008], 287–89). Because of the active deliberation involved in the act of visualizing spirit, I translated tebumbi as “to conjure.” Although the cunshen meditative technique is used within Daoism, we should not assume that it was used by Daoists only, nor assume that Changgiyūn was promoting Daoism itself. Evidence exists that at the time Changgiyūn wrote the Aim of Archery, cunshen was seen both as Confucian and a method for composing oneself in archery. For example, in Zeng Xu's 曾序preface to Gu Gao's A Discussion on Archery—a text that I and others suspect strongly influenced Changgiyūn's archery treatise—Zeng writes, “As for these practices of uprighting the mind, making thoughts sincere, visualizing the spirit 存神, and cultivating qi, these are all practices of the Confucians and relate to a person's life” 若正心誠意, 存神養氣之功. 此儒者之道, 而性命通也已. A copy of Gu Gao's A Discussion on Archery and Zeng's preface is found in Tang Hao 唐豪, ed., Qingdai sheyi congshu 清代射藝叢書 (Taiyuan: Shanxi chuban jituan山西出版集團, 2008), 13–44. ⮭
- I assess that this is a misspelling by Changgiyūn. In my translation, I understand it as oori. In Manchu, oori simen means “spirit.” ⮭
- Changgiyūn does not state the origin of this statement. However, Zeng Xu wrote a similar statement in his preface to Gu Gao’s A Discussion on Archery: “Employ ambition and do not separate from it. Thus, concentrate on your spirit, and as a result you won’t miss any shots” 用志不分, 乃凝於神, 而后射無不中. ⮭
- The phrase seolehe manggi teni bahame mutembi, or as it is rendered in the corresponding Chinese script lü er hou neng de 慮而后能得, comes from part of the opening passage to the Great Learning. James Legge translates this passage as “What the Great Learning teaches, is—to illustrate illustrious virtue; to renovate the people; and to rest in the highest excellence. The point where to rest being known, the object of pursuit is then determined; and, that being determined, a calm unperturbedness may be attained to. To that calmness there will succeed a tranquil repose. In that repose there may be careful deliberation, and that deliberation will be followed by the attainment of the desired end” 大學之道, 在明明德, 在親民, 在止於至善. 知止而后有定, 定而后能靜, 靜而后能安, 安而后能慮, 慮而后能得.物有本末, 事有終始, 知所先後, 則近道矣 (James Legge, The Chinese Classics with a Translation, Critical and Exegetical Notes, Prolegomena, and Copious Indexes in Seven Volumes, 2nd edition [Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1893], 356–57). ⮭
- This refers to a statement made in Passage 8 of the Meaning of the Ceremony of Archery. “Unravelling means that each individual unravels their own ambition” 繹者, 各繹己之志也. ⮭
- “Breath” satisfies a basic rendering of qi (氣). However, this definition does not wholesomely capture the nuance and complexity of qi as described by Changgiyūn in this chapter. To him, he was breathing in a universal energy. Theories on qi abound within various philosophies: Daoism, Neo-Confucianism, and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). All recognize slightly varying conceptualizations. The cosmological theories of Daoism and Neo-Confucianism refer to qi as the transmutable pure energy-matters that emerged from the matrix of creation and materialized into all things. According to general TCM theory, qi constitutes the most basic substance of the human form, flows along a network of ducts within the body, and provides the motive force for biological processes and physical movement. Practitioners of qigong 氣功, or “energy work,” seek to direct the flow of qi within their bodies to attain advantageous physical and spiritual effects. One way to accomplish this is through meditative breathing. The cultivation of qi through meditative breathing allows the archer to enter a calm but fully aware trance-like state. Contemporary adherents to mindfulness styled meditation and breathwork often express sensations of biofeedback and mental clarity as they focus their attention on their breathing. Practitioners of qigong breathing techniques express similar sensations but describe these sensations as stemming from the cultivation of qi energies (Selby, Chinese Archery, 317–19. On qi in TCM, see: Liu Xingren刘兴仁, Zhongyi xue jichu gailun 中醫學基础概论 (Xueyuan chupianshe 學苑出片社, 2008), 57–61. Qi in Daoism: Catherine Despeux, “Jing, Qi, Shen” in The Encyclopedia of Taoism, edited by Fabrizio Pregadio (London: Routledge, 2008), 562–65. ⮭
- This is possibly a quote from the First Duke Sun Chou chapter of the Mencius. In his conversation with Duke Sun Chou, Mencius states that “Qi fills the body” (氣, 體之充也) (Mencius, 3.2). ⮭
- In Changgiyūn’s parallel Chinese script, “lower abdomen” is glossed as dantian 丹田. ⮭
- In Manchu, the phrase hūwanggar sere is onomatopoeia for the rushing and surging of water. I translate it here as surge. ⮭
- In Manchu, the phrase hūr seme is onomatopoeia for the blaze of fire. I translate it here as ablaze. ⮭
- See Justin Ma’s comment on this passage in Juul Eijk and Fresco Sam-Sin, “Targets in Shooting,” Debtelin 2, (2018): 82n12. Ma indicates that what Changgiyūn here describes as an improper breathing technique is the result of not breathing with the diaphragm. One can think of this improper breathing technique as deep but shallow inhalations that lead to tightness in the upper chest. Changgiyūn uses the metaphor of overspilling water that cannot be contained to describe this sensation. According to Ma, this “pattern of breathing” is detrimental when doing archery because it “creates antagonism with the muscles responsible for pulling the bow, and that muscle antagonism creates tension.” Additionally, my understanding of this passage and translation of it benefitted from consulting Guo Wei, “Man Han Hebi,” 44. ⮭
- In Manchu, the phrase fer far is onomatopoeia used to describe weakness via the fluttering of butterfly wings. I render it here as “flitter weakly.” ⮭
- I translate the Manchu phrase kicen be baitalara as “training.” A more literal translation may be rendered as “the application of diligence.” ⮭
- As Juul Eijk and Fresco Sam-Sin indicate, the book that Changgiyūn references in this passage is likely either a medical or medical fitness book. Unfortunately, Changgiyūn does not provide the title of the text (Eijk and Sam-Sin, “Targets in Shooting,” 83). ⮭
- This is possibly a reference to either rheumatoid or migratory arthritis. The Chinese characters corresponding to the Manchu phrase fume menerere nimeku are fengbi 風痹, meaning ‘wandering arthritis.’ ⮭
- I consulted Eijk and Sam-Sin’s translation for this term (“Targets in Shooting,” 83). They translate the Manchu phrase beri jafafi untuhun tatare as “dry-pulling.” A more literal translation is “to grasp the bow and pull it empty.” In archery, “dry-pulling” refers to when one pulls the bowstring taut without having an arrow nocked onto the string. However, one cannot release the bowstring when dry-pulling because it would degrade the physical integrity of the bow, possibly even breaking. ⮭
- I translated ureshūn i dorgici faksi ba as “right moment of release skill.” A more literal translation is “the skill of internal familiarity.” Changgiyūn is describing that intuition of an archer in knowing when to release the bowstring. For a cross-cultural comparison with Japanese archery, see Eugene Herrigel’s account of his efforts to apprehend his kyūdō 弓道 teacher’s description of “the right moment to let go” of the bowstring in Zen in the Art of Archery (New York: Vintage Books, 1971), 44–52. ⮭
- The Manchu word demun means unorthodox idea or doctrine. In the parallel Chinese script, Changgiyūn writes jianru yu yougu 漸入於油泒 “to gradually enter a greasy river.” ⮭
- Here, Changgiyūn purports that foot placement is not exact and ought to suit the comforts of the individual. Changgiyūn’s description of correct stance in Chinese differs from his description of it in Manchu. In Chinese, he states that one’s feet should be arranged in a manner somewhere between the characters ding 丁 and ba 八: “Not completely in the manner of the character ding, and not exactly the character ba” 丁字不成, 八字不就. The ideogramic quality of Chinese characters allows him to describe archery with pictograms, while the Manchu does not. Many Chinese archery treatises describe foot placement and stance using the characters ba and ding. ⮭
- The Manchu word dedumbi means to “lie down.” Eijk and Sam-Sin translate this word as “to cant,” as in “to tilt.” I adopt their rendering of dedumbi (Eijk and Sam-Sin, “Targets in Shooting,” 87). ⮭
- Here, Changgiyūn is describing how to grip the bowstring with the draw hand while an arrow is nocked onto the string. According to Wang Zilin’s study of archery during the Qing, there existed multiple variations of how to do so, some involving a thumb ring and some without. For illustrated depictions of these variations, see Wang, “Qingdai Gongshi,” 93). ⮭
- In traditional archery, there are no sights on the bow to help the archer adjust for distance. This adage advises for a consistency in one’s draw of the bow that affords the archer a practical system of measurement to adjust for distance. By pulling the bowstring until the front hand’s finger is close to the arrowhead clasp every time one shoots, it helps ensure that each shot is fired with the same amount of force. When an archer has established a draw routine that leads to each shot leaving the bow with a consistent amount of force, he or she can better adjust for distance by raising the bow. Contemporary archers speak of “anchor points.” Typically, an anchor point is a place on the archer’s face where he or she always pulls the bowstring to ensure consistency in shots. Pulling the bow until the front hand’s finger nears the arrowhead clasp as described in the above adage also serves as an anchor point. ⮭
- This style of drawing the bow is reminiscent of how the bow is pulled in Japanese kyūdō. When drawing the bow in kyūdō, the archer first raises it up outward and in front of themselves. This step in the shooting process is called shomen uchiokoshi 正面打ち起こし. They next draw it by simultaneously pushing with the front hand and pulling with the back hand. This is called hikiwake 引分け. For more on kyūdō, see Hideharu Onuma, Dan DeProspero, and Jackie DeProspero, Kyudo: The Essence and Practice of Japanese Archery (Tokyo: Kodansha International, 1993). These authors state that “In kyūdō, the bow is not so much pulled as it is spread apart” (77). A similar sentiment is expressed by Changgiyūn when he speaks of using furcated strength. ⮭
- My understanding of this sentence and translation of it benefitted from consulting Eijk and Sam-Sin, “Targets in Shooting,” 90. ⮭
- This is a reference to Passage 2 of the Meaning of the Ceremony of Archery. The full statement is translated in note 35 above. ⮭
- These statements may have been influenced by the sentiment of Mencius regarding the need to maintain resolve despite the influence of others. In the First Jinxin chapter of the Mencius, Mencius states, “A great craftsman neither alters nor abandons his carpentry tools for the sake of a clumsy laborer; the archer Yi did not change the extent he drew his bow for the sake of a clumsy archer. In when the superior man draws the bow but has not yet released, he is eager to have a go. He stands in the middle of the path, the competent follow his lead” 孟子曰: 大匠不為拙工改廢繩墨, 羿不為拙射變其彀率. 君子引而不發, 躍如也. 中道而立, 能者從之 (Mencius, 13.41). ⮭
- My understanding of this passage and translation of it benefitted from consulting Guo, “Man-Han hebi,” 66. ⮭
- In this chapter, Changgiyūn describes two methods for releasing the bowstring. The first, he calls ashūme uksalambi, which I translate as “to draw-and-release.” Ashūmbi describes the action of drawing back the hand to shoot an arrow or throw an object. Uksalambi means to loosen or release an arrow. Taken together, as ashūme is in the attributive position and -me converb form, they constitute two steps of a single release process. Changgiyūn does not provide much explanatory detail for this release method. However, he does provide illustrative remarks on how those who employed such method looked: brawny, unbalanced, straining, flaunting displays of strength. Changgiyūn's critical descriptions of the draw-and-release method contrasts with the second release method that he describes, sindambi, which I translate as “sending forth.” According to Changgiyūn, sindambi was a release technique that the ancients employed and was akin to the release of a catch mechanism. Such technique was more refined than the first and involved the separation of the archer's index finger and thumb to release the bowstring. ⮭
- In this passage, I translate the Manchu words beye “body” as “substance,” and baitalan, or use, as “function.” My reason for doing so is because in the Chinese text corresponding to this passage, Changgiyūn writes ti 體 and yong 用 for the aforementioned Manchu words. (See note 48 above.) As we saw in the first chapter of Gabtan i jorin, Changgiyūn glosses the Chinese characters ti and yong as dursulen and baitalan, respectively, but not here. I made my above translation choice for the sake of a consistency that accounts for the ti and yong philosophical concept first espoused in the preface to Gabtan i Jorin that reappear again in this chapter. ⮭
- In the Chinese script paralleling this passage, Changgiyūn glosses the Manchu word sindambi as fa 發 and ashūme uksalambi as sa fang 撒放. ⮭
- My understanding of this passage and translation of it benefitted from consulting Guo, “Man-Han hebi,” 82–83. ⮭
- Although Changgiyūn attributes this statement to Confucius, it is instead part of a statement made by Mencius who is in turn referencing statements from the Meaning of the Ceremony of Archery. In the First Duke Sun Chou chapter of the Mencius, Mencius states, “Benevolence is like archery. After archers had made themselves upright, only then did they send forth [arrows]. If they sent forth and did not hit the target, they did not resent those that bested them. Instead, they looked within themselves for the source of failure, and that is it (仁者如射, 射者正己而後發. 發而不中, 不怨勝己者, 反求諸己而已矣 (Mencius, 3.7). ⮭
- This is a quote from the Ba yi chapter of the Analects: “In archery, the pelt target is not made the principal objective because strength differs amongst competitors. This is the way of the ancients” 射不主皮, 为力不同科, 古之道也 (Analects, 3.16). ⮭
- This is a quote from the Second Wan Zhang chapter of the Mencius where Mencius states, “Wisdom is like skill. Sagacity is like strength. Shooting beyond 100 paces, this is due to your strength. Hitting the target is not due to your strength 智, 譬則巧也.聖, 譬則力也. 由射於百步之外也, 其至, 爾力也.其中, 非爾力也 (Mencius, 10.1). ⮭
- The following anecdote told by Changgiyūn comes from the biography of The Wife of the Bow Maker of Jin 晋弓工妻 in Liu Xiang’s Biographies of Exemplary Women. The opening line states, “There was a wife to a bow-maker who was the daughter of an armorer from Jin” 弓工妻者, 晋繁人之女. However, in Changgiyūn’s retelling, he states “there was a wife to an armorer from Jin.” The Manchu word olon refers to a belt that cinches around a horse’s girth. In Changgiyūn’s writing, olon serves as a translation of the Chinese term panren 繁人, which according to Anne Kinney means “armorer,” but more specifically an armorer in charge of outfitting horses (Anne Kinney, Exemplary Women of Early China: The Lienü Zhuan of Liu Xiang [New York: Columbia University Press, 2014], 249). ⮭
- This is a quote made by the wife of the bowmaker of Jin where she states, “I this humble wife have heard of the Way of Archery is that the left-hand acts as if pushing back a boulder; the right-hand acts as if pulling a branch near to oneself. When the right-hand releases it, the left hand is unaware. This, ostensibly, is the Way of Archery” 妾闻射之道: 左手如拒石, 右手如附枝. 右手发之, 左手不知. 此盖射之道也. The biography of the bowmaker of Jin is found in juan 6 of Liu Xiang’s Biographies of Exemplary Women. A full English translation is provided in Kinney, Exemplary Women, 112–14. ⮭
- In the parallel Chinese script, Changgiyūn glosses hacihiyara katunjara as mian qiang 勉强 and elehun sulfa as zi ran 自然. ⮭
- Quxiang 曲鄉, located in Qufu 曲阜 County, Shandong, the reputed birthplace of Confucius. ⮭
- This is a reference to an anecdote about Confucius doing archery in the garden of Quxiang that comes from Passage 7 of the Meaning of the Ceremony of Archery. ⮭
- The Manchu word that I translate as arrow is sirdan. More specifically, a sirdan is a type of arrow used in warfare. ⮭
- A hule, or “stone,” is a unit of weight measurement equivalent to just over 132 pounds. ⮭
- The Manchu text for this word reads ganrengge. I assume this word was written in error and follow Guo’s transcription gairengge, meaning “the taking,” “the assumption,” or “the adoption” (Guo, “Man-Han hebi,” 88). ⮭
- The Manchu word that I translate as arrow is kacilan. More specifically, a kacilan is a type of arrow used for target practice. ⮭
- In Manchu, this term can be rendered as “Heaven-Supporting.” In Chinese, it is known as the Qianlong 乾隆 reign. ⮭
- Today, Ioi Yang, or Yuyang 榆陽, is a district of Yulin city 榆林市 in Shaanxi. ⮭
- A li 里, Manchu ba, is a traditional unit of measurement equivalent to half a kilometer. ⮭
- Bo Le 伯樂 was a fabled judge of horses from the Spring and Autumn period (春秋, 700–481 BCE). This recounting of Bo Le, Duke Mu of Qin 秦穆公, and Jiu Fang Gao 九方皋 is based on a story recorded in the Explaining Causality 說符 chapter of the Works of Master Lie 列子. For a full English translation, see Lionel Giles, Taoist Teachings from the Book of Lieh Tzu (London: The Wisdoms of the East Series, 1912), 144–55. ⮭
- This statement by Xu Wugui 徐無鬼 comes from the first passage of the Xu Wugui chapter within the Miscellaneous Chapters 雜篇 of the Zhuangzi. In his discussion with Marquis Wu of Wei 魏武侯, Xu Wugui states, “When I physiognomize horses, [I see] some go straight in accordance with a carpenter’s marking-line; some curve in accordance with a hook; some square in accordance with a carpenter’s square; some circle in accordance with a compass” 吾相馬, 直者中繩, 曲者中鉤, 方者中矩, 圓者中規. ⮭
- A ba, or li 里in Chinese. ⮭
- Changgiyūn is likely quoting a text belonging to the genre of Horse Divination Classics 相馬經. In the digital repository of the Chinese Text Project (https://ctext.org), there is a text titled Bo Le’s Horse Divination Classic 伯樂相馬經. From his research, Ulrich Theobald states that there is a text with this title listed in the imperial bibliography 經籍志 of the History of the Sui Dynasty 隋書. See Theobald’s online encyclopedia entry for Horse Divination Classics on http://www.chinaknowledge.de. I have not yet ascertained the provenance of the Bo Le’s Horse Divination Classic on the Chinese Text Project webpage. However, the statements Changgiyūn quotes in his parallel Chinese script are identical, or nearly so, to those made in this text. See Bo Le’s Horse Divination Classic on the Chinese Text Project website here: https://ctext.org/wiki.pl?if=gb&chapter=82393. ⮭
- This statement by Confucius comes from the Xian wen chapter of the Analects: “Do not praise a long-distance horse for its strength, praise it for its virtue” 驥不稱其力, 稱其德也 (Analects, 14.33). ⮭
Works Cited
Abbreviations
HWLFZZ: Hanwen lufu zouzhe 漢文錄副奏摺. Qing Palace Memorials and Grand Council Archives held in the National Palace Museum, Taibei.
Primary Sources
Bole xiangma jing 伯樂相馬經 [Bo Le’s Horse Divination Classic]. Online at https://ctext.org/wiki.pl?if=en&chapter=82393.https://ctext.org/wiki.pl?if=en&chapter=82393
Book of Rites禮記. Online at https://ctext.org/liji.https://ctext.org/liji
Confucius. Lunyu 論語 [The Analects]. Online at https://ctext.org/analects.https://ctext.org/analects
Gu Gao 顧鎬. She shuo 射說 [A Discussion on Archery]. In Tang Hao 唐豪, ed. Qingdai sheyi congshu 清代射藝叢書, 13–44. Taiyuan: Shanxi chuban jituan, 2008 [1720].
Guoshi liezhuan 國史列傳. In Zhou Junfu 周駿富, comp., Qingdai zhuanqi congkan 清代傳記叢刊, vol. 35. Taibei: Mingwen shuju, 1985.
Hanwen lufu zouzhe 漢文錄副奏摺. Qing Palace Memorials and Grand Council Archives held in the National Palace Museum, Taibei.
Liezi 列子 [Works of Master Lie]. Online at https://ctext.org/liezi.https://ctext.org/liezi
Liu Xiang 劉向. Biographies of Exemplary Women列女傳. Online at https://ctext.org/lie-nv-zhuan.https://ctext.org/lie-nv-zhuan
Mencius 孟子. Online at https://ctext.org/mengzi.https://ctext.org/mengzi
Yehe-Nara Changgiyūn. Gabtan i jorin. 1770. Online at http://manc.hu.http://manc.hu
Yehe-Nara Changgiyūn. Manjurame fonjire jabure gisun dehi meyen清話問答四十條. 1757.
Zhongyong 中庸 [Doctrine of the Mean]. Online at https://ctext.org/liji/zhong-yong.https://ctext.org/liji/zhong-yong
Zhuangzi 莊子. Online at https://ctext.org/zhuangzi.https://ctext.org/zhuangzi
Zhu Xi. Si shu zhangju jizhu si zhong 四書章句集注四. Taibei: Taiwan shangwu yinshuguan, 1969.
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