Ancient China · Legendary Ruler

Shun 舜

Attested AD 955

Passages: 31
Chapters: 12
Histories: 8

Overview

Shun was a Legendary Ruler.

Other names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Regnal name	Yu	虞	Yu

Life and dates

Attested activity

神虞
Directly stated · History of Song 141, passage 58
legendary antiquity
Directly stated · Book of Northern Qi 25, passage 205; Book of Northern Qi 30, passage 116; Book of Han 65, passages 258, 260; Book of Han 101, passage 39; Book of Jin 41, passages 238, 241; Old History of the Five Dynasties 10, passages 7, 68; Old History of the Five Dynasties 147, passage 35; History of Liao 41, passage 3; Records of the Three Kingdoms 65, passages 30, 48; History of Song 141, passage 364; Book of Song 3, passage 6
legendary antiquity
Strongly inferred · Book of Han 65, passages 188, 208, 213
AD 955 顯德二年
Dated from the passage context · Old History of the Five Dynasties 115, passage 14

Key source chapters

Career and standing

sage-king 舜
Directly stated · Book of Han 65, passage 260

Places and affiliations

Polity Tang-Yu 唐虞 · Relation Ruled
Directly stated · Book of Jin 41, passage 241
At deep mountains 深山 · Relation Rose from
Directly stated · Book of Han 65, passage 260

Works and attributed material

Shun's canon 舜典
Relation Subject of exemplum · Mode memorial-historical-exemplum
Directly stated · Old History of the Five Dynasties 10, passages 61, 68
Book of Documents 書
Relation Subject of
Directly stated · Book of Jin 41, passage 243
Analects 論語
Quotation · Exemplar · Direct quotation · Mode quotation Speaker Hua He (華核)
Directly stated · Records of the Three Kingdoms 65, passages 48-49, 55

Events and relationships

Appointed
Political · Appointing sovereign · With Boyi (伯夷)
Directly stated · Book of Jin 41, passage 240
Appointed
Political · Appointing sovereign · With Yi (益)
Directly stated · Book of Jin 41, passage 239
Appointed
Political · Appointing sovereign · With Yu (禹)
Directly stated · Book of Jin 41, passage 238
Cited for kingly intent and fame
Political · Exemplum
Directly stated · Book of Han 65, passages 188, 208
Daily extended filial piety
Moral · Exemplar
Directly stated · Book of Han 65, passage 266
Rose gradually from deep mountains
Political · Ruler
Directly stated · Book of Han 65, passage 260

Show 4 more source-backed claims

Used arms when unavoidable
Military · Legendary ruler · Mode edict-historical-exemplum Speaker Later Liang Last Emperor (末帝)
Directly stated · Old History of the Five Dynasties 10, passages 5, 7
Relation Successor of · Person Emperor Yao (帝堯)
Directly stated · History of Song 141, passage 364
Relation Predecessor of · Person Yu the Great (大禹)
Directly stated · History of Song 141, passage 67
Relation Successor of · Person Yao (唐)
Strongly inferred · Book of Jin 41, passage 241

Assessments and attributes

Assessment commended together with Yao · Mode quotation Speaker Son of Heaven (天子)
Directly stated · Book of Han 65, passage 213
Assessment obtained a fine name by gradual accumulation of goodness · Mode historian-judgment Speaker Dong Zhongshu (董仲舒)
Directly stated · Book of Han 65, passage 270
praised in the edict as a supreme sage 詔中稱為上聖
AD 955 · Mode narrator
Directly stated · Old History of the Five Dynasties 115, passage 14

Source notes

Historicity legendary
Strongly inferred · Book of Han 65, passage 258
Historicity legendary
Directly stated · Book of Han 65, passages 188, 213; Book of Jin 41, passage 238; Old History of the Five Dynasties 147, passage 35; Records of the Three Kingdoms 65, passages 30, 48; History of Song 141, passages 58, 364

References in the histories

Search passages

History

31 passages

Book of Northern Qi, Chapter 25Volume 25 Biographies 17: Zhang Zuan; Zhang Liang; Zhang Yao; Zhang Qi; Xu Yuan; Wang Jun; Wang Hong · 1 passage

伏願陛下哀忠念舊，愛孤恤寡，矜愚嘉善，舍過記功，敦骨肉之情，廣寬仁之路，思堯、舜之風，慕禹、湯之德，克己復禮，以成美化，天下幸甚。」 I venture to hope Your Majesty will pity the loyal and remember the old, cherish the orphaned and comfort the widowed, pity the foolish and praise the good, pardon faults and record merit, thicken kinship among flesh and bone, broaden the path of generous forbearance, think of the manner of Yao and Shun, admire the virtue of Yu and Tang, restrain yourself and return to ritual to complete a transformation of culture — all under Heaven would be greatly blessed."

Book of Northern Qi, Chapter 30Volume 30 Biographies 22: Cui Xian; Gao Dezheng; Cui Ang · 2 passages

帝以衆人意未協，又先得太后旨云：「汝父如龍，汝兄如虎，尚以人臣終，汝何容欲行舜、禹事？ Because the men's hearts were not yet one, Gao Yang had also received the empress dowager's word earlier: "Your father was like a dragon and your brother like a tiger, yet both died as subjects — how can you think to play Yao and Shun?

旭云：「五行遞運，有始有終，齊王聖德欽明，萬方歸仰，臣等昧死聞奏，願陛下則堯禪舜。」 Xu said, "The Five Agents turn in succession — all things have beginning and end. The Prince of Qi's sacred virtue is bright; the ten thousand regions look to him. We risk death to report: we pray Your Majesty will follow Yao in yielding to Shun."

Book of Han, Chapter 65Volume 56: Dong Zhongshu · 7 passages

陛下親耕籍田以為農先，夙寤晨興，憂勞萬民，思維往古，而務以求賢，此亦堯、舜之用心也，然而未雲獲者，士素不厲也。 Your Majesty personally ploughs the sacred field to lead farming, rises before dawn, toils for the people, studies antiquity, and strives to find worthies—this too is the intent of Yao and Shun; what has not yet been obtained is that scholars have not been trained in advance.

遍得天下之賢人，則三王之盛易為，而堯、舜之名可及也。 Gather the realm’s worthies and the glory of the Three Kings is within reach, the fame of Yao and Shun no longer a distant echo.

故朕垂問乎天人之應，上嘉唐虞，下悼桀、紂，浸微浸滅浸明浸昌之道，虛心以改。 So I ask how Heaven answers man, praising Yao and Shun above, mourning Jie and Zhou below, tracing how states fade or flourish—hoping to mend my ways with an open heart.

冊曰：「上嘉唐、虞，下悼桀、紂，浸微浸滅浸明浸昌之道，虛心以改。」 Your rescript asked me to praise Yao and Shun, mourn Jie and Zhou Xin, and trace how kingdoms wither or wax—so you may reform with an open heart.

是以堯發於諸侯，舜興乎深山，非一日而顯也，蓋有漸以致之矣。 Yao rose from a fief, Shun from the wildwood—neither leaped to fame in a day; both climbed by slow degrees.

胡堯兢兢日行其道，而舜業業日致其孝，善積而名顯，德章而身尊，以其浸明浸昌之道也。 So Yao trod the Way with trembling care, Shun piled up filial deeds day by day—goodness stacked until their names shone, virtue plain until all honored them: the path of slow, sure growth.

此唐、虞之所以得令名，而桀、紂之可為悼懼者也。 That is how Yao and Shun won praise, and how Jie and Zhou became warnings.

Book of Han, Chapter 101Volume 89: Upright Officials · 2 passages

宣帝最先褒之，地節三年下詔曰：「蓋聞有功不賞，有罪不誅，雖唐、虞不能以化天下。 Emperor Xuan singled him out for praise early on. In the third year of Dijie an edict declared: "They say that where merit goes unrewarded and guilt unpunished, not even the sage-kings Yao and Shun could civilize the realm.

曰：「臣聞膠西王有諛臣侯得，王所為擬於桀、紂也，得以為堯、舜也。 Gong Sui explained: "He kept a flatterer named Hou De who masked conduct worthy of Jie and Zhou with praise fit for Yao and Shun.

Book of Jin, Chapter 41Volume 41 Biographies 11: Wei Shu; Li Xi; Liu Shi; Gao Guang · 3 passages

昔舜以禹為司空，禹拜稽首，讓於稷契及咎繇。 When Shun made Yu minister of works, Yu kowtowed and yielded the honor to Ji, Xie, and Gao Yao.

使益為虞官，讓於硃虎、熊、羆。 Shun made Yi warden of forests and marshes; Yi deferred to Zhu Hu, Xiong, and Pi.

唐虞之時，眾官初除，莫不皆讓也。 Under Yao and Shun every first appointment was accompanied by such deferrals.

Old History of the Five Dynasties, Chapter 10Volume 10 Book of Later Liang 10: Later Emperors Annals 3 · 2 passages

而炎、黃有戰伐之師，堯、舜有干戈之用，諒不獲已，其猶病諸。 Even the Yellow and Flame emperors and Yao and Shun resorted to arms when they had no choice, though war grieved them.

而且周德見乎殷紀，舜典存乎禹功，非唯十世可知，庶成一朝大典。 As Zhou virtue appears in Yin records and Shun’s canon in Yu’s deeds, ten generations may be known and our dynasty’s great history completed.

Old History of the Five Dynasties, Chapter 115Volume 115 Book of Later Zhou 17: Shizong Annals 2 · 1 passage

雖堯、舜、禹、湯之上聖，文、武、成康之至明，尚猶思逆耳之言，求苦口之藥，何況後人之不逮哉！ Yao, Shun, Yu, and Tang were supreme sages; Wen, Wu, Cheng, and Kang were supremely enlightened—yet they still welcomed unwelcome counsel and sought bitter medicine for the state. How much more must lesser rulers do so!

Old History of the Five Dynasties, Chapter 147Volume 147: Treatises 9 Punishment and Law · 1 passage

伏以刑法者御人之銜勒，救弊之斧斤，故鞭撲不可一日弛之於家，刑法不可一日廢之於國，雖堯、舜淳古之代，亦不能舍此而致理矣。 Penal law is the bridle by which people are governed and the tool by which abuses are cut away. Flogging cannot be relaxed for a day in the household, nor penal law abandoned for a day in the state—even the pure antiquity of Yao and Shun could not achieve good order without it.

History of Liao, Chapter 41Volume 41 Treatises 11: Geography 5 · 1 passage

虞分并州。 Shun assigned it to Bing Province.

Records of the Three Kingdoms, Chapter 65Volume 65: Book of Wu 20: Biographies of Wang, Lou, He, Wei, and Hua · 3 passages

彧曰：“唐虞之朝无谬举之才，造父之门无驽蹇之质，蕃上诬明选，下讪桢幹，何伤於日月，適多见其不知量耳。” Wan Yu retorted: Under Yao and Shun no fool was promoted; at Zaofu's stable no cripple nags were kept. Wang Fan slanders the civil service above and mocks the state's timber below—he does not scratch the sun and moon; he only shows how little he knows his own measure.

《論語》曰：『無為而治者其舜也與!恭己正南面而己。』 The Analects says of Shun that he 'ruled without acting'—only sat south in correct dignity.

使為官擇人，隨才授任，則舜之恭己，近亦可得。 Appoint the worthy to fit posts and you may approach Shun's ease of rule.

History of Song, Chapter 141Volume 141 Treatises 94: Music 16 · 7 passages

重華天子，長至奉神虞，九奏會軒、朱。 The Chonghua Son of Heaven, at the winter solstice honors Spirit Yu, with nine performances at Xuan and Zhu.

舜授禹，盛事光前，稱壽玉卮邊。 Shun passes the throne to Yu; the grand affair outshines the past, and longevity is toasted beside the jade cup.

虞旦宮，畢觴清廟，漿柘樽犧繼猗那，嘉頌可同科。 Spirit Yu at dawn in the palace, libation completed at the clear temple, sacrificial brew and zither follow the graceful "Yi Na," and songs of praise rank as one.

萬姓齊祝，壽同天地，事超唐、虞。 All the people bless together, wishing long life equal to heaven and earth, achievements surpassing Tang and Yu.

虞廷萬辟萃華簪，法仗儼天臨。 At Yu's court myriad officials gather in splendid caps; ceremonial halberds stand solemn, heaven itself descending.

堯傳舜，盛事千古難並。 Yao passed the throne to Shun—a grand event unmatched through the ages.

日親廣廈論唐、虞，講求政治想都俞，君臣一德誌交孚。 Daily in the broad hall he discussed Tang and Yu—seeking good governance, thinking of that ancient harmony; ruler and ministers one in virtue, mutual trust fulfilled.

Book of Song, Chapter 3Volume 3 Annals 3: Emperor Wu 3 · 1 passage

越俶唐、虞，降暨漢、魏，靡不以上哲格文祖，元勳陟帝位，故能大拯黔首，垂訓無窮。 From Yao and Shun down through Han and Wei, none failed to have a supreme sage align with the founding ancestor of civilization and a chief merit-holder ascend the throne, thereby greatly rescuing the common people and handing down instruction without end.