Mysteries of the Six Holy Kings

Everything you need to learn about the Tao can be learned from the Six Holy Kings – or so goes a classical, oft-cited axiom. Chinese historian and philosopher Li Zehou 李泽厚 noted that the Six Holy Kings were shamanic rulers, wū 巫, and that their divine right to sovereignty came from their alignment with Heaven, which is received on the basis of their abilities to commune with Heaven.

Companion blog post for the content I cut out of the video: https://benebellwen.com/2024/05/31/ta...

As Mysteries, there is an esoteric facet to the Six Holy Kings. They personify the six powers, which are accumulated through the progression of six hexagram lines in the I Ching. Embedded in the mythology is the arcane knowledge that reveals the Way, or Tao, of Heaven, which is the path of the holy ones.

The transmission of wisdom from one king to the next is symbolic of orthodox Taoist lineaged tradition and Dào tǒng 道統, meaning the Tao is passed on from one generation to the next, the way the wisdom of the Holy Kings was passed from King Yao 堯 to Shun 舜 to Yu the Great 禹, then Tang 湯, to King Wen 文 and his son King Wu 武.

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 Introduction
00:18 Meaning of “Mysteries”
01:09 Six Powers per the Book of Three Sovereigns
01:36 The Six-Line I Ching Hexagram
01:59 The Six Jade Maidens; symbolism of Six Black (Mystery 玄) Stones
02:33 Six-Line I Ching Hexagram, continued
03:32 Structural Value of Six in Nature
04:24 Six Akasha, Six Powers and the One Tao
05:37 Use of the term “Holy Kings,” Sheng Wang 聖王

06:07 Xia Dynasty
06:30 Shang Dynasty
06:42 Zhou Dynasty

07:03 堯 King Yao
08:55 舜 King Shun
10:29 禹 King Yu
12:34 湯 King Tang
14:14 文 King Wen
16:17 武 King Wu

18:12 King Wen, King Wu, Duke of Zhou
18:42 Other references to the Six Holy Kings
19:13 Mòzi 墨子 on the Six Holy Kings
21:29 Legalist and Zajia References to the Six Kings
22:16 Sima Qian 司馬遷 and Records of the Grand Historian
22:50 I Ching Hexagram 1 and the Six Holy Kings
23:35 Why Learn About the Six Holy Kings
24:23 Assembling and Synthesizing the Puzzle Pieces of this Mystery…
26:48 Mythology is…
27:10 Thank You!

VIDEOS REFERENCED

What is the I Ching?    • What is the I Ching (Yijing) Book of Changes?  
The Lo Shu Magic Square    • The Lo Shu Magic Square (雒書, Luò Shū)  
What is the Way of Heaven?    • What is the Way of Heaven?  
Secret Book of Three Sovereigns    • Secret Book of Three Sovereigns & Seal of ...  
Lady of the Nine Heavens    • Lady of the Nine Heavens (Jiu Tian Xuan Nu...  
Your Inner Palace and the Akashic Records    • Your Inner Palace and the Akashic Records  
About the Guan Yinzi: Magical Spells and Aphorisms for Attaining Primordial Truth    • Magical Spells and Aphorisms for Attaining...  
Wu Wei    • Wu Wei 無為 (Taoist Non-Action)  

WORKS CITED

------- Introduction to Taoism 道教概說 by Lǐ Yǎng Zhèng 李養正 (The first to coin the term “Taoism” were the Ru Confucian philosophers, which they used to define the Tao of the six ancestral sage kings and the Five Classics, 使用道教一詞最早的是儒家，把堯舜禹湯文武的先王之道和孔子的五經之道謂之道教), noting that among the Five Classics is the I Ching
------- Mozi 墨子 (490 – 221 BC, Spring and Autumn Period), key references to the Six Holy Kings found in Scrolls 2 卷二, 6 卷六, 7 卷七, 8 卷八, and 12 卷十二
------- Guanzi 管子 (475 – 220 BC, Warring States Period), Legalist text, references to the Six Holy Kings found in Chapter 12, Shu Yan 樞言
------- Hainanzi 淮南子 (139 BC, Western Han), or the Writings of the Huainan Masters, Scroll 9, Craft of the Ruler 主術訓
------- Da Dai Liji 大戴禮記 (206 BC – 8 AD, Former Han), or the Records of Ritual Matters by Dai the Elder, Scroll 6, Yongbing 用兵
------- Shiji 史記 (91 BC, Han dynasty), or Records of the Grand Historian by Sima Qian (and his father Sima Tian), in Biographies of the Soothsayers and House of King Goujian of Yue
------- Fayan 揚子法言 (9 AD, Han dynasty), also known as the Model Sayings or Exemplary Figures, by Yang Xiong 揚雄, Chapter 1 學行卷第一
------- Book of Later Han 後漢書 (398 – 445 AD) by Fan Ye 范曄 in Biographies of Du, Luan, Liu, Li, Liu, Xie 杜欒劉李劉謝列傳, Vol. 57; see also Biographies of the Diviners, Immortals, and Magicians 方術列傳
------- Li Zehou 李泽厚, The Origins of Chinese Thought: From Shamanism to Ritual Regulations and Humaneness. Robert A. Carleo III, trans. (Leiden: Brill, 2018)