法苑珠林 4.86

4.86

桓譚新論曰。余小時聞閭巷言。孔子東遊見兩小兒辯鬪問其故。一兒曰。我以日始出時近日中時遠。一兒以日初出遠日中時近。長水校尉關子楊。以為天去人上遠而四傍近。以星宿昏時出東方其間甚疎相去丈餘。夜半在上視之甚數相去唯一二尺。日為天陽。火為地陽。地陽上昇。天陽下降。令置火於地。從傍與上診其熱。遠近不同乃差半焉。日中在上當天陽之衡。故熱於始出。從太陽中來故涼。西在桑榆大小雖同。氣猶不如清朝也。

Huan Tan's Xinlun says: 'When I was young, I heard folk in the alleys say: "Confucius was traveling east when he saw two young children arguing, and he asked them the reason. One child said: 'I hold that when the sun first comes out it is near, and at midday it is far.' The other child held that when the sun first comes out it is far, and at midday it is near." Guan Ziyang, the Colonel of the Changshui Encampment, considered that heaven is far above human beings and close on the four sides. For instance, when constellations emerge in the east at dusk, the spaces between them are very wide, separated by more than a zhang; at midnight when they are above, viewing them they appear very dense, separated by only one or two chi. The sun is the yang of heaven, and fire is the yang of earth. The yang of earth ascends, while the yang of heaven descends. If one places a fire on the ground and examines its heat from the side and from above, the distance is not the same, differing by half. At midday [the sun] is above, directly aligned with the balance of heaven's yang, and therefore it is hotter than when it first emerges. Coming from the midst of the Great Yang, it is therefore cool; in the west, when it is among the mulberries and elms, although its size is the same, its qi is still not equal to that of the clear morning.'