Lunheng

The title Lunheng combines lun 論 or 论 "discuss; talk about; discourse; decide on; determine; mention; regard; consider" and heng 衡 "crosswise; balance beam; weigh; measure; judge; appreciate".

The received Lunheng comprises 85 pian 篇 "articles; sections; chapters" in 30 juan 巻 "scrolls; volumes; books", with more than 200,000 characters.

In discussing natural phenomena and their implications or causes, matters of popular belief and misconception and political issues, the book is often written in polemical form.

In many ways the Lun heng may be regarded as an encyclopaedic collection of the claims and beliefs of Chinese religion, thought and folklore.

That would be tantamount to making Heaven the farmer of man or his mulberry girl [who feeds the silkworms], it would not be in accordance with spontaneity, therefore this opinion is very questionable and unacceptable.

That Heaven does not produce grain, silk, and hemp purposely, in order to feed and cloth[e] mankind, follows from the fact that by calamitous changes it does not intend to reprove man.