Celestial Omen Political Responsibility / 天象政治责任

Celestial omen political responsibility / 天象政治责任 is the frame 《资治通鉴·周纪》07丨两起刺杀（2） uses for solar eclipses. The episode says an eclipse was not treated as a neutral astronomical curiosity in ancient political culture; it could be read as a warning that rulers and ministers had failed in governance.

The concept is adjacent to Natural Disaster Political Omen / 自然灾害政治征兆, but it deals with sky signs rather than landslides, floods, and other terrestrial disasters. It also connects to Mandate of Heaven Legitimacy / 天命合法性 because both assume that political order can be judged through signs beyond ordinary court debate.

Key Claims

• Solar eclipses could be recorded as politically meaningful events.
• Responsibility for a major omen could be directed toward ruler and chief minister, especially in more centralized later political imagination.
• A self-critical edict can function as ritualized accountability when literal punishment of every ruler or minister is impossible.
• Studying the omen system explains historical political reasoning without endorsing celestial causation.

Connections

• 《诗经》 - source cited for an earlier eclipse notice.
• 《资治通鉴》 and 周安王 - chronicle and annalistic frame.
• Mandate of Heaven Legitimacy / 天命合法性, Natural Disaster Political Omen / 自然灾害政治征兆, and Auspicious Omen Politics / 祥瑞政治 - adjacent sign-reading concepts.