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Hexagrams and hexagram-pairs |
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Hexagram 1: sun and rain: time and pattern/law.
Hexagram 2: fields and lightning: energy and growth.
01 QIAN, Power of heaven
Ban Xiang Hu Gua Qian Gua Jiao Gua Pang Tong Gua | Trigrams heaven heaven Nuclear 1 Inverse 1 Reverse 1 Opposite 2 |
Picture at top: QIAN, the ancient character and its parts.
The character is composed of:
1, yan3 : hanging vegetation, jungle. It looks very much like an ancient flag, but as part of characters it usually indicates jungle.
2: two versions of dan4 : dawn, the sun just above the horizon.
And 3: yi3 : vapors or breath.
Maybe the line of the sun-at-dawn (2) together with 3 makes 4: obstructed vapors or breath.
The above might be correct, but I don't think so. The character for drought (in the small modern characters nr. 2) consists of sun and gan1, a kind of weapon. The meaning of gan is shield, but it is probably a bola (4a). Maybe the sun attacked, or attacking. The other small character 'gan' at 4a might indeed be a shield.
QIAN2: to create, creative power, life-energy, strong, lasting, continuous, constant; heaven, firmament, influence of heaven, father, male, sovereign; active transforming power, elan, fundamental dynamism, Daoism: the undivided One. Pronounced GAN1: dry, dried, clean, useless, forceless.
According to Shaughnessy the lines of hex.1 describe the positions of the constellation "Dragon" at sunset.
The characters at left: words or compounds with QIAN.
1 Name of hex.1 in the Mawangdui Yijing: (metal construct) JIAN, key, which is a symbol for the male organ.
2 (sun-shield) dry land; drought, (to have a) dry spell.
3 (shield) stem, trunk, main body, do; work, hold the post of, fight, have to do with; be implicated in; involve, shield, Heavenly Stems.
4 (heaven image) signs of heaven
5 (heaven residence) family of fiance, home of the man or boy.
6 (heaven symbol earth treasure) auspicious portent of Heaven and good omen of Earth: favorable signs giving evidence of the legitimacy of an emperor.
7 (heaven earth mingling sadness) marriage of heaven and earth: phase of union between pure yin and pure yang. The character ‘sadness’ or withered is composed of heart and soldier. ‘Mingling’ is also sexual intercourse.
All characters with qian or gan as a part, have to do with drought.
QIAN, hexagram 1 is the sun. The name of hex.1 is the sun which chases the mists at dawn. But hex.1 is also about rain. The lines talk about dragons, and the dragon is a symbol of rain. The sun and the rain together are the creating force for all living things.
The Zhou were farmers, and for farmers the sun and rain set the right time to do things. Not the time measured in dates and hours, but the time of seasons and signs.
The visible seasons of the year, caused by the sun, and also the invisible seasons of circumstances: ambiance, the right (or wrong) moment for a word or deed to germinate, all the things which cause success or failure of what you undertake, depending on the "time".
The dragon is the bringer of rain. He shows the time of the seasons. No dragon – no rain, so do not act. Flying in heaven: enough moisture for a good growth. Overbearing dragon: so much rain that everything drowns.
For your mind, it is intuition, which tells you the time. Everything you do needs the right timing. Rain is an image for the insights, which come falling in your mind through perceptivity and intuition.
And finally the dragon does refer to the one who initiates a really big undertaking. When King Wen set out to overthrow the Shang, he did not show his strength (1.1), when he was seen, he stayed the loyal vassal to the ruler (1.2), at night he vigilantly watched the skies for omens (1.3), he took huge risks but believed in his cause (1.4), he inspired everyone through his greatness of character (1.5), and he knew the dangers of going too far (1.6).
The yang laws of hexagram 1 give all things their pattern, but without the ocean of energy of yin, they cannot come to any substance.
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02 KUN, The receptive dynamic fields of yin
| Ban Xiang | Trigrams earth earth Nuclear 2 Inverse 2 Reverse 2 Gua Opposite 1 |
Picture at top: KUN1, the ancient character and its parts.
KUN1 is composed of 1: tu3, earth, either a heap of earth or an earth altar. 2: shen1, meaning stretch-out, spirit, ghost, explain, to state, express, power of expression or lightning. In it’s oldest version it is written more or less like a double spiral: a picture of lightning.
KUN1: passive force of realisation, receptivity, compliance, obedience, female, feminine.
In the Mawangdui Yijing hex.2 is CHUAN1, the flow, stream or water, the female organ. An old way or writing 3 broken lines (the trigram earth) is also like the character chuan.
The characters at left: words or compounds with KUN1
1 (earth axis) axis of earth
2 (earth bag) woman's bag/purse
3 (earth actor) female actor
4 (twist turn heaven earth) change course of events; retrieve a situation
5 (stream) Mawangdui: CHUAN1, the flow or stream, the female organ.
6 (heaven earth) heaven and earth; the universe
Earth as 'yin' makes sense in all compounds. Te character itself contains shen, spirit, electricity, so something mysterious is part of it.
KUN, hexagram 2 is the earth, not the planet but the soil and the ground on which all life exists. It is more though than just the stuff and space. The name includes lightning or electricity, a mysterious force which makes seeds germinate.
According to the ancient Chinese thunder came out of the earth, and thunderstorms actually start off growth. The electricity makes negative ions, which have a beneficial action on everything living. They incite the germination of seeds.
The ideogram: a clod of earth and energy. It is a centuries-old image of Einstein's E=mc2. When a meteorite the size of a grain of sand enters the atmosphere, one sees a bright falling star. If it is the size of a pea, one sees a huge ball of fire. So much energy is contained within a tiny piece of matter.
The yin energy of hexagram 2 makes all things grow, but without the pattern-laws of yang, they cannot grow into forms.
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I think that Kun (hexagram 2) and Dao (or Tao) are related. They are only described in different times. Kun comes from very old and rural ideas; she is the mother of all life, the maker of harvests. The descriptions of Dao, like in the DaoDeJing, are more oriented on action and thinking (or not-act, not-think).
There is one line in Kun which looks very much like the wu-wei of the DaoDeJing, for example in Chapter 37: “Without doing and yet without not done”. It is Kun, line 2. It says ‘Not repeat without not harvest’. The character repeat is the same like in the name of hex.29. This name is not Kan, but Xi Kan: repeated pit. In the old texts there are no names, the first character of the text serves as name, and here it is xi kan, repeated pit.
Xi is a picture of two wings above (probably) a sun: to practice flying. Its meaning is practice, repeat, study, habit, routine, skill.
So line 2 means: be like the earth, without any skill, but harvest is sure, because the earth is straight, square, great. Straight and square also have the figurative meanings of a person being straight or square. And the repeating might also allude to farmer’s work, ploughing, weeding. The earth needs no plough.
‘No skill – without not harvest’, it sounds like the farmers equivalent of ‘not do without not done’.
This line gives a clue to what is needed for wu-wei: being. And I think being is an integration of the whole brain. Doing can be more right, or more left, but being is holistic.
Everywhere in the Dao-De-Jing Dao is called female. And in his foreword to his Mawangdui-translation, Henricks compares Dao to a field. Dao is the field that supports and brings to life everything, all beings. Dao has no action at all of its own, and that frees the way for creation and energy. The hexagram-name Kun literally means field: earth + stretch out (or lightning: including the spirits which live in the earth).
In hexagram 2 line 4: a tied-up sack, no blame, no praise. The 4th line has to do with choice and decision. The closed sack means staying free of opinion, a very important issue in Daoism and Zen. It is the answer “Mu” (not-yes-not-no) when a monk asks if a dog has Buddha-nature. (see link to Tao)
Before anything came into existence, Dao was already there. And before any creature ever existed, Earth was already there.
Hexagram 3-4, youth.
3 ZHUN, The spark of life
Ban Xiang Hu Gua Qian Gua Jiao Gua Pang Tong Gua | Trigrams thunder-water Nuclear 23 Inverse 4 Reverse 40 Opposite/complementary 50 |
Picture at top: ZHUN1, the ancient character and its parts.
Zhun1 is a picture of a sprouting seedling. 1: Two other forms of the same character.
ZHUN1 : to sprout, difficult, obstacle, hard and stingy. Pronounced TUN2: pair of shoulder blades, one of a pair, greatly, humble, perfect, generous, well-to-do (the meanings have to do with the pair of shoulder blades: both or all, no exception)
TUN2: accumulate, to bring together soldiers, to station (an army), to stockpile, village; visible, to be there.
Interchangeable with CHUN1: spring, vitality, sensuality, youth. Later it was also used instead of chun2 (chun1 + radical silk) ‘pure, faultless’, because this character was taboo being an emperor’s name.
The characters at left: words or compounds with ZHUN1
1 (silk-sprout) pure, simple
2 (sprout gather) assemble; collect
3 (sprout son) village
4 (sprout soldier) station troops
5 (sprout field) (hist.) station garrisons to grow own food
6 (sprout cultivate) station troops to open up wasteland
7 (sprout grain-provisions) store up grain
8 (sprout garrison) garrison, defend
'Garrison' in a meaning of gathering/concentrating/heaping up/growing makes most sense. Sprouts: like a newly planted field, rather than one single sprout.
ZHUN, hexagram 3. When heaven and earth meet, new things will come about. The pattern of heaven, the energy of earth, they are the base of every creation.
Zhun is not just one single seedling, it is the image of all seedlings, of growth along a pattern, of the blueprint of life. When the pattern and the energy meet, life accumulates, the world fills with creatures.
In man it is the vitality which brings about health and stamina. In his actions it brings drive.
04 MENG, Not knowing
Ban Xiang Hu Gua Qian Gua Jiao Gua Pang Tong Gua | Trigrams water mountain Nuclear 24 Inverse 3 Reverse 39 Opposite/complementary 49 |
Picture at top: MENG2, the ancient character and its parts.
MENG2: a pig shi3 (3), covered mi2 or mao4 (2) with or by plants cao3 (1). According to Wang HongYuan: hunters disguised in animal skins. The pig is probably an image of another animal. Maybe a tiger, the two images resemble each other and are easily confused.
MENG2: to cover, ignorant (child), illiterate, immature, inexperienced, benighted; receive; meet with; a darkened mind, a cloudy sky, unconscious, senseless. MENG1: cheat, deceive, make wild guess.
The characters at left: words or compounds with MENG2
1 (obscure obscure) drizzly; misty
2 (obscure medicine) narcotic; anaesthetic
3 (open-up obscure) initiate children to learning
4 (obscure leader) teacher who first introduces student to certain field, teacher of young children
5 (obscure obscure shine) at first light; hazily bright
6 (water-obscure) mist, drizzling rain
7 (eye-obscure) dim-sighted, blind; stupid
8 (moon-obscure) dim moonlight; obscure
1, 6, and 7 are all etymologically the same words.
The most obvious meanings: misty, unclear, vague.
MENG, hexagram 4. Misty. Everyone has an ocean inside, a huge reservoir of hidden possibilities. The ignorant pupil whose wisdom is his eagerness and openness to learn. The adept who knows a lot but sees so much more he still is far from knowing. The sage, who is a sage because he knows how little he knows.
Meng can also apply to a simple situation where one fails to see the obvious. To refuse or to be unable to open oneself to learning.
Youth is made for learning, it is the total openness for everything, good or bad.
Every being is an individual, but deep inside he is, or has, part of the primeval ocean of wisdom and strength. A good teacher only opens the entrance to this ocean, without imposing any views. A good pupil searches for the valuable teacher, and then accepts all without narrowing it to personal ideas. Children are born with the ability to complete openness, it disappears when they grow older and start to discern.
A good teacher teaches by being an example.
But then there is something else: Harmen: The oracle bone character does not contain the 'grass' radical which was added in later centuries. Second, the part that is normally recognized as 'pig' is nowadays regarded as a picture of a tiger. According to Liu Xing-long 劉興隆, Xinbian Jiaguwen Zidian 新編甲骨文字典, the meaning was originally "勇士偽裝, 披戴虎皮", "pretend to be brave, to wear a tiger's skin". But if this was really its meaning is not at all certain. Liu cites an inscription which he reads as the description of a person who hides his strength and abilities to be able to attack the enemy and make prisoners (p. 34). In other words, with meng 蒙 you are not ignorant, you pretend to be ignorant so you can exercise your capabilities when the time is right. At least this seems to be one of the oldest meanings of meng. (picture at right from the Xinbian Jiaguwen Zidian: a. tiger - b. pig) According to 新編甲骨文 Meng means slyly attacking one's enemy, like a hidden tiger. There is a lot of contradictory info. Firstly, there is no Meng as we know it on OB. There is without the grass radical. Many dictionaries claim this is the precursor of meng, but it is not clear on what this is based. The meanings of meng as we know it now don't apply to the one without the grass radical. About its meanings, dictionaries digress. According to Jiaguwen Zidian the animal component is 隹, a kind of bird, maybe a pigeon. Meaning of the character as a whole: fog. In the examples of inscriptions that seems very plausible. But in other dictionaries there is no such meaning to be found. The fundamental meaning is 'covering, secretly, slyly'. The 'discovery' that it is about a tiger comes from Hu Houxuan 胡厚宣, who also claims 'a soldier who attacks the enemy in disguise' to be the old meaning of meng. That strikes me as strange, because meng does not figure in OB characters and in later texts it did not have that meaning as far as I know. Maybe this meaning of 'concealed' is connected with meng because it is often used as component in characters with a tenor to 'hidden' in their meanings. A few from Wenlin: The question is in how far this is relevant to meng in the Yijing. I think the key lies in the different components in whichmeng is used: 童蒙, 發蒙, 包蒙, 困蒙 en 擊蒙 (the combinations in the Yi-lines). My guess is, that with the help of those you can reveal the meaning of meng. |
LiSe:
And finally a weird idea... The character meng on Oracle Bones means "covered sky". Below are two examples of how it looked back then. What if it is a drawing of a person in a raincoat? These coats of grass were very common, even nowadays there are still some regions where farmers or fishermen wear them. The fisherman in the picture has a small one, I have seen pictures where they looked like thatched roofs, but raincoat-size.
Found here on internet: People in ancient times also wore the wind coat and raincoat against the wind and snow when staying out. The raincoat appeared earlier than the wind coat. As recorded in historical literatures, people in the Zhou Dynasty had begun the use of raincoat and the earliest raincoat was made of straws and thus referred to as “coir raincoat". |
The raincoat was "invented later than the oracle bones" acording to records. But before that time, I think people already covered themselves against rain with grass or straw.
But probably this is just a weird idea without any substance.
Hexagram 5 and 6: asking or demanding a change
05 XU, Waiting for the rain to stop
Pictures at top:
XU1. The above part, yu3, is 'rain', the lower part, er2, a beard. But in Wang-HongYuan I found two apparently older characters. One seems a man and drops or something like that (1), the other one a man standing below rain (2). I think they both are a picture of the rain falling. Maybe the man with drops means simply 'being wet'.
XU1: Need, require, demand; expenses, provisions, necessaries; hesitation, delay, tarry, wait, waiting with confidence, waiting for rain to begin, waiting for something one needs; essential, necessary; early glutinous rice with small grains.
Pronounced as NO4: weak, hesitating, supple (leather).
As YUAN3: supple, flexible, incomplete.
As NUAN4: weak, timid.
Interchangeable with another character XU1 (head-hair or head-water) with the same meanings, but also 'beard', Ritsema +Karcher: hairgrowing.
Characters and words at left:
1 Mawangdui: (cloth-need) short tunic; very fine and light silk (a silk garment for the winter sacrifice)
2 (silk-need) frayed or thin silk (occurs in hex. 63.4)
3 (heart-need) cowardly, weak
4 (not time its need) rainy day (fig.; i.e., be prepared for a time: the time has no need which is not fulfilled)
5 (supply need) supply and demand, supply demanded goods
6 (heart need) essential; indispensable
7 (need seek) requirement; demand
In compounds, 'waiting' seems most of all 'needing'.
5 Is waiting in an active manner, waiting for an opportunity in order to grasp it. Very alert, so it will not escape your attention or your hands.
Hex.5: "Everything comes to the one who waits". It is a Chinese proverb and it does not mean to stay sitting and expect. Make your mind open for it to happen and go on living. When the moment comes that it might happen, it finds in you a fertile field to receive it - and it will happen.
It is a frame of mind which makes everything happen, not just one specific thing. It means living every moment as it is, without a program but open for life.
In the MaWangDui I Ching the name of this hexagram means a silk garment for the winter sacrifice. Like celebrating Christmas: opening your mind for the good things of winter, for a time of darkness and cold, but also of reflection and togetherness if you are open for it.
06 SONG, The Gong speaks
Pictures at top:
SONG4. The left part of the character is yan2: a mouth (kou3, 2) with a tongue or making a sound (1). Maybe this yan2 identical to yin1: sound. The right part is gong1, the highest one of the five titles of nobility in ancient China, the Gong or Kung. Probably the Gong was the ultimate authority to resort to when one needed a judge. This part consists of divide, ba1 (3) and either mouth, kou3, or private, si1 (4). Divide might indicate the fair division of property and rights. According to Karlgren some of the forms of Gong seem to suggest a phallic interpretation (5). Gong's meaning is further: public, make public, fair, impartial, collective, common; accepted, male (of animals), father, (official place:) palace.
SONG4: Lawsuit, litigation, argue, demand, justice, publicly. Old: to accuse, regret, blame.
Characters and words at left:
1 (accuse lawsuit) lawsuit; litigation
2 (accuse lawsuit man) prosecutor
3 (lawsuit leader) law practitioner; attorney at law
4 (duke-head) praise; song, ode (‘head’ is also page or chapter)
5 (duke-wings) old man
6 (tree-duke) pine tree
7 (duke-tile) earthen jar
8 (duke) highest title after emperor, public, fair, sire. San Gong: the three dukes, the three highest dignitaries of the Zhou.
In compounds: arguing in court or before an arbiter.
Hex. 6 is about your inborn need for a life and space of your own. It depends on others if you will be able to get it. You will have to discuss for it or prove your right for it.
Kerson Huang: Meanwhile, the state of Zhou had gained influence among all the vassal states because of its wise ruler, King Wen (The Humane King). It was said that all the states would bring their disputes before King Wen to be settled because they could always be assured of a wise and fair arbitration.
Hexagram 7 AND 8, fighting for your land.
07 SHI, The legion or the leader
Ban Xiang Hu Gua Qian Gua Jiao Gua Pang Tong Gua | Trigrams water earth Nuclear 24 Inverse 8 Reverse 8 Complement 13 |
Pictures at top:
SHI1: The left part dui1 (1) (the old form of shi) is either a small hill or mound, or testes or buttocks, meaning 'military'. Probably close to the meaning 'having guts'. Another possibility: a kind of ceremonial object (!). It is the original graph for shi, army. Another meaning is rolling, waving. In (3) there is another form of shi, this time dui is not at left, but at the top. The part at right (2), is maybe a skirt, but it can also be a banner, za1: turn around an axis, instructor, master, army. It is an ox tail, attached to a standard, for giving signals to the army. Two other old forms of shi at 5 and 6.
SHI1: army, multitude, division in Chinese army, smaller than the LU of hex.56, and usually there are three SHI, one at right, one in the middle, and one at left. The king often divines which one he should join. Military camp, big hall. Model, example, master, teacher, tutor, to imitate; a specialist (med., music, paint or divining), local administration chief, high functionary, superior in rank. Shi lu (names of hexagrams 7 and 56 combined): a body of 2500 troops.
Characters and words at left:
1 (venerable leader) teacher
2 (leader craftsman) master worker, tutor of king/emperor, general term of address in late 70s and 80s.
3 (leader aunt) Buddhist nun
4 (meditation leader) Zen master [meditation is dhyana in India = chan in China = zen in Japan]
5 (emit leader) finish one's apprenticeship, send out an army
6 (leader duke) grandmaster, sorcerer
7 (wizard leader) wizard; sorcerer
8 (turn-round army) return in triumph, move back (troops)
Most meanings in compounds have to do with the skilled leader, the one who has craftsmanship. The leader turns an unorganized mass of soldiers into an army, without him they are just a mass
Hex.7 is not only an army but also 'organizing', especially talents and assets. For becoming a specialist, one has to organize knowledge and specialize like the divisions of an army, one has to be a good leader of one's own legion, which consists of knowledge, intelligence, talent and skill.
The army can be a real army of thousands of people, but your own little group is also an army. You defend together your interests, your territory. You fight for new possibilities, search for expansion, explore new realms. It can even be inside one single person: your own army of talents, ideas, knowledge, strong and weak points.
Hexagram 7 is composed of the trigram water below or inside the trigram earth: the masses in the earth, or the fertility dwelling inside. But maybe it also refers to lands which are good to live on, with enough water. Only a healthy and thriving people will produce a big and strong army.
08 BI, Stand by
Ban Xiang Hu Gua Qian Gua Jiao Gua Pang Tong Gua | Trigrams earth water Nuclear 23 Inverse 7 Reverse 7 Complement 14 |
Pictures at top:
Bi3: The character represents two people standing or walking behind each other.
Original meaning: to juxtapose. Later to be close to, compare, equal, similar. A person turned to the left, REN2, (2) is man, a person turned to the right, BI3, (3 and 4: deceased mother) is a symbol for female. North, BEI3, (5) is two people standing back to back - or a man and a woman. The middle between East and West?
BI3: Equal, similar, compare, just like, accord with (great principles, with what is good and also accomplishing it), successive, come to, when, as, arranged orderly, classified correctly, like preceding cases, category, metaphor, equation (math), mime, to inspect.
BI4 unite, go together with, to be neighbors, follow, concordant, partisan, sectarian (opposite to zhou, universal), aid, accord with, on behalf of, to be intimate with, combine, join forces, according to expectation, several together, close, dense, tight, put under patronage, to be the origin of, thanks to, accomplish one’s task, every, continuation, succession, before one’s turn, in advance, accomodant, unit of 5 families (Zhou-dynasty), to form a clique.
Characters and words at left:
1 (man-together) to part, distinguish
2 (together-must) cautious
3 (silk-together) come unwoven, untwisted
4 (woman-together) deceased mother
5 (not compare) unparalleled; matchless
6 (together example) proportion, scale
7 (together side) analogy; instance
8 (together side exchange) for example
9 (field-together) assist, next to
Juxtapose, putting things or people side by side. It is what Yu did by calling the individual chiefs together, in order to form a united force against the floods.
Hexagram 8 is about living together. A group is always complicated, however small it may be. Reckoning with all these different characters and interests, giving everyone enough space to develop and yet keeping all in control so things keep running more or less smoothly.
Alfred Huang (The Complete I Ching) says: In ancient times, Bi was the fundamental unit of the Chinese household registry system. Every five households formed one unit, called Bi. In every Bi a head was appointed, to take care of the neighborhood. Thus, Bi also means neighborhood and symbolizes a close bond of the people in a community.
The people around you, the group in which you live your daily life, is usually not your own choice. You may have chosen the person you married, but now you're stuck with the rest of the family. You may have chosen a job, but not the people you work with. Even if you have chosen everyone, like a director of a firm, there are many mutual connections and dislikes among your personnel which you could not foresee.
A group will always make a big demand on your ingenuity, your feelings, your adaptability. One moment you will have to be arbiter, the next you are being scolded, then you have to comfort someone, or you have to exert yourself in a task. It is a complete world in human size, with all the good and bad things humans use to have.
A group can make one's life extremely rewarding - or utterly frustrating. Feelings can range from deep love to deep hate. No wonder the Yi says this is the source of oracle-consulting with yarrow. It is not the origin of big sacrifices to the gods, it is the daily need for simple and instant advice in everyday matters.
When the Great Yu had conquered the flood, he called all the heads of the clans together. In organizing all the clans involved, it might be possible to stand up to future floods, or to attacks by enemies. This meeting is called 'BI'. One of the chiefs arrived late, and Yu had his head chopped off )see the top line of Bi).
Bi is composed of the trigram water above the trigram earth: waters over the earth.
Maybe "source of oracle consulting with yarrow stalks" is what actually happened during the flood. The Shang did already use yarrow and hexagrams, it might be that when the flood had to be conquered, it proved its value beyond any doubt. The name "Yi" is a sacrifice to make the sun return. When it is raining and raining and the river floods all of the land, then the shaman who can make the sun come back is a lifesaver, and his oracle will gain great recognition. Maybe a "Shang Yi" evolved into the Zhou Yi we know now.
Hexagram 09 and 10, walking one's daily life.
09 XIAO CHU, looking after everything which needs care
Ban Xiang Hu Gua Qian Gua Jiao Gua Pang Tong Gua | Trigrams heaven wind Nuclear 38 Inverse 10 Reverse 44 Complement 16 |
Picture at top: XIAO3 CHU4, the ancient characters and their parts.
XIAO3: The character above (1): 3 grains of rice or sand - small.
The character below, CHU4 or XU4, is composed of silk si1 (2) and
field with plants tian2 (3) (or hunting-field with game). Li Leyi says: silk (2) and field (3): the harvest of silk and crops. According to others, it is
not si1 but xuan2, profound or dark, dark-colored, black. Later use: mystic, mysterious. Wang Hongyuan: not silk but bolas, an ancient throwing weapon xuan2 (2), with the symbol for hunting tian2 (3).
CHU4: animal, livestock. On oracle bones: raise livestock.
In the Mawangdui YiJing both characters are different. Small is shao3, another version of the character xiao3. The second one is a character which does not exist in this form anymore, maybe it is yi4: to plant,
sow, cultivate, capacities, art, talent, craft, but this is not certain.
Pronounced as xu4: rear or raise (livestock or children), nourish, support, cherish, suffocate, suppress, accumulate, store, gather,
keep, meadow, put out to pasture in nature, conform with, follow, tolerate, support, docile. Da chu: big cattle.
Xu is exchangeable with the same character with 'plants' added:
collect, store, save up, hoard, reserve, accumulate, restrain, rear, breed.
The characters at left: words or compounds with CHU4
1 Mawangdui: (few agriculture-plant: a picture of a person lifting up a small plant) little ability, little to plant.
2 (livestock-grass) store, save; grow
3 (livestock herd) raise/rear livestock/poultry
4 (livestock strength) animal power
5 (livestock-heart) nourish, educate, love, cherish, accumulate, gather.
6 (livestock crowd) herd of livestock
7 (duke livestock) male animal (kept for breeding); stud
8 (six livestock) the six domestic animals: pig, ox, goat, horse, fowl,
dog
(Xu is exchangeable with the same character with 'plants' added:
collect, store, save up, hoard, reserve, accumulate, restrain, rear, breed.
Livestock, raising, tending, storing, all add up to sustaining your life.
Clouds are Heaven's thoughts, one's intuition, one's 'guts' telling where danger lurks, and inner responsibility and knowledge without words. Trigram wind (influence) above heaven (law, create). Heaven is the inner trigram, creativity/laws are the source, but it is the wind, the influence, which manifests.
10 LU, act in such a way that you can live where you live - and others with you.
Ban Xiang Hu Gua Qian Gua Jiao Gua Pang Tong Gua | Trigrams lake heaven Nuclear 37 Inverse 9 Reverse 43 Complement 15 |
Picture at top: LU3, the ancient character and its parts.
LU3: The character represents a corpse or a sitting man (1), who is impersonating the deceased person at a funeral. A foot on a road (2): going. A boat (3), also indicating a shoe: Chinese shoes look like boats. And a foot (4). The oldest form of this character was probably simpler, but I could not find one.
LU3: shoe, sandal, wear shoes, to tread, follow a track, traverse, accomplish, (right) conduct, virtue, rite, hold an office, domain (of a prince), path. Loan for dignity and for li2, durable happiness.
In the Mawangdui YiJing it is the character li: sacrifice to spirits, asking for riches or good fortune. Ceremony; rite; ritual, courtesy; etiquette; manners, gift; present.
The characters at left: words or compounds with LU3
1 Mawangdui: (altar-abundance) sacrifice, ritual, gift, courtesy.
2 (shoes go) perform; fulfil; carry out
3 (step shoes) walk; gait
4 (shoes history/experience) curriculum vitae; antecedents
5 (leather shoes) leather shoes
6 (fulfil shoes) keep, fulfil (pledge etc.)
7 (shoes ice) cautious, remain vigilant
8 (shoes new) assume new post.
Shoes, they stand for the way of treading. Not just putting one foot before the other, but the ritual involved, the way one goes one's road.
Both hexagrams:
Hex.10: Heaven (law, create) above lake (exchange), the laws and creativity of human interaction. Heaven is the outer trigram, it manifests in the outer world. The inner trigram, lake, exchanging, is the source.
For finding one's way in life one needs both, the hard work of building a life and making a living, and the right way to interact with all other creatures. They complement each other.
Most of your life is made from small things, with little weight. So it is easy to do them in a small and light way. Don’t underestimate them though, the things may be small, but it is your whole self who does them, and it is your life which depends on them. You don’t notice how much you lose when you are sloppy or sleepy or too easy-going. Until, some day, you find your life to miss meaning. Or you discover that you missed the right turn on some crossing far back, and you don't like where you are heading now.
Give all your actions all your attention. How you walk in your life and how you look after all small things in it will decide how its big picture looks.
Hexagram 11 and 12, blessings and decrees
11 TAI, The blessings of heaven and earth
Ban Xiang Hu Gua Qian Gua Jiao Gua Pang Tong Gua | Trigrams heaven earth Nuclear 54 Inverse 12 Reverse 12 Complement 12 |
Picture at top: TAI4, the ancient character and its parts.
TAI4: The ideogram as a whole looks like a great mountain: Tai Shan himself, in the West of Shantung. Mount Tai was for the Zhou the most important of the 5 holy mountains, their most direct connection with the divine one’s.
'Tai wind' means West wind, the ‘big wind’, see 4 for an old way of writing it: picture of wind-shaken trees?
At the top da4 (1) the character “great”, like the great peak of a mountain. Then two hands gong3 (2), looking like the woods embracing its flanks, and at the foot in the center “water” shui3 (3), the brooks
and rivers running down its slopes and bringing life and prosperity to the valley.
TAI: Grand, great, eminent, supreme, excessive, arrogant, spread
out and reach everywhere, quiet, ease, good luck, effortless, honorable, prosperous, too much, exaggerated, lofty; name of a mountain.
The characters at left: words or compounds with TAI4
1 (tai correct) calm; self-possessed
2 (tai water) mother-in-law
3 (Tai mountain) sb./sth. of great weight/importance, another name
for father-in-law. Mount Taishan: the most important of the 5 sacred mountains.
4 (Tai West) the West; the Occident.
5 (open tai) go well/auspiciously
6 (Tai Dipper) eminent authority (TaiShan and the Great Dipper)
7 (Tai Shan Northern Dipper) highly-revered person
'Grand' is the meaning which fits best in all compound characters. Lofty, great, like Mount Tai.
Hexagram 11 is the big mountain which connects the life of man with heaven, reaching up into the realms of the gods. The water of rain and snow comes down the slopes in brooklets, rivers and sources, fertilizing the valley at the foot. In the same way the blessings of the gods come down, and it depends on man if his soul is a fertile field, where these blessings can grow a rich harvest.
The blessings of heaven are a free and rich gift, but if one does not pick them up, one will often not even know they were ever there. But if one does accept them, they make life beautiful and easy. "Small go, great come": small investment, large profit.
Blessings not only come down mountains, they can dwell in eyes or words, in gestures and attention. Even in strokes of luck, like finding on the sidewalk just what you need, or missing the bus that gets involved in an accident.
11.5 (and 54.5)
The emperor marries off his younger sister. It seems that this princess is the one who became the mother of King Wen. So she was destined to becomes the mother of a dynasty. He married her to a man of lower rank, the father of Wen.
By doing that, he connected the two families, and he even connected the ancestors of the two families. So later, when Wen (or rather his son Wu) had conquered the rulers of Shang, he still brought the sacrifices to their ancestors. Because they were also his ancestors. This marriage was a great blessing for both families and for the country.
For 11.5 the fanyao is about waiting with food and drink, so don't fuss about ranks or going far from home or having to adapt to another life. You are destined for something bigger. Or maybe you are the ruler Yi, and you have to put things together, to make them bigger than they are on their own. Whoever you are, your life deserves to be meaningful, so make it such.
For 54.5 there is another but related meaning. A warning not to demand the best place, or all the honor you deserve. Others might envy you, become enemies (fanyao 58.5). In a place which is not your own, it is better to be careful. Fighting for small things might make you lose the big things.
12 PI, The decrees of heaven and earth
Ban Xiang Hu Gua Qian Gua Jiao Gua Pang Tong Gua | Trigrams earth heaven Nuclear 53 Inverse 11 Reverse 11 Complement 11 |
Picture at top: PI3, the ancient character and its parts.
PI3: The ideogram is a sprouting seedling, bu4, still below the surface
of the earth. Or maybe unable to come up, or even cut off (1). Its meaning is 'not' or 'no'. And a mouth kou3 (2), together: to say no. According to others, 1 is a soaring bird.
PI3: go against, oppose (heaven’s will), bad, obstruct, wicked, evil, clogged, stopped. On W-Zhou bronzes (sometimes written pi3) with the meaning grand, vast, receive with respect, good, serious, concur with orders.
Pronounced fou3: no, not, to deny.
In the Mawangdui YiJing this hexagram is Fu, return. But the
character fu (the same as in hexagram 54) is often used for dying.
The characters at left: words or compounds with PI3
1 Mawangdui: (woman-broom) return. The ‘broom’ was probably originally an attribute of nobility, and only later got its meaning as broom.
2 (to-be no) whether or not; is it so or not (Shi is right or sure as fact)
3 (no settled) negate; deny
4 (no rule) otherwise; if not; or else
5 (may no) can or can't, affirmative or negative comment, whether it's possible or not
6 (able no) is it possible...?; can or cannot?
7 (assist no) whether or not
8 (skilful no) pass judgment (on people)
Negation: oppose, no, not.
Hexagram 12 is the hard side of law, the merciless answer of nature when one goes against it, the seemingly unjust death of people in disasters, the 'no' of someone who does not see your point. And even the frustration when one cannot accept the facts, and fights an impossible battle or loses one's happiness. "Great go, small come": large investment, small profit.
These laws are not easy or nice, but everyone needs them. As soon as they get lost, man becomes frightened, lost, disturbed. Without them life is a useless mess. But when one knows and accepts them, they have a great beauty.
And like the blessings of hex.11 can be in tiny things, the laws of hex.12 are also in everyday encounters. The ability to say no and also to accept no make daily life livable.
There is another side though to hexagram 12: it is the creativity of the earth (inner trigram Earth, manifesting through outer trigram Heaven): getting things done without doing. Letting life 'happen'. If you want something to happen, to be done, then don't press anything, "be" what is needed. The creativity of the Earth is the means to do something when the world tells you "no".
Hexagram 13 and 14 Being one of all - being all of one
13 TONG REN, mankind
Ban Xiang Hu Gua Qian Gua Jiao Gua Pang Tong Gua | Trigrams fire heaven Nuclear 44 Inverse 14 Reverse 14 Complement 7 |
Picture at top: TONG2 REN2, the ancient characters and their parts.
TONG2 REN2: Tong is composed of a molding box (1) with four carrying bars, and mouth or opening kou3, or maybe object pin3 (2): same, alike (same castings: Wang Hongyuan p.106). Or maybe opening + cover, 'fit together' (Karlgren).
TONG2 all, similar, equal, identical, resemblance, together, communion, common, to share, to agree, the same as, identical, and, with, to be associates, to conspire, to act in concord, flow together (rivers), to uniformize measures, a domain of 100 square li, gathering and audience of feudatory lords every 12 years, the female musical tones,
on oracle bones: to perform the Tong sacrifice. Ren2 (3) is man or
people.
Tong ren as modern word: colleagues, person of same belief/conviction.
The characters at left: words or compounds with TONG2 or REN2
1 (same emotion) sympathize with
2 (same above) ditto; idem
3 (same to-be) both/all are
4 (same appear) co-occurrence
5 (same heart) concentric, of one heart, be of one heart
6 (same step) synchronism
7 (same atmosphere mutual seek) birds of a feather flock together (Qi, atmosphere or vapor, is vital energy)
Some other interesting words with tong:
(same one nature) identity,
(same road, tao) same thought/principle, fellow party/group/etc.; member, go the same way.
Same, similar, all. Similarity makes it possible to classify and to recognize kinship. A common root connects what may look very different in many other ways. It is the condition for mutual recognition.
Tong ren means something like 'similar people'. In Dutch there is a word which means both 'similar' and 'right'. The one of "you are right". In Dutch you say "you have gelijk", it is not something you are, it is something you have.
Tong is like this 'gelijk', similar, like 'them', one of them, the group, the class, the species, the clique. Thinking like them, behaving like them. 'Being right' has a lot to do with others agreeing with you. More others, more right.
Hexagram 13 is about both sides, being similar, but also about what happens if you are not. You can agree with 'them', feeling what they feel or agreeing with their point of view - or think like the masses without any personal contribution. Or you can be an individual among peers, thinking according to your own individual mind, and adding that to the group. And finally you can think according to your own mind but in disagreement with the group. Many different facets. Every time different, according to the person, the moment, the situation. And in between all those are gliding scales, more of this, less of that.
The noble one classifies the clans and reads the trails of creatures (or according to Wilhelm: Thus the superior man organizes the clans. And makes distinctions between things).
"Read the trails": the character bian means distinguish, differentiate. It is composed of three parts: 2 criminals and a knife. The original character did not have the knife, and the criminals looked quite different then... It has the same meaning as another bian, which looks very similar, but is obsolete now, "Picture of an animal's track" --Karlgren. "The steps of a wild beast... The examination of the trail indicating the kind of animal, hence the extended meaning, to discriminate, to part, to sort out. The excreta giving the same indication, bian means dung in fen. –Wieger.
The junzi reads the trails of creatures, he sees how much of an individual they are, or how much they fit in their class. How similar the trails of mammals are but how different the trail of a fox is from that of a bear. He sees when it is good to agree and when to differ. When morals are good and when suffocating. Which rules make it possible to live together in peace and which ones kill creativity.
Hexagram 13 is about the ‘tracks’ of humanity, about collective traits, basic to all of humanity. They are the reason one can recognize one’s fellow human being. The reason why it is at all possible to live together, to bear and to love and to understand each other.
To join with your environment .. but also to recognize how you are and are not defining it - and where it is defining you and where not. You are part of humanity and humanity is part of you.
14 DA YOU, great assets
Ban Xiang Hu Gua Qian Gua Jiao Gua Pang Tong Gua | Trigrams heaven fire Nuclear 43 Inverse 13 Reverse 13 Complement 8 |
Picture at top: DA4, the ancient character and its parts.
DA4. The upper character is a grown up man: big or great. The lower one is CHI4, a hand: to have, to be, there is, to offer, sacrifice, and, also, name of a place. Later YOU3 was used, and a piece of meat, ROU4, was added (3), to emphasize possessing. According to others it is YUE4, the moon, which resembles 'meat' very much, but the little diagonal lines are straight in the moon, and in meat they are not.
In former times you3 also meant a good harvest, and da-you 'best year' or 'best harvest'. According to Wieger the oldest meaning of you (3) was eclipse or phase of the moon, but the oldest form of you (2) does not have the moon (or meat).
DA: great, big, tall, large, much, very, extremely, eldest, senior, an
adult, to make large.
YOU3. To possess, to have, to exist, there is, to be rich, to acquire, to
get, again.
The characters at left: words or compounds with DA4
1 (money-have) bribe
3 (have-surround) ancient walled garden
5 (have-dragon) have both; lead along; ride a horse
7 (place/office have) own, possess, all
2 (have increase) profitable; beneficial; useful
4 (public have) publicly-owned; public
6 (sacrifice have) enjoy (right/etc.)
8 (have direction) be on right course
This character was also used for gifts from heaven, blessings. Possessing extends also to talents, features.
Hexagram 13 was about what you have in common with all other humans, 14 about what makes you stand out among them. Primus inter pares.
Hexagram 15 and 16, teamspirit and inspiration.
(reckoning with others vv rushing ahead)
15 QIAN, give and take
Ban Xiang Hu Gua Qian Gua Jiao Gua Pang Tong Gua | Trigrams mountain earth Nuclear 40 Inverse 16 Reverse 23 Complement 10 |
Picture at top: QIAN, the ancient character and its parts.
QIAN1: At right jian1, a hand you2 or chi4 (3) holding two (or many) stalks of grain he2 (2) or maybe arrows shi3, meaning ‘unite, concurrently, simultaneously', and at left words yan2 (1): to speak in such a way that speaker and listener come together. In the WangJiaTai Yijing, another old version of YiJing, there is only the right part, no 'words'. That might be the original form.
QIAN1 Modest, humble, reverent, polite, respectful, retiring, self-
effacing, missing, lack.
Interchangeable with qian1, same character without words: simultaneously. Also with xian2 with rad. woman: to suspect, and with qian3: pleased, satisfaction, to please someone.
The characters at left: words or compounds with QIAN1
1 Mawangdui (mouth-unite) hold an object in the mouth, hate, disagreeable (like clenched teeth).
2 (unite-bird) mythical bird, green and red, has one eye and one wing, and flies only as couple. Symbol of unity of a couple.
3 (rodent-unite) ancient, mammal, hamster (grey rat)
4 (heart-unite) satisfied
5 (exceed unite) too modest
6 (money-unite) gain, profit, cheat
7 (unite it) furthermore; besides
8 (woman-unite) suspicion; dislike
9 (unite inferior) moonlighting; side job
All meanings seem to share "adding the missing part", which can reach from the hamster or rat, grabbing what he needs, up to modesty, giving or appreciating what is needed.
Hexagram 15, working and living with others, adapting.
In living with people, do and be the best you are, because that is your social contribution. Everyone has his own skills, his own character. What every community of people needs is the presence of everyone as what he essentially is. Only then they can be a team, working and achieving together, everyone being an indispensable part of the whole.
Pride, ambition, jalousy, disdain, rudeness, all these things spoil what you are or do. Contribute what you are able to, and give voluntarily way to others, so they too can add their capacities. Respect others and respect yourself. If you are a servant, then be that servant. If you are a leader, then be that leader.
For others you have a face, an image or imago. Make it a true and clear one, so you and the other know what you are.
16 YU, weaving images
Ban Xiang Hu Gua Qian Gua Jiao Gua Pang Tong Gua | Trigrams earth thunder Nuclear 39 Inverse 15 Reverse 24 Complement 9 |
Picture at top: YU4, the ancient character and its parts.
YU4: an elephant, xiang4, (1) and a shuttle, yu4, (2): weaving big images. The character 'elephant' also means image, like in "the great image says": the elephant says.
In later characters (2) looks more like two hands, passing on or handing over (3). A shuttle is also thrown from one hand into the other and back, so the meanings are closely related.
Yu4: enthusiasm; participate in; pleased, content, happy, comfort, amuse oneself, recreate; travel, a trip; to cheat, lie, exaggerate a price, hesitate, indecision, perplexity; tired, annoyed, take an aversion, weary, to believe, to think, recognize ; give, grant ; approve, permit, authorize. One of the 9 provinces of the Xia dynasty, established by Da Yu (Yu the great), in Henan. Now also short name for Henan.
Exchangeable with Yu4: in advance, beforehand, make or get ready, and with Ju4: to participate in.
The characters at left: words or compounds with YU4
1 Mawangdui (eat-I) left-over, extra, surplus; remainder
2 (man image) portrait, image, resemble
3 (as-if weave-image) hesitate, be irresolute
4 (appear weave-image) phenomenon; appearance
5 (atmosphere image) prevailing spirit/atmosphere, climatic phenomenon
6 (image to-be) look as if, seem
7 (empty image) virtual image
8 (feel weave-image) imagine, fancy, visualize, imagination
bu xianghua (not image speech) unreasonable, shocking, ridiculous.
xiangyanr (image manner child) presentable; decent.
Weaving images can be the excitement before a feast or of a group of tourist sightseeing, a person's appearance, or the lies of a fraud. Not the substance but an "extra", the Mawangdui character makes that very clear. An extra which makes life colorful.
Hexagram 16, Weaving Symbols or Passing on Images.
A symbol is a powerful image which connects human beings with each other and humanity with its sources. It connects the visible with the invisible, showing the meanings of the visible world.
Xiang, FE 5725, [M.2568], image, is a picture of an elephant, the biggest creature known to the ancient Chinese. Its meanings: elephant, ivory; magic spell, omen, portent, shape, figure, form, portrait, image, representation; diagram, pattern, model; create an image, phenomenon, the outward appearance of something, especially weather or heavenly bodies; act, play, imitate, to resemble; write, writing; law, rule; stars and constellations.
A symbol explains to the imagination the base of important features of life, through symbols one can be part of the spirit of life. They are so deep embedded in the soul of humanity that they bridge all individual or racial differences. In different cultures symbols are often described or painted looking very different, but they have similar meanings, despite their different looks.
To pass on images is called symbolic participation. The music and dancing of the ancient kings was sharing the spirit of life by sharing symbols. Honoring virtue: telling the stories of great deeds, together participating in courage, insight, greatness of mind. Small personal ego’s did not exist, an ‘union mystique’ was created, everyone was part of one greater mind, which gives a liberation, compassion and joy far exceeding everyday freedom, contact or pleasure. It is a compelling experience, this is the purpose of all religions.
And for everyday use:
Inspiration and motivation are the colors of everything one does. Without them existence is gray. A duty is a heavy task, but with motivation you don't feel any heaviness. Inspiration can make a simple life to a rich one full of joy.
If you lack motivation, then try to find it. Being open and curious, as well as exchanging with others opens doors to new ideas or to recognition of your skills, giving them more color, for yourself as well. Maybe you will even discover abilities or interesting fields you never knew existed.
Don't forget your sound criticism though in the process. Many inspiring things turn out to be fake or damaging. Or they are too big to handle and overwhelm your life.
Make sure you can handle the elephant before you lodge him in your house.
Hexagram 21 and 22
Hexagram 22
The ideogram is a plant in a pot, but there is no flower on it. Only a stem with leaves.
(BI: The character represents a flowering plant, which means brilliant, ornate, to honor. Pronounced 'ben' it is ardent, brave, energetic. bright, decoration, brilliant, bright, luminous, ornate, to honor. Pronounced ben1: ardent, brave, energetic, strenuous, to forge ahead. Pronounced fen2: great. Pronounced fen4: defeated. Also in an inscription used for a kind of sacrifice. )
With the heart radical added: rage, temper, indignation, resentment, burst forth, surge up.
With man radical: to ruin, spoil, put to flight (army), fight, manifest, reveal.
Pen-pen (same character, other pronunciation): fiery, turbulent, vehement.
In the MaWangDui I Ching hexagram 22 has a different name: Fan. This is Artemisia Stelleriana, mugwort or wormwood, one of the most important healing herbs in China.
Moxa sticks
The Artemisia family is big, and all members are important in pharmacopy. They are bitter and slightly poisonous. Their most important quality is restoring energy. In several countries their name refers to that: in German Beifuss: it restores the energy of tired feet. Put it in your shoe, and you will not need a carriage: line 1! In English the most common one is Wormwood, but there is no line in the hexagram which refers to that, as far as I could find. And neither for the qualities as woman's herb.
In China it was used since ancient times against insects. The smoke as a mosquito repellant, the dry leaves to protect the grain, a decoction for watering vegetables and flowers against aphids and larvae. Its most famous use is in moxibustion. A cone of finely pulverized Artemisia leaves, moxa, was lit on the acupuncture places, which needing activating, to drive out illness. Especially against rheumatism and urinary infections. The powder burns without a flame, but the heat spreads inward and the room fills with its strong aromatic smell. (Source: China, empire of living symbols, by Cecilia Lindqvist)
American-Indian smudge, made of sage
(Indians seem to have entered America from Asia)
It grows easily and everywhere, and it is also used in the culture of silkworms, to make it easier for them to come out of the cocoon (or maybe make them so irritated that they come out pronto). Grow it in the hilltop garden for a small silk harvest??
It is white! Or at least silvery all over, with white flowers. White plain modest wormwood, but look at its workings (line 6)!
Could it be that the ‘beauty’ of hex.22 is the beauty of nature containing its healing qualities? And about the way a plant looks, its beauty, which tells about its powers? The same character can also mean energetic.
In the GuiCang YiJing still another name: Ying Huo. As a word (yinghuo, the two characters together) it means 'to dazzle; confuse, god of war, (astr.) Mars'. But when one looks at the two separate characters, they mean 'glow' and 'mist'. Moxibustion??
Hexagram 29 and patterns
I was browsing through a book, which had been recommended to me. "In search of excellence", by Thomas Peters and Robert Waterman. Just opening it at random, a page here, a page there, to figure out if it would make sense to start reading. It seemed such a huge amount of words, and there is so much else to do...
On one of the pages, I got intrigued. Someone, who was in search of artificial intelligence, studied the problem of programming computers to play chess. He started out assuming that it could be played on a rational basis, but had to abandon that idea. The computer would need something like a century to calculate all possible moves.
So instead he investigated, what good chess players do. He asked them to look at a half-way chess game, just for a very short period, like 10 seconds. They could recall the locations of virtually all the pieces. Players of one rank below the best players scored much less well. But the masters could not remember where the pieces were, if they were placed on the board at random. So something else than short-time memory had to be at work.
He believed that the 'something else' was, that the masters had highly developed long-term memories, in the form of subconsciously remembered patterns. He called it chess "vocabularies". The class A players had a memory of around 2,000 patterns, but the masters of around 50,000 patterns.
The mark of the true professional in any field is the rich vocabulary of patterns, developed through years of education and especially through years of experience.
I had to think of hexagram 29, water repeated. The character translated as 'repeat' also means skill, routine, learning something by training or exercise.
Years ago I read another book, "Das sensible Chaos" by Schwenk. It seems that water has a memory for patterns. That goes for the streams in the oceans, but just as well for the water in our bodies.
The pit, a place of danger, but maybe also the huge reservoir of everything we learned through 'repeating', seeing it again and again, experience.
"The noble man moves according to principles and virtue", both might have a lot to do with patterns which proved effective, and which make up that reservoir.
And finally it might be the answer to 'how' people read the Yijing for others. Some know the rules, what comes first, what then. Others have developed patterns. And for working with patterns, the thinking mind has to be silent, and let the memory do the talking.
Hexagram 31 and 32,
completing (by bringing all together)
and fixing (for permanence).
Hexagram 31
When King Wu had conquered the Shang, he could not sleep at night. He was worried and full of fear, because he had 'not yet ascertained Heaven's protection'. He decided to build a new city in which the sacrifices to Heaven would be valid again, and entrusted Tan, the duke of Zhou, with the planning and execution of this work. Tan asked the tortoise-oracle and found a site for the new city at the river Luo. The new city was called Luo-Yi. King Wu died and his successor, king Cheng, built the city, and so another name for this city is Cheng-Zhou. Cheng and Xian, the name of hexagram 31, are written almost the same, and are interchangeable.
This city was never used as capital by Cheng, it was only a place for sacrifices, a home for the ancestors. Here, the sacrifices to the ancestors could be brought, in new temples, where all the wrongs of the past no longer existed. If Wu only conquered the Shang, without honouring the goodness and greatness they had also brought in the past, the spirits would not help him. New life relies on the benevolence and support of all spirits involved, of past and present. And being a descendant of a Shang daughter, they were his ancestors too.
Xian is also the personal name of Tang the Completer, the founder of the dynasty of Shang. Tang the completer: the one who brought all together.
Xian2: together, all, unite, case or cover, complete, fully, generally, act together, union, harmony, universal, continual, everywhere, to move, to touch, influence, transform, (dissatisfied, resent ?). Name of the music of certain emperors, salt, salty. Xiang you (unite have): have under control (the 9 provinces).
Cheng2: to become, turn into, to bring to completion, succeed.
In the Mawangdui Yi Jing this hexagram is called qin1: respect; obey with respect, imperial.
When respect is missing, then the other meaning of xian emerges: wounding with the mouth.
It is only permitted to influence (in order to make someone do something, or to make a connection), if the influence is aimed at building a city with a temple. Or in order to found a state, a solid lasting structure together. Influence for personal ends, for selfish wishes, to take advantage: these are all evil.
And finally: | 君子 | the noble one | |
以虛 | use emptiness | unoccupied, diffident, weak, false, nominal, modest, virtual, guiding principles; theory, void | |
受 | receive | accept endure; suffer; be subjected to; 〈topo.〉 be pleasant | |
人 | people |
Hexagram 32
When this centre has been built, it needs ‘sanctifying’, steadying, so it will endure.
People plough a circular furrow around new cities, or circumambulate them, or enclose them within a city wall. Lovers share rings, the king is crowned, the shaman draws a circle around the patient. The circle and the spiral are symbols of time, of the endless succession of identical moments.
On the right a boat between two shores: gen4 , or a moon between two lines: geng4 (3). If it is a moon, the meaning is 'crescent moon', but the usual meaning is 'continuing from one point to another, circling round' and so 'stable, fixed, perpetual'. The two lines (not very visible in '2') are an old form of shi4, altar, their meaning is 'connected with religion'.
Heng2: Constant, regular, persevering, lasting, continual, (loan for:) increasing moon, spread out, everywhere; the name of the spirit, which revives and protects the Huan river, the river which flows along the Shang capital.
In the Mawangdui Yijing: Heng wo, ‘steady us’. Wo is a weapon used to sacrifice victims, and it is ‘us’ (‘us’ Shang, ‘us’, a group conducted by the king to war or the hunt), our territory, a benefice (from spirits, rain, harvest). So I think 'heng wo' means to steady the good things coming to us, our good fortune.
According to Waley, Heng might be a rite performed at the first appearance of the new moon and intended to make a favourable condition of affairs 'last through' the lunar month. More generally: for every auspicious omen that is not only for one act, but for an undertaking of a more permanent nature, it is necessary to fix the good fortune, so it will last through the entire period for which it is required.
Waley: "We have some evidence that the typical stabilizing rite consisted in drawing concentric circles or a spiral round the omen-objects'. In old script the element at right (2 and 3) is often written as a spiral or two concentric circles between two lines".
As for fixing an omen, I think this ‘succession of identical moments’ might be a clue. Fixing an insight so firmly in one’s mind that every time this same situation arises, one immediately has the same reaction. Or this insight comes back, and one knows what to do.
Fixing the omen
31 and 32 are inseparable. 31, an influence accompanied by respect: both respect for the other person (or other influence), and also respect for your own dedication to it, taking it really seriously, will initialize a sacred (lasting, true, rich) structure.
And 32: a structure can be made solid and lasting through an endless repeating of this original act of influence: giving it a deep imprint, changing your paradigm for good. Repeating it makes the imprint, but a changed paradigm will also cause it to be repeated endlessly in the rest of your life, whenever there is a need for it.
When you consult the oracle with respect (taking its answer seriously, not asking superficial questions, not bending the answer towards your own wishes, not limiting it to human time), then you create a sacred base for your own tao.
You fix the omen by making it part of your soul, so that when you need a solution for a comparable situation, you know. Your soul immediately gives the right answer - like someone who has trained himself and can use his skill in many different situations.
Hilary, in a mail: “Stephen Covey says that what you do comes from your personal paradigm, and if you try to change the routine without changing the paradigm, sooner or later the original patterns will come back. When I asked Yi how to fix its answers, it said 31, unchanging. If this means making a permanent, new place for the influence to enter, it actually starts to make sense.”
"The way we see (our paradigm) leads to what we do (our attitudes and behaviours); and what we do leads to the results we get in our lives. So if we want to create significant change in the results, we can't just change attitudes or behaviours, methods or techniques; we have to change the basic paradigms out of which they grow. When we try to change the behaviour or the method without changing the paradigm, the paradigm eventually overpowers the change.”
Stephen Covey et al, First Things First
Information from:
H. Wilhelm, 'Heaven, earth and man in the book of Changes' ch. 4.
K. C. Chang, 'Art, myth and ritual'.
Le Grand Ricci, Chinese-French dictionary.
Fixing the omen, fixing the method, fixing the region... It is all part of hex. 32.
Hex 59-60
The measure of all things
While 59 has to do with letting go of rules, borders, ideas and securities,
60 gives the boundaries which give life its shape and substance.
Hexagram 59
Characters and words of which huan is a component: 1 (hand-lively) change, exchange General image of all these meanings: |
Hexagram 59
The character: At the left side of the character water or a river, at the right side a character meaning lively, excellent, gay, beautiful. It is a drawing of a man, at the entrance of a cave, looking sharply around with a stick in his hand. Meaning of the whole character: disperse, expand, scatter, ample.
The danger of letting go of boundaries is a loss of a safe place, of the sense of personal space. Alcohol and other drugs can cause this. Hexagrams 59 and 60 form a pair, each can only be positive when the other also has its place. Without 60, 59 becomes disintegration, without 59, 60 becomes rigidity.
River forelands or washlands are the insurance against floods. A river will flood whenever the water rises too high, quays or campshotting only make the problem worse. When you try to defend yourself against the waters, they can be extremely dangerous. But when you give them the freedom to expand, they do no harm. Maybe they even bring fertility to the washlands, where the cattle can graze in dryer seasons.
This is also the way to dissolve problems, by giving them the room to expand. When your mind has this space, it can cope with any trouble, a life with forelands will never be run over.
The greatest danger for living is rigid limits.
Don't hope for a distant future where all roads will come together. It is the illusion of perspective: when you walk towards it, the point recedes. Make your place here, where you are, and be aware of all these different roads, all opening possibilities. At least if you allow them to be open. That is why in your life right here you should create temples, where rational and restricted thoughts do not exist.
Rationally you will not be able to cross the stream, for that you need your soul, or the support of the gods. Remove the quais from your soul, like a river with washlands. It will never flood, but it will flow wide or narrow, according to what it needs. And it can be crossed whenever necessary, because it stays shallow enough, without dangerous rapids. As long as waters can move freely, they move gently.
All the lines of hex.59 are saying that taking measures – strong, or focused, or sensible, or preconceived – is not the best thing to do.
59.1: don't aim too high (changing to 61, stay in your own truth,),
59.2: look if any opportunity opens up (changing to 20, contemplate),
59.3: move like the wind, flowing around objects, able to pass through the most narrow apertures (changing to 57),
59.4: keep your group/mind/actions open, free from restrictions, and thus free from opposition (changing to 6, contention),
59.5: trust providence (changing to 4, ignorance, childlike openness),
59.6 Do not fix your emotions in yourself, let them flow like water (changing to 29, repeating danger).
Denis_m (from Shanghai): Huan4 often means we are split apart from familiar ties. It also used to mean 'distraught' or psychically jangled, in a diagnostic sense. During the Wei-Jin period, one of the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove called Xi Kang wrote an essay on drug-taking called "On Caring for Life." He warned about elixirs that will leave you feeling "confused (huan4) and unintegrated, like a bundle of raw nerves."
Hexagram 60
Characters and words of which jie is a component: 1 (wood-section) comb |
Hexagram 60
The character: A man is kneeling before a pot of food, about to start eating, meaning: approach, thereupon, attain to. And at the top bamboo. Whole character: knots or joints of bamboo or other plants.
Meaning of the whole character: degree, rank, regular division, juncture, circumstance, regulate, discriminate, to moderate, frugality, rule, law, baton, tessera, token of authority, capital of pillar. A part of a book, season, period of time or music: chapter, term, time-interval, holiday.
All these meanings have to do with a certain amount. A bamboo-tube was used for standards like the pitch in music, measure of capacity, weights.
Everything has its own size, its own basic pitch and its own rhythm. It will resonate with the vibrations which harmonize with it, and the unrelated ones will pass by unheard, unanswered. Life needs these restrictions, otherwise it will blow its top. A composer knows the limits of his composition, when he exceeds them, it will not become music, but a shambles.
The bamboo joints set the size of the limbs of the bamboo. A big one supporting a high stalk, small ones for the young ones or the tops. Every size has its own function, its own volume and its own sound. A piece of it with a certain length and diameter was used for the standard of the whole country. The measure of capacity, the key of music, and by extension the holidays (holy days), which are the bamboo joints of the time and set its length.
Life needs rhythm and structure, but do not accept rigid ones, which are not alive. Make your own music. Create a garden like a fairytale, cook a king’s meal, love like Romeo. By leaving the borders of the common one carves marks in the landscape of the soul, and life will not longer be the straight gray line from birth till death. It will be a scenery with heights and lowlands, giving structure and energy to the soul. Later they will be the rich memories.
Everything moves in cycles. If you get this hexagram in a time of despair, then accept its comfort that there will be an end to it, after this a new cycle will begin.
Quote from Laurence G. Boldt ("Zen and the Art of Making A Living", Boldt views work as Art..)
"Artists play with limitation. They neither deny, nor are they overwhelmed by it. There are only so many words in any language, but that doesn't keep the poet from writing. There is only a certain range of color the eye can see, but this doesn't keep the painter from painting (...) The artist accepts the limitations of form, not with fear and dread, but as the starting point of creation." He also adds: "You can be the artist of your life by recognizing that, for all of your limitations, you are basically adequate to life. For all of its difficulties, life is basically adequate for you. Accept that, while it may not fit some imaginary conception of perfection, the world is basically adequate; and you are basically adequate to the world. Be here now with what is, and play with the stuff of your life. If you have twelve crayons in your box, use your creativity and resourcefulness to make the best picture you can with these. Don't spend your time worrying that someone else has forty-eight or sixty-four crayons (...)"
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