RGH Siu The Portable Dragon

[rickmatz]

Is anyone familiar with RGH Siu's The Portable Dragon? I get the sense that hes' trying to get across the general description and feeling of each hexagram, but as far as I can tell (maybe I'm overlooking something very obvious) he's not discussing the lines at all.

[sparhawk]

Hi Rick,

I believe he actually assigns quotes to the lines, not only to the main meaning of the hexagrams. See this note by Steve Marshall/Joel Biroco:
The Portable Dragon – The Western Man's Guide to the (http://www.biroco.com/yijing/survey.htm)
I Ching: R G H Siu (http://www.biroco.com/yijing/survey.htm)

Originally published as 'The Man of Many Qualities: A Legacy of the I Ching'. Sui has appended literary quotations that are relevant to the lines and judgments of each hexagram. More an anthology of fine specimens of writing, it doesn't greatly enhance understanding of the I Ching. (http://www.biroco.com/yijing/survey.htm)

Also, you can count the quotes for the hexagrams, they are usually 7, on average.

[rickmatz]

Thanks again!

[bradford]

Frankly, I didn't find much relevance at all in his selection of quotes to the meanings of the hexagrams or the lines. As a quote book it was interesting, but like Steve said, it didn't do much to further our understanding of the Yi.

[emc2cme]

Rick, that's a very good question about Siu's book. I, for one, am absolutely stunned by the appropriateness of some of his quotations to the question being asked. It's as if he "overlearned" the meaning of the Yi--as in studying it for many years until he learned it by heart--then chose "western" (although many of his quotes aren't really "western" at all) passages that go straight to the heart of the hexagram and changing lines. Some people may not like it, but it was my first introduction to the I Ching many years ago. Because it seems so friendly to me, with the passages having almost surgical precision, it remains one of my favorite interpretations.

What do you think about the book?

Nancy

[emc2cme]

Regarding the lines, what he does is give the first passage as the response for the first line (it normally says "at the outset" when referring to the first line), the second for the second and so on up to the sixth (with the italicized portion being the translation of the lines and the regular font being the quotations). The last section (usually beginning with "the over-all judgment") in each passage is the general interpretation for the hexagram, which I'm accustomed to seeing at the beginning each hexagram in most other books. It took some time for me to get used to that.

BTW, I just found one of the passages that I really like. It's for hexagram 56.3. The line says, "The newcomer becomes arrogant and truculent. He eventually loses his house and servant and finds himself without support in a perilous situation." Siu's selection of quotions to go with that seems, to me, to fit perfectly, saying,

A man said to the universe:
"Sir, I exist!"
"However," replied the universe,
"That fact has not created in me
A sense of obligation."
Stephen Crane, American (1871-1900)

To me, it captures the spirit of the W/B version, like an arrow hitting the center of the target each and every time.

Nancy

[rickmatz]

Whether or not it's a good translation of the I Ching, I enjoy the quotations. He was a very learned man.

[emc2cme]

I agree that he was very learned. Have you read any of his other works? Amazing and very unassuming.

[rickmatz]

I also read The Craft of Power.