This entry is part 3 of 3 in the series Hexagram 23
I wrote about how Stripping Away, in its ideal form as depicted by the Image, might be painless – but that’s not how the process starts, and not our dominant experience of it. Hexagram 23 typically shows up as something you have to undergo; it is fruitless to have a direction to go. You don’t plan or explore your way out of this one, or have much of a say in the outcome. (Perhaps it’s one of those situations where you retain only the freedom to choose your response.)
Hexagram 23’s change in perspective – from Stripping Away as pure loss, to the possibility of*generosity and tranquility – takes place*between lines four and five.

Lines 1-4: Stripping Away as loss

Read through the first four line texts:
Thus far there is clear pattern: every line begins with ‘stripping’, and all except line 3 then tell you what’s being stripped.
Stephen Field suggests that this is the crisis in the story of Wang Hai (of hexagram 56 fame) and the end of his ill-advised liaison with the local ruler’s wife. Hai was betrayed by his jealous brother Heng, caught by the guards in the wrong bed, and butchered where he lay.*These are certainly lines about loss.

Lines 5 and 6: a new perspective

What happens next?
Line 5 brings a complete change of perspective: not stripping away, but stringing together; not loss, but a gift.
(It’s far from clear whether the palace people give or receive this favour: even RJ Lynn and Wilhelm differ on this. But at least we can say that gift-giving happens, and palace people are involved – and they are almost certainly women, because not only is ‘palace people’ a traditional expression for ‘palace women’, but ‘favour’ originally implied ‘favoured and favourite concubine’.)
It’s often the case that the Image can be read as commentary on the 5th line of a hexagram. That’s not surprising: the Image authors set out to describe the best response one might choose in the hexagram’s situation; naturally they would have studied the line texts, and line 5 is very often the line of autonomy and choice.
And here, line 5 describes a gift, and the Image –
– speaks of the benefits of generosity. The word for ‘generous’ includes the idea of upside-down: the direction is changing; what was above flows down. Line 6 is the summit of the mountain, and line 5 already on its slopes.
Fish are an omen of good fortune, but this is a string of dried fish: good fortune stored up, just like the mountain’s store of mineral riches. The shift of perspective isn’t just from loss to gain but also from immediate experience to the longer term. As we climb higher, we can See Stripping Away as a necessary redistribution, one that also creates relationship.
23.5 changes to Hexagram 20, Seeing. This is Stripping Away seen from a higher and broader perspective, so the whole picture can come into view. There is ‘nothing that does not bear fruit’, even Stripping Away, if you can See it from here.
We’ve had four lines of stripping away and loss; now here are two of reconnection, relationship and coherence. The two lines are traditionally read as connected, with line 5 yin lending support to line 6 yang, as the people support the ruler. An analogy: lines 5 and 6 are like a hand picking an apple. As an apple ripens, a layer of cells in its stem naturally die off, until it falls. So to pick the fruit, you don’t pull at it; you cup it in your hand and lift. If the fruit’s ripe, it will come away from the tree.
The fruit not eaten is a sign that this story isn’t finished – at least, not for the noble one. The small people can see nothing beyond destruction, but a cart is for going somewhere else. There’s potential still unused and possibilities unexplored.

A new perspective on Hai and Heng

So how does this fit with the story of Hai and Heng? Field continues the story fluently through the fifth and sixth lines. After Hai was killed, Heng fled back to his people, telling them only that Hai was murdered and the flocks stolen. The people made him king and sent him to recover the flocks – but instead he ‘stayed and resumed his intemperate lifestyle.’ The people eventually made Hai’s son Wei their king, and it was Wei who finally sacked Yi and recovered the flocks. It’s another story – like Gun and Yu, like the Zhou story itself – in which the son completes the father’s work.
Field sees Heng’s return to favour in Yi in line 5, and the final triumph of Wei in line 6. He points out that the fish is a sexual symbol, so ‘this may be an indication that the consort of Yi is now cavorting with the younger brother, Heng.’ And at line 6, ‘if the fish of line 5 represents Heng, then the uneaten fruit of line 6 must represent the consort of Yi. The nobleman, Shang Jia Wei, would then gain the carriages of war, while the small man, the Chief of Yi, lost his kingdom.’
Yes, but, but… doesn’t this make line 5 sound rather sleazy? Heng isn’t keeping faith with his people, let alone his brother; also, he’s shortly to get his come-uppance at the hands of his nephew. An omen of ‘Nothing that does not bear fruit’ hardly seems to fit this story. But perhaps there is another perspective, besides that of Hang, Heng, Wei and the history of Shang…
Let’s go back to the source of the story in Questions of Heaven. Field translates its opening like this:
So there is a fairly staid story of Hai being corrupted by the good life. But the same passage is translated in Birrell’s Chinese Mythology like this:
I’m in no position to say which is a more plausible translation, but I find Birrell’s version more convincing as story-telling.
As Field narrates Hexagram 23, Hai is dismembered in line 4, but the queen has already escaped in line 3. I think of how line 4 is in the outer trigram, but line 3 still on the inside – something hidden, not yet across the threshold into the outside world. What if she were already pregnant with Hai’s child? The fish isn’t only a sexual symbol, after all, but also specifically an omen of fertility – as in Hexagram 44, lines 2 and 4. ‘Nothing that does not bear fruit.’
Hexagram 20 as zhi gua of this line indicates the higher and longer-term perspective; 20.5, its fan yao, reads,
Yet what we translate as ‘own life’ here also means ‘birth’ and ‘begetting.’
Just as in Hexagram 44, Coupling (or, in LiSe’s translation, Birth), the fish are followed by the fruit. If we can see the wrapped melon in 44.5 as an image of pregnancy, why not the ‘great fruit’ of 23.6?
I doubt we could ever piece together, from the surviving fragments of this story, what happened to the consort of Yi. But I would like to believe that as the huts of Yi were stripped, she was riding*away in a carriage, under the first full moon of spring, with open fields before her.

The post Stripping Away: a change of perspective appeared first on I Ching with Clarity.

Dear Hilary:

I was said that once upon a time Sappho threw the coins and got 23.6, true or not, maybe it was apocryphal, she did write the poem about a sweet apple, a marrying maiden that is 90th in Sacred Texts collection.

I don't know how can it match with Wang Hai story. Better go to the quote:

Like a sweet-apple
turning red
high
on the tip
of the topmost branch.
Forgotten by pickers.

Not forgotten—
they couldn’t reach it.

​

Poem 23 in:
POEMS OF SAPPHO TRANSLATED BY JULIA DUBNOFF
http://www.uh.edu/~cldue/texts/sappho.html

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I have the feeling that the sapphic pickers where the JunZi, the noble sons, who saw her fom their expensive carriages and could not reach her.

The high fruit was affordable only for those willing to pay a highest price, stripping his house, or maybe those able to seduce her, but that's another story.

I believe that 23.6, like the sweet apple of Sappho, is not so much about marriage as about LOVE.

What was the love story behind the myth of Wang Hai?


All the best,


Charly

I love this - and the thought of that apple (or blackberry) - that is there but just out of reach is perfect for 23.6 brilliant....

Hilary, I loved this. Thank you.
Charly, I love the Sapphic interpretation; it does sound like apocrypha, but regardless- do you happen to know the source for the story of Sappho casting the coins?

deflatormouse said:

... Charly, I love the Sapphic interpretation; it does sound like apocrypha, but regardless- do you happen to know the source for the story of Sappho casting the coins?

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Of course: ot was of my own invention.
Maybe Sappho would throw astragalous or dices or even yarrow, but the «Changes» arrived Europe in the 17th century with the Jesuits.
May God forgive me!

In my defense: the uneaten fruit is even earlier than Sappho or all the preclasic chinese.
Say, as old as love.

Yours,

Charly

What an amazing post, thanks Hilary!

hilary said:

Yes, but, but… doesn’t this make line 5 sound rather sleazy? Heng isn’t keeping faith with his people, let alone his brother; also, he’s shortly to get his come-uppance at the hands of his nephew. An omen of ‘Nothing that does not bear fruit’ hardly seems to fit this story.

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The way you've explained it (that the palace concubines accept Heng, but perhaps not the queen as in line 6), makes perfect sense. And anyway, sleaze is a part of life, just like murder, pregnancy, love, etc. Obviously the concubines needed to submit to Heng, to save their own lives, they had to look up to him (20).

charly said:

In my defense: the uneaten fruit is even earlier than Sappho or all the preclasic chinese.
Say, as old as love.

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Thanks for this Charly, yet another I Ching image valid throughout the world and the centuries!

Charly - I think you've found the perfect way always to remember your source.

diamanda said:

The way you've explained it (that the palace concubines accept Heng, but perhaps not the queen as in line 6), makes perfect sense.

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I'm smiling at this, as I'm almost sure I never came up with any such explanation. This is all yours. This, too...

And anyway, sleaze is a part of life, just like murder, pregnancy, love, etc. Obviously the concubines needed to submit to Heng, to save their own lives, they had to look up to him (20).

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And to be clear, I think this is all good stuff, because it's always good in divination to be able to weave lines and hexagrams together and tell stories. Telling different stories means being able to think in different ways and see things that were invisible before.

@Hilary, yes the second one is my own conclusion, I didn't make that clear.

As about the first one, apologies for misunderstanding you.
I somehow thought that's what you meant by the following two:

But at least we can say that gift-giving happens, and palace people are involved – and they are almost certainly women, because not only is ‘palace people’ a traditional expression for ‘palace women’, but ‘favour’ originally implied ‘favoured and favourite concubine’.

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And at line 6, ‘if the fish of line 5 represents Heng, then the uneaten fruit of line 6 must represent the consort of Yi ["but the queen has already escaped in line 3"]

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Re-reading it now I realise that you actually didn't conclude what I thought.
But anyway, as you say, yet another story!

Oh, no apology necessary - I like your version of the story, and it's good to see how others are possible.

charly said:

Of course: ot was of my own invention.
Maybe Sappho would throw astragalous or dices or even yarrow, but the «Changes» arrived Europe in the 17th century with the Jesuits.

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Ah, okay. When you said it may be apocryphal, this led me to think that perhaps you read it somewhere; didn't realize you were being humorous. The reason I asked for the source is, I wanted to read it: do you have any existing work that I might want to read? Please link if so...

The way I feel about this is, the various legends of Confucius carrying the Zhouyi around with him everywhere, saying he wanted to live another sixty years to study it, though admittedly more plausible, may be just as apocryphal. It's not as though you presented it as historical fact, and the interpretation via Sappho was deep and potent, so....

butterfly spider said:

I love this - and the thought of that apple (or blackberry) - that is there but just out of reach is perfect for 23.6 brilliant....

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I couldn't agree more..the thought of the apple is brilliant!

Thanks Hilary, for opening a thread on one of the more difficult hexagrams in the I Ching. For quite a long time I was puzzled by the name and imagery of this hexagram. In particular I couldn’t understand how a person lying on a bed could be described as “splitting apart.” I decided that there must be, somewhere, a more universal representation of “splitting apart” that refers to the entire hexagram rather than just an individual part and in Wilhelm I found a brief explanation that fits perfectly. The lower primary trigram, K’un, has a sinking, downward tendency as do the upper and lower nuclear trigrams (both K’un). Combined together, these three trigrams constitute an immense downwards tendency acting upon the stability of the upper primary trigram, Ken, and this incurs a potential for “splitting” throughout the entire hexagram, most notably in the lower primary trigram. The upper primary trigram, Ken, contains the strength and stability to resist this downward tendency though 4th yin is immediately adjacent to the lower trigram and, as such, acts in concert with the three lower yin lines. Fifth yin is the central line of Ken and, as such, carries its essence and stability in resisting the downward tendency of the remaining trigrams. It remains loyal to top yang and as it occupies the ruling position, it commands the remaining yin lines in bringing their allegiance to top yang, their uniform concordance resembling a shoal of fishes. Thus whereas the lower yin lines bring about situations of repeated loss, fifth yin is instrumental in creating a situation of gainful support. This outcome differs so markedly from the previous lines that it is accompanied by the Zhi Gua Hex.20 Kuan, with which the I Ching is urging the reader to carefully observe the distinctive outcome from this line.
Top yang again carries the potential for a successful outcome if the reader can correctly identify her position. Two factors should be considered here: firstly one here at top yang does not possess the balanced centrality of fifth yin and could consequently suffer a polarity of impulsive urges - the urge to rapidly expand or the urge to withdraw. Secondly, Top Yang contains within itself a compliant yin seed which can be utilised in the development of a future path. Top yang appears to represent a very dramatic situation that demands a substantial response but such would be the path of the inferior man. The superior man recognises the seed within top yang as the seed of the future and will strive to sustain and protect it. In his desire for prominence, the inferior man will destroy top yang, and in so doing will destroy his own future and his own house.

Hi, Peter:

I like it although, I believe, not the only story one can imagine on SPLITTING APART and the MAN LYING IN THE BED.

Here there is a cosmic story where the upper trigram, MOUNTAIN or YOUNGER BROTHER, is fated to dissapear but put his SEED in the lower trigram, EARTH ir the RECEPTIVE MOTHER and doing so it secures the continuity of ALTERNANCE CYCLE and the own life of the MALE / YAG principle.

Of course, even in Wilhelm there is a SEXUAL image of how the cosmic forces behave.

Another story is about how some exemplary people can behave following the cosmic model. In the social realm, THOSE OF HIGH must give and THOSE OF LOW must receive, as it is written in the IMAGE.

That only the firsts, the RULING CLASS, can see the seed of future while the small people only look for REBELLION is a consequence of a given point of view, not universal, of course, and not written in the IMAGE.

The thought here, taken together with that in the next hexagram, shows the connection between decay
and resurrection. Fruit must decay before new seed can develop.

The sinking tendency of the hexagram is very strong. Both nuclear trigrams as well as the lower
primary trigram are K’un, whose movement is downward. In contrast with this the upper primary trigram Kên stands still, without motion. This leads to a loosening of the structure. The tendency of the five yin lines is to bring about the downfall of the yang line at the top, in that they sink down and thus take the ground from under it. Here too the fundamental trend of the Book of Changes is expressed: the light principle is represented as invincible because in its sinking it creates new life, as does a grain of wheat when it sinks into the earth.
...
THE IMAGE

The mountain rests on the earth:
The image of SPLITTING APART.
Thus those above can ensure their position
Only by giving generously to those below.

Wilhelm /Baynes, part III, H.23

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All the best,

Charly

P.D.:
It's curious that following the description, the female lines are pushing from below, and then forcing the male line to jump outside. The new line entering by the base will be female, resulting H.2.

小弟 xiǎodì means little brother, say the MOUNTAIN. 小弟弟 xiǎodìdì is a slang for PENIS. Of course, THOSE OF HIGH are fated to GIVE and DIE.
Ch.

HAI inherited JI’s prowess. His father was a goodly man.

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Why did he end by losing his oxen and sheep in YOU-YI?
How did he win her heart by dancing with shield and plumes,
and how did she of the smooth sides and lovely skin become his paramour?

What did YOU-YI’s herdsmen say when they found them?
When they struck the bed, he had already left the chamber: how did he meet his fate?

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HENG, too, inherited JI’s prowess.
How did he get back those oxherds and oxen?
How did he go about there dispensing gifts, but not return empty-handed?

Dark WEI followed in his brothers’ footsteps and the Lord of YOU-YI was stirred against him.
Why, when the birds flocked together, did she forsake her own son and give herself to him?
The Dark Man lay with her adulterously and destroyed his elder brother.
Why, after such falsehood and treachery, was it given to his posterity to flourish?


From David Hawkes' «Songs of the South»

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For those interested in «Hevenly Questions» I've posted the paragraph about King Hai from the traslation by D.Hawkes book, parcial view avilable in Google Books.

Ch.

A later translation of Wang Hai story in Heavenly Questions by Gopal Sukhu:




Source:
«The Songs of Chu - An antology of Ancient Chinese Poetry by Qu Yuan and Others»,
Edited & Translated by Gopal Sukhu, Columbia University Press, New York 2017.
Available preview in Google Books.

May you enjoy it.

All the best,


Charly
_____________________________
P.D.:
At the begining of note 50 there is a description of Wang Hai in the Mountains and Seas Classic. The illustration that I remember is pretty disgusting. The guy depicted there was almost naked, as compliant with the context of Stripping Away but hardly can be seen as a King.

I wonder if eating the birds heads didn't pointed to a hidden meaning of disreputable sexual inclination or of irreverent attitude towards the Black Bird totem of Shangs. How could such a guy be in the ancestral line of a ruling dynasty?. Maybe Zhou propaganada: with those ancestors, the Shang / Yin Dynasty was fatted to lose the Mandate of Heaven.

Ch.

Thanks!

I would have guessed that the 'many birds perched in the brambles' were the brothers Hai and Heng, since Hai has this association with birds. (The bird totem is because they have a bird ancestor, isn't it?) The implication being that she'd sleep with anything that perched, as it were.

hilary said:

Thanks!

I would have guessed that the 'many birds perched in the brambles' were the brothers Hai and Heng, since Hai has this association with birds. (The bird totem is because they have a bird ancestor, isn't it?) The implication being that she'd sleep with anything that perched, as it were.

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Hi Hilary:

I believe that the Lady was the HOSTESS, say the KING's WIFE, not the daughter and the images of many birds peeping from difficult positions meant that the affair was PUBLIC, calling the atention of all the people, even, maybe, that the happenings were OUTDOORS (1).

I understand that the Lady was not punished, she had no blame, say her behavior was correct.

Passed away Wang Hai, the behavior of his brother was, from some point of view, generous and correct. Taking care of the Lady was a sort of LEVIRATE. The story was one of TRAGIC LOVE BEYOND LIMITS.

The SEXUAL behavior of the lovers was not illegal. The illegal was maybe the supposed pretention of marriage or long lasting relation. The Lady was married with the King and no one was allowed to dissolve that marriage.

Wang Hai did not retreat while there was time, he exceeds the terms of his permission. (2)(3)

Maybe 23.0 should be translated almost literally but with alternative parsing:


Must look for some notes and deepen more.

All the best,

Charly


_____________________________
(1) Maybe «野合», ye3he2 = to commit adultery. Each character meaning standalone: ye3 = field, wilderness and he2 = to join, to have sexual intercourse. Maybe not adultery but RITUAL MARRIAGE IN THE WILDERNESS. Between Heaven and Earth, without limits.

(2) I believe to remember that Kerson Wang said that Wang Hai wasn't killed on the bed. Doesn't Kerson Huang say that the bed was making warning noises that the murder plot was lurking? Something like "beware with the Idus of March"? My memory isn't so good, nobody's perfect!

(3) When Hai arrived to Yi, he was herding cattle and looked more like a wandering merchant than like a king.
The word SHANG carried both meanings, merchant and the name of the Shang / Yin dynasty. Maybe, once warned, another behavior was expected from him.

Ch.

diamant said:

What an amazing post, thanks Hilary!


The way you've explained it (that the palace concubines accept Heng, but perhaps not the queen as in line 6), makes perfect sense. And anyway, sleaze is a part of life, just like murder, pregnancy, love, etc. Obviously the concubines needed to submit to Heng, to save their own lives, they had to look up to him (20).


Thanks for this Charly, yet another I Ching image valid throughout the world and the centuries!

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Hi Diamanda:

I apologize for letting pass so much time for answering. Nobody's perfect!

With that turn of the story of Heng and the concubines coming from you, I couldn't but think about the fate of the women who agreed to sleep with suitors in the Odyssey. They ended up hanging on a rope like the 23.5 rows of sun dried fish. Both digusting images I believe.

Just as Ulysses was not generous with the defenseless servants, the Changes is not gentle with the royal concubines, comparing them to rows of hung up fish ready to be eaten.

A sample of social criticism that I believe to perceive im H.23 as in many other places of the Changes.

All the best,

Charly

hilary said:

It is far from clear whether the palace people give or receive this favour: even RJ Lynn and ppWilhelm differ on this.

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And it doesn't *exactly* matter, sort of....
(because the core pattern is a *have* , who is associated with the palace, giving to a *have not*)

but I'm inclined to believe that it is
the former...because....


marybluesky recently had this reading,
and it meant that a professor (palace inhabitant) she reached out to from her university (palace) got her a job.

The line came up for me just before the announcement of an inheritence. (receiving from someone who lived in a palace compared to my little hut)

In both cases, the querent was not an inhabitant of the palace, but received from them. Hope that is helpful.

charly said:

the Changes is not gentle with the royal concubines, comparing them to rows of hung up fish ready to be eaten

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Fishes are also a metaphor for 'a good catch' of women, and they also symbolise wealth. Even in the English language there's a dating app called 'Plenty more Fish'. So maybe the I Ching is being cheeky here.

moss elk said:

The line came up for me just before the announcement of an inheritence. (receiving from someone who lived in a palace compared to my little hut)

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Sounds great!

I didn't remember how many suitors Penelope had: 108.They had all moved to her home. The home also had 50 female servants. What a huge house it must have been!

moss elk said:

And it doesn't *exactly* matter, sort of....
(because the core pattern is a *have* , who is associated with the palace, giving to a *have not*)

but I'm inclined to believe that it is
the former...because....


marybluesky recently had this reading,
and it meant that a professor (palace inhabitant) she reached out to from her university (palace) got her a job.

The line came up for me just before the announcement of an inheritence. (receiving from someone who lived in a palace compared to my little hut)

In both cases, the querent was not an inhabitant of the palace, but received from them. Hope that is helpful.

Click to expand...

Hi Moss:

I've always believed that the sense of H.23 was that THOSE OF HIGH GIVE and that THOSE OF LOW RECEIVE. Here the highest line is YANG and all the lower lines are YIN. The UPPER TRIGRAM IS MOUNTAIN (THE BIG BROTHER) while the LOWER TRIGRAM IS EARTH (THE RECEPTIVE).

The word used in 23.5 is 寵 chong3, whose meanings, mainly from CJKV, are:

• To FAVOR, to love, to like, to have a crush on. [An active verb].
• Good FAVOR; fortune, kindness [the gift].
• The FAVORITE, male or female, those being most favored by the king / emperor. [object of the active verb]

A quick, almost literal, translation of 23.5 should be:

Of course that, given the usual meaning of the words, The line is speaking of:

• FISH as symbols of INTERCOURSE (yin / yang motif of parired fishes), FERTILITY (many offsprings), BLESSINGS (like those produced by CLOUDS AND RAIN). (1)​
• PALACE PEOPLE, usually for meaning alll the PALACE WOMEN AVAILABLE FOR THE KING, be wives, concubines, servants or slaves.​
• FAVOR, an euphemism for SEXUAL INTERCOURSE.​
• PROFIT, FRUIT, positive outcome of the action.​
• STRUNG, ordered in rows, like Concubnes following the Queen approaching the King for BEING FAVORED by him in order to avoid CHILDRENLESSNESS, say to GET A HEIR in the GAO MEI ritual.​

The same comparison between Strung Fish and Palace Women allows positive or negative interpretations, MANY FERTILE WOMEN or READY TO BE EATEN.

But the concept of FAVOR points in fact to an intercourse, say, a TWO-WAY RELATION where both parts GIVE and RECEIVE something although not necessarily of the same value or in the same messure.

All the best,

Charly
_______________________
(1) «CLOUDS AND RAIN» is a well known euphemism for SEXUAL INTERCOURSE. Both 魚 (yu2) and 雨 (yu3, yu4) share similar phonetics.
Ch.

diamant said:

Fishes are also a metaphor for 'a good catch' of women, and they also symbolise wealth. Even in the English language there's a dating app called 'Plenty more Fish'. So maybe the I Ching is being cheeky here.


Sounds great!

I didn't remember how many suitors Penelope had: 108.They had all moved to her home. The home also had 50 female servants. What a huge house it must have been!

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Hi Diamanda:

Of course that FISHES were always symbols of FERTILITY, BALANCE BETWEEN YIN AND YANG and MARITAL HAPPINESS.

But the connection with the FEMALE SERVANTS of the Odyssey made me think in some criticism towards the royal behavior, explicit in many poems of the Book of Songs and, I believe, hidden in many hexagrams of the Changes.

Think at what each part expect from the act of favor?
The King can expect to get a worthy Heir (1), the women hardly can expect love, gratitude or respect but mostly indifference. So is King's love.

It reminds me of the story about the General and the Favourite Concubines in the «Art of War», but that's another story ... Or maybe not.

All the best,

Charly
_____________________________
(1) See the connection betweent the GAO MEI RITE with the Ryal Concubines in row, following the Queen Consort waiting to be favored by the King and the sundried fhish hanging fron the string waiting to be eaten (2):

Source: David Knechtges in «Ways with Words - Writing about reading texts from early China»
Edited by Pauline Yu & Others, University of California Press, Berkeley Cal. & London, 2000.
page 20. Available in Google Books

(2) «To favor» and «to eat» were both euphemisms for «to have sexual intercourse».

Ch.

diamant said:

Fishes are also a metaphor for 'a good catch' of women, and they also symbolise wealth. Even in the English language there's a dating app called 'Plenty more Fish'. So maybe the I Ching is being cheeky here.

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Hi Diamanda:

Looking for some connection between FISH as fertility symbols and the GAO MEI ritual with the QUEEN leading the CONCUBINES to the KING to be FAVORED, I found a quote from Wen Yiduo.

.


.​

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Anning Jing (preview available in Google Books):

The Water God's Temple of the Guangsheng Monastery: Cosmic Function of Art , Ritual and Theater.​

Charly what a great find about that mural and fertility symbolism.
Also from your previous post, the eating/food = intercourse metaphor exists in Greek too, no doubt in other languages too.

charly said:

(2) «To favor» and «to eat» were both euphemisms for «to have sexual intercourse».

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