foxes

[dobro]

How do you read 'foxes' in the Yi? When 40.2 talks about catching foxes in the field, for instance, do you read that as:

* getting what you were trying to get

* apprehending a miscreant

* something else

I read it as 'getting what you were trying to get'. I read 'in the field' as a hunting situation, where you're out to bag something. If it were 'in the farmyard' or 'in the chickencoop', I would read it as 'apprehending a miscreant'. But it doesn't say that. It says 'field'.

What's your take on it?

[ewald]

In 40.2 the foxes symbolize trickery and deception, taking them out thus makes things clear and clears the way.

There's also a fox in 64.0.

[willowfox]

The 3 foxes of line 40.2 hinder and obstruct one's progress to overcoming personal problems by filling one's mind with negative emotions and giving the wrong assessment of one's surrounding world.
On an external level, they represent crafty people who bring trouble into one's life by using deception and trickery to mislead one. Look to the government for examples of this type of person.

[dobro]

Thanks for the input, you two.

Karcher's Total I Ching seems to bear out your reading::

"There are forces that seem to be threatening you, but you catch them in the act and acquire their power."

Wilhelm seems to move along similar lines. I'm pretty convinced. Thanks.

[bradford]

I can't imagine how hard it would be to hunt One fox with a bow,
and I'm pretty good archer. I see them around here on occasion,
usually late at night. Then they're shy, intelligent and sneaky too.
This hunter is "in the zone", hence the golden arrow award
(yes, award, cuz bronze arrows are absolutely useless for hunting).
So what help did he have to put him in the zone?
I would assume that the foxes were causing trouble, mebbe
with the poultry. So the exigencies of the situation helped with
its resolution, as is the meaning of the overall Gua 40.
There wer pressures for resolution, even necessities, and timing
too. Maybe the foxes were emboldened by a run of successes.
In all I'd say the foxes symbolize tricky problems in need of
something extra by way of solution.
The fox as a symbol had other meanings in the culture as well,
as we see in Gua 63 & 64. It also was a euphemism for a young
woman of "easy virtue". But I don't see these at all in 40.2

[trojan]

Yeah in 63 and 64 I've always thought we were to identify with fox - at least I always have. So when the fox is wetting his tail etc the querant thinks that is his position also ?

[hilary]

I blogged 40.2's foxes in March. As far as I could make out by reading up on fox beliefs, they mainly caused problems by disguising themselves as humans, especially as women.

Like I say in that entry, I met the fox online once - a thief using fake or stolen card details and a series of false names - and Yi confirmed his identity with 40.2. Now his IP address is blocked: one fox bagged.

I think the fox of 63-64 is a different animal altogether - and yes, you identify with the fox and try to keep your tail dry.

Wouldn't a bronze arrowhead be quite useful?

[bruce_g]

Wouldn't a bronze arrowhead be quite useful?

Yes, but that was in the bronze age. This is in the new age.

[bradford]

Wouldn't a bronze arrowhead be quite useful?

Depends. There's one causing a problem at 21.5
Might cost the guy a tooth if he's chewing too fiercely

The word Shi3 refers to the whole arrow, but I spoze you could
break the head off your trophy and use that in a pinch, like to
replace the arrow you lost at 56.5, or fix the one you broke
when you missed the chicken and hit the cave wall at 62.5.

[dobro]

There's no chicken in that cave. I looked.