...life can be translucent

Menu

Who was Kang Hou?

charly

visitor
Joined
May 9, 2007
Messages
2,315
Reaction score
243
Feng Connection

Kang Hou, the Marquis of Kang, 8th son of Wen Wang, had for name FENG, written instead of the name of H.55, both characters having the same phonetics.

Kang Hou is known in the Changes for his H.35 performance of three times in a day. In his spanish translation of the Changes, Jordi Vila says that Kang Hou, was one of the three sons of Wen Wang that take care of him prior to his death. Of course, the other two brothers were Fa, postumous Wu Wang, the Martial King and Dan, the Duke of Zhou.

Kang Hou complete name was Kang Shu Feng 康叔封.

KANG means peaceful, tranquil, happy, healthy, abundant, exuberant. With the heart radical it means ardent / impassioned / generous.

There is an ancient character for kang that can be seen like a dripping stalk with leaves or like a dripping baby with two arms an a big head, held by two hands. It can be seen at http://www.chineseetymology.org/CharacterEtymology.aspx?submitButton1=Etymology&characterInput=康


SHU means, among many other things, «third in the sequence of brothers». It also means uncle, younger brother of the father. Out of Wen Wang, the fathers of the Zhou Dynasty were King Wu and the Duke of Zhou, 2nd and 4th sons of Wen Wang respectively. Kang Hou, being the 8th son, although important, was only a younger brother of the dynasty's fathers.

An 8th son was far from dynastic posibilities an duties. As very younger son maybe was not required to be as mature as the elders an the could enjoy juvenile interests and games.

FENG means to install as a feudal lord, to bestow, to grant a fiefdom. Kang Hou was granted with Kang and later with Wei. In the changes he was granted numerous horses or maybe a prolific horse, in which case the sense could be that Kang Hou was well endowed.

I was said that Kang Hou was admited in audience with the King three times in the same day. But in the early Zhou times the members of the royal court enjoy great familiarity with the King who was only first among equals. Even more being a brother it's not strange that Kang Hou were admited to the King's presence each time that he need it.

Maybe the proliferous horse was but an euphemism. If the womb was known as horse (maybe a She-Horse, like in H.2), why not a He-Horse, applied to Kang Hou, the Exuberant, the twice granted, the well endowed?

Maybe to make love was one of the main concerns of Kang Hou. And...

... The Duke of Zhou 周公旦, regent for King Cheng of Zhou 周成王, proclaimed an instruction to Kang Shu, the Kanggao 康誥 (a chapter of the Shangshu 尚 "Book of Documents"), and admonished him to avoid wine and women, because of which the last ruler of the Shang had lost his kingdom.

Source: Ulrich Theobald's Chinaknowledge
At: http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Zhou/rulers-wey.html

Don´t you believe so?

All the best,


Charly
 
Last edited:

charly

visitor
Joined
May 9, 2007
Messages
2,315
Reaction score
243
I've posted something about H.35, Kang Hou in the Changes, here:

Hi, Grace:

Nothing bad, I believe, except if we have many disfavorable reasons for thinking so, and we havn't. Maybe we need more accurate details about the situation.

The first answer leads you to H.35 jin4, ADVANCING, INCREASING, PROMOTING, FLOURISHING. The old character depicts two arrows getting its target. Be said that arrows had a phallic sense. The fact that arrows fall from above means that they represent blessings from the Heaven.

H.35 says:



jin4
FLOURISHING
Of course, prior to having offsprings.


康侯用錫馬蕃庶
kang1 hou2 yong4 xi1 ma3 fan2 shu4
PEACEFUL MARQUIS APPLY GRANTED HORSES TO_REPRODUCE ORDINARILY
The Tranquil Marquis uses his received proliferous(1) horses(2) ...

晝日三接
zhou4 ri4 san1 jie1
DAYTIME SUN/DAY THREE JOINING
... mating (3) three times during daytime(4)

[STOP]


There is nothing telling if it is lucky or not, I believe it is LUCKY, if not, the Changes would have said WRONG or HORRIBLE!.

But who was the Healthy Marquis? One of the many sons of Wen Wang, but that's another story.

(TO BE CONTINUED)

All the best,


Charly

_______________________________
(1) fan2 + shu4 make a two-syllabe word meaning PROLIFEROUS, having many offsprings.
(2) Maybe a gift from his grandmother or ancestress, the mother of the king or the Royal Mother. Of course, there is no explicite plural in the text, it also could be about ONE HORSE. Imagine it.
(3) Who, the horses?
(4) While there was sunlight.
Ch.

Ch.
 

charly

visitor
Joined
May 9, 2007
Messages
2,315
Reaction score
243
More contextual evidence: here:

Wilhelm / Baynes 23.5:
Six in the fifth place means:
A shoal of fishes. Favor comes through the court ladies.
Everything acts to further.

Here, in immediate proximity to the strong, light-giving principle at the top, the nature of the dark force undergoes a change. It no longer opposes the strong principle by means of intrigues but submits to its guidance. Indeed, as the head of the other weak lines, it leads all of these to the strong line, just as a princess leads her maids-in-waiting like a shoal of fishes to her husband and thus gains his favor. Inasmuch as the lower element thus voluntarily places itself under the higher, it attains happiness and the higher also receives its due. Therefore all goes well.

Wilhelm / Baynes


From Pauline Yu (page 20), available in Google Books:


Of course, not all the ten women were «favored» by the King at the same time. I believe that each waited her turn. An ordeal indeed. In comparison with which the three times during a daytime of Kang Hou was only a modest performance.

Ch.

Ch.
 
Last edited:

Clarity,
Office 17622,
PO Box 6945,
London.
W1A 6US
United Kingdom

Phone/ Voicemail:
+44 (0)20 3287 3053 (UK)
+1 (561) 459-4758 (US).

Top