I only just stumbled across this excellent article from Harmen about the origin of the character Yi. Read and enjoy! I relish Harmen’s own willingness to change his own mind, too; it’s easy to get married to one’s own theories and settle down into undisturbed domestic bliss – I catch… Read more »Harmen on Change
Following on from a post on hexagram 53, line 1… ‘Wild geese gradually advance to the shore. The small child, danger, There are words, No mistake.’ The obvious question about this line – and I always like to ask the most obvious question – is ‘Why is the small child… Read more »Wild geese and small child
I’m plodding steadily through the work of compiling the multi-translation index I promised for the ‘Words of Change’ glossary. I’m realising various things as I go along… This is a much bigger job than I thought. Erk. If no-one buys it after this I’m going to kick myself into the… Read more »Why you need a concordance
Over on his ‘I Ching insights’ blog, Eric Bryant’s noticed a pattern in his readings. Yi gave him the exact same reading – including the same line changing – for two ‘unrelated’ subjects, business and a relationship. As he points out, you only get to see this kind of thing… Read more »That hexagram again
Brad Hatcher points out that 14 out of 64 hexagrams’ first lines mention feet. I wonder whether there isn’t a fifteenth implied at 49.1: ‘For binding use yellow cowhide’ What might you bind with yellow cowhide? It could be a tethered animal, of course, as Rutt suggests. But looking at… Read more »To change, first tie on your boots
In the Words of Change glossary (coming up within the next week or two) I’ve written this about constancy, zhen: “…We have a vision of the future – not what’s inevitably going to happen, but what it is right for us to bring into being. You can conceive of this… Read more »When is constancy a good idea?
There’s a lot going on in the first line of Hexagram 53: ‘Wild geese gradually advance to the shore. The small child, danger, There are words, No mistake.’ This is the first stage in the journey of the wild geese as they gradually draw close to their natural home. Now… Read more »The wild geese at the shore
