It probably shouldn’t surprise me to discover that 57, Subtly Penetrating, as relating hexagram is very hard to pin down. That seems to be just the nature of the hexagram. But the most general way of looking at a relating hexagram still works here: imagine how the primary hexagram is dealing with the relating hexagram’s… Continue Reading
Three lines Here’s another phrase that appears three times in the Yijing: 富以其鄰, fu yi qi lin, ‘rich in one’s neighbours’. In 9.5, you are rich in your neighbours – ‘There is truth and confidence as a bond.Rich in your neighbours.’ while in 11.4 and 15.5, you aren’t – ‘Fluttering, fluttering.Not rich in your neighbours.Not… Continue Reading
It can be interesting to look at how the names of the hexagrams are used in the text of the Yijing – I mean, besides in the eponymous hexagram. This happens quite a bit, and while sometimes it’s obviously just normal usage of a common word (like you 有, ‘having’ or ‘there is’, from the… Continue Reading
The Yijing mentions rain several times – in Hexagram 9, and then in 38.6, 43.3, 50.3 and 62.5. What does it represent? Wilhelm, writing about 50.3, has a succinct answer: ‘The fall of rain symbolizes here, as in other instances, release of tension.’ Wilhelm is (here, as in other instances) spot on. But can we… Continue Reading
Some of the Yi’s most interesting phrases come in threes. The advice not to chase what’s lost, for instance, or ‘not robbers, marital allies’. This is another of those: ‘the moon is almost full’. ‘Already rained, already come to rest.Honour the power it carries.The wife’s constancy brings danger,The moon is almost full.Noble one sets out… Continue Reading
By and large, we know what sort of thing we expect Yi to say (though not, heaven knows, what it will say): ‘Here’s what you’re doing’ or ‘here’s what would happen’ or ‘here’s how to cope with that’ – something along those lines, describing or advising. Only every now and then – just eleven times, in… Continue Reading
A thoroughly useful guiding principle for both diviners and translators: this means something. For diviners with/ translators of the Yijing, the principle needs elaborating: this means something, whether or not I have the faintest glimmerings of a clue what it means. That should really be inscribed in every Yijing book and journal. Probably the most common beginner’s… Continue Reading
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