Clarity,
Office 17622,
PO Box 6945,
London.
W1A 6US
United Kingdom
Phone/ Voicemail:
+44 (0)20 3287 3053 (UK)
+1 (561) 459-4758 (US).
Kunst or Shaughnessey, I forget which, suggested that the Zhouyi was probably first written down late in the Zhou dynasty, when it was unstable and under threat. His idea was that it was only when a body of knowledge was under threat that people would feel a strong need to transcribe it, to preserve it. I dunno. It's an interesting idea, but I can think of other reasons. It could also have ritual significance, it is now fixed, it exists independently of the experts who use it. Or maybe somebody didn't like the idea that there were all sorts of variant versions floating around, so we need an authoritative version.The other side of this coin could be the deep significance of what you do choose to fix and preserve in writing. Why do you do that?
Indeed. The oral traditions did reign for many centuries and orators were held in high esteem for their skills and memory. The technical revolution of printing has led to vast changes in the availability and the price of knowledge since the 1400's and now physical books are on their way to being obsolete.Quite possibly true. But also, it just wasn't automatic or natural for all knowledge to be recorded in writing. Even much later, in Europe, up until after Gutenberg, a book was a rare and valuable possession. A prosperous middle class family might have owned a family bible, which would have been extremely expensive, and probably no other written materials. Instead, people generally memorized texts, including quite long ones. And the people who could memorize long texts were highly valued and played a special role in society. (You can read about this in the histories of Homer's Odyssey, which wasn't written by a guy called Homer -- in fact, almost certainly wasn't written down at all for a long time).
The idea that knowledge exists "in the public domain" is pretty recent.
One of the spoils of war is that the victors get first dibs on what is recorded for posterity in their books of knowledge.The other side of this coin could be the deep significance of what you do choose to fix and preserve in writing. Why do you do that?
Clear contracting that is solidly fixed and recorded. Good business practice, and the ability to hold people to account then are other reasons for writing things down. A bit like The Doomsday Book or Magna Carta.True. But in China, the oldest surviving 'books of knowledge' are divination records on oracle bones: more like the minutes of the oracular meeting, so both humans and spirits know what was agreed.
Ya. Maybe writing it down wasn't so much a record of the ritual, but more part of the ritual.True. But in China, the oldest surviving 'books of knowledge' are divination records on oracle bones: more like the minutes of the oracular meeting, so both humans and spirits know what was agreed.
That's exactly what Mark Lewis says in Writing and Authority in Early China. (I got through its first couple of chapters while on holiday.) You could keep records on clay, silk or bamboo; carving into bone (and storing stacks of shells and scapulae) would not be a sensible way of going about it. He also mentions bronze inscriptions as having similar thinking behind them: you write what happened inside the ritual vessel, so it will be communicated to the spirits with each offering.Ya. Maybe writing it down wasn't so much a record of the ritual, but more part of the ritual.
Reminds me of the archeological finds at the Roman Baths in Bath. Objects were thrown into the Sacred Spring as offerings to the goddess, Minerva. These included many messages, including curses, that were inscribed on lead sheet that had been rolled up and then tossed into the spring where it was thought the goddess lived.That's exactly what Mark Lewis says in Writing and Authority in Early China. (I got through its first couple of chapters while on holiday.) You could keep records on clay, silk or bamboo; carving into bone (and storing stacks of shells and scapulae) would not be a sensible way of going about it. He also mentions bronze inscriptions as having similar thinking behind them: you write what happened inside the ritual vessel, so it will be communicated to the spirits with each offering.
He has a notebook in which the first page is filled with the image of Ouroboros Bagua I've shown you. The other pages contain the explanation of 64 hexagrams written in English from right to left as follows:As for the 'ouroboros bagua', I would really like to know where it comes from. Did the person who showed it you invent it himself, or come across it somewhere?
I'm afraid this is twaddle of the first order, though, which makes me a good bit less interested in his new bagua. I wouldn't worry about it if I were you. Much more interesting just to have conversations with the I Ching itself.And he answered that it is the way to understand I Ching more deeply in English.
Clarity,
Office 17622,
PO Box 6945,
London.
W1A 6US
United Kingdom
Phone/ Voicemail:
+44 (0)20 3287 3053 (UK)
+1 (561) 459-4758 (US).