28.1 mats of reed

[ewald]

28.1
Using mats of plain reed.
Without fault.

I was watching a program about the Great Wall of China on Discovery Channel, when something that was shown reminded me of this line. Mats of reed where used during the Han dynasty to reinforce towers made of loam or mud or something. A bit like iron bars are nowadays used to reinforce concrete for buildings.

It makes sence in this hexagram 28, that's also about robustness. The mats of reed might have been used to reinforce, instead being mats to soften the ground. That would make 28.1 to be about reinforcement.

 

[auriel]

i think its Legge who renders this line: she feels herself to be in the lowest place-etc.

that reading of the line has always stuck in my head, as it re-inforces the hexagram's ideas of preparation, humility, and re-inforcement; and also underlines the funerary aspect of this hexagram which has been discussed- some also see it as care of the elderly, learning to nurture, shore-up the old, thus to recieve the benefit of those "excessively great".

legend has it as well that they would toss the bodies of the frequent work injuries upon the great wall into the loam too, the fallen thus becoming white reeds of a sort. perhaps the practice was derived from study of the book of change. . .

 

[hmesker]

The phrase baimao also occurs in the Shijing, at M23 (2x) and at M 229. The site http://eshijing.diy.myrice.com contains an annotated version of the Shijing, and at M42, 'Jing Nu', it says about the character yi in the fifth line (Mathews 6245, GSR 551k) that it means 'the sprouts of baimao', and that it symbolizes the undertaking of a marriage. (http://eshijing.diy.myrice.com/page/jingnu-1.htm).

At first this might not seem relevant to hexagram 28, but the Mawangdui text of 28-2 talks about sheng yi instead of sheng ti as in the received text. In other words, in the Mawangdui text line 1 and 2 are clearly linked. The MWD text tells that the sprouts in line 2 are the sprouts of the baimao grass of line 1. An interesting link which can provide new associations for the interpretation of hexagram 28, especially because line 2 talks about getting a wife.

Ode M42 contains images of hexagram 28:

How lovely is the retiring girl!
She was to await me at a corner of the wall.
Loving and not seeing her,
I scratch my head, and am in perplexity.

How handsome is the retiring girl!
She presented to me a red tube.
Bright is the red tube; --
I delight in the beauty of the girl.

From the pasture lands she gave a shoet of the white grass,
Truly elegant and rare.
It is not you, O grass, that are elegant; --
You are the gift of an elegant girl.

Harmen.

 

[lindsay]

Another interpretation of jie4 yong4 bai2 mao2 which emphasizes the meaning of yong4 is "spreading white cogon grasses as a (offering) mat." This is Jack Balkin's translation based on Wilhelm, but others follow the same tack. We are not necessarily talking about woven grass mats here, but using layered grass for a mat. Needless to say, this has a profound impact on one's interpretation of the line.

Actually I think Harmon is on the right track. Note the description of white grass as "truly elegant and rare" - now that's very interesting (to me, at least). Thank you, Harmon. You always teach me something.

 

[ewald]

Harmen - But how can these sprouts in line 2 of the Mawangdui at the same time be from a withered willow and from the baimao grass?

 

[hmesker]

It depends how you read line 2. You can also read 'withered willow, new sprouts of baimao grass'. 'Sheng' does not necessarily have to be a verb, it can also mean 'new', 'fresh' (Hanyu da Zidian 4.2576).

'Yang' in line 2, normally translated as 'willow' or 'poplar tree' can also refer to a kind of thistle, known by other names as 'zhu' (HYDZD 5.3187), or as 'daji' (Hanyu Da Cidian 2.1393a), which, as far as I can find out, is known for its large flowers. This would also make sense in line 5.

The MWD text uses a different character for 'ku' which you translate as 'withered'. The MWD text adds the 'grass' component, giving a character which is the name of a thorny tree which was used for making arrows and utensils (HYDZD 2.1225 defines it as a 'tree', but I think it is some sort of bush).

All in all, my point is that in the MWD text line 2 has more to do with grass and other plants than the received text shows. This might be significant because line 1 also talks about some sort of grass. Of course it is possible to put it all down to phonetic loans and thereby discard the meaning of the MWD characters, but these meanings can also provide hints for interesting subtleties we do not see in the received text.

Harmen.

 

[bruce]

Whatever white grass is, it seems a thing of simple life giving beauty. There is a type of white grass or clover that grows here. It?s not something I think to take pictures of, but it adorns a cactus flower like a cradle an infant.

 

[bradford_h]

Mao grass is a sedge grass used mainly for thatching roofs. Bleached (or when) white it was woven into offering mats.
Not everyone I've shared this with agrees with me, but I personally think that using a roofinng material here is a subtle reminder that in the hexagram as a whole, the roof is about to come down. Fussing around with mats on the floor is misplaced caution - here one wants a "heads up" kind of precaution.

 

[lindsay]

Roll your own! ... Mats, that is. Here's how, thanks to the U.S. Govt.