43.2 - "no worry" or "no mercy?"

[ewald]

The last two Chinese characters of 43.2 (Wu4 Xu4) are by any translator I'm aware of translated as something like "do not worry." But, the battling goes on at evening and night, which to me actually does seem reason to worry.

Muller gives these translations for Xu4 [username: 'guest', password empty]:
# Be anxious, worried, upset.
# Take pity on; sympathize with.
# Have mercy on; show kindness to.
# Enliven, make prosperous.

This Chinese Etymology page has:
related to the heart [_][_] - sympathy
and
to relieve / to help / to sympathize / to be considerate / alternate [_]

All that battling seems quite merciless to me, so I removed the usual comma before the last two characters, and translate 43.2 as:

<BLOCKQUOTE>A cry of alarm.
At evening and night there is battling without mercy.</BLOCKQUOTE>

Any thoughts?


Ewald

 

[bradford_h]

The battling is all in his mind.
Not to worry.

Do not worry or do not be concerned
is the correct translation

 

[ewald]

Bradford - Thanks for your perspective. I see you take the character I translated as 'evening' (Mu4) to mean 'nobody' (Mo4), and have an expression 'Nobody's night', meaning 'unreal' or something. Then translating Xu4 with 'worry' makes the most sense.

Why 'nobody' (Mo4) and not 'evening' (Mu4)?


Ewald

 

[bradford_h]

Hi Ewald-
I posted that this morning on the way out the door.
Sorry it was so short.
Mo4 is used to mean Nobody or None throughout the Yi
(22.3x, 22.2, 42.6, 53.5, 56.6x as well as 43.2)
That ain't foolproof, but it suggested which meaning to look for first.
Same can be said for Worry. That's what it means throughout the Yi too.

Also I could have mentioned:
the most frequent mistake folks make with the lines is forgetting that they describe a subset of the meanings of the Gua as a whole.
In this case, Gua 43 can be understood as a personal obsession which we cannot put behind us until we can get our "unspeakable thing" truthfully named and back into proper perspective. Until then we are not rational beings.
The subject of 43.2 may even be justified in fearing an attack, but even here his worry is self-defeating - all of his cries of alarm and his rattling swords are preventing him from listening for his enemy's approach, and it's also giving his position away.

 

[bradford_h]

oops-
22.2 above should be 33.2, nobody can loosen it.

 

[ewald]

Thanks Bradford, that's quite convincing.

Ewald