Clarity,
Office 17622,
PO Box 6945,
London.
W1A 6US
United Kingdom
Phone/ Voicemail:
+44 (0)20 3287 3053 (UK)
+1 (561) 459-4758 (US).
63.
After The Lease is Signed (You Get What You Negotiate)!
THE JUDGEMENT
Finally, we've completed the negotiations and it's move in day!
Hmm... the paperwork all in order, but what about the actual house? It looked good at first but now I'm noticing a few things...
THE IMAGE
I think I better make a list of the condition of this place. I don't want to get blamed later for something I didn't do.
63.1 Oops wait a minute, is this really what we bargained for? What are we getting ourselves into?
63.2 Excuse me but the veil has been lifted and I see this place is in no shape for living in. Is the landlord going to fix it? More negotiations? Not necessary? Just be patient for a few days? Wonderful.
63.3 Okay, it's fixed but now we have to maintain it?
63.4 Seems like something's always needing moping up.
63.5 But we kinda like a place we can fix ourselves. Better than some cold motel.
63.6 Okay, we really did get what we bargained for and it worked out well but now we have to plan and negotiate for what's next...
Rosada
63.5
The neighbor in the east who slaughters an ox
Does not attain as much real happiness
As the neighbor in the west
With his small offering.
/QUOTE]
63.5 - How are we going to complete this trip? In our stretch limo or on our push bike? Feeling the wind in our hair and on our face could be kinda fun.
Kan ren kan xin, ting hua ting yin.
look-at / people / look-at / heart / listen-to / speech / listen-to / sound
When you look at people, you should look at their heart (i.e. true nature); when you listen to people talk, you should listen to their sound (i.e. their implied meaning).’
From:
The Chinese Heart in a Cognitive Perspective. Culture, Body, and Language
by Ning Yu. Mouton de Gruyter, Berlin - New York.
page 408.
musings...
I always get 63 and 64 confused and now I realize it's because both talk about the little fox getting his tail wet.
63 seems to me to describe the ending of an adventure while 64 seems to be a review of the whole experience. Like after it's been completed there is the moment - 63.6 - when one should look back and celebrate, gather round the campfire with friends and tell The Story of The Fox Who Almost Drowned. There is the caution that one should not spend too much time admiring the past, yet the warning only says "danger," not "don't do it."
rosada
Hi Tuck:... The text: The eastern neighbor slaughters an ox, (but it is) not better than the western neighbor having a simple sacrificial ceremony, by which one will be really blessed with good fortune (or solidity or reality is the one that will benefit good fortune.
... 實 (shi2) 受其福; 實 (shi2) signifies solid, real, honest, true etc ... in the I Ching, solidity is regarded as Yang (i.e. masculinity)... 實受 (shou4: to be blessed) 其福 (fu2: good fortune) can be understood: the masculine, or the one who is pragmatic, or the one who acts according to the true demand …will be really blessed with good fortune.
... Ji Ji: having already crossed the river, while the masculine (i.e. solid) line of the trigram Qian is lifted to the position 5, the king’s position, and reaches the climax of the hexagram Ji Ji, but ... The one at the climax is doomed to decline, like auspiciousness at the beginning but disorder at the end ...
Usually the cattle are the sacrifice used for a splendid ceremony and the pig for a simple one; however, whether or not the ceremony is devout doesn’t depend on the sacrifice but on the sincerity & trust (i.e. belief in) of the worshiper, and to worship with sincerity & trust is that which will bring about good fortune...
The trigram Kan also signifies sincerity & trust (aka 有孚 you3 fu2) since it is constituted by a masculine line in the middle of two feminine lines, like a solid heart...
I believe yue 禴 is a key character ... Yue is the name of a sacrifice which was used mostly in summer, but also in spring. The Zhouli 周禮 says: ... "Use the ci 祠 sacrifice to serve the ancestors in spring. Use the yue 禴 sacrifice to serve the ancestors in the summer. Use the chang 嘗 sacrifice to serve the ancestors in autumn. Use the zheng 烝 sacrifice to serve the ancestors in the winter"...
The nature of the yue sacrifice is found in the component 龠. The oracle bone graph is the picture of a music instrument made from bamboo ... The 甲骨文字典 says yue is the name of a sacrifice in which music was used, in later ages it was more and more written as 禴 (p. 199). Music was associated with joy and spring.
But 龠 was not only a music instrument, it was also a unit for measure ... It is interesting to notice that the things which are used during sacrifices, like a ladle and a flute, are also used as containers for measurement, and that these containers are related to each other. It seems as if in the sheng sacrifice the 'measures', fixing the units, is important.
Harmen Mesker at: http://i-tjingcentrum.nl/serendipity/categories/3-Character-analysis
Hi, Tuck:...
Indeed there is no any back-up material to prove which sacrifice is the best. My paraphrase mainly comes from the text: slaughtering an ox in relation to a simple sacrificial ceremony ...
... It is alleged that ZhouLi was enacted by Zhou Gong Dan (approx. 1100 B.C. / the son of Zhou Wen Wang / after Zhou was established, Zhou Gong Dan consulted with Shang’s holdovers to build Zhou’s system); however according to the textual research, most likely it was accomplished later in the years of the Warring States (403-221 B.C.)...
Even nowadays, except for the national and conventional ceremony like commemorating Confucius’s birthday, only the pig (most of times) and the goat (sometimes) are used as the sacrifice in all civilian ceremony.
... 禴 (yue4) is the ceremony of spring in the dynasties of Xia and Shang, but the ceremony of summer in the Zhou dynasty; it is regarded as a simple sacrificial ceremony, since the seed is just sown in spring time and it is still far from harvest time ...
Hi, Tuck:.. Zhou Yi was named by the later generation for distinguishing it from the other two, i.e. Lian Shan Yi 連山易 and Gui Cang Yi 歸藏易 (It is alleged that both had been out of print, but I doubt since no one has ever seen any piece of them)...
... from the perspective in studying the I Ching I believe, basically there is no big difference in human nature between the western and the eastern world; the Bible and the I Ching are similar in respect of unveiling good and evil, and providing people with conduct codes...
..., Chinese (or the I Ching) more focus on the present life, i.e. to pursue good fortune and avoid misfortune, as well as self-interest..
Hi, Tuck:Hi ! Charly,
I haven’t heard about the Cui Cang of WangJiaTai before. Thank you very much for this information. I will make a study.
Regards
Tuck
As a matter of fact, the unearthing of the Guicang copied on the bamboo slips of Wangjiatai, Jiangling County, Hubei Province 湖北江陵王家台 can provide us with more convincing evidence on Zhou people's simultaneous using of the three kinds of Yi .
In this bamboo slips manuscript, there is a part of broken slips concerning to the divinations of the Yi , different from the received Zhouyi . Through comparative studies, scholars found most of the bamboo slips manuscript could be seen in the first three parts of the Guicang 归藏 compiled by Yan Kejun 严可均 (1762-1843). This can testify that this manuscript most probably was the Guicang , still being used in the Zhou dynasty.
From: Three Kinds of Yi and the Transmission of the Zhouyi in the Pre-Qin Period
This paper was originally published in Chinese in Zhouyi Yanjiu 《周易研究》 (Studies of Zhouyi) , no. 5 (2006): pp. 47-54.
At: http://zhouyi.sdu.edu.cn/english0/newsxitong/selectedPapers/2008411190938.asp
Liao Qun
The text of the “Da zhuang” hexagram, number 53 in the Wangjiatai Guicang, is reproduced as follows:
26 ... 661111 “Da zhuang” says: In antiquity, Feng Long divined about the coming clouds and rain, then had the stalks counted by Qun Jing. Qun Jing divined it, saying: “Auspicious.” Clouds of the great mountains descend. ...
Although the hexagram name and hexagram symbol are identical with its counterpart in the Zhouyi, the guaci, or hexagram statement, that follows bears no resemblance at all. In fact, it is much more reminiscent of the text of a bone-cracking ceremony...
From:
Stephen l. Field
Who Told the Fortunes?
The Speaker in Early Chinese Divination Records
At: http://www.ihp.sinica.edu.tw/~asiamajor/pdf/2000b/ch 1 PRESS.pdf
The Structure and Schools of the Guicang
Xing Wen, Peking University
The Guicang, which might be translated as "The Book of Concealment," was attributed as a divinatory classic of the Shang Dynasty in early China, and thus supposedly pre-dated the better known Zhouyi or Yijing (The Book of Changes). However, the scattered citations of the Guicang in received tradition which were edited as "reconstituted redactions" (jiben), have been considered forgeries for centuries. This misunderstanding ended with the discovery of bamboo slip versions of the Guicang from a Qin tomb in 1993.
http://www.aasianst.org/absts/2002abst/China/sessions.htm
Session 57: Bone, Bronze, and Bamboo: Divination and the New/Old Guicang Manual
Organizer and Chair: Constance A. Cook, Lehigh University
Discussant: Sarah Allan, Dartmouth College
The discovery in 1993 of a new divination manual in a Qin period tomb near the old capital of Chu in Jiangling, Hubei, has stimulated new research in ancient Chinese divination—a field once dominated by studies of Shang period oracle bones and the Yijing (accepted by many to be of an early Zhou date). This new manual (consisting of 394 bamboo strips and fragments representing two copies), is now identified as the Guicang mentioned in later texts. Like the earliest layer of the Yijing, it consists of hexagrams, the names of the 53 different hexagrams, and an omen text. Unlike the transmitted version of the Yijing, the hexagrams are represented by an ancient numbering system found also on earlier bone, bronze, and bamboo texts. Even more startling, the mythological and historical events used as omens in the text are completely different from those in the Yijing. Questions of dating, textual transmission, method, use, and interpretation will be examined in this panel.
The Structure and Schools of the Guicang
Xing Wen, Peking University
The Guicang, which might be translated as "The Book of Concealment," was attributed as a divinatory classic of the Shang Dynasty in early China, and thus supposedly pre-dated the better known Zhouyi or Yijing (The Book of Changes). However, the scattered citations of the Guicang in received tradition which were edited as "reconstituted redactions" (jiben), have been considered forgeries for centuries. This misunderstanding ended with the discovery of bamboo slip versions of the Guicang from a Qin tomb in 1993.
In this paper, I will re-examine and clarify some basic textual issues of the Guicang using both the excavated materials and received texts. I will argue that the reconstituted redactions misrepresented the true textual structure of the classic. I will analyze connections between different schools of the Guicang and the extant Guicang chapter divisions and hexagram names. Besides exploring textual characteristics of early Chinese divinatory classics, I will discuss the reconstruction of a critical edition of the Guicang and how best to read the text.
Some Observations on Early Milfoil Divination
Stephen Lee Field, Trinity University
My analysis will begin with a look at a bone inscription dating from the late Shang or early Zhou, unearthed at the Zhou homeland of Qishan. It contains a six-digit numerical string, followed by a sentence of six Chinese characters. Apparently the record of a milfoil divination, the sentence is most likely either the diviner’s counsel based on the number cast by milfoil, or an omen text cited by the diviner which corresponds to that particular number. In order to further anchor this text in the early development of milfoil divination, I will compare it to fragments of the Guicang found in the Qin tomb at Wangjiatai. Then I will look closely at a bone-cracking ritual recorded in the Zuozhuan. Finally, I will compare all of the above records with the standard text format of the Zhouyi.
From Bone to Bamboo: Sacrificial Vessels and the Divination Event
Constance A. Cook, Lehigh University
This paper will examine the role of Zhou religion in transferring the divination record from bone to bamboo. Numerical hexagrams link the recording of divination events on Shang and Zhou oracle bones, Western Zhou bronze vessels, and Warring States period bamboo texts—yet the texts themselves reflect the concerns of radically changed societies. Although attention will be focused on the relationship of the divination event to the manufacture and use of Zhou sacrificial vessels—particularly those with inscriptions—inferences about the nature of the event itself will be drawn from the earlier and later divination texts. Finally, the paper will comment on the formation of the Guicang manual.
Dicing and Divination in Early China
Mark Edward Lewis, Cambridge University
One striking feature of the Wangjiatai tomb in which the Guicang was discovered was the placing inside the coffin of implements including a diviner’s board, sixty bamboo counters, and twenty-three dice. While there is no proof that these dice were used in association with the text, the fact that they were six-sided and privileged the numbers "one" and "six" suggests a link with the numerical hexagrams found in the Guicang and other recently discovered hexagram texts. This linking of dice with the hexagrams suggests several interesting arguments regarding divination in early China.
First, the possibility that dice were used to generate hexagrams, along with the construction of hexagrams as sets of numbers, indicates the importance of numbers in the interpretation of hexagrams and links them to other types of divination based on the manipulation of numerical series or sets.
Second, the link of dice to hexagrams hints at an association with the game liubo, which also used dice and sometimes was a means of divination. Links between liubo and hexagrams are suggested in Han depictions of the game, and the "Bo Divination Chart" discovered at Yinwan strengthens this link.
Finally, dice have been employed for divination in many cultures, including Tibet and ancient Greece. The Greek case is particularly suggestive, as indicated in the myths of Palamedes who was variously the inventor of dice, divination, and writing. The discoveries at Wangjiatai suggest that these domains also overlapped in ancient China.
From: http://www.aasianst.org/absts/2002abst/China/sessions.htm
Hi, Frank:... I still consider tomb research grave robbing, but this is a trove of golden treasure that is certainly worthy no matter how it was obtained!:bows:
... the text about a single tomb(may that ancestor rest in peace despite his bones not) containing both divination hexagrams and dice! Wowie Zowie.
Do they have any information from the divination text how to cast the hexagram oracle with Dice?
...
Hi, Frank:
I always believed in a connection between dice an divination in the changes, I have speculated about the possibility of getting a primary hexagram by casting an 8-sided dice (a Big Dice) an getting a changing line with a 6-sided dice (lLittle Dice) and that this connected with the Big Image (big ivory, big elephant, why not Big Dice?) for each hex. and Little Image (Little dice) for each line.
Yours,
Charly
Frank:...
Do you have any idea what date in our calendar this "Early China" might be? I saw nothing in the link to the 2002 AAS meeting giving is this 1200 BCE or 3000 BCE.
...
I worked with Jim Gross (creator of the 3 12-sided dice Oracle Astrodice) who developed 8-sided dice for his Chinese Fortune Dice project. They looked terrible ...
Clarity,
Office 17622,
PO Box 6945,
London.
W1A 6US
United Kingdom
Phone/ Voicemail:
+44 (0)20 3287 3053 (UK)
+1 (561) 459-4758 (US).