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Etymology of the ideograms Da You.14
The first ideogram used to illustrate the fourteenth hexagram is one on the most common and one of the simplest. It suggests a human being standing on his two feet with his arms spread apart to express the universal symbol for Great, Large, Big…
Being, from the onset, the representation of a thing (pictogram) instead of the representation of an idea has given this ideogram great abstraction values. It has the properties for depicting the Heavens, as the roof of life on Earth, as well as the spiritual Heaven. By adding a horizontal stroke on top of the ideogram Da, it becomes the highest possible limit.
This ideographic filiation will serve as the basis for the idea of Largesse, Generosity, concerning the notion of Yang and its association with Heaven. In the context of the Yi Jing, considering the ideogram Da (great) as the primitive denomination of the idea of Yang is approved by its being depicted four times in that scope: Da You.14 (Great Accomplishment), Da Xu.26 ( Taming by the Great), Da Guo.28 (Great Excess) and Da Chuang (Great Strength).
The second ideogram used in combination to express the idea of Da You.14 is one of the most commonly used verb in Chinese (as is the case with most languages). Still, its etymological origin is not clearly confirmed. Its twofold structure includes the ideogram depicting the Hand above that of the character representing either Meat, or the Moon.
It takes quite a degree of contortion to use either of these two possibilities to explain how, by associating them with the hand, you end-up understanding the idea of the Existence of Something, of Belonging, Property in general…the verb To Have.
On the other hand, the graphic proximity of this symbol with that of the canonical shape of the character used to describe the Shoulder Blade used during divination creates richer perspectives. The action (of the hand) of applying the red-hot stylet on the divination pieces was not understood as creating cracks but, rather, as rendering them visible. The very act of divination rendered accessible, real or rather read-able, the configuration of a specific moment which was pre-existent to its manifestation.
The same thought-process is applied to the needles of acupuncture, which helps to explain how the meridians, energy highways, can have an effect that is real without having a physical reality: it is the application of the needle that makes it manifest, makes it exist.
Therefore, the ideogram means much more than the possession of goods, which is the most accepted interpretation. It does not describe having but rather the capacity of having, of becoming; the potential of materializing what is latent, of what is not yet manifested.
The first ideogram used to illustrate the fourteenth hexagram is one on the most common and one of the simplest. It suggests a human being standing on his two feet with his arms spread apart to express the universal symbol for Great, Large, Big…
Being, from the onset, the representation of a thing (pictogram) instead of the representation of an idea has given this ideogram great abstraction values. It has the properties for depicting the Heavens, as the roof of life on Earth, as well as the spiritual Heaven. By adding a horizontal stroke on top of the ideogram Da, it becomes the highest possible limit.
This ideographic filiation will serve as the basis for the idea of Largesse, Generosity, concerning the notion of Yang and its association with Heaven. In the context of the Yi Jing, considering the ideogram Da (great) as the primitive denomination of the idea of Yang is approved by its being depicted four times in that scope: Da You.14 (Great Accomplishment), Da Xu.26 ( Taming by the Great), Da Guo.28 (Great Excess) and Da Chuang (Great Strength).
The second ideogram used in combination to express the idea of Da You.14 is one of the most commonly used verb in Chinese (as is the case with most languages). Still, its etymological origin is not clearly confirmed. Its twofold structure includes the ideogram depicting the Hand above that of the character representing either Meat, or the Moon.
It takes quite a degree of contortion to use either of these two possibilities to explain how, by associating them with the hand, you end-up understanding the idea of the Existence of Something, of Belonging, Property in general…the verb To Have.
On the other hand, the graphic proximity of this symbol with that of the canonical shape of the character used to describe the Shoulder Blade used during divination creates richer perspectives. The action (of the hand) of applying the red-hot stylet on the divination pieces was not understood as creating cracks but, rather, as rendering them visible. The very act of divination rendered accessible, real or rather read-able, the configuration of a specific moment which was pre-existent to its manifestation.
The same thought-process is applied to the needles of acupuncture, which helps to explain how the meridians, energy highways, can have an effect that is real without having a physical reality: it is the application of the needle that makes it manifest, makes it exist.
Therefore, the ideogram means much more than the possession of goods, which is the most accepted interpretation. It does not describe having but rather the capacity of having, of becoming; the potential of materializing what is latent, of what is not yet manifested.