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confucius
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Etymology of the ideogram Kui.45
The ideogram used to designate the forty-fifth hexagram is seldom seen outside the Yi Jing. It is composed of two superimposed groups. On top, the general symbol for Plants, here used for its figurative sense of Multitude evoked by the numerous Plants in the Field (symbol of Multiplicity), an image very familiar to the Chinese culture. Mao would use it in a formula to demonstrate the idea that an isolated revolutionary event can become a generalized brazen, as coined in (a spark can burn a whole field).
At the bottom, one of the two classic characters designating Soldier. It is not the ideogram of a Hand holding an Axe, the armed man who, in the context of the Yi Jing, can be seen as a Vandal or a Bandit, but rather the regular Military Man of China. He is characterized not by the weapon he uses but by the uniform he wears. Originally, the ideogram represented the Panelled Robe attached in the front like the one worn by the clay soldiers guarding the tomb of the first emperor in Xi An.
This differentiation can be witnessed in Chinese chess – a projection of the major military problem of the Chinese: the war against nomad barbarians – in which the pawns of one camp are designated Soldier and the other Armed Men. (Chinese chess pieces all have the same shape, like the ones used for checkers. They are differentiated solely by the ideogram written on their top surface).
The association of the ideograms Plants, and Soldiers, forms an ideogram which combines the idea of Multitude and Alarm. The fact is, even when regular, the soldier has never been positively accepted by the Chinese culture. As it is also demonstrated in Shi.7 (the Army), the hexagram is constituted of five Yin lines. The army, essentially defensive, must be present but unnoticeable. When the presence of soldiers becomes noticeable in the streets and they become as numerous as the Plants in the Fields, it is not a good sign, but rather that a situation is deteriorating and, therefore, unpredictable.
A great reunion can be an asset, but it can also tilt at a certain level. We find in the hexagram this connotation of potential danger which can be understood with the modern idea of Critical Mass.
Confucius
The ideogram used to designate the forty-fifth hexagram is seldom seen outside the Yi Jing. It is composed of two superimposed groups. On top, the general symbol for Plants, here used for its figurative sense of Multitude evoked by the numerous Plants in the Field (symbol of Multiplicity), an image very familiar to the Chinese culture. Mao would use it in a formula to demonstrate the idea that an isolated revolutionary event can become a generalized brazen, as coined in (a spark can burn a whole field).
At the bottom, one of the two classic characters designating Soldier. It is not the ideogram of a Hand holding an Axe, the armed man who, in the context of the Yi Jing, can be seen as a Vandal or a Bandit, but rather the regular Military Man of China. He is characterized not by the weapon he uses but by the uniform he wears. Originally, the ideogram represented the Panelled Robe attached in the front like the one worn by the clay soldiers guarding the tomb of the first emperor in Xi An.
This differentiation can be witnessed in Chinese chess – a projection of the major military problem of the Chinese: the war against nomad barbarians – in which the pawns of one camp are designated Soldier and the other Armed Men. (Chinese chess pieces all have the same shape, like the ones used for checkers. They are differentiated solely by the ideogram written on their top surface).
The association of the ideograms Plants, and Soldiers, forms an ideogram which combines the idea of Multitude and Alarm. The fact is, even when regular, the soldier has never been positively accepted by the Chinese culture. As it is also demonstrated in Shi.7 (the Army), the hexagram is constituted of five Yin lines. The army, essentially defensive, must be present but unnoticeable. When the presence of soldiers becomes noticeable in the streets and they become as numerous as the Plants in the Fields, it is not a good sign, but rather that a situation is deteriorating and, therefore, unpredictable.
A great reunion can be an asset, but it can also tilt at a certain level. We find in the hexagram this connotation of potential danger which can be understood with the modern idea of Critical Mass.
Confucius