...life can be translucent

Menu

An etymology of the ideogram Kun.47

confucius

visitor
Joined
Jul 12, 2006
Messages
199
Reaction score
0
Etymology of the ideogram Kun.47






The ideogram illustrating the idea of Kun.47 comprises one figure inside another. Outside, the character for confinement, representation of a sealed frontier. For example, if one places the character Man within this ideogram, we get the character prison. On the other hand, this frontier is what allows the difference between a country and a no mans land, between a sedentary kingdom and an uncertain zone where nomads dwell. When, from this ideogram country we remove this frontier we get the character meaning an undetermined eventuality (it is features 14 times in the context of the Yi Jing termed as…If By Chance…).

The second element, the one within, is the character tree. This character is very rare in the canonical text (it is found only twice: at the entry level here to designate stump and at the Minister level of Jian.53 expressing the rafter of the roof). Its canonical expression represents, symmetrically, both ends of the trunk, above ground level and below to the roots. The thing is that the roots of a tree are not visible. If they are included here it is because, more than being a tree in its objective reality, what is written by this ideogram is its abstract rendition: the idea of the functioning that the image of a tree helps to imagine (analogically, a comparative approach is found in the elephant in the ideogram Yu.16).

This mechanism is one which, during spring, rises in the form of sap (from the roots until the branches), the energy accumulated during winter in the depth of the soil. This will have the buds blossom and begin thereof a new cycle. This may be the reason why this ideogram was chosen to designate the quality of the vital energy of spring. It is only natural to understand the tree as a symbol of the vital flow, of everything that grows.

Henceforth, in the name of this ideogram, this impetus, promoting exteriorization and communication, is hindered, closed-in, concealed within a sealed frontier, blocked by a fence that keeps it from expanding. This censorship creates a stifling sensation, a tiring situation of non communication.

This symbolic meaning is furthermore reinforced by its comparison with the character Jing.48 (the Well), the reverse hexagram of Kun.47. In Jing.48, the Limit, though present still, is simply evoked, which emphasizes the idea of filtering, of porousness and of communication without interference, as is characterized by the Well.


Confucius
 

dobro p

visitor
Joined
May 19, 1972
Messages
3,223
Reaction score
205
"This censorship creates a stifling sensation, a tiring situation of non communication."

What do you see as the difference between this and the non-communication in Hex 12?
 

Clarity,
Office 17622,
PO Box 6945,
London.
W1A 6US
United Kingdom

Phone/ Voicemail:
+44 (0)20 3287 3053 (UK)
+1 (561) 459-4758 (US).

Top