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An etymology of Tong Ren.13

confucius

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Etymology of the ideograms Tong Ren.13






The first of the two ideograms used to express Tong Ren.13 suggests a Chinese bowl with its cover. Below that cover, although the actual meaning of the ideogram is mouth, it represents the bowl itself. The horizontal stroke resting on top of the figure is the idea of a cover.

The important detail here is the respective sizes of the characters: the cover has a diameter much superior in size compared to the bowl. If the combination of these two symbols means together, union, it is because of this characteristic of the Chinese bowl: it unites two objects that are different in shape and size but similar by analogy (as they are both used for food).

Similar by usage, different in shape, these two elements constitute together a coherent unit. From there comes the central idea of the hexagram: to unite what is not similar, to harmonize differences. An analogy of this harmony is found in the first line of Dui.58.



The second part of the ideogram describing Tong Ren.13 is the general term used for the idea describing humans. To express this idea the Chinese have chosen the characteristic that differentiates humans from other animals: they stand on their hind legs. However, this definition of human is relatively recent. The canonical form of this ideogram depicted a person in an attitude of ritual oration. That etymology leads one to suppose that, before being anthropological, the idea the Chinese had about man was spiritual.

In accord with the many: of the sixty-four situations depicted in the context of the Yi Jing, only two are name in reference to the human being: Tong Ren.13 (accord with the many) and Jia Ren.37 (clansmen), each proposing a particular pole of human relationship.

Kinship and friendship have always been the cornerstones of the social structure. Kinship is a knit stretched to the furthest possible vertical limits in time and friendship is born from a multitude of fortunate horizontal meetings.

In one case or the other, it is the first of the two characters of their name that dictates its specificity. Here, in Tong (agreeing), the accent underlines the horizontal traits in common within the members of a same generation. In Jia Ren.37, the clan, the accent underlines the vertical traits between different generations within the family.


Confucius
 
L

lightofreason

Guest
The universal perspective is on expansive blending (heaven in top = singlemindedness) operating in a context of expansive blending( fire in bottom = guidance)

The trigrams thus read "with/from guidance comes singlemindedness". When fire is in top position it covers guidance doubled and so strong direction setting, an ideology etc. When we map-in emotions so fire reflects issues of acceptance (as water is more focused on issues of rejection)

The infrastructure is described by analogy to:

101111
100001
--------
001110 = 31 wooing, (cooperative form of enticement) - and so the link with 'likemindedness' etc. of 13.

If we review the octet of fire-based hexagrams, 13 opposes 36 - the later covering no likeminded being around, the 13 covers the 'expression' of that likemindedness, within the boundary we are all accepting.

Chris.
 

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