another take on 34.5

[rodaki]

hello all

back when a thread on 56 was going strong I had received 34.5 answering my question of feeling a wave of deep, quiet sadness coming over and, well, the answer stumped me . . could not figure it out at all (well, that's a new one!)

anyways, since associations (45?) work in their own unique manner, it is only recently that that reading became clearer to me . . . (thnx to Bruce, LiSe and Carin for this )

sooo . . if I got this right (and please correct me if I'm missing sth -my notes are a bit of a mess right now), 34's ideogram is made out of the elements of wood (solidity), warrior (which I identify with the goat mentioned in the lines, or else, drive) and big man (guiding principle)
Seen thus, the lines seem to describe different ways of putting those three together. In line 3 for example, the drive blindly pushes forth but the guiding principle uses wood to build a net (a fence) to keep the drive in control. In line 4 a more harmonious combination is achieved: the drive is gentler and now wood is used to check it in a subtler manner: it becomes the axle of a cart -thus principle, solidity and drive work together

so how about line 5? here the drive goes missing . . wood is left standing. The time is right for this, there should be no feelings of remorse, regret or uneasiness here. Still, a loss is a loss is a loss . . is this wood a tree? how far do its roots go? can they find an underground stream to be nourished? And not only that, but the resolution of 34.5 is of the 43.5 kind: the amaranth land. Now that the goat is gone, these weeds -which were its delicacy treat- start popping all around again. Wood has to be true to is solidity: keep it still, straight and centered.

Not necessarily the happiest place but no remorse over it, it was what the time asked for.

:bows:
rodaki

 

[meng]

Hi Dora,

I'm not sure where your wood image comes from..

34's ideogram is made out of the elements of wood (solidity), warrior (which I identify with the goat mentioned in the lines, or else, drive) and big man (guiding principle)

I can see the warrior in thunder and heaven as big man, but where is wood?

 

[rodaki]

hi Bruce,

I got this from LiSe's 34, where she talks of

The second, zhuàng (old way of writing it: 4), is composed of 'left half of a tree' (bàn, 2), a plank, bed, stiff, strong. . . . If the left tree-half is written reversed then it is the right tree-half piàn, and it means a slice of wood.

ok, maybe it's a bit of a stretch breaking up things like that to make sth out of them? but it did make a lot of sense and it freed that poor goat from Wilhelm's badmouthing


ah, yes, not sure how that would translate in terms of trigrams . . but line 5 does change thunder to lake which agreed with my experience of losing momentum and gaining stillness . .

 

[rodaki]

ok, one more thought about wood . .
34.5 changes into 43 which is also 34's nuclear hex. LiSe calls 43 'The Speaking Staff' and in the etymology threads (http://www.onlineclarity.co.uk/friends/showthread.php?t=3216) we read:

The ideogram used to illustrate Guai.43 is seldom used outside the context of the Yi Jing. It originally represented a Hand Holding a Wooden Lath upon which were carved small grooves. These grooves were witnesses to a contract agreement between two parties

but that really feels a stretch . . (mumble, mumble)

 

[meng]

Ah, the plank-ness of the goat (horns). Sure, can see that connection.

but it did make a lot of sense and it freed that poor goat from Wilhelm's badmouthing

Amen to that.