Clarity,
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London.
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+1 (561) 459-4758 (US).
To me most of 73 pictographs look like moons?And it's noticeable, there, that although the many different interpretations - pots, lizards, sun and moon - appear in the bronze and seal characters, the oracle bone characters, the oldest ones, are remarkably consistent. All 73 in his database look something like the simple sunbeam-yi, with no pot.
I know LiSe must have found an oracle-bone pot-version. But looking at that great long row of sun-like Yis makes me think that maybe when the scribes were scratching away on oracle bones about sun rituals and sun changes, they had the sun in mind. Perhaps light flows like water.
Thoughts? Comments? Better sources?
An explanation could be found in this James Legge translation of Shuo Kua:I would love to know exactly when the pots came in, though. Is there any chance that they, like the lizards or the 'sun plus moon' version, were something read into the character later on? If there are pot-Yis on oracle bones, it looks like they're probably in a minority. So if it was originally a pot, is there a chance that way back in Shang times, people were already seeing it as a kind of visual pun, with sunbeams standing in for flowing water?
And it's noticeable, there, that although the many different interpretations - pots, lizards, sun and moon - appear in the bronze and seal characters, the oracle bone characters, the oldest ones, are remarkably consistent. All 73 in his database look something like the simple sunbeam-yi, with no pot.
Your photos of the lizards simply wonderful Bruce. I don't get the connection to hex. 26?
Lizards are interesting creatures to watch; you never really fathom what's going on in their heads.
Chameleon makes a lot of sense. What about the pots/pitcher?
I see the image of a pitcher pouring wine/beer into a glass as a perfect image of Yi. The meaning of exchange flows easily from there. I could also imagine the original meaning being something like "outcome", in the modern sense of an end result, as well as the meaning of pouring out and receiving. This also goes along with the idea of the Creative and Receptive... Giving and receiving. So I would translate Yi Jing as "The Book of Giving and Receiving" or "The Book of Outcomes".
As a non scholar all this seems pretty haphazard to me - some say an image is of an eye some say a pot, some say sunbeam - whenever someone says what it is I just think well as far as I'm concerned it could be anything - and whatever meaning you go for you're bound to see all kinds of significance there. For preference give me sun/moon symbols anyday over pots - but to copy a well known phrase 'what do I know '
The oracle bone with this scratched on it will be dug up shortly.
Clarity,
Office 17622,
PO Box 6945,
London.
W1A 6US
United Kingdom
Phone/ Voicemail:
+44 (0)20 3287 3053 (UK)
+1 (561) 459-4758 (US).