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IrfanK
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- Dec 15, 2011
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I'm reading this for the second time, after rushing through it some time last year. The core idea is that Hexagram 55 refers to King Wen in the city of Feng, interrupting his prescribed period of mourning for his father to accept the mandate of heaven and replace the Shang ruler. The sign that King Wen has received the mandate is the solar eclipse. Marshall uses this idea to put an exact date on the fall of the Shang dynasty, by working out when the solar eclipse must have occurred.
ABUNDANCE has success.
The king attains abundance.
Be not sad.
Be like the sun at midday.
Pretty clear reference to the solar eclipse in Line 2 (Wilhelm)
The curtain is of such fullness
That the polestars can be seen at noon.
I think Marshall is saying that "Be not sad" is the oracle saying that he is not obliged to wait for the three year mourning period to end before taking on the Shang. Apparently, not waiting was breaking a major taboo, which might explain:
Through going one meets with mistrust and hate.
Something about two nobles starving themselves to death in protest at this outrageous behavior.
Karcher was obviously really taken by this whole idea and incorporated it into his translation of the Judgement.
Abounding. He receives the Mandate.
Make an offering and you will succeed.
The King sacrifices at the Earth Altar: “No mourning!”
He makes the sacrifice at noon and sets the armies marching.
Apart from the core idea, it gives fantastic descriptions of the decadence of the Shang dynasty in its final years.
Marshall was obviously really pissed off at his publishers for publishing an ebook version with lots of errors in it, which he says they didn't fix, despite his protests. So he makes free copies of the corrected version available on his own website, in epub or pdf format. Considering Amazon's price is north of $30 for the same thing (except uncorrected!), that's a great bargain.
https://www.biroco.com/yijing/mandate/index.htm
ABUNDANCE has success.
The king attains abundance.
Be not sad.
Be like the sun at midday.
Pretty clear reference to the solar eclipse in Line 2 (Wilhelm)
The curtain is of such fullness
That the polestars can be seen at noon.
I think Marshall is saying that "Be not sad" is the oracle saying that he is not obliged to wait for the three year mourning period to end before taking on the Shang. Apparently, not waiting was breaking a major taboo, which might explain:
Through going one meets with mistrust and hate.
Something about two nobles starving themselves to death in protest at this outrageous behavior.
Karcher was obviously really taken by this whole idea and incorporated it into his translation of the Judgement.
Abounding. He receives the Mandate.
Make an offering and you will succeed.
The King sacrifices at the Earth Altar: “No mourning!”
He makes the sacrifice at noon and sets the armies marching.
Apart from the core idea, it gives fantastic descriptions of the decadence of the Shang dynasty in its final years.
Marshall was obviously really pissed off at his publishers for publishing an ebook version with lots of errors in it, which he says they didn't fix, despite his protests. So he makes free copies of the corrected version available on his own website, in epub or pdf format. Considering Amazon's price is north of $30 for the same thing (except uncorrected!), that's a great bargain.
https://www.biroco.com/yijing/mandate/index.htm