Mencius, the Yi Jing and You...

[confucius]

The Master said : ''Opportunities of time vouchsafed by Heaven are not equal to advantages of situation afforded by the Earth, and advantages of situation afforded by the Earth are not equal to the union arising from the accord of Men''.

Fellow Yi students.
Labouring since 1992 at creating an Etymological Companion to the study of the Yi Jing, a common denominator issued from 84 world versions, I see more than ever that the toughest is always the last 100 yards. The 1353 pages included between its covers will require many months of exclusive dedication before I hand it down to Shambhala Books, time borrowed from my ''regular'' work (Anthropologist).

I therefore need a small helpful contribution from you to see it through and offer something unique in return.

The Yi Jing Study Companion's cover artwork will depict the 64 hexagrams as were found at Ma Wang Dui in Zhuanshu characters( the world's oldest Yi Jing). I have made these out of Chinese Ink on Rice Paper and wish to offer Clarity exclusive samples to help finance my dedication. These will never be seen anywhere else but on Clarity and only for one month ( since the editing is progressing daily).

These samples are full size 8 X 11 inches on Rice Paper and I offer them for $20 U.S including delivery anywhere in the World.

You should know also that it is my intension to secure some of the money generated by the book and the print and invest it in Clarity ( where we meet and share the wonderful world of the Yi Jing)...Thank you Hilary !

You may reach me here under member name confucius

Chi chi

Confucius

 

[hilary]

You should also know that Paul's discussed this with me and I think it's an excellent idea.

Here's a picture he sent me of his work:

Paul, you do know the Mawangdui manuscript isn't the oldest Yijing? There's a fragmentary copy called the 'Shanghai Museum' that's about 100 years older. Hm - interesting - are you writing an Etymological Companion to the received version or the Mawangdui text?
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[hilary]

...in fact, are those characters the Mawangdui ones? I don't have a copy of Shaughnessy's book, but I notice the characters in your work are in the received order, and they look a lot like the regular hexagram names, too...?

 

[confucius]

On this extension you may find THE source of the Ma Wang Dui text.

www.hnmuseum.com/hnmuseum/eng/whatson/exhibition/mwd_2_5.jsp#

I believe you are right in pointing out the version as not being the oldest one; In fact, the tortoise fragments are the oldest sources, whence the Zhuanshu origin of the artwork offered here on Clarity and in the coming Companion. But though there are older sources, Ma Wang Dui is the oldest known ''complete'' version...from there, I have used the older rudimentary tortoise shell scribe and coupled them to Hexagram names. As soon as tools allowed it ( ink, bamboo stylets, brush, silk...), Zhuanshu mutated to Ma Wand Dui period configuration...the thing which amazes me the most in all this ( in life in fact ) is that prior to Ma Wang Dui the characters had a Yin physionomy, and it has been demonstrated by profound initiates that the Zhou Yi actually is the Book of the Yin. History has hundreds of facts and speculations so as to why Emperors had to shift the matriarchal influence.

This approach, unique, is the core of the Companion I am toiling over; It is not as such to propose a needed antithesis...but the answers are already clearly stated all over the Yi ( Man, as the intermediary between Heaven and Earth, is the Spark initiating
( Yang ), but the long term fuel ( Yin ) is the Yi, the garden of natural knowledge)...

 

[hilary]

Thanks! I am really looking forward to this Companion (and enjoying the excerpts in 'Exploring Divination ).

You've awoken my curiosity here, though. What is a 'yin physiognomy' of a written character? And come to that, where would you find traces of matriarchy in the Zhouyi?

 

[confucius]

For one, if you refer to the image you uploaded of the proposed Zhuanshu characters *
( shall we remember that these are the initial Yi symbols conceived during the feminine Shamane divination historical period ) most Yang curvatures are subjected to the Yin Earth open downward, whereas most Yin curvatures are receptive upwards towards Heaven. Qian, active, pure figuration of the Dragon and its Yang entity, became this
( 乾 ) closed in physionomy, overlord with roots planted in the Earth and Leaves cashing in on the Sun's rays...after the Hun and their over rule of matriarchy, further enhanced by the submission of women and the foot binding decree...

* These are sequential as you rightly pointed out, therefore the Great Yang Qian is on the upper left ( European style of writing left to right ). Notice how it is receptive to the Earth ! Open downwards and how Kun, the Great Yin is open upwards ! Yin received Heaven mandates, Yang obey Gaia the life bearing Mother Earth.

Entry level = Yang = inexperience
Prefect level = Yin = magistrate representing the governing body
Transition level = Yang = uncertainty, indecision
Minister level = Yin = administrates the duties of the Sovereign, application
Sovereign level = Yang = figurative ruler, definition of earthly physical control
Exiting level = Yin = Achievement, renaissance, influence of the Sage over the Sovereign

 

[hilary]

Hm - qian and kun are the hardest two characters to see in the photo because they're in the most distant corner and angled away from the viewer. But I think I see what you mean. And thank you for the link to the museum.

 

[confucius]

We can apply the observation elsewhere : K'un and Jing, hexagrams 47 and 48; Starting from the bottom row 3 rows up two hexagrams on the right. K'un's Adversity, with Water below and Lake above is Yang, but its Zhuanshu character is receptive to the Earth...followed by Jing the Source with the Wind below and the Water above is Yin but its initial physionomy receptive to Heaven.

Of course, reasonably understood, the Yi and all of its intertwined 3D relations is extrinsic, it could be understood in the same fashion as the Kabbale, parabolically, which is why it always works...but the Yi, as with any authentic work of divination, is not about answers, it is about questions. And, when analysed meticulously, nothing is out of place and the entire book is as presice as a Swiss timepiece.

In our culture, the Romans understood this; The Greeks had answers for everything, called by most ''Wisdom'', the Romans had questions for everything, called ''Ecclectics''. The Yi is ecclectic, it is a 3000 years old 15 000 generations direct observation of natural movement, interaction and reaction. Man finds himself as an instinctive interpreter of energetic flow and the Yi converts instinct into intuition. How, we agree, is a lot more moving than why !