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Etymology of the ideogram Kun.2
坤
The ideogram used to represent Kun.2 is twofold. The element on the left is a general application of expressions concerning the ground, the Earth or the soil. It is here compressed, as is always the case when it is encountered in a composite figure. Its ancient purpose was to illustrate a raised stone, a sort of megalithic altar, a pedestal, used in ceremonies of worship of the Earth. This ancient origin, more spiritual than it was agricultural, was a tribute to the fertile virtues of the Earth and all the Yin analogies it entails, a natural feature in a culture renown for promoting a sedentary lifestyle and its attachment to the land. In the context on the Yi Jing, this would partially explain why it is often encountered as part of the highly favorable mantic appreciation Opportunity.
On the right is a rather simple graphic whose global meaning expresses the idea of continuous extension. One of its archaic representations, suggesting two hands pulling a rope in opposite directions, illustrated the concerting action of two dialectic forces. As it is presented here it suggests the infinite extension of the germinating power originating from the Earth.
On the silk manuscript found in 1974 at Ma Wang Dui, the ideogram used to illustrate this hexagram is different. It was, at this point and time, called Waterway. This choice proves again that the names dedicated to the trigrams were applied after those of the hexagrams composed of two identical trigrams. It evoked the never ending expansion of the Yin flow according to a horizontal movement. It here serves as an echo to the ascending vertical movement described by the name and the unfolding of Qian.1, the Creative Spark, the first hexagram.
*The silk manuscript was found with the tomb of the marquis of Kui. It is to date the oldest known copy of the Yi Jing .It was buried in 178 b.c. It is virtually identical in content to the modern editions aside the fact that it bears no mention of trigrams of names attached to them.
Fu Zi
坤
The ideogram used to represent Kun.2 is twofold. The element on the left is a general application of expressions concerning the ground, the Earth or the soil. It is here compressed, as is always the case when it is encountered in a composite figure. Its ancient purpose was to illustrate a raised stone, a sort of megalithic altar, a pedestal, used in ceremonies of worship of the Earth. This ancient origin, more spiritual than it was agricultural, was a tribute to the fertile virtues of the Earth and all the Yin analogies it entails, a natural feature in a culture renown for promoting a sedentary lifestyle and its attachment to the land. In the context on the Yi Jing, this would partially explain why it is often encountered as part of the highly favorable mantic appreciation Opportunity.
On the right is a rather simple graphic whose global meaning expresses the idea of continuous extension. One of its archaic representations, suggesting two hands pulling a rope in opposite directions, illustrated the concerting action of two dialectic forces. As it is presented here it suggests the infinite extension of the germinating power originating from the Earth.
On the silk manuscript found in 1974 at Ma Wang Dui, the ideogram used to illustrate this hexagram is different. It was, at this point and time, called Waterway. This choice proves again that the names dedicated to the trigrams were applied after those of the hexagrams composed of two identical trigrams. It evoked the never ending expansion of the Yin flow according to a horizontal movement. It here serves as an echo to the ascending vertical movement described by the name and the unfolding of Qian.1, the Creative Spark, the first hexagram.
*The silk manuscript was found with the tomb of the marquis of Kui. It is to date the oldest known copy of the Yi Jing .It was buried in 178 b.c. It is virtually identical in content to the modern editions aside the fact that it bears no mention of trigrams of names attached to them.
Fu Zi