The Yî King — Sacred Books of China Part II, SBE Vol. 16 (trans. James Legge, 1882)
English·1879–1910·trans. James Legge·333 passages
The text · part 3 of 16
They seem to have
wo the significance, when looked at from certain
Divination. : : : :
— points of view, which have been determined for us by king Wan and the duke of Kau. But this does not amount to divination. How can the lines be made to serve this purpose? The Appendix professes to tell us.
Before touching on the method which it describes, let me observe that divination was practised in China from avery early time. I will not say 5,200 years ago, in the days of Fd-hsi, for I cannot repress doubts of his historical personality ; but as soon as we tread the borders of something like credible history, we find it existing. In the Shd King, in a document that purports to be of the twenty-third century B.C.°, divination by means of the tortoise-shell is mentioned ; and somewhat later we find that method continuing, and also divination by the lineal figures, manipulated by means of the stalks of a plant‘, the Ptarmica Sibirica 5, which is still cultivated on and about the grave of Confucius, where I have myself seen it growing.
The object of the divination, it should be acknowledged,
Object of the Was not to discover future events absolutely, divination. ag if they could be known beforehand §, but
Ancient divination.
1 TIT, i, 38 (chap. 8, 1). 2 Doctrine of the Mean, chap. xxii.
* The Sha II, ii, 18. * The Sh V, iv, 20,31.
5 See Williams’ Syllabic Dictionary on the character re
* Canon McClatchie (first paragraph of his Introduction) says :—‘ The Y% is carded by the Chinese with peculiar veneration .... as containing a mine of
CH. III. INTRODUCTION. 4!
to ascertain whether certain schemes, and conditions of events contemplated by the consulter, would turn out luckily or unluckily. But for the actual practice the stalks of the plant were necessary; and I am almost afraid to write that this Appendix teaches that they were produced by Heaven of such a nature as to be fit for the purpose. ‘ Heaven,’ it says, in the 73rd paragraph of Section i, quoted above on p. 14, ‘Heaven produced the spirit-like things.’ The things were the tortoise and the plant, and in paragraph 68, the same quality of being shan, or ‘spirit-like,’ is ascribed to them. Occasionally, in the field of Chinese literature, we meet with doubts as to the efficacy of divination, and the folly of expecting any revelation of the character of the future from an old tortoise-shell and a handful of withered twigs!; but when this Appendix was made, the writer had not attained to so much common sense. The stalks were to him ‘spirit-like,’ possessed of knowledge, which, if it were possible to fathom it thoroughly, would, in their estimation, enable the fortunate possessor to foretell all future events.’ This misstatement does not surprise me so much as that Morrison, generally accurate on such points, should say (Dictionary, Part II, i, p. 1020, on the character $4) :-—
1020, on the character $4) :-—
* Of the odd and even numbers, the k w4 or lines of Fd-hsf are the visible signs ; and it being assumed that these signs answer to the things signified, and from a knowledge of all the various combinations of numbers, a knowledge of all possible occurrences in nature may be previously known.’ The whole article from which I take this sentence is inaccurately written. The language of the Appendix on the knowledge of the future given by the use of the Y! is often incautious, and a cursory reader may be misled; to a careful student, however, the meaning is plain. The second passage of the Sh{, referred to above, treats of ‘the Examination of Doubts,’ and concludes thus:—‘ When the tortoise-shell and the stalks are both opposed to the views of men, there will be good fortune in stillness, and active operations will be unlucky.’
1 A remarkable instance is given by Lifi Kt (of the Ming dynasty, in the fifteenth century) in a story about Shao Phing, who had been marquis of Tungling in the time of 3hin, but was degraded under Han. Having gone once to Sze-ma Ki-tf, one of the most skilful diviners of the country, and wishing to know whether there would be a brighter future for him, Sze-m& said, ‘Ah! is it the way of Heaven to love any (partially)? Heaven loves only the virtuous. What intelligence is possessed by spirits? They are intelligent (only) by their connexion with men. The divining stalks are so much withered ! grass; the tortoise-shell is a withered bone. They are but things, and man is + more intelligent than things. Why not listen to yourself instead of seeking (to learn) from things?’ The whole piece is in many of the collections of Kf
Wan, or Elegant Writing. dy
42 THE Yi KING. CH. III.
grass; the tortoise-shell is a withered bone. They are but things, and man is + more intelligent than things. Why not listen to yourself instead of seeking (to learn) from things?’ The whole piece is in many of the collections of Kf
Wan, or Elegant Writing. dy
42 THE Yi KING. CH. III.
a subtle and invisible virtue that fitted them for use in divining. Given the stalks with such virtue, the process of mani- Formation Pulating them so as to form the lineal figures Sout tthe is described (Section i, chap. 9, parr. 49-58), divining | but it will take the student much time and stalks. thought to master the various operations. Forty-nine stalks were employed, which were thrice manipulated for each line, so that it took eighteen manipulations to form a hexagram. The lines were determined by means of the numbers derived from the River Map or scheme. Odd numbers gave strong or undivided lines, and even numbers gave the weak or divided. An important part was played in combining the lines, and forming the hexagrams by the four emblematic symbols, to which the numbers 9g, 8, 7,6 were appropriated’. The figures having been formed, recourse was had for their interpretation to the thwan of king W4n, and the emblematic sentences of the duke of Kau. This was all the part which numbers played in the divination by the Yi, helping the operator to make up his lineal figure. An analogy has often been asserted between the numbers of the Yi and the numbers of Pythagoras; and certainly we might make ten, and more than ten, antinomies from these Appendixes in startling agreement with the ten principia of the Pythagoreans. But if Aristotle was correct in holding that Pythagoras regarded numbers as entities, and maintained that Number was the Beginning (Principle, apy7) of things, the cause of their material existence, and of their
1 These numbers are commonly derived from the River Scheme, in the outer sides of which are the corresponding marks:— eeeeee, opposite to ee; 0000000, opposite to 0; eee eee, opposite to ee ee; and 000000000, opposite to 000. Hence the number 6 is assigned to== ==, 7 to ==", 8 to ==_== and 9g to Hence also, in connexion with the formation of the figures by manipulation of the stalks, 9 becomes the number symbolical of the undivided line, as representing Khien and 6 of the divided line, as representing Khwan == =. But the late delineation of the map, as given on p. 15, renders all this uncertain, so far as the scheme is concerned. The numbers of the hsiang, however, may have been fixed, must have been fixed indeed, at an early period,p. 43 modifications and different states, then the doctrine of the philosopher of Samos was different from that of the Yi}, in which numbers come in only as aids in divining to form the hexagrams. Of course all divination is vain, | nor is the method of the Yi less absurd than any other. v The Chinese themselves have given it up in all circles”
Of course all divination is vain, | nor is the method of the Yi less absurd than any other. v The Chinese themselves have given it up in all circles”
above those of the professional quacks, and yet their ~ scholars continue to maintain the unfathomable science + and wisdom of these appended treatises ! . It is in this Appendix that we first meet with the Thenames Names yin and yang’, of which I have Yin and spoken briefly on pp. 15,16. Up to this point, & instead of them, the names for the two elementary forms of the lines have been kang and z4u, which I have translated by ‘strong and weak,’ and which also occur here ten times. The following attempt to explain these different names appears in the fifth Appendix, paragraph 4:—
‘ Anciently when the sages made the Yi, it was with the design that its figures should be in conformity with the principles under-, lying the natures (of men and things), and the ordinances appointed (for them by Heaven). With this view they exhibited in them the *‘ way of heaven, calling (the lines) yin and yang; the way of earth, calling them the strong (or hard) and the weak (or soft); and the way of man, under the names of benevolence and righteous-
Ne
ness. Each (trigram) embraced those three Powers, and being + repeated, its full form consisted of six lines.’
However difficult it may be to make what is said here intelligible, it confirms what I have affirmed of the significance of the names yin and yang, as meaning bright and dark, derived from the properties of the sun and moon. We may use for these adjectives a variety of others, such as active and inactive, masculine and feminine, hot and cold, more or less analogous to them; but there arise the important questions,—Do we find yang and yin not merely used to indicate the quality of what they are applied
* See the account of Pythagoras and his philosophy in Lewes’ History of Philosophy, pp. 18-38 (1871). .
* See Section i, 24, 32, 35; Section ii, 28, 29, 30, 35.
_ any
N
44 THE Yi KING. CH. TIT,
18-38 (1871). . * See Section i, 24, 32, 35; Section ii, 28, 29, 30, 35.
_ any
N
44 THE Yi KING. CH. TIT, to, but at the same time with substantival force, denoting what has the quality which the name denotes? Had the doctrine of a primary matter of an ethereal nature, now expanding and showing itself full of activity and power as yang, now contracting and becoming weak and inactive as yin:—had this doctrine become matter of speculation when this Appendix was written? The Chinese critics and commentators for the most part assume that it had. P. Regis, Dr. Medhurst, and other foreign Chinese scholars repeat their statements without question. I have sought in vain for proof of what is asserted. It took more than a thousand years after the closing of the Yi to fashion in the Confucian school the doctrine of a primary matter. We do not find it fully developed till the era of the Sung dynasty, and in our eleventh and twelfth centuries}. To find it in the Yi is the logical, or rather illogical, error of putting ‘the last first. Neither creation nor cosmogony was before the mind of the author whose work I am analysing. His theme is the Yi,—the ever-changing phenomena of nature and experience. There is nothing but this in the ‘Great Treatise’ to task our powers ;— nothing deeper or more abstruse.
1 As a specimen of what the ablest Sung scholars teach, I may give the remarks (from the ‘Collected Comments’) of KQ Kan (of the same century as XK( Hsf, rather earlier) on the 4th paragraph of Appendix V :—‘ In the Yi there is the Great Extreme. When we speak of the yin and yang, we mean the air (or ether) collected in the Great Void. When we speak of the Hard and Soft, we mean that ether collected, and formed into substance. Benevolence and righteousness have their origin in the great void, are seen in the ether substantiated, and move under the influence of conscious intelligence. Looking at the one origin of all things we speak of their nature ; looking at the endowments given to them, we speak of the ordinations appointed (for them). Looking at them as (divided into) heaven, earth, and men, we speak of their principle. The three are one and the same. The sages wishing that (their figures) should be in conformity with the principles underlying the natures (of men and things) and the ordinances appointed (for them), called them (now) yin and yang, (now) the hard and the soft, (now) benevolence and righteousness, in order thereby to exhibit the ways of heaven, earth, and men; it is a view of them ,as related together. The trigrams of the Yf contain the three Powers; and . when they are doubled into hexagrams, there the three Powers unite and are one. But there are the changes and movements of their (several) ways, and therefore there are separate places for the yin and yang, and reciprocal uses of the hard and the soft.’
p. 45
when they are doubled into hexagrams, there the three Powers unite and are one. But there are the changes and movements of their (several) ways, and therefore there are separate places for the yin and yang, and reciprocal uses of the hard and the soft.’
p. 45
As in the first Appendix, so in this, the name kwei-shan occurs twice; in paragraghs 21 and 50 of Sectioni. In the The name former instance, each part of the name has Kwei-shin. its significance. Kwei denotes the animal soul or nature, and Sh4n, the intellectual soul, the union of which constitutes the living rational man. I have translated them, it will be seen, by ‘the anima and the animus.’ Canon McClatchie gives for them ‘demons and gods;’ and Dr. Medhurst said on the passage, ‘The kwei-shans are evidently the expanding and contracting principles of human life... .. The kwei-shans are brought about by the dissolution of the human frame, and consist of the expanding and ascending shan, which rambles about in space, and of the contracted and shrivelled kwei, which reverts to earth and nonentity %.’
This is pretty much the same view as my own, though I would not here use the phraseology of ‘expanding and contracting.’ Canon McClatchie is consistent with himself, and renders the characters by ‘demons and gods.’
In the latter passage it is more difficult to determine the exact meaning. The writer says, that ‘by the odd numbers assigned to heaven and the even numbers assigned to earth, the changes and transformations are effected, and the spirit-like agencies kept in movement ;’ meaning that by means of the numbers the spirit-like lines might be formed on a scale sufficient to give a picture of all the changing phenomena, taking place, as if by a spiritual agency, in nature. Medhurst contents himself on it with giving the explanation of Kf Hsi, that ‘the kwei-shans refer to the contractions and expandings, the recedings and approachings of the productive and completing powers of the even and odd numbers?.’ Canon McClatchie does not follow his translation of the former passage and give here ‘demons and gods,’ but we have ‘the Demon-god (i.e. Shang Ti)%.’ I shall refer to this version when considering the fifth Appendix.
! Dissertation on the Theology of the Chinese, pp. 111, 112. 3 Theology of the Chinese, p. 12a 3 Translation of the Yi King, p. 312.
46 THE Yf KING. cH. m1.
The single character shan occurs more than twenty times;—used now as a substantive, now as an adjective, and again as a verb. I must refer the reader to the translation and notes for its various significance, subjoining in a note a list of the places where it occurs}.
46 THE Yf KING. cH. m1.
The single character shan occurs more than twenty times;—used now as a substantive, now as an adjective, and again as a verb. I must refer the reader to the translation and notes for its various significance, subjoining in a note a list of the places where it occurs}.
Much more might be said on the third Appendix, for the writer touches on many other topics, antiquarian and speculative, but a review of them would help us little in the study of the leading subject of the Yi. In passing on to the next treatise, I would only further say that the style of this and the author's manner of presenting his thoughts often remind the reader of ‘the Doctrine of the Mean.’ I am surprised that ‘the Great Treatise’ has never been ascribed to the author of that Doctrine, 3zesze, the grandson of Confucius, whose death must have taken place between B.C. 400 and 450. _
7. The fourth Appendix, the seventh ‘wing’ of the Yi, need not detain us long. As I stated on p. 27, it is con-
The fourth fined to an exposition of the Text on the first
Appendix. and second hexagrams, being an attempt to show that what is there affirmed of heaven and earth may also be applied to man, and that there is an essential _agreement between the qualities ascribed to them, and the benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and wisdom, which are the four constituents of his moral and intellectual nature.
It is said by some of the critics that Confucius would have treated all the other hexagrams in a similar way, if his life had been prolonged, but we found special grounds for denying that Confucius had anything to do with the composition of this Appendix; and, moreover, I cannot think of any other figure that would have afforded to the author the same opportunity of discoursing about man. The style and method are after the manner of ‘the Doctrine of the Mean’ quite as much as those of ‘the Great Treatise.’ Several paragraphs, moreover, suggest to us the magniloquence of Mencius. It is said, for instance, by 3ze-sze, of
the sage, that ‘he is the equal or correlate of Heaven',’ and in this Appendix we have the sentiment expanded into the following :—
‘The great man is he who is in harmony in his attributes with heaven and earth; in his brightness with the sun and moon; in his orderly procedure with the four seasons; and in his relation to what is fortunate and what is calamitous with the spiritual agents. He may precede Heaven, and Heaven will not act in opposition to him; he may follow Heaven, but will act only as Heaven at the time would do. If Heaven will not act in opposition to him, how much less will man! how much less will the spiritual agents *J’
One other passage may receive our consideration :—
If Heaven will not act in opposition to him, how much less will man! how much less will the spiritual agents *J’
One other passage may receive our consideration :—
‘The family that accumulates goodness is sure to have superabundant happiness, and the family that accumulates evil is sure to have superabundant misery *.’
The language makes us think of the retribution of good and evil as taking place in the family, and not in the individual ; the judgment is long deferred, but it is inflicted at last, lighting, however, not on the head or heads that most deserved it. Confucianism never falters in its affirmation of the difference between good and evil, and that each shall have its appropriate recompense; but it has little to say of the where and when and how that recompense will be given. The old classics are silent on the subject of any other retribution besides what takes place in time. About the era of Confucius the view took definite shape that, if the issues of good and evil, virtue and vice, did not take effect in the experience of the individual, they would certainly do so in that of his posterity. This is the prevailing doctrine among the Chinese at the present day; and one of the earliest expressions, perhaps the earliest expression, of it was in the sentence under our notice that has been copied from this Appendix into almost every moral treatise that circulates in China. A wholesome and an important truth it is, that ‘the sins of parents are visited
} Kung-yung xxxi, 4. ? Section i, 34. This is the only paragraph where kwei-sh&n occurs. > Section ii, 5.
48 THE yi KING. CH. III.
on. their children;’ but do the parents themselves escape the curse? It is to be regretted that this short treatise, the only ‘wing’ of the Yi professing to set forth its teachings concerning man as man, does not attempt any definite reply to this question. I leave it, merely observing that it has always struck me as the result of an after-thought, and a wish to give to man, as the last of ‘the Three Powers,’ a suitable place in connexion with the Yi. The doctrine of ‘the Three Powers’ is as much out of place in Confucianism as that of ‘the Great Extreme.’ The treatise contains several paragraphs interesting in themselves, but it adds nothing to our understanding of the Text, or even of the object of the appended treatises, when we try to look at them as a whole.
8. It is very different with the fifth of the Appendixes, Thefifth which is made up of ‘Remarks on the Appendix. Tyrigrams.’ It is shorter than the fourth,
8. It is very different with the fifth of the Appendixes, Thefifth which is made up of ‘Remarks on the Appendix. Tyrigrams.’ It is shorter than the fourth,
consisting of only 22 paragraphs, in some of which the author rises to a height of thought reached nowhere else in these treatises, while several of the others are so silly and trivial, that it is difficult, not to say impossible, to believe that they are the production of the same man. We find in it the earlier and later arrangement of the trigrams,—the former, that of F(-hsi, and the latter, that of king Wan; their names and attributes; the work of God in nature, described as a progress through the trigrams; and finally a distinctive, but by no means exhaustive, list of the natural objects, symbolised by them.
It commences with the enigmatic declaration that
‘ Anciently, when the sages made the Yi,’ (that is, the lineal First figures, and the system of divination by paragraph. them), ‘in order to give mysterious assistance to the spiritual Intelligences, they produced (the rules for the use of) the divining plant.’ Perhaps this means no more than that the lineal figures were made to ‘hold the mirror up to nature,’ so that men by the study of them would understand more of the unseen and spiritual operations, to which the phenomena around them were owing, than they could otherwise do.
aie
p. 49
The author goes on to speak of the Fd-hst trigrams, and passes from them to those of king Wan in paragraph 8. That and the following two are very remarkable; but before saying anything of them, I will go on to the 14th, which is the only passage that affords any ground for saying that there is a mythology in the Yi. It says :—
‘Khien is (the symbol of) heaven, and hence is styled father. ; Khw4n is (the symbol of) earth, and hence is Mythology of styled mother. K&n (shows) the first application "(of khw&n to Adien), resulting in getting (the first of) its male (or undivided lines), and hence we call it the oldest son. Sun (shows) a first application (of £Aien to khwAn), resulting in getting (the first of) its female (or divided lines), and hence we call it the oldest daughter. Kh4n (shows) a second application (of khw&n to &kien), and Lf a second (of &hien to khwn), resulting in the second son and second daughter. In Xn and Tui we have a third application (of khwin to &zien and of &kien to khw4n), resulting in the youngest son and youngest daughter.’
From this language has come the fable of a marriage between Kien and Khwa4n, from which resulted the six other trigrams, considered as their three sons and three daughters; and it is not to be wondered at, if some men of active and ill-regulated imaginations should see Noah and his wife in those two primary trigrams, and in the others their three sons and the three sons’ wives. Have we not in both cases an ogdoad? But I have looked in the paragraph in vain for the notion of a marriage-union between heaven and earth.
Have we not in both cases an ogdoad? But I have looked in the paragraph in vain for the notion of a marriage-union between heaven and earth.
It does not treat of the genesis of the other six trigrams by the union of the two, but is a rude attempt to explain their forms when they were once existing’, According to the idea of changes, KAien and Khw§4n are continually varying their forms by their interaction. As here represented, the
1 This view seems to be in accordance with that of Wi King (of the Yiian dynasty), as given in the ‘Collected Comments’ of the Khang-hsf edition. The editors express their approval of it in preference to the interpretation of Ka Hsi, who understood the whole to refer to the formation of the lineal figures, the ‘application’ being ‘the manipulation of the stalks to find the proper line.’
[16] E
50 THE yi KING. CH. IIT, other trigrams are not ‘ produced!’ by a marriage-union, but from the application, literally the seeking, of one of them— of Khwan as much as of K Aien—addressed to the other ?.
This way of speaking of the trigrams, moreover, as father and mother, sons and daughters, is not so old as Fd-hsi; nor have we any real proof that it originated with king Win. It is not of ‘the highest antiquity.’ It arose some time in ‘ middle antiquity,’ and was known in the era of the Appendixes ; but it had not prevailed then, nor has it prevailed since, to discredit and supersede the older nomenclature. We are startled when we come on it in the place which it occupies. And there it stands alone. It is not entitled to more attention than the two paragraphs that precede it, or the eight that follow it, none of which were thought by P. Regis worthy to be translated. I have just said that it stands ‘alone.’ Its existence, however, seems to me to be supposed in the fourth chapter, paragraphs 28-30, of the third Appendix, Section ii; but there only the trigrams of ‘the six children’ are mentioned, and nothing is said of ‘the parents. Kan, kh4n, and kan are referred to as being yang, and sun, li, and tui as being yin. What is said about them is trifling and fanciful.
Leaving the question of the mythology of the Yi, of which Iam myself unable to discover a trace, I now call attention to paragraphs 8-10, where the author speaks of the work of God in nature in all the year as a progress through the trigrams, and as being effected
Operation of . we . oe God in nature by His Spirit. The description assumes the he cea peculiar arrangement of the trigrams, ascribed to king Wan, and which I have exhibited above, on page 33°. Father Regis adopts the general view
1 But the Chinese term Shing EE, often rendered ‘ produced,’ must not be pressed, so as to determine the method of production, or the way in which one thing comes from another.
Father Regis adopts the general view
1 But the Chinese term Shing EE, often rendered ‘ produced,’ must not be pressed, so as to determine the method of production, or the way in which one thing comes from another.
2 The significance of the mythological paragraph is altogether lost in Canon McClatchie’s version:—‘ Khien is Heaven, and hence he is called Father; Khwin is Earth, and hence she is called Mother; K%n is the first male, and hence he is called the eldest son,’ &c. &c.
* The reader will understand the difference in the two arrangements better by a reference to the circular representations of them on Plate III.
p. 51
of Chinese critics that Wan purposely altered the earlier and established arrangement, as a symbol of the disorganisation and disorder into which the kingdom had fallen’. But it is hard to say why a man did something more than 3000 years ago, when he has not himself said anything about it. So far as we can judge from this Appendix, the author thought that king Wan altered the existing order and position of the trigrams with regard to the cardinal points, simply for the occasion,—that he might set forth vividly his ideas about the springing, growth, and maturity in the vegetable kingdom from the labours of spring to the cessation from toil in winter. The marvel is that in doing this he brings God upon the scene, and makes Him in the various processes of nature the ‘all and in all.’ The 8th paragraph says :—
‘God comes forth in Kn (to his producing work); He brings (His processes) into full and equal action in Sun; they are manifested to one another in Lf; the greatest service is done for Him in Khwan; He rejoices in Tui; He struggles in Khien; He is comforted and enters into rest in Kh&n; and he completes (the work of) the year in Kin.’
God is here named Ti, for which P. Regis gives the Latin ‘Supremus Imperator,’ and Canon McClatchie, after him, ‘the Supreme Emperor.’ I contend that ‘God’ is really the correct translation in English of Ti; but to render it here by ‘Emperor’ would not affect the meaning of the paragraph. Hsi says that ‘by Ti is intended the Lord and Governor of heaven ;’ and Khung Ying-t4, about five centuries earlier than K(, quotes Wang Pi, who died A.D.
Hsi says that ‘by Ti is intended the Lord and Governor of heaven ;’ and Khung Ying-t4, about five centuries earlier than K(, quotes Wang Pi, who died A.D.
1 E. g.I, 23, 24 :—' Observant etiam philosophi (lib. 15 Sinicae philosophiae Sing-lf) principem Wan-wang antiquum octo symbolorum, unde aliae figurae omnes perdent, ordinem invertisse ; quo ipsa imperii suis temporibus subversio graphice exprimi poterat, mutatis e naturali loco, quem genesis dederat, iis quatuor figuris, quae rerum naturalium pugnis ac dissociationibus, quas posterior labentis anni pars afferre solet, velut in antecessum, repraesentandis idoneae videbantur; v.g. si symbolum ==—== Lf, ignis, supponatur loco symboli ==—== Khan, aquae, utriusque elementi inordinatio principi visa est non minus apta ad significandas ruinas et clades reipublicae male ordinatae, quam naturales ab hieme aut imminente aut saeviente rerum generatarum corruptiones.’ See also pp. 67, 68,
E 2
52 THE yf KING. CH. IT.
249, to the effect that ‘Ti is the lord who produces (all) things, the author of prosperity and increase.’
I must refer the reader to the translation in the body of the volume for the gth paragraph, which is too long to be introduced here. As the 8th speaks directly of God, the oth, we are told, ‘speaks of all things following Him, from spring to winter, from the east to the north, in His progress throughout the year.’ In words strikingly like those of the apostle Paul, when writing his Epistle to the Romans, Wan Khung-jung (of the Khang-hsi period) and his son, in their admirable work called, ‘A New Digest of Collected Explanations of the Yi King, say :—‘God (Himself) cannot be seen ; we see Him in the things (which He produces).’ The first time I read these paragraphs with some understanding, I thought of Thomson’s Hymn on the Seasons, and I have thought of it in connexion with them a hundred times since. Our English poet wrote :—
‘These, as they change, Almighty Father, these Are but the varied God. The rolling year
Is full of Thee. Forth in the pleasing spring Thy beauty walks, Thy tenderness and love. Then comes Thy glory in the summer months, With light and heat refulgent. Then Thy sun Shoots full perfection through the swelling year. Thy bounty shines in autumn unconfined,
And spreads a common feast for all that lives. In winter awful Thou!’
Prudish readers have found fault with some of Thomson’s expressions, as if they savoured of pantheism. The language of the Chinese writer is not open to the same captious objection. Without poetic ornament, or swelling phrase of any kind, he gives emphatic testimony to God as renewing the face of the earth in spring, and not resting till He has crowned the year with His goodness.
The language of the Chinese writer is not open to the same captious objection. Without poetic ornament, or swelling phrase of any kind, he gives emphatic testimony to God as renewing the face of the earth in spring, and not resting till He has crowned the year with His goodness.
And there is in the passage another thing equally wonderful. The 10th paragraph commences:—‘ When we speak of Spirit, we mean the subtle presence (and operation of God) with all things ;’ and the writer goes on to illustrate this sentiment from the action and influences symbolisedp. 53 by the six ‘children, or minor trigrams,—water and fire, thunder and wind, mountains and collections of water. Kd Hsi says, that there is that in the paragraph which he does not understand. Some Chinese scholars, however, have not been far from descrying the light that is in it. Let Liang Yin, of our fourteenth century, be adduced as an example of them. He says:—‘The spirit here simply means God. God is the personality (literally, the body or substantiality) of the Spirit; the Spirit is God in operation. He who is lord over and rules all things is God; the subtle presence and operation of God with all things is by His Spirit.’ The language is in fine accord with the definition of shin or spirit, given in the 3rd Appendix, Section i, 32.
I wish that the Treatise on the Trigrams had ended withthe 1oth paragraph. The writer had gradually risen to a noble
Concluding ¢levation of thought from which he plunges paragraphs. into a slough of nonsensical remarks which it would be difficult elsewhere to parallel. I have referred on p. 31 to the judgment of P. Regis about them. He could not receive them as from Confucius, and did not take the trouble to translate them, and transfer them to his own pages. My plan required me to translate everything published in China as a part of the Yi King; but I have given my reasons for doubting whether any portion of these Appendixes be really from Confucius. There is nothing that could better justify the supercilious disregard with which the classical literature of China is frequently treated than to insist on the concluding portion of this treatise as being from the pencil of its greatest sage. I have dwelt at some length on the 14th paragraph, because of its mythological semblance; but among the eight paragraphs that follow it, it would be difficult to award the palm for silliness. They are descriptive of the eight trigrams, and each one enumerates a dozen or more objects of which its subject is symbolical. The writer must have been fond of and familiar with horses. Aien, the symbol properly of heaven, suggests to him the idea of a. good horse ; an old horse; a lean horse; and a piebald. an, the symbol of thunder, suggests the
54 THE Yi KING. CH. IIT.
The writer must have been fond of and familiar with horses. Aien, the symbol properly of heaven, suggests to him the idea of a. good horse ; an old horse; a lean horse; and a piebald. an, the symbol of thunder, suggests the
54 THE Yi KING. CH. IIT.
idea of a good neigher; of the horse with white hind-legs ; of the prancing horse; and of one with a white star in his forehead. Khan, the symbol of water, suggests the idea of the horse with an elegant spine; of one with a high spirit ; of one with a drooping head; and of one with a shambling step. The reader will think he has had enough of these symbolisings of the trigrams. I cannot believe that the earlier portions and this concluding portion of the treatise were by the same author. If there were any evidence that paragraphs 8 to 10 were by Confucius, I should say that they were worthy, even more than worthy, of him; what follows is mere drivel. Horace’s picture faintly pourtrays the inconsistency between the parts :— ‘Desinit in piscem mulier formosa superne.’
In reviewing the second of these Appendixes, I was led to speak of the original significance of the trigrams, in opposition to the views of some Chinese who pretend that they can find in them the physical truths discovered by the researches of western science. May I not say now, after viewing the phase of them presented in these paragraphs, that they were devised simply as aids to divination, and partook of the unreasonableness and uncertainty belonging to that?
g. The sixth Appendix is the Treatise on the Sequence of the Hexagrams, to which allusion has been made more
The sixth than once. It is not necessary to dwell on
Appendix. it at length. King W4n, it has been seen, gave a name to each hexagram, expressive of the idea— some moral, social, or political truath—which he wished to set forth by means of it; and this name enters very closely into its interpretation. The author of this treatise endeavours to explain the meaning of the name, and also the sequence of the figures, or how it is that the idea of the one leads on to that of the next. Yet the reader must not expect to find in the 64 a chain ‘of linked sweetness long drawn out.’ The connexion between any two is generally sufficiently close; but on the whole the essays, which I have said they form, resemble ‘a heap of orient pearls at random strung.’ The changeableness of humanp. 55 affairs is a topic never long absent from the writer’s mind. He is firmly persuaded that ‘the fashion of the world passeth away.’ Union is sure to give place to separation, and by and by that separation will issue in re-union.
There is nothing in the treatise to suggest anything about its authorship; and as the reader will see from the notes, we are perplexed occasionally by meanings given to the names that differ from the meanings in the Text.
10. The last and least Appendix is the seventh, called .
The seventh 34 KwA Xwan, or ‘Treatise on the Lineal
10. The last and least Appendix is the seventh, called .
The seventh 34 KwA Xwan, or ‘Treatise on the Lineal
Appendix. Figures taken promiscuously,’—not with regard to any sequence, but as they approximate, or are opposed, to one another in meaning. It is in rhyme, moreover, and this, as much as the meaning, determined, no doubt, the grouping of the hexagrams. The student will learn nothing of value from it; it is more a ‘jeu d’esprit’ than anything else.
THE Yi KING.
TEXT. SECTION I.
I. Tue Awien HExaGRamM.
Explanation of the entire figure by king W&n. Khien (represents) what is great and originating, penetrating, advantageous, correct and firm.
Explanation of the separate lines by the duke of Kau.
1. In the first (or lowest) line, undivided, (we see its subject as) the dragon lying hid (in the deep). It is not the time for active doing.
2. In the second line, undivided, (we see its subject as) the dragon appearing in the field. It will be advantageous to meet with the great man.
3. In the third line, undivided, (we see its subject as) the superior man active and vigilant all the day, and in the evening still careful and apprehensive. (The position is) dangerous, but there will be no mistake.
4. In the fourth line, undivided, (we see its subject as the dragon looking) as if he were leaping up, but still in the deep. There will be no mistake.
5. In the fifth line, undivided, (we see its subject as) the dragon on the wing in the sky. It will be advantageous to meet with the great man.
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‘26
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p. 5
6. In the sixth (or topmost) line’ dndivided, (we see its subject as) the dragon exceeding the proper limits. There will be occasion for repentance.
7. (The lines of this hexagram are all strong and undivided, as appears from) the use of the number nine. If the host of dragons (thus) appearing were to divest themselves of their heads, there would be good fortune.
The Text under each hexagram consists of one paragraph by king Wan, explaining the figure as a whole, and of six (in the case of hexagrams 1 and 2, of seven) paragraphs by the duke of Ku, explaining the individual lines. The explanatory notices introduced above to this effect will not be repeated. A double space will be used to mark off the portion of king W&n from that of his son.
The explanatory notices introduced above to this effect will not be repeated. A double space will be used to mark off the portion of king W&n from that of his son.
Each hexagram consists of two of the trigrams of Ff-hst, the lower being called ‘the inner,’ and the one above ‘the outer.’ The lines, however, are numbered from one to six, commencing with the lowest. ‘To denote the number of it and of the sixth line, the terms for ‘commencing’ and ‘topmost’ are used. The intermediate lines are simply ‘second,’ ‘third,’ &c. As the lines must be either whole or divided, technically called strong and weak, yang and yin, this distinction is indicated by the application to them of the numbers nine and six. All whole lines are nine, all divided lines, six.
Two explanations have been proposed of this application of these numbers. The X/ien trigram, it is said, contains 3 strokes (===>), and the Khwan 6 (== =). But the yang contains the yin in itself, and its representative number will be 3+6=9, while the yin, not containing the yang, will only have its own number or 6. This explanation, entirely arbitrary, is now deservedly abandoned. The other is based on the use of the ‘four Hsiang,’ or emblematic figures ( the great or old yang, === the young yang, == == the old yin, and === the young yin). To these are assigned (by what process is unimportant for our present purpose) the numbers 9, 8, 7, 6. They were ‘the old yang,’ represented by 9, and ‘the old yin,’ represented by 6, that, in the manipulation of the stalks to form new diagrams, determined the changes of figure; and so g and 6 came to be used as the
SECT. I. THE KHWAN HEXAGRAM. 59
Il. Toe Kuwkn HexacramM.
KhwAn (represents) what is great and originating, penetrating, advantageous, correct and having the firmness of a mare. When the superior man (here names of a yang line and a yin line respectively. This explanation is now universally acquiesced in. The nomenclature of first nine, nine two, &c., or first six, six two, &c., however, is merely a jargon ; and I have preferred to use, instead of it, in the translation, in order to describe the lines, the names ‘undivided’ and ‘divided.’
I. Does king Wan ascribe four attributes here to Ahien, or only two? According to Appendix IV, always by Chinese writers assigned to Confucius, he assigns four, corresponding to the principles of benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and knowledge in man’s nature. Afi Hsi held that he assigned only two, and that we should translate, ‘ greatly penetrating,’ and ‘requires to be correct and firm,’ two responses in divination. Up and down throughout the Text of the 64 hexagrams, we often find the characters thus coupled together. Both interpretations are possible. I have followed what is accepted as the view of Confucius. It would take pages to give a tithe of what has been written in justification of it, and to reconcile it with the other. :
Both interpretations are possible. I have followed what is accepted as the view of Confucius. It would take pages to give a tithe of what has been written in justification of it, and to reconcile it with the other. :
‘The dragon’ is the symbol employed by the duke of Kau to represent ‘the superior man’ and especially ‘the great man,’ exhibiting the virtues or attributes characteristic of heaven. The creature’s proper home is in the water, but it can disport itself on the land, and also fly and soar aloft. It has been from the earliest time the emblem with the Chinese of the highest dignity and wisdom, of sovereignty and sagehood, the combination of which constitutes ‘the great man.’ One emblem runs through the lines of many of the hexagrams as here.
But the dragon appears in the sixth line as going beyond the proper limits. The ruling-sage has gone through all the sphere in which he is called on to display his attributes; it is time for him to relax. The line should not be always pulled tight; the bow should not be always kept drawn. The unchanging use
60 THE yf KING. TEXT.
intended) has to make any movement, if he take the initiative, he will go astray; if he follow, he will find his (proper) lord. The advantageousness will be seen in his getting friends in the south-west, and losing friends in the north-east. If he rest in correctness and firmness, there will be good fortune.
1. In the first line, divided, (we see its subject) treading on hoarfrost. The strong ice will come (by and by).
2. The second line, divided, (shows the attribute of) being straight, square, and great. (Its operation), without repeated efforts, will be in every respect advantageous. .
3. The third line, divided, (shows its subject) keeping his excellence under restraint, but firmly maintaining it. If he should have occasion to engage in the king’s service, though he will not claim the success (for himself), he will bring affairs to a good issue.
4. The fourth line, divided, (shows the symbol of) a sack tied up. There will be no ground for blame or for praise.
5. The fifth line, divided, (shows) the yellow lower garment. There will be great good fortune.
of force will give occasion for repentance. The moral meaning found in the line is that ‘the high shall be abased.’
The meaning given to the supernumerary paragraph is the opposite of that of paragraph 6. The ‘host of dragons without their heads’ would give us the next hexagram, or Khw4n, made up of six divided lines. Force would have given place to submission, and haughtiness to humility; and the result would be good fortune. Such at least is the interpretation of the paragraph given in a narrative of the
* 80-Kwan under B.c. 513. For further explanation of the duke of u's meaning, see Appendixes II and IV.
SECT. I. -THE KHWAN HEXAGRAM. 61
6. The sixth line, divided, (shows) dragons fighting in the wild. Their blood is purple and yellow.
513. For further explanation of the duke of u's meaning, see Appendixes II and IV.
SECT. I. -THE KHWAN HEXAGRAM. 61
6. The sixth line, divided, (shows) dragons fighting in the wild. Their blood is purple and yellow.
7. (The lines of this hexagram are all weak and divided, as appears from) the use of the number six. If those (who are thus represented) be perpetually correct and firm, advantage will arise.
That superior man will seek to bring his friends along with himself to serve his ruler. But according to the arrangement of the trigrams by king W4n, the place of Khw4n is in the south-west, while the opposite quarter is occupied by the yang trigram K4n, as in Figure 2, Plate III. All that this portion of the Thwan says is an instruction to the subject of the hexagram to seek for others of the same principles and tendencies with himself to serve their common lord. But in quietness and firmness will be his strength. ”
The symbolism of the lines is various. Paragraph 2 presents to us the earth itself, according to the Chinese conception of it, as a great cube. To keep his excellence under restraint, as in paragraph 3, is the part of a minister or officer, seeking not his own glory, but that of his ruler. Paragraph 4 shows its subject exercising a still greater restraint on himself than in paragraph 3. There is an interpretation of the symbolism of paragraph 5 in a narrative of the 30 Awan, under the rath year of duke K4o, B.c. 530. ‘Yellow’ is one of the five ‘correct’ colours, and the colour of the earth. ‘The lower garment’ is a symbol of humility.
\ The fifth line is the_seat of honour. If its occupant possess the qualities indicated, he will be greatly fortunate.
See the note on the sixth line of hexagram 1. What is there said to be ‘beyond the proper limits’ takes place here ‘in the wild.’ The humble subject of the divided line is transformed into a
62 THE Yi KING. TEXT.
IlI. Tue Aun HeExacram.
Kun (indicates that in the case which it presupposes) there will be great progress and success, and the advantage will come from being correct and firm. (But) any movement in advance should not be (lightly) undertaken. There will be advantage in appointing feudal princes.
IlI. Tue Aun HeExacram.
Kun (indicates that in the case which it presupposes) there will be great progress and success, and the advantage will come from being correct and firm. (But) any movement in advance should not be (lightly) undertaken. There will be advantage in appointing feudal princes.
1. The first line, undivided, shows the difficulty (its subject has) in advancing. It will be advantageous for him to abide correct and firm; advantageous (also) to be made a feudal ruler.
2. The second line, divided, shows (its subject) distressed and obliged to return; (even) the horses of her chariot (also) seem to be retreating. (But) not by a spoiler (is she assailed), but by one who seeks her to be his wife. The young lady maintains her firm correctness, and declines a union. After ten years she will be united, and have children.
3. The third line, divided, shows one following the deer without (the guidance of) the forester, and only finding himself in the midst of the forest. The superior man, acquainted with the secret risks, thinks it better to give up the chase. If he went forward, he would regret it.
dragon, and fights with the true dragon, the subject of the undivided line. They fight and bleed, and their blood is of the colour proper to heaven or the sky, and the colour proper to the earth. Paragraph 7 supposes that the hexagram Khw4&n should become changed into Xhien ;—the result of which would be good.
SECT. 1. THE KUN HEXAGRAM. 63
4. The fourth line, divided, shows (its subject as a lady), the horses of whose chariot appear in retreat. She seeks, however, (the help of) him who seeks her to be his wife. Advance will be fortunate ; all will turn out advantageously.
5. The fifth line, undivided, shows the difficulties in the way of (its subject’s) dispensing the rich favours that might be expected from him. With firmness and correctness there will be good fortune in small things ; (even) with them in great things there will be evil.
6. The topmost line, divided, shows (its subject) with the horses of his chariot obliged to retreat, and weeping tears of blood in streams.
III. The character called Aun is pictorial, and was intended to show us how a plant struggles with difficulty out of the earth, rising gradually above the surface. This difficulty, marking the first stages in the growth of a plant, is used to symbolise the struggles that mark the rise of a state out of a condition of disorder, consequent on a great revolution. The same thing is denoted by the combination of the trigrams that form the figure ;—as will be seen in the notes on it under Appendix II.
The same thing is denoted by the combination of the trigrams that form the figure ;—as will be seen in the notes on it under Appendix II.
I have introduced within parentheses, in the translation, the words ‘in the case which the hexagram presupposes.’ It is necessary to introduce them. King W&n and his son wrote, as they did in every hexagram, with reference to.a particular state of affairs which they had in mind. This was the unspoken text which controlled and directed all their writing; and the student must try to get hold of this, if he would make his way with comfort and success through the Yi. Wan saw the social and political world around him in great disorder, hard to be remedied. But he had faith in himself and the destinies of his House. Let there be prudence and caution,
-
¢ with unswerving adherence to the right; let the government of the’
different states be entrusted to good and able men:—then all would be well.
The first line is undivided, showing the strength of its subject. He will be capable of action, and his place in the trigram of mobility will the more dispose him to it. But above him is the
64 THE yf KING. TEXT,
IV. Tue MAnc Hexacram.
M&ng (indicates that in the case which it presupposes) there will be progress and success. I do not (go and) seek the youthful and inexperienced, trigram of peril; and the lowest line of that, to which especially he must look for response and co-operation, is divided and weak. Hence arise the ideas of difficulty in advancing, the necessity of caution, and the advantage of his being clothed with authority.
To the subject of the second line, divided, advance is still more difficult. He is weak in himself; he is pressed by the subject of the strong line below him. But happily that subject, though strong, is correct ; and above in the fifth line, in the place of authority, is the strong one, union with whom and the service of whom should ‘be the objects pursued. All these circumstances suggested to the duke of Kau the idea of a young lady, sought in marriage by a ‘strong wooer, when marriage was unsuitable, rejecting him, and
‘finally, after ten years, marrying a more suitable, the only suitable, ‘ match for her.
The third line is divided, not central, and the number of its place is appropriate to the occupancy ofa strong line. All these things should affect the symbolism of the line. But the outcome of the whole hexagram being good, the superior man sees the imme- diate danger and avoids it.
The subject of the fourth line, the first of the upper trigram, has recourse to the strong suitor of line 1, the first of the lower trigram ; and with his help is able to cope with the difficulties of the position, and go forward.
The subject of the fourth line, the first of the upper trigram, has recourse to the strong suitor of line 1, the first of the lower trigram ; and with his help is able to cope with the difficulties of the position, and go forward.
The subject of the fifth line is in the place of authority, and should show himself a ruler, dispensing benefits on a great scale. But he is in the very centre of the trigram denoting perilousness, and line 2, which responds to 5, is weak. Hence arises the symbolism, and great things should not be attempted.
The sixth line is weak ; the third responding to it is also weak ; it is at the extremity of peril; the game is up. What can remain for its subject in such a case but terror and abject weeping?
SECT. 1. THE MANG HEXAGRAM. 65
but he comes and seeks me. When he shows (the sincerity that marks) the first recourse to divination, I instruct him. If he apply a second and third time, that is troublesome; and I do not instruct the troublesome. There will be advantage in being firm and correct.
1. The first line, divided, (has respect to) the dispelling of ignorance. It will be advantageous to use punishment (for that purpose), and to remove the shackles (from the mind). But going on in that way (of punishment) will give occasion for regret.
2. The second line, undivided, (shows its subject) exercising forbearance with the ignorant, in which there will be good fortune; and admitting (even the goodness of women, which will also be fortunate. (He may be described also as) a son able to (sustain the burden of) his family. .
3. The third line, divided, (seems to say) that one should not marry a woman whose emblem it might be, for that, when she sees a man of wealth, she will not keep her person from him, and in no wise will advantage come from her.
4. The fourth line, divided, (shows its subject as if) bound in chains of ignorance. There will be occasion for regret.
5. The fifth line, divided, shows its subject as a simple lad without experience. There will be good fortune.
6. In the topmost line, undivided, we see one smiting the ignorant (youth). But no advantage
(16) F
66 THE yi KING. TEXT.
will come from doing him an injury. Advantage would come from warding off injury from him.
IV. As Xun shows us plants struggling from beneath the surface, Mang suggests to us the small and undeveloped appearance which they then present; and hence it came to be the symbol of youthful inexperience and ignorance. The object of the hexagram is to show how such a condition should be dealt with by the parent and ruler, whose authority and duty are represented by the second and sixth, the two undivided lines. All between the first and last sentences of the Thwan must be taken as an oracular response received by the party divining on the subject of enlightening the youthfal ignorant. This accounts for its being more than usually enigmatical, and for its being partly rhythmical. See Appendix I, in loc.
All between the first and last sentences of the Thwan must be taken as an oracular response received by the party divining on the subject of enlightening the youthfal ignorant. This accounts for its being more than usually enigmatical, and for its being partly rhythmical. See Appendix I, in loc.
The subject of the first line, weak, and at the bottom of the figure, is in the grossest ignorance. Let him be punished. If punishment avail to loosen the shackles and manacles from the mind, well; if not, and punishment be persevered with, the effect will be bad.
On the subject of the second line, strong, and in the central place, devolves the task of enlightening the ignorant; and we have him discharging it with forbearance and humility. In proof of his generosity, it is said that ‘he receives,’ or learns from, even weak and ignorant women. He appears also as ‘a son’ taking the place of his father.
The third line is weak, and occupies an odd place belonging properly to an undivided line; nor is its place in the centre. All these things give the subject of it so bad a character.
The fourth line is far from both the second and sixth, and can get no help from its correlate,—the first line, weak as itself. What good can be done with or by the subject of it?
The fifth line is in the place of honour, and has for its correlate the strong line in the second place. Being weak in itself, it is taken as the symbol of a simple lad, willing to be taught.
The topmost line is strong, and in the highest place. It is natural, but unwise, in him to use violence in carrying on his educational measures. A better course is suggested to him.
SECT. I. THE HSU HEXAGRAM. 67
V. Tue Hst Hexacram.
Hsii intimates that, with the sincerity which is declared in it, there will be brilliant success. With firmness there will be good fortune; and it will be advantageous to cross the great stream.
1. The first line, undivided, shows its subject waiting in the distant border. It will be well for him constantly to maintain (the purpose thus shown), in which case there will be no error.
2. The second line, undivided, shows its subject waiting on the sand (of the mountain stream). He will (suffer) the small (injury of) being spoken (against), but in the end there will be good fortune.
3. The third line, undivided, shows its subject in the mud (close by the stream). He thereby invites the approach of injury.
4. The fourth line, divided, shows its subject waiting in (the place of) blood. But he will get out of the cavern.
5. The fifth line, undivided, shows its subject waiting amidst the appliances of a feast. Through his firmness and correctness there will be good fortune.
6. The topmost line, divided, shows its subject entered into the cavern. (But) there are three guests coming, without being urged, (to his help).
F 2
68 THE Yi KING. TEXT.
If he receive them respectfully, there will be good fortune in the end.