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Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
1They 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) :-—
21020, 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.
3grass; 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, CH. III. INTRODUCTION. 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”
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
1They 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) :-—
21020, 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.
3grass; 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, CH. III. INTRODUCTION. 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”
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
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