29 January 2015
Hexagram 07, line 6
大君有命開國承家.小人勿用. Dajun 大君: ‘great ruler’, respectful title for the king: 大君若不棄書之力… (…) 惟大君命焉. O great ruler, if you have not forgotten the zealous duty of Shu… (…) It is for you, O great ruler,…
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29 January 2015
大君有命開國承家.小人勿用. Dajun 大君: ‘great ruler’, respectful title for the king: 大君若不棄書之力… (…) 惟大君命焉. O great ruler, if you have not forgotten the zealous duty of Shu… (…) It is for you, O great ruler,…
Read article →11 December 2014
田有禽.利執言.無咎.長子帥師.弟子輿尸.貞凶. Tian 田: ‘to hunt’. You qin 有禽: ‘there is a catch’. These first three characters probably deal with the royal hunt, a theme which is often mentioned in the oracle bone inscriptions,…
Read article →5 December 2014
師左次.無咎. Zuo 左: in its ordinary meaning ‘the left side’, but already on oracle bones used as a loan for zuo 佐, ‘to assist, to help’. and you 佑, ‘to assist, to protect’. The 漢語大詞典 says, ‘用兵則居次方位’:…
Read article →2 December 2014
師或輿尸.凶. Huo 或, ‘there is’. See also hexagram 1, line 4. The regular meanings of huo are ‘perhaps’ and ‘someone’. But in old texts it is often used with the meaning of you 又/有,…
Read article →25 November 2014
在師中.吉.無咎.王三錫命. Ximing 錫命: Appointments granted by the king. Here the king three times grants an appointment. In the Zhouli 周禮 there are nine appointments mentioned, the jiuming 九命, each giving greater awards: [The jiuming 九命 are] an array of…
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