8 March 2014
Hexagram 02, line 6
龍戰于野.其血玄黃. Zhan 戰, ‘battle’ (different from dou 鬥, ‘fight’). A battle of dragons was a bad omen. In the Lun Heng 論衡 it is said, 夏將衰也，二龍戰於庭… When the downfall of the Hsia dynasty was imminent,…
Read article →2018
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8 March 2014
龍戰于野.其血玄黃. Zhan 戰, ‘battle’ (different from dou 鬥, ‘fight’). A battle of dragons was a bad omen. In the Lun Heng 論衡 it is said, 夏將衰也，二龍戰於庭… When the downfall of the Hsia dynasty was imminent,…
Read article →6 March 2014
黃裳. 元吉. Huang chang 黃裳: ‘yellow skirt’. There are different interpretations about the meaning of this phrase. Zheng Xuan 鄭玄 (127-200) says in his commentary to the Yi Li 儀禮: 上士玄裳，中士黄裳，下士杂裳。杂裳者，前玄后黄 A senior serviceman…
Read article →5 March 2014
括囊. 無咎無譽. Kuo nang 括囊: a tied up large sack, probably made from leather, with a bottom (instead of a sack without a bottom, which has to be tied on both sides).…
Read article →4 March 2014
含章可貞, 或從王事, 无成有終. Hanzhang 含章: the same phrase occurs at H44-5. Han 含 means ‘to keep in the mouth; to hide, conceal’. The Shanghai MSS manuscript has [玉+欦], which might be related to yin 㱃,…
Read article →3 March 2014
First line 履霜堅冰至. Thread on frost: hard ice comes. Second line 直方大.不習無不利. See for zhi 直, ‘to receive’ and other meanings this page. See also Scott Barnwell’s excellent article about de 德, The Evolution of…
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