Comments on whole hexagrams, individual lines and so on
‘No one can tell me, Nobody knows, Where the wind comes from, Where the wind goes.’ AA Milne, ‘Wind on the Hill’ Xun has to be the most elusive hexagram. It’s awkward to translate (you need one word that means penetrating, interpenetrating, subtly, imperceptibly, gently, submitting…) and really tricky to… Read more »The elusive hexagram 57
Why look for the stories behind the hexagrams? To start with something uncontentious: the people who wrote the Yi had wisdom and intelligence (as well as mind-boggling genius), and were well-informed, and had good reasons for their choices. One of the things they appear to have been well-informed about is… Read more »Myth and legend in hexagrams
The ancient character for jie, the name of Hexagram 40, shows hands with a knife removing a cow’s horn. Perhaps this has to do with a horn implement for prising knots apart – Chinese boys could carry a knot-horn at their belt when they became men – or perhaps simply with… Read more »Hexagram 40, Release
Hexagram 44 is – famously – a tricky one. ‘Coupling, the woman is powerful. Do not take this woman.’ That’s all it says – which is more than enough to give rise to all kinds of ideas. The traditional one is that the woman represents something malevolent, the seductress, power-grabbing… Read more »More on hexagram 44
Lars Bo Christensen has brought out a very interesting new translation of the Zhouyi: Book of Changes – the original core of the I Ching. I should post a full review one of these days (short version: yes, definitely buy it), but for now I just wanted to share something that’s… Read more »Rethinking the Well
Well, here I am getting started teaching week 1 of the I Ching Foundations Class, so it’s hard to think of a better title for a blog post… Oh, I know quite a few things about Yi. I know some of its history and the stories behind its words, and how its… Read more »I don’t know the first thing about the Yi
Here is a remarkable article from Alexa over at the Quotable I Ching, about Hexagram 44 and desire – and, yes, insect bites. Remarkable for how she captures the spirit of the hexagram – and without mentioning the ‘powerful woman’ even once. She says the ‘encounter’ of 44 is like… Read more »Hexagram 44, insect bites and nuclears
