People often ask about the significance of the specific periods of time mentioned in the Yijing. Does this literally mean seven days, or ten years? Very occasionally, it can – but normally, these periods have symbolic value. It’s interesting to see that ‘seven days’ get three mentions in the Yijing:… Read more »Seven days
Why ten years? Years, in the Yijing, usually come in threes. I’ve counted seven mentions of ‘three years’, most of them indicating a long period when something doesn’t happen: 13.3 three years without rising up 29.6 three years without gain 47.1 and 55.6, three years without meeting anyone 53.5 three… Read more »Ten years
Here’s another period of time mentioned three times in the Yijing: ‘Corruption. Creating success from the source.Fruitful to cross the great river.Before the seed day, three days. After the seed day, three days.’ ‘Brightness hidden, flying away,His wings hanging down.The noble one is on the move,For three days, eats nothing,Has… Read more »Three days
People quite often ask me about the Yijing’s vocabulary of periods of time. But as I worked my way through them – seven days, three days, ten years… – I found one that I haven’t been asked about: a whole day. Just like seven days, three days and ten years,… Read more »All day
