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confucius
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Etymology of the ideogram Meng.4
The composition of the ideogram used to describe the third hexagram is assembled from three groups resting on top of each other. On the very top is found the symbol generally attributed to Plants. It here proposes the idea of climbing plants as the ones that would be used to make trellises; that is the vegetable-based cover used to make a shaded area (in the shape of a parasol). It is also commonly used to represent the idea of the strands used to make the braided baskets common throughout Asia. These baskets have a particularity that distinguishes them from the one used in Africa or South-America: they have no bottom. They are designed to rest on the ground, upside-down, and are used to contain small animals sold at the market.
Right under the top symbol is a sign that is very similar to the one used to describe the idea of a Roof; an analogy depicting something that covers. A second stroke is drawn just below it as a suggestion that something is covered by it, contained within.
At the bottom is the symbol that represents exactly what is contained: a Hog. This particular animal has an emphasized importance for the Chinese: it has an essential value when it comes to nutrition but also has a very influential status in Chinese symbolism. For them, the pig represents the domesticated animal whose growth by fattening is the most spectacular and, as such, the primary offering for the cult of the ancestors.
From the animal which is acquired young in order to fatten it comes the representation of a youth with potential, of something tenuous destined to become thick. The fact that it would be covered, as by a roof in this case, proposes the idea of a veiled situation, one not yet lighted by wisdom, of ignorance, as would be the case with a child which has not yet received a proper education.
Confucius
The composition of the ideogram used to describe the third hexagram is assembled from three groups resting on top of each other. On the very top is found the symbol generally attributed to Plants. It here proposes the idea of climbing plants as the ones that would be used to make trellises; that is the vegetable-based cover used to make a shaded area (in the shape of a parasol). It is also commonly used to represent the idea of the strands used to make the braided baskets common throughout Asia. These baskets have a particularity that distinguishes them from the one used in Africa or South-America: they have no bottom. They are designed to rest on the ground, upside-down, and are used to contain small animals sold at the market.
Right under the top symbol is a sign that is very similar to the one used to describe the idea of a Roof; an analogy depicting something that covers. A second stroke is drawn just below it as a suggestion that something is covered by it, contained within.
At the bottom is the symbol that represents exactly what is contained: a Hog. This particular animal has an emphasized importance for the Chinese: it has an essential value when it comes to nutrition but also has a very influential status in Chinese symbolism. For them, the pig represents the domesticated animal whose growth by fattening is the most spectacular and, as such, the primary offering for the cult of the ancestors.
From the animal which is acquired young in order to fatten it comes the representation of a youth with potential, of something tenuous destined to become thick. The fact that it would be covered, as by a roof in this case, proposes the idea of a veiled situation, one not yet lighted by wisdom, of ignorance, as would be the case with a child which has not yet received a proper education.
Confucius