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The month hexagrams of Hu Yigui 胡一桂
I originally wrote this paper (in Dutch) for a friend, but I thought I might as well share it with the community. The article discusses the origin of the month hexagrams as found in Jou Tsung Hwa’s The...
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Message from the London Yijing Society
The Yijing / I Ching (易經 / 周易) has been studied over at-least two millennia and remains today a cryptic text of un-certain origins. Despite being an enigmatic text, it has attracted countless people...
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Zai 災 and its variant in the Shanghai Museum Manuscript of the Yijing
An interesting, personal and meaningful exploration of the character zai 災 and its variant in the Shanghai Museum Manuscript of the Yijing by my good friend Luis Andrade....
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Hexagram 8, line 1
有孚比之.無咎.有孚盈缶.終來有它.吉. About you fu 有孚 see here. Bi 比: ‘assist, support’, ‘join (to support)’, to form a bond to reach a common goal, if necessary in a secondary position, to put yourself 2nd place:...
View ArticleHexagram 8, line 2
比之自內。貞吉。 Bi 比: see line 1. Zi 自: (starting) from: 自天子達於庶人…. From the emperor to the common people… (Mengzi 孟子, Lun Heng etc.) Nei 內: its regular meaning is ‘inside, interior’, but in early texts it...
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比之匪人. Bi 比: see line 1. Fei 匪: ‘without’: 后非眾，罔與守邦… If the sovereign had not the multitude, there would be none to guard the country (for him)… Shujing 書經 (tr. Legge) 析薪如之何、匪斧不克。 取妻如之何、匪媒不得。 How do we...
View ArticleHexagram 8, line 4
外比之。貞吉。 Wai 外: those outside the clan, not related by blood, ‘outsiders’, those with different surname. In oracle bone inscriptions wai was used as a prefix for former kings that were not from the...
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Hexagram 8, line 5
顯比。王用三驅。失前禽。邑人不誡。吉。 Xian 顯: appear, become visible, make public, (to) display, (to) manifest. Also a loan for xin 欣, ‘joyful (appearance)’. Xianbi 顯比 can mean that the alliance is made public. Sanqu...
View ArticleHexagram 8, line 6
比之无首。凶。 Shou 首: head; chief, leader; main points, essentials; the first, the highest. Also ‘towards (direction)’ and loan for dao 道, ‘road, path’ (漢語大詞典). Without a leader or direction, without the...
View ArticleHexagram 9, Judgement
小畜. 亨. 密雲不雨自我西郊。 Xu 畜: accumulate, make it grow in small amounts. According to Lu Deming 陸德明 (556-627) it was originally written as xu 蓄, ‘to store, save, grow’. The top part 艹 of this character is...
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Going back to the source: the manuscripts of Richard Wilhelm (1)
A few months ago publisher AnkhHermes, who publish the Dutch translation of Richard Wilhelm’s Yijing, asked me if I wanted to be the chief editor of the new edition. This new edition will have a new...
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Going back to the source: the manuscripts of Richard Wilhelm (2)
Munich is a beautiful city, especially with the sunny weather that it has today. My mobile informs me that it is 25°C outside but it feels much warmer. When I arrived in Munich, last Monday, it was...
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Going back to the source: the manuscripts of Richard Wilhelm (3)
Wenn die Begriffe nicht richting sind, so stimmen die Worte nicht; Stimmen die Worte nicht, so kommen die Werke nicht zustande… Lunyu, Ch. 13.3, tr. Richard Wilhelm If the terms are not correct the...
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Going back to the source: the manuscripts of Richard Wilhelm (4) – The End
The prospect of spending more than three hours on a train & bus was not very tempting but the journey that I was about to make had been on my wish list for many years and so it became a matter of...
View ArticleHexagram 9, line 1 & 2
Line 1 復自道. 何其咎. 吉. I have struggled for many months with the segmentation of the first sentence, 復自道. I was not sure if I should read it as (1) 復自 – 道, (2) 復 – 自道 or (3) 復 – 自- 道. (1) Fuzi 復自 can mean...
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Hexagram 9, line 3
輿說輻. 夫妻反目. Yu 輿: a chariot, but also the box of the chariot: Shuo 說: loan for tuo 脫, ‘fall off’ or ‘remove’. It also is a loan for shui 税, ‘to stop, to halt’: 蔽芾甘棠、勿翦勿拜、召伯所說。 [This] umbrageous sweet...
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Article 0
EXTRA WORKSHOP! FOUNDATION CHINESE YANG SHENG AND TCM & YJCN are proud to organize a WORKSHOP PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF THE YIJING OR BOOK OF CHANGES AS A TOOL FOR DIAGNOSIS IN CHINESE MEDICINE The...
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My own fanbase
I recently quit Facebook but to stay in contact with my fans I set up my own FB-like environment. If you are a fan of me and my work I invite you to join and participate. There is a forum, you can...
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2-day Yijing Workshop Intensive, New York
If you study the Yijing (I Ching), the Chinese Book of Changes and one or more of the following statements applies to you then this two-day Yijing Workshop Intensive is for you: When I consult the...
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Hexagram 9, line 4
有孚血去. 惕出. 无咎. It has been more than a year since I wrote my last Translation Note. This has mainly to do with one word: punctuation. The original Chinese text does not have any punctuation and for...
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Hexagram 9, line 5
有孚攣如。富以其鄰。 有孚攣如: this sentence also occurs at H61.5. You fu 有孚: see here. Luan 攣: to join, to connect. There are a few dictionaries (like 《新甲骨文編》) who link this character to an oracle bone character...
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Thomas mcClatchie’s “A Translation of the Confucian I Ching or Classic of...
“The task of translating and explaining the works of Pagan Philosophers is by no means easy of accomplishment.” This is how Thomas mcClatchie (1814-1885) starts the Preface to his Yijing translation, A...
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Yijing Workshop Chicago
If you study the Yijing (I Ching), the Chinese Book of Changes and one or more of the following statements applies to you then this Yijing Workshop is for you: When I consult the Yijing I often find...
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Workshop Practical Application of the Book of Changes as a Tool for Diagnosis...
The famous doctor Sun Yikui (ca. 1522-1699) is credited with the words “If you don’t know Yijing, you are inadequate to be called a great physician.” Several doctors in Chinese history used the Yijing...
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Hexagram 9, line 6
既雨既處。尚德載。婦貞厲。月幾望。君子征凶。 Ji 既: on oracle bone and bronze inscriptions used with the meaning of ‘finished, complete, the end, to stop, the final stage’ (Liu Xinglong 劉興隆,《新編甲骨文字典》, p. 299; Ma Rusen 馬如森,...
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A new Yijing website with valuable extra’s
My good friend Ruud Nederveen made a website where you can consult the Yijing and read the text from Wilhelm’s translation. You might think, aren’t there enough of these websites already? But Ruud’s...
View ArticleHexagram 10, Judgment
履虎尾不咥人亨 Lü 履: to step on (something); to walk; to proceed. The Mawangdui text has li 禮, ‘rules of conduct’, which reminds of the Xugua 序卦 line about H10: 物畜然後有禮故受之以履: “When beings thus have 禮, 履 will...
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The 900-800BC hexagram 50 dagger-axe
In 2005 Dong Shan 董珊 from the University of Beijing came across a dagger-axe that was held in a private collection. The axe, dated around 900-800 BC, contains an inscription:...
View ArticleWorkshop San Diego March 2020: Heaven and Humankind Are One: Learn the Magic...
Heaven and Humankind Are One: Using the I Ching to Enhance Your Practice and Personal Life “If you wish to be a great doctor you should be well-versed in I Ching.” –Sun Simiao (581-682) Welcome to the...
View ArticleHexagram 10, line 1
素履往无咎 Su 素: in early texts almost exclusively used as a descriptive adjective: ‘unadorned, plain, not processed or modified’. This also means that what follows it is a noun, an object. We already see...
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Online workshop The Mystery of the Text: Understanding the Words of the Book...
Many users of the Yijing struggle with the text of the oracle: how can you read it in such a way that it always gives a meaningful and relevant answer to the question or situation that you address to...
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Online Workshop ‘The Power of the Hexagrams’: start September 2020
(Click on the picture to hear the text in a video) The Yijing, the Chinese Book of Changes, is a book of divination that is used by thousands of people all over the world. For more than twenty-five...
View ArticleCrossing the great river
In this video we are going to look at the phrase she da chuan 涉大川, ‘cross the great river’ and the early usage of the keywords from this phrase.
View Article‘The Power of the Hexagrams’ course coming up!
In September I’ll start another The Power of the Hexagrams Course! If you agree with one or more of the following statements, then this workshop is for you: – I always find it difficult to...
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Etymology of Chinese characters, meaning and sound components
Me and Lotti a few years ago. Don’t worry, we are still good friends. In my The Mystery of the Text online course I talk about the etymology of Chinese characters, and how the majority of the Chinese...
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Online Workshop ‘The Power of the Hexagrams’: start January 2021
(Click on the picture to hear the text in a video) The Yijing, the Chinese Book of Changes, is a book of divination that is used by thousands of people all over the world. For more than twenty-five...
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Online workshop Heluo Lishu: Life Hexagrams from the Book of Change
The Yijing, the Chinese Book of Change, started as a divination system, and this is how most readers of the book still use it. Hexagrams and their components, along with the text that accompanies them,...
View ArticleEtymology of Chinese characters, meaning and sound components (2)
Lotti replied to my article, and added a message from Hilary as well. I’ll address both Lotti’s reply and Hilary’s message in this video. I choose to reply by video because that is currently easier for...
View ArticleNo regrets: about hui 悔
The character hui 悔 appears many times in the Zhouyi, the core text of the Book of Changes, and is often translated as ‘regret’. A student asked me if I could tell a little bit more about this...
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