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Chapter I. 1. The eight trigrams having been completed in their proper order, there were in each the (three) emblematic lines. They were then
multiplied by a process of addition till the (six) component lines appeared.
2. The strong line and the weak push themselves each into the place of the other, and hence the changes (of the diagrams) take place. The appended explanations attach to every form of them its character (of good or ill), and hence the movements (suggested by divination) are determined accordingly.
3. Good fortune and ill, occasion for repentance or regret, all arise from these movements.
4. The strong and the weak (lines) have their fixed and proper places (in the diagrams); their changes, however varied, are according to the requirements of the time (when they take place).
5. Good fortune and ill are continually prevailing each against the other by an exact rule.
6. By the same rule, heaven and earth, in their course, continually give forth (their lessons); the sun and moon continually emit their light; all the movements under the sky are constantly subject to this one and the same rule.
7. Khien, (the symbol of heaven, and) conveying the idea of strength, shows to men its easy (and natural) action. Khwăn, (the symbol of earth, and) conveying the idea of docility, shows to men its compendious (receptivity and operation).
8. The Yâo (or lines) are imitative representations of this. The Hsiang, or emblematic figures, are pictorial representations of the same.
9. The movements of the lines and figures take place (at the hand of the operator), and are unseen; the good fortune or ill is seen openly and is beyond. The work to be done appears by the changes; the sympathies of the sages are seen in their explanations.
10. The great attribute of heaven and earth is the giving and maintaining life. What is most precious for the sage is to get the (highest) place--(in which he can be the human representative of heaven and earth). What will guard this position for him? Men. How shall he collect a large population round him? By the power of his wealth. The right administration of that wealth, correct instructions to the people, and prohibitions against wrong-doing;--these constitute his righteousness.
Chapter II. 11. Anciently, when Pâo-hsî had come to the rule of all under heaven, looking up, he contemplated the brilliant forms exhibited in the sky, and looking down he surveyed the patterns shown on the earth. He contemplated the ornamental appearances of birds and beasts and the (different) suitabilities of the soil. Near at hand, in his own person, he found things for consideration, and the same at a distance, in things in general. On this he devised the eight trigrams, to show fully the
attributes of the spirit-like and intelligent (operations working secretly), and to classify the qualities of the myriads of things.
12. He invented the making of nets of various kinds by knitting strings, both for hunting and fishing. The idea of this was taken, probably, from Lî (the third trigram, and thirtieth hexagram).
13. On the death of Pâo-hsî, there arose Shăn-năng (in his place). He fashioned wood to form the share, and bent wood to make the plough-handle. The advantages of ploughing and weeding were then taught to all under heaven. The idea of this was taken, probably, from Yî (the forty-second hexagram).
14. He caused markets to be held at midday, thus bringing together all the people, and assembling in one place all their wares. They made their exchanges and retired, every one having got what he wanted. The idea of this was taken, probably, from Shih Ho (the twenty-first hexagram).
15. After the death of Shăn-năng, there arose Hwang Tî, Yâo, and Shun. They carried through the (necessarily occurring) changes, so that the people did (what was required of them) without being wearied; yea, they exerted such a spirit-like transformation, that the people felt constrained to approve their (ordinances) as right. When a series of changes has run all its course, another change ensues. When it obtains free course, it will continue long. Hence it was that 'these (sovereigns) were helped by Heaven; they had good fortune, and their every movement was advantageous.' Hwang Tî, Yâo, and Shun (simply) wore their upper and
lower garments (as patterns to the people), and good order was secured all under heaven. The idea of all this was taken, probably, from Khien and Khwăn (the first and eighth trigrams, or the first and second hexagrams).
16. They hollowed out trees to form canoes; they cut others long and thin to make oars. Thus arose the benefit of canoes and oars for the help of those who had no means of intercourse with others. They could now reach the most distant parts, and all under heaven were benefited. The idea of this was taken., probably, from Hwân (the fifty-ninth hexagram).
17. They used oxen (in carts) and yoked horses (to chariots), thus providing for the carriage of what was heavy, and for distant journeys,--thereby benefiting all under the sky. The idea of this was taken, probably, from Sui (the seventeenth hexagram).
18. They made the (defence of the) double gates, and (the warning of) the clapper, as a preparation against the approach of marauding visitors. The idea of this was taken, probably, from Yü (the sixteenth hexagram).
19. They cut wood and fashioned it into pestles; they dug in the ground and formed mortar's. Thus the myriads of the people received the benefit arising from the use of the pestle and mortar. The idea of this was taken, probably, from Hsiâo Kwo (the sixty-second hexagram).
20. They bent wood by means of string so as to form bows, and sharpened wood so as to make arrows. This gave the benefit of bows and arrows, and served to produce everywhere a feeling of awe.
[paragraph continues] The idea of this was taken, probably, from Khwei (the thirty-eighth hexagram).
21. In the highest antiquity they made their homes (in winter) in caves, and (in summer) dwelt in the open country. In subsequent ages, for these the sages substituted houses, with the ridge-beam above and the projecting roof below, as a provision against wind and rain. The idea of this was taken, probably, from Tâ Kwang (the thirty-fourth hexagram).
22. When the ancients buried their dead, they covered the body thickly with pieces of wood, having laid it in the open country. They raised no mound over it, nor planted trees around; nor had they any fixed period for mourning. In subsequent ages the sages substituted for these practices the inner and outer coffins. The idea of this was taken, probably, from Tâ Kwo (the twenty-eighth hexagram).
23. In the highest antiquity, government was carried on successfully by the use of knotted cords (to preserve the memory of things). In subsequent ages the sages substituted for these written characters and bonds. By means of these (the doings of) all the officers could be regulated, and (the affairs of) all the people accurately examined. The idea of this was taken, probably, from Kwâi (the forty-third hexagram).
Chapter III. 24. Therefore what we call the Yî is (a collection of) emblematic lines. They are styled emblematic as being resemblances.
25. What we call the Thwan (or king Wăn's explanations) are based on the significance (of each hexagram as a whole).
26. We call the lines (of the figures) Yâo from their being according to the movements taking place all under the sky.
27. In this way (we see) the rise of good fortune and evil, and the manifestation of repentance and regret.
Chapter IV. 28. In the Yang trigrams (or those of the undivided line) there are more of the Yin lines, and in the Yin trigrams (or those of the divided line) there are more of the Yang lines.
29. What is the cause of this? It is because the Yang lines are odd (or made by one stroke), and the Yin lines are even (or. made by two strokes).
30. What (method of) virtuous conduct is thus intimated? In the Yang trigrams we have one ruler, and two subjects,--suggesting the way of the superior man. In the Yin trigrams we have two rulers, and one subject,--suggesting the way of the small man.
Chapter V. 31. It is said in the Yî, 'Full of anxious thoughts you go and come; (only) friends will follow you and think with you.' The Master said:--'In all (the processes taking place) under heaven, what is there of thinking? what is there of anxious scheming? They all come to the same (successful) issue, though by different paths; there is one result, though there might be a hundred anxious schemes. What is there of thinking? what is there of anxious scheming?'
32. The sun goes and the moon comes; the moon goes and the sun comes;--the sun and moon thus take the place each of the other, and their shining is the result. The cold goes and the heat comes; the heat goes and the cold comes;--it is by this mutual succession of the cold and heat that the year is completed. That which goes becomes less and less, and that which comes waxes more and more;--it is by the influence on each other of this contraction and expansion that the advantages (of the different conditions) are produced.
33. When the looper coils itself up, it thereby straightens itself again; when worms and snakes
go into the state of hybernation, they thereby keep themselves alive. (So), when we minutely investigate the nature and reasons (of things), till we have entered into the inscrutable and spirit-like in them, we attain to the largest practical application of them; when that application becomes the quickest and readiest, and all personal restfulness is secured, our virtue is thereby exalted.
34. Going on beyond this, we reach a point which it is hardly possible to know. We have thoroughly comprehended the inscrutable and spirit-like, and know the processes of transformation;--this is the fulness of virtue.
35. It is said in the Yî, '(The third line shows its subject) distressed before a rock, and trying to lay hold of thorns; entering into his palace and not seeing his wife:--there will be evil.' The Master said:--'If one be distressed by what need not distress him, his name is sure to be disgraced; if he lay hold on what he should not touch, his life is sure to be imperilled. In disgrace and danger, his death will (soon) come;--is it possible for him in such circumstances to see his wife?'
36. It is said in the Yî, 'The duke with (his bow) shoots at the falcon on the top of the high wall; he hits it:--his every movement will be advantageous.' The Master said:--'The falcon is a bird (of prey); the bow and arrow is a weapon (of war); the shooter is a man. The superior man keeps his weapon concealed about his person, and waits for the proper time to move;--doing this, how should his movement be other than successful? There is nothing to fetter or embarrass his movement; and hence, when he comes forth, he succeeds in his object.
[paragraph continues] The language speaks of movement when the instrument necessary to it is ready and perfect.'
37. The Master said:--'The small man is not ashamed of what is not benevolent, nor does he fear to do what is not righteous. Without the prospect of gain he does not stimulate himself to what is good, nor does he correct himself without being moved. Self-correction, however, in what is small will make him careful in what would be of greater consequence;--and this is the happiness of the small man. It is said in the Yî, "His feet are in the stocks, and he is disabled in his toes:--there will be no (further) occasion for blame."'
38. If acts of goodness be not accumulated, they are not sufficient to give its finish to one's name; if acts of evil be not accumulated, they are not sufficient to destroy one's life. The small man thinks that small acts of goodness are of no benefit, and does not do them; and that small deeds of evil do no harm, and does not abstain from them. Hence his wickedness becomes great till it cannot be covered, and his guilt becomes great till it cannot be pardoned. This is what the Yî says, 'He wears the cangue and his ears are destroyed:--there will be evil.'
39. The Master said:--'He who keeps danger in mind is he who will rest safe in his seat; he who keeps ruin in mind is he who will preserve his interests secure; he who sets the danger of disorder before him is he who will maintain the state of order. Therefore the superior man, when resting in safety, does not forget that danger may come; when in a state of security, he does not forget the possibility of ruin; and when all is in a state of order, he does not
forget that disorder may come. Thus his person is kept safe, and his states and all their clans can be preserved. This is according to what the Yî says, "(Let him say), 'Shall I perish? shall I perish?' (so shall this state be firm, as if) bound to a clump of bushy mulberry trees."'
40. The Master said:--'Virtue small and office high; wisdom small and plans great; strength small and burden heavy:--where such conditions exist, it is seldom that they do not end (in evil). As is said in the Yî, "The tripod's feet are overthrown, and the ruler's food is overturned. The body of him (who is thus indicated) is wet (with shame):there will be evil."'
41. The Master said:--'Does not he who knows the springs of things possess spirit-like wisdom? The superior man, in his intercourse with the high, uses no flattery, and, in his intercourse with the low, no coarse freedom:--does not this show that he knows the springs of things? Those springs are the slight beginnings of movement, and the earliest indications of good fortune (or ill). The superior man sees them, and acts accordingly without waiting for (the delay of) a single day. As is said in the Yî, "He is firm as a rock, (and acts) without the delay of a single day. With firm goodness there will be good fortune." Firm as a rock, how should he have to wait a single day to ensure his knowing (those springs and his course)? The superior man knows the minute and the manifested; he knows what is weak, and what is strong:--he is a model to ten thousand.'
42. The Master said:--'I may venture to say that the son of the Yen family had nearly attained (the
standard of perfection). If anything that he did was not good, he was sure to become conscious of that; and when he knew it, he did not do the thing again. As is said in the Yî, "(The first line shows its subject) returning from an error that has not led him far away. There is no occasion for repentance. There will be great good."'
43. There is an intermingling of the genial influences of heaven and earth, and transformation in its various forms abundantly proceeds. There is an intercommunication of seed between male and female, and transformation in its living types proceeds. What is said in the Yî, 'Three individuals are walking together and one is made to disappear; there is (but) one man walking, and he gets his mate,' tells us of the effort (in nature) at oneness (of operation).
44. The Master said:--'The superior man (in a high place) composes himself before he (tries to) move others; makes his mind restful and easy before he speaks; settles (the principles of) his intercourse with others before he seeks anything from them. The superior man cultivates these three things, and so is complete. If he try to move others while he is himself in unrest, the people will not (act) with him; if he speak while he is himself in a state of apprehension, the people will not respond to him; if without (certain principles of) intercommunication, he issue his requests, the people will not grant them. When there are none to accord with him, those who (work to) injure him will make their appearance. As is said in the Yî, "(We see one) to whose advantage none will contribute, while some will seek to assail him. He observes no
regular rule in the ordering of his heart:--there will be evil."'
Chapter VI. 45. The Master said:--'(The trigrams) Khien and Khwăn may be regarded as the gate of the Yî.' Khien represents what is of the yang nature (bright and active); Khwăn what is of the yin nature (shaded and inactive). These two unite according to their qualities, and there comes the embodiment of the result by the strong and weak (lines). In this way we have the phenomena of heaven and earth visibly exhibited, and can comprehend the operation of the spiritual intelligence.
46. The appellations and names (of the diagrams and lines) are various, but do not go beyond (what is to be ascribed to the operation of these two conditions). When we examine the nature and style
[paragraph continues] (of the appended explanations), they seem to express the ideas of a decaying age.
47. The Yî exhibits the past, and (teaches us to) discriminate (the issues of) the future; it makes manifest what is minute, and brings to light what is obscure. (Then king Wăn) opened (its symbols), and distinguished things in accordance with its names, so that all his words were correct and his explanations decisive;--(the book) was now complete.
48. The appellations and names (of the diagrams and lines) are but small matters, but the classes of things comprehended under them are large. Their scope reaches far, and the explanations attached to them are elegant. The words are indirect, but to the point; the matters seem plainly set forth, but there is a secret principle in them. Their object is, in cases that are doubtful, to help the people in their conduct, and to make plain the recompenses of good and evil.
Chapter VII. 49. Was it not in the middle period of antiquity that the Yî began to flourish? Was not he who made it familiar with anxiety and calamity?
50. Therefore (the 10th diagram), Lî, shows us the foundation of virtue; (the 15th), Hsien, its handle; (the 24th), Fû, its root; (the 32nd), Hăng, its solidity; (the 41st), Sun, its cultivation; (the 42nd), Yî, its abundance; (the 47th), Khwăn, its exercise of discrimination; (the 48th), Žing, its field and (the 57th), Sun, its regulation.
51. In Lî we have the perfection of harmony; in Hsien, we have the giving honour to others,
and the distinction thence arising; in Fû we have what is small (at first), but there is in it a (nice) discrimination of (the qualities of) things; in Ming we have a mixed experience, but without any weariness; in Sun we have difficulty in the beginning and ease in the end; in Yî we have abundance of growth without any contrivance; in Khwăn we have the pressure of extreme difficulty, ending in a free course,; in Žing we have abiding in one's place and at the same time removal (to meet the movement of others); and in Sun we have the weighing of things (and action accordingly), but secretly and unobserved.
52. (The use of) Lî appears in the harmony of the conduct; of Hsien, in the regulation of ceremonies; of Fû, in self-knowledge; of Hăng, in uniformity of virtue; of Sun, in keeping what is harmful at a distance; of Yî, in the promotion of what is advantageous; of Khwăn, in the diminution of resentments; of Žing, in the discrimination of what is righteous; and of Sun, in the doing of what is appropriate to time and to circumstances.
Chapter VIII. 53. The Yî is a book which should not be let slip from the mind. Its method (of teaching) is marked by the frequent changing (of its lines). They change and move without staying (in one place), flowing about into any one of the six places of the hexagram. They ascend and descend, ever inconstant. The strong and the weak lines change places, so that an invariable and compendious rule cannot be derived from them;--it must vary as their changes indicate.
54. The goings forth and comings in (of the lines) are according to rule and measure. (People) learn from them in external and internal affairs to stand in awe.
55. (The book), moreover, makes plain the nature of anxieties and calamities, and the causes of them. Though (its students) have neither master nor guardian, it is as if their parents drew near to them.
56. Beginning with taking note of its explanations, we reason out the principles to which they point. We thus find out that it does supply a constant and standard rule. But if there be not the Proper men (to carry this out), the course cannot be pursued without them.
Chapter IX. 57. The Yî is a book in which the form (of each diagram) is determined by the lines from the first to the last, which must be carefully observed. The six lines are mixed together, according to the time (when they enter the figure) and their substance (as whole and divided).
58. There is difficulty in knowing (the significance of) the first line, while to know that of the topmost line is easy;--they form the beginning and the end (of the diagram). The explanation of the first line tasks the calculating (of the makers), but in the end they had (but) to complete this.
59. As to the variously-disposed intermediate lines with their diverse formations, for determining their qualities, and discriminating the right and wrong in them, we should be unprovided but for the explanations of them.
60. Yea, moreover, if we wish to know what is likely to be preserved and what to perish, what will be lucky and what will be unlucky, this may easily be known (from the explanations of the different lines). But if the wise will look at the explanations of the entire diagrams, their thoughts will embrace more than half of this knowledge.
61. The second and fourth lines are of the same
quality (as being in even places), but their positions (with respect to the fifth line) are different, and their value is not the same; but the second is the object of much commendation, and the fourth the subject of many apprehensions,--from its nearness (to that line). But for a line in a place of weakness it is not good to be far (from the occupant of the place of strength), and what its subject should desire in such a case is (merely) to be without blame. The advantage (here) is in (the second line) being in the central place.
62. The third and fifth lines are of the same quality, (as being in odd places), but their positions are different; and the (occupant of) the third meets with many misfortunes, while the occupant of the fifth achieves much merit:--this arises from one being in the noble position and the other in the mean. Are they occupied by the symbol of weakness? There will be peril. By that of strength? There will be victory.
Chapter X. 63. The Yî is a book of wide comprehension and great scope, embracing everything. There are in it the way of heaven, the way of man, and the way of earth. It then takes (the lines representing) those three Powers, and doubles them till they amount to six. What these six lines show is simply this,--the way of the three Powers.
64. This way is marked by changes and movements, and hence we have the imitative lines. Those lines are of different grades (in the trigrams), and hence we designate them from their component elements. These are mixed together, and elegant forms arise. When such forms are not in their appropriate places, the ideas of good fortune and bad are thus produced.
Chapter XI. 65. Was it not in the last age of Yin, when the virtue of Kâu had reached its highest point, and during the troubles between king Wăn and (the tyrant) Kâu, that the (study of the Yî) began to flourish? On this account the explanations (in the book) express (a feeling of) anxious apprehension, (and teach) how peril may be turned into security, and easy carelessness is sure to meet with overthrow. The method in which these things come about is very comprehensive, and must be acknowledged in every sphere of things. If at the beginning there be a cautious apprehension as to the end, there will probably be no error or cause for blame. This is what is called the way of the Yî.
Chapter XII. 66. (The hexagram) Khien represents the strongest of all under the sky. Through this quality its operations are always manifested with ease, for it knows where there would be peril and embarrassment. (The hexagram) Khwăn represents the most docile of all under the sky. Through this quality its operations are always manifested with the promptest decision, for it knows where there would be obstruction.
67. (The sages, who are thus represented, and who made the Yî,) were able to rejoice in heart (in the absolute truth of things), and were able (also) to weigh carefully all matters that could occasion anxiety; (thus) they fixed the good and bad fortune (of all things) under the sky, and could accomplish the things requiring strenuous efforts.
68. Therefore amid the changes and transformations (taking place in heaven and earth), and the words and deeds of men, events that are to be fortunate have their happy omens. (The sages) knew the definite principles underlying the prognostications of the former class, and the future of
those of the latter, (now to be) ascertained by divination.
69. The places of heaven and earth (in the diagrams) having been determined, the sages were able (by means of the Yî) to carry out and complete their ability. (In this way even) the common people were able to share with them in (deciding about) the counsels of men and the counsels of spiritual beings.
70. The eight trigrams communicate their information by their emblematic figures. The explanations appended to the lines and the completed figures tell how the contemplation of them affected (the makers). The strong and the weak lines appear mixed in them, and (thus) the good and the evil (which they indicate) can be seen.
71. The changes and movements (which take place in the manipulation of the stalks and the formation of the diagrams) speak as from the standpoint of what is advantageous. The (intimations of) good and evil vary according to the place and nature (of the lines). Thus they may indicate a mutual influence (in any two of them) of love or hatred, and good or evil is the result; or that mutual influence may be affected by the nearness of the lines to, or their distance from, each other, and then repentance or regret is the result; or the influence may be that of truth or of hypocrisy, and then the result is what is advantageous, or what is injurious. In all these relations of the (lines in the) Yî, if two are near and do not blend harmoniously, there may be (all these results),--evil, or what is injurious, or occasion for repentance and regret.
72. The language of him who is meditating a
revolt (from the right) betrays his inward shame; that of him whose inward heart doubts about it diverges to other topics. The words of a good man are few; those of a coarse man are many. The words of one who slanders what is good are unsubstantial;
those of him who is losing what he ought to keep are crooked.
381:I Chapter I, paragraphs 1-10, is an amplification, according to Khung Ying-tâ and the editors of the imperial edition of the present dynasty, of the second chapter of Section i. The latter say that as all the chapters of Section i from the third onwards serve to elucidate chapter 2, so it is with this chapter and all that follow in this Section. The formation of the diagrams, and of their several lines, their indication of good fortune and bad, and the analogy between the processes of nature and the operations of divination, and other kindred subjects, are all touched on.
The order of the eight trigrams in paragraph 1, is khien, tui, p. 381 lî, kăn, sun, khan, kăn, khwăn. The three lines of each are emblematic,--the first of heaven, the second of man, the third of earth. This is the most likely explanation of hsiang, 'the emblems' or 'similitudes' here. Why the maker--'sages'--stopt at sixty-four figures, of six lines each, is a question that cannot be answered.
Paragraph 2. Of course it was a great delusion to suppose that the changes of lines consequent on divination could be so connected with the movements of life as to justify the characterising them as good or evil, or afford any guidance in the ordering of conduct.
Paragraph 4. Who can tell 'the requirements of the time' amid the complexity of the phenomena of nature or the ever-varying events of human experience and history? The wiser men are, the more correct will be their judgments in such matters; but is there any reason for trusting to divination about them?
Paragraphs 5, 6. It is difficult to say what is 'the exact rule' intended here; unless it be that the factors in every movement shall act according to their proper nature. The Khang-hsî editors say:--'We see the good sometimes meeting with misfortune, and the bad with good fortune; but such is not the general rule.' 'The lessons that heaven and earth give forth' are those concerning the method of their operation as stated in paragraph 7, and more fully in 6, 7, 8 of Section i.
What is said in paragraph 10 is striking and important, and in harmony with the general strain of Confucian teaching;--as in the Great Learning, chapter 10, and many other places; but I fail to see its appropriateness in its present place in the Yî.
385:II Chapter II, paragraphs 11-23, treats of the progress. of civilisation in China, and how the great men of antiquity who led the way in the various steps of that progress were guided by the Yî. Only five of these are mentioned;--the first, Fû-hsî, the beginning of whose reign, according to the least unlikely of the chronological accounts, must be placed in the 34th century B. C., while Shun's p. 386 reign ended in B. C. 2203. The time embraced in this chapter therefore is about twelve centuries and a half. But the writer gives his own opinion that the various discoveries and inventions mentioned were suggested to their authors by certain hexagrams of the Yî. The most commonly received view, however, is that Fû-hsî had only the eight trigrams, and that the multiplication of them to the 64 hexagrams was the work of king Wăn, fully a thousand years later than Shun. This is the view of the editors of the imperial Yî. If it be contended that Fû-hsî himself multiplied his trigrams, and gave their names to the resulting hexagrams, how could he have wrapped tip in them the intimations of discoveries which were not made till many centuries after his death? The statements in the chapter cannot be received as historical. It came from another hand, and not from Confucius himself. The writer or compiler gives the legends current about the various inventions of his time. The making of the trigrams is placed first of all to do honour to the Yî. The account of it is different from that given in paragraph 73 of the former Section, and we hear nothing of the Ho map or Lo writing.
Paragraph 11. Pâo-hsî here and in 13 is the same as Fû-hsî. As Pâo is written here, there is no meaning in it; but another character Phâo (
) is more common, and Phâo-hsî would mean the inventor of the kitchen and cookery. This was the first step towards civilisation, and was appropriately followed by the hunting and fishing--both by means of nets--in paragraph 12.
Paragraphs 13, 14 celebrate the work of Shăn-năng, 'the marvellous or spirit-like husbandman.' There was no metal about the primitive plough. The market for the exchange of commodities, without the use of coin, was an important advance.
The invention of the robes, or of dress, mentioned in paragraph 15, would seem to show that previously men had been in a very rude state. The passage indicates, however, the courtesies and proprieties of social life, in which dress plays an important part, and which now began to be organised.
The infant navigation in paragraph 16 was as little indebted to the use of metal as the agriculture of 13.
Paragraphs 17 and 18 show that in those primitive times there p. 387 were already the practices of rapine and war. 'The double gates' were those of the city wall, and of the enclosed suburb. The clapper may still be heard all over China. Bows and arrows, however, came rather later, as in 20.
I suppose 'the sages' in paragraphs 21, 22, 23 refer generally to the great names mentioned in the previous chapters; nor can we define the distinction in the writer or compiler's mind between 'antiquity' and 'the highest antiquity.' Compare what is said on the rise of the coffin in 22 with Mencius' remarks on the same subject in Book III, ii, 5. 4. He would hardly have expressed himself as he did, if he had been familiar with this text. The invention of written characters is generally ascribed to Fû-hsî. Paragraph 23 does not say so, but the inventor is said to have been a sage of a subsequent age to the time of 'high antiquity.' That 'high antiquity' must stretch back very far.
387:III Chapter III, paragraphs 24-27, treats of the Yî as made up of figurative diagrams, which again are composed of lines ever changing, in accordance with the phenomena of nature and human experience, while to the resulting figures their moral character and providential issues are appended by the sages. It may be regarded as an epitome of chapter 2 in Section i.
Paragraph 24. It is observed by the editors of the imperial edition that a chapter should not begin with a 'therefore;' and they are inclined to agree with many critics who would enter this as the last paragraph of the preceding chapter. In that case it would be a summing-up of the concluding sentences of the different paragraphs, the truth and genuineness of which are deservedly suspected. The characters for 'therefore,' however, are very loosely used in these Appendixes.--The lines, as they were intended by p. 388 Fû-hsî, were emblematic; and they are still more so, as interpreted by the duke of Kâu. Meanings are drawn from the figures that resemble or illustrate principles in the subjects to which they are applied.
Paragraph 25. The character rendered 'the significance' means materials, and is illustrated by reference to all the different materials out of which a house is composed. So there are half-a-dozen things about the diagrams, their lineal structure, emblematic intention, their attributes, &c., out of which their interpretation is fashioned.
Paragraph 26. E.g. an undivided line may appear in an odd place, which is right, or in an even place, which is wrong; and the case is the opposite with the divided lines. But what has this to do with the right or wrong of the events divined about?
388:IV Chapter IV, paragraphs 28-30. Of the distinction of the trigrams into Yang and Yin.
The trigrams that contain only one undivided line--kăn (
), khan (
), and kăn (
)--are called Yang. The undivided line is called 'the lord' in them. It is just the opposite with the Yin trigrams, in which there are two undivided lines, and one divided,--sun (
), lî (
), and tui (
). These together constitute the 'six children,' or 'three p. 389 sons' and 'three daughters' in the later arrangement of the trigrams, ascribed to king Wăn.
Paragraph 29. Each part of the divided line counts as one hence a yang trigram counts as 1 + 2 + 2 = 5 strokes, four of which are yin, while a yin trigram counts as 2 + 1 + 1 = 4, only two of which are yang. But this is mere trifling.
In explanation of paragraph 30 it is said that 'we have in the yang trigrams two (or more) subjects serving one ruler, and in the yin one subject serving two rulers, and two rulers striving together for the allegiance of one Subject.' This is ingenious, but fanciful; as indeed this distinction of the trigrams into a yang class and a yin is a mere play of fancy.
394:V Chapter V, paragraphs 31-44, gives the words of the duke of Kâu on eleven different lines in the Text of the Yî, along with remarks of Confucius in farther illustration of them. But they seem also to be intended to bring forth more fully the meaning of certain previous utterances about the structure and scope of the Yî.
Paragraphs 31-34 start from the fourth line of the 31st hexagram, which would seem merely to require a steady and unvarying purpose in any one, in order to the full development of his influence. The editors of the imperial edition, however, make the whole a sequel of paragraph 5. But granted that there is no 'anxious scheming' in the processes of the natural world or in the phenomena of insect life, there is really no analogy to their proceedings in the course of the man who makes himself master of 'the nature and reasons of things,' as described in 33 and 34. Nor are 'the nature and reasons of things' to be found in the Yî, as the writer believed they were. Such as it is, it requires immense thought to understand it, and when we have laid hold of it, there is nothing substantial in our grasp. The 'virtue' predicated of such attainment is not so much moral excellence, as apprehension and the power and ability to invent, and to affect others.
Paragraph 35. See on the third line of Khwăn, the 47th hexagram. If we were to translate the explanations of the line after Confucius, we should put the first two statements hypothetically; but the four that compose it seem to run on in the same way. They are all, I apprehend, hypothetical.
Paragraph 36. See on the last line of Kieh, the 40th hexagram.
Paragraph 37. See on the first line of Shih Ho, the 21st hexagram. The 'self-correction in what is small' implies of course that the small man has been 'awed.' What is said about him here is true; but we hardly expect it in this place.
Paragraph 38 should probably begin, like those before and after it, with 'The Master said.' The characters quoted from the Yî are again from the text of Shih Ho, on the last line.
Paragraph 39. See on the fifth line of Phî, the 12th hexagram.
Paragraph 40 gives Confucius' views on the fourth line of Ting, the 50th hexagram.
In paragraph 41 we are conducted to the 16th 'hexagram,--the p. 395 second line of it. The being 'firm as a rock' is understood to symbolise the state of 'rest,' the quiet self-possession out of which successful movement and action is understood to spring.
In paragraph 42, 'the son of the Yen family' is Yen Hui, the favourite disciple of Confucius. The passage quoted from the Yî is that on the first line of Fû, the 24th hexagram.
To paragraph 43, as to paragraph 38, I would prefix the characters for 'The Master said.' 'Male and female' is to be taken generally, and not confined to the individuals of the human pair. One Chinese writer says that in the transformations ascribed to heaven and earth, birds, fishes, animals, and plants are included, but from the 'transformation in its living types' plants are excluded, because in their generation there is nothing analogous to the emission and reception of seed. Other Chinese writers, however, are well enough acquainted with the sexual system of plants. It would seem to me that Confucius, if the paragraph were really his, intended only plants or the vegetable world in his reference to the operation of heaven and earth, and had all living tribes in view in his mention of male and female. The passage of the Yî referred to is on the third line of Sun, the 41st hexagram. The application of it is far-fetched.
Paragraph 44. See on the fifth line of Yî, the 42nd hexagram.
396:VI The principal object, it is said, of chapter VI, paragraphs 45-48, is to set forth the views of king Wăn and his son in the explanations which they appended to the diagrams and lines; and in doing this the writer begins in 45, with Fû-hsî's starting, in the formation of his eight trigrams, from the devising of the whole and divided lines, to represent the two primitive forms in nature. The two 'pure' trigrams formed of these lines, unmixed, give rise to all the others, or rather the lines of which they are formed do so; and are thus compared to a gate by which the various diagrams enter to complete the system that is intended to represent the changing phenomena of nature and experience. The next sentence in the above version of paragraph 45 appears in Canon McClatchie's translation of the Yî, as follows:--'Khien is the membrum virile, and Khwăn is the pudendum muliebre (the sakti of Khien).' It is, hardly possible, on reading such a version, to suppress the exclamation proh pudor! Can a single passage be adduced in support of it from among all the Chinese critics in the p. 397 line of centuries? I believe not. The ideas which it expresses are gratuitously and wantonly thrust into this text of the Yî. 'Khien' and 'Khwăn' are not spoken of thus. If the latter half of the paragraph be unintelligible, this interpretation of the former would make the whole disgusting.
In paragraph 46 the writer passes from the work of Fû-hsî to that of king Wăn and his son, and the composition of the written Yî is referred to 'a decaying age,'--the age, namely, of the tyrant Eau. Then king Wan and the duke of Kâu, it is said, deploring the degeneracy of their times and the enormities of the government, indicated, by their treatment of the ancient symbols, their sense of right and wrong, and the methods by which the prevailing evils might be rectified.
Paragraphs 47 and 48 follow and expand the meaning of 45. The editors of the imperial edition say that the former sentence of 47 is the sequel of 45, and the latter of 46, bringing us finally to the explanations and decisions of king Wăn, as the most important portion of the Yî. Kû Hsî, moreover, observes that throughout the chapter, as well as in the chapters that follow, there must be many characters wanting in the text, while there are many also that are doubtful. This is specially the case with 48. Where the order of the characters has been disarranged merely, correction is easy; but where characters are evidently missing, attempts to fill the lacunae are merely guess-work.
398:VII Chapter VII, paragraphs 49-52, is occupied with nine hexagrams, as specially indicating how the superior man, or the ruler, should deal with a time of trouble and solicitude, specially by the cultivation of his own virtue. Not, we are told, that the same thing might not be learned from other diagrams, but these nine specially occurred to the writer, or, as many think, to Confucius.
Paragraph 49 is important as agreeing in its testimony with 46. The Yî was made in middle-antiquity; that is, in the end of the Shang dynasty, and the rise of the Kâu; and the maker or makers had personal and public reasons for anxiety about the signs of the times.
Paragraph 50 shows the particular phase of virtue in each of the nine hexagrams that are mentioned; 51, the marvellous characteristics p. 399 of each phase; and 52, its use. The 'therefore' with which paragraph 50 commences shows the process of thought by which the writer passed from the anxiety that possessed the mind of the author of the Yî to the use to be derived, in such circumstances, from the study of Lî and the other hexagrams.
399:VIII Chapter VIII, paragraphs 53-56, describes the method of studying the Yî as consisting very much in watching the changes that take place in the lines, and reflecting on the appended explanations; while, after all, much must depend on there being 'the proper men,' to carry its lessons into practice. p. 400 There seems to be a contradiction between the statements in paragraphs 53 and 56 about the book supplying, and not supplying, a standard rule; but the meaning, probably, is that while it does not give a rule generally applicable, it gives rules for particular cases.
Kû Hsî says he does not understand 54, and thinks some characters must have been lost. 'The six places of the hexagram' in 53 are, literally, 'the six empties.' The places are so called, because it is only a temporary possession of them, which is held by the fugitive lines, whether whole or divided.
401:IX Chapter IX, paragraphs 56-62, speaks of the hexagrams as made up of the different lines, and various things to be attended to in those lines to determine their meaning.
Paragraph 57. The time or order in which the lines enter determines of course the place and number of each in the figure. Their 'substance' is their form, as whole or divided, being yang or yin.
Paragraph 58 belongs to the first and sixth lines. We are hardly prepared for the statement that 'the maker or makers' had so much difficulty in determining the meaning of the first line. Of course when they had fixed that and completed the figure, explaining all the lines, it was easy for the student to follow their exposition, as paragraph 59 says.
Paragraph 60 seems to say that the work of the duke of Kâu on each line was but an indicating in detail of the processes of his father's mind in explaining the whole figure.
The last two paragraphs mention several points important to be attended to in studying, more especially, the duke of Kâu on the several lines. Three different views of the concluding statement,--'are they occupied,' &c.,--are given in the imperial edition. 'It belongs,' says Wû Kăng, 'to the fifth line;' 'to the third line,' says Hû Ping-wăn (also of the Yüan dynasty); while Hân Hsing-kwo (of the Thang dynasty) held that it belonged to both. The Khang-hsî editors say that 'by discriminating and combining these views, we get to the meaning of the text.' I am unable to do so.
402:X Chapter X, paragraphs 63, 64, speaks of the great comprehensiveness of the Yî, its figures and explanations being applicable to the three Powers--heaven, earth, and man.
With paragraph 63, compare paragraph 4, Appendix VI. In the trigram the upper line represents heaven, the middle line man, and the lowest earth. This paragraph and that other are the nearest approach I know to an attempt to account for the doubling of the number of lines, and stopping with the hexagram; but the doing so was entirely arbitrary. Kû Hsî says:--'The upper two characters belong to heaven, the middle two to man, and the lower two to earth.' No words could be more express; and yet Canon McClatchie says (p. 354):--'The two upper strokes represent Heaven, or Thâi-yî, the husband; the two middle strokes, Earth, his wife; and the p. 403 two lower strokes, Man, their son; all being animated by the same Divine Reason (tâo) or Supreme God (Chih Shăn).' This note shows how one error, or misunderstanding of the Chinese original, draws other errors with it. The character tâo in the paragraph has not at all the sense of reason, human or divine, but its primary and ordinary signification of the path or course. As Lû Žî (Han dynasty) says:--'In the way of heaven there are the changes of day and night, sun and moon; in that of earth, those of hardness and softness, dryness and moisture; in that of man, those of action and rest, of movement and stillness, of good fortune and bad, of good and evil.'
'The imitative lines' in the translation of 64, is simply 'the Yâo' in the Chinese text, which I have rendered according to the account of them in paragraph 8, et al. Their different grades are their position as high or low in the figures (paragraph 1, Section i), and their 'component elements,' literally 'their substance, or thing-nature,' is their structure as being yang or yin, according to the use of wuh in paragraphs 57, 59, et al. A yang line in an even place, or a yin line in an odd, is not in its appropriate place, and gives an indication of what is bad.
403:XI Chapter XI, paragraph 65. P. Regis observes on this chapter:--'I do not hesitate to say that there is found nowhere in the whole p. 404 [paragraph continues] Yî a passage which affords more light for the explanation of the book.' Paragraph 49 told us that 'the study of the Yî flourished in the middle period of antiquity, and that the author of it was familiar with anxiety and troubles.' That information becomes here more particular. The Yî, existing when this Appendix was written, was made in the closing period of the Yin dynasty, and the making of it was somehow connected with the attempts of the tyrant Kâu against king Wăn. We are not told expressly that the book was written, in part at least, by king Wăn; but the tradition to that effect derives a certain amount of support from what is said here. The general object of the author is also stated clearly enough,--to inculcate a cautious and reverent administration of affairs, never forgetful of the uncertainties of life and fortune.
406:XII Chapter XII, paragraphs 66-72, is generally divided into three sections;--the first, embracing 66-68, and treating of the sages, the makers of the Yî, as themselves independent of it, knowing all that it enables us to know, and able to accomplish all that it enables us to accomplish; the second, embracing 69-71, and telling how the sages formed the Yî, and made all men, by means of it, partakers of their now unlimited knowledge and power; the third, comprised in paragraph 72, and saying, if it be genuine and in its proper place, that the ordinary speech of men is as mysterious and indicative of what is in them, as the explanations of the Yî are, when we consider who were its authors.
'The sages,' who are the subject of 65-68, are not mentioned in the text; but 67 makes it plain that the subject must be some personal being or beings. Neither Khien nor Khwăn can 'rejoice in heart, and weigh carefully matters occasioning anxiety.' The commentators generally interpolate 'the sages;' even Ying-tâ of the Thang dynasty, who doer, not introduce the sages in his exposition, yet makes the subject to be 'the disposer and nourisher of all things.' He gets to his view by an unnatural interpretation of two characters in 67, which are now thrown out of the text by all critics as not genuine. That 'the sages' is really the subject in the mind of the writer appears from the express mention of them in 69, when also 'heaven and earth' take the place of Khien and Khwăn. It is absurd, not to say blasphemous, to assume that the sages who made the Yî had the knowledge and ability here ascribed to them; but the theory of the Yî as containing a scheme for the discovery of the future necessitated the ascribing such attributes to them. Compare with the whole Section, and especially with paragraph 68, what is said in 'the Doctrine of the Mean,' chapter 24.
The first Section shows how the sages were themselves independent of the Yî, and had no need of it; the second goes on to tell how they devised and constructed it, to make all men equal to themselves in a knowledge of phenomena and human events, and of their indications of, and issues in, the future. Summing up its p. 407 lessons, the editors of the imperial edition say, 'There is no passage in the Appendix more full and clear than this on the five points in regard to the lines which the student of the Yî has to attend to. Those points are:--their time, position, quality, mutual nearness, and responsive relation. It is by a consideration of the two latter points, moreover, that he must form his judgment on their appropriateness or inappropriateness in the three others.'
Paragraph 72 has really no connexion with the rest of the chapter. I have stated above how the critics attempt to make out such a connexion; but I agree myself with P. Regis, who appends to his version of the paragraph this note:--'Quae sententiae quidem sapiunt doctrinam Confucianam, at non ordinem, utpote cum praecedentibus minime cohaerentes, sed omnino ab iis abscissae avulsaeque.'