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Supplementary to the Thwan and Yâo on the first and second Hexagrams, and showing how they may be interpreted of man's nature and doings 1
Chapter I. 1. What is called (under Khien) 'the great and originating' is (in man) the first and chief quality of goodness; what is called 'the penetrating' is the assemblage of excellences; what is called 'the advantageous' is the harmony of all that is right; and what is called 'the correct and firm' is the faculty of action.
2. The superior man, embodying benevolence, is fit to preside over men; presenting the assemblage of excellences, he is fit to show in himself the union of all propriety; benefiting (all) creatures, he is fit to exhibit the harmony of all that is right; correct and firm, he is fit to manage (all) affairs.
3. The fact that the superior man practises these four virtues justifies the application to him of the words--'Khien represents what is great and originating, penetrating, advantageous, correct and firm.'
Chapter II. 4. What is the meaning of the words under the first NINE, (undivided), 'The dragon lies hid (in the deep);--it is not the time for active doing?' The Master said:--There he is, with the powers of the dragon, and yet lying hid. The influence of the world would make no change in him; he would do nothing (merely) to secure his fame. He can live, withdrawn from the world, without regret; he can experience disapproval without trouble of mind. Rejoicing (in opportunity), he carries his principles
into action; sorrowing (for want of opportunity), he keeps with them in retirement. Yes, he is not to be torn from his root (in himself).' This is 'the dragon lying hid.'
5. What is the meaning of the words under the second NINE, 'The dragon shows himself and is in the field;--it will be advantageous to see the great man?' The Master said:--'There he is, with the dragon's powers, and occupying exactly the central place. He is sincere (even) in his ordinary words, and earnest in his ordinary conduct. Guarding against depravity, he preserves his sincerity. His goodness is recognised in the world, but he does not boast of it. His virtue is extensively displayed, and transformation ensues. The language of the Yî, "The dragon shows himself and is in the field;--it will be advantageous to see the great man." refers to a ruler's virtue.'
6. What is the meaning of the words under the third NINE,' The superior man is active and vigilant all the day, and in the evening (still) careful and apprehensive;--the position is dangerous, but there will be no mistake?' The Master said:--'The superior man advances in virtue, and cultivates all the sphere of his duty. His leal-heartedness and good faith are the way by which he advances in virtue. His attention to his words and establishing his sincerity are the way by which he occupies in his sphere. He knows the utmost point to be reached, and reaches it, thus showing himself in accord with the first springs (of things); he knows the end to be rested in, and rests in it, thus preserving his righteousness in accordance with that end. Therefore he occupies a high position without pride, and a low
position without anxiety. Thus it is that, being active and vigilant, and careful (also) and apprehensive as the time requires, though his position be perilous, he will make no mistake.'
7. What is the meaning of the words under the fourth NINE, 'He is as if he were leaping up, (but still) is in the deep;--there will be no mistake?' The Master said:--'He finds no permanent place either above or below, but he does not commit the error (of advancing). He may advance or recede;--there is no permanent place for him: but he does not leave his fellows. The superior man, advancing in virtue and cultivating the sphere of his duty, yet wishes (to advance only) at the (proper) time, and therefore there is no mistake.'
8, What is the meaning of the words under the fifth NINE, 'The dragon is on the wing in the sky;--it will be advantageous to see the great man?' The Master said:--'Notes of the same key respond to one another; creatures of the same nature seek one another; water flows towards the place that is (low and) damp; fire rises up towards what is dry; clouds follow the dragon, and winds follow the tiger:(so) the sage makes his appearance, and all men look to him. Things that draw their origin from heaven move towards what is above; things that draw their origin from the earth cleave to what is below:--so does everything follow its kind.'
9. What is the meaning of the words under the topmost NINE, 'The dragon exceeds the proper limits;--there will be occasion for repentance?' The Master said:--'The position is noble, but it is not that of office; (its occupant) dwells on high, but he has no people (to rule); and the men of talent
and virtue in the positions below will give him no aid;--should he move in such a case, there will be occasion for repentance.'
Chapter III. 10. 'The dragon lies hid;--it is not the time for active doing:'--the position is (too) low.
11. 'The dragon shows himself and is in the field:'--the time (requires him still) to be unemployed.
12. 'All the day active and vigilant:'--(he now) does his (proper) business.
13. 'He is as if he were leaping up, (but still) is in the deep:'--he is making trial of himself.
14. 'The dragon is on the wing in the sky:'--(the subject of the line) is on high and ruling.
15. 'The dragon exceeds the proper limit, and there will be occasion for repentance:'--when things have been carried to extremity, calamity ensues.
16. Undivided lines appear in all these representations of the great and originating power denoted by Khien:--(what follows in the Yâo tells us how) all under the sky there will be good order.
Chapter IV. 17. 'The dragon lies hid in the deep;--it is not the time for active doing:'--the energy denoted by the undivided line is laid up and hid away as in the deep.
18. 'The dragon appears in the field:'--all under heaven (begins to be) adorned and brightened.
19. 'All the day active and vigilant:'--continually, as the time passes and requires, does he act.
20. 'He is as if he were leaping up, (but still) is in the deep:'--a change is taking place in the method indicated by (this) Khien diagram.
21. 'The dragon is on the wing in the sky this shows that his place is based on his heavenly virtue.
22. 'The dragon exceeds the (proper) limit;--there will be occasion for repentance:'--the time is come to an end, and so also is his opportunity.
23. Undivided NINES appear in all these representations of the great and originating power denoted by Khien:--and (from what follows in the Yâo) we see the model (of action) afforded by heaven.
Chapter V. 24. The 'greatness' and 'originating' represented by Khien refer to it as (the symbol of) what gives their beginning (to all things), and (also) secures their growth and development.
25. 'The advantageousness and the correctness and firmness' refer to its nature and feelings (as seen in all the resulting things).
26. Khien, (thus) originating, is able with its admirable benefits to benefit all under the sky. We are not told how its benefits are conferred; but how great is (its operation)!
27. How great is (what is emblemed by) Khien!--strong, vigorous, undeflected, correct, and (in all these qualities) pure, unmixed, exquisite!
28. The six lines, as explained (by the duke of Kâu), bring forth and display (its meaning), and everything about it is (thus) indirectly exhibited.
29. (The great man) at the proper time drives with these six dragons through the sky. The clouds move, and the rain is distributed; all under heaven enjoys repose.
Chapter VI. 30. In the superior man his conduct is (the fruit of) his perfected virtue, which might be seen therefore in his daily course; but the force of that phrase, 'lying hid,' requires him to keep retired, and not yet show himself, nor proceed to the full development of his course. While this is the case, the superior man (knows that) it is not the time for active doing.
31. The superior man learns and accumulates the results of his learning; puts questions, and discriminates among those results; dwells magnanimously and unambitiously in what he has attained to; and carries it into practice with benevolence. What the Yî says, 'The dragon appears in the field:--it will be advantageous to meet with the great man,' has reference to the virtuous qualities of a ruler (as thus described).
32. In the third NINE, there is a twofold symbol of) strength, but (the position) is not central. (Its
occupant) is not in heaven above, nor is he in the field beneath. Therefore there must be active vigilance and cautious apprehension as the time requires; and. though (the position be) perilous, there will be no mistake.
33. In the fourth NINE, there is (the symbol of) strength, but (the position) is not central. (Its occupant) is not in heaven above, nor is he in the field beneath, nor is he in the place of man intermediate. Hence he is in perplexity; and being so, he has doubts about what. should be his movements, and so will give no occasion for blame.
34. The great man is he who is in harmony, in his attributes, with heaven and earth; in his brightness, with the sun and moon; in his orderly procedure, with the four sea-sons; and in his relation to what is fortunate and what is calamitous, in harmony with the spirit-like operations (of Providence). He may precede Heaven, and Heaven will not act in opposition to him; he may follow Heaven, but will act (only) as Heaven at the time would do. If Heaven will not act in opposition to him, how much less will men! how much less will the spirit-like operation (of Providence)!
35. The force of that phrase--'exceeding the proper limits'--indicates the knowing to advance but not to retire; to maintain but not to let perish to get but not to lose.
36. He only is the sage who knows to advance and to retire, to maintain and to let perish; and that without ever acting incorrectly. Yes, he only is the sage!
408:1 The title of this Appendix is in Chinese the Wăn Yen Kwan, 'The Record of Wăn Yen;' and according to the analogy of the titles of the three Appendixes that follow, Wăn should perform the part of a verb and Yen that of a substantive. So the characters are usually taken, and to Wăn is given the meaning of 'Explaining (Shih);' and to Yen that of 'Words or Sentences,' meaning the Thwan of king Wăn, and the Yâo of the duke of Kâu on the first two hexagrams. The document treats of these, p. 409 and of no others. 'It shows the amount and depth of meaning in them,' says Kû Hsî, 'and the other hexagrams may be treated after the analog supplied here.' Confucius, it is said by others, died before he was able to carry out the plan which he had formed. But, as I have shown in the Introduction (pp. 28-30), it is more than doubtful whether we have in this Appendix anything at all directly from the sage.
409:I Chapter I, paragraphs 1-3, shows how the attributes of Khien, as explained by king Wăn, are to be understood of the constituent principles of human nature. What is remarkable is, that we find paragraphs 1, 2, with very little variation, in one of the narratives of the Žo Kwan, as having been spoken by a marchioness-dowager of Lû in B.C. several years before Confucius was born One so familiar as Kû Hsî was with all the classical literature of his country could not be ignorant of this. His solution of the questions arising from it is, that anciently there was this explanation of the characters of king Wăn; that it was employed by Shû Kiang (of Lû), and that Confucius also availed himself of it; while the chronicler used, as he does below, the phraseology of 'The Master said,' to distinguish the real words of Confucius from such ancient sayings. But who was this chronicler? No one can tell. The legitimate conclusion from Kû's criticism is this, that so much of this Appendix as is preceded by 'The Master said' is from Confucius;--so much and no more.
The ascription in paragraph 3 of 'the four virtues' to the superior-or normal man, man in his best estate, and yet inferior to 'the sagely man,' is Confucian,--after the style of the teaching of the Master in the Analects.
412:II In chapter II, paragraphs 4-9, Confucius is introduced, explaining, with considerable amplification, what is said by the duke of Kâu under the several lines of the hexagram. 'The dragon' becomes the symbol of 'the superior man;' and of the great man,' or the sage upon the throne. The language approaches at times to the magniloquence of Mencius, while in paragraph 8 the voice hardly seems to be that of the sage at all.
With paragraph 5, compare chapters 8 and 14 of' the Doctrine of the Mean,' agreeing much in language and sentiment with what we have here. The line, a strong or undivided line, and therefore yang, is said to be 'exactly in the central place;' but the line is in the second, an even place, that proper to a yin line; and in other passages this might be explained in an unfavourable way. The Chinese character kăng has the meaning given to it, now of 'exact,' and now of 'correct,' the latter being always favourably interpreted.
Paragraph 8. The fifth is almost always the place of honour and authority in the hexagram, and therefore 'the great man' here continues to be the great man, 'the sage.' The argument is that as things of the same kind respond to and seek one another, so is it with the sage and ordinary man. They are of the same kind, though far apart; and when a sage appears, all other men look to him with admiration and hope. The continuity of the illustrations, however, is broken by the introduction of the dragon and clouds, and the tiger and wind. Are these of the same kind? Kû Hsî says he does not think that the real dragon and real tiger are intended; but he does not tell us how he understood the terms. Žâi Khing (early in the Ming dynasty) says:--'The dragon feels the influence of the clouds surcharged with rain, and rises from the deep, and when the tiger feels the approach of the cold winds he roars. Thus when the dragon rises, the clouds are sure to collect; and when the tiger screams, the winds follow,' but all this does not help us to appreciate any better the words of the text. And the concluding illustration is nearly as foreign to our way of conceiving things. By 'things that draw their origin from heaven' all animals--moving creatures--are intended; and by those that draw their origin from the earth are intended all plants,--things that stand and p. 413 do not move. The former turn their heads to the sky, and the latter their roots to the earth. So we read in Kû Hsî; but I continue to wonder that Confucius selected such illustrations and spoke in such a style.
Paragraph 9. As I have said above, the place of honour and authority in the hexagram belongs to the fifth line, and no other plays so unimportant a part as the sixth; and hence it is represented here as having 'no place' at all. Before he whom it represents is called to act, the battle has been won or lost. Movement from him will only accelerate and intensify the result.
413:III Chapter III, paragraphs 10-16, goes over again the Yâo of the duke of Kâu with very brief explanations, grounded chiefly on the consideration of the place or position occupied by the several lines, and the time of their introduction into the action of the hexagram.
Paragraph 16. See the note on the Text of Khien, corresponding to this line, page 58, and also that on paragraph 7 of the symbolism of the figures and lines, Section i, page 165. There is the same p. 413 difficulty in understanding the first part of the short paragraph; the conclusion of it must be a consequence of the language of the Yâo, though it is not repeated here.
414:IV Chapter IV, paragraphs 7-23, goes over the same ground for a third time, treating the various paragraphs chiefly from the standpoint of time.
Paragraph 17 tells us that time and circumstances are essential, as well as inward power, to successful development and demonstration. In paragraph 18, the words of the Yâo about meeting with the great man are not quoted, but they prompted the latter half of it.
Paragraph 19. Compare the language on paragraph 6, towards the end.
Paragraph 20. The subject passes here from the lower trigram and enters into the upper. We are told not to lay stress on 'the method of Khien.' In paragraph 21 we have the sage upon the p. 415 throne. Time and opportunity are both in progress in 19; here in 22, they are both passed, have reached their extremity or end.
Paragraph 23:--see on paragraph 16. 'The model of heaven,' says Wû Khăng, 'is the due blending of the strong and active with the weak and passive, the regulation of movement in accordance with the highest reason, so that there shall be neither excess nor deficiency.'
415:V Chapter V, paragraphs 24-29. The author here, leaving the treatise on the symbolism of the Yâo, turns to that on the Thwan, or expositions of king Wăn, and amplifies it, not quoting from it, however, so fully and exactly, as he has done in the previous chapters from the Yâo.
Paragraphs 24 and 25 are based on the statement of the significance of the Thwan under Khien, and not on the treatise on the symbolism. The originating power cannot be separated from that of penetration and development. The latter issues from the former p. 416 as the summer follows on the spring, according to an illustration of Kû Hsî. 'The advantageousness' and 'firm correctness,' he compares also to the autumn and winter, saying that the Khien power in its essence, as it is in itself, is best described by these two latter characteristics, while the two former describe it in its operation. It is thus that he tries to give his readers an idea of what he understood by 'nature and feelings' in 25. But this chapter treats of the Khien power in nature rather than in humanity. Confining our view to the power so operating, we cannot say that the description of it in 26 and 27 is magniloquent or hyperbolical.
Paragraph 28 returns to the explanations of the lines of the hexagram by the duke of Kâu, which exhibit the power in different positions and relations, bringing out all its significance; and then 29 confines us to the fifth line, in which we have its ideal. The spheres of nature and of men seem to be in the view of the author, and therefore I introduce 'the great man,' as the subject, after the example of the best critics. Like the clouds and the rain to the thirsty earth, so is the rule of the sage to expectant humanity.
417:VI Chapter VI, paragraphs 30-36., The author leaving the Thwan, turns again to the treatise on the symbolism of the Yâo, his main p. 418 object being to show how reasonable are the decisions and lessons of the duke of Kâu.
The subject of paragraph 30 has the virtue; but his position in the lowest place shows that his time is not yet come.
In paragraph 31 we have the superior man developing, by means of the processes described, into 'the great man,' with the attributes of a ruler, the appearance of whom is a blessing to men.
The twofold symbol of strength in paragraph 32 is the yang or undivided line in the third place (odd) proper to it. There will be no mistake, because the subject of the line, in the exercise of his caution, will abstain from any forward movement.
According to paragraph 63 of last Appendix, Section ii, both the third and fourth lines in the hexagram. belong to man, and are intermediate between those of heaven and those of earth. Khung Ying-tâ, to get over the difficulty in what is said on the fourth line, says that, as a matter of fact and locally, man is nearer earth than heaven, and is aptly represented therefore by the third line and not by the fourth;--I prefer to point out the inconsistency, and leave it. The subject of this fourth line will move very cautiously, and so escape blame.
The eulogium of 'the great man' in paragraph 34 cannot fail to recall to the classical scholar the thirty-first and other chapters of 'the Doctrine of the Mean,' where the sage is described as 'The Equal of Heaven.' In one sentence here he is spoken of as sometimes taking precedence of Heaven, which then does not act in opposition to him! I do not know of any statement about the sage, coming without doubt from Confucius, that is so extravagant as this. It is difficult--in fact impossible--to say from the Yî itself, what we are to understand by the kwei shăn, which I have translated here by the spirit-like operations (of Providence).' The compound denomination does not often occur in the book. In Appendix III, Section i, 21, kwei is the anima and shăn the animus; and in paragraph 50, I have translated the terms by 'the contracting and expanding operations.' In Appendix I, page 226 and page 259, the name is used as in the present text. That second instance and this p. 419 paragraph were evidently constructed, the one on the model of the other. I think it likely that the breath or air, khî, became the name with the earliest Chinese for their first concept of spirit; then the breath inspired or inhaled was called kwei, and became the name for the grosser part of the spirit, returning to the earth; and shin, the breath exhaled or expired, the name for the subtler and intellectual spirit, ascending to a state of activity and enjoyment. The explanations of the terms in the R Yâ and other dictionaries seem to justify this view. The combination kwei shin is sometimes best translated by 'spiritual beings.' The school of the Sung philosophy understand by it--the contracting and expanding of the primary matter, or that matter conceived of in two forms or with two opposite qualities. Khăng-žze says here: that I Heaven and earth are another name for tâo, and kwei shăn another name for "the vestiges of making and transformation;" and that the sage being in harmony with the tâo or practical reason of the universe, how can men or the kwei shăn be contrary to him?' Whatever be thought of the Sung speculations and theories, I think that a translator ought to give an indication of the primary meaning of the name kwei shăn.
Paragraphs 35 and 36 suggest the description of Confucius by Mencius, V, ii, 1, 5, as the one among the sages who was most governed by the consideration of time, doing continually what the circumstances of the time required.