|
|
Dear Reader,
Follow in my steps, and I will lead you into The Book of Changes.
Some years ago, I made entry into The Book of Changes at hexagram 63 in
which I noticed that the fox mentioned in the text was imaged in the
hexagram.
63 FOX gg gg Ears ggggg gg gg Eyes ggggg gg gg Teeth ggggg
The question immediately came to mind, "What are the other hexagram images?" Many images are explicitly stated: #9, Legge, p.440,n4; #50, title;#23 as "couch", in text. Others are implied by the subject matter in the text. I soon accumulated a small set of images in which I had some confidence.
My next insight was that the images functioned as symbols. The fox occurs at the end of the #31-64 sequence because it represents the earthly soul of man(kwei, Legge, p.45), released at death, and the fox is preceded by the bird (crane) symbolizing the shan, or heavenly soul.
With the end of the sequence fixed, the rest of the images (#31-64) fell into place in the order of the cycle of life. Images previously unrecognized could now be fixed by interpolation.
Here is a summary of my findings:
| # | Image | Phase of Life |
|---|---|---|
| 31 | Pair Embracing | Sexual Attraction of Parents |
| 32 | Pair Copulating | Mating of Parents |
| 33 | Pregnant Woman | Mother's Pregnancy |
| 34 | Woman Inverted | Mother's Delivery |
| 35 | Infant | The Individual as a Baby |
| 36 | Infant Inverted | Weaning |
| 37 | Home | Active Membership in Family |
| 38 | Home Inverted | Life Outside Family |
| 39 | Cadet | Training in Adult Skills |
| 40 | Cap | Graduation |
| 41 | Cavity | Thinning of Oracular Shell |
| 42 | Cavity Inverted | Oracular Response |
| 43 | Plastron | Presentation of Response to Court |
| 44 | Plastron Upright | Inscription of Shell |
| 45 | Temple Gate | Congregating at Ancestral Temple |
| 46 | Altar | Altar Service |
| 47 | Victim | Binding of Sacrificial Victim |
| 48 | Victim Inverted | Bleeding of Victim |
| 49 | Skin | Presentation of Skin to Ancestral Spirits |
| 50 | Ting | The Sacred Meal |
| 51 | Thunder | Grace from the Manes |
| 52 | Mountain | Membership in Spiritual Kingdom |
| 53 | Bride | Marriage |
| 54 | Bride Inverted | Domestic Bliss |
| 55 | Man Down | Domestic Obligations |
| 56 | Man Upright | Public Duties |
| 57 | Seat | Seniority |
| 58 | Seat Inverted | Retirement |
| 59 | Coffin | Funeral |
| 60 | Coffin Inverted | Burial |
| 61 | Next | Lingering of Shan |
| 62 | Crane | Ascent of the Shan to Heaven |
| 63 | Fox | Lurking of the Kwei |
| 64 | Fox Inverted | Dissipation of the Kwei |
| Hexagrams | Stage of Life |
|---|---|
| #31-40 | Childhood |
| #41-50 | Religious Life |
| #51-60 | Adulthood |
| #61-64 | Afterlife |
Observations:
I imagine King Wen, by this prison meditation in the shadow of death, to have had in mind the guidance of his son the future Duke and co-author of The Book of Changes (and by extension, guidance to all men) and to have secured it in such a form as to escape detection by his spiritually unperceptive Shang captors.
#31: The individual begins as a glint in his father's eye.
#41: Shell divination was essential in ancient Chinese statecraft, but the quest for God's will is eternal.
#53: A man is not truly a man and fit to marry until he is spiritually mature.
Dear Reader,
You are beginning to look a little tired. Too much yin,
too little yang, perhaps? Let us pause here for the night in the clearing
we have made, rebalance our forces, and prepare for the ascent ahead.
Sincerely yours,
Thomas Hood
