The I Ching or Book of Changes (Bollingen Series) by Wilhelm Hellmut

Author:Wilhelm, Hellmut [Wilhelm, Hellmut]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Spiritual and Religion
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: 2011-01-02T03:00:00+00:00

The hexagram Kuai, BREAK-THROUGH (43), has Tui, words, above and Ch’ien, strength, below. It means giving permanence to words. The notch at the top also indicates the form of the oldest documents: cut in wood, they consisted of two halves that fitted into each other when held together. As a rule the ancient writings were scratched on tablets of smoothed bamboo. Here the significance of writing in the organization of a large community is emphasized.

NOTE. In its main features the sketch of the development of civilization given in this chapter corresponds to an extraordinary degree with our own ideas. The fundamental thought, that all institutions are based on the development of definite ideas, is likewise undoubtedly correct. It is not always easy to recognize such ideas in the complexes of ideas presented by the hexagrams, nor is it improbable that there were once certain connections that are now obliterated. There are indications that in the period preceding that of the Chou dynasty the hexagrams had meanings different from those which are traditional today. Possibly this chapter affords insight into these earliest meanings. That still another change in meaning took place later becomes evident when we compare the Judgments with the Images.

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