Harmen

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Posts posted by Harmen

  1. Posted

    20 hours ago, Taoist Texts said:

    i guess the same way you define OK;)

     

    Subjective, yes.

     

    20 hours ago, Taoist Texts said:

    Except in the original yao's the dragons are 1) the constellation of the Dragon 2) a clay figurine of a dragon set up in the field to ensure a plentiful harvest. Absolutely not what the translator and the reader thinks those dragons are.

     

    I'm familiar with Shaughnessy's and Pankenier's hypotheses about 1), but I would like to read up on 2), which is new to me - do you have sources for me?

     

    20 hours ago, Taoist Texts said:

    So i would say the accuracy of the translation is not important given that no one even understands what the original is talking about.

     

    Be that as it may, we still have a Chinese text that is worthy of being translated, regardless of all the translations that are already outthere. Considering the many developments in the field of sinology, etymology and linguistics the matter of accuracy is still relevant, as far as I'm concerned. What is concidered 'accurate' is a never ending process.

    • Like 2

  2. Posted

    On 24-4-2024 at 10:41 PM, snowymountains said:

    bumping this one, between Wilhelm and Huang which one is the most accurate translation?

     

    Also, Wilhelm had written a commentary text on the I CHING, which is a separate volume to his translation of the text. Is that a good quality commentary ?

     

    How would you define 'accuracy'? What do you consider 'accurate'?

     

    Wilhelm's Third Book is a translation of parts from the Ten Wings, accompanied by his own explanation of that text. The translation in itself is okay, Wilhelm's commentary might steer you in certain direction that does not necessarily match your own understanding. I would advise to read the text on its own, which goes for the whole Yijing as far as I'm concerned. 

    • Like 1

  9. Posted

    7 minutes ago, Cobie said:

    1 S water 水 ; 2 N fire 火 ; 3 W wood 木 ; 4 E metal 金 ; 5 centre- earth 土

     

    image.jpeg
     


     

     

    You got the directions wrong. South is on the top, North below, East to the left and West to the right, as is custom with Chinese maps. 

    • Like 1

  10. Posted

    On 17-5-2022 at 7:40 PM, Cobie said:


    Does anyone know more about this picture?

     

    The gate says 太清宫, there are (at least) two Daoist temples with this name. One is the Supreme Clarity Temple in Shenyang: Supreme Clarity Temple (Taiqinggong) , Shenyang - FYSK: Daoist Culture Centre - Database (daoinfo.org) The other is the (Laoshan) Qing Gong Temple in Qingdao. As Google Maps shows far more pictures of the latter location I suspect your picture is also from this place. But the text in the footer is unreadable because the image is too small so I am not entirely sure. I have not been able to find other photos of this specific gate.

    • Like 1

  11. Posted

    On 17-5-2022 at 7:50 PM, Cobie said:


    Why is the (ITjing number system) picture called after 河 , the Yellow River?

     

     

     

    Because according to legend the Yellow River brought forth the Hetu on the back of a longma 龍馬. See 河图洛书 - 维基百科，自由的百科全书 (wikipedia.org) 

     

    The Hetu and Luoshu are only mentioned in commentaries though, and don't seem to be connected to the Zhouyi, the core of the Yijing. Scholars are also not certain if early references to these charts refer to the pictures that we know today. Originally the Hetu and Luoshu might have been totally different objects/shapes/principles.

    • Like 1

  13. Posted

    Exciting news!

     

    Johannes Bloemsma and I started a Yi podcast:

     

    Casting Changes: Podcasts about the YI in Times of Movement.

     

    The first podcast is available now - an introduction about who we are, what we do and what we are going to do with the podcast. Including the examination of a hexagram that is representative for our new endeavour!

     

    If you want to watch the podcast and be informed of new episodes you can sign up here:

     

    https://castingchanges.projects.webpages.one/

     

    This is going to be fun!

  14. Posted

    There are not really 'correct' colours - it depends on the source and era what colours are assigned to each trigram. The Shuogua chapter of the Ten Wings will give you some colour associations, but often the colours are also derived from the Wuxing connection with the trigrams. 

    • Like 1

  16. Posted

    On 26-8-2021 at 9:26 AM, remod said:

    In my (very limited) experience I had never seen a Bagua intertwined with text arranged this way.

    Do you know if there is any significance in this arrangement? Or is it just a one-off fancy from the author?

     

     

    I had trouble finding information about this picture because the characters in the title were unfamiliar to me. But by searching for the start of the commentary below it ("花上八字...") I could find more information about it. This page 003八枝盘鉴图 (360doc.com) contains two modern versions of the picture and it says in the description that it is made by a woman from the Tang dynasty, but her name has been lost. It is poetry, and a transcript of the text can be found here 中贸圣佳国际拍卖有限公司官网 (sungari1995.com) with a bronze reproduction of the image. When you perform an image search on Google with "鞶鉴图" you will find more versions of it.

     

    This kind of 'poetry in pictures' is not uncommon and they are often exquisite works of art.

    • Like 1

  18. Posted

    道教考古石刻研究項目

    Past event on Saturday, July 31, 9am EST (9pm HKT)

     

    This multi-year project, funded by the Luce Foundation, aims at advancing the study of Daoism through the use of archaeological and epigraphic materials, including statues, stele inscriptions, cave shrines, temple inscriptions, and inscribed tomb epitaphs. We hope to introduce and use these understudied material sources to augment the canonical textual sources in understanding the social history of Daoism and to explore developments and changes in ritual practices that are often invisible in the written records. 

     

    Speakers:     

    Gil Raz 李福 (Dartmouth College):   Introduction to Project 
                Stele-Statues and Texts: Two Examples

     

    Bai Bin  白彬 (Sichuan University):    Survey of Sources 

     

    Host:  Richard Wang 王崗 (University of Florida)

     

    The recording of the event can be found here:

    https://youtu.be/3BhGcscm1zI

    • Like 1

  19. Posted

    8 hours ago, TranquilTurmoil said:

    the Oracle strongly advised me to bear with the chaos of the Walker interpretation until causes and conditions came together and I could cross the great water with the Wilhelm translation.

    Hmmm, how did 'the oracle' advise you to do that? In the end it doesn't really matter which text or method you use - even bad Yi interpretations can work as an oracle. Virtually everything can work as an oracle. But if you want to use the Yi, well, with Browne Walker's version you are not doing that.

     

     

  21. Posted

    北齊趙輔和為人筮父疾
    有一人父疾，托相知者筮之，遇泰䷊。筮者云甚吉，疾當愈。是人喜出後，趙輔和謂筮者曰：「泰卦乾下坤上，然則父入土矣，豈得言吉，果以凶聞。」

     

    Zhao Fuhe from the Northern Qi dynasty (550-577) divining for a man who's father was ill.

    There was a man who's father was ill, so he entrusted the matter to a wise man who divined about it. He received hexagram 11, tai 泰, 'peace'. The diviner said, "this is very auspicious. The illness will surely be cured."


    After the client went away, happy because of the good news about his father, Zao Fuhe said to the diviner, "Hexagram 11 is Heaven ☰ below the Earth ☷, indicating the father is buried in the earth. How can you say this is an auspicious omen when the result is truly terrible?"
    (Example from Shang Binghe 尚秉和 《周易古筮考》)

     

    Shang Binghe does not mention the actual outcome, but I looked up the original version in the 《北齊書》, The History of the Northern Qi Dynasty, and although the text doesn't differ much from Shang's version, the wording (and interpunction in the modern version that I have) is somewhat different at the end of the anecdote, and it tells what actually happened:

     

    輔和對卜卦的人説：“《泰卦》下是《乾》上是《坤》,這表示要入土，怎麽能説吉利呢?” 果然就傳來了凶信。
    Fu He said to the diviner, "Tai gua 泰卦 is Heaven below, and Earth above, this shows he will enter the earth. How can you say this is auspicious?" As expected, news arrived that the father had died."
    (《二十四史全譯》--北齊書, p. 517)

     

    Liu Dajun 刘大钧 exclaimed about this case (based on Shang Binghe's version),

     

    同样一卦，据辞和据象竟能解出完全相反的后果，真让人不知孰是孰非,何去何从！
    The same hexagram, but depending on the words or on the image you can explain it in two opposite conclusions. It really makes it impossible to know which one is right and which one is wrong, and what course to follow!

     

    But Liu is a scholar, and I don't think he really understands or practices divination. I also don't think he looked up the original version in the 《北齊書》.

    • Like 1

  22. Posted

    On 25-5-2021 at 5:44 PM, hermes said:

    Or Might "Zhouyi" refer to the oldest layer of the text without the Ten Wings?

     

    This. When (Chinese) books refer to the Zhouyi they often want to focus on the core text without the Ten Wings, or they want to disassociate with the Confucian tradition that is linked to the Yijing. Many books that talk about Wenwang Gua 文王卦 have Zhouyi in their title because the subject of their book is something that is explicitly not Confucian.

  24. Posted

    On 9-5-2021 at 8:30 PM, Kongming said:

    Hey guys, anyone know of the traditional interpretation as to who or what power is behind the oracle?

     

    In the traditional view oracles were the voice of the ancestors.

    • Thanks 1