Harmen

The notion of 'sincerity' probably comes from the phrase youfu 有孚, sometimes translated as 'there is sincerity', that is mentioned in the Judgement text. But there is more to this phrase than just that - see here.

6 hours ago, galloway87 said:

I suppose what I would most like to learn is application, to get a better understanding on the hexagrams and how I can really apply them in everyday life.

When I give courses or workshops I always start with the meaning of the trigrams and lines - they are the oldest layer of the Yi and to me the point of entry when you want to interpret the answer that the book has given you. When you have grasped the meaning of the hexagram and its components the text becomes much easier to understand.

The problem is that I can't think of any good books that teach you to work with the hexagram. I am sure there must be books about it but for now I can't come up with any titles that I would recommend. Maybe the other members will have some ideas about this. Let me think about it and give me some time to walk through my > 300 Yijing books to see if I can find something.

6 hours ago, galloway87 said:

what do you make of the James Legge translation?

I could make a wonderful pile of shredded paper of it, were it not that the commentary that he gives in the footnotes gives a great glimpse into the Confucian kitchen of Yi application & understanding. His translation is awful and he clearly shows (and honestly admits) that he finds the whole idea and usage of the Yi utter nonsense. Read it for the footnotes and ignore the rest. Although the text can easily be found on several places on internet I would recommend to buy a version with a good introduction, like this pocket edition: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0553260022?tag=collectorzapp-20

Oh, I forgot the translations question. Richard Wilhelm's translation is still a workable version but if you want a translation that is more close to the Chinese original and not tainted by Confucian doctrines I would suggest to look at this book:

https://www.bookdepository.com/The-Duke-of-Zhou-Changes-Stephen-L-Field/9783447104067

Not really for beginners I guess but a necessary book if you want to know what the Yi is really about. (not that I agree with all of Stephen's findings but that's another story.)

If you want something more accessible you might like Steve Balkin's book:

https://www.bookdepository.com/The-Laws-of-Change/9780984253715

12 hours ago, galloway87 said:

You mentioned a few good translations, could you point me in the right direction? Also I would love to learn more about the I Ching, if you could recommend any supplementary material for a beginner I would be very interested

Thanks for the update. What do you want to learn? You say 'about the I Ching' but does that include history, language and application? What do you want to learn?

12 hours ago, galloway87 said:

shitstorm

I've been there. I have two sons and believe me, sometimes there were days that I wondered how the diaper was able to contain all the material that the kid produced. Often the diaper simply gave up. I know that this is not the context for which you used the word 'shitstorm' but believe me, for the next months you will be in a shitstorm in the most literal sense you could ever have imagined.

Quote

In my translation (Brian Browne Walker)

 Walker's book is not a translation but a very shallow interpretation of the original Yijing. I urge any serious student of the Yi to never use interpretations - they are making you lazy and will never touch on the matters that are essential to your situation. Keep in mind that in ancient China there were no Yijing interpretations. You had to do the interpretation yourself, only then were you considered a skilled diviner. Use a good translation. There are several available these days.

End of rant. Let's look at your hexagram. You asked 'how should I handle my current employment situation?' Most of the time I see the lower trigram as the questioner (you) and the upper trigram as everything outside the questioner (like your job opportunities). The lower trigram is Earth. Earth is docile, does not take action or initiative. It works with what comes to her and let it grow to its true nature & potential. This trigram might tell you to accept the situation as it is now but at the same time welcome the new opportunities that it has created. Earth is a barren but fertile field that has the quality to make the seeds that are planted in it grow. Earth does not judge but accepts everything. That doesn't mean it is easy, but what Earth might try to tell you is that there is potential and all you have to do is welcome it. Let it come to you.

The upper trigram is Fire. Fire wants to connect, it wants commitment, to make matters clear according to what you hold on to, what you see as the truth. This trigram might tell you that your should look for jobs that you are truly connected to, which feed you, which make you feel warm inside. It should feed your commitment without exercising any force to achieve that. The job should feed you, not drain you.  Fire can also mean that you have to make yourself visible as well as all the unique qualities that you have within. Let your light shine otherwise you will be surpassed unnoticed. The nature of Fire requires it to move on when its fuel has been used up. Now is that time for you and a new Fire is waiting for you. 

Let's look at the nuclear trigrams. The lower nuclear trigram (lines 2, 3 and 4) is Mountain. Mountain is inward peace, consolidation of what you have acquired through the years, stopping unnecessary progress and changes, being conservative, stay quiet and have inner confidence. This trigram is enveloped/blocked by another trigram Mountain (lines 1, 5 and 6). This trigram Mountain can show itself from a more or less negative side - stubbornness, rigid attitude, inflexibility, closing yourself off from your surrounding. This combination might tell you that if you are inflexible and reject renewal & change you will not be able to find some sort of inner peace: you will play the victim and stubbornly keep the situation in a status quo. Embrace change. Welcome new opportunities and keep an open mind towards them.

The upper nuclear trigram (lines 3, 4 and 5) is Water. Water asks of you to go with the flow, to accept that the situation might be murky and even though the destination is unclear you can still enjoy the ride. There are boundaries and yet within these boundaries you have the liberty to find the path that supports you the most. Don't try to control the situation - this is not the time for it. You are on a river which does not inform you of its destination. This trigram Water is enveloped/blocked by another trigram Mountain (lines 1, 2 and 6). Which means that if you keep a rigid attitude towards the current developments you will not be able to follow the currents with ease and comfort.

If you are able to relax, don't panic and accept the changes as the currently are you will do alright. There are opportunities and all you have to do is embrace them, let them come to you. This does not mean it will be easy. Every change comes with challenges. But if you realize that change is not necessarily bad you will make it much easier on yourself. This hexagram shows you have Fire to share with the world. And when you will make that visible you will not go by unnoticed.

The text of hexagram 35 says 康侯用錫馬蕃庶。晝日三接。 'Kang Hou is granted numerous horses. In one day he receives them three times.' This is a mark of excellence. Horses can be used to make progress, to win the war. Your excellence has you rewarded with the capability and assurance that you will progress. Don't doubt yourself nor the chances that you are given. If anything this situation has taught you it is that you have not changed even though the world is changing around you. Know your excellence and show it. Everything will benefit from it if you do that.

Congratulations on your daughter! She should be the only cause of sleepless nights.

7 minutes ago, morning dew said:

 

Yeah, that's a good point. I wonder why old ZZ didn't get the 'classic' title.  

Hmmm.....maybe because ZZ did not talk about Confucius in a way that the later confucianist preferred? Or maybe a ZZ jing would put the book on the same level as the DDJ while the two are different in content. I don't know. 

1 minute ago, morning dew said:

That's fascinating. I had no idea it was also called that.

 

This was interesting as well, I thought. I didn't realise your book had to be Confucian to be considered a classic:
 

 

Within the realm of Confucianism that was a prerequisite. But that doesn't mean that there were no non-Confucianist jings: Daoism also has its jings, like the Daodejing and several more. Jing 經 elevates the status of a book, it distinguishes the title from ordinary books, shu 書. The bible is also a jing (Sheng Jing 聖經).

6 minutes ago, morning dew said:

 

Ah, I take it that it hasn't made it into the English language. 

 

'The true book of the Southern Flowerland': that's an interesting title (if Google translate has made an accurate job).  

It is a not often mentioned alternative title of the Zhuangzi:

In 742, the Zhuangzi was canonized as one of the Chinese Classics by an imperial proclamation from Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, which awarded it the honorific title True Scripture of Southern Florescence (Nanhua zhenjing 南華真經).

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhuangzi_(book))

Wilhelm's version has not been translated to English.

2 minutes ago, morning dew said:

 

Yeah, that's a fair point. I guess even if he were still alive and you had discussed it with him, it would still create havoc to change it in just one translation for such a book.

 

Also, I didn't realise he had translated so many other books. I don't think I've come across his translation of the Zhuangzi.

It has a bit of an awkward title: 'Das wahre Buch vom südlichen Blütenland'.

https://www.amazon.de/Das-wahre-Buch-südlichen-Blütenland/dp/3720528235

1 minute ago, morning dew said:

 

This was fascinating to read.  It's quite an honour to be asked to be chief editor of the Dutch version.

 

It was interesting to see the parallel/synchronicity with the swapped names of the symbols in the sixiang and the swapped trigrams on his grave. So you didn't swap the names back in the book? You just made a footnote? Has anyone swapped back the trigrams on his grave yet?

Not that I know of, but I want to go back next yeat to check it. Bettina Wilhelm, Richard's granddaughter, said she would take care of it.

As an editor you cannot change something in the text, even though you assume it is a mistake. Otherwise the Dutch edition would differ from 1. the original and 2. all the other translations. But the Dutch version is the first version which has this essential footnote :-)

What makes a reliable translator of the Yijing? It depends on how you see the Yi. When you see it as a Confucian book influenced by Confucianist doctrines you will find a translation good if it shows that influence. The same goes for a Daoist view of the book. 

Alfred Huang is a Confucianist (he told me - or at least he was when he wrote his translation). So that is why his translation mostly follows the Confucian view of the Yijing and mentions Wen Wang and Confucius a lot. But the Yi is much older than Confucianism and by now we know that translating yuan heng li zhen 元亨利貞 as

Initiating.
Sublime and initiative.
Prosperous and smooth.
Favorable and beneficial.
Steadfast and upright. 

...is not the original meaning of that phrase at the time when the Yi is supposedly written (more about that here). And this goes for many other characters and words in the Yi (see my own work on that.) Does that make Huang a bad translator? Not necessarily. Does it make Wilhelm and all the others bad translators? Nah. Call it advancing insights. Nevertheless it is good to realize that your view of the Yijing is a construction, mostly build from the view that your Yi translators had of the book. That construction does not have to agree with the original intention and usage of the book, and translators like Huang, Wilhelm, Legge, Karcher etc. each have/had their own view of the book with different implications.

About a year ago I went to Germany to resolve some questions that I had about Wilhelm's translation. Those interested might want to read my 4-part travel diary about my journey and the things I discovered:

http://www.yjcn.nl/wp/going-back-to-the-source-the-manuscripts-of-richard-wilhelm-1/

http://www.yjcn.nl/wp/going-back-to-the-source-the-manuscripts-of-richard-wilhelm-2/

http://www.yjcn.nl/wp/going-back-to-the-source-the-manuscripts-of-richard-wilhelm-3/

http://www.yjcn.nl/wp/going-back-to-the-source-the-manuscripts-of-richard-wilhelm-4-the-end/

I did a search on internet and found several correspondences - there does not seem to be a general consensus on this. But there is one that I find several times and that seems to prevail:

（呂洞賓）乾
（李鐵拐）兌
（鍾離權）離
（張果老）震
（藍采和）巽
（韓湘子）坎
（曹國舅）艮
（何仙姑）坤
 

(http://blog.udn.com/tsao144/3158293)

> 30 yrs student of Yijing. Also interested in Chinese etymology. Helped a few friends to translate daoist neidan texts like the Zhongheji and Liu Yiming's Zhouyi Chanzhen.