English

(The following article mainly serves as an exercise in showing the importance of the variant texts of the Yijing, loan characters and homonyms.)

---

There are several stories about the etymology of bo 剝, the name of hexagram 23. Han Boering says:

Left: a tree ( lower part) cut down by an axe (upper part, left). Right: a knife. Derivation: peel a cut-down tree.
(De I Tjing voor de 21ste Eeuw, p. 175)

Alfred Huang says:

The ideograph of bo consists of two parts. The main part, on the right, is a picture of an ancient weapon, dao, a knife. The left part was originally the character bo, providing the sound. Later this character was replaced by lü, the name of King Wen's famous sword. Lü also means a piece of carved wood. These two images represent an act of carving and engraving. During carving and engraving, pieces of wood or stone fall away.
(The Complete I Ching, p. 206)

These explanations are based on the form as found in the Shuowen, which is written in small seal script.The Shuowen itself says:

裂也. 从刀从彔. 彔, 刻割也. 彔亦聲.
Split/crack. From 刀 ('knife') and 彔. 彔 means 'carve' and 'cut'. 彔 also indicates the sound.

When it comes to meanings of characters the Shuowen can be considered reasonably reliable, but for etymological information you should not turn to this book, the given explanations are often wrong or incomplete. But in the case of bo the Shuowen is right when it says that the 彔 part  represents the pronunciation.  We will talk about this later in this article.

The character bo in its complete form does not appear on bone inscriptions, but the component 彔 does. On bones it looks a bit like the small seal form. The 新編甲骨文字典 dictionary says about the form of this character:

象汲水之轆轤形, 象桔槔, 象汲水之具,  象水滴. 卜辭彔借用作麓, 彔、㯟、麓混用.
Picture of a winch for lifting water (from a well), is the handle, is the means which carries the water, are drops of water. In bone inscriptions 彔 is used as loan for 麓; 彔, 㯟 and 麓 are used mixed.
(新編甲骨文字典, p. 418)

The last three characters from this quote, 彔, 㯟 and 麓 are variant characters from each other, and all three mean '(a place at) the foot of a hill or mountain'. This is the meaning that is most used in bone inscriptions. All three characters are pronounced lu, and this is probably the reason why they are used as loans for each other. In later periods we find the component 彔 on bronzes in almost the same form as on bones, but then the most used meanings are lu 祿, 'good luck' and lu 麓, 'a name for an official position regarding mountains and forests' (金文常用字典, p. 712-713).

But is the component 彔 important for the meaning of the character bo 剝, the name of hexagram 23? We have seen that the description of the form, the shape of this character, does not have any connection to the meanings for which the component was used. This is a strong clue that this component (as the Shuowen indicates) has a phonetic function: it is a pointer to the pronunciation. Not that it ends here, in the case of 剝 it makes things more complicated. Most characters which have 彔 as (main) component are pronounced lu, but 剝 is pronounced bo or bao. This is probably a clue that 剝, or its component 彔, should be considered a loan for another character which has the sound bo, bao, or something close to that.

There are other facts which point to this. The Shuowen gives a variant of 剝 which contains the component bu 卜 (see the long image right to the quote from the Shuowen above, click to enlarge). Where the Shuowen gets this from is not known, there are no known texts in which this character is used. But there is one (yes, one) fragment of a bone inscription in which this character is used. Ma Rusen 馬如森 says of this character:

字象刀刻卜字之形，卜標聲，本義應是刻裂. (...) 卜辭義: 待考. “...剝...七月...”. 現只見此一條.
The picture of this character has the appearance of 'carving bone characters', bu 卜 marks the sound, the original meaning might be 'carve and split'. (...) Meaning on oracle bones: has yet to be researched. "...carve...seventh month..." This is the only line of text that we have.
(殷墟甲骨學-帶你走進甲骨文的世界, p. 304)

This little information would be hardly useful if we didn't have some other texts which, in combination with this variant ��, put the meaning of 剝 and hexagram 23 in a different light. For this we have to look into a few Yijing texts which have been excavated during archaeological digs in the last 30 years. The Fuyang Yijing which has been excavated in 1977 in the vicinity of Fuyang 阜陽 gives a different name for hexagram 23. In this variant text it is called pu 僕. The most significant meanings of this character are:

• 侍從，供役使的人
  a servant, a person who does labour
• 古代把人分為十等，僕為第九等
  with people one of ten ranks (between employer and employee; starting with the king and ending with the cheapest slave HM), pu 僕 is the ninth rank.
• 駕車的人
  driver
• 謙詞. 用於第一人稱
  humiliating title. Used in first person.
• 古代官名
  in antiquity the title of a government position (like driver, servant or slave;  Hucker, A Dictionary of Official Titles in Imperial China, p. 394 HM)
  (漢語大字典, p. 218)

These meanings show that a pu did not have a high position. But more important is the pronunciation of this character, pu, and the fact that it is another name for hexagram 23. The Fuyang Yijing is not the only source in which 剝 is replaced by 僕. The version of the Guizang 歸藏 which was excavated in 1993 does not contain hexagram 23, but there are sources which quote hexagram 23 from the Guizang - and mention that this hexagram is called pu 僕 (Han Ziqiang 韓自強, 阜陽漢簡《周易》研究, p. 121; Zhu Xingguo 朱兴国, 三易通义, p. 341).

The two characters are also exchanged in another excavated text. At the second line of hexagram 56 the text mentions 僕:

得童僕
Gets a young servant.

But the Mawangdui 馬王堆 version mentions 剝 instead of 僕 (Deng Qiubai 邓球柏, 帛书周易校释, p. 375).

Lu Deming 陸德明 (556-627) read 剝 as 撲, a variant of 僕, in Song M154 of the Shijing 詩經:

八月剝棗.....
In the eighth month we beat the jujube....

Lu translates 剝 as pu 撲, meaning 'to beat' (Karlgren, Loan Characters in Pre-Han texts, entry 1264. Karlgren does not agree with Lu's reading). 撲 is a variant of 僕 (阜陽漢簡《周易》研究, p. 121. In his translation of the Fuyang Yijing (forthcoming) Edward Shaughnessy translates 僕 also as 'to beat'). We also know that 剝 is used in the meaning of pu 攴, which means 'to beat' (漢語大字典, p. 346; Wang Li 王力, 王力古漢語字典, p. 73).

剝 and 僕 are exchangeable, which brings us to the earlier mentioned variant character from the Shuowen and the bone fragment, the character ��: the assumed pronunciation of this character, bu, is almost the same as the pronunciation of 僕, pu, which strengthens the link between the characters. But reading bo 剝 as pu 僕 has consequences for the translation of the text of hexagram 23. The character bo 剝 appears in five of the six line texts, and these texts will get another reading.

	Received text	MWD text	Fuyang text
1.	剝牀以足.蔑貞.凶.	剝臧以足.貞.兇.	僕........足.貞兇.卜...
2.	剝床以辨.蔑貞.凶.	剝臧以辯.貞.兇.	僕牀以辨.貞...
3.	剝之.無咎.	剝.無咎.
4.	剝床以膚.凶.	剝臧以膚.兇.	僕牀以父.兇...
6.	碩果不食.君子得輿.小人剝廬.	石果不食.君子得車.小人剝蘆.	碩果不食.君子...

We have seen that 剝/僕 has the meaning of 'servant (of low rank)', and that would make 剝 a noun. But that gives a problem with certain line texts, because the context of these texts show that it is a verb:

(3) 剝之.無咎.
剝 it. No mistake.

The character zhi 之 can have the meaning of 'it' as personal pronoun ('he makes it') at the end of a sentence, and in that case the word before it becomes a verb.

(6) 小人剝廬.
     The little man 剝 the hut.

Xiaoren 小人is a noun, just like lu 廬. Because of this the sentence gets the standard subject-verb-object pattern.

This shows that 剝 is a verb in the Yijing. The most used meanings of this character are 'peel/cut (fruit and vegetables), remove the outside, cut in halves', but a hut is not easily peeled or cut in halves. The Mawangdui text doesn't talk about a lu, 廬, a hut, but about a lu 蘆. The characters look almost the same, but the latter has the 艹 component instead of the 广 component. The component 艹 is the 'abbreviation' of the full form character 艸, and characters with this component often have to do with vegetation and crops, while 广 has to do with housing. According to the 漢語大字典 some of the meanings of 蘆 are:

• [蘆菔]菜名. 即蘿蔔
  lufu 蘆菔, the name of a vegetable, namely luobo 蘿蔔 (radish)
• 薺根
  the root of several kinds of plants
• 漏蘆
  the same as loulu 漏盧 (a plant with long stems and small flowers. Used for medical purposes)
  (漢語大字典, p. 3325)

The most plausible meaning might be the first one, 'radish'. Probably it refers to the white radish with large roots, which is quite common in China. In Song M210 from the Shijing 廬 can also be read as 'radish', where the traditional rendering is 'hut':

中田有廬(蘆), 疆場有瓜.....
In the centre of the field is the radish, at the borders the melons.....

The complete text of line six will then be translated as

(6) 碩果不食.君子得輿.小人剝廬.
     A large fruit is not eaten. The junzi obtains a carriage. The xiaoren cuts the radish.

Here we translate 剝 as 'to cut'. Let's see if this also holds for the other lines which have 剝:

(1), (2), (4) 剝牀.....
                 cut - bed .....

Chuang 牀 means 'bed', which would turn the translation of these three lines start with 'cut - bed', 'cut the bed' or something like that. That sounds a bit strange, 'bed' doesn't really fit 'to cut'. The MWD version doesn't talk about a bed but about zang 臧, a character with almost the same pronunciation. The Fuyang Yijing does mention a bed, but in his book 阜陽漢簡《周易》研究 Han Ziqiang 韓自強 gives a detailed exposé about homonyms and he concludes that characters like chuang 牀, zang 臧 and zhuang 壯 can all be read as qiang 戕, 'to kill' or 'to wound'. The composition 僕牀 in the Fuyang Yijing is read by Han as 'wounding the servant' or 'the wounded servant', and the harm to the servant is inflicted by beating him (as we have seen 剝/僕 is also used in the meaning of 撲 or 攴, 'to beat'). Han then subtly remarks that earlier many people arrived at statements that where not convincing, but because of the Fuyang and Mawangdui Yijings it suddenly is all so obvious. That is somewhat exaggerated, because the grammar of the line texts show that 剝/僕 should be translated as a verb and not as a noun, like Han does. If we sustain that for 剝/僕, but accept his assumption that 牀 should be read as 戕, 'to wound' (and Han knows to substantiate this quite well; it should also be noted that the component 爿 is a picture of a bed, and it is related to 疒, which on oracle bones depicted a person lying in bed; characters with this component often have to do with illnesses or other inflictions to the body), then the remaining lines are translated as follows:

(1) 剝牀以足.蔑貞.凶.
     By cutting wounded at the foot. Insignificant, contemptuous divination. Misfortune.

(2) 剝牀以辨.蔑貞.凶.
     By cutting wounded at the kneecap.
     (Following Han, who says that bian 辨 and MWD bian 辯 have to be read as loan for bin 髕)

(3) 剝之.無咎.
     Cutting it. No mistake.

(4) 剝牀以膚.凶.
     By cutting wounded at the jaws. Misfortune.
     (Following Han, who dictates that fu 膚 should be read as loan for fu 輔, 'jaw'. It can also mean 'the back of the knee'; 漢語大字典, p. 3533)

Conclusion
The contexts for which these line texts are meant are not explicitly indicated, as is so often the case with the Yijing. But there is a practice which is often mentioned in the Yijing and which could have a connection with hexagram 23: the practice of ancestor worship. We know that the ancestors often received copious offerings with all kinds of food - meat, fish, vegetables, fruit. The preparation of the food was also part of the ritual. Imagine that during the cutting of the food you would wound yourself: a bad omen: misfortune! At the third line it is going okay, so 'no mistake'. At the sixth line the meaning of the text is also symbolic: a large fruit will have to be cut before it can be eaten. In the same text, as well as in other instances in the Yijing, the junzi is mentioned against the xiaoren. The junzi has transport and does not have to work, the hard labour passes him by. The xiaoren, the common people have to do the hard work. Both have there function and use, and for the right execution of the ritual both will have to take their proper position. That is how the high is connected with the low.

The Groninger Museum has an exposition of bronzes from the Shanghai Museum. During my vacation we visited the museum, and I made pictures with my mobile camera. It is a beautiful exposition, and I can advise everyone to go and visit it if you have the chance. For me it has been very exciting to actually see the objects that I read so much about. Unfortunately my mobile phone doesn't make very good pictures, and I was not allowed to use the flash. That's way certain pictures are blurry.

There was also an exposition of contemporary Chinese art. I especially enjoyed the Book from the Sky: hand-carved wood prints with 4000 non-existent Chinese characters!

Click on the picture below to see all the pictures.

Exposition Groningen

Some years ago I designed a set of cards as an aid to the wenwanggua 文王卦 method of Yijing usage. I never found an affordable way to publish them, but last week I found a manufacturer who is able to print the cards in the size I want and in small quantities - say 20 decks. The limited quantity makes one deck quite expensive, but at least I am able to produce the cards without a huge investment and I am not getting stuck with a ridiculous amount of decks which I will never be able to sell (regular card manufacturers usually have a minimum of about 1000 decks).

Without an explanation the cards would be difficult to use, especially for novices. I am now in the process of writing the book which comes with the cards. It will explain the intricacies of the wenwanggua system, it's elements and subsystems, with examples from traditional sources. The cards will be used as a guide through the wenwanggua system, every element of a card has its own chapter in which the background and usage of that element is explained. The book will also have chapters that will suggest ways to use wenwanggua for other uses than fortune-telling. The book will follow a step-by-step approach, but with every chapter you will be able to use the given information immediately in daily practice.

If you want to see all the cards you can take a look here. I expect to sell the cards with the book for about $ 50,-- (excl. shipping; the book will also be available as a pdf download to save on shipping and printing costs). If you would like to be informed about the progress and receive a mail when the cards are available you can send a mail to cards-join@itcn.nl.

Irian, kijkend naar een koor op tv wat zingt "iedereen wil vrede":

Als je vrede wilt moet je niet voor macht kiezen.

(Irian, while watching a choir on tv singing 'everybody wants peace': "If you want peace you must not choose for power.")

 

 

(I first wrote this article in Dutch for my own Yijing study group, and translated it to English. Because of this the language might sometimes sound a little bit, ehrm, awkward.)

When you search for information about the etymology of the character yi 易 you will find several stories which tell about this character's origin. Are these stories all true? Let's see what a little research will come up with.

First, let's get rid of some wrong information which haunts this character for almost two thousand years. The traditional account of this character's origin is that it is a picture of a lizard, chameleon, or gecko. This comes from the Shuo Wen 說文 dictionary, which says:

易. 蜥易，蝘蜓，守宮也。象形。

易. Lizard, gecko. Pictogram.
(漢語大字典, p. 1494)

And Duan Yucai 段玉裁 adds in his commentary that it is a picture of a head, and four legs. But this is not the only explanation the Shuo Wen gives. It also says:

祕書說：日月爲易，象隂陽也.

The Secret Books (mishu 祕書, according to Duan another name for weishu 緯書, the apocryphal books HM) say: sun and moon become yi, it is a picture of yin and yang.
(漢語大字典, p. 1494)

Duan explains that the phrase 日月爲易 comes from the Can Tong Qi 参同契, a cryptic Daoist alchemical text attributed to the Daoist immortal Wei Boyang 魏伯陽 from the Eastern Han Dynasty (AD 25-220). The supposed dates of the Shuo Wen and the Can Tong Qi do not seem to match, however. The Shuo Wen is written in 121 AD, and the Can Tong Qi in 142 AD (although others maintain a much later date; see Roel Jansen's introduction to the Dutch translation of Bertschinger's Can Tong Qi, p. 13-14). Nevertheless, the phrase is supposed to describe the composition of the character yi: the top part is the sun 日, and the lower part is the moon 月, written in its old form as 勿.

In my electronic version of the Can Tong Qi there is one paragraph where I find the sentence 日月爲易, a paragraph which deals with opposites and the harmony between them:

坎戊月精 Kan wu yue jing
離己日光 Li ji ri guang
日月為易 Ri yue wei yi
剛柔相當 Gang rou xiang dang
土旺四季 Tu wang si ji....

Kan 坎 and wu 戊 are the essence of the moon
Li 離 and ji 己 are the radiance of the sun
Sun and moon make yi 易
The firm and yielding are balanced
Earth prospers in the four seasons...

In the first line the trigram Kan, Water, is linked to the fifth Heavenly Stem, wu of the Chinese calendar, and to the moon; in the second line the trigram Li, Fire, is linked to the sixth Heavenly Stem ji and to the sun (see also my article about the Eight Palaces, p. 13. The paragraph from the Can Tong Qi mentioned here does not appear in Bertschinger's translation). 'Sun and moon make yi 易' is the next line, and seen in the light of the foregoing two sentences it is clear that this sentence does not describe the composition of the character yi 易 but is a philosophical explanation of the principles of yin and yang, mainly for the purpose of alchemical practices. If you take the sentence 日月為易 out of this context you could see it as an explanation of the character yi 易 and its components, but I don't think this was the intention in the Can Tong Qi.

 

The two explanations from the Shuo Wen do not agree with the latest findings about the etymology of the character yi and may be regarded as outdated.

The character yi 易 on oracle bones
When you look in jiaguwen 甲骨文 dictionaries you will notice that most books only mention one version as the precursor of yi (see left picture). Even the book 殷墟甲骨學-帶走進甲骨文的世界 by Ma Rusen 馬如森, published in 2007, gives this one version, and says that there are several explanations for the shape of this character (p. 413). The most remarkable explanation that is mentioned by Ma is the one given by Sun Changxu 孫常敘, who says that it is a picture of a bird spreading its wings. However, this explanation does not refer to the oracle bone character, but to a later version found in bronze inscriptions (see right picture). With a little bit of fantasy you can see a bird in it, but this explanation is not compatible with the earlier oracle bone version.
Most dictionaries do not dare to give an explanation of the form of the character; stronger put, they say that it is not clear what it depicts (see for instance Zhao Cheng 趙 , 甲骨文簡明詞典-卜辭分類讀本; p. 334). Steve Marshall gives in his book The Mandate of Heaven as explanation that the character is a drawing of the sun coming from behind a cloud, with rays of sunlight breaking through; an explanation which according to Marshall is also given by Yang Shuda 楊樹達 (p. 15). This explanation is quite plausible if we look at the context in which this character is used. Later on we will see that another explanation is also possible.

Give us the sun
On oracle bones we often find yi 易 combined with ri 日, 'sun'. Zhao Cheng 趙 talks in length about the combination 易日:

易即賜. 天氣陰況、晦暗, 商代人希望上帝能把太陽賞賜給人間, 所以叫作賜日. 卜辭中的易日常和 霧 相對 而言, 如 『壬寅賜日, 壬寅霧』. 商代人認為, 太陽出來與否, 一定受某一種神力的支配, 所以, 為了使太陽出來, 也就是使神賜給人間以太陽, 常祈求先祖以賜日, 如 『中丁易日 - 對仲丁進行祭以求賜日』, 『歲大戊卄牢易日 - 用卄牢向大戊進行歲祭以求賜日』. 既然希望賞賜一個太陽, 則這種天氣一定是沒有出日: 可能是陰況、晦暗, 也可能是烏雲滾滾, 也可能是時陰時雨, 也可能是多雲蔽日. 有人把 '易日' 簡單地看成是陰天, 不能說沒有道理, 但不完全合符實際.

Yi 易 means ci 賜, 'give, gift'. When there was cloudy and dark weather the Shang people wished that Shangdi would give the sun to humanity, this is ci ri 賜日. In bone inscriptions 易日 often appears in combination with wu 霧, 'fog', for instance: '(day) renyin - give - sun, (day) renyin - fog' (see right picture).
The Shang people believed that the appearing of the sun was controlled by supernatural powers, therefore to let the sun appear, to persuade the spirits to give the sun to humanity, they begged the ancestors to '賜日', give the sun. For instance ' offering - middle - Ding - give - sun': 'a offering to middle ancestor Ding to be given the sun'; 'sui offering - Da - Wu - twenty - oxes - give - sun': use twenty oxes during the sui offering to pursuade ancestor Da Wu to give the sun'. Because it is hoped that the sun will be given it means that in the weather the sun had not appeared: maybe because it is dark, or because it is twilight, or there are dark clouds in the sky, or maybe it is raining and cloudy, or dark clouds are covering the sun. Some see 易日 simply as 'clouded sky', it cannot be said that this is not plausible, but it does not completely agree with what we know.
(甲骨文簡明詞典-卜辭分類讀本, p. 191. The last sentence could refer to Guo Moruo 郭沫若, who suggested that yi 易 can be read as yi 晹, 'the sun alternately shining between and behind the clouds'. According to Guo 晹日 would mean 'clouded sky'. See 甲骨文字典, p. 1064. For information about the offering, see 甲骨文簡明詞典, p. 242; Liu Xinglong 劉興隆, 新編甲骨文字典, p. 996; 甲骨文字典, p. 986)

This explanation agrees with the picture that Marshall gives about the shape of the character. On oracle bones yi often has the meaning of 'to give, to grant', with or without ri 日, and it alway refers to a high placed person who grants something to a person with a lower status. This specific meaning is still found in the earlier mentioned ci 賜, the successor of yi (Matthews' Dictionary 6988).

Another explanation
When we divide the old character in two halves we get two parts: left we have and right we have . Both components are separately found on oracle bones, and they can give an explanation for the complete character. As component the left part occurs in several other characters (see right picture); we do not always know what these characters mean - sometimes it is the name of a person, but more often the meaning is not clear. What we do know is that is the name of a certain sacrifice (甲骨文字典, p. 995; 新編甲骨文字典, p. 528), and it is possible that all the characters with as component have to do with offerings or the rituals that accompany it. We have seen that this applies to the old form of yi 易.

The right part of the character, , is harder to interpret because during Shang times it had two meanings: it is the old character for yue 月, 'moon', but it as also used for xi 夕, 'evening, sunset'. Liu however says that on oracle bones yue 月 was written as , while xi 夕 was mostly written as , with an extra dot in the center (see also Yu Shengwu 于省吾, 甲骨文字釋林, p. 449). If we combine this with what we know of the component , then it is possible that refers to an offering to the moon, or at least in the dark, to get the sun back. Yi 易 could have been a sacrifice to the ancestors or spirits (indicated by ) during the evening or in the night (indicated by ) to make sure that the sun is returning, that it is 'given' by the ancestors or spirits.

Change
The 'giving' in the way it is mentioned in the inscriptions is connected to an action, mostly a sacrifice, which purpose was to change a bad situation to a good one. This comes close to the meaning that is familiar to most Yijing users: 'change'. Zhao Cheng writes in his book:

甲骨文用作動詞, 其中的一種意義近以於後代的 "平安" , "痊癒". (...)易的這種用法, 有人以為當讀作化險為夷之夷, 則為借音字.

In bone inscriptions [is yi also] a verb, which comes close to the meaning of the words ping'an 平安 - (become) stable and quiet, and quanyu 痊癒 - recover from an illness. (...) Some people think that yi in this usage can be read as the yi 夷 from the saying '化險為夷', 'change danger into safety', in which case it is seen as a phonetic loan character.
(甲骨文簡明詞典, p. 369)

This description tells us what a yi change means: a yi action or happening should lead to a better situation. You change from something which is (potentially) harmful to something which is favorable, positive. This corresponds with the earlier mentioned offering to the ancestors, with the wish to get the sun back - here we also have an unfavorable situation which by yi has to change for the better.

On oracle bones we see this a lot in sessions about diseases, often concerning diseases of the teeth (see right picture):

王疾齒, 亡易.

The king has a tooth disease, this will not change (for the better).
(新編甲骨文字典, p. 607. According to Liu yi should be explained as getting permanent teeth (see also 甲骨文字典, p. 1064). In that case the translation would be 'the king has a tooth disease, this is not because of getting permanent teeth'.)

In this case the outcome was unfavorable and more sacrifices would be made to the spirits and ancestors, until they were in the proper mood and a hopeful answer would be received.

The other variant
The character we explored so far is the one you will see most in the specialized dictionaries. But some dictionaries give an additional form as precursor of yi. In this character the meaning of 'to give, giving' is very clear. The main components are two vases; liquid is being poured from one vase into the other. Sometimes there are two two hands visible who hold a vase, sometimes there is only one hand, and sometimes the liquid is missing as well. The 甲骨文字典 dictionary says that this is the precursor of yi, and that the other form we discussed in length earlier is a simplification of it (p. 1063). The opinions are divided about this, and many dictionaries do not share this variant under yi 易 but under yi 益. It will be noticed that in current standard Chinese the pronunciation of both these characters is the same; in the early Zhou period the pronunciation wasn't exactly the same, although the endings were the same (GSR 849a and 850a; Axel Schuessler, ABC Etymological Dictionary of Old Chinese, p. 566 and 569).

Indeed the oracle bone form of yi 益 is very similar to this presumed variant form of yi (see right picture). However, of many oracle bone characters which have a 'vase' component the modern form has the component 皿. If really was a precursor of yi 易 you would expect that the modern form still contains the 皿 component. The fact that this is not the case might be a clue that has nothing to do with yi 易.

There were times when I said the opposite. The small book 周易：古代中國的世界圖示 by Wu Enbo 烏恩博 mentions oracle bone and bronze forms of yi (p. 1-2), and I turned this into the following picture:

This picture seems very plausible, but actually it is not true. It gives the impression that the version was used before the form, and that is simply not correct. Both forms were used during Period I according to the system of Dong Zuobin 董作賓 (see table below; based on 甲骨文字典, 凡例 p. 1 ; David N. Keightley, Sources of Shang History, p. 23 table 14 and 228 table 38).

Period	Starts with king		Ends with king
I	武丁 Wu Ding	1250 - 1181
II	祖庚 Zu Geng	1180 - 1171	祖甲 Zu Jia	1170 - 1151
III	廩辛 Lin Xin	1150 -	庚丁 Geng Ding	- 1131/1121
IV	武乙 Wu Yi	1130 - 1116/ 1120 - 1106	文丁 Wen Ding	1115 - 1101/ 1105 - 1091
V	帝乙 Di Yi	1100 - 1081/ 1090 - 1071	帝辛 Di Xin	1080 - 1051/ 1070 - 1041

During the Shang dynasty (ca. 1600 BC - ca. 1046 BC) probably had the meaning of 'give, grant' without religious connotations, while was used with a religious meaning, and emphasizing positive change. The religious meaning of disappeared when the Shang dynasty was thrown over and the 易日 sacrifice became disused. Both forms and got the meaning of 'give, grant', as can be seen in bronze inscriptions from later periods.

On the site of Donald Sturgeon (www.chineseetymology.org) the 'vase' variant is seen as a precursor of yi 匜, the name of a low type of vessel/basin for pouring out liquid. In the 金文引得 index of bronze inscriptions an inscription is mentioned in which 易 is read as 匜 (p. 351 entry 5421), but I have not found other sources which motivate that is the old form of 匜.

Conclusion
You might wonder if this is all relevant for the use of the Yi as an oracle. What I personally like about the old meaning of yi 易 is the emphasis that is put on positive change. A situation might be bad or unpleasant, but with yi you have the tool to change that. The old usage of yi makes us aware of our ability to bring positive changes to our lives. Maybe you will have to sacrifice a little bit, but in the end the outcome will be an improvement of the situation you started with. Change is not something which befalls you. Change is a verb: you do it, and by doing it, you change your situation for the better.

If you would like to know which collection of Yi books is in the Siku Quanshu 四庫全書 Imperial Encyclopedia, look here. The Center for Zhouyi & Ancient Chinese Philosophy from the University of Shandong has made this treasure available as PDFs, in fine quality. Enjoy.

Lately I had an argument (for sake of a better word) with a woman who owns a group on Yahoo, and in the files section of this group she had posted a raw version of an article that I wrote for my weblog. Since a) this lady did not have the good manners to consult me about it, and b) the layout of the article was terrible ruined up to the point that it was very hard to read and c) she did not have the good manner to mention the source, I asked her to remove the file from her Yahoo group. The first time I asked this she did not agree, saying that she wrote similar content on her own website. I asked her to show me where I could find that but she didn't reply. The second time I asked her to remove the file, stating that if she didn't comply I would address the matter to Yahoo, she started to call me names like 'Mr. Feathers' and talked about 'copyright whining'. She finally removed the file, but found it necessary to send my messages with the requests for removal to the members of her group, without giving her replies, of course.

You may wonder why I don't want to see my texts & articles copied elsewhere without me knowing about it. It has nothing to do with the need for recognition as some will think. I want to be responsible for what I write, and if articles from my hand start to spread around the internet without my name under it it becomes very hard to track the source of the ideas that are presented in it. And that is something which I find very important: you have to be able to name and track your sources. It does not sound very convincing if you have to confess that what you say is based on a file you found in a vague Yijing group somewhere on the internet. Ideas easily start their own life, and when you have a certain reputation (I am told that I have one) people very easy accept what you say. But if I make a mistake I want to be able to correct it. When articles are spread around the internet without my knowledge it becomes very hard to correct misconceptions and wrong ideas that are presented in the text.

Some time ago I wrote that the traditional view of the etymology of the character yi 易 was not correct - instead of the traditional sun/moon or chameleon image I said that the original form was that of two pots which are exchanging liquid. Although I am not the first to say that, the fact that I posted it on my website with my name under it made people believe that it is actually true. But a more thorough study I did the last view days made me change my mind. It seems that the 'pouring pots' version is a different character, even though some dictionaries say otherwise (more about that later). Now, the idea that the original form of 易 is that of two pouring pots is already gaining recognition, and I am not saying that I am solely responsible for that, but I do know that my article about it has had some influence. If that article would have spread anonymously around the internet it would very easy become an urban legend. Now it is only on my website and I can correct myself, saving me from what could have become a lifetime of embarrassment.

If you want to copy a text or article from my website just ask me. It is polite, and it is only a small effort.

Three weeks ago my computer crashed: faulty memory. For some strange reason I cannot restore the backup from my external harddrive. Result: all e-mail, address book and favourites gone. Not my documents, which were on a separate partition and are not affected by the crash from Windows.

Sooo.....if I have not replied to your e-mail recently then you now know the reason. If you would like to be in my address book again: write me an e-mail.

A thorough study of the original text of the Yijing should also involve an examination of the variant texts that exist of this classic. It would be a fallacy to think that the Book of Changes never changed; through archaeological excavations we now know that the text of the Yi was not as fixed as many want us to believe. Especially before the Qin dynasty, but also during the Han dynasty, there we versions of the Yijing that are different on many points from the version that we use today. The received version is only a compromise of different schools, it should never be seen as the Yijing, it is just one version of the book. To get a better picture of the Yijing and its language through the ages it is necessary to study the different variant texts alongside with the received text.

We mainly have four variant texts of the Yijing:

1. The first variant text that got worldwide attention was the Mawangdui text of the Yijing that was discovered in 1973.
2. A text which was found 4 years later is seldom mentioned, mainly because of its fragmented state and late publication of these fragments: the Fuyang bamboo slips.
3. In 1993 the Shanghai Museum bought an amount of bamboo slips on a market in Hong Kong, among it was a portion of the Zhouyi.
4. Through the ages fragments are found of the Xiping Stone Classics Zhouyi from the Han dynasty.

For each of these texts it is possible to purchase several books, as I did the last few years. A lot of books are published about the Mawangdui Yijing, but the best studies of it are the following books:

• 帛書周易校釋 by Deng Qiubai 鄧球柏; 2002, ISBN 7543812975
• Das Mawangdui-Yijing - Text und Deutung by Dominique Hertzer; 1996, ISBN 3424013072
• I Ching by Edward L. Shaughnessy; 1997, ISBN 0345362438

The Fuyang Zhouyi is studied in every detail in

• 阜陽漢簡《周易》研究 by Han Ziqiang 韓自強; 2004, ISBN 7532537242

A thorough study of the Xiping Stone Classics Yijing can be found in

• 漢石經周易殘字集證 by Qu Wanli 屈萬里; 1961, republished in 1999, no ISBN

The best book for the study of the Shanghai Museum Manuscript has been 上海博物館藏戰國楚竹, Vol. 3, ISBN 7532530140. It is a magnificent book, in the best quality possible. The only downside was its size: 44 x 30 cm is not something you carry easily with you. But this has changed since the publication of 楚竹書《周易》研究 by 濮茅左 Pu Maozuo last year. It has the size of a large dictionary, is published in two volumes containing a total of 1045 pages, and compared to the 上海博物館藏戰國楚竹, Vol. 3 a huge amount of extraordinary material has been added. If you want to study the variant texts of the Yijing, then this is the book to have. It contains transcripts of all variant texts I mentioned, and a lot more. Below is the contents of the book, with notes and images to explain some sections.

《楚竹書《周易》圖版
The first section of volume 1 contains full-color images of the bamboo slips, along with a transcription in modern characters.


上編 - 楚竹書《周易》研究

The first volume deals in detail with the Shanghai Museum Manuscript.

• 楚竹書《周易》導言 - 兼及近年來楚竹書研究
  Introduction. About the 《上海博物館藏戰國楚竹書》 series and its contents, importance of the Chu Bamboo Yijing and other Chu bamboo books (《太一生水》, 《緇衣》, 《魯穆公問于子思》, 《五行》, etc.) found in recent years.

• 第一章 楚竹書《周易》概況與研究

• 第一節 楚竹書《周易》概況是馬承源先生把楚竹書《周易》搶救回歸。
  A short biography of the life and work of Ma Chengyuan 馬承源 (1927-2004), director of the Shanghai Musem, who acquired the bamboo slips which were found at a Hong Kong market in the spring of 1994. See also here and the obituary in Early China 29 (2004). This part also gives an account of the publications and research since the discovery.

• 第三節 楚竹書《周易》符號
  About the meaning of the coloured markings at the beginning and end of certain hexagram texts.

• 一、 符號的讀法及意義
• 二、 符號位置的確定
• 三、 符號對卦名的分類
• 四、 對殘簡卦符號的判斷
• 五、 對同卦異類符號現象的認識
• 六、 楚竹書《周易》的類序
• 七、 總結
  In the conclusion it is assumed that the markings refer to a separation of the Zhou Yi into two halves, just as the received version, but with different hexagrams in each half.

• 第四節 楚竹書《周易》文字應用的時代特點
  About the language of the document, often used characters, loan characters, different forms of one character, etc.

• 一、 常用字、詞使用穩定
• 二、 通借字的使用
• 三、 不同的楚文字, 通借同一今字
• 四、 同一楚文字, 借為不同的今字
• 五、 用作本字, 叉借為他字
• 六、 一字多體
• 七、 不使用本字, 而使用通借
• 八、 使用古文、異體宇

• 第二章 楚竹書《周易》原文考釋
  A detailed account of every bamboo slip, it's condition, size, and contents.

• 附錄一: 楚竹書《周易》原文
  A transcript in modern characters, with punctuation and substituted loan characters added.
  

• 附錄二: 竹書、帛書、今本比較表
  Comparison of the bamboo text, the Mawangdui text and the received text (see here).

• 附錄三: 楚竹書《周易》詞目解釋
  An index with explanation of certain phrases used in this book and in the Chu Bamboo Zhouyi, like 又孚才道, 小子礪又言，etc., arranged by stroke count of the first character.
  

• 附錄四: 楚竹書《周易》逐字索引
  A concordance of the characters in the Chu Bamboo Zhouyi, arranged by stroke count.
  

下編 先秦兩漢出土與傳世易學文獻資料

• 第三章 考古易的發現
  This chapter deals with references to the Zhouyi and its components as found on oracle bonze, bronzes inscriptions and other pre-Qin and Han dynasty texts.

• 第一節 甲骨文中所見易卦
  Part one talks about the character yao 爻 ('hexagram line') on oracle bones, the bagua numerals as discussed by Zhang Zhenglang in his provocative article 'An Interpretation of the Divinatory Inscriptions on Early Chou Bronzes.' Early China 6 (1980–81), pp 80–96; (see also Stephen L. Field, Who Told the Fortunes? The Speaker in Early Chinese Divination Records, Asia Major 2000 ( and Li Zongkun 李宗焜, 數字卦的內容與疾病記述). Examples with lots of pictures.
  

• 第二節 金文中所見易卦
  This part also discusses the character yao 爻 and the numerals, as found on bronze inscriptions.
  

• 第三節 其他器物中所見易卦
  Objects like stone utensils, bronze mirrors etc. with numerals and trigrams are discussed here.

• 第四節 竹簡中所見易卦、《周易》
  Part 4 is very interesting, as it discusses hexagrams, bagua numerals and other Yi fragments found in other Chu Jian manuscripts, like the Bao Shan Bamboo Slips.
  

• 一、 《包山楚簡》申所見易卦
• 二、 《新蔡葛陵楚墓。竹簡》中所見易卦
• 三、 天星觀卜筮竹簡中所見易卦
• 四、 《郭店楚墓竹簡》中所見《周易》
• 五、 阜陽漢簡《周易》
  A complete transcript of the Fuyang Zhouyi. Or what is left of it.

• 第五節 馬王堆漢墓帛書中所見《周易》
  Part 5 deals with the Mawangdui Zhouyi and it's additional chapters. The parts 一, 甲 and 乙 have a transcription of the text accompanied with the original silk characters and the received text; the other chapters only have a transcription in modern characters.
  

• 一、 馬王堆漢墓帛書《易經》
• 二、 馬王堆漢墓帛書《易傳》
• 甲、馬王堆漢墓帛書《二三子》
• 乙、馬王堆漢墓帛書《繫辭》
• 丙、馬王堆漢墓帛書《易之義》
• 丁、馬王堆漢墓帛書《要》
• 戊、馬王堆漢墓帛書《繆和》及《昭力》

• 第六節 漢石經中所見《周易》
  Part 6 deals with the Xiping Stone fragments of the Yijing. It gives rubbings of the fragments, as well as a transcription in modern characters alongside with the stone characters.
  

• 一、 熹平石經《易經》
• 二、 熹平石經《彖》
• 三、 熹平石經《象》
• 四、 熹平石經《繫辭》
• 五、 熹平石經《文言》
• 六、 熹平石經《說卦》
• 七、 熹平石經《序卦》
• 八、 熹平石經《雜卦》

• 附: 關於王家臺秦簡《歸藏》所見易卦
  This appendix deals with the Wangjiatai Guicang, it gives a transcription of its contents.
  

• 第四章 傳世文獻中的易學記載
  Chapter 4 gives a transcription of parts from several pre-Qin and Han dynasty texts which contain references to the Yijing. Part two is an extensive list of book titles and compilations of Yijing books throughout the history of China; part three gives the received text of the Yijing.

• 第一節 散見於先秦兩漢等文獻中的易學記載
• 第二節 歷史上的《周易》典籍
• 第三節 今本《易經》與《傳》
• 一、 《易經》(今本原文)
• 二、 《彖》(今本原文)
• 三、 《象》(今本原文》
• 四、 《文言》(今本原文)
• 五、 《繫辭》(今本原文)
• 六、 《說卦》(今本原文)
• 七、 《序卦》(今本原文)
• 八、 《雜卦》(今本原文)

• 參考與引用論著目錄
  List of references.

There is nothing more for me to say. All the variant text convenient together in two volumes, in excellent quality, with interesting articles added. I you have the slightest interest in the variant texts of the Yijing, then what are you waiting for. Buy this book. It is worth the money.

楚竹書《周易》研究(上下)
Author: 濮茅左
Publisher: 上海古籍
Pages: 1045
Date: 2006年11月
ISBN: 7532541886
ISBN13: 9787532541881

Ask Irian for a photo shoot and this is the result (click to enlarge).