Royal Academic Institute

Chung’s “I – Ching 易經” 8 – Chapter 3 of SyutGuaJun說卦傳

天地定位，山澤通氣，雷風相薄，水火不相射，八卦相錯。數往者順，知來者逆，是故《易》逆數也。

The about is the original paragraph of Chapter 3 in SyutGuaJun說卦傳.

When we translate it, we need to understand what did the original writer is talking about; otherwise we will make a fundamental mistake in the translation.

The original writer explains how did the FokFei BaGua 伏羲八卦 (Inherent Hexagram 先天八卦) form. In the ancient time, the Chinese threaded bamboo or wooden pieces together to form a book, thus it was not convenient to draw any diagrams on it. Base on the description, the readers then could draw the diagram on a cloth or on the sands.



FokFei BaGua 伏羲八卦 (Inherent Hexagram 先天八卦)

Moreover, the writer didn’t describe the idea too clearly is because he wants to keep some secrets in the book for his lineage. Nowadays we can see the diagrams in the first few pages of any I-Ching books but if you didn’t know this paragraph correlates with the above diagram, it will be quite difficult for you to interpret the whole paragraph correctly.

If you go through the translation of Mr Joseph Yu and Mr James Legge, they did not mention anything about the relationship of this paragraph and the Inherent Hexagram先天八卦. This is the first reason I am telling you that they didn’t know about I-Ching.

Let us analyze their interpretation by going through each sentence:

天地定位
Joseph Yu (JY) translation: Heaven and Earth occupy determinate positions.
James Legge (JL) translation: (The symbols of) heaven and earth received their determinate positions;

Issac Chung (IC) translation: Sky (represented by Kin☰) and earth (represented by Kwan ☷) fixed their position.


天地定位



山澤通氣
JY: Mountain and Marsh communicate with their qi.
JL: (those for) mountains and collections of water interchanged their influences;

IC: Mountain (represented by Gan ☶) and marsh or ocean(represented by Doi ☱) exchange their energies and breathings (氣Hei)


山澤通氣


雷風相薄
JY: Thunder and Wind excite each other.
JL: (those for) thunder and wind excited each other the more;

IC: The word Bor薄 is hard to understand and some scholars said that Bor薄 is equal to Bor 搏, which means to fight and to take risk. That’s why both of them use excite or excited in their translation. However, Bor薄 itself has its own meaning, which you can be determined as follow:

迫近、接近。文選˙李密˙陳情表：「日薄西山，氣息奄奄。」
- Approach or getting closer, (you can compare with other classic article in the bracket.)

附著。楚辭˙屈原˙九章˙涉江：「腥臊並御，芳不薄兮。」
- Attach, (you can compare with other classic article in the bracket.)

侵入。荀子˙天論：「故水旱未至而飢，寒暑未薄而疾。」
- Invasion or penetration (you can compare with other classic article in the bracket.)

Thunder (represented by Jun ☳) and wind (represented by Seon ☴) are approaching each others and both have attached and penetrated each other.


雷風相薄


水火不相射
JY: Water and Fire interact but do not shoot at each other.
JL: and (those for) water and fire did each other no harm.

IC: Water(represented by Hum ☵) also known as moon, Fire(represented by Lei ☲) also known as Sun in the I-Ching, Moon only reflects Sun’s light, and both of their lights do not shoot at each others.


水火不相射


八卦相錯
JY: Among the eight trigrams, there is mutual correlation.
JL: (Then) among these eight symbols there was a mutual communication.

IC: (Take a look at the Inherent Hexagram先天八卦) Eight trigrams are opposite to each other, their bars (爻 Ngaau) are mutually opposite to each other, that is positive to negative, negative to positive.



FokFei BaGua 伏羲八卦 (Inherent Hexagram 先天八卦)

數往者順
JY: Recollection of the past is natural.
JL: The numbering of the past is a natural process.

IC: The numbers already passed is “Shun順” .

知來者逆，
JY: Anticipation of the future may be artificial*.
JL: the knowledge of the coming is anticipation.

IC: To know the future is “Yik逆”

是故《易》逆數也。
JY: Therefore, Yi is against the idea of pre-determined fate.
JL: Therefore in the Yi we have (both) anticipation (and the natural process).

IC: Therefore “I易” is same as Yik逆 which is used to know the future.

From the above comparisons, you can the differences in our perspective. Since both of them did not know this chapter is explaining the Inherent Hexagram plus they were copying from others, they have misinterpreted the meaning.

Moreover, Mr Joseph Yu only thought the general meaning of “Yik逆” is against, and did not realize the original sentence has already clearly explained the meaning of “Yik逆” is “to know the future知來者”. His careless or misunderstanding led him to conclude “Yi is against the idea of pre-determined fate”.

“I易” is the mother of Chinese metaphysic, if he has misinterpreted I-Ching, I question his understanding in Chinese Classics and whether he makes the same mistakes in other metaphysic’s subjects. When his students follow his misinterpretation and start teaching others, how many beginners would be poisoned by his misconception?

To understand the problem with Mr Joseph Yu interpretation, you can view my other article at:
http://www.royalacademicinstitute.com ... s/article.php?storyid=267
http://www.royalacademicinstitute.com ... s/article.php?storyid=269

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