Chinese Occultism E-Book

Paul Carus

• Herausgeber: Books on Demand
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2019

Seitenzahl: 61

Beschreibung

At the beginning of Chinese history stands a tablet which in some mysterious way is supposed to be connected with an explanation of the universe. It has been reconstructed by later Chinese thinkers and is pictured in the hands of Fuh-Hi as an arrangement of the kwa figures preserved in the Yih King. Considering the several traces of Babylonian traditions in ancient Chinese literature and folklore, would it not be justifiable to identify the tablet of Fuh-Hi with the ancient Babylonian "Tablet of Destiny" mentioned in the Enmeduranki Text, a copy of which was discovered in the archives of Asurbanipal 20 and was said to contain the "Mystery of Heaven and Earth?"

Leseprobe

Chinese Occultism

Chinese OccultismTHE YIH SYSTEM.THE EIGHT KWA FIGURES AND THE BINARY SYSTEM.THE TABLET OF DESTINY.DIVINATION.LO-PAN.THE PERSONIFICATION OF STARS.PREHISTORIC CONNECTIONS.Copyright

Chinese Occultism

Paul Carus

THE YIH SYSTEM.

Among the ancient traditions of China there is a unique system of symbols called the yih (  ), i.e., "permutations" or "changes,"

THE TWO PRIMARY FORMS * (LIANG I).

THE YANG THE YIH

Old form

Modern form

which consists of all possible combinations of two elements, called liang i (  ), i.e., the two elementary forms, which are the negative principle, yin (  ), and the positive principle, yang (  ). The four possible configurations of yang and yin in groups of two are called ssu shiang (  ), i.e., "the four [secondary] figures"; all further combinations of the elementary forms into groups of three or more are called kwa (  ). In English, groups of three elementary forms are commonly called trigrams, and groups of six, hexagrams.

The book in which the permutations of yang and yin are recorded, was raised in ancient times to the dignity of a canonical writing, a class of literature briefly called king in Chinese. Hence the book is known under the title of Yih King.The Yih King is one of the most ancient, most curious, and most mysterious documents in the world. It is more mysterious than the pyramids of Egypt, more ancient than the Vedas of India, more curious than the cuneiform inscriptions of Babylon.In the earliest writings, the yang is generally represented as a white disk and the yin as a black one; but later on the former is replaced by one long dash denoting strength, the latter by two short dashes considered as a broken line to represent weakness. Disks are still used for diagrams, as in the Map of Ho and the Table of Loh, but the later method was usually employed, even before Confucius, for picturing kwa combinations.The trigrams are endowed with symbolical meaning according to the way in which yin and yang lines are combined. They apply to all possible relations of life and so their significance varies.Since olden times, the yih system has been considered a philosophical and religious panacea; it is believed to solve all problems, to answer all questions, to heal all ills. He who understands the yih is supposed to possess the key to the riddle of the universe.The yih is capable of representing all combinations of existence. The elements of the yih, yang the positive principle and yin the negative principle, stand for the elements of being. Yang means "bright," and yin, "dark." Yang is the principle of heaven; yin, the principle of the earth. Yang is the sun, yin is the moon. Yang is masculine and active; yin is feminine and passive. TheTHE FOUR FIGURES (SSU SHIANG).

SYMBOL NAME SIGNIFICANCE

Yang Major Sun Heat Mentality (or leadership) Unity (or origin) The nature of things (essence) Eyes Great Monarch 3

Yang Minor Fixed Stars Daylight Corporality (bodily organism) Rotation Compound things 1 Nose Prince

Yin Minor Planets Night Materiality (inertia; bodily substance) Succession Multiplicity 2 Mouth Duke

Yin Major Moon Cold Sensuality; passion Quality Attributes of things Ears Emperor

former is motion; the latter is rest. Yang is strong, rigid, lordlike; yin is mild, pliable, submissive, wifelike. The struggle between, and the different mixture of, these two elementary contrasts, condition all the differences that prevail, the state of the elements, the nature of things, and also the character of the various personalities as well as the destinies of human beings.

The Yih King (  ) is very old, for we find it mentioned as early as the year 1122 B.C., in the official records of the Chou dynasty, where we read that three different recensions of the work

THE EIGHT KWA FIGURES AND THE BINARY SYSTEM.

NAME TRANSCRIPTION MEANINGS OF THE CHINESE WORD * KWA BINARY SYSTEM ARABIC NUMERALS

ch‘ien to come out; to rise, sunrise; vigorous; (present meaning) dry.111 7

tui to weigh; to barter; permeable.110 6

li to separate101 5

chan to quake; to thunder100 4

sun peaceful; a stand or pedestal011 3

k‘an a pit; to dig a pit.010 2

kan a limit; to stop; perverse.001 1

kw‘un earth; to nourish; yielding.000  0

were extant, the Lien Shan, the Kwei Ts‘ang and the Yih of Chou, 1 of which, however, the last one alone has been preserved.This Yih of Chou, our present Yih King, exhibits two arrangements of the kwa figures, of which one is attributed to their originator, the legendary Fuh-Hi, 2 the other to Wen Wang. 3 Fuh-Hi is also called Feng, 4 "wind," and Tai Ho, 5 "the great celestial," and he lived, according to Chinese records, from 2852 to 2738 B.C. It speaks well for the mathematical genius of the ancient founders of Chinese civilisation that the original order of the yih, attributed to Fuh-Hi, corresponds closely to Leibnitz’ Binary System of arithmetic. If we let the yin represent 0 and the yang, 1, it appears that the eight trigrams signify the first eight figures from 0–7, arranged in their proper arithmetical order, and read from below upward. Leibnitz knew the yih and speaks of it in terms of highappreciation. Indeed it is not impossible that it suggested to him his idea of a binary system.While Fuh-Hi's system exhibits a mathematical order, Wen Wang's is based upon considerations of occultism. It stands to reason that Fuh-Hi (by which name we understand that school, or founder of a school, that invented the yih) may not have grasped the full significance of his symbols in the line of abstract thought and especially in mathematics, but we must grant that he was a mathematical genius, if not in fact, certainly potentially. As to further details our information is limited to legends.The case is different with Wen Wang, for his life is inscribed on the pages of Chinese history and his character is well known.The personal name of Wen Wang (i.e., the "scholar-king") is Hsi-Peh, which means "Western Chief." He was the Duke of Chou, one of the great vassals of the empire, and lived from 1231 to 1135 B.C. In his time the emperor was Chou-Sin, a degenerate debauché and a tyrant, the last of the Yin dynasty, who oppressed the people by reckless imposition and provoked a just rebellion. Wen Wang offended him and was long kept in prison, but his sonTHE TRIGRAMS AS FAMILY RELATIONS.

FATHER

MOTHER

Eldest Son

Second Son

Youngest Son

Eldest Daughter

Second Daughter

Youngest Daughter

Fa, surnamed Wu Wang, being forced into a conflict with Chou-Sin, overthrew the imperial forces. The tyrant died in the flames of his palace which had been ignited by his own hands. Wu Wang 6 assumed the government and became the founder of the Chou dynasty which reigned from 1122 until 225 B.C.Wen Wang was a man of earnest moral intentions, but with a hankering after occultism. During his imprisonment he occupied himself in his enforced leisure with the symbols of the yih, and found much comfort in the divinations which he believed to discover in them. When he saw better days he considered that the prophecies were fulfilled, and his faith in their occult meaning became more and more firmly established. 7The eight permutations of the trigrams apparently form the oldest part of the Yih King