Hexagram 07, line 2

在師中.吉.無咎.王三錫命.

Ximing 錫命: Appointments granted by the king.

Here the king three times grants an appointment. In the Zhouli 周禮 there are nine appointments mentioned, the jiuming 九命, each giving greater awards:

[The jiuming 九命 are] an array of official ranks ascribed to ancient times and often revived by subsequent Chou dynasties, in which the 9th honor (i.e., rank 9) was highest and the first honor was lowest.
(C. Hucker, A Dictionary of Official Titles In Imperial China, p. 176)

(…) The nine appointments were 受職 to receive official duties, 受服 to receive uniform, 受位 to receive rank, 受器 to receive equipments, 賜則 to bestow regulations,賜官 to bestow official title, 賜國 to bestow fief, 作牧 to be shepherd, and 作伯 to be leader.
(David Y. Hu, Chinese-English Dictionary of Chinese Historical Terminology; p. 469)

 The translations that Hu provides for each appointment are somewhat simplistic, for instance zuomu 作牧 does not mean that you are just a shepherd, you were governor of a state and were allowed to go on punitive expeditions without the king’s consent – ‘to be shepherd’ is merely a metaphor for this task.

Amid the army. Auspicious. There is no blame from the ancestors. Three times the king awards an imperial appointment.

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