Monthly Archives: May 2014

line 5

需于酒食.貞吉.

Waiting with wine and food. The divination is auspicious.

line 6

入于穴. 有不速之客三人來敬之. 終吉.

Ru 入: in old texts often used with the meaning of ‘to accept’ (taxes, tribute or a gift; 古文字通假字典, p. 766-767). This meaning of ru is used in several bronze inscriptions, like the Song 頌 bronzes:

又膳夫山鼎、頌鼎、頌壺、頌毀有 “反入堇章” 語，即受冊命者 “返納瑾璋” 於王。
The shanfu 膳夫 Shan Ding, Song Ding, Song Hu and Song Gui have the phrase “he returned and accepted a jade tablet”, that is he who received the emperor’s order to confer titles of nobility on his relatives “returned and accepted a jade tablet” from the king.
(古文字通假字典, p. 767)

A shanfu served the king personally, “taking out and bringing in” royal commands for administrative or military purposes.
(Maria Khayutina, Studying the Private Sphere of the Ancient Chinese Nobility through the Inscriptions on Bronze Ritual Vessels, in Chinese Concepts of Privacy, p. 87)

The term for the jade scepter (…) refers not to just any jade ornament, but to one that symbolized the delegation of authority in the archaic period.
(David W. Pankenier, Caveat lector: comments on Douglas j. Keenan, ‘astro-historiographic chronologies of early china are unfounded’ in Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage, 10(2), 137-141 (2007) )

Edward Shaughnessy translates 反入堇章 as “he returned and brought in a jade tablet” (The Cambridge History of Ancient China, p. 299), but to my knowledge a jade scepter was given by a superior to its subject and not the other way around.

Bu su 不速: uninvited; unexpected.

Ke 客: distinguished guests .

Jing 敬: use gifts to show appreciation or pay respect (以禮物表示謝意或敬意).

Acceptance (of gifts) at the hole. There are three uninvited visitors coming to pay respect with this. In the end auspicious.

需于血.出自穴.

Xue 血: loan for xue 洫, the irrigation ditches between fields; a small water channel. (古代漢語通假字大字典, p. 769)

鄒漢勳 Zou Hanxun (1805 – 1854) also follows this hypothesis,  arguing that the fourth line is at the start of the upper trigram Water ☵ (see 古代漢語通假字大字典).

Chu zi 出自: ‘coming from, going out at’:

妻抱子出自房…
The wife with the boy in her arms came forth from her room…
《禮記 – Liji》

羞出自東房…
The viands came forth from the room on the east…
《春秋繁露 – Chun Qiu Fan Lu》

日居月諸、出自東方!
O sun; O moon,
Which come forth from the east!
《詩經 – Book of Poetry》

出自北門…
I go out at the north gate…
《詩經 – Book of Poetry》

Xue 穴: water course, drain, originating with a hole in a hill or mountain. The Erya 爾雅 explains the word guiquan 氿泉, a spring coming out of a hillside, as:

氿泉穴出。穴出，仄出也。
A spring coming out from the side. Xuchu 穴出 means zechu 仄出, ‘coming out from the side’.
《爾雅 – Er Ya》

Waiting at the ditch coming forth from a hole (in the hillside).

需于泥致寇至.

Ni 泥: mud. The Shanghai Museum MS has ni 坭 which is a known variant of 泥. The character also means ‘to be obstructed, to be held up’, like being stuck in the mud.

Zhi 致: cause something to arrive (使達到), to make it dispatch.

Zhi 至: arrive.

Waiting in the mud will make invaders come.

需于沙. 小有言. 終吉.

Sha 沙: the sandy river shore. Lu Deming’s 陸德明 Jingdian Shiwen 經典釋文 says that Zheng Xuan 鄭玄 used zhi 沚, ‘islet’. 

The Shanghai Museum MSS has . The 古文字通假字典 says that  is a known variant of 沙 in bronze inscriptions and in the Baoshan texts (p. 508; see also 包山楚簡文字編, p. 141), so  is most likely a variant of 沙. The 土 component indicates the earth aspect of the meaning.

小有言: see this article.

Waiting at the river shore.
The common people will have criticism.
In the end auspicious.

需于郊.利用恆.無咎.

Jiao 郊: general reference to the area outside the city, the open country. The Shanghai Museum MSS has hao 蒿, which in several texts is used as a loan for jiao (古文字通假字典, p. 158).

Heng 恆: perseverance, constancy. In the Lun Yu heng is mentioned as a necessary quality for witch doctors or shamans when doing a divination:

子曰：「南人有言曰：『人而無恆，不可以作巫醫。』善夫！」「不恆其德，或承之羞。」子曰：「不占而已矣。」
The Master said, “The people of the south have a saying – ‘A man without constancy cannot be either a wizard or a doctor.’ Good! Inconstant in his virtue, he will be visited with disgrace.” The Master said, “This arises simply from not attending to the prognostication.”
(tr. James Legge)

A different version of this anecdote is found in the Liji:

子曰：「南人有言曰：『人而無恒，不可以為卜筮。』古之遺言與？龜筮猶不能知也，而況於人乎？《詩》云：『我龜既厭，不我告猶。』《兌命》曰：『爵無及惡德，民立而正事，純而祭祀，是為不敬；事煩則亂，事神則難。』《易》曰：『不恒其德，或承之羞。恒其德偵，婦人吉，夫子凶。』」
The Master said, ‘The people of the south have a saying that “A man without constancy cannot be a diviner either with the tortoise-shell or the stalks.” This was probably a saying handed down from antiquity. If such a man cannot know the tortoise-shell and stalks, how much less can he know other men? It is said in the Book of Poetry (II, v, ode 1, 3), “Our tortoise-shells are wearied out, And will not tell us anything about the plans.” The Charge to Yue says (Shu, IV, Viii, sect. 2, 5, 11), “Dignities should not be conferred on men of evil practices. (If they be), how can the people set themselves to correct their ways? If this be sought merely by sacrifices, it will be disrespectful (to the spirits). When affairs come to be troublesome, there ensues disorder; when the spirits are served so, difficulties ensue.” It is said in the Yi, “When one does not continuously maintain his virtue, some will impute it to him as a disgrace – (in the position indicated in the Hexagram.) When one does maintain his virtue continuously (in the other position indicated), this will be fortunate in a wife, but in a husband evil.”
(tr. James Legge)

The phrase 不恆其德，或承之羞 is mentioned in the 3rd line of hexagram 32, Heng 恆. See also this site.

Waiting outside the city.
Favourable to persevere.
There is no curse from the ancestors.