易學

括囊. 無咎無譽.

Kuo nang 括囊: a tied up large sack, probably made from leather, with a bottom (instead of a sack without a bottom, which has to be tied on both sides). ‘With a bottom’, you di 有底, means that one knows his own mind, but a ‘tied up sack’ means you will not speak it. This is how the expression kuo nang is used in other early sources, and it is the traditional view of this line as well:

括，結也。囊所以貯物，以譬心藏知也。閉其知而不用，故曰括囊。功不顯物，故曰无譽。不與物忤，故曰无咎。
Kuo 括 means jie 結, ‘to tie’. Because of this a sack can store things. In the same way the mind stores knowledge. To stop up wisdom and not use it, that is why it says ‘tied up sack’. The results of achievements are not displayed, therefore ‘without praise’. But matters can’t oppose them either, therefore ‘without blame’.
– Kong Yingda 孔穎達, 《周易正義》

Whatever the circumstances, you do not speak up:

子曰：「直哉史魚！邦有道，如矢；邦無道，如矢。」君子哉蘧伯玉！邦有道，則仕；邦無道，則可卷而懷之。」
The Master said, “Truly straightforward was the historiographer Yu. When good government prevailed in his state, he was like an arrow. When bad government prevailed, he was like an arrow. A superior man indeed is Qu Bo Yu! When good government prevails in his state, he is to be found in office. When bad government prevails, he can roll his principles up, and keep them in his breast.”
– The Analects of Confucius

This line resonates with line 3: in both lines accomplishments are not boasted of.

Yu 譽 means ‘praise; fame’. It is also a loan for yu 豫, ‘happy, delighted’, which interestingly is the name of the zhigua 之卦, the hexagram that you get when this line changes (hexagram 16).

A tied large sack.
No blame, no fame.

含章可貞, 或從王事, 无成有終.

Hanzhang 含章: the same phrase occurs at H44-5.  Han 含 means ‘to keep in the mouth; to hide, conceal’. The Shanghai MSS manuscript has [玉+欦], which might be related to yin 㱃, an old form of yin 飲, ‘to swallow; conceal’. The expression yinzhang 飲章 was used for documents without a signature, like anonymous memorials to the throne. Zhang 章 amongst many other things can mean ‘outstanding labour/service’ (顯赫的功勛).

Huo 或 = you 又–> you 有, ‘there is also’, see H1-4 and H7-3.

Cong 從: ‘participate in’.

Wangshi 王事: assignment by the king.

Unrecognised outstanding service. Suitable to do the divination.
There is participation in royal affairs.
No accomplishments, but it will be finished.

First line

履霜堅冰至.

Thread on frost: hard ice comes.

Second line

直方大.不習無不利.

See for zhi 直, ‘to receive’ and other meanings this page. See also Scott Barnwell’s excellent article about de 德, The Evolution of the Concept of De 德 in Early China, p. 5-6.  Zhi is a known loan of de 德 in early texts, meaning (besides ‘virtue’ and similar connotations) ‘to receive’ (古文字通假字典, p. 232). In Warring States texts the phrase 德賜 occurs, which the 漢語大詞典 reads as ‘to bestow; a favour’ (‘恩賜’); 戰國古文字典 reads ‘grant a favour’ (‘施賜恩德’, p. 68). Xi 習 means ‘to repeat’ (consult the oracle again) (‘借用有重復之意’; Ma Rusen 马如森, ‘殷墟甲骨学: 带你走进甲骨文的世界’, p. 289)

The land that is received is great.
No need to repeat.
Nothing is not favourable.

Name

Just as with the name of hexagram 1, the name of hexagram 2, kun 坤 is difficult to translate, because the character only occurs in the Yijing and nowhere else (accept later books in which it is a reference to hexagram 2). In the Mawangdui text the name is chuan 川, ‘river’. This character is related to the character shun 順, ‘smooth; obey, follow’, which is a known symbol for kun. Shun is also known with the meaning of xun 巡, ‘make an inspection tour’ (漢語大詞典, vol. 12, p. 231), which we will see at line 2. The component 巛 in the character 巡 is a known variant of 川. The Xiping Stone Classics use a character which is almost identical: . Note the hooks at the bottom, which distinguish it from 川. It reminds me of the plough being pushed into the earth, making furrows. That is why I tentatively translate kun as ‘ploughed land’. For more about 川 and 巛 see Ding Sixin  丁四新, “楚竹書與漢帛書<周易>校注”, p. 351-353.

Tuan 彖

元亨.利牝馬之貞.君子有攸往.先迷後得主利.西南得朋.東北喪朋.安貞吉.

牝馬之貞 could refer to a divination about a mare whether it is pregnant or not. On oracle bones pi 牝 refers to a female ox (新編甲骨文字典, p. 47). It is possible that we have to read 牝馬 as separate words, ‘female ox’ and ‘horse’. See for the phrase youwang 攸往 meaning ‘far journey’ here.

Zhu 主 refers to the topic or subject of the divination (主體). The Fuyang Zhouyi fragments contain additional comments on how to interpret a certain line of the Yi, one of the fragments has the sentence …主得百病不…, ‘…the subject will have numerous diseases, will not…’.

Peng 朋 is ‘friends, allies’.

The four directions should be read separately (West, South, East, North), not combined (South-West, North-East), see Aihe Wang, Cosmology and Political Culture in Early China, p. 26-).

Ploughed Land: Greatly accepted offering.
Advantageous divination for female oxen and horses.
The lord undertakes a far journey.
First he goes astray, later he gets it.
Advantageous.
In the West and South allies are obtained,
In the East and North they are lost.
Divining about peace: auspicious.

Fifth line

飛龍在天.利見大人.

Daren 大人 (see also line 2) can refer to a person in a high position, like the nobility. In the Shijing 詩經 it is used as the title for a diviner, probably the chief diviner, divining dreams:

下莞上簟、乃安斯寢。
乃寢乃興、乃占我夢。
吉夢維何、維熊維羆、 維虺維蛇。
大人占之。
維熊維羆、男子之祥。
維虺維蛇、女子之祥。
On the rush-mat below, and that of fine bamboos above it,
Here may he repose in slumber!
May he sleep and awake,
[Saying] ‘ Divine for me my dreams.
What dreams are lucky?
They have been of bears and grisly bears;
They have been of cobras and [other] serpents. ‘
The chief diviner will divine them.
The bears and grisly bears,
Are the auspicious intimations of sons.
The cobras and [other] serpents,
Are the auspicious intimations of daughters.

牧人乃夢、眾維魚矣、旐維旟矣。
大人占之、眾維魚矣、實維豐年。
旐維旟矣、室家溱溱。
Your herdsmen shall dream, –
Of multitudes and then of fishes;
Of the tortoise-and-serpent; and then of the falcon banners.
The chief diviner will divine the dreams,
How the multitudes dissolving into fishes,
Betoken plentiful years;
How the tortoise-and-serpent dissolving into the falcon banners,
Betoken the increasing population of the kingdom.

In the Yi the daren might refer to the chief diviner who would perform the bone oracle ritual after the offering has been accepted by the ancestors.

Flying dragon in the sky.
Advantageous to see the chief diviner.

Sixth line

亢龍有悔.

About ‘overconfident’ as a meaning of kang 亢, and hui 悔 as ‘misfortune’ see here. Hui also means ‘regret’ and ‘repent’ because of misfortune caused by your own actions.

An overconfident dragon will have misfortune.

Extra text, ‘Ongoing nines’ (用九)

See a flock of dragons without head.
Auspicious.