易经 (Yijing / I Ching) Hexagram 38: 睽 (Opposition)

道可道,非常道。名可名,非常名。(道德经 - Daodejing)
"The path that can be a path is not the eternal path. The name that can be named is not the eternal name."
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老子
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class="first">易经 (Yijing / I Ching) Hexagram 38: 睽 (Opposition)

Post by 老子 » Sun Jan 03, 2021 2:16 am

I was looking through the Wilhelm translation of 易经 (Yijing / I Ching) today when I came across hexagram number 38: 睽 (kuí) translated as "opposition". I thought the passage had a certain dialectical sound to it. I particularly liked the suggestion that opposition does not preclude agreement and has "useful and important functions."
Here is the relevant page:
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The I Ching, or, Book of Changes (Bollingen Series XIX) The Richard Wilhelm Translation rendered into English by Cary F. Baynes with a Foreward by C.G. Jung, Princeton, 1967
(You read that right - strangely, this book was translated first into German and then into English, for some reason.)

The name of this hexagram is translated differently by Pearson as "double vision" - which is an interesting way to think of dialectic:
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The Original I Ching: An Authentic Translation of the Book of Changes translated by Margaret J. Pearson (2011)

In the Walker translation, we read: "...every opposition carries within it the seeds of agreement", and:
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The I Ching or Book of Changes: A Guide to Life's Turning Points translated by Brian Browne Walker (2019)

Creating "unity by force" reminds my of what Hegel says about the understanding - that it avoids contradiction and tries to impose rigid distinctions.

In the interpretation of Wang Bi (王弼) (226 – 249), we read:
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The Classic of Changes: A New Translation of the I Ching as Interpreted by Wang Bi, translated by Richard John Lynn (2004)

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