The author goes on to speak of the Fû-hsî trigrams, and passes from them to those of king Wăn in paragraph 8. That and the following two are very remarkable; but before saying anything of them, I will go on to the 14th, which is the only passage that affords any ground for saying that there is a mythology in the Yî. It says:—
'Khien is (the symbol of) heaven, and hence is styled father. Khwăn is (the symbol of) earth, and hence is Mythology of the Yî. styled mother. Kăn (shows) the first application (of khwăn to khien), resulting in getting (the first of) its male (or undivided lines), and hence we call it the oldest son. Sun (shows) a first application (of khien to khwăn), resulting in getting (the first of) its female (or divided lines), and hence we call it the oldest daughter. Khân (shows) a second application (of khwăn to khien), and LîLí a second (of khien to khwăn), resulting in the second son and second daughter. In Kăn and Tui we have a third application (of khwăn to khien and of khien to khwăn), resulting in the youngest son and youngest daughter.'
From this language has come the fable of a marriage between Khien and Khwăn, from which resulted the six other trigrams, considered as their three sons and three daughters; and it is not to be wondered at, if some men of active and ill-regulated imaginations should see Noah and his wife in those two primary trigrams, and in the others their three sons and the three sons' wives. Have we not in both cases an ogdoad? But I have looked in the paragraph in vain for the notion of a marriage-union between heaven and earth.
It does not treat of the genesis of the other six trigrams by the union of the two, but is a rude attempt to explain their forms when they were once existing[1]. According to the idea of changes, Khien and Khwăn are continually varying their forms by their interaction. As here represented, the
- ↑ This view seems to be in accordance with that of Wû Khăng (of the Yüan dynasty), as given in the 'Collected Comments' of the Khang-hsî edition. The editors express their approval of it in preference to the interpretation of Kû Hsî, who understood the whole to refer to the formation of the lineal figures, the 'application' being 'the manipulation of the stalks to find the proper line.'
