other trigrams are not 'produced[1]' by a marriage-union, but from the application, literally the seeking, of one of them—of Khwăn as much as of Khien—addressed to the other[2].
This way of speaking of the trigrams, moreover, as father and mother, sons and daughters, is not so old as Fû-hsî; nor have we any real proof that it originated with king Wăn. It is not of 'the highest antiquity.' It arose some time in 'middle antiquity,' and was known in the era of the Appendixes; but it had not prevailed then, nor has it prevailed since, to discredit and supersede the older nomenclature. We are startled when we come on it in the place which it occupies. And there it stands alone. It is not entitled to more attention than the two paragraphs that precede it, or the eight that follow it, none of which were thought by P. Regis worthy to be translated. I have just said that it stands 'alone.' Its existence, however, seems to me to be supposed in the fourth chapter, paragraphs 28–30, of the third Appendix, Section ii; but there only the trigrams of 'the six children' are mentioned, and nothing is said of 'the parents.' Kăn, khân, and kăn are referred to as being yang, and sun, lî, and tui as being yin. What is said about them is trifling and fanciful.
Leaving the question of the mythology of the Yî, of which I am myself unable to discover a trace, I now call attention to paragraphs 8–10, where the author speaks of the work of God in nature in all the year as a progress through the trigrams, and as being effected Operation of God in nature throughout the year. by His Spirit. The description assumes the peculiar arrangement of the trigrams, ascribed to king Wăn, and which I have exhibited above, on page 33[3]. Father Regis adopts the general view
- ↑ But the Chinese term Shăng 生, often rendered 'produced,' must not be pressed, so as to determine the method of production, or the way in which one thing comes from another.
- ↑ The significance of the mythological paragraph is altogether lost in Canon McClatchie's version:—'Khien is Heaven, and hence he is called Father; Khwăn is Earth, and hence she is called Mother; Kăn is the first male, and hence he is called the eldest son,' &c. &c.
- ↑ The reader will understand the difference in the two arrangements better by a reference to the circular representations of them on Plate III.
