The Classic of Changes in Cultural Context: A Textual Archaeology of the Yi Jing

306 Pages·2012·1.78 MB·English

by  Scott Davis

Th e Classic of Changes
in Cultural Context

Th e Classic of Changes
in Cultural Context
A Textual Archaeology of the Yi jing
Scott Davis
Cambria Sinophone World Series
General Editor: Victor H. Mair
Copyright 2012 Cambria Press
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced
into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means
(electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise),
without the prior permission of the publisher.
Requests for permission should be directed to:
[email protected], or mailed to:
Cambria Press
20 Northpointe Parkway, Suite 188
Amherst, NY 14228
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Davis, Scott.
The classic of changes in cultural context :
a textual archaeology of the Yi Jing / Scott Davis.
p. cm. — (Cambria sinophone world series
(series editor: Victor H. Mair))
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-60497-808-7 (alk. paper)
1. Yi jing—Criticism, Textual. 2. Anthropological linguistics—China.
3. Archaeology and history—China. I. Title.
PL2464.Z6.D38 2012
299.5’1282—dc23
2012022419
This book is dedicated, with thanks for the licks,
to Robby Krieger, a Music Master

T C
ABLE OF ONTENTS
List of Figures ix
Introduction xiii
Acknowledgments xxi
Chapter 1: Uproarious Prologue:
Head-Splitting Laughter 1
Chapter 2: Spirits of the Zhou yi—An Essay on Wine 19
Chapter 3: Age Groups: Introduction to Age Sets 39
Chapter 4: Framework Questions 59
Chapter 5: Big and Little Hexagrams, with Excursus
on Carriages 89
Chapter 6: Two Compositional Devices, with Excursus
on the Mie li Rite 121
Chapter 7: An Excursus on How to Create
Sinological Controversies, with Regard
to How to Resolve Them 149
Chapter 8: Some Thoughts About Mountains
in the Zhou Yi Textual Design 157
viii THE CLASSIC OF CHANGES IN CULTURAL CONTEXT
Chapter 9: Piglets, Fish, and an Excursus
on the Yue Rite 201
Chapter 10: The Four Seasons 233
Chapter 11: Burning Water 247
Envoi 259
Bibliography 261
Index 275
L F
IST OF IGURES
Figure 1. Oracle bone script of “pray,” “older brother.” 1
Figure 2. Dui trigram. 2
Figure 3. Guai hexagram. 4
Figure 4. Feature analysis of the “wine” system. 22
Figure 5. Transforming lines in the “wine” system. 23
Figure 6. The King Wen Sequence of the Zhou yi. 60
Figure 7. The “Three talents” domains in a hexagram. 62
Figure 8. Transformational boundaries for
dragon references in the fi rst two hexagrams. 64
Figure 9. Topologies of hexagrams as loops. 65
Figure 10. Minimal and maximal integration in
the outline of the King Wen sequence. 66
Figure 11. Symmetrical hexagrams pair through
inversion transformations. 68
Figure 12. Eight hexagrams pair indifferently
through inversion or rotation transformations. 68