Key Concepts of Fate and Prediction in the Yijing - Chao Center for ...

28Let us now look at an example of how a Evidential Studies-oriented Qing scholar mightgloss a passage related to an early Changes divination, consider Mao Qiling’sinterpretation of an anecdote from the Zuo Commentary—Duke Mu of Qin’s punitiveexpedition against Duke Hui of Jin in 645 BCE. Here is the original story:Before the attack, Duke Mu asked his diviner, Tufu, to consult the Changes regarding theoutcome. Tufu selected the hexagram Gu (number 18 in the received order; seeillustration below). The judgment of this hexagram reads in part: “Favorable for crossinga big river.” The diviner thus predicted victory (in apparently extemporaneous rhymedverse), remarking thereafter that Duke Mu’s troops would cross the Yellow Riverseparating Qin from Jin, defeat the forces of Duke Hui, and arrest the duke. He explainedthat since the inner (lower) trigram of Gu was Sun (Wind), and the outer (upper) one wasGen (Mountain), the winds of Qin would blow down the “fruits” of Jin on the mountainand their assets would be seized. That is, Qin would prevail in the struggle.If we turn to Mao Qiling’s analysis, however, which reflects the obvious legacy of Hanstyleexegesis, we see an account that differs substantially from the original explanationoffered by Duke Mu’s diviner. Mao begins by noting that the idea of “crossing a bigriver” in the judgment is derived from the lower four lines of Gu, which resemble theKan trigram (the symbol of water) inasmuch as they consist of a pair of yang linescontained between two yin lines. In other words, Mao interprets the four lowest linesvisually as if they were three. Secondly, he points out that the upper nuclear trigram ofGu—that is, lines 3, 4 and 5—is Zhen, which is not only the symbol of a feudal lord, butalso that of an upturned bowl, which resembles the body of a chariot. Since the upperprimary trigram (Gen) is Zhen turned upside down, this indicates the overthrow of DukeHui. And because Gen symbolizes both the hands and the idea of stoppage (according tothe Explaining the Trigrams commentary), the meaning conveyed is the arrest of DukeHui. This notion is reinforced by consideration of the hexagram Sui (number 17), theopposite of Gu, in which the line readings refer repeatedly to tying someone up,presumably Duke Hui.GuSuiWe can now fast-forward to 1905. In that year, as part of a reform movement designed to“modernize” China in the aftermath of the disastrous Sino-Japanese War of 1894-5, theQing government abolished the civil service examination system, which had reinforcedCheng-Zhu orthodoxy and the authority of the Yijing and other Confucian classics fornearly seven hundred years. Less than a decade later, the Qing dynasty itself fell torepublican revolution, ending any semblance of official patronage of classicalscholarship.