Radical 12-2 炎Yán,very hot

Radical 12-2 炎Yán,very hot

  “Look at that rock, the double-fire image is on it. What can these images communicate in today’s world ? ”

 

The double flames that burn bright” This is the way the ancient Chinese created an abstract concept like “very hot”, “extremely hot” used, for example in summer炎熱 Yánrè intense heat.

The character Yán is also used in medical terminology, 發炎 fāyán, to be enflamed 炎症yánzhèng inflammation. The “double-fire is used to make bigger or exaggerate even excessively the original character 火huǒ Fire.  Traditional Chinese medicine is based on the theory of interaction between the five elements. When there is too much fire and it is trapped in the body it is said that a person has 上火shànghuǒ, too much fire , or上火氣Shàng huǒqì to suffer from too much internal fire.


What’s more, when a person is very angry inside we can say 怒火nùhuǒ, anger, being a strong emotion creates fire.
https://kidshoubo.jimdo.com/2016/12/28/radical-11-2-%E7%82%8E-burning-hot/?logout=1

 

Elaborated by M°Dante Basili / M°Stefano Danesi
Translated by Neil Berry

 

Radicale 11-2 米mǐ, chicco di riso

Radicale 11-2 米mǐ, chicco di riso

“Vedere una ciotola di riso, bianco e brillante, ci ricopre di gioia, serenità ed soddisfazione. E la cosa più bella è che il riso è profumato e buonissimo !!!”

 

“Tre chicchi di riso sopra e tre sotto”. Così viene mostrata l’immagine del riso nei caratteri antichi su guscio di tartaruga, a sinistra. Il tratto di mezzo simboleggia un bastone di legno che divide le varie qualità di riso. Invece, nel carattere moderno, a destra si vede la stilizzazione di una piantina di riso, con le radici, le foglie e il frutto.

米 mǐ non indica la pianta, ma i singoli i chicchi del cereale. Quando il riso è pronto da mangiare si dice米飯Mǐfàn , riso cotto a vapore, infatti bisogna aggiungere un altro carattere per formare una parola bisillabica con significato compiuto. Nella vita quotidiana possiamo trovare tante parole formate da questo carattere: 米粉Mǐfěn spaghetti di riso, 米酒 Mǐjiǔ liquore di riso, 米糕 Mǐgāo la torta di riso. 

 

Il riso, è il cibo principale per ogni cinese, è simbolo di fertilità, di abbondanza, di buona salute e genuinità , è strettamente legato alla cultura e alle tradizioni cinesi ed è protagonista di feste, canzoni, proverbi e leggende, non è semplicemente un alimento ma un elemento importante di questa cultura.  Un proverbio famoso dice 一粒米養百樣人 Yī lì mǐ yǎng bǎi yàng rén, letteralmente significa:

“Un singolo chicco di riso nutre cento persone diverse” che può essere interpretato come:  “Ogni semplice verità può essere vista in tanti modi diversi” oppure “Ognuno ha la propria verità con la quale interpreta le cose.”  

Ognuno ha la sua testa e ogni testa ha la sua opinione. Da tenere a mente quando si vuole "comunicare" senza ferire, quando si cerca l'incontro e non il contrasto. ( Tratto dal https://kidshoubo.jimdo.com/2016/10/23/radicale-35-%E7%B1%B3-riso/?logout=1)

 

 Rivisto ed elaborated by M° Dante Basili / M° Stefano Danesi

Radical 12-3赤Chì, flame red

Radical 12-3赤Chì, flame red

“The fire burns, and the closer you get and the hotter the fire burns, the more it heats your body and your love!”

“A man is close to the flames, his face glows from the light of the fire”. The ancient Chinese had a colour they described as “flame red”. The colour red is in general the favourite colour of the Chinese. It brings good luck and happiness; it is to be found everywhere, a bride’s face and dress, the envelopes containing gifts of money or greeting cards, the messages or drawings of the Chinese new year.

In the theatre a red mask indicates a sacred person with certain characteristics: sincerity, loyalty and courage.赤誠chìchéng, means absolute sincerity. We can say a person has a heart like that of a child 赤子之心chìzǐ zhīxīn, or of a new born child because when a child is born it has a healthy red colour. We can also say赤裸  chìluǒ, used to mean nude or 赤足chìzú, bare footed, or 赤手空拳chìshǒu kōng quán,which originally referred to a person who was a gifted in unarmed combat, but which also refers to someone who manages to carve out a successful carrier starting from scratch, without any financial help. https://kidshoubo.jimdo.com/2017/01/06/radical-12-3/?logout=1
 

Elaborated by Dante Basili / Stefano Danesi
Translated by Neil Berry

Radical 12-1 火huǒ, fire

Radical 12-1 火huǒ, fire

“How nice, the fire burns and crackles and warms us through this harsh winter!”
 

A flame leaping up with a spark on either side. This image depicts the original form of the character

火huǒ Fire. In traditional Chinese thought, fire is the element of action, dynamism, expansion, light, and heat. If this energy gets out of control, however it becomes dangerous and destructive.

 

The trigram “Li” also represents Fire. It is made up of unbroken Yang lines at the top and bottom and a broken Yin line at its centre. It is said that Fire has a “soft heart”. In other words, it seems strong and intense on the surface but is empty at its centre. When we are in the grip of passions or strong emotions, we run the risk of quickly burning ourselves out. It is important to manage passions and emotions harmoniously. In this way, we allow Fire to create heat without being destructive.( Extracted from https://kidshoubo.jimdo.com/2016/12/28/radical-11-1fire/

Elaborated by Dante Basili / Stefano Danesi

Translated by Neil Berry

  

 

 

 

 

Radical 08 雨Yǔ, rain

Radical 08 雨Yǔ, rain

“ Drops of rain fall from the sky ! “

In its ancient form雨Yǔ was engraved on turtle shell or on ox bones 甲骨文 Jiǎgǔwén and is comprised of a horizontal line which depicts the sky and six vertical dashes which symbolise the drops of rain. For the verb to rain, we add it to other ideograms:

1.    下雨Xià yǔ to rain

2.    下雨天Xià yǔtiān  a rainy day

 

Derivative 1. 需Xū, to need

“Here is a man looking up and hoping for rain.”

The upper part of the pictogram represents the rain drops. The lower part show a man looking up with arm and legs opened up.This represents a man who is hoping for rain.

 The character需Xū  is the same one that expresses the concept of “necessity” or to “need”. The compound words are 需要 Xūyào "to need" 需求 Xūqiú  "necessity or need."

 

易經I Ching ( is translated as Book of Change ) it is an ancient oracular book which uses a method of reading the future based on 64 esagrams, each composed of short lines (yin energy) or whole lines intere (yang energy), which represent all the possible states of change of human life and the natural world.

In esagam 5需Xū , one of the esagrams is composed of坎Kǎn ☵ water乾Qián ☰ sky.

Therefore, the concept is that the right moment has not yet arrived, we need to wait. In moments of difficulty, we have to learn to stay calm, have faith and keep doing our best. When the moment is right, the right person will come along and help us.

I Ching is fascinating because it can be give us the answer to important questions. It can help us not only to understand our future but above all our behaviour and the consequences that it can have on our life. If we can understand the meaning of the oracle and vary our behaviour in time we will succeed in avoiding negative consequences.

Translated by Neil Berry

 

Derivative 1.震Zhèn, shaking

Derivative 1.震Zhèn, shaking

“ Listen !!! Great claps of thunder that shake the sky !!!
 

 

Since ancient times the Chinese have attributed movements and changes in objects and the “life force”, to the continual balance of two things; positive and negative energy, called respectively Yin and Yang, represented by 太極圖Taijitu the pictogram forTaiji, along with by, bagua 八卦; literally: eight symbols or eight trigrams which are made up of three lines drawn in eight different combinations. Whole lines: representing the positive pole, Yang. Broken lines: representing the negative pole, Yin.

These eight trigrams represent the basis of the Chinese Oracle’s book,易經I Ching  The book of change, which is both the root and the foundations of Chinese culture, in martial arts, medicine, eastern filosophy, everything is ordered and classified according to these aspects. 

In the trigram震卦Zhèn guà its symbol is represented by thunder. Great claps of thunder together with lightening explode from the sky, causing fear, but when it’s over spring arrives from which everything is reborn.

We see the same thing in human existence, even after a great shock we recover from fear and happiness returns.

The Chinese believe deeply that humans are part of nature. Order and harmony are important in the universe and in the human body. We need to respect and consult nature if we want to avoid the arrogance that would lead to disaster.

Translated by Neil Berry

Radical 0 9 雷 léi, thunder

Radical 0 9 雷 léi, thunder

“ Listen ! That’s the sound of thunder and lightning ! “

In its ancient form the character雷 léi  makes you think of a bolt of lightning together with thunder. The four wheels symbolise the noise made by the thunder. In older times people thought the noise was made by the chariots of the divinities rolling along the roads in the sky and making lots of noise. With time, the present form was created with just one wheel and the character was added to the radical雨Yǔ rain since we usually get thunder when it rains.

The character雷 léi means thunder. When we get thunder we say 打雷Dǎléi.

Primitive men thought thunder was a god because when thunder and lightning struck they sometimes caused disasters and frightened people, causing them to hide away in caves. All this makes us wonder about the great mysterious force we have over our heads.

The ancient Chinese thought that this atmospheric phenomenon was caused by 雷公Léigōng the god of thunder and 電母Diàn mǔ the goddess of lightening. They were gods of justice because they were thought to punish bad people. It was said善有善報,惡有惡報 shàn yǒu shàn bào , è yǒu è bào  “Good acts lead to good things and bad acts lead to bad things“, like the expression “he who lives by the sword dies by the sword” The result of your acts will one day have an influence on your life. All this implies the presence of a universal law of nature which ancient people feared and respected.         

 

Translated by Neil Berry