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

 

 

 

 

Radical 0 7申Shēn, lightning

Radical 0 7申Shēn, lightning

“Be careful ! There is going to some lightning !“

 

The pictographic character申Shēn depicts, lighting coming down out of the sky, towards the earth. The shape is like the letter S.

 申Shēn the same character has also the meaning “ to extend ” by adding 人 Rén person on the left we get the ideogram伸Shēn, with which we form the words:

 l 伸長Shēncháng to stretch

l 伸展Shēnzhǎn to relax
 

Many years ago the ancient Chinese did not know how to count time and did not even know how old they were. In order to understand the concept of time, they created a new method. Using Yin and Yang and five elementi, they divided the sky into 10 units, and the earth into 12 units. This traditional system of marking the years was based on these two forms: 十天干 Shí tiāngān 10  Celestial stems and  十二地支 Shí'èr dìzhī 12 Terrestrial Branches. The name of each year is the result of a Celestial Stem and a Terrestrial Branch. For example,  2016 is called丙申bǐng Shēn請輸入文字、網址，您也可翻譯文件。,which 請輸入文字、網址，您也可翻譯文件。

申Shēn is the 7th Terrestrial Branch, which in nature is represented by a bolt of lightning . This is because Yang energy at his strongest in the 7th month of the Chinese calendar, equivalent to the 8^th month in the western calendar, and it must be released. This means that this will be a year of progress for mankind.

Immagine originates from http://chinese-linguipedia.org/clk/index.php

 

Derivative 1. 神 Shén, spirit

"Magnificent! Look at the lights which illuminate the sky! "

  On the left part of pictogram there are three lights which illuminate the sky and on the right is the bolt of lightning. This is represented by the character神 shén.

  The Chinese character 神 shén refers to the gods or a divinity and can also indicate a divine, spiritual, magic o wonderful quality.

  The concept of神 Shén is fundamental part of a traditional Chinese medicine. Shén is considered one of the three treasures of life : 精 Jing essence, 氣Qi life force and 神 Shén , generally translated as spirit. “Shén” is the thing that elevates the conscience of humans above that of other creatures.

  The first appearance the character  “Shén” is in an ancient Chinese medico text - Huangdi Neijing (黃帝內經) o Classic of Internal Medicine of the Yellow Emperor . The text reads 心主神明Xīn zhǔ shén míng litterally translated as the heart resides in the spirit, or often translated as the mind is guided by the spirit. The role of Shén and its relationship with our body is like a monarca o a king , the most important role in the kingdom. 形恃神以立 神恃形以存 the body depends on the sprit to live,the spirit needs the body to exist, based on this , we need to cultivate spirit and body using the many exercises which have been created. One of the best known is太極拳Taiji Quan. (太Tai, 大也 great, supreme, 極 Ji, 端也 始也 estreme, beginning )
 

  In Taiji Quan o any style of氣功Qi Gong, which means working on developing energy, concentration is fundamental, in Chinese we say 集中精神Jízhōng jīngshén concentrate.

  Concentration is a way of gathering energy, closing out the confused mind and anxiousness ... the enemy in our daily life. In this way we can generate internal energy, and rediscover harmony between us and nature.

 Translated by Neil Berry