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