Yi Jing, Oracle of the Moon

神數

“Shen Shu”, Spirit Numbers 25-48

Numbers
1-24
25-48
49-72
73-96
97-120
121-144
145-168
169-192
193-216
217-240
241-264
265-288
289-312
313-336
337-360
361-384

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025 Seen and unseen

見不見
也防人背面
過不過
到底無憑撩

Some things you see and others you don't
Be on guard against the other side of people
Some things you detect and others you don't
In the end there is no evidence
-

  Not everything is visible, and often the hidden things are the more dangerous ones. Always ask yourself if there might be something more than meets the eye. Hidden agendas, invisible obstacles, forgotten safety measures. You’ll be surprised at the number of ghosts behind appearances.

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026 Phase of life

一番桃季一番春
誰識當初氣象新
林下水邊尋活計
見山了了稱心情

One time of peach and plum blossom
One time of spring
Who knows when the initial atmosphere renews
Retired he seeks a living at the water side
Beholding the mountain with clear understanding and a gratified mind
-

  Most things happen just once. Don’t try to hold on to them or get them back. Live your life the way it happens to you, each of its parts, each in its own right. A time of dawn, a time of sunset, a time of achieving and a time of letting go. Live each phase in your life in its own way, as it should be.

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027 A real person

莫怪我見錯
心性自成痾
偏僻不通心
真人卻不魔

Do not blame me that my views are like scythes
My disposition strange
Stubborn and secluded with a sealed off heart
However a real person and not a demon
-

  Most people don’t like it when someone speaks his mind without any regard for social conventions. It takes those who want more from life than an easy path from birth to death to appreciate harsh truths. They see them as teachers instead of troublemakers. Humanity needs them to stay healthy.

  錯 Strange, surprise, very, complain.
  痾 disease, resentment, shortcomings.
  真人 Real person, Dao.: immortal.

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028 Ambition fulfilled

祿馬交馳
男兒得志時
行程早辦
榮歸樂期頤

Good luck and horse joined in gallop
The man fulfilled his ambitions at the right time
He started out on the journey early
Returns in glory as a pleased centenarian
-

  When you hear about a self-made man, it is usually someone who started at a young age and was unstoppable. Not one with long years of study, or dependent on family or friends. When your ambitions are that strong, you don’t have the patience to wait. You go ahead and do it yourself.

  祿 Luck or offficial salary.

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029 The borders of Heaven

了卻心頭事
三生夙有緣
香開十里桂
移涉入天邊

Settling the affairs of heart and mind
Three incarnations since long fated by karma
The fragrance of ten miles of Osmanthus opens
Walk into the horizon
-

  Your heart and mind have been built since your birth, and before that by your heredity, your ancestors. To change a settled mind is difficult, but if you manage to, the reward is huge. Suddenly you have talents, wishes, opportunities, and much more you could not anticipate. A wide world in front of you.

  三生Three incarnations, past, present and future.

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030 Buying Qì

緣黃閣白了頭
畢竟成何濟
不如趁此精神猶好
買些真氣

Contribute to the golden pavilion
whitehaired one
In the end it becomes a way to help
Inferior to benefitting of spirit now
It is still good to buy some true Qì
-

  Supporting culture or spirituality is good, but being part of it is better. Go to the temple or practice zen or paint or sing, do whatever makes your spirit rich. But if you don’t have the opportunity to participate, then contribute in other ways. It will help others to find an entrance to spirit.

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031 A good companion

離別間
雖不易
同伴行
猶不滯
早早起程
免他失意

Take leave for a while
Even if it is not easy
A competent companion
Not one who dawdles
Set out on the journey as early as possible
Avoid to disappoint him
-

  It can be good to enter into a new venture. The old is safe but maybe just that - old. When a friend gives you a new outlook on things, or even offers to help, then grab this opportunity. If your current road is not satisfying, then try your hand in other fields. Now is the time.

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032 Sunset

樂之極矣憂將至
巽兌分明吉與凶
未能光大終幽暗
日落西山返照中

When pleasure is extreme grief will arrive
In Gentleness and Joy clearly good luck joins bad luck
The failure to be glorious finishes gloomy
In the reflected rays of the sunset
-

  Life moves like a pendulum. Every swing causes its opposite, very high will call up very low. Nothing comes without a price. See the down times as challenges. If you only value the good things, the sum total might disappoint you, especially when you grow older and make up the balance.

  日落西山 The sun goes down behind the Western mountain: sunset.

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033 The way of the clouds

歷過波濤三五重
誰知浪靜又無風
須教明達青雲路
用舍行藏不費功

After experiencing a few huge billows
Who would expect the waves to calm and the wind to die down?
Understanding the way of the clouds has to be taught
To go forward when the road is open or stop when it is closed requires no work
-

  After enough experiences of storms and high waves, one learns the movements of wind and water, clouds and rain. Then one can fill a high position and give advice to others. Experience and hardship are the best masters of all and the most dependable sources of knowledge and skill.

  三五 Three five: a few.

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034 Raise your head

缺月又重圓
枯枝色更鮮
一條夷坦路
翹首望青

The crescent moon waxes to big and round again
The bare branches get more color and freshness
A strip of smooth and level road
Raise your head and gaze into the blue sky
-

  Things are improving again. There are times when everything is moving down, and other times, like now, when they make an upward swing again. The coming time is still open and undefined, don’t make decisions yet but give it the opportunity to show its possibilities.

  翹首raise the head (to look), long eagerly.
  望 gaze, look, long, full moon.
  青天 blue sky; upright magistrate.

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035 Just this sandbank

行路難行路難
今日方知行路難
前程廣大何足慮
勉力今朝度此灘

The journey is difficult
The journey is difficult
Today you learned that the journey is difficult
The wide space of the future is not worth considering
Make an effort now to cross this sandbank
-

  You can worry and think and expect and fear… But what if you take just this one step you need to take right now? And then the next, and so on. Before you know it, you can look back and see that you covered a lot of ground. It will be much better than still worrying. The hardest part is starting.

  此灘 this shore: here. (compare with verse 39).

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036 Spring desires

春景明
春色新
春意傍水生
春天無限好
好去宴瓊林

The spring scenery is bright
The colors of spring all new
Fresh desires at the waterside
Spring is bright and splendid without limits
I love the Qionglin banquet
-

  There are times when everything comes together. The environment is wonderful, you can be proud of achievements, the future looks bright. Enjoy those moments, they give you the energy to go on and start a great future. Remind yourself of them, again and again, they will always inspire you

>  宴瓊林 Qionglin banquet, feast hosted by the Qing emperor for successful candidates of the imperial examination.
  This poem is about the Garden of pure brightness on the river

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037 Dao and virtue

萬馬歸元
千猿朝洞
虎伏龍降
道高德重

Ten thousand horses return to the chief
Thousand apes towards the cave
Tigers hide and dragons descend
Dao is great and virtue grand
-

  Our entire universe depends on structure. Without its laws, nothing can come into existence. Every creature obeys them, and for the sanity of our mind, we need to be aware of them. We call the laws Dao, the Way, and following them De, virtue. Dao and De decide if the time and the action are right.

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038 The call of the golden Feng bird

黃鸝報上林
春色鮮明
提鞭快著馬
上速行程

Huang Feng is calling in Shanglin
The colors of spring are bright
Raise the whip and make it snap
Immediately start the journey
-

  When the emperor’s messenger, or your mind, or your intuition, tells you something great is going to happen, then hurry to be part of it. The moment might be gone before you realize it. Then you will have to listen to the stories of others and that is all you will get. So start early and full of energy.

  This poem is about Shanglin Park, the emperor's garden.

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039 The other shore

大肆放靈丹
救人行萬千
到頭登彼岸
渡過人仙班

On a large scale exert miraculous cures
Help innumerable people competently
In the end you climb the other shore
Crossing over to the immortals
-

  Saints do not become saints because they are intelligent. They are saints because of their compassion. You have to be empty, ‘innocent’, so there is room inside for others but also for your true self. Which means there is room for the entire universe. It is all about innocence and truth.

  彼岸 The other shore, Buddh: perfection, completeness.
  仙班 'immortal class', scholars with a high literary degree.

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040 Dark mysteries

一帶水
碧澄澄
舟往江上
月到天心
穩步其中
玄妙不聞
非人誤己
幾喪生身

In a clear water region
like bluegreen jade
The boat sails upstream
with the moon right overhead
Steadily and in the center
I cannot understand the mysteries
But who runs counter makes mistakes
The seeds of losing his life
-

  Even without understanding the mysteries below the surface of life, you know the laws which hide there. You know when you go against the rules. Sometimes it is just a tiny hunch. If you can always hear them and act accordingly, you will not make mistakes and your life will be smooth sailing.

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041 Everything as it should be

桃李舒妍
春光鮮麗
良辰美景君須記
隨心所往
事事相宜
無用多疑干瀆神祇

Peaches and plums open up their beauty
Resplendent sights and sounds of spring
A beautiful scene in bright weather
Which the lord should remember
When he aims to fulfill his desires
For everything to be as it should be
There is no need for uncertainty
Which violates the revered spirits
-

  There are many beautiful moments in life. Store them in your mind. When times are difficult, you can draw on the riches in your heart. A mind which is familiar with many good things, can aim for beautiful results. A poor mind will not be able to find the motivation, and will get small results.

  良辰美景 A beautiful scene in bright weather; favorable circumstances.
   瀆神 violate spirits, disturb your peace of mind.

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042 The mysteries of fate

隱中顯
顯中微
個中有玄機
參得透了
直上仙梯

It is hidden in the obvious
It appears in the abstruse
Therein dwell the mysteries of fate
If you comprehend this thoroughly
You go straight up the immortals' stairway
-

  Reality and facts are just a small part of life. There is a huge space which the rational mind can never fathom. It is both inside and outside because it is not ‘somewhere’, it just is. If you can reach into it, you can transcend the boundaries of this life and make it infinitely larger and richer.

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043 Hold the reigns

無上去
在前頭
回頭一悟
繩韁好收
千條萬線路常在
自好搜求

Don't go for the top or for the front
Turn around with understanding
Gather the reins in an easy way
There are 1000 paths and 10.000 roads
With self-esteem search and inquire
-

  If you put a goal in charge of your life, you might end up not having lived that life. Go back to where every little thing mattered, and then start again in an easy way. Look around, there are innumerable crossroads. Find the one which is truly yours and a goal might reveal itself as truly yours as well.

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044 Like a pine tree

四顧無門路
桃源路可通
修煉成正果
萬歲壽如松

Looking around there is no door or road
You need to open up the road to Táoyuán
Practice ascetism and become reborn
And live as long as a pine tree
-

  People search in all directions, North, East, South, West, for their happiness, ideals, and health. But paradise can only be found by staying in the center. You can ‘happen’ upon it, but searching is useless. In this place time disappears and your life is no longer a straight line from birth to death.

  This poem is about the story of Taoyuan

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045 Home of spiritual values

不用忙
不用慌
自有駐足鄉
鳴鼓響鐘地
三寶見門牆

No need to hurry
No need to be nervous
You stay in a place
Where drums are beaten and bells are sounded
The three treasures meet gates and walls
-

  Not everyone who searches for spiritual values wants to be a hermit. There are people who walk this road together, who have their rituals and celebrations, conversations and mutual support. With the images and tools and names which define them. Just be careful that they do not shut in or shut out.

  三寶Three Treasures; The teachings of Chinese religions have each their own set.

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046 Stop running

奔波一世
總是虛浮
無常一到
萬事休
急早回頭

Rushing about all one's life
Always superficial
With changeable goals
Everything gets lost
Turn around immediately
-

  Your life needs a direction and you are the one to find it. Only you. If you don’t, you will achieve nothing and even lose whatever there was. Forget about superficial goals. Find your deepest wish and make it true. Find your strengths and use them to reach it. Find your spirit and make it free.

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047 Return home

真真真
人不識
真真真神有靈
歸宗返本
方是元精

The real truth - people fail to see
The real truth - Spirits have power
Return to the ancestors and back to the roots
The place of primary perfection
-

  Nobody is really a clean slate. A child is innocent but it carries its ancestry in its soul and habits. Honor your deepest origin and those who came before by not denying this but by working along with it. Improve yourself, heal yourself where necessary, and make use of your inherited assets.

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048 The vicissitudes of life

走盡天涯
風霜歷遍
不如問人参天
漸漸有回首見

Leaving for the utmost edge of the world
Experiencing wind and frost everywhere
It is better to ask people and consult heaven
Little by little you turn around your views
-

  Experience is a great way to learn. But you also have brains. Watch how others do things, talk to people, get information, read and exchange and think about all of it. And then there is your intuition, your deep inner knowledge of the laws of Heaven and the reality of Earth. Listen well.

  風霜wind and frost: vicissitudes of life or travel.

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