Talk:Taiyi Shengshui
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[edit] Relationship to Shangshu
Hi Mamgeorge, I was just reading the Taiyi Shengshui page, and noticed the similarity to "天一生水" (Tianyi Shengshui) in Shangshu: "天一生水，地二生火，天三生木，地四生金。地六成水，天七成火，地八成木，天九成金，天五生土". I wonder if they are connected.
Hello, Sumple. I hope my "reorg" is not too confusing. I saw if I did not do that fast I would be paging through tons of stuff on my talk page!
- I wonder too. Do you have a specific reference (book chapter verse)? Also, a version may be necessary; I could not confirm the existence of those phrases in the Chinese version I have. Also, I can not recall a similar enumeration from my reading of the text.
- Assuming a different version, my first impression was that the translation rules were not applied the same. Let me know your source details!
- mamgeorge 16:50, 16 June 2006 (UTC)
Hmm the Shangshu reference is apparently 《尚书大传·五行传》 - but I don't have a copy of the book so I can't verify that. The phrase is also apparently mentioned in 《易经》 and 《上纯阳真经·了三得一经》. The phrase is famous because the library Tianyi Pavilion (Private_library#Famous_private_libraries) is named after it.
- You know what my theory is? "Taiyi Shengshui" is a typo (either a mistake with the original source or a mistake in transcription), since 天一生水 is more well known, whereas 太一生水 is (apparently) known from a single specimen. --Sumple (Talk) 05:56, 17 June 2006 (UTC)
Hello, Sumple. A couple of comments:
- 1) I could not find the Shangshu chapter reference you provided in the Shangshu article. Also, I can not find the phrase "天一生水" after I scanned for it in the chinese Shangshu or the chinese Yijing. If you do see this connection again, please add the source details (book chapter verse version). Such a connection (I feel) would represent an important understanding in the ancient perception of heaven.
- Incidentally, I asked you for the version you use without providing mine; sorry about that! My English version for Wujing materials is from Legges translation; primarily because the electronic versions are easily available and I can scan it easily. My Chinese copies I downloaded from many different sources and did not save the weblinks; I can try to identify them if it becomes an issue.
- 2) I do not know anything about the 上纯阳真经 (I read literally as: Above Pure Positive True Classic). I would appreciate any detail about this book, if you have it; ideally date, author, type, summary if you can.
- 3) I agree there are many explanations. There could be different versions, or your version may have included commentary with those phrases. When I first started to dig up the chinese characters for the book title, one compiler represented it as "大一生水" not "太一生水". I wrote the later because of the pinyin; but because "da" and "tai" have related meanings, I could not be sure if the other title was a legitimate variation or an error.
- Thanks for the dialog! mamgeorge 15:31, 19 June 2006 (UTC)
