From the document "discussing words and explaining characters," A Han dynasty etymological text from China (Circa 1 AD or so), part of the article discussing the character for heart and some of its variations in meaning:
Heart:
心：人心，土藏，在身之中。象形。博士說以為火藏。凡心之屬皆从心。
Heart: the heart of
people, hidden in earth and in the centre of the body. Derived from
a pictograph Passed down by the masters, hidden
within fire. Normally all things counted as heart follow the heart
character.
Notes: 人心，土藏: the people's heart hidden in the earth element may refer to the mind of intention
意 yi, which is described in correspondence to the earth element in the five elements. That is to say, the genuine heart of emotion and consciousness is hidden under the "intention mind."
意 yi, which is described in correspondence to the earth element in the five elements. That is to say, the genuine heart of emotion and consciousness is hidden under the "intention mind."
火藏: the character for heart 心 contains the character for fire 火 inside of it. More importantly, the heart is commonly associated with the fire element of the five elements.
情：人之陰气有欲者。从心青聲。
Emotion: people's
yin energy, their desire. It is a combination of the sound for heart
and green.
note: 情 qing, pronounced from
心 xin,青 qing = qing.
心 xin,青 qing = qing.
性：人之陽气性善者也。从心生聲。
Consciousness:
people's yang energy, consciousness of what is good. pronounced from
the sound of heart and birth.
note:
心xin, 生 sheng = xing.
志：意也.
Will: intention.
意：志也。从心察言而知意也。
Intention: will.
From the heart, investigate speech and know intention.
No comments:
Post a Comment