Derivative 10-2 春 chūn, spring

Derivative 10-2 春 chūn, spring

“It is the time of rebirth, of new projects. It is the moment in which we can realize our dreams ! ” 

The Chinese character 春chūn, ”spring”, evokes the beautiful image of a plant sprouting from the earth under a bright sun. It is made up of two parts: the lower part is 屯tún, which represents “the shoot” which is growing and the upper part is日 rì,“the sun”. Now the force of the sun is increasing.

春分 Chūnfēn ”The spring Equinox”  which falls on the 21st of March, is the moment in which day and night are perfectly balanced. It is the time of rebirth, of new projects. It is the moment in which we can realise those dreams that were born during the cold winter months. 

The Chinese saying 春風化雨Chūnfēng huàyǔ is translated as “the spring winds bring rain”.
This expression is used to communicate the idea that students receive a good education from their teachers. Even if they experience difficulties at the beginning, the final result will be a better future.

Just as a young plant grows and gets stronger, even if the spring is harsh, when the wind starts to blow from the south-east and the rain starts falling, it means that warmer temperatures are coming. The time has finally come for the plant to grow and flower.

©兒童手搏文創Kids Shou Bo Arte Cultura & Saggezza Cinese Elaborated by M°Dante Basili /M°Stefano Danesi  Translated by Neil Berry

Radical 10-1屯tún, to accumulate

Radical 10-1屯tún, to accumulate

“Look, there’s a plant growing up out of the ground. We can see its first, tender leaf. That’s so cute! “

In the ancient form of the character屯tún , we see what seems to be the frozen figure of a plant which has just grown out of the earth. This gives the idea of the initial difficulties involved in getting over the icy winter while waiting for spring to arrive. The plant has to conserve and generate energy as best it can.

For this reason the character屯tún  means “to accumulate” or “to conserve”.   

Here are some examples of other words:

l  屯兵 Tún tián  to amass troops

l  屯糧Tún liáng  to store cerials 

l  屯墾 Tún kěn  to station troops responsible for land reclamation   

屯tún also represents Hexagram 3 of the I Ching, which is made up of shaking 震Zhèn ☳ below, and water 坎Kǎn ☵ above, together they represent the image of clouds and thunder in the sky, clearly a picture of disorder.

  
For those people looking for guidance, this Hexagram indicates that the time for action is not the present moment. They should take care, reflect more carefully and act correctly, but at the same time be prepared and plan for the future. When referred to young people it indicates that they should try to be disciplined and keep their mind free of thoughts that could block the free flow of ideas.

©兒童手搏文創Kids Shou Bo Arte Cultura & Saggezza Cinese

Elaborated by M°Dante Basili /M°Stefano Danesi  Translated by Neil Berry

 

 

 

Derivative 7-2-3.震Zhèn,shaking

Derivative 7-2-3.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. Follow us https://kidshoubo.jimdo.com/
©兒童手搏文創Kids Shou Bo Arte Cultura & Saggezza Cinese Elaborated by M°Dante Basili /M°Stefano Danesi  Translated by Neil Berry

 

Derivative 08-2 雷 léi, thunder

Derivative 08-2 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.         

 ©兒童手搏文創Kids Shou Bo Arte Cultura & Saggezza Cinese Elaborated by M°Dante Basili /M°Stefano Danesi  Translated by Neil Berry