BOOK I. 



THE DRAGON IN CHINA. 



CHAPTER I. 



THE DRAGON IN THE CHINESE CLASSICS. 

 § 1. Yih king. 



The oldest Chinese work which mentions the dragon is the 

 Yih Kmg\ We read there the following explanation of the lowest 

 line of the first of the diagrams, which corresponds with Heaven : 

 "First, nine: a dragon hidden in the water is useless""^. According 

 to the comme'ntators the meaning of this sentence is that the 

 lowest line of this diagram, representing the dragon lying in the 

 deep, is a sign that it is not the time for active doing. Therefore 

 Legge ^ translates: "In the first (or lowest) line, undivided (we 

 see its subject as) the dragon lying hid (in the deep). It is not 

 the time for active doing". This translation is more explicative 

 than true, for the text simply gives the words: "First, nine: a 

 dragon hidden in the water is useless". As to the word nine, this 

 is explained by the commentary entitled "Traditions of Clieng'''''^ 

 to mean the "fullness of Yang", because it is three times three, 

 i. e. a multiplication of the undividable number which represents 

 Yang. As the undivided strokes of the diagrams are symbols of 

 Yang and the divided ones of Yin, the meaning of the two first 

 words of the sentence is, as Legge translates, that the lowest 

 line is undivided. The characters ^ ^ , however, do not mean : 

 "it is not the time for active doing", but simply: "useless"^. The 

 dragon, symbolized by the lines of the diagram of Heaven, be- 

 cause he is the Yang creature xar' sioj^rjv, is represented by the 



1 Book fp^^^t;r4j,ch.i, j^^, ^. 



2 ^7/;^.'/^ti^ffi- 3 Section I, p. 57. 4^^. 



5 Prof. De Gboot kindly pointed out to me the simple and dear meaning of this 

 and the following sentences. 



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