革故鼎新 – Chinese philosophy and culture

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ɡéɡù-dǐnɡxīn 革故鼎新

Do Away with the Old and Set Up the New

革除旧事物、创建新事物。“革”与“鼎”是《周易》中的两卦。在《易传》的解释中,革卦下卦象征火,上卦象征泽。火与泽因对立冲突不能维持原有的平衡状态,必然发生变化。因此革卦意指变革某种不合的旧状态。鼎卦下卦象征木,上卦象征火。以木柴投入火中,是以鼎烹饪制作新的食物。因此鼎卦象征创造新事物。后人承《易传》之说,将二者合在一起,代表一种主张变化的世界观。

Do away with the old and set up the new. Ge (革) and ding (鼎) are two trigrams in The Book of Changes. In Commentary on The Book of Changes, it is explained that the lower ge trigram symbolizes fire and the upper ge trigram symbolizes water. Since fire and water are opposed and in conflict, and they cannot keep an original state of equilibrium, changes are bound to occur. Consequently, the ge trigram implies change of an unsuitable old state of affairs. The lower ding trigram symbolizes wood and the upper ding trigram symbolizes fire. When people throw the wood into the fire, they can cook their food in a ding. Thus, the ding trigram signifies the creation of new things. Following the doctrine in Commentary on The Book of Changes, later people combined the two together to represent an outlook advocating changes.

引例 Citation:

◎革,去故也。鼎,取新也。(《周易·杂卦》)

(革卦,意味着革除旧事物。鼎卦,意味着创建新事物。)

Ge trigram signifies doing away with the old; ding trigram symbolizes setting up the new. (The Book of Changes)

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