Kun, earth and energy

name of hexagram 02

At left the character Kun in traditional script, which is still used in Taiwan.
At right an old character found on oracle bones. It is a picture of a clod of earth and lightning.

Tu, the clod of earth is probably an earth altar.

Shen: lightning, currents of energy in the earth, spirits, ghost, explain, stretch-out, to state, express, power of expression. In it’s oldest version it is written more or less like a double spiral: a picture of lightning.

The meaning of a character can change in the course of centuries, but in compounds (several images making up one character) or words (which are usually a combination of two characters) the old meaning is often retained. Looking at several of those gives a "theme", a basic or comprehensive meaning. (In parenthesis are the meanings of the parts).

  The characters (compounds) or words with KUN:
  1 (earth axis) axis of earth
  2 (earth bag) woman's bag/purse
  3 (earth actor) female actor
  4 (twist turn heaven earth) change course of events; retrieve a situation
  5 (stream) Mawangdui: CHUAN1, the flow or stream, the female organ.
  6 (heaven earth) heaven and earth; the universe

Earth as 'yin' or 'female' makes sense in almost all compounds. The character itself contains shen, spirit, electricity, so something mysterious is part of it. The spirits of the deceased, the inheritance which is part of your soul, mind and body.

Meanings of

Nowadays kūn is only used in its meaning of earth, female principle.

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