Re: Mahjong Cash : Real or Mistaken Translation?

On Oct 22, 12:41 pm, pa...@xxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
On Oct 21, 9:38 pm, al <a...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

A closing thought: I-Ching can explain 2-3-3-3-3 and each hand is a
continual process of changes (draw-and -discard) in order to achieve
that unique pattern. The 2 = yin and yang. The 3's are trigrams.

Allan,

You seem to be stating that the pair of identical tiles (eyes) in MJ
is somehow supposed to equate with the concept (yin/yang) which
represents opposites? I don't understand.

First, "eyes" likely came about due to the fact they appear in two as
a pair and being most visible. Similar to a round symbol referred to
as a familiar coin.
People name unfamiliar objects using familiar names.
A good example is this device called a mouse or 'graphic user
interface' etc. Can you imagine the names that might be there if GUI
was not written in full initially?

Yin and yang go in pair. No shadow without light and vise versa. They
represent togetherness. The early version of mahjong were called Hu
pai. Hu means "and" or "together". The word was derived from "rice and
mouth", having a meal or eating together.

Why a pair is "opposites"? One thing Yin and Yang are relative
states.
Best if I quote this passage from a reference you directed me to
study.

"Each line in every Yi Jing hexagram may be either yin or yang in
nature: the "0" and "1" of the binary system. In the Yi Jing, a
solid , unbroken line( __ ) is the symbol for yang....a line with a
break in the middle ( - - )is the symbol for yin...These twu forces
are called taiji: the great extreme, often pictured as halves of a
circle, a backward S-curve gracefully bisecting it, a dot of one
within the other showing that each creates its opposite..."

I also quote. "Nothing is absolutely yin or yang...what is yang in
relation to one thing will be yin in relation to another and
everything has its complementary yin and yang aspect."

Did that answer your question, Dan?

Which combinations of MJ tiles represent which trigrams, and what does
a four of a kind represent? Again, I do not understand. And what would
four sets of trigrams represent in relation to the Yijing (not a
hexagram since they are only composed of two trigrams)?

The term "kan" was used in Mo Hu Pai.
"kan" is the trigram for WATER. The flowing nature of water
corresponds with the flowing sequence of 3 cards. With 60 cards in Mo
Hu Pai, only runs or "kans" were possible. Then came Peng Hu Pai with
120 some cards, adding 3 and 4 of a kind to game-play.

Four trigrams could be any 4 of the 8 trigrams. The 8-trigram is the
Bagua representing in an octagon formation, clockwise, from the top,
Heaven, Wind, Water, Mountain, Earth, Thunder, Fire and Lake (Fu Xi
version for each trigram).

Since your 4 trigrams can be different in each hand, they represent
different "gua" (meaning picture, not 'fruit').

Let us see if this much make sense first. Then we will try to go on to
the nest step. You can appreciate a game can not represent the classic
Book of Changes in specific details in every aspect.

The general idea is the lines in suo suit are yin-yang lines (not
strings of cash). The interactions of these Yin-yang lines create
thousands and thousands of things and everything in the universe
changes according to hexagrams in the circles. The suit of concentrics
are symbols of King Wen circles (revised from Fu Xi's Bagua octagon
configuration).

Remember there can not be yin without yang? That gave difficulty in
showing LINE-1 or 1-suo. The solution for that yin-yang pairing
problem was a separate different symbol, for example, the sparrow, a
symbol of community and togetherness.

I don't have the author's manuscript to prove the original idea. But
it makes better sense to me than any amount of Cash.


Dan


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