Page 336 - A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols BIG Book
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A-Z 329
Sir/Mr Sir/Mr
xian-sheng
Xian-sheng is the form normally used when you are addressing a man whom you do not
know very well and who is not related to you. A Taoist and a geomancer can be so
addressed: and it is a polite way of addressing one’s teacher. But as far back as in the 8th
century, it was the courteous way of addressing a prostitute: it still is.
Six Six
liu
No particular significance is attached to the number six in Chinese number mysticism.
There are ‘six bodily parts’ – the arms and the legs plus the head and the trunk. There are
also ‘six directions’ – the four quarters plus ‘up’ and ‘down’. The ancient Chinese
Encyclopaedia of Lü Bu-wei speaks of the ‘six rivers’ and the ‘six great kings’. An
earlier school of cosmology sought to combine five (‘heavenly’) things with six
(‘earthly’) things: thus, to the five
Six-footed horse
cardinal virtues were opposed the six affects: anger and joy, pain and pleasure, love and
hate.
