Page 367 - A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols BIG Book

A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols 360
characters. In Taiwan one has to be careful nowadays about using the title San zi jing, as
it can be taken as a very coarse expletive meaning ‘(I) fuck your mother.’

‘The three teachings are one’

The ‘three oppressed things’ (san ya) are three creatures which we do not eat: the wild
duck, since it symbolises marital love; the dog, because it serves its master faithfully;
the black eel, because it symbolises the fidelity and devotion which should exist
between ruler and subject.
The ‘three yangs’ (san yang) are the three months of spring, in which the
male element ( yang) comes more and more into its own. The idea of
spring is associated with happiness and success; and the three are
pictorially represented as a sheep (yang) or as a group of three sheep. The
vagina is sometimes referred to as a woman’s ‘third eye’.
Village elders and city fathers used to be called the ‘three old worthies’. In
such titles, the number three is used ‘as the standard emblem of any
arrangement embodying hierarchical organisation’ (Marcel Granet).
Thunder