This is Gua 2 ䷁ in the Yi Jing, titled “Creative Womb.” It is composed of ☷ Kūn Earth above ☷ Kūn Earth.
This is the ☷ Kūn trigram in the Yi Jing, associated here with Earth.
坤
kūn
Earth; the feminine or maternal principle; the Receptive.
Meaning
- Cosmological: The terrestrial plane and the Yin pole of cosmic duality; the grounding force that receives and completes an initiating impulse.
- Biological/Familial: The maternal principle and function, specifically bearing, nourishing, protecting, and bringing potentiality into embodied form (the womb).
- Functional: Receptivity and accordance; an active yielding that allows another force to become actual. Associated with the trigram ☷.
Grammar and usage
- Noun: Used as the name of a principle (The Receptive), element (Earth), or archetype (The Mother).
- Attribute: Describes states of being grounded, yielding, or maternal.
- Implicit Action: In condensed philosophical prose, may imply functions such as bearing, nourishing, following, or completing.
Distinctions
- 坤 (kūn) vs. 土 (tǔ): While both translate to "earth," tǔ typically refers to physical substance (soil, land), whereas kūn refers to the metaphysical principle of Earth or Receptive power.
- Responsiveness vs. Passivity: In contexts influenced by the Yi Jing, this term denotes "pure responsiveness"—the active effort of storing and nurturing—rather than a lack of agency.
Translator notes
- Imagery: Often associated with containment and stability, including vessels (bellies, wagons, cloth) and fertility (dark fields, cows).
- Contextual Clue: When the text suggests a support role or the act of sustaining, consider if it refers to this high-capacity responsiveness.
Decontextualized translator aid. This page describes plausible lexical range; it does not choose what the term means in a particular passage.