Sinograph Addenda · Signs
下below · xià · below, under; to descend
below
Where it comes from
The 上above · shàng · above, upper; to ascend gesture flipped: the mark hangs under the line.
Belowness, pointed at — and in the word 天heaven · tiān · sky; Heaven, the ordering power下below · xià · below, under; to descend, “all under heaven,”
it names the whole world. Taught in
the strokes chapter.
How to remember it
The ground line, and something below it — the root cellar
of the pointing pair.
In the wild
寂兮寥兮，獨立而and-then · ér · and, and then, but — the clause-linker不not · bù · not — the plain negation改，周行walk · xíng · to walk, to go; to practice而and-then · ér · and, and then, but — the clause-linker不not · bù · not — the plain negation殆。可can · kě · can, may; acceptable以by-means-of · yǐ · by means of, using; to take — the instrumental為do · wéi · to do, to make; to act as; for天heaven · tiān · sky; Heaven, the ordering power下below · xià · below, under; to descend母。jì xī liáo xī, dú lì ér bù gǎi, zhōu xíng ér bù dài. kě yǐ wéi tiān xià mǔ"silent, boundless, standing alone and unchanging, moving everywhere and never spent — fit to be mother of all under heaven" — the Laozi describing the Way before daring to name it; 天heaven · tiān · sky; Heaven, the ordering power下below · xià · below, under; to descend, the world, made of your heaven and your below
Laozi 25.
urn:nabu:kanripo:KR5c0057:025:1a · license: attribution.