Trees and forests
Traditional meaning and context
The Zhougong manual links flourishing gardens and woods with good fortune, withered trees with an unsettled household, and dead wood sprouting again with flourishing descendants. Growth, decline and renewal are distinct traditional themes, not interchangeable appearances of a tree.
Lush gardens or woodland
The text calls the thriving vegetation highly auspicious.
Trees wither or die
An entry associates this with the household being unsettled.
Dead wood sprouts again
Renewed growth is associated with descendants flourishing.
These are historical omen associations, not evidence of what will happen to you or your family.
MingSez’s reading
A tree can provide shelter, mark a familiar place or show visible change over time. We attend to the difference between growth you nurture, shelter you receive and loss you witness. A forest may also alter your sense of direction or companionship.
How the scene changes the meaning
A tree you thought was dead produces new shoots.
Renewal is actually in the scene, rather than an encouragement added afterwards.
You rest beneath a tree with someone you trust.
Shared shelter may be more important than identifying the species.
A question to take with you: Were you seeing growth, decline, shelter or a path through the trees?
Sources and related reading
- Received Zhougong Jiemeng: Geography, Mountains, Stones and Trees
Flourishing gardens/woods, withered trees and dead wood sprouting again. Fixed Wikisource revision 7907671; underlying print edition unidentified. The title does not establish authorship by the historical Duke of Zhou.