The I Ching was “the consummate written text, in that nearly every trace of human actors is absent from it. Its language is in this sense disembodied, and, by the same measure, empowered to roam freely throughout the natural world. It is in this sense shen, a ‘spirit’ or ‘spiritual,’ a text less of culture than of Heaven-and-Earth, of Nature.” ” (Kidder Smith Jr., “The Difficulty of the Yijing.“)
The I Ching does indeed have ‘no form’ (in the conventional sense), thanks to the unique nonverbal, cyclical device of the Sixty-Four Hexagrams. It neither begins nor ends anywhere. (John Minford, I Ching: The Essential Translation of the Ancient Chinese Oracle and Book of Wisdom)
…writing that leaves things alone… (Clark Coolidge, The Crystal Text, 8)
The paper intervenes each time an image, of its own accord, ceases or withdraws, accepting the succession of others; and, as it is not a question, as it usually is, of regular sound patterns or verses but rather of prismatic subdivisions of the Idea, at the instant they appear and for the duration of their concurrence in some exact mental setting, the text imposes itself, variably, near or far from the latent guiding thread, for the sake of verisimilitude.
— Stéphane Mallarmé, “A Throw of the Dice,” translated from the French (“Un Coup de Dés”) by Henry Weinfield, Collected Poems, 121
Transpierce the mountains instead of scaling them, excavate the land instead of striating it, bore holes in space instead of keeping it smooth, turn the earth into swiss cheese. An image from the film Strike [by Eisenstein] presents a holey space where a disturbing group of people are rising, each emerging from his or her hold as if from a field mined in all directions.
—Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, “Treatise on Nomadology — the War Machine,” A Thousand Plateaus, 413-414; epigraph for “Machines Are Digging,” Cyclonopedia, Reza Negaristani, 41)
南海之帝為儵，北海之帝為忽，中央之帝為渾沌。儵與忽時相與遇於渾沌之地，渾沌待之甚善。儵與忽謀報渾沌之德，曰：「人皆有七竅，以視聽食息，此獨無有，嘗試鑿之。」日鑿一竅，七日而渾沌死。
The Ruler of the Southern Ocean was Shu, the Ruler of the Northern Ocean was Hu, and the Ruler of the Centre was Chaos. Shu and Hu were continually meeting in the land of Chaos, who treated them very well. They consulted together how they might repay his kindness, and said, ‘Men all have seven orifices for the purpose of seeing, hearing, eating, and breathing, while this (poor) Ruler alone has not one. Let us try and make them for him.’ Accordingly they dug one orifice in him every day; and at the end of seven days Chaos died.
— 莊子 Zhuangzi《應帝王 》 “The Normal Course for Rulers and Kings,” translated by James Legge
Shifting Earth
The steam whistle blasts the previous dynasty dry, blows Hundun’s primordial chaos dry, bores through our days, eyes and ears mouth and nose fresh and oozing every time the gears shift, each place enduring its makeshift forgery with every violent push: Shifting Earth.
Suifenhe Station, Suiyang, Suixi, Tai Ridge, Red House, Ma Qiahe, Xia Chengzi, Muling, Mudanjiang, Yimainpo, Yuquan, A Cheng, Harbin, Wanle, Zhaodong, Anda Lake Road, Lamadian, Taikang, Angangxi, Fularji, Longjiang, Nianzishan, Genghis Khan, Zhalantun, Balin, Boketu, Miandu Ford, Yakeshi, Wild Goose, Hailar, Daliang, Uzernal, Ulanqiu, East Temple, Wangong, Du Lun, Ling Qiu, He’er, Hongde, Huangde, Haomen, Cuogang, Hubei, Zhalai Norr, Zhalai Nori West, East Gulley, Lubin, Manzhouli.
(2011/6/18 Harbin to Manzhouli; 2011/7/18 Shanghai)
— Han Bo, The China Eastern Railway, translated by David Perry