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Qijing Shisanpian
Keywords: Books & Publications
Ancient Chinese work, The Classic of Weiqi in Thirteen Chapters.
The website of the FIGG hosts a This is really informative and elegant translation, though with few exception that I can't totally agree. So let me express some remark here in my broken English, and please correct me if I am wrong. Chapter 12 was translated as "There are nine mental levels into which players are distinguished. The first is called 'being in the spirit', the second 'seated in enlightenment', the third 'concreteness', the fourth 'understanding changes', the fifth 'applying wisdom', the sixth 'ability', the seventh 'strength', the eighth 'being quite inept', and the ninth and last 'being truly stupid'." I don't think the eighth (zuo4 yu2 in Mandarin Chinese) and the ninth (sho3 juo2) should be translated into negative terms. These nine levels are for good players, so it can't be inept nor stupid. zuo4 yu2 means 'seemingly stupid' literally. sho3 juo2 means 'protect one's weakness' literally. These are not bad terms. I guess these nine terms are all from some Taoist classics or other classics, but I am not sure their origin and implied meanings. Today zu4 shen2 juo4 jao4 (the first and second level) are still used to describe a person with great skill (not necessary skill of Go).
As far as I know originally the rank of Chinese Taipei Go Professionals were actually these nine levels instead of dan. And the Hankuk Kiwon uses these nine levels to describe dan players ( This is a copy of the living page "Qijing Shisanpian" at Sensei's Library. ![]() |