The most charming gesture of Confucius. Place the two palms on top of each other, with the palms facing inward, the left hand on the outside and the right hand on the inside.
Why is the statue of Confucius presented with such a gesture? Does it mean anything special?
Looking up on Baidu, the explanation given is: "Confucius' gesture is a greeting ceremony for ancient scholars. It requires the body to bow slightly, cross the hands and stretch them forward, placing them at the front of the body. Men's left hand is in front, and women's left hand is in front. With the right hand in front, it means being pious and respectful."
It happened that Professor Zhang Shiya from Southwest University was in our school, so I asked him specifically for advice on this issue.
The erudite teacher Zhang truly gave the most accurate interpretation of Confucius’ gestures from a cultural and educational perspective.
Confucius crossed his hands with the palms upward, which is the cross of five. In oracle bone inscriptions, the writing method of five characters is "from two, five elements." It means that the upper horizontal line of the character "二" is the sky, and the lower horizontal line is the earth. The two hands intersect and are written as "yao" (pronunciation yao), which refers to the five elements. The two qi of yin and yang meet at noon between heaven and earth.
In the oracle bone inscriptions, the sky is numbered five and the earth is numbered five. The five odd numbers of one, three, five, seven, and nine are yin numbers, which refer to the sky, and the sky is yin; the five even numbers of two, four, six, eight, and ten are yang numbers, which refer to the earth, and the earth is yang.
The word "yao" is exactly how the word "jiao" is written in oracle bone inscriptions: teach means what is given above and what is done below. Be obedient to filial piety. The character structure is composed of filial piety and 洴, from Yao to Zi to Wen. The shape of the oracle bone inscription is holding a wooden staff in hand and asking the sky. It means to join the "yao" with both hands to pray for the harmony of heaven and earth and all things; to hold a wooden stick to ask heaven, so as to obtain the qualification to teach people. The words "xue" and "jue" in oracle bone inscriptions all contain this meaning.