This English version was translated from the Chinese original with AI assistance. The Chinese text is authoritative.
几
In brief: in the human world, only the Fa can be relied on
Common reading
Pictographic. Originally a seat with a backrest used when the ancients sat on the floor; a small or low table (tea table 茶几儿). Shuowen: “几 is what one leans on when sitting.” Rites of Zhou, “Officer of Tables and Mats”: “He is in charge of the names and objects of the five tables and five mats.” Baihutong, “Retirement”: “Tables and staffs are what support the frail.”
Design reading
儿 with a short horizontal on top.
几 with a dot added inside is 凡 (fán): “all” (Guangya). The horizontal stands for the Fa, coming from the Fa; the left-falling stroke for going outward, saving the people of the world with the Fa; the vertical-bend-rising stroke for cultivating oneself inwardly. In the human world, only the Fa can be relied on, and the only meaningful things in the world are these two. Extended, it means “every, all, in general”. On the surface its core meaning is something one can lean on, such as armrests, staffs and tables. Naming the most commonly used furniture in the house this way reminds people at every moment: keep the Fa in your heart; cultivate yourself and benefit others.
Also explained here: 凡
About this entry
This entry is taken from the edited manuscript of LI Xutong’s Exploring the Design Mysteries of Chinese Characters. The common reading follows traditional philology, the Shuowen Jiezi and other classics, and modern dictionaries; the design reading recovers the rationale of the character’s formation from the meanings of its strokes, the pairing of yin and yang, and the nine-palace layout, following the New Six Scripts. The premise of the design reading, that the generative mechanism of Chinese characters was designed, is an axiom of this system and differs from the evolutionary account usual in philology; the two readings are kept apart, as surface and depth.