Wu Collection, Upper Volume
Radical: Jade (yù)
Kangxi strokes: 16
Page 740, Entry 26
According to the Expanded Rhymes (Guangyun), it is pronounced li. According to the Collected Rhymes (Jiyun) and the Rhyme Collection (Yunhui), it is pronounced li.
According to the Jade Chapters (Yupian), it refers to glass.
According to the Broad Elegance (Boya), glass is a type of bead.
In the ancient poem Written for the Wife of Jiao Zhongqing (Wei Jiao Zhongqing qi zuo): Move my glass couch, and place it out under the front window.
It is also sometimes written as liuli (a variant for glass).
In the History of the Former Han (Qian Hanshu), in the commentary by Yan Shigu on the Treatise on the Western Regions: Great Qin produces ten types of glass in red, white, black, yellow, blue, green, light blue, and dark blue, which are natural substances. What is used today is all made by melting rock essence, adding various medicines, and casting it. This began in the Northern Wei dynasty, when people from the Yuezhi carried it to the capital for trade and smelted the ore.
It also refers to the color of a woven mat.
In Han Yu's Poem on the Mat Gifted by Zheng Qun: Brought here during the day, one cannot sleep; the whole prefecture passes it around, a yellow glass mat. Its body is firm, its color pure, and it conceals its joints; its surface is smooth and polished, without a single flaw.
In Su Shi's Poem Sent to Pu Chuanzheng: Ashamed of this eight-foot yellow glass mat. The commentary notes: Glass here describes the color of the mat; it is a metaphorical term.
In the Medicine Buddha Lapis Lazuli Light Tathagata Original Vow Sutra: The Buddha told Manjushri, east of here, passing ten Ganges sands and other Buddha lands, there is a world named Pure Lapis Lazuli, and the Buddha is named Medicine Buddha Lapis Lazuli Light Tathagata, perfect in wisdom and conduct.
According to the Rhyme Collection (Yunhui), boluo (glass) is also a treasure from the Western kingdoms. It is said to be water-jade that has turned to ice after a thousand years; it is also written as poli.
