RABBIT

The Rabbit belongs to Mao 卯, the 4th of the Twelve Earthly Branches. Lun Heng's Wu Shi explicitly pairs Mao 卯 with the Rabbit in its discussion of the branch animals. The passage's Metal/Wood comparison also places Mao on the Wood side of that argument. This historical calendrical identity is kept separate from the modern personality and archetype layers that appear later in the SAGE reading.