The I Ching or Book of Changes (62 page)
CHAPTER III. On the Words Attached to the Hexagrams and the Lines
1. The decisions refer to the images. The judgments on the lines refer to the changes.
King Wên’s decisions (judgments) refer in each case to the situation imaged by the hexagram as a whole. The judgments appended by the Duke of Chou to the individual lines refer in each instance to the changes taking place within this situation. In consulting the oracle, the judgment on the line is to be considered only when the line in question “moves,” that is, when it is represented either by a nine or by a six (cf. explanation of the method of consulting the oracle in the appendix).
2. “Good fortune” and “misfortune” refer to gain and loss, “remorse” and “humiliation” to minor imperfections. “No blame” means that one is in position to correct one’s mistakes in the right way.
This passage is an amplification of section 3 of the preceding chapter. Always making the right choice in words and acts means gain; failing in this results in loss. Slight deviations from what is right are called imperfections. When one does not know what is right and does wrong inadvertently, it is called a mistake. If we become conscious of these small lapses from the right and feel a wish to remedy them, we are moved by remorse. If we remain unaware of them, or if we have the opportunity to remedy them but are either unable or unwilling to do so, humiliation results. Mistakes are like rents in a garment; when a garment has been torn and one mends it, it is whole again. If we amend mistakes by a return to the right path, no blame remains.
3. Therefore the classification of superior and inferior is based upon the individual places; the equalizing of great and small is based upon the hexagrams, and the discrimination between good fortune and misfortune is based upon the judgments.
The six places in the hexagram are distinguished as follows: The lowest and the topmost are, so to speak, outside the situation. Of these, the lowest is inferior, because it has not yet entered the situation. The uppermost is superior; it is the place of the sage who is no longer involved in worldly affairs, or, under certain circumstances, of an eminent man who is without
power. Of the inner places, the second and fourth are those of officials, or of sons or women. The fourth is the higher, the second inferior to it. The third and fifth are authoritative places, the former because it is at the top of the lower trigram, and the latter because it is the place of the ruler of the hexagram.
“Great” and “small” signify firm and yielding lines respectively. They are equalized in the hexagram considered as a whole. Both can be favorable and indicative of good fortune when in their proper places, but the appropriateness of the places cannot be determined in the abstract; it depends on the character of the hexagram as a whole. The situation may frequently be such that yielding is advantageous; in that case a yielding line in a yielding place will be especially favorable, while a firm line in a firm place may be unfavorable. In many cases strength is required, and then a firm place is more advantageous for a yielding line. In other cases the situation may demand that character and place coincide. In a word, the specific distribution is determined by the hexagram in question, that is to say, by the situation it reproduces. Therefore the judgments are appended, to indicate the good or ill fortune arising from the situation.
4. Concern over remorse and humiliation depends on the borderline. The urge to blamelessness depends on remorse.
Remorse and humiliation are the results of a deviation from the right path and consequently always require a reversal of attitude. One can avoid both by being on guard in time. The point at which concern must set in, if one is to be spared remorse and humiliation, is that point at which good or evil has begun to stir in the mind but has not yet crossed the threshold into actuality. If at this moment one takes action and directs the movement in its germinal phase toward the good, one will be spared remorse and humiliation. If, however, a mistake has already been made, remorse is the psychological force leading to repentance and improvement.
5. This is why there are small and great among the hexagrams, and therefore the appended judgments speak
of danger or safety. The judgments in each case indicate the trend of development.
Among the situations reproduced by the hexagrams there are some of ascending and expanding potentiality and some of descending, contracting potentiality. Accordingly, at some times one must be prepared for danger, while at others one may hope for safety and tranquility. In order to adapt oneself completely to the given situation, it is of great value to know these conditions. This is the function of the judgments: they indicate in each case the direction in which the situation is developing.
CHAPTER IV. The Deeper Implications of the Book of Changes
1. The Book of Changes contains the measure of heaven and earth; therefore it enables us to comprehend the tao of heaven and earth and its order.
This chapter sets forth the mysterious connections existing between the reproductions given in the Book of Changes and reality. Since the book presents a complete image of heaven and earth, a microcosm of all possible relationships, it enables us to calculate the movements in every situation to which these reproductions apply. If we ask how the Book of Changes can be a reproduction of the cosmos, the answer is that it is the work of men with cosmic intelligence, men who have incorporated their wisdom in the symbols of this book. Hence it contains the standard of heaven and earth.
The following section explains how the fact that the Book of Changes contains the measure, the standard of heaven and earth, makes it possible for us to investigate with its help the laws of the universe. Section 3 deduces from the resemblance of the Changes to heaven and earth a complete representation of inner predispositions. The fourth section, starting from the fact that the Changes comprise all forms and situations, shows how we can attain ultimate mastery of fate.
2. Looking upward, we contemplate with its help the signs in the heavens; looking down, we examine the lines of the earth. Thus we come to know the circumstances of the dark and the light. Going back to the beginnings of things and pursuing them to the end, we come to know the lessons of birth and of death. The union of seed and power produces all things; the escape of the soul brings about change. Through this we come to know the conditions of outgoing and returning spirits.
The Book of Changes is based on the two fundamental principles of the light and the dark. The hexagrams are built up out of these elements. The individual lines are either at rest or in motion. When at rest—that is, when represented by the number seven (firm) or eight (yielding)—they build up the hexagram, When in motion—that is, when represented by the number nine (firm) or six (yielding)—they break down the hexagram again and transform it into a new hexagram. These are the processes that open our eyes to the secrets of life.
When we apply these principles to the signs in the heavens (the sun standing for light, the moon for darkness) and to the lines of direction on the earth (the cardinal points), we learn to know the circumstances concerning the dark and the light, i.e., the laws that bring about the course and alternation of the seasons and that condition the appearance and withdrawal of the vegetative life force. Thus we learn by observing the beginnings and endings of life that birth and death form one recurrent cycle. Birth is the coming forth into the world of the visible; death is the return into the regions of the invisible. Neither of these signifies an absolute beginning nor an absolute ending, any more than do the changes of the seasons within the year. Nor is it otherwise in the case of man. Just as the resting lines build up the hexagrams and produce change when they begin to move, so bodily existence is built up by the union of “outgoing” life streams of seed (male) with power (female). This corporeal existence remains relatively constant as long as the constructive forces are in the resting state, in
equilibrium. When they begin to move, disintegration sets in. The psychic element escapes—the higher part mounting upward, the lower sinking to earth; the body disintegrates.
The spiritual forces that produce the building up and the breaking down of visible existence likewise belong either to the light principle or to the dark principle. The light spirits (
shên
) are outgoing; they are the active spirits, which can also enter upon new incarnations. The dark spirits (
kuei
), return home; they are the withdrawing forces and have the task of assimilating what life has yielded.
1
This idea of returning and outgoing spirits by no means entails the notion of good and evil beings; it only differentiates the expanding and the contracting phase of the underlying life energy. These are the ebb and flow in the great ocean of life.
3. Since in this way man comes to resemble heaven and earth, he is not in conflict with them. His wisdom embraces all things, and his tao brings order into the whole world; therefore he does not err. He is active everywhere but does not let himself be carried away. He rejoices in heaven and has knowledge of fate, therefore he is free of care. He is content with his circumstances and genuine in his kindness, therefore he can practice love.
Here we are shown how with the help of the fundamental principles of the Book of Changes it is possible to arrive at a complete realization of man’s innate capacities. This unfolding rests on the fact that man has innate capacities that resemble heaven and earth, that he is a microcosm. Now, since the laws of heaven and earth are reproduced in the Book of Changes, man is provided with the means of shaping his own nature, so that his inborn potentialities for good can be completely realized. In this process two factors are to be taken into account: wisdom and action, or intellect and will. If intellect and will are correctly centered, the emotional life takes on harmony. We have here four propositions based on wisdom and love, justice
and mores, reminding us of the combination of these principles with the four words in the hexagram Ch’ien, THE CREATIVE: “Sublime success; perseverance furthers.”
The effect of wisdom, love, and justice is shown in the first proposition. On the basis of all-embracing wisdom, the regulations springing from a love of the world can be so shaped that all goes well for everyone and no mistakes are made. This is what furthers. The second proposition pictures wisdom and love, excluding no person or thing; these are regulated by the mores, which do not allow one to be carried away into anything improper or one-sided, and therefore have success. The third proposition shows the harmony of mind, perfect in wisdom, that rejoices in heaven and understands its dispensations. This provides the basis for perseverance. Finally; the last proposition shows the love that acquiesces trustingly in every situation and, out of its store of inner kindness, manifests itself in good will toward all men, thereby attaining sublimity, the root of all good.
4. In it are included the forms and the scope of everything in the heavens and on earth, so that nothing escapes it. In it all things everywhere are completed, so that none is missing. Therefore by means of it we can penetrate the tao of day and night, and so understand it. Therefore the spirit is bound to no one place, nor the Book of Changes to any one form.
We are shown here how the individual can attain mastery over fate by means of the Book of Changes. Its principles contain the categories of all that is—literally, the molds and the scope of all transformations. These categories are in the mind of man; everything, all that happens and everything that undergoes transformation, must obey the laws prescribed by the mind of man. Not until these categories become operative do things become things. These categories are laid down in the Book of Changes; hence it enables us to penetrate and understand the movements of the light and the dark, of life and death, of gods and demons. This knowledge makes possible
mastery over fate, because fate can be shaped if its laws are known. The reason why we can oppose fate is that reality is always conditioned, and these conditions of time and space limit and determine it. The spirit, however, is not bound by these determinants and can bring them about as its own purposes require. The Book of Changes is so widely applicable because it contains only these purely spiritual relationships, which are so abstract that they can find expression within every framework of reality. They contain only the tao that underlies events. Therefore all chance contingencies can be shaped according to this tao. The conscious application of these possibilities assures mastery over fate.
CHAPTER V. Tao in Its Relation to the Light Power and to the Dark Power
1. That which lets now the dark, now the light appear is tao.
The light and the dark are the two primal powers, designated hitherto in the text as firm and yielding, or as day and night. Firm and yielding are the terms applied to the lines of the Book of Changes, while light and dark designate the two primal powers of nature. It must be left to a later discussion to explain why up to this point the designations day and night have been used, and now suddenly the terms light and dark appear. Possibly we are dealing here with a later stratum of text. At any rate, we can observe that in the course of time the use of these expressions steadily increases.
The terms yin, the dark, and yang, the light, denote respectively the shadowed and the light side of a mountain or a river. Yang represents the south side of the mountain, because this side receives the sunlight, but it connotes the north side of the river, because the light of the river is reflected to that side. The reverse is true as regards yin. These terms are gradually extended to include the two polar forces of the universe, which we may call positive and negative.
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It may be that these
designations, which emphasize the cycle of change more than change itself, led also to the representation in circular form of the Primal Beginning,
[
t’ai chi t’u
], the symbol that was later to play such an important part in Chinese thought.