The I Ching or Book of Changes (77 page)

“If he follows, he finds guidance,” and thus obtains something enduring.

“It embraces everything,” and its power to transform is light-giving.

These sentences are amplifications of the Commentary on the Decision. The reference here is to the movement of the Receptive, which corresponds with the seasons of summer and autumn (south and west). At these times the Receptive is with “friends,” that is, obedient to the laws of heaven: it is giving life to all varieties of beings, each according to its kind—so sharing the eternity of heaven, embracing all things and bringing them to maturity, and thus in bright light showing its power to transform them.

The way of the Receptive—how devoted it is! It receives heaven into itself and acts in its own time.

These two activities correspond with winter and spring (north and east). The reference is to the solitary union with the Creative, the receiving of the seed, and its quiet ripening to birth.

The comments on THE RECEPTIVE are based on the character of the six in the second place, the ruler of the hexagram, just as the comments on THE CREATIVE are based on the nine in the fifth place in that hexagram.

On the Lines

On six at the beginning:

A house that heaps good upon good is sure to have an abundance of blessings. A house that heaps evil upon evil is sure to have an abundance of ills. Where a servant murders his master, where a son murders his father, the causes do not lie between the morning and evening of one day. It took a long time for things to go so far. It came about because things that should have been stopped were not stopped soon enough.

In the Book of Changes it is said: “When there is hoarfrost underfoot, solid ice is not far off.” This shows how far things go when they are allowed to run on.

According to Chu Hsi the last sentence should read: “This refers to the necessary vigilance,” i.e., the vigilance needed to stop in time those things which must naturally have evil consequences.

On six in the second place:

Straightness means righting things; squareness means fulfillment of duty. The superior man is serious, in order to make his inner life straight; he does his duty, in order to make his outer life square. Where seriousness and fulfillment of duty stand firm, character will not become one-sided.

“Straight, square, great. Without purpose, yet nothing remains unfurthered”: because one is never in doubt as to what one has to do.

The inner life becomes right through consistent seriousness; the outer life becomes correct (square) through fulfillment of duty. Duty has a shaping influence on outer life, yet it is by no means something external. Through seriousness and fulfillment of duty, character develops richly of itself; greatness comes unsought, of its own accord. Therefore in all matters the individual hits upon the right course instinctively and without reflection, because he is free of all those scruples and doubts which induce a timid vacillation and lame the power of decision.

On six in the third place:

The dark force possesses beauty but veils it. So must a man be when entering the service of a king. He must avoid laying claim to the completed work. This is the way of the earth, the way of the wife, the way of one who serves. It is the way of the earth to make no display of completed work but rather to bring everything to completion vicariously.

It is the duty of one who subordinates himself to conceal his own worth, without craving an independent position, and to let all the merits for the completed work go to the master for whom he is working.

On six in the fourth place:

When heaven and earth are creating in change and transformation, all plants and trees flourish; but when heaven and earth close, the able man withdraws into the dark.

In the Book of Changes it is said: “A tied-up sack. No blame, no praise.” This counsels caution.

The six in the fourth place is near the ruler but does not receive recognition from him. In such a case, the only right thing to do is to shut oneself off from the world. This is the resting state of the dark principle, the state in which it closes (cf. above).

On six in the fifth place:

The superior man is yellow and moderate; thus he makes his influence felt in the outer world through reason.

He seeks the right place for himself and dwells in the essential.

His beauty is within, but it gives freedom to his limbs and expresses itself in his works. This is the perfection of beauty.

Yellow is the color of the middle and of moderation. Inner moderation has an outer effect, because it imbues all forms of expression with reason. The right place sought by the superior man is found in the good form that makes him yield precedence to others and stay modestly in the background. Reserved grace, unseen yet present in all movements and deeds, is the perfection of beauty.

There is a characterizing difference in what is said about the lines of THE CREATIVE and THE RECEPTIVE. In the former the emphasis is always on the real, the unfailing, while in the latter the attributes stressed are seriousness, conscientiousness, and modesty. We are dealing with the same thing seen from two sides. Only truth leads to seriousness, and only seriousness makes truth possible.

On six at the top:

When the dark seeks to equal the light principle, there is certain to be a struggle. Lest one think that nothing of the light remains, the dragon is mentioned. But to make clear that there is no deviation from their kind,
⁵
blood is also mentioned. Black and yellow are heaven and earth in confusion. Heaven is black and earth yellow.

This explanation is somewhat obscurely expressed. The meaning is as follows: In the tenth month, the power of the dark
principle has completely triumphed; the last remaining light has been driven away.
⁶
The sun has reached its lowest position; the dark force rules unrestrained. But this is the very reason for the coming change to the opposite; the solstice takes place, and light struggles anew with darkness.

It is the same in all relationships. The dark principle cannot be the ruling one; it is in its proper place only when conditioned by the light principle, and submissive to it. If this is disregarded, and the dark principle tries to issue from its realm within and come forth upon the field of action without, the power of the light principle shows itself. The dragon, the symbol of the light-giving power, appears and drives the dark power back within its confines, as a sign that the light principle still exists. Blood is the symbol of the dark principle, just as breath is the symbol of the light principle. Since blood flows, the dark principle is injured. However, blood comes not only from the dark principle, for the light principle also suffers injury in this struggle; therefore the color is designated as black and yellow. Black, or rather dark blue, is the color of heaven, and yellow that of the earth. (It should be noted that the color symbolism here differs from that in the comments on the eight trigrams, where the Creative is said to be red and the Receptive black, i.e., dark.)

NOTE. Here, in contrast to the relationships in the hexagram of THE CREATIVE, the single lines do not have a developmental relation to one another, but stand side by side without interrelation. Each line represents a separate situation. This is in accord with the nature of the two hexagrams. THE CREATIVE represents time, producing sequence; THE RECEPTIVE represents space, which indicates juxtaposition.

With respect to the individual lines, the following is to be noted. The first and the top line, i.e., the two outside places, are unfavorable. The inner, not the outer place, is proper to the Receptive. The first line shows the dark principle taking the initiative (cf.
hexagram 44
, Kou, COMING TO MEET); this means danger. Therefore the dark principle is represented as something objective that must be opposed at the right time.

In the top place, the dark principle arrogates leadership to itself and enters into rivalry with the light principle. Here also it is represented objectively as the thing fought against (cf.
hexagram 43
, Kuai, BREAK-THROUGH); for these two situations are not in harmony with the nature of a superior man, and the Book of Changes is written only for superior men. Hence whatever is inferior is in every case something external or objective.

The middle lines of the primary trigrams, being central, are favorable. But in contrast to the situation in Ch’ien, the ruler here is in the second place instead of the fifth, for it is the nature of the Receptive to be below. Therefore we are here shown the way of the earth, of material, spatial nature, in which everything acts spontaneously. The fifth place shows modesty in human nature. The fact that garments are spoken of points rather to the image of a princess than to that of a prince (cf.
hexagram 54
, Kuei Mei, THE MARRYING MAIDEN, six in the fifth place).

The two transitional lines are neutral in meaning. The third has the possibility of entering the service of a king, for the weakness of its nature is compensated by the strength of its place. But while the third line of Ch’ien is self-contained, the third line of K’un is self-effacingly concerned only with serving others. The fourth line is too weak (a yielding line in a weak place), and moreover has no relationship with the fifth line. Hence withdrawal into itself is all that is left for it. The heightened passivity of this line corresponds with the heightened activity of the nine in the third place in Ch’ien, just as the third line in K’un corresponds in its undetermined possibilities with the nine in the fourth place of Ch’ien.

3. Chun / Difficulty at the Beginning

In Chun the nine at the beginning and the nine in the fifth place are the rulers. These two are the only yang lines in the hexagram. The nine at the beginning is below and means the helper who can quiet the people. The nine in the fifth place is above; it can appoint the helper for the task of quieting the people.

The Sequence of the Hexagrams
¹

After heaven and earth have come into existence, individual beings develop. It is these individual beings that fill the space between heaven and earth. Hence there follows the hexagram of DIFFICULTY AT THE BEGINNING. Difficulty at the beginning is the same as filling up.

Chun does not really mean filling up. What is meant is the difficulty that arises when heaven and earth, the light and the shadowy principle, have united for the first time, and all beings are begotten and brought to birth. This produces a chaos that fills up everything, hence the idea of filling up is associated with the hexagram Chun.

Miscellaneous Notes

Chun is visible but has not yet lost its dwelling.

The grass has already pushed its tips out of the earth, that is, it is visible but still within the earth, its original dwelling place. The upper nuclear trigram, mountain, indicates visibility; the lower, earth, means dwelling.

THE JUDGMENT

Difficulty at the Beginning works supreme success,

Furthering through perseverance.

Nothing should be undertaken.

It furthers one to appoint helpers.

Commentary on the Decision

DIFFICULTY AT THE BEGINNING: the firm and the yielding unite for the first time, and the birth is difficult.